Toy crash vehicle with skewable front wheels

• US 4,762,511 A
• Filed: 04/27/1987
• Issued: 08/09/1988
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Empire Industries, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Buddy L Corporation
• Inventors: Lee, Shao-Wei, Chow, Kwong-Wai
• Primary Examiner(s): Yu, Mickey
• Application Number:
  US07/042,968
• Time in Patent Office: 470 Days
• Field of Search: 446/6, 446/4, 446/462, 446/465, 446/466, 446/469, 446/470, 446/471, 446/431, 446/435, 446/437
• US Class Current: 446/6
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 17/02 convertible into other forms under the action of impact or shock, e.g. arrangements for imitating accidents

Abstract

A toy vehicle which upon frontal impact with an obstacle simulates in its appearance the consequences of a car crash. The vehicle has a hollow body mounted on a chassis, which body includes a front hood section provided with a front bumper, an intermediate cab section having a hinged door on either side, and a rear section. The cab and rear sections are secured to the chassis, whereas the front section, which is formed of resilient material, is free of the chassis. The front wheels rotate on short axles whose bearings are pivoted on the chassis so that these wheels in their normal state are parallel to the chassis, and in the crash state are angled with respect thereto, as a result of which the wheels are skewed. Slidable on the chassis is a slide whose front end is secured to the bumper, the slide being maintained by a spring-biased detent in a forward position and being urged by a spring to a retracted position. The front wheel bearings and the hinged doors are operatively linked to the slide so that in its forward position, the front hood section is undeformed, the doors are closed and the front wheels are in their normal state. When, however, the vehicle makes frontal impact, the shock thereof releases the detent, thereby freeing the slide to cause it to be shifted to its retracted position, in the course of which the wheels are caused to assume their skewed state, the doors are outflung and the front hood section is deformed to simulate a crash.

Claims

1. A four-wheeled toy vehicle adapted upon frontal impact with an obstruction to simulate a crash and its effects, said vehicle comprising:

A. a chassis on which are supported the front and rear wheels of the vehicle, each front wheel being mounted on a short axle supported on a bearing pivotally mounted on the chassis to swing in a horizontal plane to permit the bearing of one front wheel to be colinear with the bearing of the other front wheel or to permit these bearings to lie along lines defining an angle in said plane, whereby the front wheels can be made to assume either a parallel state or a state in which the front wheels are skewed relative to each other;

B. a slide shiftable on the chassis from a forward position to a retracted position, the front end of the slide being attached to a bumper which impinges on said obstruction in the event of frontal impact, said slide being maintained in said forward position by a releasable detent, said slide being urged toward the retracted position by a spring; and

C. means operatively coupling the pivoted front wheel axle bearings to said slide whereby said front wheels assume their parallel state at the forward position of the slide and are caused to assume said skewed state upon a frontal impact resulting in a shock that releases said detent to cause said slide to shift to its retracted position.

2. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, further including a body mounted on said chassis, said body having a front hood section that includes said bumper and is formed of resilient material, said front section being joined to a rigid intermediate section of the body, said front section being independent of the chassis, said intermediate cab section being secured to said chassis, whereby when the slide is retracted, the front hood section is deformed.

3. A vehicle as set forth in claim 2, wherein said cab section is provided with hinged side doors which are operatively coupled to the slide so that in the forward position of the slide, the doors are closed, and in the retracted position the doors are outflung.

4. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein said rear wheels are mounted on an axle, further including a motor mounted on the chassis and operatively coupled to the axle of the rear wheels.

5. A vehicle as set forth in claim 4, wherein said motor is a flywheel motor which is energized when the vehicle is pushed in short forward strokes by the player along a running surface.

6. A vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein said means operatively coupling the bearings to the slide are constituted by link members attached to the respective pivoted bearings, the link members having slots therein and lying in parallel overlapping relation when the slide is in its forward position in which condition the slots register and the front wheels are in said parallel state, the slide having a pin mounted thereon which projects through the registered slots, such that when the slide is retracted, the link members then define an angle and the front wheels are in said skewed state.

7. A vehicle as set forth in claim 3, wherein said doors are hinged by arms which are pivoted on the chassis, each arm having a fork extension which is engaged by a pin mounted on the slide so that when the slide is retracted, this causes the door associated with the arm to swing out.