Water Toy

Abstract

The invention provides a water toy comprising a cylindrical main body which figure housing bodies are connected, a base part for fixing the main body vertically and a water stop releasing part, wherein a figure body is housed in the main body, the figure housing bodies has an opening in their upper part and a figure body is housed inside thereof, the base part has a main body supporting part supporting the main body and has a water stop control part stopping water poured in the main body, and the water stop releasing part comprises a stopper releasing part, a vertically movable part connected to the rear end of the stopper releasing part and a locking part detachably engaging with the upper end of the vertically movable part, where the engagement with the vertically movable part is disengaged when the figure body moved upward in the main body is touched to the locking part.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a water toy of the present invention and

FIG. 2 is a side view of a water toy of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view to explain the movement of the water toy when pouring water.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a main body, a base part and a water stop releasing part; and

FIG. 5 is a view to explain the fitting of each part of the water toy of the present invention. Additionally,

FIG. 6 is a view showing the internal constitution of a figure housing body mounted on the base part;

FIG. 7 is a view showing the internal constitution of a figure housing body mounted on the main body;

FIG. 8 is an exploded view showing the constitution of a water stop control part; and

FIG. 9 is a view to explain the operation of the figure housing body mounted above the main body.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A water toy of the present invention comprises a cylindrical main body having a vertical axis which figure housing bodies are connected by connection pipes, a base part for fixing the main body vertically and a water stop releasing part. A figure body is housed in the main body, which moves upward and downward with a water level of water poured in the main body, and the figure housing bodies are formed in a hollow state and has an opening in their upper part and a figure body is housed inside thereof. In addition, the base part has a hollow main body supporting part which supports the main body and has a water stop control part which stops the water poured in the main body, where the water stop control part is fit and set inside the main body supporting part. Additionally, the water stop releasing part is fit to the rear side of the main body and is comprised of a stopper releasing part which is positioned inside of the water stop control part, a vertically movable part which is connected to the rear end of the stopper releasing part and which is extended upward along the outer surface of the main body, and a locking part which is detachably engaged with the upper end of the vertically movable part and which is protruded upward to the main body, where the engagement with the vertically movable part is disengaged when the figure body moved upward in the main body is touched to the locking part.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the water toy of the invention shall be described with reference to the drawings. Note that it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the following embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a front view of the water toy of the present invention and FIG. 2 is a side view of the water toy of the invention. FIG. 3 is a view to explain the movement of the water toy when pouring water.

The water toy 100 of the present invention is made of a resin, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, it comprises a cylindrical main body 1, a base part 3 for fixing the main body 1 vertically and a water stop releasing part 5.

The main body 1 is, as shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, a transparent or translucent cylindrical body whose inside is visible, a figure body 7 is housed inside thereof and a water guide part 25 is fit to the upper end. The axis in the main body 1 is vertical and figure housing bodies 8 are each connected to the side wall thereof by connection pipes 21.

As shown in FIG. 4, the main body 1 is formed by fitting a front body 11 and a rear body 12 at their side edge parts, and as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, scales marked subequal to water level of a cup of water described below are put on the rear inner surface of the rear body 12. Furthermore, a vertically movable part supporting member 13 is fit to rear outer surface of the rear body 12, where a vertically movable part 53 of a water stop releasing part 5 described below is slidably supported in a vertical direction.

Connection pipes 21 are mounted in the side wall of the main body 1 so as to protrude in any arbitrary directions. For example, front half pipes 22 are provided on the edge part of the front body 11 and rear half pipes 23 are provided on the edge part of the rear body 12, then, connection pipes 21 are formed when the front body 11 and the rear body 12 are fit each other. In this invention, connection pipes 21 can be formed integrally with the side wall of the front body 11 or the rear body 12.

As shown in FIG. 4, the water guide part 25 comprises a rear erecting wall 26 and a water guide plate 27 mounted to the lower part of the rear erecting wall 26, the water guide part 25 is fixed to the upper end of the main body 1 so that an opening (not shown) at the bottom of the water guide plate 27 is positioned on the upper part of the main body 1. In addition, a hook 28 is mounted on the side wall of the water guide plate 27 for hanging an accessory cup 9.

