Toy vehicle and toy vehicle game

• US 4,078,799 A
• Filed: 04/01/1977
• Issued: 03/14/1978
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/1976
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ideal Loisirs
• Original Assignee: Ideal Toy Corporation (Escalade Incorporated)
• Inventors: Lahr, Robert G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Oechsle, Anton O.
• Application Number:
  US05/783,722
• Time in Patent Office: 347 Days
• Field of Search: 273/86 B, 46/251, 46/253, 46/254, 46/255, 46/256, 46/257, 46/258, 46/259, 46/260, 46/261, 46/262
• US Class Current: 104/304
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/14 Racing games, traffic games, or obstacle games characterised by figures moved by action of the players racing games using dice A63F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 18/12 Electric current supply to toy vehicles through the track
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/048 a model being viewed and manoeuvred from a remote point G09B9/052, G09B9/058 take precedence

Abstract

A toy vehicle game includes an endless track defining at least two parallelly extending vehicle lanes in which two or more toy vehicles are adapted to be operated. The toy vehicles each include a reversible rotary drive motor and a transmission operatively engaged between the motor and two drive wheels for rotating one or the other of the drive wheels in response to the direction of rotation of the drive motor, thereby biasing the car against one or the other of the side walls of the track to guide the vehicle along its path of travel in one or the other of the lanes. The track includes electrical contact strips which supply power to the drive motor of the vehicles through current collectors mounted thereon. A control system permits the operators to separately and independently control current to the contact strips and also to selectively reverse the polarity of the current so that the operators can vary the speed of their associated vehicles and cause the vehicles to move from one lane to the other.

Claims

1. A toy vehicle game including a relatively flat slotless track having spaced side walls defining a pair of parallely extending lanes therebetween, a toy vehicle comprising, a body, a pair of laterally spaced selectively driven combination drive and steering wheels rotatably mounted on said body for rotation in fixed vertical planes with respect to said frame, a reversible electric drive motor in said body having an output drive element, means operatively engaged between said output drive element and said combination drive and steering wheels for selectively driving one or the other of said drive wheels in the forward direction of travel of the vehicle in response to the direction of rotation of said output drive element and for biasing the vehicle to move in a direction opposite to that of the side of the vehicle on which the driven wheel is located, and means for selectively reversing the polarity of current supplied to said drive motor thereby to control the direction of rotation of said output drive element to selectively drive one of said drive wheels and thus steer the vehicle in a desired direction, thereby to cause said vehicle to move into engagement with one or the other of said side walls, depending upon the polarity of current supplied to said drive motor, and hold the vehicle against the side wall in its selected lane until the polarity of current supplied to the motor is reversed.

2. A control system for a toy vehicle game having a track defining at least two lanes and laterally spaced side walls, and a pair of toy vehicles having reversible electric motors therein and current collector means mounted thereon for collecting current from said track, a pair of independent rotatably mounted combination steering and drive wheels and drive transmission means for driving one or the other of said drive wheels in response to the direction of rotation of said motor to drive the vehicles in a forward direction regardless of the direction of rotation of their motors while biasing the vehicles against and along one or the other of said side walls in accordance with the direction of rotation of said motor, said control system including a plurality of electrically conductive contact strips in each of said lanes with each strip in each lane being electrically connected to a correspondingly positioned strip in the other lane to define electrically connected pairs of strips, a power source, means for electrically connecting said power source to said pairs of strips, and means for selectively and independently reversing the polarity of current from said power source to said pairs of strips;

said strips in each lane being located with respect to said side walls of the track to contact the current collectors on the vehicles when the vehicles are engaged against said side walls.

3. A control system as defined in claim 2 wherein one of said pairs of strips is connected through said power source to electrical ground.

4. A control system as defined in claim 3 including means for separately and independently varying the current supply to said other pairs of contact strips.

5. A toy vehicle game including a guide track having a pair of upstanding laterally spaced side walls spaced from one another to define at least two vehicle lanes permitting toy vehicles to move along the track in two parallel paths of travel;

a pair of toy vehicles for use on said track, each of said vehicles including a plurality of wheels rotatably mounted thereon, a reversible electric rotary drive motor in said vehicle, means for selectively and independently reversing the polarity of current supplied to said toy vehicles regardless of the track lane they are in, and means operatively connected between said motor and at least one of said wheels for simultaneously driving the vehicle in a forward direction and applying a biasing force to the vehicle to steer said vehicle and hold it against one or the other of said track side walls in response to the polarity of the current supplied to the vehicle while driving the vehicle continuously in a forward direction regardless of the current polarity, whereby the toy vehicles will move in a forward direction along the sidewalls and will switch lanes in response to a current polarity reversal while continuing to move in a forward direction.

