Taiyo Kogyo Company, Ltd.

Tyco Industries, Inc.

Other

Mattel, Inc.

Tyco Investment Corp.

Shohei Suto

Jonathan A Jaffe

Neil Tilbor

Michael G Hoeting

Sean T Mullaney

Warren E Bosch

Vladamir Leonov

A radio-controlled two-wheeled vehicle toy in which the number of parts is reduced by simplifying the structure and traveling stability is improved. The toy includes a main body, a front fork portion rotatably mounted so that the traveling direction can be changed via an inclined caster axis by a steering control portion provided in a front side of the main body, a front wheel mounted to the front fork portion, a travel driving portion having a driving motor mounted to a rear side of the main body via a rear wheel shock absorbing portion, a rear wheel mounted to the travel driving portion of the driving portion case, a flywheel for stabilizing travel integrally provided in the rear wheel, a receiving circuit for radio-controlling the direction and speed, and a battery supplying electric power to the steering control portion and the driving portion.

Radio-controlled two-wheeled vehicle toy

A radio controlled toy vehicle has a central chassis, a front end mounting a pair of front wheels which is rotatably coupled to the front of the chassis and a rear end mounting a pair of rear wheels. An electric motor is provided in the chassis to selectively rotate the front end with the front wheels about a generally longitudinal axis through a partial rotation for steering or through as many complete rotations as desired for stunts. In one embodiment, the front end includes a yoke pivotally supporting a pivot body mounting the front wheels. The rear end contains a propulsion drive coupled to the rear wheels and is pivotally coupled with the chassis so that both rear wheels remain grounded as the chassis pivots in reaction to rotation of the front end for steering. In another embodiment, a stop is provided to limit the rotation of the front end. The stop releasably engages a collar around a shaft rotating the front end and is disengaged by providing more torque to the shaft. A remote hand control unit includes manual actuators and switches to generate signals for left steer, right steer, left continuous rotation and right continuous rotation of the front end as well as forward and reverse propulsion.

Toy vehicle with movable front end

Battery pack for use in various electronic products are pivotably connected together by two parallel link assemblies which permit the two portions of the battery pack to be folded with respect to one another into various configurations. Each link assembly includes a rotary electrical connection, one link providing a supply path and the other link supplying a return path to the batteries in both casings. Wiper type contacts are supplied in each link. External contacts may be located in one of the two casings or one contact may be located on each of the two casings. In one embodiment a flexible printed circuit board wire trace is used to provide an electrical connection between opposing poles of cells in the two casings to eliminate the rotary electrical connection and potential for failure across such connection while still providing multiple configuration adjustability.

Foldable multi-configuration battery pack

A radio-controlled vehicle toy is disclosed which includes a body, a caster axle mounted on a front end of the body and tilted backward from vertical, a front fork rotatable on the caster axle and rotatably supporting a front vehicle wheel, a rear-wheel drive coupled with a rear vehicle wheel, a radio-control receiver and a power source mounted to the body, and a pair of auxiliary wheels mounted on opposite sides of the vehicle body frame so as to be brought into contact with an underlying surface when the vehicle body frame leans laterally. A steering unit is mounted in a front-end portion of the body and includes a steering mechanism to rotate the front fork based on a control signal issued from the receiver and a resilient coupling which resiliently applies control torque to the front fork. The rear-wheel drive includes a motor which receives an electric current from the power source a speed reduction unit between the motor and the rear wheel, and a switch coupled across the motor, the switch being operable according to a signal initiated by the vehicle receiver to close and short the motor, which exerts a drag to effectively brake the vehicle toy.

Steering system for radio-controlled wheeled vehicle toy

An extremely simple gear system is disclosed whereby a pair of output gears may be controlled so as to rotate in the same or opposite directions. The gear system is particularly useful as the steering system for a toy vehicle in which a reversible motor drives a pair of steering gears in opposite directions on the same axis. A direction-control element is disposed on the same axis as that of the steering gears and is axially moved from first to second positions by cam mechanisms when the rotational direction of the motor is reversed. The direction-control element engages only one of the steering gears at a given time whereby a toy vehicle with the steering apparatus is controlled by changing the rotational direction of the motor such that the vehicle moves ahead or makes a turn.

Steering apparatus

A radio-control toy vehicle is provided with six nonsteerable wheels, three on each lateral side of the vehicle. At least the center wheel on each lateral side is drivingly coupled with a separate, reversible motor. The vehicle is steered by controlling the operation and direction of each motor. The wheels are arranged and the vehicle statically balanced such that the vehicle is supported by the center pair of wheels and one of the two remaining front and rear pairs of wheels, preferably the rear pair of wheels, when the vehicle is stationary on a level, horizontal surface. The vehicle is dynamically balanced so that when the wheels of the middle pair are driven in opposite linear directions, the vehicle spins rapidly about a vertical axis located directed between the middle pair of wheels and further pitches automatically slightly forwardly around the middle pair of wheels to lower the front end of the vehicle while raising the rear end and rear pair of ground-contacting wheels from the ground, so that the vehicle is supported only on the center pair of wheels.

