Toy launcher and method
A recreational toy launching assembly and method for launching a toy are provided. The launching assembly includes a wing member slidably disposed along a structure which is employed for launching a toy. The wing member is coupled to an elastic member that is engaged to the structure. The method for launching a toy includes sliding a wing member in an initial direction along a structural portion of a launching assembly which is coupled to a toy; and releasing the wing member, causing the wing member to travel in a direction opposed to or opposite the initial direction and the toy to launch in the initial direction.
This application is based on Provisional Patent Application No.60/906,195, filed Mar. 12, 2007, and fully incorporated herein by reference thereto as if fully repeated verbatim immediately hereafter. Benefit of the Mar. 12, 2007 filing date is hereby claimed.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONEmbodiments of the present invention are related to an assembly for launching a toy. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide an assembly and method for launching or propelling a toy in a desired direction.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There are a number of toy launchers available for recreational purposes, such as the following by way of example only: (a) the toys sold under the trade mark Sky Blaster sold by Office Playground Inc.; (b) the toy launchers sold by Mattel, Inc; and (c) the rocket launchers sold by Toystore Inc. However, none combine the features of a wing member protruding from slots along the outer side of a tubular launcher and coupled to an elastic member.
SUMMARY OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTIONEmbodiments of the present invention provide a method for launching a recreational toy. The method comprises sliding a wing member in an initial direction along a structural portion of a launching assembly which is coupled to a toy; and releasing the wing member, causing the wing member to travel in a direction opposed to or opposite the initial direction and the toy to launch in the initial direction.
Embodiments of the present invention also provide a recreational toy comprising. a toy assembly having a launching assembly including a wing member slidably disposed along a structural portion of the toy assembly.
Embodiments of the present invention further provide a toy launching assembly comprising a wing member slidably disposed along a structure and coupled to an elastic member which is engaged to the structure.
These provisions, together with the various ancillary provisions and features which will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the following description proceeds, are attained by the methods and assemblies of the present invention.
In the description herein, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of components and/or methods, to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that an embodiment of the invention may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other apparatus, systems, assemblies, methods, components, materials, parts, and/or the like. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not specifically shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the embodiments of the present invention.
Referring in detail now to the drawings, wherein similar parts of the invention are identified by like reference numerals, there is seen a launching assembly 8 including a tubular member 10 having a pair of opposed slots 14 and 18 and ends 16 and 20. Slidably disposed in the opposed slots 14 and 18 is a wing member 22. The wing member 22 is coupled to an elastic member 26 (e.g. a rubber member, a spring member, etc), as best shown in
In an embodiment of the invention, any suitable object may be coupled to end 16. In
In another embodiment of the invention, the tube 10 may be disposed inside the toy, such as illustrated in
The launching assembly 8 basically comprises two positions, a non-cocked or unloaded position, as illustrated in
In the cocked or loaded position illustrated in
When the hand quickly releases its grasped position or disengages from around the outside surface of the tubular member 10, the wing member 22 starts traveling in direction of arrow B. The force or speed that the wing member 22 travels away from end 16 and towards end 20 depends on the elasticity (ability or speed to return to an original position). When and as wing member 22 starts traveling (and sliding along opposed slots 14 and 18) in direction of arrow B and towards end 20, the tubular member 10 moves in the opposite direction, in direction of arrow A. The preceding described procedure is the basic principle for launching the tubular member 10 and/or the toy (i.e., a toy coupled to or supporting the tubular member 10).
In another embodiment of the invention, after the hand releases its grasped position on the tubular member 10 and/or the toy, a portion of the hand (e.g., the fingers) contacts part of the wing member 22 (e.g., the edge part of wing sections 22a and 22b) to cause the wing member 22 to remain momentarily fixed or stationary; thus, the wing member is prevented from immediately sliding along opposed slots 14 and 18 of the tubular member 10. When the wing member 22 is momentarily prevented from sliding (i.e., toward end 20), the elastic member 26 commences to collapse and pull the end 20 of the tubular member 10 toward the momentarily stationed wing member 22. For this embodiment of the invention, end 20 begins to travel in direction of arrow A towards the stationary wing member 22 at a higher speed and more forcefully than when the elastic member 26 commences to collapsed generally simultaneously with the releasing of the wing member 22 for sliding along opposed slots 14 and 18 in the tubular member 10. The movement of end 20 toward the momentarily stationary wing member 20 at a higher speed (or more forcefully) enables the toy to be launched or propelled in direction of arrow A at a distance farther than when the elastic member 26 commences to collapse simultaneously when the wing member 22 begins its movement toward end 20. Thus, end 20, which is coupled to an end of the elastic member 26, will travel faster towards the momentarily stationary wing member 22 than when the wing member 22 does remain stationary momentarily; i.e., if the wing member 22 and the end 20 started sliding toward each other generally at the same time. If the elastic member 26 starts collapsing simultaneously with the wing member 22 being released from engagement with a part of the hand, the toy would not be launched as far as when the wing member 22 remained stationary for a fixed period of time, which could be from 0.05 to 2 seconds depending on the length of the tubular member 10, as well as the length of the elastic member 26 and slots 14 and 18.
