A New or Improved Mechanical Toy.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 18th June, 1895-Accepted, 20th July, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Mechanical Toy.
I, FRANCIS AUGUSTUS MILLS, Junior, Roseville, Lismore, in the County of
Waterford, Ireland, Estate Office Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to a new or improved mechanical toy horse which is
capable by means of the mechanism hereinafter described of being propelled or
moved along by the child riding upon it alternately pulling and slacking the reins.
To accomplish this I fix the representation or model of a horse upon a platform
mounted upon wheels.
"
The body of the horse I make hollow and place therein the mechanism to be
actuated in propelling the apparatus. The head of the animal I form separately
from the body and mount same at the lower end of the neck upon a pivot within
the fore part of the body.
"
An extension of the neck by depressing the horse's head is capable of acting
upon and raising one end of a crank lever the other end of which lever is thereby
lowered and depresses two rods passing through tubes which may form the hind
legs of the animal. At the lower ends of these rods are mounted suitable prongs
or propellers which act upon the floor or ground when the rods are depressed as
aforesaid and cause the toy horse to be moved forward a slight extent. The stroke
and consequent amount of travel will vary in accordance with the size of the
apparatus. The lowering of the horse's head is effected. by pulling upon the reius,'
(preferably witp a jerk). After pulling the reins they should be slackened and
springs provided will throw the whole gearing back to its original position and
another pull upon the reins will cause the apparatus to move forward again, and so.
on, by alternately pulling and slacking the reins, a forward travel may be given
to the toy horse forming the subject of this invention.
'
And in order that the same may be fully understood I will now describe same
with reference to the accompanying drawings and to the letters and figures of
reference marked thereon that is to say :-
Fig. 1 is a side sectional elevation of the mechanical toy horse constructed in
accordance with this invention and
Fig. 2 is an end view of same, the body of the horse being in section to enable
the mechanism therein to be seen.
Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in each of the figures.
a is the carriage or framing, mounted upon wheels b upon which carriage the
model or representation of the horse is fixed, c is the body of the animal, d its fore
legs, and e the hind legs. These latter I preferably make hollow or tubular to
admit of the passage therethrough of the propeller-actuating-rods f the action of
which will hereinafter be fully explained.
g is the horse's head which with its neck g' I make separately from the body.
The head and neck I pivotally attach at h within the fore part of the body cof
the animal. A suitable opening or slot is left in the front to permit of the neck
working therein. The neck g'1 form with an extension 92 at an angle therewith
which is raised or lowered according as the head is moved downwards or upwards.
Fulcrummed at i within the body c of the horse I have the cranked lever k k².
The forward arm or branch k of this lever rests upon the neck-extension or tail-
piece gand the rear arm or branch is formed with a slot therein in which works

page_text: the cross-bar connected at each end to one of the propeller-actuating rods f
beforementioned.
These rods fas aforesaid pass downwards through the tubes e and at their lower
ends are screwed or otherwise attached to caps m. Carried upon spindles fixed
within these caps m I have the prongs or propellers n the points of which stick in
the ground or floor when pressed downwards and cause the horse to be moved
forward a short distance (the extent of travel will as aforesaid depend upon the
size of the apparatus) in much the same manner as a boat is propelled in shallow
water by a man standing in the stern and pressing the end of a pole against the
bed or bottom of the stream. oo are springs placed around the upper ends of the
rods for the purpose of assisting in returning the gearing to its normal position
when the reins are slackened and after the head has been pulled downwards. To
this end I weight the neck extension by attaching thereto a strip of metal p
and I also prefer to make the arm or branch 'k, of the cranked lever, heavier than
the arm k¹.
To make the tail of the animal move up and down when the horse is in motion
I make it of a crank shape and fulcrum same at g at the rear end of the body cas
shewn in Fig. 1. The external portion of the tail:I cover with hair or the like,
and the internal arm or branch s reaches just beneath the rear arm or'branch ¹ of
the cranked lever beforementioned. The portion of the tail is 'heavier than the
branch s so that the normal position of the tail is as shewn in Fig. 1.
The operation, when it is desired to ride and propel the toy horse, 'is as
follows:-
The head and neck gg² are placed in their highest position, and the two pro-
pellers n are made to rest upon the ground. The child riding, then takes hold of
the reins (these latter pass under a martingale t fixed at front end of the body c)
and gives them a pull. This draws the head downwards and raises the neck
extension 9. The arm k of the cranked lever is lifted by the neck extension g²
and the other arm k' of the fulcrummed crank lever is consequently depressed.
This presses the springs o and propeller-actuating rods downwards, and as the
latter bear upon the prongs or propellers n in pivotal connection at m therewith
and the pointed ends of which are sticking in the ground, will cause the carriage to
be propelled about one inch forwards all as shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the
drawings. Upon slacking the reins the head g will rise to its highest position and
the levers, rods, springs, and propellers, will assume their normal positions as shewu
in full lines. The depression of the crank arm k will also lower the portion's of
the horse's tail and this latter being fulcrummed at g the external portion 'r' will
rise as the horse moves forward, falling again when the arm is raised.
To raise the propellers n from the ground, and permit of the horse being pushed
backwards I have the rods u sliding in bearings v. These rods u may be pushed
against the prongs n and as the latter are pivotted in the caps m their ends may be
raised from the ground and held by the rods u in such raised position so long as
may be required. Then to again permit of the horse being propelled forwards by
the mechanism above described, the prongs or propellers 'n are released by with-
drawing the rods u therefrom to the position shewn in Fig. 1 when the 'prongs n
will again rest upon the ground and be capable of being actuated as previously
described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The new or improved mechanical toy horse, constructed and operating sub-
stantially as above described and shewn in the accompanying drawings.
.
2. In mechanical toy horses the construction and arrangement of fulcrummed
head and neck g g' g², intermediate crank lever k k¹, propeller actuating rods f
springs o, and pivotted or jointed prongs or propellers n, all combined and operating
substantially as described and shewn.

page_text: 3. In mechanical toy horses the carriage a, wheels b, hollow body c, fore legs d,
and tubular hind legs e, fulcrummed head and neck 99' with extension g³, crank
lever kk fulcrummed as at i within the body c, and having slot in the arm k¹, the
cross bar working within the slot in arm k¹ the propeller actuating rods f with
caps m, the prongs or propellers n pivotted at their upper ends to caps m, returning
springs o, fulcrummed tail qrs, martingale t, rods u and bracket bearings vall
constructed, combined arranged and operating substantially as hereinbefore
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 18th day of June 1895.
HUGHES, SON & Co.,
38, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.