Patent Publication Number: US-2013252506-A1

Title: Marble Race Game

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates generally to the toy art and in particular to an action toy which includes marbles and a racetrack. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     There are two different yet interrelated aspects of the present invention, the racetrack and the method of supporting the racetrack. In many cases, prior art has made a game or toy by forming a “U” shaped channel out of plastic, wood or other materials through which a marble could roll. The channels were connected to form a path the marble would follow. 
     In the prior art, some toys used marbles as wheels (Binkley—1993/5184970). In the case of Coleman (2003/0024940) a round piece of candy can race down a channel. A race game is postulated using a channel and structures to support the channel (Jackson—U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,240). In the case of Gilman (U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,1 77) a tube toy is described except that the marbles roll within the tubes and as such are totally constrained and no race configuration is achieved. Klitsner (U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,876) describes a banked hairpin turn for a marble toy where the marble is constrained within a rigid plastic track. There is no race possibility as only one marble at a time will transit the device. Boury (U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,301) shows a string race game that races two figures side-by-side down an inclined string but the figures are connected to the track and the track is a straight length of string with no potential to modify the direction of the racers. F. Hebert (U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,628) describes a racetrack game whereby the racing parts may move side-by-side and are accelerated by gravitational forces but are constrained within a rigid track. Although one could foresee potential to add additional rigid track segments to modify the game, there is no flexibility as all the parts are rigid. Martinex (U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,341) describes a moveable race game assisted by gravity but in which the marble or racing part is constrained by rigid walls and does not allow for multiple marble racing or flexibility of design. J. Herbert (foreign patent GB1 8991 9262) shows a marble race game with multiple players but the track is rigid and constrained. Jackson (U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,240) devised a marble race toy where the track configurations are modular and changeable but the track is rigid and there are no multiple player racing capabilities. Tobin (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,056,620 &amp; 5,924,907) describes marble tracks where the marbles are accelerated down an incline by gravity but once again it is a rigidly confined track. In an approach related to cars, Halford (U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,279) proposes a raceway where two cars can race side by side. Halford&#39;s invention uses a rigid sectional track to make an adjustable racetrack. Hollar (U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,178) proposes a race game where cars race side by side but again it is a rigid track. Koehl (patent app 2011/0250822) proposes a car that contains a marble on rolls along a track. The track in the Koehl proposal is made of multiple rigid linked segments. Hoffman (Patent App 2011/9970803) proposes a marble race game but there is no capability to race marble side-by side and the track is made of rigid interlocking segments. A rigid race track limits the possibilities. This situation applies for all rigid track race games. 
     An exhaustive search of prior art shows that there are many examples of marble race games devised by preformed channels made of plastic, wood or similar materials in one manner or another. There are deficiencies found within prior art such that all of these toys require pre-formed channels to guide the marble which can be interconnected to create the path but which are restricted in the ability of the user to change the form. The user can only interconnect the inflexible parts to form a different path. 
     The intent of this invention is to make a marble path that is flexible and can achieve any form or length that the player could devise to guide the marbles and create a race situation. This invention is truly a marble race game as two or more marble can race side-by-side. 
     SUMMARY OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
     To achieve the purposes of the present invention as embodied and described herein, the present invention comprises two or more round flexible tubes of any length held side-by-side, where the flexible tubes, in lying side-by-side, form a V-shaped groove between the flexible tubes thus forming a track where a marble will roll along. 
     The mechanism of the marble race game is enabled by the V-groove formed between the two or more round flexible tubes, wherein the marble will roll providing the length of the tubes are placed on a descending slope, utilizing gravity to accelerate the velocity of the marble, hence the formation of a marble track. 
     The flexible tubes would be of a diameter larger than the diameter of the marbles used on the racetrack. 
     Clips are used to hold the flexible tubes side-by side and the clips are made from metal, wood, plastic or any material which has properties of stiffness and elasticity and would be in a fundamentally “U” shape. The purpose of the clips is to hold the tubes side-by-side so to maintain the flexible tubes in close proximity along their length. 
     Some clips could be made to have a slight “W” shape. The center part of the “W” would be set between any two adjacent flexible tubes. The purpose of the “W” shape is to allow the flexible tubes to be set a small distance apart. This slight spacing between the tubes acts to slow the marble as it runs along the length of the flexible tubes that are spaced apart. The mechanism for slowing the marble is realized because the increased spacing between the flexible tubes causes the marble to be in contact with the flexible tubes closer to the marble&#39;s center of rotation. As the marble enters the wider section of track it has a certain rotational inertia. Since the rotational rate remains the same due to inertia and the contact to the tubes is moved closer to the center of rotation, the marble slows due to the fact that less distance is traversed along the track with each rotation of the marble. The width of the space between the tubes directly affects the slowing of the marble. 
