Remotely-steered toy car with five wheels

A multiple wheeled toy car featuring a remotely controlled front wheel steering and a single powered, middle, rear wheel for propulsion. Two other rear wheels flank the powered wheel. The flank rear wheels are each mounted upon a freely moveable road wheel arm with a limiter to limit upward travel of the arm. These flank wheels contact the surface and tend to resist lateral displacement of the car's rear end when the car has been placed into a hard turn.

A toy car comprising a pair of front wheels and a plurality of rear wheels 
is disclosed, in which the plurality of rear wheels comprise a central 
main wheel and a pair of follower wheels on either side of the main wheel. 
The toy car is simple in construction and may prevent transverse slippage 
or turnover of a car body upon sudden change of its running direction. 
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a toy car, more particularly to an improvement in 
the toy car. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
There have previously been proposed various types of toy cars, such as a 
spring-drive type, a battery-drive type, a wireless-control type and 
others, for winning popularity with younger children. However, the 
majority of such conventional toy cars may slip transversely upon sudden 
change of a running direction, and in a worse case may lose its balance 
and turn over. In order to eliminate such disadvantages, an 
independent-suspension system has been utilized for maintaining the weight 
balance, which system results in complicated structure and a high cost. 
As a result of diligent efforts to design a toy car which is simple in 
construction and may prevent transverse slippage upon sudden change of the 
running direction, it has now been found out that an improved design of 
the toy car comprising a pair of front wheels and a plurality of rear 
wheels mounted to a car body, in which said plurality of rear wheels 
comprise a main wheel arranged substantially at the center of a car width 
and a pair of follower wheels arranged on either sides of the main wheel, 
said pair of follower wheels each being pivoted to one end of a supporting 
arm while the other end of the supporting arm being pivoted to an 
eccentric position in relation to an axle of the main wheel, may run on 
three wheels, namely the front wheels, the rear main wheel and either one 
of the follower wheels upon the sudden change of the running direction. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Thus, an object of the invention is to provide a toy car which is simple in 
construction and may readily change its running direction. 
The object may be achieved, in accordance with the invention by designing 
the toy car comprising a pair of front wheels and a plurality of rear 
wheels mounted to a car body, in which said plurality of rear wheels 
comprise a main wheel arranged substantially at the center of a car width 
and a pair of follower wheels arranged on either sides of the main wheel, 
said pair of follower wheels each being pivoted to one end of a supporting 
arm with the other end of the supporting arm being pivoted to an eccentric 
position in relation to an axle of the main wheel. 
In the toy car of the invention, a running balance may be further improved 
by putting a heavier fixed loading on the rear wheel side than on the 
front wheel side of the car body.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
In the drawings, the toy car according to the invention comprises a car 
body 10 formed of, for example, a plastic material as well as a pair of 
front wheels 12, 12 and a plurality of rear wheels consisted of a main 
wheel 14 arranged substantially at the center of a car width and a pair of 
follower wheels 16, 16 arranged on either side of the main wheel 14. The 
car body 10 at its front part contains a direction-change means 18 which 
may be operated by an output signal from a wireless-controller (not shown) 
provided separately from the car body. The direction-change means 18 may 
be connected through an optional power-transmission mechanism (not shown) 
to the front wheels 12, 12. On the other hand, the car body 10 at its rear 
part, namely at a carrier 20 is provided with a driving motor 22 which is 
operated by another output signal from the wireless-controller. A driving 
shaft of the motor 22 is connected through another power-transmission 
mechanism (not shown) to an axle 24 of the main wheel 14 for serving the 
main wheel 14 as a driving wheel. In this case, the carrier 20 is 
provided, in addition to the driving motor 22, with a power battery (not 
shown) in order to put a heavier fixed loading on the rear wheel side than 
on the front wheel side. 
Each of the pair of rear wheels 16, 16 is rotatably mounted to one end of a 
supporting arm 28, while the other end of the arm 28 is pivoted through a 
shaft 30 to an eccentric position in relation to an axle 24 of the main 
wheel 14. In FIG. 2, a reference 32 represents a stopper for defining the 
upper limit when the supporting arm 28 rotates on the shaft 30. 
The toy car according to the invention will be described hereinbelow for 
its operation and effect. 
In operation of the toy car, the car body 10 is placed on the floor or the 
ground and the wireless-controller is operated to start rotation of the 
driving motor 22. Thus, a rotational force of the motor 22 is transmitted 
through the power-transmission mechanism to the main wheel 14 thereby to 
drive the toy car straight at a given speed. In this case, both the 
follower wheels 16, 16 are contacted with the ground due to its own weight 
applied on the shaft 30 of the supporting arms 28, 28 and may rotate 
freely (FIG. 4). The toy car may change the running direction for the 
front wheels 12, 12 through selective operation of the direction-change 
means 18 by use of the wireless-controller while straight running. In this 
case, a sudden change of the running direction allows the car body 10 to 
incline due to a centrifugal force, as shown in FIG. 5. In accordance with 
the invention, one of the follower wheels 16b may rotate downwardly on the 
shaft 30 of the supporting arm 28 to oppose the centrifugal force in 
cooperation with the main wheel 14 and the front wheels 12, 12 and thus to 
prevent loss of the weight balance and transverse slippage or turnover of 
the car body. The other follower wheel 16a may be contacted with the 
ground, as in the straight running, due to its own weight applied on the 
shaft 30 of the supporting arm 28 and may rotate freely (FIG. 5). In case 
of more abrupt change the running direction in relation to the straight 
running speed, one of the front wheels 12 and one of the follower wheels 
16b may be lifted off from the ground. However, the remaining front wheel 
12, the main wheel 14 and the follower wheel 16a may keep running on the 
three wheels and prevent the transverse slippage or turnover here again 
(FIG. 6). 
As described hereinabove, the toy car according to the invention is simple 
in construction and may achieve not only the prevention of the transverse 
slippage and turnover of the car body upon the sudden change of its 
running direction but also the turning on a small radius. Further, a spin 
operation upon running is possible, thereby to provide a very amusing toy 
car. 
It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the embodiment 
as described hereinabove and that a front wheel drive system may be 
employed or a supporting rod for the follower wheels may be resiliently 
supported through a spring. 
Although the invention has been described for its preferred embodiment 
hereinabove, it will be appreciated that many variations and modifications 
may be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the 
invention.