Patent GB-1325516-A (GB)
Title: Toy system employing elevated support lines and a vehicle suspended therefrom
IPC: A63H21/02
Filed: 1971-12-17
Abstract: 1325516 Suspended toy helicopter, &c systems M I GLASS [trading as MARVIN GLASS & ASSOCIATES] 17 Dec 1971 [23 Dec 1970] 58724/71 Heading A6S A toy monorail system comprises at least two elevated support lines or rails 20, 22, Fig. 1, intersecting each other with at least one vehicle, e.g. simulating a helicopter 50, 52, 54, &c., suspended from the rails, the helicopter, &c., including a motor to drive it along the rails and a shift mechanism to shift it from one rail to the next each time it reaches a point of intersection between two rails. The rails 20 consist of string, stored in a unit 46 having two cranks 254 turned to actuate ratchet-controlled reels, Fig. 15 (not shown). The rails 22 are of plastics, forming parts of pedestals 24, 32 and of a fitting 28 clamped to a supporting structure 42. Accessories used in conjunction with the system include a projector 60 which fires rotary vaned disks 62 when a target 61 is hit by a projectile from the helicopter 52: model aircraft 65 projected from a holder 63 when a target 64 is hit: a surface vehicle 58 to be picked-up and set-down by the helicopter 50: a parachute 66 to be released by the helicopter 54: a heliport 56: and other surface-engaged toys 68, 70. The helicopter 52 comprises a fuselage on top of which is a drive housing 94, Fig. 2, supporting an electric motor 108, Fig. 4, driving through step-down ratio gears 128-146 to a sleeve 148, Fig. 6, fast with which is a pulley flange 164 and a drive wheel 162 to rest on a rail 20, &c. The gear 146 drives through a further step-down ratio train 118, 158, 156 to a shaft 154 within the sleeve 148, the shaft accordingly turning more slowly than the sleeve. A star wheel 166 having prongs 168 is fast with the shaft 154. The drive wheel 162 propels the helicopter 52 along a rail 20: when the rail 20 intersects with another rail, the star wheel prongs 168 hook over the intersecting rail, and turn the helicopter onto it. Parallel pivoted spring-biassed plates 178, Fig. 2, also illustrated in Figs. 5, 7, 8 (not shown), on each side of the rail 20, serve as guards to prevent accidental dis lodgement of the helicopter 52 from the rails at the point of rail intersection. The gear 146, Fig. 4, also engages a friction wheel 116 to drive a shaft 110 carrying a simulated rotor 114, Fig. 2. The helicopter fuselage includes a sloped ramp 82 to which marbles, &c. 78 are fed through a port 76 and are thence released by a manually actuated escapement mechanism 84 to act as projectiles for aiming at the target 61, Fig. 1. The helicopter 50, Figs. 1, 10, simulates a transport machine and has an undercarriage with flanged sides 204 which can be lowered over the surface vehicle 58 by slackening the string rail 20 along which the helicopter runs. Grooves 214 inside each undercarriage flange 204 can then be engaged with outwardly projecting pins 216 on the vehicle 58, so that on retightening the string rail 20 the vehicle and helicopter 50 are together raised from the ground. The vehicle 58 has a toy searchlight 228 powered by a battery 222 when switch contacts 226, 232 are closed, raising the vehicle from the ground allowing a lever 218 to pivot downwards, Fig. 11 (not shown), and act simultaneously through gearing 229 to turn the searchlight from the horizontal position shown to the vertical while closing the switch contacts. The helicopter 54, Fig. 1, simulates a personnel carrier, and is provided at its front with a Y-fork 240 which forward motion of the helicopter engages with a toy parachute 66 releasably suspended by a cord 242 from the rail 20 The parachute has a button (246, 248), Fig. 14 (not shown), at the top of its canopy with a slit (250) along its top into which the cord 242 is friction fitted. Engagement of the Y-fork 240 with the cord 242 releases the parachute 66, supporting a model figure, so that the parachute floats to the ground.