Title:
REPEATING TYPE RUBBER BAND PROJECTING PISTOL
United States Patent 3693609
Abstract:
A repeating toy pistol for shooting rubber bands. The pistol has a cylinder structure which is rotationally indexed with each trigger pull. Both the tripper-pull motion and the trigger-return motion are utilized to provide the indexing motion of the barrel thereby providing a positive, relatively lengthened indexing motion of the barrel with a limited, relatively short trigger motion. The pull of the trigger causes a slide to engage and lift a rubber band off of a ridge on the cylinder.
Application Number:
05/154022
Publication Date:
09/26/1972
Other Classes:
124/35.1, 124/41.1, 124/48
International Classes:
F41B7/02; F41B7/00; (IPC1-7): F41B7/02
Field of Search:
124/19,18,35,41,48
Primary Examiner:
Oechsle, Anton O.
Assistant Examiner:
Browne, William R.
Claims:
I claim
1. A repeating toy weapon for projecting missile elements comprising a breech portion, a cylinder having a cylinder portion mounted for indexing rotation in said breech portion, said cylinder portion having a circular end face the circular end face of said cylinder portion being adjacent said breech portion having a series of uniformly spaced radially extending ridges thereon, the outer ends of each of said ridges each being adapted to accommodate a missile element projected from the pistol when displaced off the tip of its respective ridge, a trigger slide mounted for limited rectilinear movement within said breech portion and adjacent to said circular end face, said trigger slide having an abutment thereon extending into sliding engagement with each of said cylinder face ridges, each of said ridges when engaged by said abutment being positioned parallel to the direction of motion of said slide, a missile element positioned on each of said ridges and ready for firing, said abutment displacing said missile element off the upper end of a ridge as said slide moves into an upper terminal position, a camming surface on said trigger slide engaging the lower end of a ridge as said slide moves into said upper terminal position to produce a rotary indexing motion increment to said cylinder, said abutment engaging a ridge edge as said slide returns toward a lower terminal position to produce a further rotary indexing motion increment to said cylinder, and a trigger member mounted adjacent said slide for imparting rectilinear motion thereto.
2. A repeating toy weapon as claimed in claim 1 in which said trigger slide is resiliently biased into its lower terminal position.
3. A repeating toy weapon as claimed in claim 1 in which portions of said ridges extend slightly beyond the circular end face of said cylinder portion, said extended portions of said ridges being channel shaped in cross-section, and said missile elements being resilient bands looped over said extended portions.
4. A repeating toy weapon as claimed in claim 3 further comprising another circular end face on the cylinder remote from said breech portion, said another circular end face carrying a series of spaced pins generally aligned with each of said radially extended ridges, said resilient bands being looped over and stretched between said correspondingly aligned pins and ridges.
5. A repeating toy weapon as claimed in claim 4 in which a support member extends from said breech portion parallel to the axis of said cylinder and provides a journal support for the end of said cylinder.
6. A repeating toy weapon as claimed in claim 1 in which said trigger member engages the bottom surface of said camming surface to move said trigger slide when the trigger member is manually actuated.
7. A repeating toy weapon as claimed in claim 1 in which the said rotary indexing motion increment imparted to said cylinder by said inclined surface of the trigger slide is sufficient to present, in the direction of indexing rotation, the trailing side of one of said ridges to said trigger slide abutment as said slide returns its lower terminal position.
8. A repeating toy weapon as claimed in claim 1 in which said circular end face is provided with eight generally radially extending ridges and each complete rotary indexing motion of said cylinder is of approximately 45° .
Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Repeating toy weapons, adapted to discharge as missiles rubber band or similar projectiles, often suffer from the difficulty that, without an elaborate booster mechanism, the customary trigger movement is so limited in the "trigger pulling" stroke that it cannot provide positive indexing impetus to the cylinder, or ammunition-carrying element, of the gun so that the succeeding "round" can be dependably brought into firing position and ready for the next trigger actuation. Repeating mechanisms for devices of the type under consideration are characterized, customarily, by a large number of small interfitting parts which have a relatively short service life.
The concept of the present invention provides a repeating toy weapon having a minimum of parts, which are easily fabricated, and in which both the trigger "pulling" or actuating motion and the return motion of the trigger, after release, are utilized to impart indexing motion impetus to the cylinder, thereby assuring that rapid, dependable "firing" of the gun can be accomplished.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side view, with portions broken away of a repeating toy weapon embodying the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the rotor or cylinder face component of the structure shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the trigger slide component of the structure shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, perspective view of the end face of the cylinder remote from the breech portion shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, edge view of a portion of the cylinder face shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 6 is a front view of the trigger slide and the cylinder components in one cooperating position.
FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but showing the trigger slide and the cylinder face in a further cooperating position.
FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 but showing the trigger slide and cylinder face in a further cooperating position.
FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 but showing the trigger slide and cylinder face in a still further cooperative position.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring initially to FIG. 1, there is shown a repeating toy weapon adapted to project elongated resilient elements, such as rubber bands. The form of the device is that of a conventional pistol having a handle grip portion 10, a breech portion indicated generally at 11, a rotatable barrel or cylinder portion, indicated generally at 12, and an elongated member 13 which extends from the breech portion to the end of the barrel and serves to journal the front end of the cylinder 12 for rotation. The member 13 is formed to provide a guard enclosing a trigger 14 which is pivoted at 16 on the member 13.