The figure body 7 housed inside of the main body 1 is formed by plastic, silicon rubber and the like, as shown in FIG. 5, it is mounted on a float base 71. The float base 71 is set for supporting the stably vertically movement of the figure body 7 in the main body 1, where the float base 71 is a cylindrical body which outer diameter is smaller than the inner diameter of the main body 1 and has a measure of thickness. Also, the float base 71 is formed by a material float on water, for example, it is formed by sticking a plastic plate to a light and water-shedding material such as foamed polystyrene and by molding a resin into a hollow.

In the invention, as shown in FIG. 5, two support rods 14 are preferably provided on the left and right inner side surface of the main body 1 so as to run along the vertical axis and so as to face to each other for stably vertically moving the float base 71 in the main body 1. In such case, recessed parts are provided on the float base 71, which are engaged with the support rods 14, and the float base 71 is housed in the base main body 1 so that the recessed parts thereof are engaged with the support rods 14. If the float base 71 is provided in the base main body 1 in such a manner, the figure body 7 can be vertically moved in a state of facing front.

As shown in FIG. 7, a hollow figure housing body 8 having an opening 82 at its upper part is connected to the end of the connection pipe 21, a figure body 7 mounted on a float base 71 is housed in the figure housing body 8. As shown in FIG. 1 and so on, the external shape of the figure housing body 8 has no restriction, the figure housing body 8 can be formed to simulate the shape which appeals to children such as vehicles and natural things. A support shaft 81 is provided on the bottom of the figure housing body 8 so as to erect upward, where the support shaft 81 is positioned just below the opening 82 of the figure housing body 8.

The figure body 7 housed inside of the figure housing body 8 is formed by plastic, silicon rubber and the like, and formed in a size so as to protrude outside from the opening 82. Furthermore, a recessed part 73 is formed from the bottom part of the figure body 7 to inside thereof, where the diameter of the recessed part 73 is slightly larger than the shaft diameter of the support shaft 81 and the height thereof is approximately same as the length obtained by subtracting the thickness of the float base 71 from the height of the support shaft 81. Also, the float base 71 is formed by a material float on water, for example, is formed by sticking a plastic plate to a light and water-shedding material such as foamed polystyrene and by molding a resin into a hollow. The float base 71 has an outer diameter larger than the opening 82 of the figure housing body 8 and has a penetrating hole 72 at the center thereof, where the diameter of the penetrating hole 72 is slightly larger than the shaft diameter of the support shaft 81. The figure body 7 is fixed to the float base 71 so that the recessed part 73 of the figure body 7 is corresponded to the penetrating hole 72 of the float base 71 and then is externally fit to the support shaft 81 so as to be vertically slidable.

Therefore, when water is poured in the main body 1, the water flows into the figure housing body 8 through the connection pipe 21, the figure body 7 mounted on the float base 71 is protruded from the opening 82 of the figure housing body 8 with a water level. Then, the upper periphery of the float base 71 touches to a lower periphery 83 of the opening 82 and water remains in the figure housing body 8 without flowing from the opening 82.

Furthermore, in the invention, figure housing bodies 8 are connected to the main body 1 by connection pipes 21 in approximately equal spaces, the lower peripheries 83 of the openings 82 of the figure housing bodies 8 are arranged at approximately same height as the level scales marked in the rear body 12.

The volume of the accessory cup 9 is slightly larger than the spatial volume of one scale of the main body 1 and the spatial volume of one connection pipe 21 and the figure housing body 8 connected to the end thereof.

Secondly, the base part 3 shall be described. The base part 3 is provided to fix the main body 1 vertically and comprises a main body supporting part 31 supporting the main body 1 and a water stop control part 4 stopping the water poured in the main body 1.

As shown in FIG. 5, the inner diameter of the main body supporting part 31 is approximately same as the outer diameter of the main body 1, and the main body supporting part 31 has a cavity inside. And as shown in FIG. 8, a support plate 34 which has penetrating holes is provided at a position above the center of a height direction of the main body supporting part 31 for supporting the lower end part of the main body 1 and for dispersing the pressure of water and water flowing.

The water stop control part 4 is provided to stop water poured in the main part body 1, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 8, it comprises a stopper 41, a stopper receiving plate 42, an intermediate plate 43, a reset lever 44 and a support member 45 supporting the stopper 41, the stopper receiving plate 42 and the like within the main body supporting part 31, where the stopper 41, the stopper receiving plate 42, and the like are set inside the main body supporting part 31.

