Abstract:
A transformable toy which is transformed without any direct touching by a user, displays visual information that is invisible before the form of the toy is changed, and has a game element in addition to the form change is provided. A transformable toy reversibly transformed between a first form and a second form includes a toy main body which changes its form to form the first form and the second form, a restricting mechanism which restricts the form change of the toy main body, and a transformation activating body for detecting physical stimulation from outside and releasing the restriction by the restricting mechanism. The toy main body includes a display body having visual information thereon, and the display body is disposed at such a position that the visual information of the display body is invisible to a user in the first form while the visual information of the display body is visible to the user in the second form.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of Japanese Application No. 2009-281289, filed Dec. 11, 2009, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a transformable toy, and more particularly to a transformable toy that can carry out displaying visual information, in addition to form change, when the toy is transformed from one form to another form. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Conventionally, various transformable toys that can be transformed from one form to another form have been proposed (for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Publication No. 62-72689). The toy disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Publication No. 62-72689 is so constructed that, when the toy in one form or a running toy hits an obstacle, the toy is automatically transformed into another form or a robot toy without any touching by a user. 
     Unlike most transformable toys that are each transformed from a running toy to a robot toy by operating constituent members thereof one by one, the above described transformable toy gives a surprise that the form thereof is automatically changed when the toy hits an obstacle and also gives amusement in that the form thereof is instantaneously changed from the running toy to the robot toy. However, after the form of the toy has been changed, the toy is no different from normal transformable toys. That is, there has been a problem in that it lacks a game element. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention has been made in order to solve the above described problem. It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel transformable toy that not only can be transformed but also has a game element, wherein the transformable toy is transformed without any direct touching by the user and displays visual information which is invisible before the form is changed, to thereby enable a game to be played by utilizing the visual information. 
     In order to solve the above described problem, according to the present invention, there is provided a transformable toy reversibly transformed between a first form and a second form. The transformable toy includes: a toy main body which changes a form to form the first form and the second form; a restricting mechanism which restricts the form change of the toy main body from the first form to the second form; and a transformation activating body for detecting physical stimulation from outside and releasing the restriction by the restricting mechanism; wherein the toy main body includes a display body having visual information thereon, and the display body is disposed at such a position that the visual information of the display body is invisible to a user in the first form while the visual information of the display body is visible to the user in the second form. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, the transformation activating body is supported to slide back and forth by the toy main body in the first form; the toy main body includes a body portion for supporting the transformation activating body and a base body for supporting the body portion to be turnable in a vertical direction, and when the body portion is turned downward, the toy main body forms the first form of the transformable toy; when the transformation activating body slides backward, the restriction by the restricting mechanism is released, the body portion turns upward relative to the base body and becomes in an upright state with respect to the base body, so that the toy main body forms the second form of the transformable toy; and when the body portion turns upward, the display body is positioned in a front surface of the toy main body which can be seen by looking down upon it. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, the display body is formed to have a drum shape and has a plurality of pieces of visual information provided on a circumferential surface of the display body along a circumferential direction; and the display body is disposed in the toy main body so that, in the first form, the display body is rotatable in a front-back direction while the circumferential surface of the display body is in contact with a supporting surface, on which the transformable toy is placed, and so that, in the second form, one of the plurality of pieces of the visual information on the circumferential surface of the display body is visible. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, the base body includes an engaging portion that is disengageably engaged with the display body to prevent rotation of the display body in the second form, so that when the engaging portion of the base body is engaged with the display body, the one piece of visual information is made visible. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, the circumferential surface of the display body is divided into a plurality of areas in the circumferential direction, each of the areas having a respective one of the plurality pieces of visual information; and the display body includes a polygonal engaging plate that has a number of sides corresponding to the number of the plurality of areas and that is provided on a side surface of the display body, so that the engaging portion of the base body is engaged with one of the sides of the engaging plate to prevent rotation of the display body and specify the one piece of visual information to be made visible. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, the restricting mechanism includes an engaging projection formed on the base body, a latch releasing member on which a hook engageable with the engaging projection of the base body is formed and which is coupled with the transformation activating body, and a spring for biasing the latch releasing member to engage the hook of the latch releasing member with the engaging projection of the base body; and when the transformation activating body slides backward, the hook of the latch releasing member is disengaged from the engaging projection of the base body so as to release the restriction by the restricting mechanism. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, the transformable toy is a running toy in the first form and is a robot toy in the second form. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, the transformable toy is a running toy in the first form and is a robot toy in the second form; the transformation activating body and the toy main body form a hood and a body of the running toy, respectively, in the first form; the latch releasing member and the transformation activating body are coupled with each other and biased by another spring so that the transformation activating body turns upward relative to the latch releasing member; the body portion includes a head portion formed thereon, the head portion having a latching member engageable with the transformation activating body; in the first form, the latching member is engaged with the transformation activating body, the head portion being positioned in the transformation activating body; and when the transformation activating body is disengaged from the latching member of the head portion, the transformation activating body turns upward due to it being biased by the other spring, so that the head portion is exposed to constitute a head of the robot toy in the second form. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, the toy main body includes a cover member that constitutes a cab in the first form and a pair of side covers having rear wheels, each of the side covers being supported to be turnable in a lateral direction at a front end thereof by the cover member and being detachably fixed to the base body at a rear end thereof; and in the robot toy of the second form, the base body forms leg portions of the robot toy, and the pair of side covers constitute arm portions of the robot toy with the rear ends thereof being detached from the base body. 