     Multiple flexible tubes are placed side-by-side to form multiple V-grooves for the marble to roll along whereas the number (N) of tubes minus one equal the number of V-grooves (V), whereas V=N−1, to form a racetrack for multiple marbles. Therefore to race two marbles side-by-side you would need three flexible tubes placed side-by-side, and so on for more parallel racing marbles. 
     Since the tubes are flexible they can be bent or formed to any shape that the player can imagine including curves, corners, loops, swirls, hills, valleys and any other shape a group of flexible tubes held side-by-side can be bent to. 
     When the marble is rolling along the V-groove between two or more flexible tubes and the tubes were bent to form a curve, centrifugal forces acting on the marble as it rounded the curve would tend to push the marble to the outside of the curve. Depending upon the velocity of the marble as it entered the curve, the centrifugal force may cause the marble to leave the track. To prevent the marble from leaving the track, the group of flexible tubes would be banked thereby using a reactive centrifugal force to hold the marble within the V-groove as it rounded the corner. The angle of the bank for a corner would be dependant on the velocity of the marbles as the traversed the corner where higher velocity would require a steeper bank. 
     The velocity achieved by the marbles as they run along the track is directly related to the incline of the descending slope that the flexible tubes traverse due to gravity acting upon the marble. The track can be positioned with various and changing inclines along its length. The only prerequisite is that the beginning portion of the track have adequate downward incline such that the marbles can achieve enough velocity to continue rolling. As long as a marble has attained an adequate velocity it can even traverse an upward incline for a distance. 
     The flexible tubes would be supported by the clips at any point where they may tend to come apart. Placement of the side-by-side flexible tubes can be affected over, under and around objects to form the course of the track. 
     The flexible tubes are of any length and the length of the tubes determines the total length of the track. 
     In place of marbles, any toy with two or more round objects similar to marbles, held in-line on the bottom for rolling the toy could be used on the track, providing the rolling portion protrudes enough below the bottom of the toy such that the toy does not contact the track as formed by the flexible tubes, the toy is stable to stand vertically and the sides of the marble toy do not touch another marble toy on an adjacent track formed by the V-groove. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The included drawings form a part of the specification and illustrate various embodiments of the present invention. These drawings, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
       In the following drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is an end view of three flexible tubes side-by-side showing the V-grooves thus formed. 
         FIG. 2  is a top view showing two marbles on a three tube track. 
         FIG. 3  is top and side view of a single U-shaped clip with curved outside edges. 
         FIG. 4  is the side view of a W-shaped curved clip with bent end flanges for a three tube track. 
         FIG. 5  shows a U-shaped clip with flanges and a rigid stick holding a banked section of track. 
         FIG. 6  shows the end and side view of a U-shaped clip with flanges and a two rigid sticks supporting the flexible tubes to form a hill. 
         FIG. 7  shows the side view of a W-shaped curved clip with bent end flanges for a three tube track with spacers to hold the tubes slightly apart (a slow down section). 
         FIG. 8  shows a section of track formed into a loop and held by clips. 
         FIG. 9  shows a marble racetrack starting gate. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The following discussion and accompanying figures disclose a marble race game which is made of flexible tubes that when held side-by-side and placed upon a descending incline form a marble racetrack game. The racetrack is accomplished by placing flexible tubes side-by-side and bending them into a variety of configurations to form the racetrack. The flexible tubes are held side-by-side with clips placed periodically along the length of the track. The purpose of the clips is to insure the flexible tubes remain in close proximity to each other along the length of the track unless otherwise desired for speed control purposes. The length of the track is determined by the length of the flexible tubes. The definition of marble herein encompasses any spherical object of sufficient mass. 
     In  FIG. 1  an end view of three flexible tubes is shown where the V-grooves ( 1 ) thereby formed between the tubes is shown. A marble will sit in the groove and roll along the track, assisted by gravity, as long as the track is placed on a descending incline. It can be seen how the marble ( 1   a ) will ride in the V-groove. 
     When three flexible tubes ( 2 ) are placed side-by-side as shown in  FIG. 2 , it will form a two V-groove track. As long as the diameter of the flexible tubes is greater than the diameter of the marbles, there will be space ( 4 ) between the marbles ( 3 ) and they will not touch as they roll down the track. The ability to create a track with two or more grooves for the marbles, allows the marble racetrack game to be a true “race”. 
