Patent ID: 8567378

Claim:
An air path and safety valve system for a toy launcher comprising: a plurality of launch sites, each launch site being loadable with a projectile to be discharged; an air passageway structure operatively connected in series to each of the plurality of launch sites to enable communication of a source of compressed air to each of the plurality of launch sites; a plurality of valve elements, each valve element associated with one of the launch sites of the plurality of launch sites and being movable between two positions, a rearward position to enable compressed air to cause discharge of a loaded projectile from the launch site and a forward position to enable compressed air to bypass an unloaded launch site, the air passageway structure and the plurality of valve elements enabling a blast of compressed air to cascade from one or more valve elements of unloaded launch sites to a valve element of a loaded launch site; and a plurality of springs, each spring associated with a valve element of the plurality of valve elements for biasing the valve element from the rearward position to the forward position, and wherein loading a projectile in a launch site causes the associated valve element to move from the forward position to the rearward position.