     According to the present invention, when the transformable toy receives physical stimulation from outside and changes the form thereof from a first form to a second form, the display body provided in the toy main body appears so that visual information can be provided to a user, and a game can be played by utilizing the visual information. Therefore, a new concept transformable toy having a game element which cannot be obtained by the conventional transformable toys that merely change their form can be provided. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, the transformable toy can be realized in which, when the transformation activating body is caused to slide backward by the physical stimulation, the restriction by the restricting mechanism is released, and the body portion turns upward relative to the base body and becomes in an upright state, thereby changing the form to the second form and bringing the display body into the state where the display body can be seen by looking down upon it. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, the display body is formed to have a drum shape and is rotated while in contact with a supporting surface in the first form, whereas one piece of visual information corresponding to the position at which the display body is stopped is seen in the second form, so that various pieces of information that cannot be obtained by the fixed information displayed on a plate or the like can be seen. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, the display body is so constructed that it cannot be rotated when the form of the transformable toy is changed to the second form. Therefore, the transformable toy equipped with a game element in which win/loss can be judged based on the visual information of the display body of one transformable toy and that of another transformable toy of an opponent can be realized. 
     According to one embodiment of the present invention, when the transformable toy is in the form of a running toy, the display body rotates while in contact with a supporting surface on which the transformable toy runs. When the transformable toy is caused to run directly towards the opponent&#39;s transformable toy, hit it and is transformed into the form of a robot toy, the rotation of the display body is stopped and one piece of the visual information can be specified. Therefore, a battle game between the transformable toys or robot toys can be enjoyed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIGS. 1A and 1B  are perspective views showing a first form and a second form of an embodiment of a transformable toy according to the present invention, respectively; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded side view showing construction of the transformable toy; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view showing the construction of the transformable toy; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a vertical cross section showing the first form of the transformable toy; 
         FIG. 5  is a vertical cross sectional view showing the second form of the transformable toy; 
         FIG. 6  is a bottom-side perspective view showing the second form of the transformable toy; and 
         FIGS. 7A and 7B  are perspective views showing a manner of use of the transformable toy. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       FIGS. 1A and 1B  show an embodiment of a transformable toy A according to the present invention. The transformable toy A is so constructed that the transformable toy A has the form of a running toy, which is one form or a first form, as shown in  FIG. 1A , and when the toy A senses a physical stimulus by hitting an obstacle such as another transformable toy or a wall, the form thereof is changed to that of a robot toy, which is another form or a second form, as shown in  FIG. 1B . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the transformable toy A includes a transformation activating body  1 , which is formed to imitate a hood of a vehicle, a toy main body  2 , which is formed to imitate a body of a vehicle, and a restricting mechanism B, which restricts the change from the form of the running toy which is the first form to the form of the robot which is the second form. 
     A latch releasing member  5 , which constitutes the restricting mechanism B, is coupled with the transformation activating body  1 . The latch releasing member  5  is pivotally coupled with the transformation activating body  1  by a shaft  7 , which is inserted through a shaft hole  10  formed in a rear portion of the transformation activating body  1  and a shaft hole  6  formed in a front portion of the latch releasing member  5 . The transformation activating body  1  is biased by a spring  8  so as to turn around the shaft  7  upward relative to the latch releasing member  5 . 