The stopper 41 is a spheric body formed by a material which sinks in the water such as a glass and a ceramic. The upper surface of the stopper receiving plate 42 is gently inclined downward to the center and whose center is penetrated. A penetrating part 62 of the stopper receiving plate 42 is circular, and the diameter thereof is smaller than the diameter of the stopper 41 and is larger than the outer diameter of a pushing pin 52 described below. The intermediate plate 43 has a penetrating hole 63 in its center, where the diameter of the penetrating hole 63 is approximately same as the outer diameter of the pushing pin 52. The reset lever 44 has an engaging groove 64 in its rear end part, which is an approximately U-shape in a plane view and opened to the rear side, and the lower surface of the rear part is inclined upward. Additionally, tension springs 65 are provided on the left and right side surfaces of the reset lever 44 in the horizontal state, where one end of the tension spring 65 is mounted to the side surface of the reset lever 44 and other end is mounted to the lower surface of the intermediate plate 43.

The water stop control part 4 is composed by disposing, in order from the above, the stopper 41, the stopper receiving plate 42, the intermediate plate 43, the reset lever 44 and the support member 45, as shown in FIG. 5, the stopper releasing part 51 is positioned between the reset lever 44 and the support member 45 so that the pushing pin 52 of the stopper releasing part 51 of the water stop releasing part 5 described below is inserted in the penetrating hole 63 of the intermediate plate 43 and is engaged with the engaging groove 64 of the reset lever 44, and then the water stop control part 4 is set inside the main body supporting part 31.

In the invention, as shown in FIG. 5, the stopper receiving plate 42 and the intermediate plate 43 are arranged above and below with a space. A penetrating hole (not shown) is provided in a position of the side wall of the main body supporting part 31 where is between the stopper receiving plate 42 and the intermediate plate 43, as shown in FIG. 8, a drainage groove 33 is connected to the penetrating hole and the water poured in the main body 1 can be drained to the outside. The other end of the drainage groove 33 is located in the edge of the base part 3. As shown in FIG. 1 and soon, if a decoration body 10 is placed over the drainage groove 33, the drainage groove 33 can not be visually recognized at a glance, and it can carry out performance as if water flows from the decoration body 10 when drained.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 8, a connection pipe 32 is mounted in the side wall of the main body supporting part 31, a hollow figure housing body 8 having an opening 82 at its upper part is connected to the end of the connection pipe 32 and a figure body 7 mounted on a float base 71 is housed inside the figure housing body 8.

As shown in FIG. 1 and soon, the figure housing body 8 is formed to simulate the shape which appeals to children, the support shaft 81 is provided on the bottom of the figure housing body 8 so as to erect upward, where the support shaft 81 is positioned just below an opening 82 of the figure housing body 8.

Also, as described above, the figure body 7 is formed by plastic, silicon rubber and the like, and formed in a size so as to protrude outside from the opening 82. Additionally, the figure body 7 is mounted on the float base 71 which has an outer diameter larger than the opening 82 of the figure housing body 8 and which has a penetrating hole 72 having a diameter slightly larger than the shaft diameter of the support shaft 81 at the center thereof.

The water stop releasing part 5 is fit to the rear side of the main body 1, as shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 8, it comprises the stopper releasing part 51 engaging with the water stop control part 4, a vertically movable part 53 connecting to the rear end of the stopper releasing part 51 and extending upward along the outer surface of the main body 1, a locking part 56 detachably engaging with the upper end of the vertically movable part 53 and protruding upward to the main body 1, and a frame part 58 supporting the locking part 56 and the upper part of the vertically movable part 53.

The stopper releasing part 51 is a narrow width plate and has the pushing pin 52 erecting upward at its forward upper surface. The vertically movable part 53 is connected to the upper surface of the rear end of the stopper releasing part 51 so as to extending upward along the outer surface of the main body 1. Where, the vertically movable 53 is supported to the vertically movable part supporting member 13 provided on the rear outer surface of the rear body 12 of the main body 1. And, a spring supporting shaft 54 is provided in the lower surface of the rear part of the stopper releasing part 51, where a compression spring 55 is externally fit to.

As shown in FIG. 5, the locking part 56 has a thick L-shape in cross section, where protruded parts 57 are provided in either side of the side surface of the corner. The locking part 56 is rotatably supported inside the frame part 58 at its protruded parts 57. One end of the locking part 56 is protruded downward and can be engaged with the top end of the vertically movable part 53. The other end of the locking part 56 is protruded frontward and is positioned above the main body 1, where the figure body 7 moved upward in the main body 1 connects to.

