Toys with a battery powered light emitting diode lighted by movement

An assembly mounted in a toy containing a light emitting diode and a battery. The light emitting diode lights when the module is moved. The assembly may be mounted in a toy such as a toy truck with rough tires and the vibration caused by rolling the truck on a flat surface causes the light emitting diode to go on and off. The diode is energized by a movable weight positioned above a wafer battery in the assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The field of the invention is lighting and the invention relates more 
particularly to lights used in toys. 
Battery operated lights are widely used in toys to add to the excitement of 
using the toy. Unfortunately children often leave the switch on and the 
battery is quickly dissipated. Another style of light-containing toy uses 
a generator which generates sufficient electricity to light a light but 
such toys are relatively expensive and require a smooth surface to operate 
properly. 
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been widely used recently in shoes which 
light when the wearer exerts pressure on the heel by walking. Also, a 
module containing an LED has been devised wherein the leads to the LED are 
placed near the poles of a wafer battery and a weight is suspended over 
one of the leads of the LED. Movement of the shoe moves the weight which 
in turn moves the LED lead into contact with a pole of the wafer battery 
completing the circuit and lighting the LED. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a light assembly for 
use in a toy which is operated when the toy is moved, but is not otherwise 
energized. 
The present invention is for an assembly positioned in a toy. The assembly 
having a frame with at least a right side, a left side and a front. A 
wafer battery is held by the right and left sides of the frame, said 
battery having an upper terminal and a lower terminal. A light emitting 
diode is held by the front of the frame and has a light emitting portion 
from which an upper and lower metallic conductor or lead extend in a 
generally horizontal manner. The upper and lower termini are positioned so 
that there is an upper and a lower conductor lead and the lower conductor 
lead is shaped so that it is in continuous contact with the lower terminal 
of the wafer battery. The upper lead of the LED is spaced closely to the 
battery and has a weight urging the upper lead downwardly and into contact 
with the upper terminal of the wafer battery. Even the slight vibration 
caused for instance by rolling a toy truck with slightly knobby wheels on 
a smooth surface will cause the upper lead and weight to vibrate up and 
down and make many contacts with the upper terminal of the wafer battery 
causing the LED to light.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
A toy truck is shown in side view in FIG. 1 and indicated generally by 
reference character 10. Toy truck 10 has a body 11 and four wheels, two of 
which are indicated by reference characters 12 and 13. Wheels 12 and 13 
are shown as knobby wheels having knobby treads 14. Toy truck 10 is shown 
resting on a smooth surface 15. 
In the hood area 16, a hood 17 is shown in a closed position and also in an 
open position in a phantom view. The engine compartment 18 has a hollowed 
out portion with a floor 19 and a front area 20. An LED 21 has a light 
emitting portion 22, an upper lead 23 and a lower lead 24. Lower lead 24 
is in contact with the lower terminal 25 of wafer battery 26. The upper 
lead 27 of LED 21 rests above upper terminal 30 of wafer battery 26 and a 
weight 28 rests on the upper lead 27 and moves it downwardly slightly but 
leaves a gap 29 between the upper lead terminal 27 of LED 21 and the upper 
battery terminal 30. This gap should be very small in the range of 0.020 
inches and it has been found that the very small movement caused by the 
rolling of treads 14 on a smooth surface 15 will be sufficient to light 
the LED in what appears to be an almost continuous manner. The effect of 
the front lights of toy truck 10 which are LEDs lighting as the truck is 
rolled along a smooth surface is very remarkable and it appears that the 
truck is generating electricity. 
The LED and battery assembly is shown in cross-sectional view in FIG. 2 
where it can be seen that there are two LEDs 21 and 31, each of which have 
upper leads 27 and 32 and lower leads 24 and 33. The weight 28 is shown in 
FIG. 2 as a disk shaped weight, but of course need not be a disk shaped 
weight. Preferably, weight 28 should be insulated and it is contemplated 
that a painted or otherwise insulated metal weight would be used. It can 
also be seen in FIG. 2 that battery 26 is held in the engine compartment 
18 by four arms 34, 35, 36 and 39. Preferably, engine compartment 18 has a 
floor 37 which securely holds lower lead 24 against the lower terminal 25 
of battery 26. 
An alternate embodiment is shown in FIG. 3 where a generally rectangular 
weight 38 is substituted for the disk shaped weight 28 of FIG. 2. Also, 
the LEDs and upper leads are both directed rearwardly in FIG. 3. 
An alternate embodiment is shown in FIG. 4 where vehicle 40 has six wheels 
41, which rest on floor 42. A truck bed 43 supports a box 44 which holds a 
single LED indicated generally by reference character 45 which as seen in 
FIGS. 6 through 9 has a light-emitting portion 46. As seen best in the 
cross-sectional view of FIGS. 7 and 8, box 44 has a front 47, a back 48, a 
right side 49 and a left side 50. Box 44 also has a top 51. LED 45 is held 
in a cavity in front 47 so that its light-emitting portion 46 extends 
outwardly from front 47 and its lower lead 52 is in continuous contact 
with the bottom terminal 53 of wafer battery 54. Upper battery terminal 
54' is held out of contact with upper LED lead 55 which is urged 
downwardly by hinged weight 56. Hinged weight 56 is held hingedly at its 
front end in a cavity 57 and rests on upper lead 55 as shown best in FIGS. 
8 and 9. Hinged weight 56 is freely hinged which means that the weight 
loosely pivots at its hinged point at its hinged point at its front end. 
As the truck 40 is vibrated by rolling it along a floor 42, inertia moves 
the weight downwardly as shown in FIG. 9 to cause the LED to light. Once 
again, as discussed above, this vibration can be very minimal and the gap 
58 between the upper LED lead 55 and the upper battery terminal 54' is 
very slight such as 0.020 inches. 
An alternate embodiment of vehicle is shown in FIG. 10, indicated by 
reference character 60. Vehicle 60 has the same elements as vehicle 40, 
except that box 61 has a pair of headlights 62 and 63 which are lighted as 
shown in FIG. 11. In FIG. 11 it can be seen that LED 64 has a 
light-emitting portion which is positioned so that a pair of optical paths 
65 made from a material such as an acrylic plastic will transmit the light 
to headlights 62 and 63. The wafer battery, as above, is held in a groove 
66 in box 61 which securely maintains it in place and hinged weight 56 is 
shown as the means by which the upper LED lead 55 contacts the upper 
battery terminal 54'. 
The result is a toy which has the advantage of remaining off during 
shipping, particularly if the vehicle is packaged upside down in the 
shipping container and the vehicle also remains unlit when it is not being 
used by a child. Thus, the battery remains fresh for use. While the 
invention has been shown in conjunction with a toy truck, it of course can 
be used with other toys which are subject to slight movement, although 
wheeled vehicles provide an especially useful environment. The weight need 
not be very great and a typical weight would be five (5) grams and as 
shown in the drawings may be hinged or freely supported. 
The present embodiments of this invention are thus to be considered in all 
respects as illustrative and not restrictive; the scope of the invention 
being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing 
description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of 
equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.