Mechanical pendant

A pendant having a housing with a movable member connected to the housing. The movable member is capable of swinging movement for a period of time. The movement is started by the wearer compressing a movable driving arm toward a stationary projection formed in the lower part of the housing and then releasing. The driving arm is provided centrally with a spring normally biasing the driving arm away from the projection, and gear teeth at its upper end. The gear teeth mesh with a gear train terminating in a shaft having a disc and an eccentrically located projection extending toward the front of the pendant. The projection is engaged within a guide slot in the movable member which is rotatable about an axis contained in the housing. Thus, when the driving arm is compressed and released, the energy of the spring is transferred through the drive train, causing the eccentric projection to move the movable member to which it is connected, and thus imparting an animated character to the pendant.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to an amusement device, and more particularly to a 
pendant which is attractive in appearance, is capable of animated 
movement, and is also functional in use. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Mechanical pendants are known in the art which hang about a wearer's neck 
on a chain or string and which are capable of animated movement when a 
string is pulled to activate an internal mechanism. Such a device is 
disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,486, issued to Matsumoto et al. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to provide an amusement device 
which is attractive in color, shape and movement, which is capable of 
amusing animation instituted by the wearer, and whose function is useful. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a clip-on pendant 
having a wearer-energized actuating mechanism for moving a gear train 
within the pendant for creating extended animation of appendages, and thus 
creating attention and amusement. 
To achieve the foregoing and other objects of the present invention, and in 
accordance with the purpose of the invention, there is provided a pendant 
having a housing and a facade. The facade comprises a movable member 
pivotally connected to the housing and being capable of swinging movement 
for a period of time, and a relatively stationary member. Movement of the 
movable member is started by the wearer compressing a driving arm against 
a projection formed on the lower part of the housing and then releasing 
the driving arm. The driving arm is provided with a spring normally 
biasing the driving arm away from the projection, and gear teeth at the 
upper end of the driving arm. The gear teeth are arranged to mesh with a 
gear train in the housing. When the driving arm is released, the motion is 
transferred through the gear teeth to the gear train, and finally to a 
shaft having an eccentric projection extending toward the front of the 
device. The eccentric projection is loosely engaged within a guide slot at 
the top of the movable member which is further rotatable about an axis on 
the housing. The rotating eccentric projection moves the movable member to 
which it is connected, and causes animation of the pendant. 
Thus, the present invention provides a pendant which is attractive, 
amusing, functional and has animated action. 
These together with other objects and advantages which will become 
subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation 
as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to 
the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
For convenience of reference in describing this invention, "bottom" means 
in the direction from the housing toward the driving arm, top means in the 
direction away from the driving arm toward the housing, right means in the 
direction of the side of the housing having the projection, left is the 
side opposite the side having the projection, and front means in the 
direction from the housing to the plane having the facade located thereon. 
Looking at FIGS. 1, 3 and 5, reference numeral 10 indicates generally the 
pendant of the present invention. The pendant 10 comprises generally a 
housing 12, an actuating mechanism 14, a gear train 16, a middle plate 17 
and a facade 18. 
As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the housing 12 of the present invention is 
substantially rectangular and is equipped with a clip 20 at its back and a 
substantially flat, fixedly mounted projection 22 at its bottom. 
The actuating mechanism 14 comprises a movable driving arm 24 pivotally 
connected to the housing by a shaft 26. The driving arm 24 also has a 
spring 28 mounted around the shaft 26 and biased against a ledge 30 on the 
housing 12 and a ledge 32 on the driving arm 24, such that the driving arm 
is normally biased away from the projection 22. The upper end of the 
driving arm 24 terminates in gear teeth 34. Gear teeth 34 mesh with the 
gear train 16. 
The gear train 16 includes a pinion or first small gear 36 which is mounted 
on a first rotatable axle or shaft 38 and which meshes with gear teeth 34. 
A first relatively large gear 40 is coaxially mounted on shaft 38. The 
first large gear 40 meshes with a second pinion or small gear 42 mounted 
on a second rotatable shaft or axle 44, which is loosely positioned in an 
angular slot 45 (not shown) at the rear of housing 12 and an angular slot 
70 (to be discussed later) in middle plate 17. Coaxially mounted to shaft 
44 is the second large gear 46, which meshes with the third pinion or 
small gear 48 mounted on a third rotatable axle or shaft 50. Coaxially 
connected to shaft 50 is the third large gear 52, which meshes with the 
fourth and final pinion or small gear 54. The fourth small gear 54 is 
connected to the fourth and final axle or shaft 56, with one end 
terminating at the front of the housing in a disc 58 having a cam or an 
eccentrically positioned projection 60. 
