An Improved Switch Back Toy.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Sept., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 28th June, 1897- Accepted, 31st July, 1897
An Improved Switch Back Toy.
I CARL STRUBE of 13 Ropemaker Street in the City of London Foreign Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of this Invention (which has been communicated to me
from abroad by Max Morgenstern of Buchholz, Saxony, in the Empire of Germany,
Manufacturer) to be as follows:-
It has been a difficulty with these toys to get the light toy carriage to run with
regularity from end to end of the inclined roadway. According to this invention
this difficulty is overcome in the following manner. The track is provided with
a single central rib or rail and the carriage is provided with three metal wheels;
there is a leading wheel and two following wheels. The leading wheel is double
flanged and runs upon the rail; the two hinder wheels are larger in diameter
than the leading wheel, they are both on the same axle and they run upon
the flat part of the track on either side of the guide rail.
The course is more or less oval and extends with suitable undulations from the
upper to the lower story of a tower; the upper story being the departure station
and the lower story the terminus. There is a lift in the tower and into the cage of
this lift the carriage is received at the end of the run; the cage being raised brings
the carriage up again to the starting point.
Dated this 29th day of September 1896.
An improved Switch Back Toy.
I, CARL STRUBE of 13 Ropemaker Street, in the City of London, Foreign Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been communicated to me
from abroad by Max Morgenstern of Buchholz, Saxony, in the Empire of Germany,
Manufacturer), and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
It has been a difficulty with these toys to get the light toy carriage to run with
regularity from end to end of the inclined roadway.
According to this invention this difficulty is overcome in the following manner.
The track is provided with a single central rib or rail and the carriage is provided
with three metal wheels; there is a leading wheel and two following wheels. The
leading wheel is double flanged and runs upon the rail; the two hinder wheels
are larger in diameter than the leading wheel, they are both on the same axle and
they run upon the flat part of the track on either side of the guide rail.
The course is more or less oval and extends with suitable undulations from the
upper to the lower story of a tower; the upper story being the departure station and
the lower story the terminus. There is a lift in the tower and into the cage of this

page_text: lift the carriage is received at the end of the run; the cage being raised brings the
carriage up again to the starting point.
The annexed drawings show a switchback toy in accordance with my Provisional
Specification.
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Figure 2 is a plan showing the general arrangements
of the toy.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the carriage and track drawn to a larger scale
and Figure 4 is an end view of the carriage and shows also the roadway in
section.
The toy is constructed usually of cardboard which is cut or stamped to the
forms required.
a is the roadway which descends from the point a' to the point a2 and has various
undulations in its course.
b is a tower connecting the upper and lower ends of the roadway. The tower
contains a lift. c is the cage open in front and behind into which the carriage runs.
when it reaches the lower end of its course. d is a cord attached to the cage. By
pulling this cord the cage can be raised in the tower b to the upper end a¹ of the
roadway. The cage is arrested in this position by suitable stops and the front aperture
in the cage then coinciding with a corresponding aperture in the wall in the tower
the carriage is free to pass out. The carriage then starts by gravity the parts on
which it stands whilst in the cage being somewhat inclined, it passes completely
round the roadway and is again received into the cage.
ee are stationary guide rods one on either side of the cage which control its
movements.
I will now describe the detail of the roadway and carriage which form a special
feature of my invention.
The roadway has a floor a' on which a central guiding riba is fixed. fis the front
wheel of the carriage, which alone is controlled by the guide rib, it is usually made
of metal and has a flange on either side of the guide rib. The axle may be of wood.
gg are the hind wheels, they also are usually of metal. The hind wheels run on the
flat floor a³ uncontrolled except by their connection with the carriage and the leading
wheel f. h h is the body of the carriage preferably of cardboard and it is connected to
the wooden axles of the wheels by metal pins i i.
The essential features on which the free running of the carriage on the inclined
roadway depends are that the wheels and especially the fore wheel are relatively
heavy the body of the carriage being as light as possible and the fore wheel alone is
guided by the central rib a Unless the carriage and roadway be so constructed the
carriage cannot be depended on to run round such a course as
the drawings
represent.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The carriage and roadway substantially as described that is to say with a
guide rib a upon the roadway and the carriage having a double flanged leading
wheelf running upon the guide rib and a pair of hinder wheels g g running
upon the roadway a³ on either side of and free from the guide rib.
2. The general arrangement of the switchback toy with its oval inclined roadway
and tower with lift connecting the upper and lower ends of the roadway and cage
receiving the carriage at the lower end of the roadway, lifting it and freeing it to
run down the incline substantially as described.
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