Patent Publication Number: US-5836804-A

Title: Transmission apparatus of a toy motorcycle

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE OF THE PRESENT OF A TOY APPLICATION 
     The present application is a continue-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/378,341, Jan. 26, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,872. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a transmission apparatus of a toy motorcycle, which is able to pivotally open a rear cover and two lateral covers for showing several decorative bodies such as toy helicopter and missiles as well as lift and rotate the entire toy motorcycle. 
     A conventional electric toy vehicle only has the functions of running and self-steering and simultaneously emitting a sound and light. Because of lacking versatile actions for the children, such conventional toy vehicle can hardly satisfy the requirements of the children. Therefore, an improved toy vehicle has been developed to create various kinds of special actions for meeting the market requirements. However, such toy vehicle has complicated structure. This results in high cost and high Price which can hardly accepted by common consumers. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a toy vehicle which has simple structure while creating versatile actions to solve the above problem. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore a Primary object of the present invention to provide a transmission apparatus of a toy motorcycle, which not only enables the toy motorcycle to run and self-steer, but also drives a lifting mechanism, a rearward pushing mechanism and a laterally pushing mechanism respectively for lifting and rotating the toy motorcycle, pivotally opening rear and lateral covers for showing several decorative bodies such as toy helicopter and missiles. Accordingly, versatile actions of the toy motorcycle are created to achieve a joyful entertaining effect. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above transmission apparatus which has simple structure and is easily manufactured at low cost. 
     The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein: 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the transmission apparatus of the present invention with the transmission casing removed; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of entire transmission apparatus of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the rearward pushing mechanism and lifting mechanism of the present invention prior to operation; 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the rearward pushing mechanism and lifting mechanism of the present invention after operation; 
     FIG. 5-A is a perspective view of the first laterally pushing member of the present invention; 
     FIG. 5-B is a perspective view of the second laterally pushing member of the present invention; 
     FIG. 5-C is a sectional view showing the laterally pushing mechanism of the present invention prior to operation; and 
     FIG. 5-D is a sectional view showing the laterally pushing mechanism of the present invention after operation. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 5-4. The present invention mainly includes a transmission mechanism 3, a transmission casing for enclosing the transmission mechanism 3, a lifting mechanism 4, a rearward pushing mechanism 5 and a laterally pushing mechanism 7. 
     The transmission casing 2 is mounted on a chassis of a housing of the toy motorcycle. A cross-shaped slot 22 is formed on a top face of the transmission casing 2. Two symmetrical lifting guide slots 25 are formed on two lateral sides of the casing 2 near a rear end thereof. Two slots 21, 211 are formed on the lateral sides near a middle portion for laterally pushing members to extend therethrough. Decorative articles such as missiles 26 are disposed on the casing 2 in front of the slots 21, 211. The slot 21 includes a bottom end protruding hole 212, an upward extending guide slot 213 and a top hooking latch 214. An opening 23 is formed on the bottom face of the casing 2 on a front side thereof. A hole 24 is formed behind the opening 23 for a lifting column to extend therethrough. 
     The transmission mechanism 3 includes a power source 31 connected through a reducing gear set 32 respectively to a driving shaft 34 and driven shaft 35. The bottom end of the driving shaft 34 directly drives a rotary Power wheel set 6 to protrude through the opening 23 for driving the housing 1. The top end of the driving shaft 34 through a flexible section 531 is coupled with a transmission shaft 53 of the rearward pushing mechanism 5. One end of the driven shaft 35 is drivingly coupled with a rotary disk 37, while the other end thereof is disposed with a first cam 361 and a second cam 362 which are 180 degrees different in phase. A front and a rear pushing blocks 371, 372 are respectively disposed on a front and a rear sides of the rotary disk 37. 