Vehicle toy

Suspension systems (10; 42; 8) operate independently of each other on opposite sides of a vehicle toy. The systems have their road wheels move up and down substantially without any inclination of these wheels, and are simple in construction. Each suspension system has an upright member (16) on which the wheel axle (13) is fixedly mounted, an upright holder (18) for holding the upright member (16) so as to permit it to be rotatable in a steering operation, a rod (22) having its lower portion fixedly mounted to the holder (18) and its upper portion guided in a guide (24) formed in an upper portion of the body, and a compression spring (26) interposed between the holder (18) and the guide (24). A swing arm (20) has one end pivotally connected to the body and the other end pivotally connected to the holder (18). The upright member (16) and the upright holder (18) may be integrally formed as a support (82) rotatably mounted on the lower portion of the rod.

Suspension systems of vehicle toys

A drive unit of a vehicle toy realizes a high-speed performance and a large-torque performance, is excellent in operability and provides improved battery life. In the drive unit, there is provided a motor gear driven by a radio-controlled motor, first and second drive gears for independently driving left-hand and right-hand wheels, first and second intermediate gears for causing the first and second drive gears to rotate at a lower speed, and an idler gear meshing with one of the intermediate gears to cause the first and second drive gears to rotate in opposite directions. A travelling gear assembly is rotatably driven by the motor gear to travel along a path between a forward position for forward vehicle toy drive and a turn position for vehicle toy turning, the travelling gear assembly directly driving the first and second drive gears in the forward position and driving the same gears through the first and second intermediate gears and the idler gear in the turn position.

Control vehicle toy drive train for pivoting turns

A vehicle toy has the same roadability as that of a conventional toy provided with caterpillars, is controllable with the same control feel as that of a conventional four-wheeled toy, has reduced travelling load, and may travel at high speed. A body is supported by a chassis portion with front steerable wheels provided at the left and right of a front end of the chassis portion. Caterpillar front and rear wheels are both provided on the left and right of a central and a rear portion of the chassis portion with left and right caterpillars therearound. A drive unit drives the caterpillar rear wheels, and a power steering mechanism is disposed at the chassis front end. The forward extent of the caterpillars may be raised above the ground when the vehicle toy travels on a flat surface. The vehicle toy is battery powered and radio controlled.

Vehicle toy with steerable front wheels and caterpillars

A vehicle toy has front wheels and larger rear wheels provided on each of the left and right sides of a two-piece, articulately coupled chassis. Caterpillars are engaged over the front and rear wheels on each side. Twin electric motors separately drive the left and right side caterpillars through separate reduction gear transmissions and the rear wheels. The twin motors are radio controlled for separate and independent operation. Two rings of teeth on each rear wheel mesh with two rows of teeth on the inner side of each caterpillar to provide a cog drive while a higher central row of teeth on the inner side of each caterpillar is received in circumferential grooves in each of the front and rear wheels. The separate reduction gear transmissions are simultaneously manually shiftable between high and low gear ratios to provide the vehicle with the ability to run at a high speed comparable to that of other radio-controlled, wheeled vehicle toys without caterpillars and at a lower speed for longer battery life with increased torque.

Caterpillar-type vehicle toy

A radio controlled toy airplane has an airframe with a fixed vertical tail plane, a fixed horizontal tail plane, and at least one set of rightside and leftside propellers. The rotational outputs of the propellers are controlled discretely and continuously or in a staged manner, respectively, via a remotely located radio transmitter. This transmitter has two manual control sticks, one for controlling total combined power to the propellers and the other for adjusting the power distribution between the propellers, and in this way flight of the toy airplane is solely controlled by controlling motors which separately drive the propellers. The motors may be battery powered.

Toy Airplane

Cooling device for a driving motor in a traveling toy

An air cushion vehicle toy has a body formed with an air inlet and levitation air vent holes. An expandable and contractible skirt is attached to a lower part of the body, and a centrifugal levitation air blower is arranged to both expand the skirt and to levitate the body. Propulsive air blowers are mounted on a body upper part, and a radio control unit may be provided for controlling all of these air blowers separately. The body incorporates a float unit for improving buoyancy. The skirt may be bag-like with a bottom provided with holes.

Air cushion vehicle toy

A directional control device for use in a movable toy such as a radio control car, which has a cylindrical magnet, a magnetic yoke disposed rotatably within the magnet and having an electromagnetic coil, and steering arms attached to driven wheels of the toy. The direction of the movable toy in motion can readily be changed selectively by applying a DC current of one polarity to the coil so as to electromagnetically rotate the yoke, thereby to turn the steering arms in conjuction with the rotating yoke.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Shohei Suto