The frame part 58 has an L-shape in a side view, it is mounted on the upper part of the main body 1 and covers the locking part 56 and the upper part of the vertically movable part 53. Additionally, a sucker 59 is provided in the rear surface of the frame part 58 to suckingly fix the water toy 100 to the wall and the like. When using the water toy 100 at the bathroom and the like, it can be fixed to the bathroom tiles by the sucker 59.

The water toy 100 of the invention is set that the lower end part of the main body 1 is put on the upper surface of the support plate 34 of the main body supporting part 31 of the base part 3 and the vertically movable part 53 is engaged with the vertically movable part supporting member 13 provided in the rear body 12 of the main body 1 in the state that the stopper releasing part 51 of the water stop releasing part 5 is engaged with the water stop control part 4 of the base part 3.

In the water toy 100 of the invention, the water poured in the main body 1 flows into figure housing bodies 8 through connection pipes 21, 32 connected to the main body 1 and the main body supporting part 31, and then, figure bodies 7 housed in the figure housing bodies 8 are moved upward with the water level and are appeared from inside of figure housing bodies 8. Therefore, it can attract children's interest.

In the invention, as shown in FIG. 1, numbers, alphabet, words and the like are marked in the figure housing bodies 8 in order from the lower position. In doing so, figure bodies 7 are appeared from inside of the figure housing bodies 8 in order from the lower position by pouring water, thus, it can enjoy studying numbers while playing.

Since figure housing bodies 8 are mounted to the main body 1 so that their openings 82 are each positioned approximately equal to water level of a cup of water of the accessory cup 9, the figure bodies 7 are appeared one by one from the figure housing body 8 in every pouring one cup of water in order from the lower position. Therefore, by counting out, for example, 1, 2, . . . , when pouring each cup of water to the main body 1 by the cup 9, it can be visually enjoyed appearing the figure bodies 7 and can enjoy studying numbers.

Next, how to play the water toy 100 of the present invention shall be described below.

Firstly, the stopper 41 is fit into the penetrating part 62 of the stopper receiving plate 42 by pushing the reset lever 44. When the reset lever 44 is pushed, the stopper releasing part 51 is pushed downwardly according to the incline of the rear part of the reset lever 44, the top end of the pushing pin 52 is positioned lower than the stopper receiving plate 42, and then, the stopper 41 is fit into the penetrating part 62 of the stopper receiving plate 42. In addition, along with the downward movement of the stopper releasing part 51, the vertically movable part 53 is also moved downwardly, and then, the end part protruded downward of the locking part 56 is engaged with the top end of the vertically movable part 53.

After that, when the pressing force is released, the reset lever 44 returns to the original position by return force of the tension springs 65 arranged at the both side surfaces thereof.

Secondly, water is poured into the main body 1 from the water guide part 25 mounted at the top end of the main body 1.

When one cup of water of the cup 9 is poured from the water guide part 25, the water is retained in the main body 1 and is also flowed into the lowest connection pipe and the figure housing body connected to the connection pipe. In figures, the water is poured first into the figure housing body 8 connected to the main body supporting part 31, which has a number of 1. As shown in FIG. 6b, the water poured into the main body supporting part 31 flows into the figure housing body 8 through the connection pipe 32. Then, the figure body 7 inside of the figure housing body 8 moves upward along the support shaft 81 with rising of the water level. Since the opening 82 of the figure housing body 8 is smaller than the outer diameter of the float base 71 which the figure body 7 is mounted, the float base 71 is stopped in the state that the upper outer periphery is touched to the lower periphery 83 of the opening 82. Then, as shown in FIG. 6a and FIG. 6b, the opening 82 is blocked up with the float base 71, and the water inside of the figure housing body 8 remains in the figure housing body 8 without overflowing. The figure body 7 inside of the main body 1 is also moves upward with rising of the water level.

