Toy vehicle launching apparatus

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a toy vehicle launching apparatus.

2. Description of Related Art

As a toy vehicle launching apparatus in which a motor drives drive rollers and the drive rollers launch a toy vehicle to make it travel, for example, there are toy vehicle launching apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,969 (see FIG. 5), U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,789 (see FIG. 3), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,675 (see FIGS. 2-4). Any of these toy vehicle launching apparatus (toy vehicle accelerating apparatus) disclosed in these Patent Documents sets a part of a pair of drive rollers arranged so that their shafts may be parallel to each other so as to face to the side faces of a traveling lane, and supports the toy vehicle with drive rollers from both the side faces to launch the toy vehicle by the drive rollers.

Now, since an apparatus frame body equipped with a launching section is fixed to be installed on a course in each of the toy vehicle launching apparatus of the aforesaid Patent Documents, the toy vehicle cannot travel without making the toy vehicle enter the apparatus frame body with a human hand.

The present invention is directed to provide a toy vehicle launching apparatus capable of launching a toy vehicle only by moving an apparatus frame body equipped with a launching section to the toy vehicle to raise entertainingness.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toy vehicle accelerating apparatus of a traveling toy, the toy vehicle accelerating apparatus including: a vehicle body including a tunnel-like passage piercing the vehicle body in a front-back direction to allow a toy vehicle to pass through the passage; a drive roller, at least a part of which projects to the passage to press the toy vehicle passing through the passage; a roller driving section to give a rotative force for accelerating the toy vehicle to the drive roller; and a power source for the roller driving section, wherein the toy vehicle accelerating apparatus accelerates the toy vehicle entering the passage from one side thereof with the drive roller to discharge the toy vehicle from the other side of the passage.

The term of “traveling toy” is the concept including the “toy vehicle” here, and indicates a whole traveling matter, such as a traveling structure (for example, a gate) other than the toy vehicle. The “traveling toy” maybe the one including a power source to be able to be self-propelled, to say nothing of the one not including any power sources. In case of the “traveling toy” not including any power sources, it is needed to push it with a human hand to slide the “traveling toy” on a floor or the like to make it travel, or it is needed to rotate the wheels thereof to make it travel.

The term of “toy vehicle” may be a vehicle having a power source to be self-propelled, to say nothing of the one having no power sources. Incidentally, in the case of a toy vehicle having no power sources, it is preferable to be the one capable of being accelerated to travel by an inertia force.

Although the entering of the toy vehicle into the passage is preferably performed from the front side of the passage, the entering may be performed from the rear side of the passage.

Preferably, the drive roller is provided on each of both sides of the passage and each of the drive rollers is rotatable around a vertical shaft in the vehicle body, and each of the drive rollers is pressed to each corresponding side face of the toy vehicle to accelerate the toy vehicle.

Preferably, each of the drive rollers is movable between a close position, at which the drive rollers are close to each other, and a distant position, at which the drive rollers are distant from each other, within the passage, and each of the drive rollers is biased toward the close position by a biasing section to a degree of not preventing the toy vehicle from entering between the drive rollers.

Preferably, each of the drive rollers is severally attached to a swinging arm swinging in a predetermined range on a horizontal plane around a respective predetermined shaft, and the roller driving section includes a sun gear attached to the predetermined shaft and a planetary gear provided on a roller shaft and rotating integrally with the drive roller.

Preferably, the traveling toy travels on a track board, on which a circulating course is formed, the circulating course including a pair of rails projecting upwardly from a face of the track board to form a traveling lane for allowing the toy vehicle to travel between the pair of rails, and an under surface of the vehicle body is provided with a guide roller capable of abutting against an outer surfaces of the pair of rails to guide the traveling toy.

Preferably, the drive roller is made of an elastic synthetic resin and includes a boss fixed to a roller shaft, an orbicular zone-like rim constituting an outer periphery, and a spoke coupling the boss and the rim.

According to the aspect of the present invention, since the toy vehicle situated at an arbitrary position can be accelerated to travel only by moving the traveling toy equipped with the toy vehicle accelerating apparatus to a position of the toy vehicle, the entertainingness of the traveling toy can be raised.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the appended drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not intended as a definition of the limits of the present invention, and wherein:

Continue reading about Toy vehicle launching apparatus...
Full patent description for Toy vehicle launching apparatus

Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims

Click on the above for other options relating to this Toy vehicle launching apparatus patent application.
###


How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents
1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored.
3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords.  
Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Toy vehicle launching apparatus or other areas of interest.
###


Previous Patent Application:
Joint structure of toy
Next Patent Application:
Moving toy
Industry Class:
Amusement devices: toys

###

Design/code © 2009 FreshContext LLC/Freshpatents.com. Website Terms and Conditions - Also read: About this Page
Patent data source: patents published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Information published here is for research/educational purposes only (and in conjunction with our Keyword Monitor) and is not meant to be used in place of the full USPTO patent document/images or a comprehensive patent archive search. Complete official applications are on file at the USPTO and often contain additional data/images (Freshpatents is currently text-only). FreshPatents.com is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO or firms/individuals or products/designs/ideas related to listed patents.

FreshPatents.com Support
Thank you for viewing the Toy vehicle launching apparatus patent info.
IP-related news and info


Results in 2.64879 seconds


Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories:
Novartis , Pfizer , Philips , Polaroid , Procter & Gamble , paws