Music box toy

A music box toy comprises a music box contained within the toy, a movable appendage partially projecting externally of the toy, means for driving the appendage, and a connecting member for operationally connecting the appendage with the drive means. During playing time of the music box, the appendage is moved by the drive means. On the other hand, when the appendage is externally moved, the connecting member is adapted to move away from the drive means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates to a toy internally housing a music box, and more 
particularly, to an animated music box toy having a movable appendage 
which is moved during the playing time of the music box. 
A music box toy of the type having a movable appendage which is adapted to 
be moved during the playing of the internally housed music box is 
generally well known. A music box toy of this kind includes a connecting 
member which is disposed between the operationally connects the appendage 
and a drive to which a rotating motion is imparted from a rotating body 
located within the music box so that the operation of the drive is 
transmitted to the appendage through the connecting member. 
The movable appendage may take a variety of forms. For example, if the toy 
is shaped as a bird, the appendage will be formed as a pair of wings. If 
the toy is in the form of a child, the appendage will be implemented as a 
pair of arms. Usually, the movable appendage is adapted to reciprocate in 
the vertical direction or back and forth. 
The movable appendage is inherently designed to move under the control of a 
drive contained within the toy. However, because the appendage projects 
externally of the toy, children playing with the toy tend to grasp the 
appendage with their hands or to move the appendage about out of 
curiosity. A conventional music box toy is constructed such that when the 
appendage is externally moved, such movement is transmitted to the drive 
means through a connecting member, or the movement of the connecting 
member is constrained by the drive means, so that if the appendage is 
externally moved in a forcible manner, the appendage, drive means or 
connecting member or their accessories may be damaged. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved music box toy which 
eliminates the above disadvantage of conventional music box toys. 
It is another object of the invention to provide a music box toy which 
assures a positive connection between a drive source contained within a 
music box and the drive means for the appendage but which is also 
disconnectable. 
Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following 
description of several embodiments thereof shown in the drawings. 
It is a major feature of the invention that the connecting member is 
supported in a freely movable manner so as to be disengaged from the 
driven part of the appendage, in order to avoid undue forces being applied 
to any of the driven part appendage, the connection between the driven 
part and the appendage and other parts thereof, when the movable appendage 
of the music box toy is moved by an external force. As a consequence, no 
interference is caused to the music box toy when the movable appendage, 
which is designed for movement under the control of the internally housed 
drive means, is moved by an external force such as by being swung about by 
a hand of a child.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to the drawings, a music box toy 1 is shown in FIG. 1 adapted to 
be suspended on a wall by an eyelet 1a or placed on a table. The body of 
the toy 1 comprises a pair of housings in the form of a front half and a 
rear half 2 and 3, respectively, (FIG. 2) which are adhesively joined 
together to form an inner hollow space. The rear half 3 is integrally 
formed with a pair of horizontally extending posts 3a, 3b (FIG. 3) on 
which a music box 4 of a conventional construction is secured as by fixing 
its substrate 4a by set screws. Since the internal construction of the 
music box has no connection with the present invention, it will not be 
described in detail herein, and it is sufficient for the present purpose 
to mention that it includes a drum-shaped gear 5 which is secured to one 
end of a well-known rotating drum 6 (FIG. 5) fixedly carrying a number of 
pins around its periphery. 
The music box 4 is adapted to be driven by the resilience of a spring which 
is tensioned when a string 7 extending downwardly from the music box 4 
through a bottom plate 3c (FIG. 5) of the rear half 3 is pulled. A music 
box toy which is constructed to be charged by an external string and to 
initiate the playing of the music box at the time the string is released 
is well known. 
The front half 2 of the body includes a pair of laterally extending movable 
appendages 9L and 9R disposed in its lower portion, and also includes a 
drive unit 10 (FIG. 3) in its central region, which unit is adapted to be 
driven by the drum gear 5. The appendages 9L, 9R and the drive unit 10 are 
operationally connected together through a connecting member 11 which is 
disposed therebetween. The movable appendage 9R is rockably mounted by 
having a mounting hole therein (not shown) fitted on a stem 12a of a 
reduced diameter at the rear end of a post 12 which is integrally formed 
with the front half 2. The disengagement of the appendage 9R from the stem 
12a is prevented by another post 14 formed on the rear half 3 which has 
its end face brought into abutting engagement against the end face of the 
stem 12a when the both halves 2, 3 and joined together. The bonding 
between the both halves 2, 3 can be further enhanced by clamping the both 
posts 12, 14 together by a threaded bolt 15 which is inserted from the 
rear of the rear half 3 after both halves have been adhesively joined 
together. 
Referring to FIG. 4, it will be noted that the appendage 9R is urged, by 
gravity, to rotate clockwise about the stem 12a, but the resulting 
rotation is blocked by the abutment of a shoulder 9a formed on the inner 
end of the appendage 9R against a jaw or bend 11a formed in the connecting 
member 11. The extent of rocking motion of the appendage 9R is limited by 
an upper end a lower edge 17a, 17b of a notch 17 formed in the front and 
rear halves 2 and 3. 
The other appendage 9L is configured and arranged symmetrically to the 
appendage 9R with respect to a vertical centerline of the front half 2, as 
viewed in FIG. 4. The drive unit 10 for the appendages, shown enlarged in 
FIG. 6, comprises a gear 20 which meshes with the drive gear 5, a cam 21 
which is substantially integral with the gear 20, another gear 22 meshing 
with the gear 20, and a member 2b which supports the shafts 20a, 22a of 
the gears 20, 22. The support means 2b comprises a pair of plates 
integrally formed with the front half 2 and disposed in opposing 
relationship, and these plates are formed with a pair of vertically spaced 
rectangular notches 23, 24 into which the opposite ends of the shafts 20a, 
22a are loosely fitted so as to be rotatable therein. 
