Site News  |   Monitor Keywords  |   Monitor Archive  |   Organizer  |   Account Info  |

Flying toy apparatus

Flying toy apparatus description/claims

This invention relates to flying toy apparatus, and particularly to flying toy apparatus capable of undergoing a hovering motion.

It is known to provide flying toy apparatus which is capable of undergoing hovering airborne motion in use thereby providing interest to both child and adult users. In order to stabilize hovering toy apparatus to prevent tilt or torque as a result of rotation of the toy itself or as a result of rotation of one or more propellers provided on the toy apparatus, stabilization systems or counter tilt/counter torque systems are normally required. One known stabilisation system uses a gyroscope to control the orientation or yaw of the toy. However, use of gyroscope stabilisation systems is expensive and complex and therefore undesirable. Other known systems use one or more counter-torque propellers to counteract the torque provided by a main propeller on the toy. However, use of additional propellers increases the cost and complexity of manufacturing the toy.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,699 discloses rotating toy apparatus capable of undergoing hovering flight which utilizes a self-stabilisation mechanism. The toy includes a main rotor rotatably attached to a counter rotating main body. The main body includes a plurality of fixed blades attached between a central hub and an outer ring. As the main blade rotates, the torque reaction causes the main body to rotate in the opposite direction. Once the toy is flying the outer ring protects the main rotor and provides gyroscopic stability. Additionally, the blades provide a means for self-correcting tilts in the aircraft as they arise, so as to keep the aircraft horizontal in the air. If the toy tilts, it moves sideways in the direction of tilt. As a result, the blades on one side of the aircraft experience an increase in airspeed, whilst those on the opposite side experience a reduction. This creates a lift imbalance across the aircraft, that acts at 90 degrees to the direction of travel and this in turn creates a gyroscopic procession with a reaction force that is 90 degrees out of phase. The gyroscopic reaction thus acts in the opposite direction to the original tilt, thereby providing self stabilisation. Thus, the self stabilisation mechanism is dependent on the lift generated by the toy. A problem with this type of flying toy is that the effectiveness of the self stabilisation mechanism is dependent on the surrounding air flow and conditions.

It is an aim of the present invention to provide flying toy apparatus which overcomes the abovementioned problems.

It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a self stabilisation mechanism for flying toy apparatus.

It is a yet further aim of the present invention to provide a method of using flying toy apparatus.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided flying toy apparatus, said apparatus including a housing with drive means provided therein for driving rotation of rotary means associated with said housing, vane means being further associated with said housing and said vane means rotating in a counter direction to the rotation of said rotary means in use, and wherein said vane means are arranged substantially vertically in use.

The provision of the vertically arranged vane means on the toy apparatus allows the apparatus to self stabilise during flying as a result of utilising the downdraft created by the rotary means. The applicant is not aware of the downdraft of flying toy apparatus being used to create self stabilisation of the toy apparatus and this differs from the use of lift to self stabilise as used in the prior art.

Preferably the vane means (i.e. the height of the vane means) are arranged in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotary means.

Preferably the rotary means includes at least two rotatable blades, such as propeller blades. The rotary means or blades are arranged so as to generate lift to allow the apparatus to become airborne. The blades typically rotate about a substantially central shaft and rotation of said shaft drives rotation of said blades in a required direction. The drive means drives rotation of said shaft and thus said blades.

Rotation of said rotary means causes said housing and said vane means associated with said housing to rotate in an opposite direction. Thus the drive means does not drive rotation of said vane means and said housing directly.

Preferably the vane means are offset from the centre of the apparatus, and particularly are offset from the axis of rotation of the rotatable shaft associated with said rotary means.

Preferably the vane means includes two or more vane members and in a preferred embodiment the vane means include four vane members.

Preferably each of the four vane members IS located at substantially 90 degrees to an adjacent vane member.

Preferably a first end or side surface adjacent said end of each of the vane members is joined to, associated with or integral with an external surface of the housing. The second or opposite end of each of the vane members can be a free end or can be associated with an outer joining member joining all the outer or second ends of the vane members or two or more of the vane members together.

Preferably the first or inner joined end or surface of each vane member is joined to, abuts or is near to a vertical or upright surface of an adjacent vane member and is a pre-determined spaced distance from the joined inner end or surface of said adjacent vane member. As such, in the embodiment in which four vane members are used, the joined inner ends of the vane members define a substantially square shaped centre or aperture between the vane members.

Preferably the free or outer end(s) of the vane members extend outwardly from the housing beyond the end(s) or free end(s) of the rotary means.

Preferably the rotary means are associated with a base or lower portion of the housing and the vane means are located above the rotary means (i.e. the vane means can be a spaced distance apart and associated with a top or upper section of the housing).

At least a portion of the lower surface of the vane means can be shaped so as to at least partially enclose the rotary means. For example a recess portion can be defined on the lower surface of the vane means to allow rotation of the rotary means within said recess portion. The recess portion is preferably defined on an inner portion of said lower surface.

The vane means and/or the rotary means can be made from any or any combination of suitable lightweight material, such as plastic, foam, wood, fabric and/or the like.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

• What Is a Patent?
• What Is a Trademark or Servicemark?
• What Is a Copyright?
• Patent Laws