Patent Publication Number: US-6983742-B2

Title: Collapsible toy air gun

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention relates to an entertainment device for adults and children and specifically, a toy air gun. In particular, a toy air gun is disclosed that is collapsible, easy to ship, assemble, use and manufacture. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Toy guns are common with children and provide excitement of playing out the hunting and the hunted or shooting targets. Traditional toy gun resembles a real gun and projects a fake bullet at relatively high speed. This type of toy gun is very dangerous to play with as the projectile can severely injure a child, in particular, his/her eyes. Furthermore, bullets are often lost after shooting from the gun and require constant replenishment or reloading. 
   In view of the increase in gun violence in today&#39;s society, traditional toy guns have been considered politically incorrect and parents minimize their children&#39;s exposure to toy guns. Due to the decrease in popularity of toy guns with a projectile, toy water guns have increased their popularity in recent years. 
   Prior art toy water gun uses water and projects a squirt or stream of water. Toy water gun is slightly less dangerous to play with and does not cause severe injury, but does cause a mess if used indoors. Similar to a traditional toy gun that projects a fake bullet, the water ammunition is lost after shooting and requires constant refill. Furthermore, water toy gun is very messy and essentially played outdoors only. 
   Another type of safe toy gun is one that shoots a ball or wave of air. A toy air gun is advantageous over traditional and water toy guns because it is safe to play with, does not cause severe injury, no need to refill ammunition during play and it is not messy to use. 
   Prior art toy air guns generally use a resilient diaphragm that is drawn and cocked rearward and released (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,157,703, 2,846,996 and 2,614,551) or is struck with a hammer (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,567) to provide a puff of air at relatively high velocity to be felt many feet away. Disadvantageously, all prior art air toy guns have bulky constructions due to the many intricate parts that make up the toy guns and are expensive to manufacture and ship due to their sizes. 
   Therefore, there is a need for a toy air gun that is inexpensive to manufacture, easy to use, ship and assemble. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention provides a toy air gun having a collapsible feature to facilitate shipping and assembly and is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use. 
   The toy air gun of the present invention comprises at least two corresponding tapered tubular sections and at least one supporting plate. The tapered tubular sections are correspondingly sized concentrically such that in the extended cooperative, co-axial position, the tubular sections form a tapered tubular body having a total axial length of the combined axial lengths of the tubular sections. Mounted transversely across the larger opening end of the tubular body is a non-resilient, non-porous diaphragm. A pull knob and a back support securely sandwich the diaphragm near the center of the diaphragm. A resilient string is mounted across the smaller opening end of the tubular body, with a section of the string looping through an opening adjacent the back support. The supporting plate has at least two latching elements that correspond to at least one slit on the circumferential surface of each of the outer tubular sections to maintain the tubular sections in the extended position. In one embodiment, the supporting plate has an integral handle to facilitate handling of the toy air gun and/or a sight to facilitate aiming of the toy air gun. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     A preferred embodiment of the present invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part of the specification wherein: 
       FIG. 1  is side view of the toy air gun of the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  is a front elevational view. 
       FIG. 3  is a rear elevational view. 
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view taken across line  4 — 4  of  FIG. 1 , without the diaphragm and resilient string for a more simplified view. 
       FIG. 5  is an enlarged view of a portion of the toy air gun shown in  FIG. 4  illustrating the interconnection of the tapered tubular sections. 
       FIG. 6  is a bottom plan view of a supporting plate of the present invention. 
       FIG. 7  is a cross section view taken across line  7 — 7  of  FIG. 6  illustrating the latching elements. 
       FIG. 8  is a side view of the toy air gun with the diaphragm in a position to shoot a ball of air. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   With reference to the drawings, wherein the same reference number indicates the same element throughout, there is shown in  FIG. 1  a toy air gun  10  of the present invention. Toy air gun  10  comprises a tapered tubular body  12 , two supporting plates  14 , a diaphragm  16  and a resilient string  18 . 
   As shown in  FIGS. 1–5 , tapered tubular body  12  comprises a plurality of tapered tubular sections  20 ,  22  and  24 , which are correspondingly sized and adapted to coaxially connect to form a tapered tubular body  12 . Although the toy air gun  10  shown in  FIGS. 1–5  includes three tapered tubular sections, a smaller tubular section  20 , an interconnecting tubular section  22  and a larger tubular section  24 , more or less interconnecting tubular sections  22  may be added or subtracted without detracting from the spirit of the present invention. 
   As shown in details in  FIG. 5 , the tubular sections  20 ,  22  and  24  interlock, in the extended co-axially operational position, to form tapered tubular body  12  having a total axial length of substantially the combined axial lengths of the three tubular sections  20 ,  22  and  24 . In the collapsed position, the toy air gun  10  can be shipped compactly with an axial length of one of the tubular sections  20 ,  22  and  24  (not shown), with each tubular section  20 ,  22  and  24  concentrically arranged. 
   Smaller outer tubular section  20  has at one end a rim  26  extending radially inward to form a muzzle opening  28  of the toy air gun  10 . At the opposite end of the smaller outer tubular section is an L-shape flange  30  extending radially outward, forming a groove  32 . The interconnecting tubular section  22  has two L-shape flanges  34  and  36 , the first extending radially outward at the larger diameter end and the latter extending radially inward at the smaller diameter end, forming grooves  38  and  40 , respectively. The larger tubular section  24  has an L-shape flange  42  extending radially inward at the smaller diameter end, forming a groove  44 . At the larger diameter end of the larger tubular section  24  is a radially extending rim  46 . 
   In the extended position, the groove  32  correspondingly mates with the free end of flange  34 , the groove  38  correspondingly mates with the free end of flange  30 , and the groove  40  correspondingly mates with the free end of flange  42 . Each of these three groove-flange interlock is held together by friction. 
   To facilitate the assembly of the three tubular sections  20 ,  22  and  24  into the extended operational position, at least one axially linear protrusion  48  may provided on the circumferential surface of smaller tubular section  20  and at least one corresponding channel  50  along the L-shape flange  34  of the interconnecting tubular section  22  to guide in the proper alignment of the three tubular sections  20 ,  22  and  24 . A similar combination of protrusion  48  and channel  50  may be provided on the circumferential surface of the interconnecting tubular section  22  and the L-shape flange  42  of the larger tubular section  24  (not shown). 
   As shown in  FIG. 4 , along the circumferential surfaces of smaller tubular section  20  and larger tubular section  24  are a plurality of slits  52  for receiving supporting plate  14  to maintain the tubular body  12  in the extended position during operation. 
   As shown in  FIGS. 1–3 , with the diaphragm  16  at rest, diaphragm  16  is mounted transversely across the larger end of larger tubular section  24 , secured in place by ledge  54 . The diameter of the diaphragm  16  is preferably larger than the diameter of the larger end of larger tubular section  24  such that diaphragm  16  extends beyond the confine of the tapered tubular body  12  in preparation of firing a ball of air as shown in  FIG. 8 . Diaphragm  16  is preferably made of a non-resilient and non-porous material such as thick plastic. 
   A pull knob  56  and a back support  58  securely sandwich the diaphragm  16  near the center of the diaphragm  16 . The back support  58  has an opening  60  wherein the resilient string  18  is looped through. The two ends of the resilient string  18  are securely mounted diametrically across from each other on the rim  26  of smaller tubular section  20 . 
   As shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 , supporting plate  14  is correspondingly curved to rest on the circumferential surface of the tubular body  12 . On the concave surface of the supporting plate  14  is a plurality of latching elements  62  that are corresponding located to latch onto slits  52  on the smaller and larger tubular sections  20  and  24  in the extended position. Alternative to the latching elements  62  and slits  52  combination, screws and/or nuts and bolts may be used to secure the supporting plate  14  to the tubular body  12  (not shown). 
   As shown in  FIG. 1–3 , two supporting plates  14  are diametrically located to evenly support the tubular body  12 . However, one supporting plate  14  may be sufficient. Shown attached to one of the supporting plate  14  is a handle  64  to facilitate the firing of the toy air gun  10 . 
     FIG. 8  shows the toy air gun  10  in a position to shoot a ball of air. A user may use one hand to grasp the handle  64  and the other hand to pull the pull knob  56  in the direction  66  away from tubular body  12 , stretching the diaphragm  16  to a rearward position. When the pull knob  56  is released, the diaphragm  16  abruptly springs forward and causes the air in the confine of the tubular body  12  to be propelled through the muzzle opening  28 . The tapered tubular body  12  acts as a compression chamber and compress air from the larger diameter end to the smaller diameter end to cause the air to shoot from the toy air gun  10  at a relatively high velocity. 
   Optionally, a sight  68  may be provided on the supporting plate  14  opposite the supporting plate with a handle  64  (as shown in  FIG. 2  only). 
   The features of the invention illustrated and described herein is the preferred embodiment. Therefore, it is understood that the appended claims are intended to cover the variations disclosed and unforeseeable embodiments with insubstantial differences that are within the spirit of the claims.