MOTOR DRIVEN BALL TOY

• US 3,798,835 A
• Filed: 05/09/1973
• Issued: 03/26/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/1973
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rodger W. Mckeehan
• Original Assignee: Rodger W. Mckeehan
• Inventors: McKeehan, Rodger W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mancene, Louis G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cutting, Robert F.
• Application Number:
  US05/358,557
• Time in Patent Office: 321 Days
• Field of Search: 46/47,100,211,243M
• US Class Current: 446/442
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 33/005 Motorised rolling toys

Abstract

The motor driven ball toy comprises a hollow ball casing, a toy drive assembly having an electric motor operable to drive pendulum weights carried distally from the motor armature shaft on pendulum arms disposed parallelly to the plane of rotation of the motor, and an axis cylinder mounted in the ball casing to support the toy drive assembly centrally in the ball casing. Further embodiments include an inertial switch operable to change the polarity of the motor in response to a high impact force, drive means to rotate the cylinder axis, and inertial control means for the means driving the cylinder axis.

Claims

1. A motor driven ball toy, comprising:

a hollow ball casing;

a ball drive assembly including an electric motor having its armature shaft projecting from both of its sides along a line centrally in said ball casing, and a pair of pendulum weights driven by said motor carried distally from said armature shaft on pendulum arms disposed parallelly to the plane of rotation of said motor; and

an axis cylinder mounted within said ball casing to support said toy drive assembly centrally within said ball casing, said cylinder having a chamber to carry batteries to activate said motor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said ball casing is a sphere.

3. The apparatus of cLaim 1 wherein said ball casing is fabricated in a main portion and a demountable portion.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said motor synchronously drives each of said pendulum weights through a pinion mounted on each projecting portion of said armature shaft, and a driven gear on said pendulum arm which is driven by said pinion.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 including a simple on-off switch.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said toy drive assembly is fastened substantially midway in said cylinder axis, and wherein said cylinder axis is mounted in sockets disposed in the interior walls of said ball casing.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said toy drive assembly includes an inertial switch carried in said axis cylinder, and being of a type which will respond to an abrupt impact force on said ball casing, to change the polarity of said motor.

8. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said demountable portion is locked to said main portion by interlocking beads which present a flush exterior seam in an assembled bass casing.

9. The apparatus of claim 4 including intermediate gears disposed in a meshing gear train between each of said pinions and said driven gears.

10. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said simple on-off switch includes a button operable to recessly engage a channel the interiormost terminal end of said button having an electrical contact connected to one of the wires carrying electricity from said battery to said motor and said channel having an opposing contact connected to the opposing wire carrying electrical current from said battery to said motor, and said button being operable to engage said channel to present a recessed exterior to said ball toy and to be retained by a projecting bead on said button to engage either of a pair of grooves disposed in said channel the respective contact and no-contact positions of said switch.

11. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said cylinder axis is provided in pointed socket engaging swivels and is demountably carried in concaved disposed cone shaped cylinder receiving sockets.

12. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said sockets include ring gear-like teeth and wherein each of the poles of said axis cylinder are provided with a sun gear to engage one of the respective sockets, and including motor drive means to drive said sun gears.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said simple on-off switch is disposed through said ball casing into one of the poles of said axis cylinder.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said means driving said sun gears is an electric motor.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 including an inertial switch carried in said axis cylinder, and being of a type which will respond to an abrupt impact force on said ball casing, to change the polarity of said electric motor driving said sun gears.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 including an inertial switch carried in said axis cylinder, and being of a type which will respond to an abrupt impact force on said ball casing, to change the polarity of said motor.