     To keep the flexible tubes side-by-side in close proximity a clip is used. The clip is substantially “U” shaped as shown in  FIG. 3  where the sides ( 5 ) are used to hold the flexible tubes together. These sides can be flat but are better conformed into a curve that matches the curvature of the flexible tubes. The bottom of the clip ( 6 ) would typically be flat across it&#39;s length and width, and would need to be as long as the width of the total number of flexible tubes it was designed to hold together. 
     The clip&#39;s holding function would be improved by making the clip into a substantially “W” shape, as shown in  FIG. 4 . The sides of the “W” being curved ( 9 ) where the curvature of the side was equal to the curvature of the flexible tubes, would further increase the holding function of the clip. The number of center parts “̂” ( 8 ) of the “W” equals the number of V-grooves to be formed, that is to say, the number of flexible tubes minus one. The addition of a flange ( 9 ) and a bend to the end of the flange ( 10 ) would facilitate placement of the clips across the flexible tubes. 
     As can be seen in  FIG. 5 , flanges on the outside ends of a clip holding the flexible tubes ( 11 ) would have an additional advantage. A slightly elongated hole through the center of the flange ( 12 ), elongated in the direction toward/away from the flexible tubes, would allow a rigid stick ( 13 ) to be placed through it. The rigid stick would be slightly angled in the elongated hole thereby causing the flange to grip the rigid stick and hold it in place. If the stick were only placed on one side, to raise the track on that side, then the track could be banked to hold the marble on the track by centrifugal forces, in a curve. The far side of the track being in contact with the ground plane ( 14 ) and the near side being held aloft by the stick ( 13 ), then the banking would be accomplished. 
     Building a hill in the track can be done as show in  FIG. 6 . The flexible tubes ( 15 ) are held by a clip, that has two flanges ( 16 ) with elongated holes in them. Rigid sticks ( 17 ) being placed through both flanges allows one to raise that section of the racetrack above the ground plane ( 18 ) by any amount dictated by the length of the rigid sticks. 
     Sometimes it is advantageous to slow down the velocity of the marble along the track. This decrease in velocity can be accomplished by moving the flexible tubes slightly apart. The slow down occurs because the marble is in contact with the flexible tubes nearer it center of rotation. Since the rolling marble has rotational inertia, as it reaches the wider section of track it maintains the same rotational speed but because it is touching the track nearer its center of rotation, it will cover less distance down the track in each rotation of the marble thereby facilitating a slowing of the marble&#39;s velocity along the track. A clip, as shown in  FIG. 7 , can be constructed to accurately maintain the spacing ( 19 ) between the tracks so that all flexible tubes ( 20 ) are held the same distance apart. This insures that all marbles rolling in the V-groove of the track get equal slowing. This equal slowing insures that the race action of the game is maintained in equality. 
     There are an unlimited number of forms or shapes to which the racetrack can be bent to form the game of the racetrack. One such form is shown in  FIG. 8 , where a loop is formed by bending the flexible tubes ( 21 ) into a loop. In the case of a three flexible tube track (two V-grooves), a three tube clip ( 22 ) is placed inverted across the top of the loop and a six tube clip ( 23 ) is placed across the bottom. If the loop is very large, rigid sticks would be necessary to support the top of the loop. 
     As this invention is a marble “race” game, it is desirable to have all marbles start down the racetrack at the same time. To accomplish this fact a starting gate is used.  FIG. 9  shows a top and side view of the starting gate. The gate is built using a standard “U” clip ( 24 ) with elongated holes ( 25 ) in the flanges ( 26 ) so that the gate may be placed down upon a section of the track, which may be raised using rigid sticks, if so desired. The actual gate, shown open in the top view ( 27 ) and closed in the side view ( 28 ) is hinged and connected to the clip with an additional raised bar ( 29 ) which supports the gate and provides clearance for the marbles under the edge of the hinge. A handle ( 30 ) attached to the gate would facilitate opening of the gate. 
     In summary, a marble race game has been disclosed which provides the players with the ability to build a racetrack of numerous configurations limited only by the imagination of the players. The track can bet set-up such that it extends over, around and through objects and across varied landscapes. Enjoyment comes from not only the challenge of building a track that is complex and varied, but also from the race action where two or more players can race their marbles to the finish line. 
     The above disclosure is not intended as limiting the intent of the invention. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the basic teachings of the invention.