As shown in FIG. 3, the gear train components 34 through 54 in housing 12 
are covered with a middle plate 17 having the disc 58 and eccentrically 
located projection 60 of the shaft 56 protruding through hole 64 (not 
shown) in the middle plate 17. The middle plate 17 also has holes 66 and 
68 for receiving the front ends of shafts 26 and 36, respectively. An 
angular hole 70, loosely receives shaft 44. There is also located on the 
middle plate 17 a columnar projection 72. 
Because shaft 44 is loosely positioned in both angular slot 45 in the back 
of the housing 12 and angular slot 70 in the middle plate 17, shaft 44 can 
move the distance of the angle making up each slot. That is, when the 
driving arm 24 is squeezed against the projection 22, gears 36 and 40 are 
caused to rotate in the clockwise direction, thus exerting pressure to the 
right upon gears 42 and 46, which are operatively connected to gear 40. 
This force on gears 42 and 46 causes the shaft 44 to move to the right in 
the angular slots 45 and 70 and causes gear 46 to move out of engagement 
with gear 48. Conversely, when the driving arm is released, gears 36 and 
40 turn in the counterclockwise direction and exert a force on gear 46 to 
the left, which causes shaft 44 to return to the left side of angular 
slots 45 and 70, and causes gear 46 to again mesh with gear 48. 
Therefore, when the driving arm 24 is squeezed, gear 48 is not moved 
because gear 46 is not meshing with gear 48, however, when the driving arm 
is released, gear 46 again meshes with gear 48 and transfers movement 
through the entire gear train 16. 
The facade 18 comprises a movable member 76 and a relatively stationary 
member 78. In the preferred embodiment, the movable member 76 is 
configured to represent a left and right arm and a right leg. The 
stationary member 78 is configured to represent a head, a torso and a left 
leg. 
An example of a particularly attractive configuration of members 76 and 78 
is shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b). Of course, many different colors may be 
painted on members 76 and 78 and these members may take on almost an 
infinite number of shapes, e.g., animals, foods, etc. 
The movable member 76 has a hole 80 positioned substantially centrally of 
the "arms" such that hole 80 receives projection 72 of the middle plate 
17. In addition, projection 60 fits into a guide slot 82 located near the 
top of the movable member 76. The length of the guide slot 82 corresponds 
to the moving range of the eccentric projection 60 of shaft 56. 
FIG. 5 shows the front view of the mechanical pendant completely assembled 
in accordance with the present invention, i.e., the gear train 16 and 
actuating mechanism 14 are positioned in the housing 12 substantially 
below the middle plate 17, and the facade 18 is operatively connected on 
the top of the housing 12 to the gear train 16. 
The above-described assembled pendant is operated by compressing driving 
arm 24 toward projection 22 and then releasing to allow the spring biased 
driving arm 24 to expand. These movements are shown by arrow "A" in FIG. 
1. After releasing the driving arm 24, the force of the relaxing spring 28 
is transferred by gear teeth 34 to the gear train 16, which, of course, is 
caused to turn. With the ultimate rotation of disc 58, eccentric 
projection 60 moves in the guide slot 82 of the movable member 76 and 
causes a swing motion of the movable member 76 pivotally mounted to the 
middle plate 17. Therefore, the limbs on the movable member 76 of the 
mechanical pendant move as shown by the arrows "B", "C" and "D" of FIG. 5. 
This motion continues until the driving arm 24 returns to its original 
position at the left side of the housing 12. 
The device once animated, moves for a period of time with low noise, thus 
offering a pleasing effect. In addition, rapid, repeated compressions and 
expansions of the actuating mechanism provide continuous animated action. 
These effects, combined with a wide selection of designs and figures, 
provide a more amusing and greater attention-getting mechanical pendant 
than was known in the art. 
The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the 
invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes would readily 
occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the 
invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and 
accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to 
falling within the scope of the invention and the appended claims and 
their equivalents.