Pressurised toy water gun
A toy water gun includes a reservoir for storing liquid, a firing chamber, a nozzle extending from the firing chamber, a valve for closing off the nozzle, a firing piston in communication with the firing chamber and biased by a spring to diminish the volume of the firing chamber, a pump receiving liquid from the reservoir and delivering same under pressure to the firing chamber whereupon the firing piston moves against the firing spring, and a trigger connected with the valve so as to open the valve to eject liquid contents of the firing chamber under pressure through the nozzle.
The present invention relates to toy water guns. More particularly although not exclusively, the invention relates to a pressurised toy water gun that provides an instantaneous and continuous water jet.
Known toy water guns include a hand-activated reciprocating pump mechanism for pumping air into a pressure storage device. It is necessary that the hand pump be activated repeatedly immediately upon commencement of firing. This can delay gameplay and unnecessarily tire the user.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate at least one of the above disadvantages and/or more generally to provide an improved toy water gun.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONThere is disclosed herein a toy gun comprising:
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- a reservoir for storing liquid;
- a firing chamber;
- a nozzle extending from the firing chamber;
- a valve for closing off the nozzle;
- a firing piston in communication with the firing chamber;
- a firing spring biasing the firing piston in a direction to diminish the volume of the firing chamber;
- a pump receiving liquid from the reservoir and delivering same under pressure to the firing chamber whereupon the firing piston moves against the spring;
- a trigger connected with the valve so as to open the valve to eject liquid contents of the firing chamber through the nozzle under pressure.
Preferably, the pump comprises a reciprocating priming piston and an inlet connected via a conduit to the reservoir and an outlet connected via a conduit to the firing chamber.
Preferably, the valve includes a valve stem extending along an axis of the nozzle.
Preferably, the firing spring is a coil spring having a longitudinal axis that is common with that of the nozzle.
Preferably, the valve stem passes through the firing piston.
Preferably, the toy gun further comprises a valve closing spring surrounding the valve stem and biasing the valve into a closed position.
Preferably, the toy gun further comprises a valve opening spring surrounding the valve stem behind the firing piston.
Preferred forms of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
In
The gun 10 includes a water reservoir 11 having a screw cap 12 upon its filling opening. The screw cap 12 has an air vent 13. Extending from a drain point of the reservoir 11 is a conduit 29. This attaches to the inlet 25 of a hydraulic diverter 24. A bypass 47 from the inlet 25 to the hydraulic diverter 24 includes a relief valve 26 as depicted. The internal structure of the hydraulic diverter 24 it depicted in
Extending from the body of the hydraulic diverter 24 and attached thereto at attaching flange 46 is an elongate priming cylinder within and from which a reciprocating priming piston 22 extends. A priming piston 22 is mounted at the proximal end of a priming rod 23. The distal end of the priming rod is provided with a handle 21.
The hydraulic diverter 24 includes an outlet 30 to which another conduit 31 is attached. The other end of the conduit 31 is affixed to an inlet 38 of a firing cylinder 34.
The firing cylinder 34 has located within it a reciprocating firing piston 33 having a sealing o-ring 37 extending thereabout and in sealing engagement with the inner cylindrical wall of the firing cylinder 34.
Forward of the firing piston 33 is a firing chamber 42 into which the inlet 38 delivers liquid from the hydraulic diverter 24.
A valve 19 seals against a valve seat defined by the back edge of the nozzle 20. The valve 19 is fixed upon a valve stem 35 that extends along the axis of the nozzle 20, through the firing piston 33 at which there is provided a sliding seal 43 and preferably through an opening in an end cap 39 at back end of the firing cylinder 34.
The end cap 39 is threaded or otherwise secured to the firing cylinder 34 and retains a firing compression coil spring 16 against the back of the firing piston 33. The valve stem 35 extends through the centre of the firing spring 16 along its axis. Immediately behind the valve 19 is a short light valve closing spring 18 that serves to press the valve 19 against the valve seat when the firing piston 33 is in the forward position as depicted in
A firing piston buffer 40 is provided in the firing chamber 42 to limit the extent of forward movement of the firing piston 33. Also surrounding the valve stem 35 is a long valve opening spring 32. This bears in compression against a stopper 41 that is fixed upon the valve stem 35.