     The latch releasing member  5  is received in an opening  29  formed in a front portion of a cover member  15  described below so as to slide back and forth. The latch releasing member  5  has an oblong hole  9  formed therein along a front-back direction. An engaging shaft  17  of the cover member  15  is engaged with the oblong hole  9  and the engaging shaft  17  is biased by a spring  13  so as to be pressed against the rear end of the oblong hole  9  (see  FIG. 4 ), so that the latch releasing member  5  is arranged so as to be constantly urged to slide forward together with the transformation activating body  1  relative to the engaging shaft  17 , i.e. relative to the cover member  15 . 
     The latch releasing member  5  has a hook  11  formed on a rear portion thereof. The hook  11  of the latch releasing member  5  is also always biased by the above described spring  13  so as to be disengageably engaged with an engaging projection  46  that is formed on a later-described base body  3  and that constitutes the restricting mechanism B. 
     The transformation activating body (hereinafter, also referred to as a hood portion)  1  is provided thereon with a hook  12 , which is engageable with a hook  31  of a latching member  30  fixed in the interior of a later-described head portion  23  (see  FIGS. 4 and 5 ). When the hook  12  of the hood portion  1  and the hook  31  of the latching member  30  are engaged with each other, turning of the hood portion  1  about the shaft  7  is prevented, so that the hood portion  1  constitutes a hood of the running toy in the first form. 
     The toy main body  2  is mainly composed of: the cover member  15 , which is formed to imitate a cab of a vehicle; a pair of side covers  18 , to which rear wheels  19  are attached; a body portion  24 , which is integrally formed with the head portion  23  of a robot toy; and the base body  3 . The cover member  15  is provided with a pair of shaft bodies  16  which are projected downward from a front portion thereof. A pair of arms  25  are respectively attached to the pair of shaft bodies  16  so as to turnably support the side covers  18 . The distal ends of the shaft bodies  16  are fitted in respective fitting portions  27  formed in opposite sides of the body portion  24  and are fixed to the body portion  24  by screws (not shown) from below. Each of the arms  25  is turnably attached to the shaft  16  while the arm  25  is biased by a spring  28  so as to turn outward about the shaft  16 . 
     The engaging shaft  17  is formed at the inner side of the cover member  15  so as to project downward (see  FIG. 4 ), and the engaging shaft  17  is engaged with the oblong hole  9  of the latch releasing member  5  as described above. The cover member  15  includes a supporting plate  36  formed on the lower surface of a rear portion thereof, which plate has a shaft hole  37  formed at a distal end thereof and which is pivotally coupled with the base body  3  in a manner described later. 
     Each of the side covers  18  has a fitting recess  20  formed at the distal end thereof to turnably fit around a spherical fitting portion  26  formed at the distal end of the arm  25 . Each of the side covers  18  has an engaging portion  21  formed on an inner wall surface of a rear portion thereof so as to disengageably engage with a hook  47  that is formed at a rear end of the base body  3  to project outward. When the transformable toy A is in the first form, the engaging portions  21  of the side covers  18  are engaged with the respective hooks  47  of the base body  3 , so that each of the side covers  18  cannot be separated from the base body  3 . On the other hand, at the time of the transformable toy A being transformed from the first form to the second form, when the cover member  15  and the body portion  24  of the toy main body  2  turn upward, the engaging portions  21  of the side covers  18  are disengaged from the hooks  47  to permit the arms  25  to turn laterally outward about the shaft bodies  16  due to being biased by the springs  28 . Consequently, the side covers  18  attached to the distal ends of the arms  25  are also turned outward and separated from the base body  3 , thereby constituting arm portions of the robot toy which is the second form. 
     A latching member  30  having the hook  31  formed thereon is disposed in the head portion  23  and fixed therein by a screw  32 , so that the latching member  30  and the body portion  24  are integrated with each other. The hook  31  is configured to be disengageably engaged with the hook  12  provided in the transformation activating body  1  (see  FIGS. 4 and 5 ). When the engagement of the hooks  12  and  31  is released, the transformation activating body  1  is turned upward about the shaft  7  due to it being biased by the spring  8 , whereby the head portion  23  is exposed. 