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, it will be noted that the three gears 5, 20 and 
22 are located relative to each other such that the shaft 20a of the gear 
20 is situated forwardly of a line joining the shaft 5a of the drive gear 
5 and the shaft 22a of the gear 22, and when the gear 5 rotates in the 
counterclockwise direction, the gears 20, 22 are urged in a direction such 
that their shafts 20a, 22a are driven toward the inner end of the notches 
23, 24, thereby preventing a rattling of these gears while they are driven 
by the gear 5. The notches 23 in which to receive the shaft of the gear 20 
have a width which is slightly greater than the diameter of the shaft 20a 
so as to facilitate a meshing engagement with the gears 5 and 22. 
When not being driven by the gear 5 or when the music box is not in 
operation, the disengagement of the gear 22 from the notches 24 is 
prevented by locating the shaft 22a more inward into the notches 24 than a 
perpendicular drawn from the point of contact P between the gears 20 and 
22 to one side 24a of the notches 24. 
In this manner, the gear 22 serves to assure a positive engagement of the 
gear 20 provided on the part of the front half 2 with the gear 5 provided 
on the part of the rear half 3. However, the positive engagement of the 
gear 20 with the gear 5 can also be assured, instead of using the gear 22, 
by resiliently urging the shaft 20a of the gear 20 toward the gear 5, as 
illustrated in FIG. 7. Referring to this Figure, a gear 120 which meshes 
with the gear 5 has its shaft 120a fitted into recesses 123 formed in 
support plates 103d, and is urged toward the gear 5 by a leaf spring 25 
which is secured to the support plates 103d. The shaft 120a of the gear 
120 is received in the notches 123 before the front and rear halves 2, 3 
are joined together, and leaf spring 25 has a configuration in its 
untensioned condition not to urge the shaft 120a out of the notches 123. 
When the front and rear halves are joined together, the gear 5 is brought 
into engagement with the gear 120 against the resilience of the spring 25. 
The gear 120 fixedly carries a cam 121 which serves to drive the 
appendages. 
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the connecting member 11 includes a vertically 
extending lower portion 11a, a vertically extending upper portion 11b, and 
a horizontally extending portion which connects the vertical portions 11d 
and 11b together. The upper portion 11b is formed with a vertical elongate 
slot 26, which is engaged by a headed pin 27 which is fixedly mounted on 
an internal projection 2a integrally formed with the front half 2, thereby 
supporting the connecting member so as to be slidable in the vertical 
direction. The connecting member 11 also includes a horizontal arm 11c 
which extends rearwardly from the upper portion 11b, the horizontal arm 
11c bearing against the cam 21 from above. At this end, the connecting 
member 11 may have sufficient weight to overcome the tendency of the 
appendages 9R, 9L to rotate in a direction to push up the connecting 
member. Alternatively, the connecting member 11 may be resiliently biased 
in the downward direction. An opening 28 is formed in the connecting 
member 11 to avoid an interference with the drive unit 10, and a tail on 
lower portion 11d extends from the bottom of the frame which forms the 
opening 28 for fitting engagement between a pair of thin rods 29 which are 
integrally formed with the front half 2. 
When the gear 20 is driven by the gear 5, the cam 21 which is integral 
therewith rotates to raise the arm 11c against the downward bias of the 
connecting member 11 and the tendency of rotation of the appendages 9R, 
9L, and then as the cam 21 further rotates, the connecting member 11 
becomes free to move down, whereby the appendages 9R, 9L repeat an 
oscillating motion in the vertical direction during the playing of the 
music box. 
When the music box is in its playing mode or in its inoperative condition, 
an external force applied to the appendage 9R to rock it may result in the 
shoulder 9a acting to raise the connecting member 11. However, the arm 11c 
of the connecting member 11 moves away from the cam 21 at this time, so 
that the transmission of the force from the appendage 9R to the drive unit 
10 is avoided. The same applies to an external force applied to the other 
appendage 9L. 
Instead of using the cam 21, a vertical oscillation of the connecting 
member 11 can also be achieved by providing a gear, with an eccentric pin 
which is rotatably mounted on the connecting member, and driving this 
gear. FIG. 8 shows such an alternative arrangement for the drive unit in 
which the upper end of the connecting member 111 is formed with a 
rearwardly extending arm 111a, the end of which is provided with the notch 
31 for loose fitting engagement with an eccentric pin 33 fixedly mounted 
on a gear 32 which is in turn disposed in meshing engagement with a gear 
34. The gear 34 is fixedly mounted on another gear 35 which meshes with 
the drum gear 5 provided on the rear half. The gear 35 has its shafts 35a 
fitted into the notches 36 in a support 102a which is integral with front 
half 102, whereby the shaft 35a is rotatably mounted. The shaft 35a is 
urged toward the gear 5 by a leaf spring 37. 
When the gear 34 is driven clockwise by the gear 5 the gear 32 rotates 
counter-clockwise with rocking motion thereon to cause the eccentric pin 
33 to move the connecting member 111 up and down. The gear 32 merely bears 
against the gear 34 from above, so that the connecting member 111 is free 
to move upwardly while carried by pin 33. The disengagement of the pin 33 
from the notches 31 in the rearward direction is prevented by having the 
end face of a forward projection 103a from the rear half disposed in 
opposing relationship with the end of the pin 33 while gear 32 is 
permitted to move in and out of a slot therein. 
Although not shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a pair of colored eyeballs 111 may be 
provided on the upper portion 11b of the connecting member 11 behind the 
eyesockets as depicted in FIG. 1 so that they move up and down as the 
appendages rock. What is claimed is: