Patent Publication Number: US-9833724-B2

Title: Detachable axle

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is based upon and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 from Taiwan Patent Application No. 105100273 filed on Jan. 6, 2016, which is hereby specifically incorporated herein by this reference thereto. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a detachable axle that is connected to wheels and a building block to provide the building block with a moving function. 
     2. Description of the Prior Arts 
     A building block is a kind of toy to train imagination and creativity of human beings. The building block includes various types and has no standard way of combination. Therefore, various types of building blocks are assembled to form all kinds of objects. An axle building block has been developed for more types of combination of the building blocks. A wheel is mounted around an axle of the axle building block. A model combined with the axle of the axle building block is able to move on the ground. However, the axle is formed on an outer surface of the axle building block. When the axle building block is not connected to a wheel, the axle building block is unsuitable to use as a general building block due to the protruding axle. Therefore the versatility of the axle building block is limited and needs to be improved. 
     To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a detachable axle to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Because the conventional axle building block is limited in ways of combination, the present invention provides a detachable axle to connect a general building block to provide the general building block with a moving function and to eliminate the combining limitation in the general building block. 
     To achieve the aforementioned objective, a detachable axle in accordance with the present invention comprises an axial body, two engaging portions, and two pivoting portions. The two engaging portions are respectively formed on two axial ends of the axial body, each of the two engaging portions has an engaging groove, and the engaging groove is radially formed on the engaging portion. The two pivoting portions are respectively formed on the two engaging portions and axially extend outwards from the engaging portions. Each of the two pivoting portions is cylindrical. 
     In use, a detachable axle is fastened with a general building block by the two engaging portions. The two pivoting portions extend out of the two sides of the building block, and two wheels are mounted around the two pivoting portions, so the building blocks have a moving function. Because the axle is detachable, the axial body and the building block could be separated. For the reason, the versatility of the general building block is expanded without any limitation. 
     Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a detachable axle in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the first embodiment of the detachable axle in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the detachable axle combined with a building block in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the detachable axle with the building block in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional side view of the detachable axle combined with the building block in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a partial view of the detachable axle engaged with the building block in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective combining view of a second embodiment of the detachable axle and a connecting rod in  FIG. 5 ; and 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of the detachable axle combined with the connecting rod and the building block in  FIG. 7 , and 
         FIG. 9  is a bottom view of the detachable axle combined with the connecting rod and the building block in  FIG. 7 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 to 3 , a first embodiment of a detachable axle in accordance with the present invention has an axial body  10 , two engaging portions  20 , and two pivoting portions  30 . 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the axial body  10  is cylindrical, and in another embodiment, the axial body is rectangular or in any other shape. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 2, 4 and 5 , the two engaging portions  20  are respectively formed on two axial ends of the axial body  10 , and each of the two engaging portions  20  has a first abutting plate  21 , a second abutting plate  22 , and an engaging groove  23 . The first abutting plate  21  is connected to the axial body  10  and radially extends outwards from the axial body  10 . The second abutting plate  22  is connected to the axial body  10  and radially extends outwards from the axial body  10 . The engaging groove  23  is radially formed between the first abutting plate  21  and the second abutting plate  22  of the engaging portion  20 . A radial extending length of the first abutting plate  21  is longer than a radial extending length of the second abutting plate  22 . In another embodiment, each of the two engaging portions  20  only has two engaging grooves  23  without having any abutting plate. The radial extending length of the first abutting plate  21  is shorter than the radial extending length of the second abutting plate  22 , or the radial extending length of the first abutting plate  21  is equal to the radial extending length of the second abutting plate  22 . These various embodiments achieve the same effect. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the two pivoting portions  30  are respectively formed on the two engaging portions  20  and extend outwards along the axial direction of the axial body  10 . Each of the two pivoting portions  30  is cylindrical and has a compression groove  31 , two limiting blocks  32 , and an obstructing block  33 . The compression groove  31  is axially formed on an end of the engaging portion  30 . The two limiting blocks  32  are formed on two opposite outer surfaces around two ends of the pivoting portion  30 . The obstructing block  33  is formed around the pivoting portion  30  and is mounted at axial intervals with the two limiting blocks  32 . The obstructing block  33  is higher than the outer surface of the pivoting portion  30  to form a height difference. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 2, and 4 to 6 , in use, multiple detachable axles are engaged with two opposite walls of a general building block  60  by the engaging grooves  23  of the two engaging portions. The two opposite walls of the building block  60  are respectively fastened by one first abutting plate  21  and one second abutting plate  22 , and the first abutting plate  21  of each engaging portion  20  is held by two spacing protruding ribs  61  of the building block  60  to avoid the relative sliding between the detachable axle and the building block  60  to strengthen the stability. The height difference of the first abutting plate  21  and the second abutting plate  22  is used to locate and fasten the building block  60  with the detachable axle. The two pivoting portions  30  respectively extend out of the building block  60 , and two wheels  70  are mounted around the two pivoting portions  30 , so the building blocks  60  could have a moving function. The wheel  70  has a first channel  71  and a second channel  72 . An inner diameter of the first channel  71  is longer than an inner diameter of the second channel  72 . One wheel  70  is mounted around the corresponding pivoting portion  30  of the detachable axle and the first channel  71  is mounted towards the building block  60 , finally the first channel  71  of the wheel  70  is disposed around the obstructing block  33 , and the second channel  72  is disposed around the pivoting portion  30  and is limited between the two limiting blocks  32  and the obstructing block  33  to avoid an axial movement of the wheel  70  along the pivoting portion  30 . 
     Because the present invention is selectively connected to the building block  60 , the axial body  10  and the building block  60  could be separated to make the building block  60  become the general combining type when the moving function is not needed. For the reason, the versatility of the general building block is expanded without any limitation. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 7 to 9 , a second embodiment of a detachable axle in accordance with the present invention is substantially the same as the first embodiment. The difference is that the axial body  10 A has two connecting plates  40 A. The two connecting plates  40 A are radially formed on the axial body  10 A at a spaced interval. Each connecting plate  40 A has an engaging hole  41 A and multiple reserved holes  42 A. The engaging hole  41 A is formed through the connecting plate  40 A. The multiple reserved holes  42 A are formed through the connecting plate  40 A and communicate with the engaging hole  41 A. An area of each reserved hole  42 A is smaller than an area of the engaging hole  41 A. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 7 to 9 , two building blocks  60  are respectively combined with the detachable axle. One of the connecting plates  40 A of each axial body  10 A extends out of the connected building block  60 . A connecting rod  50 A is connected to the two building blocks  60 . The connecting rod  50 A has two engaging portions  51 A, and the two engaging portions  51 A are formed radially and respectively on two ends of the connecting rod  50 A. The two engaging portions  51 A of the connecting rod  50 A are respectively engaged with the engaging hole  41 A of a rear connecting plate  40 A connected to a first building block  60  and the engaging hole  41 A of a front connecting plate  40 A connected to a second building block  60 . So the two building blocks  60  could be towed by each other when traveling on the ground to expand the versatility of the building block  60 . 
     Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.