Mounted at a convenient location upon the toy gun body is a firing trigger 27. The tail end of the link 14 passes through an aperture in a connecting tag 48 of the firing trigger 27. There is a small pulling lug 15 fixed at the tail end of the link 14 against which the back face of the connecting tag 48 bears to draw the link 14 back when the trigger 27 is squeezed in use. This sliding arrangement allows the pulling lug 15 to separate from the connecting tag 48 so that the valve stem can bounce backward (faster/further than the trigger) after the trigger is squeezed. A trigger spring 28 biases the trigger 27 forward and serves to return the trigger to its rest position after it is released.
In use and prior to pulling the trigger, the pump handle 21 is activated just once or twice so that the hydraulic diverter 24 forces liquid from the reservoir into the firing chamber 42 so that the firing piston 33 moves backwards from the position depicted in
Once the firing piston 33 has moved to its backmost position, any further reciprocation of handle 21 will result in opening of relief valve 26 and the return of over-pumped liquid to the conduit 29. Such bypassing discontinues only when pumping ceases or the trigger 27 is squeezed.
As shown in
Irrespective of whether the firing chamber is full of liquid or otherwise, the pulling force on the valve stem by the trigger will open the valve 19 immediately. The pulling force to release/open the valve must exceed the combined hydraulic force on the back of the valve minus the spring force applied by valve opening spring 32. Once this threshold is exceeded, the valve 19 will rapidly bounce away from the nozzle 20 by action of the valve opening spring 32. Energy stored in the firing spring 16 then pushes the piston 33 rapidly forward so that liquid is emitted past valve 19 through the nozzle 20. If the player does not pump the handle 21, the jet of water from nozzle 20 ceases when the firing piston 33 has reached the buffer 40 and the valve 19 has returned to its rest/closed position. The pump handle 21 can be repeatedly and continuously reciprocated to draw liquid from the reservoir 11 and deliver it to the firing chamber for dispatch through the nozzle 20 under pump action of the priming piston.
It will be understood that the hydraulic diverter 24 has two strokes—namely a pumping stroke and a suction stroke. During the pumping stroke, liquid flows into the firing chamber 42. During the suction stroke, no liquid flows into the firing chamber and as such the firing piston 33 will move forward. By correctly calibrating the nozzle dimensions to the pump throughput, a continuous flow of liquid from the nozzle 20 can be achieved upon reciprocation of handle 21.
Referring to
When the user ceases reciprocation of the handle 21, the firing piston 33 will returned to the position depicted in
The embodiments depicted in
It should be appreciated that modifications and alterations obvious to those skilled in the art are not to be considered as beyond the scope of the present invention. For example, rather than providing a linearly reciprocating piston rod and priming piston 22, the hydraulic diverter 24 could be activated by a pivotally reciprocating handle attached to internal rotary pump parts.
Claims
1. A toy gun comprising:
- a reservoir for storing liquid;
- a firing chamber;
- a nozzle extending from the firing chamber;
- a valve for closing off the nozzle;
- a firing piston in communication with the firing chamber;
- a firing spring biasing the firing piston in a direction to diminish the volume of the firing chamber;
- a pump receiving liquid from the reservoir and delivering same under pressure to the firing chamber whereupon the firing piston moves against the firing spring;
- a trigger connected with the valve so as to open the valve to eject liquid contents of the firing chamber through the nozzle under pressure.
2. The toy gun of claim 1, wherein the pump comprises a reciprocating priming piston and an inlet connected via a conduit to the reservoir and an outlet connected via a conduit to the firing chamber.
3. The toy gun of claim 1, wherein the valve includes a valve stem extending along an axis of the nozzle.
4. The toy gun of claim 3, wherein the firing spring is a coil spring having a longitudinal axis that is common with that of the nozzle.
5. The toy gun of claim 4, wherein the valve stem passes through the firing piston.
6. The toy gun of claim 3, further comprising a valve closing spring surrounding the valve stem and biasing the valve into a closed position.
7. The toy gun of claim 5, further comprising a valve opening spring surrounding the valve stem behind the firing piston.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 4, 2007
Publication Date: Oct 9, 2008
Inventor: Chor-Ming Ma (Kowloon)
Application Number: 11/732,769