6. A toy vehicle game comprising a track having a pair of laterally spaced side walls defining at least two vehicle lanes therebetween, a pair of toy vehicles having reversible motors therein and current collectors mounted thereon for collecting current from said track, said vehicles each having a pair of laterally spaced combination drive and steering wheels rotatably mounted thereon for rotation in fixed vertical planes and means operatively connected between said motor and said wheels for driving one or the other of said drive wheels to drive the vehicle in a forward direction while applying a biasing force to said vehicle to hold the vehicle against one or the other of said walls in accordance with the polarity of current supplied to said motor while continuously driving said vehicle in a forward direction regardless of the current polarity;

and a control system controlling movement of said toy vehicles including at least three electrically conductive contact strips on said track in each of said lanes located in parallel relation to each other, with each strip in each lane being electrically connected to a corresponding strip in the outer lane to define pairs of electrically connected contact strips with one of said pairs of strips being connected to electrical ground;

means for separately controlling current flow to the other two pairs of contact strips; and

means on each of said vehicles for electrically contacting the ground connected contact strip and one of the other strips in the lane for supplying current to the vehicle while the vehicle is engaged with and moves along the side walls adjacent the lane in which the vehicle is moving, with the contact means on each of said vehicles being respectively positioned to contact a different one of the strips in said other two pairs of strips whereby the vehicle'"'"'s drive motor can be separately controlled in each lane with both of said vehicles occupying the same lane;

whereby said toy vehicles are continuously driven in a forward direction through one or the other of its drive wheels regardless of the polarity of current supplied to the vehicle'"'"'s motor while being biased against one or the other of said walls in accordance with the polarity of current supplied to the vehicle and until the polarity of current supplied to the motor is reversed.

7. A toy vehicle game comprising a guide track having a slotless track surface and a pair of laterally spaced upstanding side walls spaced from one another to define at least two vehicle lanes permitting toy vehicles to move along the track surface in two parallel paths of travel;

a pair of toy vehicles for use on said track, each comprising a frame, a pair of laterally spaced selectively driven combination steering and drive wheels rotatably mounted on said frame for rotation in fixed vertical planes, a reversible electric rotary drive motor in the frame and means operatively engaged between said drive motor and said combination steering and drive wheels for selectively driving one or the other of said wheels in the forward direction of travel of the vehicle in response to the direction of the drive motor whereby said motor drives the vehicle in a forward direction of rotation of the motor and steers the vehicle through the driven wheel into engagement with one or the other of said side walls depending upon the direction of rotation of the drive motor.

8. A toy vehicle game as defined in claim 7 including means for separately supplying current to the electric motors in said toy vehicles comprising a plurality of continuous electrical supply contacts extending along each of the lanes, means for separately controlling current flow to at least two contacts in each lane and means on each of said vehicles for electrically associating the vehicle with only one of said at least two contacts, with each vehicle being associated with a different one of said at least two contacts.

9. A toy vehicle as defined in claim 8 wherein each of said lanes includes at least three electrically conductive strips extending therealong including a ground contact strip and two electrical supply contact strips, said strips being in the same relative positions in each lane and said vehicles each having a pair of current collectors thereon including one collector located in the same position on each vehicle for contacting the ground strip of the lane in which the vehicle is moving and a second collector mounted on the vehicle for contact with only one of the supply contact strips, with the second collector in each vehicle located in different positions with respect to each other whereby the second collector of each vehicle will engage only one current supply contact strip in each lane and the vehicles can be separately controlled.

10. A toy vehicle game as defined in claim 9 wherein each of said electrical supply contact strips in each lane is electrically connected to a corresponding contact in the other lane whereby the toy vehicles can be separately controlled in each of said lanes.

11. A toy vehicle game as defined in claim 10 wherein said track and toy vehicles are dimensioned such that the toy vehicles engage and are guided by said side walls of the track when the current collectors thereon are engaged with the contact strips of the track lanes whereby the drive to one of the drive wheels of the vehicle continuously urges the vehicle against the side wall of the track adjacent the lane occupied by the vehicle thereby to hold the vehicle in its lane until the polarity of current supplied to the drive motor is reversed.

12. A toy vehicle game defined in claim 11 wherein said guide track is an endless track and the distance between said upstanding side walls is more than double the width of said vehicle frame.