Referring now to
Launching of the football 66 may include hand 80 releasing its grasped of the football 66, causing the wing member 22 to initially start becoming not bent by structurally proceed into the configuration shown in
Practices of embodiments of the present invention provide a built-in toy launching system, which works as one unit. The holding hand becomes the trigger during releasing of the toy. The toy launcher for embodiments of the present invention may be used for and/or in combination with any suitable toy, such as by way of example only: airplanes, cars, arrows, fish, submarine, boats, jet-skis, rockets, torpedoes, birds. The toy launcher may also be used for and/or in combination with any suitable device or assembly related to a sport activity, such as javelins, pole spears, and arch arrows. In an embodiment of the present invention, the propelling or launching assembly may employ any suitable propelling or launching force, such as, by way of example only, a rubber or elastic member, or a spring member.
The rubber or elastic member includes a sliding wing member attached thereto. The wing member may have various shapes, such as oval, circular, rectangular, or square. The rubber or elastic member is disposed within a launcher (e.g., a tubular launcher) which may possess various shapes in vertical cross section, such as oval, circular, rectangular, or square. The launcher may have one or more (e.g. four) slots or openings through which the wing member may protrude.
The spirit and scope of embodiments of the present invention is not to be limited to any specific toy or to any sport related activity. When ever “toy” is stated herein or in the claims, it is to comprise, by way of example only, a conventional toy, a device or assembly used in a sport, or any other suitable object or device employed for any suitable purpose.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “a specific embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention and not necessarily in all its embodiments. Therefore, the respective appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment”, “in an embodiment”, or “in a specific embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics of any specific embodiment of the present invention may be combined in any suitable manner with one or more other embodiments. It is to be understood that other variations and modifications of the embodiments of the present invention described and illustrated herein are possible in light of the teachings herein and are to be considered as part of the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Additionally, any arrows in the drawings/figures should be considered only as exemplary, and not limiting, unless otherwise specifically noted. Furthermore, the term “or” as used herein is generally intended to mean “and/or” unless otherwise indicated. Combinations of components or steps will also be considered as being noted, where terminology is foreseen as rendering the ability to separate or combine is unclear.
As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, “a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
The foregoing description of illustrated embodiments of the present invention, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed herein. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described herein for illustrative purposes only, various equivalent modifications are possible within the spirit and scope of the present invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize and appreciate. As indicated, these modifications may be made to the present invention in light of the foregoing description of the illustrated embodiments of the present invention and are to be included within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Therefore, while the present invention has been described herein with reference to the particular embodiments thereof, a latitude of modification, various changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosures, and it will be appreciated that in some instances some features of the embodiments of the invention will be employed without the corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as set forth. Therefore, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the essential scope and spirit of the present invention. It is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular terms used in following claims and/or to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include any and all embodiments and equivalents falling within the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A method for launching a toy comprising:
- (a) sliding a wing member in a direction along a structural portion of a launching assembly which is coupled to a toy; and
- (b) releasing the wing member, causing the wing member to travel in a direction opposite the direction in step (a), and causing the toy to launch in the direction in step (a).
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said wing member travels along a slot in the toy.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said wing member travels along a slot in a tubular member.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein said tubular member is disposed within said toy, and said wing member travels along the slot in the toy and the slot in the tubular member.
5. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising contacting the wing member after said releasing step to prevent said wing member from immediately traveling in the direction opposite to the direction in step (a).
6. The method of claim 2 additionally comprising contacting the wing member after said releasing step to prevent said wing member from immediately traveling in the direction opposite to the direction in step (a).
7. The method of claim 3 additionally comprising contacting the wing member after said releasing step to prevent said wing member from immediately traveling in the direction opposite to the direction in step (a).
8. The method of claim 2 additionally comprising collapsing an elastic member that is coupled to the toy and to the wing member.
9. The method of claim 3 additionally comprising collapsing an elastic member that is coupled to the tubular member and to the wing member.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein said toy is disposed in a liquid.
11. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising bending the wing member against a structural portion of the toy.
12. A toy assembly comprising a launching assembly including a wing member slidably disposed along a structural portion of the toy assembly, and having an elastic member.
13. The toy assembly of claim 12 wherein said structural portion of the toy assembly comprises a slot.
14. The toy assembly of claim 12 wherein said toy assembly comprises a toy having said elastic member coupled thereto.
15. The toy assembly of claim 12 wherein said toy assembly comprises a tubular member having said elastic member coupled to said wing member and to an end of the tubular member.
16. The toy assembly of claim 12 wherein said toy assembly comprises a toy, a slot disposed in said toy, a tubular member disposed in said toy, and a slot disposed in said tubular member, said slot in said toy and said slot in said tubular member are aligned with each other.
17. A toy launching assembly comprising a wing member slidably disposed along a structure and coupled to an elastic member which is engaged to the structure.
18. The toy launching assembly of claim 17 wherein said structure comprises a tubular member having a slot where through said wing member extends.
19. The toy launching assembly of claim 17 wherein said structure comprises a toy having a slot where through said wing member extends
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 19, 2007
Publication Date: Oct 9, 2008
Inventor: Boguslaw Orlowski (San Clemente, CA)
Application Number: 12/002,861
International Classification: A63H 29/00 (20060101);