     A drum-shaped display body  40  is received in the body portion  24  and rotatably retained by a shaft  41  (see  FIG. 4 ). The circumferential surface of the display body  40  is divided into a plurality of areas, for example three areas a 1  to a 3  as in the illustrated embodiment, in the circumferential direction, so that each of the areas a 1  to a 3  has visual information b (pieces of visual information b 1  to b 3 ), which is identified by being painted different colors (for example, red, green, and yellow). The visual information b is not limited to being painted different colors; instead, it may be different designs (for example, pictures of a rock, paper, scissors). The visual information b can serve as a condition for determining the result of playing a game by comparing one piece of visual information visible on the display body  40  of a user&#39;s transformable toy A with that visible on the display body of an opponent&#39;s transformable toy. 
     An engaging plate  42  having an approximately-polygonal shape, i.e., an approximately triangular shape in the illustrated embodiment, which has a number of sides corresponding to the number of the plurality of areas having the respective pieces of visual information b, is formed on one side surface of the display body  40  so as to protrude therefrom. When the body portion  24  turns upward integrally with the display body  40  to an upright state upon upward turning of the cover member  15  and the body portion  24  of the toy main body  2 , the engaging plate  42  is engaged with an engaging projection  48 , which is formed on an upper surface of the base body  3  to project therefrom, thereby the display body  40  is prevented from rotating and one of the areas a 1  to a 3  is specified, so that the visual information b (one of the pieces of visual information b 1  to b 3 ) displayed in the specified area can be seen from the front (see  FIGS. 5 and 6 ). 
     The base body  3  is formed of first and second base body parts  3   a  and  3   b , which are formed to imitate left and right leg portions of the robot toy in the second form and are united with each other by fixing them by a screw  35 . The hook  11  formed on the latch releasing member  5  and the supporting plate  36  formed on the cover member  15  are inserted in the base body  3  from above. A supporting shaft  39 , which is inserted through shaft holes  38  formed in the base body  3 , is inserted through the shaft hole  37  formed at the distal end of the supporting plate  36 , so that the cover member  15  and the body portion  24  can be turned upward about the supporting shaft  39  due to it being biased by a spring  45 . The engaging projection  46  that constitutes the restricting mechanism B is formed on the inner wall surface of the base body  3 . When the hook  11  of the latch releasing member  5  is engaged with the engaging projection  46 , the upward turning of the cover member  15  and the body portion  24  of the toy main body  2  is inhibited. 
     The engaging projection  48  is formed at the upper end of the first base body part  3   a  so as to project upward therefrom. The engaging projecting  48  is disengageably engaged with the peripheral surface of the engaging plate  42  of the display body  40  in the second form in order to prevent turning of the display body  40 . 
     The hooks  47  are formed at the rear ends of the first and second base body parts  3   a  and  3   b  to extend toward outside. In the form of the running toy which is the first form, the hooks  47  are engaged with the respective engaging portions  21  of the side covers  18 , so that the side surfaces of the base body  3  are covered by the side covers  18 , respectively, and the rear wheels  19  of the running toy work. 
     The cover member  15  is configured so that, when the hook  11  formed on the latch releasing member  5  is engaged with the engaging projection  46  formed on the inner wall surface of the base body  3 , the upward turning of the cover member  15  against the biasing force of the spring  45  is prevented, so that the cover member  15  constitutes the cab in the form of the running toy; whereas, when the hood portion  1  moves backward relative to the base body  3 , the engagement of the hook  11  of the latch releasing member  5  and the engaging projection  46  of the base body  3  is released and the cover member  15  is turned upward about the supporting shaft  39  due to it being biased by the spring  45 , resulting in that the cover member  15  turns until a rear surface  15   a  thereof abuts a supporting surface that the transformable toy A is placed on and becomes in the upright state, as shown in  FIG. 5 . When the cover member  15  turns upward, the hood portion  1  and the body portion  24  also turn upward integrally with the cover member  15 . 
