Abstract:
A toy fencing sword that is adapted to also fire its blade tip as a missile. The sword&#39;s launchable blade is comprised of a soft yet semi-rigid closed-cell foam material which makes it substantial enough for battering and poking as a sword, yet safe and painless enough to danger during missile-firing. The arrangement of the sword disguises its missile-firing capability from opponents.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention is a fencing and missile shooting apparatus for use at play. More specifically, it is a toy sword having a soft foam-covered blade for use in play fencing and having a tubular air piston within the sword&#39;s housing for alternative use in firing the blade&#39;s soft foam tubular cover as a projectile. The materials and arrangement of the sword make it particularly well-adapted for safe and painless play. 
       BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Sword components are defined according to well-known terminology, which will be used though-out this description. Typically, swords such as that of the present invention comprise a handle and a blade separated by a guard. 
         [0003]    The blade is the elongate portion used to poke or batter an opponent during battle, and generally has a sharp tip at the sword&#39;s forward end. 
         [0004]    The handle is the end of the sword grasped by the user during battle, and comprises a hilt portion for grasping by the user&#39;s hand and generally includes a bulbous pommel at the rearmost tip of the handle to prevent the hand from slipping off the handle. 
         [0005]    The guard separates the handle from the blade, prevents the hand from sliding forward onto the blade, prevents the blade from extending too far into a sheath during storage, and is often made ornate to improve the appearance of the sword. 
         [0006]    Toy swords and other fencing toys are well known in many forms in the prior art. Numerous varieties of toys swords and other bladed battering toys, having soft blades or tips for safety are made and have been made over the years for use predominantly by children while play fencing or pretend battling. 
         [0007]    Additionally, the prior art is filled with missile-shooting toys, such as toy guns, which use compressed air or the movement of a piston to eject and propel a soft foam missile. The use of a soft foam material eliminates the pain and hazard of being struck by such a missile, while the density and formability of components made of soft foam allows for the manufacture of missiles that have sufficient flight and trajectory characteristics for play without danger. 
         [0008]    It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved play-fencing sword that may also be used as a missile shooting toy, combining the benefits of play battering and missile-shooting in a non-obvious arrangement that disguises the intended next move of the combatants. 
         [0009]    It is another object of the invention to provide a missile-firing toy sword which is inexpensive to manufacture and has a simple yet effective arrangement of components to minimize the expense and effort of manufacture and increase reliability. 
         [0010]    Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent upon a review of the following description and drawings of the invention, including the preferred embodiment thereof. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    The present invention comprises a toy fencing sword that is adapted to also fire a portion of its blade as a missile. The launchable portion of the blade is made of a soft foam material which is safe and painless during play, yet which is dense enough so that, when formed in such an aerodynamic shape as a sword blade, it is able to maintain a stable trajectory and fly a sufficient distance for acceptable play. The launchable portion of the blade is made preferably of polyethylene (PE) closed cell foam. This closed cell material is soft yet sufficiently rigid, so that the blade will not cause harm or pain during use, yet will maintain its shape during flight. 
         [0012]    In the preferred embodiment, the sword is comprised of a rigid housing having an inner chamber comprised of a hollow cylindrical tube and a piston which slides within the tube to increase or decrease the air volume within the chamber. Movement of the piston is controlled at the handle end of the sword by grasping the sword&#39;s pommel for convenient actuation by the user during battle. The above-mentioned portion of the sword&#39;s blade is a soft foam launchable outer surface. 
         [0013]    Controlled movement of the piston relative to the housing and the resulting change of the volume of the inner chamber cause the pulling of air into and forcing air out of the chamber in a controlled fashion. 
         [0014]    During a rearward expansion stroke of the piston, air is inhaled into the chamber through a one-way intake valve in the pommel. 
         [0015]    During a forward compression stroke of the piston that inhaled air is exhausted from the chamber through a hole in the housing which directs the exhausting air towards the soft launchable blade portion to fire it as a missile from the housing. 
         [0016]    The sword&#39;s user causes such expansion by simply grasping the pommel and retracting the piston from the housing. That air then exits in a blast though the opposite end during the opposite compression stroke to pneumatically force the blade from the sword as a missile. 
