Other Classes:
124/79, 473/614, 434/302, 273/317, 124/64, D21/454
Field of Search:
124/11R,13R,1 273/95R,96R,58K 46/74C,87,88 35/19R
Claims:
What is claimed is
1. A multiple-ball and projectile toy comprising a resilient first ball having an exterior surface against which an impulse force may be applied and provided with a socket which opens outwardly of the ball surface, said ball being a closed, spherically formed shell of relatively thin wall section and confining a gaseous fluid therein, and a relatively smaller projectile adapted to be seated in said socket in supported relationship when said first ball is oriented with the socket upwardly directed whereby an impulse force applied to said first ball will be transmitted to said projectile.
2. A toy according to claim 1 wherein said socket is formed by an annular ring secured to said first ball and projecting laterally outward from the exterior surface.
3. A toy according to claim 2 wherein said annular ring has a dimensional relationship to said projectile such that the exterior surface of said projectile is in contacting engagement with the exterior surface of the first ball.
4. A toy according to claim 1 wherein said socket is a concave depression integrally formed in said first ball with the depression being configured to cooperatively interfit with said projectile.
5. A multiple-ball and projectile toy comprising a resilient first ball having an exterior surface against which an impulse force may be applied and provided with a socket which opens outwardly of the ball surface, a relatively smaller projectile adapted to be seated in said socket in supported relationship when said first ball is oriented with the socket upwardly directed, and a second projectile relatively smaller than said first mentioned projectile, said first projectile being resilient and provided with a socket that opens outwardly adapted to supportively receive said second projectile in relatively stacked relationship when said first projectile is oriented with the socket thereof upwardly oriented, whereby an impulse force applied to said first ball will be transmitted to said projectiles.
6. A multiple-ball and projectile toy comprising a resilient ball having an exterior surface against which an impulse force may be applied and provided with a socket which opens outwardly of the ball surface, and a plurality of relatively smaller projectiles adapted to be arranged in relatively stacked relationship with the projectile next adjacent said ball adapted to be seated in said socket in supported relationship when said ball is oriented with the socket upwardly directed, each of said projectiles being successively smaller than the immediately preceding projectile with the projectile next adjacent said ball being the largest of said projectiles, each of said projectiles except the endmost projectile being resilient and provided with a socket that opens outwardly adapted to supportively receive a following projectile when the socket thereof is upwardly oriented whereby an impulse force applied to said ball will be transmitted to each of said projectiles.
Description:
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In the basic illustrative form of the invention, the multiple-ball toy comprises two spherical balls, one of which is substantially larger than the other. A socket is formed with the larger and is of a size to partially receive the smaller such that, when the larger ball is oriented with the socket directed in an upward direction, the smaller ball will be retained in relatively stable relationship on top of the larger ball. With the larger ball being of a resilient construction, an impulse force applied as by kicking will be transmitted to the smaller resulting in separation and projection of the smaller ball through the air.
The objective is to provide a ball-type toy which is capable of projecting a small ball or other projectile at a substantial rate of speed through imparting of an impulse force to a relatively large ball. An impulse force is readily applied to the large ball by kicking and this impulse force is transmitted by the resilient large ball to the small ball but the large ball is not projected any substantial distance. The specific illustrated embodiments comprise a series of spherical balls; however, the smaller ball may be a differently configured projectile as can any additional projectile.
These and other objects of this invention will be readily seen from the following detailed description of embodiments thereof and from the accompanying illustrative drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an embodiment of this invention comprising two balls shown in assembled relationship.
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary vertical medial sectional view of the larger ball, on an enlarged scale taken through the socket and showing assembly of the smaller ball therewith.
FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of the utilization of the toy.
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view similar to FIG. 2 of a modified socket construction.
FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of an embodiment of this invention comprising three balls shown in assembled relationship.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 1, 2 and 3 comprising a first ball 10 and a second ball of relatively smaller dimension. Both balls are spherical with the larger comprising a relatively thin, flexible wall 12 readily fabricated from a suitable material such as a thermosetting synthetic resin. The wall is preferably formed without any breaks or openings to effectively trap and confine a volume of gaseous fluid, for example, air. Also, for enhanced performance, this gaseous fluid may be relatively compressed and maintained under a pressure that is greater than atmospheric. The extent of compression is determined with due consideration to the flexibility of the wall and relative dimension of the two balls with respect to performance.