     When the body portion  24  turns upward integrally with the cover member  15 , the display body  40  provided at the body portion  24  also turns upward together with the body portion  24 . After the turning, the engaging plate  42  provided on the side surface of the display body  40  is located at the position where the engaging plate  42  is engaged with the engaging projection  48  of the base body  3 . At this time, as shown in  FIG. 5 , one side of the engaging plate  42  is engaged with the distal end of the engaging projection  48  and prevents rotation of the display body  40 , so that one piece of the visual information b (b 1 , b 2 , b 3 ) of the display body  40  is displayed on the front surface. 
     Incidentally, the strength of the spring  45  may be increased so that the cover member  15  and the body portion  24  are moved beyond the upright state and the whole transformable toy A goes into a 360-degree roll or backflips. 
     Now, the manner of use of the transformable toy A will be explained. 
     In the form of the running toy which is the first form, as shown in  FIG. 7A , the transformable toy A and a transformable toy A′ of an opponent are caused to move directly toward each other so as to hit each other. Since the transformable toys A and A′ do not have a driving mechanism using a motor or a spring as a driving source, the toys can be caused to run by hand or caused to run by launching them with launching devices (not shown). The display bodies  40  are in contact with the supporting surface on which the transformable toys A and A′ are running while the transformable toys A and A′ are running, so that the display bodies  40  rotate in the state where the display bodies  40  are not visible to the users. 
     When the transformable toys A and A′, which have been caused to run directly toward each other, hit each other, the forward movement of each of the transformable toys A and A′ is prevented, so that the toy main body  2  is moved forward by the inertia relative to the hood portion  1  and thus the hood portion  1  is relatively moved backward. When the hood portion  1  is moved backward, the hook  11  of the latch releasing member  5 , which constitutes the restricting mechanism B and is coupled with the hood portion  1 , is disengaged from the engaging projection  46  of the base body  3 , whereby the cover member  15  biased by the spring  45  turns upward together with the body portion  24  about the supporting shaft  39  relative to the base body  3 ; and the hook  31  of the latching member  30  provided on the head portion  23  is disengaged from the hook  12  of the hood portion  1 , whereby the hood portion  1  biased by the spring  8  turns upward about the shaft  7  relative to the latch releasing member  5 . As a result, the head portion  23  is exposed so as to be seen from the front. At this point, the display body  40  provided at the body portion  24  also becomes in the state where one piece of the visual information b (b 1 , b 2  or b 3 ) is positioned on the front surface to be seen by looking down upon it. 
     The distal end of each of the side covers  18  is pivotally supported by the shaft  16  of the cover member  15  via the arm  25 , and each engaging portion  21  formed on the rear inner wall surface of the side cover  18  is engaged with the hook  47  that is formed at the rear end of the base body  3  so as to project outward therefrom. When the side covers  18  also turn upward integrally with the cover member  15 , the engaging portions  21  of the side covers are each moved to such a position that the engaging portions  21  are disengaged from the respective hooks  47  of the base body  3 . Therefore, the arms  25  biased by the springs  28  rotate outward about the respective shaft bodies  16  of the cover member  15  and the side covers  18  coupled with the arms  25  also rotate laterally outward so as to constitute the arm portions of the robot toy which is the second form, resulting in that the transformable toy A is transformed into the robot toy which is the second form in the upright state with both the arms open to the outside. 
     At this point, one side of the engaging plate  42  of the display body  40  is engaged with the distal end of the engaging projection  48  of the base body  3  to thereby prevent rotation of the display body  40 , and the state in which one piece of the visual information b (b 1 , b 2  or b 3 ) can be seen from the front is achieved. 
     When the two transformable toys A and A′ are put in a match against each other and are each transformed into the robot toy which is the second form, the visual information b of the display bodies  40  of both of the toys made visible can be checked and compared. Therefore, a win/loss judgment (for example, if the visible visual information of one of the transformable toys is green and that of the other transformable toy is a color other than green, the one transformable toy displaying the green is determined to be the winner; and, if the colors thereof are the same, the match ends in a draw) can be made. Accordingly, the transformable toy having a game element which is not only capable of changing the form thereof but also capable of utilizing the visual information which appears for making a win/loss judgment can be realized. 
     In the transformable toy described above, the hitting, which is dynamic, is used as a physical stimulation for releasing the restriction by the restricting mechanism. However, the physical stimulation for releasing the restriction is not necessarily limited to such a dynamic one, and instead, for example, the restriction may be released by a known technique of sensing static stimulation such as infrared rays or magnetic force by a sensor and driving a solenoid.