MOVING TOY SKIPPING FIGURES
Year: 1885

page_text: I, CHARLES LEESE WATCHURST of N° 33 Blessington Road Lee in the county
of Kent Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for MOVING TOY
SKIPPING FIGURES to be as follows:-
This invention relates to that class of Toy Figure which is made to imitate or
exhibit the motions of children in playing games or doing active exercises.
In this invention by the application of suitable mechanism hereafter described
I make a Toy Figure to imitate the action of a child skipping.
In carrying out my invention I mount a crank or cam shaft in a suitably formed
frame or standard. I place the figure of the child between the standards and when
a crank shaft is used I attach the arms of the figure to the cranks so that when
the crank shaft is revolved the figure will move up and down. When a cam shaft
is used I make the cams bear upon the body of the figure in such a manner that
it is made to move up and down similarly. To the shaft I attach a rope or piece
of wire so that it shall move round as the figure is moved up and down.
By a suitable arrangement of pinions one of which is connected to a sleeve on
the crank shaft I may use two ropes revolving in opposite directions, giving the
appearance of a figure skipping with two ropes in the usual manner.
To ensure
the figure moving vertically up and down I connect it with a guide fastened to
the frame thus preventing any tendency to oscillate.
To exhibit the motions of the figure the crank shaft is made to revolve by
turning a cranked handle formed on an extension of it at one end, or by connecting
the crank shaft by suitable means to a string and barrel, or to any piece of moving
mechanism as clockwork, wheel and falling weight, or small windmill as may be.
convenient.

page_text: Moving Toy Skipping Figures.
I, CHARLES LEESE WATCHURST of N° 33 Blessington Road Lee in the county
of Kent Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for MOVING TOY
SKIPPING FIGURES 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 that class of Toy Figures which is made to imitate or
exhibit the motions of children in playing games; and by the application of suitable
mechanism I make a Toy Figure to imitate the action of a child skipping.
In carrying out my invention and referring to the accompanying drawings
I mount a crank or cam spindle a in a frame or standard b. In Figs. 1, 2, the
frame b is by preference formed of wire coiled at the top to form bearings for
the crank spindle a, the bottom ends of the wires being clenched into a wood
block c forming the base. In Figs. 3, 4, a cast iron standard b is used; or I may
make the frame in any other suitable manner.
In Figs. 1, 2, a crank spindle a has two cranks a¹ a¹ formed in it, to which are
attached the arms of the figure d. The figure d may be made in any suitable
manner of stamped-out tin-sheet, of lead, or like a child's doll, the arms being
by preference hinged or pinned to the figure so as to give play for the motion of
the cranks. In Figs. 3, 4, I secure cams e e to the spindle a, the periphery of the
cams working in contact with projections f f formed on a central portion g of
the figure d. When the crank or cam spindle a is turned the cranks a¹ a¹ or the
cams e e cause the figured to be raised up and down. In order to keep the figure d
upright and prevent it oscillating whilst it is being so raised up and down I connect
it with a guide h fixed to the frame b and passing through an eye or projecting
piecej formed on the central portion g of the figure. In Figs. 1, 2, this guide h
is of a piece with one of the standards b, and in Figs. 3, 4, it is bent into and
secured to one of the standards b of the cast iron frame.
On the crank spindle a, Figs. 1, 2, and at one side of the figure d, I firmly
secure one end of a rope k, made by preference of twisted wire, the other end of
which is looped round the spindle a and guide . When the spindle is now turned
the figure will move up and down while the rope k will move round thus giving
an exact imitation of the action of a child skipping.
In Figs. 3, 4, 1 employ two ropes ¹ k² revolving in opposite directions which is
accomplished in the following manner;-On the cam spindle a to which one end
of the rope k is secured a toothed bevel pinion is mounted gearing through a
bevel pinion- with the bevel pinion mounted on a sleeve m turning loosely on
the spindle u. One end of the rope k² is secured to the sleeve m. The cams e e
are double lobed cams and cause the figure d to move twice up and down for every
revolution of the cam spindle a. When the cam spindle a is turned an exact
imitation will thus be given of a child skipping with two ropes.
To exhibit the motions of the figure d, the crank or can spindle a is made to
revolve by turning a cranked handle n formed by an extension of it at one end,
or by connecting the crank or cam spindle by suitable means to a string and
barrel, or to any piece of moving mechanism, such as clockwork, wheel and falling
weight, or small windmill, as may be convenient.

page_text: 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 construction of a Toy Figure made to imitate the action of a child
skipping substantially as herein illustrated and described.
2. The arrangement of the guide h connected with the Toy Figure to prevent it
oscillating.
3. The arrangement of the toothed bevel pinions for causing two ropes to be
turned in opposite directions in combination with the moving figure.
Dated this twelfth day of October 1885.