Dump truck toy
Dump Truck Toy with a truck cab, a truck chassis, a truck bed, a motorized drive mechanism, a truck bed tilting mechanism, a microprocessor, a printed circuit board, a power source and a plurality of programming blocks. The blocks communicate with the microprocessor and the microprocessor gives directions to the motorized drive mechanism causing the truck toy to move in a programmed manner. A preferred embodiment includes the blocks are releasably held down in the truck bed sockets causing the switch heads to be held down thereby forcing them to interact with switch contacts on the printed printed circuit board. A preferred embodiment includes the blocks to be automatically dumped out at the end of the programmed set of truck movements.
Not Applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENTNot Applicable
DESCRIPTION OF ATTACHED APPENDIXNot Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates generally to the field of toy vehicles and more specifically to a dump truck toy.
Toy trucks are well known to children around the world and are used in play where a child imagines that he or she is driving the truck and performing other imaginary truck related activities.
Toy trucks vary in level of sophistication from simple, non mechanized representations to more complex, motorized models. Some trucks have been designed to be programmable by the user. For example, Goang-Wen Lin, in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,593 discloses a programmable toy vehicle where the drive mechanism is directed by a lever that the child slides into various positions. Daniel Aldred et al, in his U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,856 shows a plurality of vehicles, having a plurality of pads and switches controlling and addressing any of the vehicles to give the vehicle direction. Moshe Fainmesser, in his U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,436 shows a toy vehicle where driving instructions are given by a computer via RF signal.
Although the above described patents disclose various methods of controlling a toy vehicle and may be effective, they do not allow a small child to direct a toy truck by placing directional controlling blocks into the truck bed of the toy. Furthermore, none of the above patents discloses a sequence of events that includes pressing a start button, having the toy proceed according to graphic indices located on a plurality of blocks, and finally having the truck automatically dump the blocks out at the end of the programmed driving sequence.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe primary object of the invention is to provide a motorized dump truck toy whose direction can be easily programmed by the user.
Another object of the invention is to provide a dump truck toy whose payload consists of a plurality of blocks that have directional indices and are inserted into the truck bed to program a sequence of driving instructions. Another object of the invention is to have the truck bed tilt up at the end of the driving sequence thereby causing the blocks to dump out and initiating another round of play by the user.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed a dump truck toy comprising: a truck cab, a truck chassis, a truck bed, a motorized drive mechanism, a truck bed tilting mechanism, a microprocessor, a printed circuit board, a power source and a plurality of programming blocks, said programming blocks including instructional means to communicate with said microprocessor and said microprocessor giving directions to said motorized drive mechanism causing said truck toy to move forward or backward in a pre-programmed manner.
The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. It is to be understood that in some instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated or enlarged to facilitate an understanding of the invention.
Detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiment are provided herein. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure or manner.
Referring now to
To program the directional and or sound effects of the invention 100, the user places blocks 4 into each of the sockets 88 as shown in the plan view in
The above descriptions and drawings show that the dump truck of the present invention 100 provides an easy and enjoyable way for a young person to program a vehicle to move in predetermined directions. The automatic dumping feature at the end of each sequence causes the blocks to fall to the ground thereby prompting the user to to reprogram the truck by putting the blocks back in the sockets in a new way.
While the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the particular form set forth, but on the contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. Dump Truck Toy comprising:
- a truck cab;
- a truck chassis;
- a truck bed;
- a motorized drive mechanism;
- a truck bed tilting mechanism;
- a microprocessor;
- a printed circuit board;
- an audio speaker,
- a power source and
- a plurality of programming blocks;
- said programming blocks including physical means to communicate with said microprocessor and
- said microprocessor giving directions to said motorized drive mechanism causing said truck toy to move forward or backward in a preprogrammed manner.
2. Dump Truck Toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein said truck bed tilting mechanism tilts up at the end of the said programmed sequence of directional events causing said blocks to dump out.
3. Dump Truck Toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein said truck bed includes a plurality of sockets that are capable of receiving said programming blocks and where said programming blocks interact with a receiving means found on said circuit board thereby communicating directional commands to said microprocessor.
4. Dump Truck Toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein said programming blocks include a plurality of protruding posts that are capable of pressing down on corresponding switch heads located above said printed circuit board thereby communicating directional instructions to said microprocessor
5. Dump Truck Toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein an alternate version of said interaction means between said blocks and said microprocessor includes the use of bar codes located on the surfaces of said blocks and a plurality of bar code readers located under said socket portions in the base of said truck bed.
6. Dump Truck Toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein an alternate version of said interaction means between said blocks and said microprocessor includes the use of light and dark colored graphics printed on said blocks and a plurality of photo sensors located under said socket portions in the base of said truck bed.
7. Dump Truck Toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein said motorized drive mechanism is a standard mechanism such as one that can independently drive the left rear wheel and the right rear wheel thereby allowing said truck to to turn left or right or straight ahead or backward.
8. Dump Truck Toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein said truck bed tilting mechanism is a standard mechanism such as a motorized cam that interacts with the bottom surface of the truck bed thereby lifting it up and causing said blocks to dump out.
9. Dump Truck Toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein said blocks are releasably held down in said truck bed sockets causing said switch heads to be held down thereby forcing them to interact with switch contacts on said printed printed circuit board.
10. Dump Truck Toy as claimed in claim 9 wherein said blocks include at least one depression located on the side of each said block and where a spring biased finger assembly mounted within said truck bed can engage said depressed area causing said block to remain forced down against the bottom of said truck bed socket, and said finger capable of being electro-mechanically released from said depression at the end of the set of said programmed driving events thereby allowing said blocks to tumble out of said truck bed when said truck bed is tilted up fully.
11. Dump Truck Toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein the start of said programmed driving events is triggered by the user pressing down on the head of a driver located in said truck cab thereby activating an electrical switch connected to said printed circuit board.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 10, 2007
Publication Date: Jul 10, 2008
Inventor: Frank Gallagher (Clayton, CA)
Application Number: 11/651,125
International Classification: A63H 17/06 (20060101); A63H 17/00 (20060101); A63H 17/395 (20060101);