Patent Publication Number: US-2011053454-A1

Title: Decorative toy

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
     The present invention relates to a decorative toy, particularly, to a decorative toy using a spring motor to drive a cylinder and a magnet device for producing music and enabling a magnetic ornament placed on the housing to perform various movement patterns simultaneously. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     A conventional music box is provided with a spring driven mechanism or an electrically driven mechanism to rotate a revolving shaft of a cylinder. The cylinder is studded with a plurality of pins, and the pins on the cylinder are arranged in a predetermined array that plucks resilient turned prongs of a musical comb as the cylinder rotates to provide specific chosen melodies. To attain better effects of entertainment, the revolving shaft which is used in some musical boxes in the market is connected to a driven gear set for transmitting a driving force from the cylinder to a ornament, such as a doll, on the upper part of the musical box which is in synchronization with the music. 
     However, the conventional musical boxes mentioned above can merely attract visual attention by the aesthetically pleasing appearance. Furthermore, the movement of ornaments on the musical boxes is limited, usually to uniform vertical and swiveling movement due to the simple structure of driven gear set. If more complicated and fascinating motions of the ornament are desired, the musical box will require more elaborate components and a complicated structure so that the manufacturing time and cost will be substantially increased. 
     In order to overcome the foregoing shortcomings and problems, after hard research and development, a decorative toy that substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art is provided by the present invention. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
     The primary object of the present invention is to provide a decorative toy comprising a mechanical-winding spring motor and a plurality of intermeshed gears for transmitting a driving force from a spring motor to a revolving shaft to rotate the magnet and vary the magnetic field which is generated by the magnet, thereby making the magnetic ornament on the housing rotate, sway or move by the variation of magnetic field. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a decorative toy having a spring motor to drive a cylinder of a musical box and a driven gear set simultaneously, wherein the driven gear set is connected to a revolving shaft of a magnetic device for rotating a magnet of the magnetic device in synchronization with the rotation of the cylinder, thereby making a magnetic ornament on the housing of the decorative toy rotate, sway or move by the variation of magnetic field. 
     In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the decorative toy according to the present invention comprises a housing, a magnetic device and a driving device which are disposed in the housing. A magnetic ornament is disposed on the housing. The magnetic device has a fixing base and a magnet pivotally connected to the fixing base via a revolving shaft. The driving device has a mechanical-winding spring motor and a plurality of intermeshed gears for transmitting a driving force from the spring motor to the revolving shaft to rotate the magnet and vary the magnetic field generated by the magnet, thereby making the magnetic ornament on the housing rotate, sway or move by the variation of magnetic field. 
     In practice, the driving device is an instrument used for a musical box, and the instrument includes a cylinder studded with a plurality of pins and a musical comb for producing music while the spring motor rotates the cylinder when pins of the cylinder pluck the comb. One end of the revolving shaft is connected to a rotating gear. A cylinder shaft of the cylinder axially extends and connects to a passive gear. The rotating gear and the passive gear are interconnected via a driven gear set to rotate the magnet for varying the magnetic field generated by the magnet. 
     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present 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 decorative toy before assembling of an embodiment according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a decorative toy after assembling of an embodiment according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing the state before engaging the passive gear and one end of the driven gear set of an embodiment according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view showing the rotation of the magnet driven by a driving force transmitted from the spring motor of an embodiment according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a sectional view showing the state that a magnetic ornament disposed on the housing of an embodiment according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is another perspective view of the embodiment of  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a decorative toy of an embodiment of the present invention are illustrated, wherein the decorative toy comprises a hollow housing  1 , a magnetic device  2  and a driving device  3  which are disposed in the housing  1 . 
     The magnetic device  2  includes a fixing base  21 , a permanent magnet  22 , and a fixing frame  23  for disposing the magnet  22 . Two sides of the fixing frame  23  are pivotally connected to the fixing base  21  via a revolving shaft  24  separately, and one of the revolving shafts  24  is connected to a rotating gear  25 . 
     The driving device  3  is an instrument used for a musical box. The instrument includes a mechanical-winding spring motor  31 , a cylinder  32  studded with a plurality of pins  321 , a musical comb  33 , and a plurality of intermeshed gears  34 . The gears  34  includes a passive gear  341  and a driven gear set  342 . The spring motor  31  drives and rotates the cylinder  32  by a cylinder shaft  311  passing through the cylinder  32 . Thus, when the spring motor  31  rotates the cylinder  32 , the pins  321  of the cylinder  32  can pluck the musical comb  33  and produce music according to the arrangement of the pins thereon. Further, the cylinder shaft  311  axially extends and connects to the passive gear  341 , and the driven gear set  342  is pivotally mounted to a fixing plate  4  and intermeshed with the passive gear  341  and the rotating gear  25  separately via the gears on both ends thereof, such that the revolving shafts  24  are driven and rotates the fixing frame  23  and the magnet  22  inside the fixing frame  23  (as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 ). 
     In practice, the spring motor  31  of the driving device  3  has a winding shaft  312 , and the winding shaft  312  extends outward the housing  1  for winding up the winding shaft  312  to make the spring motor  31  drive the rotation of the cylinder  32 , and thereby plucking the musical comb  33  with the pins  321  on the surface of the cylinder  32  to produce music; meanwhile, the passive gear  341  drives the driven gear set  342  by the rotation of the cylinder  32 , and thus rotates the magnet  22  inside the fixing frame  23  by driving force transmitted from the rotating gear  25  and the revolving shafts  24 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , a magnetic ornament  5  such as a toy fish freely suspended in a water ball is movably disposed on the housing  1 . When the spring motor  31  is wound up by the winding shaft  312  to make the musical comb  33  to produce music and rotate the magnet  22  simultaneously, the toy fish in the water ball may rotate, sway or move by the variation of magnetic field. 
     Therefore, the present invention has the following advantages: 
     1. The present invention can rotates the magnet to vary the magnetic field by a driving force transmitted from the spring motor via gears, and the rotation of magnet is in synchronization with the melody being played by the instrument to create irregular motions of the toy fish and raise its visual effects. 
     2. The magnetic ornament of the present invention can be any animal or any object which can move freely on the housing, and the outer appearance of the housing can also be shaped corresponding to the animal or object, thereby enhancing creativity, practicability, and the commercial value of the present invention. 
     3. The structure of the present invention is simple which can facilitate assembling and reduce manufacturing time and cost. 
     As stated in the above disclosed, the present invention can surely achieve its expected objects to provide a decorative toy utilizing an existing instrument used in a musical box to enable a magnetic ornament to have various motions in synchronization with the music, and further enhance the entertainment effects and product value of the decorative toy. 
     It should be understood that different modifications and variations could be made from the disclosures of the present invention by the people familiar in the art without departing the spirit of the present invention.