The smaller ball 11 may be of any suitable construction, either hollow or solid, but having a degree of rigidity such that the energy from impulse force received from the larger ball 10 will not be materially absorbed in merely deforming and flexing of the smaller ball but will result in a substantial propulsion force. While a rigid construction would be operational in this toy, a slightly flexible construction is preferred as subsequent impact of the small ball with an object will present a lesser hazard. Relative size of the two balls is also a factor for consideration along with the relative flexibility or resilience of each to attain optimum performance. In the illustrative example, the large ball 10 is about five times the diametrical dimension of the smaller with this relative size providing suitable performance.
Formed with the large ball 10 is a socket 13 adapted to supportively receive the small ball 11. This socket 13 in the first illustrative embodiment, and as is best seen in FIG. 2, comprises a frusto-conical, thin-walled ring disposed in inverted relationship to the external surface of the ball. With the flexible wall 12 of the large ball 10 being formed from a suitable plastic or synthetic resin material, the ring forming the socket 13 may also be advantageously formed from the same material and bonded in fixed relationship to the wall. In this instance, the socket 13 which is also generally flexible is formed with the angularly disposed ring outwardly inclined from the wall 12 to permit the surface of the small ball 11 to contactingly engage the external surface of wall 12 thereby enabling transfer of impulse energy force to the small ball. Greater rigidity of the socket 13 will eliminate the necessity of the small ball 11 directly contacting the large ball 10 as the energy would then be effectively transferred through the socket. The primary function of the socket 13 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 is to retain the small ball 11 in superimposed relationship to the large ball and the wall height of the socket is determined accordingly. As is illustrated, the toy is utilized by positioning the large ball 10 with the socket 13 directed upwardly and the socket thus merely provides a means of maintaining the small ball in stable relationship for the kicking operation.
Utilization of the multiple-ball toy is illustrated in FIG. 3 with the preliminary assembly of the two balls being shown in FIG. 1. With the large ball 10 held in the hands and oriented to position the socket 13 at the upper side, the smaller is disposed in the socket and supported in superimposed relationship. At this point, the large ball is released to drop vertically downward while the person then concurrently swings his foot upwardly to engage the large ball 10 and impart an upwardly directed impulse force. This impulse force energy is transmitted by the large ball 10 and transferred to the small ball 11 which then separates from the socket 13 and is projected at a substantial velocity in a generally upward direction. While the small ball 11 will be projected upwardly at a substantial velocity and to a considerable height for purposes of amusement, the large ball 10 will not be displaced to any substantial degree. Specific orientation of the large ball 10 at the time of impact will necessarily lend directivity to the small ball 11 but it will be apparent that the large ball may not be oriented with the socket 13 displaced from the vertical to such an extent that the small ball will no longer be retained by the socket as the large ball is released for kicking.
A modified socket 15 is shown in FIG. 4 and is of a configuration that may be integrally formed in the flexible wall 12a. In this modified large ball 10a, the socket 15 comprises a segmental spherical depression having a curvature closely conforming to that of the small ball 11a. The function and operation of this modified structure is the same as the embodiment of this invention first described.
A further modification of this invention is illustrated in FIG. 5 and comprises a set of three balls 16, 17 and 18 that are disposed in superimposed relationship preparatory to kicking. The set comprises the relatively large ball 16 and the relatively small ball 18 as described in the first described embodiment and an intermediate sized ball 17. Both the large ball 16 and intermediate ball 17 are formed with respective sockets 19 and 20 with each socket fabricated and configured in accordance with the previously described embodiment of FIG. 1 and 2. In this embodiment, however, the intermediate sized ball 17 is designed to interfit with the socket 19 in assembled relationship while the small ball 18 interfits with the socket 20 on the intermediate ball. The intermediate ball 17 is also of thin resiliently walled construction as is the large ball 16 in accordance with the fabrication techniques previously described. Utilization of this three ball modification is the same as the two ball form with the difference being that the intermediate ball 17 will be projected a distance as will the small ball 18 although the intermediate ball will not be projected as far nor at as great a velocity.
While the preceding description of embodiments of this invention is directed to illustrative multiple-ball embodiments, it is to be understood that the second ball as well as any additional ball function as a projectile and may be replaced by structures which are not spherically configured. Such other configured projectiles would function in the same manner as a spherical ball and cooperatively interfit with the first ball as in the specifically described and illustrated examples.
It will be readily apparent that there is substantial latitude in the dimensional configuration of the toy as well as fabrication techniques to produce a multiple-ball toy embodying this invention. Also, the number of balls may be increased from the three ball embodiment to add further variety. Each form utilizes the same general concept of a large ball having a degree of flexibility and provided with a socket for initially supporting a relatively smaller ball in stable relationship.