         [0017]    The shape and arrangement of the sword&#39;s components provide the ability to actuate the firing of the missile quickly from the normal holding position used during fencing, without fore-warning, which further enhances the surprise capability of the missile firing function. The shape and configuration of the toy sword of the present invention disguises its missile-shooting capability from opponents who are not themselves familiar with the sword. The arrangement of the missile-shooting mechanism enables the user to shoot the missile without substantially repositioning his/her hands from the fencing position to catch opponents by surprise. The sword&#39;s launchable blade is made of a soft foam material, and serves as the missile which may be instantly fired from the sword. 
         [0018]    A more complete understanding of the invention will be realized upon review of the following description of the preferred embodiment of the invention and the appended drawings. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0019]      FIG. 1  is a side view of a toy fencing sword according to the preferred embodiment of the invention, 
           [0020]      FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the sword of  FIG. 1  showing the firing if the blade as a missile, 
           [0021]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional exploded view through the sword of  FIG. 1  showing the firing if the blade as a missile, 
           [0022]      FIG. 4  is a partial cross-sectional view through the handle portion of the sword of  FIG. 1 , 
           [0023]      FIG. 5  is a partial cross-sectional view of the air-intake valve of the handle portion of  FIG. 4 , showing the intake of air during the expansion stroke of the handle portion, 
           [0024]      FIG. 6  is a partial cross-sectional view of the air-intake valve of the handle portion of  FIG. 4 , showing the blocking of air outflow there-through during the compression stroke of the handle portion, and 
           [0025]      FIG. 7  is an end view of the handle portion and intake valve of  FIG. 4 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0026]    The preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in  FIGS. 1  though  7 , where there is depicted a toy sword  100  for fencing or missile-shooting. 
         [0027]    The sword of the present invention comprises a rigid housing  102  which includes the guard  104 , a rigid blade base  106 , and the hilt  108 . Specifically, the elongate housing comprises the sword&#39;s hilt and the base of the blade together with the guard, in a rigid and unitary arrangement, with the hilt  108  and blade base  106  coaxially aligned. 
         [0028]    A cylindrical hollow inner chamber  112  is disposed within the housing, extending from the forward end  114  of the base of the blade, back and through the rearmost end  116  of the hilt. The rear end of the chamber  116 , and thus of the hilt, is open, and is adapted to receive piston  120 , which freely fits within the open end  116  of the hilt and slides longitudinally within the inner chamber  112  to increase or decrease the volume of the chamber. The air volume within chamber is thusly increased as the piston is pulled rearwardly away from the housing during an expansion stroke and is decreased as the inner housing is pushed back forwardly into the housing during a compression stroke. 
         [0029]    The expansion stroke is limited by extension tether  122 , which connects the piston to the housing in a manner that allows free longitudinal relative movement between the piston and housing, but which retains the piston from pulling completely free from the housing. Tether  122  is comprised of a non-stretchable string, to abruptly deny rearward motion of the piston as it nears the point where continued motion would cause its removal from the housing. Alternatively, tether could be made of an elastic string and could assist to pull the piston back into the housing when it has been left accidentally extended. 
         [0030]    The compression stroke is limited by contact between the rear most end  116  of the hilt and the forward edge  124  of pommel  126  at the rearmost end of the piston, which is too large in diameter to fit into the chamber. 
         [0031]    With the piston inserted into chamber  112 , the chamber is closed except of an air exhaust hole  130 , at the forward end  114  of the chamber and an air inlet valve  132  at the rearward pommel end of the piston. The air inlet valve  132  comprises a plurality of holes  134  through the rearward end  136  of the pommel  126  which allow pneumatic communication between chamber  112  and the outer environment, and rubber stopper  140  disposed within the pommel which is adapted to move forward and rearward on longitudinal post  142  and is biased by the flow of air against or away from the plurality of holes  134 . Incoming air during the expansion stroke forces the stopper  140  from the holes to allow air intake though the holes, as shown in  FIG. 5 , but the stopper is forced back against the holes by the pressure of air attempting to escape from the chamber to block such communication and any air exhaust passage through the holes during the compression stroke, as shown in  FIG. 6 . 