     The lifting mechanism 4 includes a top depression frame 41 which is intermittently depressed by the first cam 361. A driving gear 42 is disposed in the frame for concentrically driving a lifting column 43. The bottom end of the lifting column 43 is disposed with a plane disk seat 44 and a compression spring 45 is disposed between the bottom of the depression frame 41 and the inner face of the bottom of the transmission casing 2. The lifting column 43 protrudes through the hole 24 of the casing 2 under the chassis. Two sliding guide keys 411 are disposed on two lateral walls of the depression frame 41 and slidably received in the lifting guide channels 25 of the casing 2. 
     One end of the transmission shaft 53 of the rearward pushing mechanism 5 through a flexible section 531 is coupled with the driving shaft 34. The other end of the transmission shaft 53 extends into a lifting rod 52. One end of the lifting rod 52 through a rearward pushing board 51 is coupled with the second cam 362. The other end thereof is disposed with a decorative toy helicopter 55. A pushing board 54 is disposed on two sides of the helicopter 55. The end section of the transmission shaft 53 extends into the lifting rod 52 and coupled with a propeller 551 of the helicopter 55. 
     The laterally pushing mechanism 7 includes a first and a second laterally pushing members 71, 72 protruding respectively through the slots 21, 211 of the transmission casing 2. The second laterally pushing member 72 is substantially cylindrical column, having a rear driven end 722. The front (or rear ) pushing block 371, 372 of the rotary disk 37 pushes the driven end 722 so as to extend the second laterally pushing member 72 outward. A second restoring spring 721 is confined between and compressed by the inner lateral wall of the casing 2 and a pushing plate 724. The first laterally pushing member 71 also has a cylindrical column section protruding through the bottom end protruding hole 212 of the slot 21. The first laterally pushing member 71 has a reverse hook section 714 at rear end for hooking and locating the inner lateral wall of the casing 2. A guide plate 712 inclinedly extends from upper side of the column section, having a rear driven end 713 to be pushed and outward extended by the rear (or front ) pushing block 372, 371. The front end of the guide plate 712 is disposed with a hooking latch section 715 on which one end of the first restoring spring 711 is hooked and latched. The other end of the first restoring spring 711 is hooked on the hooking latch section 214 of the slot 21. 
     When the power source 31 is switched on, the reducing gear set 32 is activated to drive the driving shaft 34 and the driven shaft 35. The bottom end of the driving shaft 34 directly drives the rotary power wheel set 6, whereby the housing 1 can run all over. The top end of the driving shaft 34 through the transmission shaft 53 drives the propeller 551 of the helicopter 55. Simultaneously, the driven shaft 35 is rotated to rotarily drive the first and second cams 361, 362 and the rotary disk 37. The first and second cams 361, 362 intermittently depress the depression frame 41 and the rearward pushing board 51. The depression frame 41 operates to make the lifting column 43 via the plane disk 44 lift the housing 1. When the sliding guide keys 411 slide downward to the lower dead ends, the driving gear 42 meshes with the reducing gear set 32 to rotate the housing 1. Thereafter, the first cam 361 gradually rotates away from the depression frame 41 and the housing 1 is supported by the compression spring 45 to slide down. At this time, the rearward pushing board 51 is pushed by the second cam 362 to drive the lifting rod 52 upward. The pushing board 54 pivotally opens the rear cover 56 to show the toy helicopter 55. When the second cam 362 slides away from the rearward pushing board 51, the rearward pushing board 51 drives the helicopter 55 and the Pushing board 54 downward with the rear cover 56 closed. When the rotary disk 37 rotates, the front and rear pushing blocks 371, 372 respectively abut against the driven ends 713, 722 of the first and second laterally pushing members 71, 72. At this time, the first and second laterally pushing members 71, 72 pivotally open the lateral covers 73 to show the decorative bodies 26. After the front and rear pushing blocks 371, 372 slide away from the driven ends 713, 722, the first and second laterally pushing members 71, 72 are restored by the first and second restoring springs 711, 721. 
     The above description and accompanying drawings are used to illustrate one embodiment of the Present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Any modification of this embodiment should fall within the scope of the present invention.