An Improved Mechanical Toy.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Sept., 1890-Accepted, 8th Nov., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Mechanical Toy.
I, HENRY HARGREAVES, of 63 Hornsey Rise. in the County of Middlesex, Gentle-
inan, 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, reference being had to the accompanying sheet of drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say -
This invention relates to mechanical toys of the kind for which Letters Patent were
granted to me bearing date the 28th day of September 1889 No. 15304, and especially
to such toys when arranged with two or more figures or sets of figures, representing a
tournament or other game, requiring a certain amount of skill or address to move the
figures so as to bring about a certain result or effect. In the invention forming the
subject of the aforesaid Patent, certain figures are moved to and fro in guides by
means of cords, chains, or bands which are actuated by rollers or pulleys, such rollers
or pulleys being turned in the required direction by a finger of the band or otherwise.
According to my present invention, I dispense with the said rollers or pulleys, and
instead thereof Larrange the cords, chains, or bands so that they can be acted on
directly by the hands of the operator without the intervention of any mechanical
appliance whatever.
In the drawings hereto annexed, Figure 1 is a plan, Figure 2 a longitudinal
sectional elevation, and Figure n transverse section of a toy illustrating a tournament
of the kind shown in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings annexed to the Specification of
my aforesaid Patent but constructed in accordance with my present invention. A is
the box or framework on the top of which the figures E E' are mounted and moved.
Guideways are formed on the top of the said box, in which slide the stands D and D',
to which the figures E and E respectively are pin-jointed by the hind logs of the
horses. Rods P P are secured to the underside of the fore part of the horses and
pass down through slots D and D in the stands D D and through slots A¹ A³ formed
in the guideways in the top of the box A. These rols P P1 may le further guided at
their lower ends by slots A A in a fixed guide piece A, and they carry friction
rollers QQ at their lower ends which respectively follow the undulations of the guide
pieces RR, and thereby impart to the horses, as they move along, an imitation of a
rearing, prancing, or galloping, motion. All the arrangements so far described, except
the guide piece A, are similar to those described in the Specification of my aforesaid
Patent, and my present improvement consists in arranging the cords, chains, or bands,
for actuating the figures E E¹ in the manner shown in the drawings hereto annexed,
in which S is a cord secured at one end by an eyelet T, or otherwise, to the rear end
of the stand or slide D which carries the figure E, and passing at its other end through
a guide eve T', fixed in the box A (or over a guide roller if preferred) and thence to
the outside of the said box through a hole formed in the end thereof. S' is a cord
secured at one end by an eyelet T, or otherwise, to the front end of the stand or
slide D; it then passes through a guide eye T3 fixed at the opposite end of the box A
(or over a guile roller if preferred) thence through the guide eye T, and out of the
box A by the side of the cord S. The cords U, and UI for operating the figure E¹,
are similarly connected to the stand 1)' by eyelets V V2, and after being conducted
through guide eyes V₁ V and V₁ (or over guide rollers if preferred) pass to the out-
side of the box A through a hole or holes in the end thereof opposite to that at which
the cords S S' issue from the box A.
It will now be understood that the player at one end of the box A takes the cord S
in one hand and the cord S' in the other, and that the player at the other end of the
box A takes the cord U in one hand and the cord U in the other. The player
holding the cords S S' will have command of the figure E, and by pulling the cord S

page_text: and relaxing the cord S', he can draw the said figure backward, and by pulling the
cord St, and relaxing the cord S, he can draw the said figure forward. Similarly, the
player holding the cords will have command of the figure E' and by pulling
one cord and relaxing the other, he can move that figure hackward, or forward, in the
same manner as the first mentioned player can move the figure E, so that either
player, by watching his opportunity, and pulling the proper cord and relaxing the
other, will be able so to guide the lance carried by his own figure, that the point will
strike the lead of his adversury's figure. This requires, as explained in the Specifica-
tion of my aforesaid Patent, a certain amount of skill or address, and affords an
amusing competition for young people.
It is obvious that the above described improved arrangement of the actuating
cords, chain-, or bands, is applicable to other adaptations of the toy besides the
tournament, such as the representation of raers and so forth.
The undulating guide pièces R R' are described, in the Specification of my aforosaid
Patent, as being fixed to the bottom of the hox A. According to my present invention,
I sometimes arrange them so that they are not fixed to the box A but are free to slide
endwise to a limited extent therein, a bundle W being connected to each and passed
through either end of the box A. This enables a player to alter, from time to time,
the position of his own, or of his adversary's, un lulated guide (according as the
handle W at his end of the box is connected with his own, or his adversary's, guide)
and thereby to make it still more difficult to manipulate the figures so that the lance
of the one shall strike the head of the other.
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 :-
First In a mechanical toy, in which figures or other objects are moved to and fro
in a guideway, the employment, for the purpose of moving such figures, of cords,
chains, or lands, arranged and operating substantially as hereinbefore described, and
illustrated in the drawings.
Second In a mechanical toy, in which figures or other objects are moved to und
fro in a guideway, and in which the figures are required to have an up and down
motion as well as a horizontal motion, the undulating guide pieces R R' so arranged
and adapted that they can be moved endwise, as hereinbefore described, and illustrated
in the drawings and for the purpose specified.
Dated this 8th day of Suntember 1890.
Dated LIIS ON MY DI
H.
HARGREAVES.
Per W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, E.C., Agent.