         [0032]    At the forward-most end of the blade&#39;s base is disposed hollow blade mounting shaft  150 , which receives and positions the removable soft blade portion  152  that forms the battering and fencing portion and launchable portion of the blade. 
         [0033]    The missile-shaped soft blade portion  152  is preferably made of closed-cell polyethylene foam to avoid injury and pain during fencing, or when used as a missile which may be launched from the sword. Other materials may be substituted for polyethylene foam, such as ethylene vinyl acetate closed-cell foam, neoprene foam, or numerous similarly soft and sufficiently dense materials. The elongate blade portion  152  comprises a hollow base portion  154  which fittingly mates with the housing&#39;s mounting shaft  150 , a solid shaft portion  156 , and a bullet-shaped tip  158 . 
         [0034]    During normal fencing play, the fitted attachment of the hollow base portion  154  of soft blade portion  152  onto the mounting shaft  150  is sufficiently snug to hold the blade portion  152  onto the housing  102  without inadvertent removal, and the skeletal support provided to the soft blade portion by the rigid mounting shaft  150  is sufficient to allow the user to poke and batter opponents without having the blade collapse or bend. 
         [0035]    The hollow interior  160  of the mounting shaft  150  communicates pneumatically with the air exhaust hole  130  so that air forced from chamber  112  by the decreasing chamber volume during the compression stroke of the piston is directed through exhaust hole  130 , through the mounting shaft  150 , and is forced out through launching hole  162  at the forward tip  164  of the mounting shaft in a powerful blast. 
         [0036]    During play fencing, the user may at anytime decide to launch the soft blade portion as a missile towards an opponent in a surprise attack, as follows; 
         [0037]    First, while holding the hilt  108  with one hand, the user grasps the pommel  126  with the other hand and pulls it rearward as far as the tether  122  will allow. Expansion of the chamber  112  caused by the motion of the piston  120  relative to the housing  102 , as shown in  FIGS. 2 ,  4  and  5 , causes air to be inhaled into the expanding inner chamber  112  through the air inlet valve  132 . Less preferably, intake holes could be positioned elsewhere to allow air to enter the expanding chamber during the expansion stroke of piston, such as through housing. 
         [0038]    Subsequent rapid compression of piston  120  relative to the housing, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 6 , causes that air to be exhaled through exhaust hole  130 , mounting shaft  150  and launching hole  162  in a powerful blast. One-way air inlet valve  132  in the pommel, which allowed air to enter the chamber during the expansion stroke, now denies exhaust of the air from passing out of the chamber  112  though holes  134 , to thereby force all exhausting air to be directed though the launching hole  162  and thereby maximize the intensity of this powerful blast. 
         [0039]    The fit of the missile-shaped launchable blade portion  152  to the mounting shaft  150 , which is sufficiently snug for fencing and battering play, is insufficient to retain the blade portion on the shaft against the force of the powerful blast, and the blade portion  152  is rapidly ejected from the post as a missile, as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0040]    Because the rearward portion  154  of soft blade portion  152  is hollow for mating with mounting shaft  150 , it is lighter than the solid forward portion of the blade portion and the center-of-mass of the missile is substantially forward of the blade portion  152 . The missile is therefore especially well-adapted for missile-like trajectory, with hollow rear portion  154  serving basically as a stabilizing tail during flight. 
         [0041]    This positioning of the center of mass and the aerodynamic shape of the elongate foam blade with its bullet-shaped tip  158  make it well adapted for flight and suited for accurate aiming. During propulsion of tip through the air, this arrangement causes the missile to maintain a stabile and straight course, without tumbling, curving, or erratic movement. 
         [0042]    One can also readily appreciate that by use of the sword&#39;s pommel  126  to actuate the propulsion of the missile and the disguising of the blade portion  152  as an integral part of the sword, it allows the user to surprise opponents who may not be aware of the missile-firing function of sword. In fact, one using the sword in its typical fencing mode and thereby grasping it by the pommel needs only to quickly draw back and forth on the pommel while aiming the sword at the opponent, to fire an unexpected missile. The invention allows the user a surprising option while battling against his/her foes. 
         [0043]    It will be appreciated by those skilled in the applicable arts that the foregoing is merely one of many possible embodiments of the invention, and that the invention should therefore only be limited according to the following claims.