Abstract: An apparatus for use in launching toy projectiles which comprises a piston or bellows having one side pneumatically connected to an operating mechanism and its opposite side arranged so as to be capable of launching a projectile from the apparatus when moved towards that projectile at a sufficient speed, the operating mechanism exhibiting a chamber whose size can be suddenly changed by squeezing, or a manual blow, or the release of a stressed spring, to alter the pneumatic pressure applied to the piston or bellows and displace it launchingly towards a projectile, the initial volume of the chamber preferably being rapidly restored to suck the piston or bellows back to substantially its initial position after each launching operation.

Abstract: A method of producing an article which incorporates an insert intended to perform a function in the finished article in which method the insert is placed in a rotation mold and material is molded around said insert to envelope the insert in the material. The method is particularly, but not exclusively, concerned with the production of prehensile hands for dolls and other primate figures in which an insert that includes a spring is enveloped in a synthetic plastics material, such as polyvinyl chloride, by a rotation molding process to produce a hand which will tend to grip an item placed between at least one finger and the thumb thereof.