Improved Mechanical Toy.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Mar.. 1892-Accepted, 2nd Apr., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Mechanical Toy.
I, ARNOLD SELIGMANN, Merchant of 35 Dresdener Strasse, Berlin, trading
under the firm of "Berliner Patent Spielwaaren Fabrik," Germany, do hereby
declare the nature of my invention and in what manner the same is performed to
be particularly described in and by the following statement :-
My present invention relates to mechanical toys and consists in a device whereby
a cat is made to pounce upon a mouse moving circularly round it. The game is
intended for two players, one having control over the movements of the cat, the
other over the mouse. The cat, which crouches on a circular table is pivoted to
a boy swinging on the said table and is adapted to make one spring forwards into
the line of movement of the mouse, when the said bow which is actuated by a
suitably arranged elastic band, is released from its retaining spring.
The mouse, which is mounted on a lever pivoted centrally under the table on
which the cat crouches, is moved by means of a fine piece of tubing slipped over
the pivot of the lever, said tubing being twisted between two fingers of the player,
whereby the lever will be revolved on its pivot, actuating the mouse round the
table on which the cat crouches. The game consists in one player letting the cat
loose exactly at the moment when the mouse is at that point of its path of move-
ment onto which the cat springs, so that the latter will retain the mouse.
In order to make my invention more clearly intelligible, I refer to the accom-
panying drawings in which similar letters denote similar parts throughout the
several views.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the toy with the cat in position to spring.
Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a plan showing the cat in the position it takes at the end of its spring.
Fig. 4 is a partial section on line r, s in Fig. 2.
Fig. 5 is a detail view of the bow.
at z.
L represents the cat, which is pivoted to the bow o, the latter being hinged
to the table A at h. The bow o has an elastic band m stretched across it, which,
when the cat is in position to spring is stretched over the block n fixed to the
table A; the cat is retained in this position by a spring P mounted on the table A
The table is attached to a wooden stand by means of the arms bbb.
The mouse K, which runs in the circular path between the table A and the ring C,
is mounted on the lever g, pivotally attached to the underside of the table A by
the pin e in sleeve d. On the pin e which is rigidly attached to the lever 9, the
tubing F is arranged. By twisting the said tubing as shown at Fig. 1, the mouse
may be caused to run in either direction round the table. The mouse may be
caused to make several revolutions in the same direction round the table, as the
tubing on being continually twisted will simply coil at For the sake of con-
venience a small wire may be inserted at z in the tubing
The game is played by one of the players actuating the mouse round the table
in the manner described, whilst the second player must try to release the cat,
which describes the semicircle ut, just at the moment when the mouse K is
at the point of its circular movement.
f
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is performed, what I claim is :-
1) The combination of a cat L pivotally attached to a bow o, hinged to the
table A, the elastic band m and block n, and the retaining spring P sub-
stantially as described.

page_text: 2) The combination with the table A. and cat arranged to spring as described,
of a mouse K mounted on a lever centrally pivoted to the underside of the
said table and adapted to be rotated by means of small tube F attached to the
pivot of the lever substantially as described.
3) The general arrangement of the cat and mouse and method of operating
the same substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings.
Dated this 1st day of March 1892.
.
RAYNER & CASSELL,
37, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.