As may best be seen in FIG. 2 the portion of the cylinder adjacent the breech 11 is enlarged somewhat and presents a circular face 12a to the breech portion, the cylinder face carrying a series of uniformly spaced, generally redially extending ridges 17. The outer ends of the ridges extend beyond the margin of the cylinder face 12a and these extending portions of the ridges are channel shaped as indicated at 18 in FIG. 2. The extending end portions 18 of the ridges are adapted to have looped over them rubber bands as indicated fragmentarily at 19.
As may best be seen in FIG. 4, the front end of the cylinder 12 is somewhat enlarged as indicated at 21 and is provided with a series of extending pins or abutments 22 each of which is aligned with a corresponding ridge 17 on the opposite cylinder face. A pin 23 (FIG. 1) extends into an aperture 24 (FIG. 4) in the barrel or cylinder and provides a rotational journal for the cylinder, the opposite end of the cylinder being journaled by a pin 26 extending into a receiving aperture in the breech portion 11 of the pistol.
Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a trigger slide member 28, the trigger slide being located in an appropriately grooved portion of the breech as shown in FIG. 1. A tension spring 29 anchored on a pin 35 (FIG. 1) in the grip portion, the spring 29 serving to bias the slide downwardly as viewed in FIG. 1. At its upper end the slide carries a release abutment 30 which extends into sliding engagement with that one of the cylinder face ridges 17 which is generally parallel to the direction of limited, rectilinear motion of the slide 28. An intermediate portion of the slide 28 carries a cam member 31 provided with an inclined surface 32 and a flat generally horizontal surface 33 below the inclined surface. The inclined surface 32 is adapted to engage the extending end 18 of an adjacent cylinder face ridge 17, as will subsequently be described, and the lower surface 33 of the cam member 31 is adapted to be engaged by the extending portion 14a of the trigger 14 as indicated in FIG. 1.
The operation of the pistol will be described with reference to FIGS. 6-9. Referring initially to FIG. 6 the trigger slide 28 and the face of the cylinder 12a are shown with each of the extending ends 18 of the ridges 17 having looped over them a rubber band which extends the length of the cylinder and is hooked, at its other end over the appropriate pins 22 (FIG. 4). The trigger slide 28 is in its lowermost position and the abutment pin 30 rests at the base of the ridge which is upright or vertical when the cylinder face is in the index position indicated at 1 in FIG. 6. Index positions from 1-8 are indicated adjacent the respective ridges and, as will be subsequently pointed out, the rotary indexing motion of the cylinder takes place as one ridge after the other is moved to upright position, the indexing motion being counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 6.
When the trigger 14 is actuated, the end 14a of the trigger member engages the surface 33 on the trigger slide and moves the trigger slide rectilinearly upwardly to its position of FIG. 7. As the slide 28 moves into its position of FIG. 7, the pin 30 will displace the corresponding rubber band 19 off the ridge tip, the energy stored in the stretched rubber band expending itself in projecting the band as a missile from the gun as it is moved off the tip of the ridge 17. It will be noted that to stabilize the slide, the extending tips of the ridges 17 are channel shaped and the abutment pin 30 moves within the channel-shaped tip portion. Referring further to FIG. 7, additional upward motion of the slide 28 caused by movement of the trigger element 14a will engage the inclined surface 32 on the trigger slide with the terminal ridge tip at indexing position 1, this ridge engaged by the surface 33 being identified at the index position 5 in FIG. 7. Engagement of this inclined surface with the tip of ridge 5 provides an indexing motion increment to the cylinder, rotating it from its position of FIG. 7 into its position of FIG. 8, the direction of rotation being counterclockwise as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 8. Pulling the trigger, thus, not only discharges the missile from the gun but also provides an indexing motion increment to the cylinder.
Release of the trigger permits the spring 29 to return the slide toward its lowermost position and, during such motion, as viewed in FIG. 9, the pin 30 will engage the right hand (as viewed in FIG. 9) side of the ridge at index position 1 and, since the slide can move only rectilinearly, the pin 30 will provide a further indexing motion increment completing the indexing motion of the cylinder face and moving the ridge at index position 2 into upright position, the pin 30 again being seated at the base of the ridge at indexing position 2. A subsequent pull of the trigger will cause the pin to again move upwardly along the ridge at index position 2 and displace off the tip of that ridge its rubber band 19. Repeated squeezing of the trigger, even though accomplished very rapidly, will positively index each of the ridges into upright position and discharge the rubber band carried by each.
The loading procedure for the weapon can be accomplished by loading initially the two ridges at indexing positions 7 and 8, as they appear in FIG. 6. The trigger that may then be pulled twice to advance the ridges at indexing positions 1 and 2 into the accessible positions previously occupied by ridges at indexing positions 7 and 8, ridges 1 and 2 may then be loaded and this process repeated until all of the ridge tips carry rubber bands.
It will be noted that an increment of the rotational indexing motion of the cylinder is provided both by the motion of the trigger as it is squeezed and as it is returned by the spring 29 so that, for a given limited trigger motion available, the maximum indexing impulse is imparted to the cylinder. This action is accomplished with a minimum of simply formed parts, the body of the weapon (member 13, breech portion 11 and grip portion 10) may be formed of two mating halves which after assemblying of the internal parts can be secured or adhered together by any suitable means.