When water is poured in the main body 1 by the cup 9 in the same manner, as shown in FIG. 3, figure bodies are appeared in order from the figure housing body 8 which has a number of 2, and the figure body 7 inside of the main body 1 moves upward at the same time. In figure housing bodies 8 connected to the main body 1, as shown in FIG. 7, the water flows into the figure housing bodies 8 through the connection pipe 21, then figure bodies 7 inside thereof move upward along the support shaft 81 with the water level. Since the openings 82 of the figure housing bodies 8 are smaller than the outer diameter of the float bases 71 which the figure bodies 7 are mounted, the float bases 71 are stopped in the state that the upper outer peripheries are touched to the lower peripheries 83 of the openings 82. Then, the openings 82 are blocked up with the float bases 71, and the water inside of the figure housing bodies 8 remain in the figure housing bodies 8 without overflowing.

When total nine cups of water is poured in the same manner, figure bodies 7 are appeared from the openings 82 of the figure housing bodies 8 which have each number of 1 to 9.

Furthermore, when the tenth cup of water is poured, as shown in FIG. 9, the figure body 7 inside of the main body 1 is appeared from the opening of the water guide plate 25 with the water level. Then, the figure body 7 is touched to the locking part 56 positioned above the main body 1 shown in FIG. 5, and forwardly protruded end part of the locking part 56 is pushed up. When the end part is moved upward, the downwardly protruded part of the locking part 56 is rotated to a front side centering the left and right protruded parts 57 as a shaft, the locking part 56 is deviated from the top end part of the vertically movable part 53.

When the locking part 56 is deviated from the vertically movable part 53, the vertically movable part 53 and the stopper releasing part 51 move upward by returning force of the compression spring 55 mounted on the rear end of the lower surface of the stopper releasing part 51, and the top end part of the pushing pin 52 provided in the stopper releasing part 51 pushes the stopper 41 up.

Then, a gap is formed between the stopper 41 and the stopper receiving plate 42, draining water which was poured in the main body 1 and the figure housing bodies 8 flows downward from the penetrating part 62 of the stopper receiving plate 42, and then the water flows out through the drainage groove 33 provided on the main body supporting part 31.

In the invention, the figure bodies 7 are formed imitating children preferred bodies such as characters of cartoon and animation films and animals. And it is preferred that various decorations are placed on the base part 3. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, figure housing bodies 8 numbered 2 to 4 are formed to imitate trees by providing the trunk as the decoration under the figure housing bodies 8, so those trees look as if they were grown from the base part 3.

Furthermore, in the invention, the main body 1, connecting pipes 21 and figure housing bodies 8 can be integrally formed in the water toy 100. And, the base part 3 can be integrally formed with the main body 1, where the outer periphery of the main body supporting part 31 of the base part 3 can be made the same size as the outer periphery of the main body 1 and the support plate 34 is provided on the top part of the main body supporting part 31.

Claims

1. A water toy comprising a cylindrical main body having a vertical axis which figure housing bodies are connected by connection pipes, a base part for fixing the main body vertically and a water stop releasing part, wherein a figure body is housed in the main body, which moves upward and downward with a water level of water poured in the main body,wherein the figure housing bodies are formed in a hollow and has an opening in their upper part and a figure body is housed inside thereof,wherein the base part has a hollow main body supporting part which supports the main body and has a water stop control part which stops the water poured in the main body, andwherein the water stop releasing part is fit to the rear side of the main body and is comprised of a stopper releasing part which is positioned inside of the water stop control part, a vertically movable part which is connected to the rear end of the stopper releasing part and which is extended upward along the outer surface of the main body and a locking part which is detachably engaged with the upper end of the vertically movable part and which is protruded upward to the main body, where the engagement with the vertically movable part is disengaged when the figure body moved upward in the main body is touched to the locking part.

2. The water toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein a connection pipe is provided with the main body supporting part and a figure housing body which a figure body is housed is provided on the base part.

3. The water toy as set forth in claim 2, wherein nine figure housing bodies which the figure body is housed respectively are connected to the end of the connection pipes so as to have regularly spaced positions.

4. The water toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein the figure bodies are mounted on a float base.

5. The water toy as set forth in claim 4, wherein the float base which the figure body housed in the figure housing body is mounted on is formed larger than the opening of the figure housing body.

6. The water toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein a drainage groove is formed in the base part, where one end of the drainage groove is connected to the main body supporting part and other end is located in the edge of the base part.

7. The water toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein a cup for measuring a prescribed water amount is further comprised, where the figure bodies are appeared in the figure housing bodies in the order of the lowly-placed figure housing body every time one cup of water is poured in the main body.