Patent ID: 7066820

Claim:
An illusion toy comprising a housing having a side wall defining a bounded area, said side wall having an elongate slot extending perimetrically, a windowed front cover coextensive with said bounded area, said cover being formed with an article receiving through hole, a partition spaced rearward of said front cover defining therewith and with the side wall, a front compartment and, a rear cover defining with said side wall and partition a mechanism compartment concealed behind said partition, said partition and said rear cover having respective through holes aligned with the though hole on said front cover, said partition having a shaft opening in it, offset from the through holes, and an illusion producing mechanism having a shaft extending perpendicularly to said partition through said shaft opening into the front compartment, said shaft carrying at a front end a blade extending parallel to said partition and extending radially from said shaft a distance greater than the distance between the shaft and said article receiving through hole, a pinion connected to a rear end of said shaft and axially aligned therewith, an arcuate segment rack engaging said pinion, an elongate actuating lever pivotally mounted between its longitudinal ends in the rear compartment and having an outer trigger forming end projecting through and beyond said sidewall slot out from the housing and an inner end with means for anchoring a spring, and overcenter means operatively connected to said lever and said segment rack for rapidly and suddenly displacing said rack in response to movement of said lever through a given arc past an overcentered position, whereby said pinion, shaft, and hence said blade is rotated too rapidly to be seen through at least 270 degrees from a rest position on one side of said article receiving through hole to a rest position to the other side thereof, said overcenter means comprising a quadrant yoke mounted on a pivot within said rear compartment, said quadrant yoke having arms between outer ends of which the segment rack extends and having means for anchoring a spring at a location spaced apart from the pivot, and a spring having one end mounted by the spring anchoring means of the actuating lever and its other end by the spring anchoring means on said quadrant yoke, the improvement residing in that: the actuating lever arm is pivotally mounted at a location further away from the trigger forming end than the article receiving through hole and is formed with a loop at a location adjacent the through hole so that the actuating lever extends across the rear compartment past the through hole without crossing the through hole in all operative positions but appears to have crossed the article receiving through hole to a spectator viewing the trigger forming end during movement to opposite sides of the article receiving through hole to actuate the overcenter mechanism, enhancing an illusion that the blade has also moved across the article receiving though hole.