Toy crash vehicle with skewable front wheels

Abstract

A toy vehicle which upon frontal impact with an obstacle simulates in its appearance the consequences of a car crash. The vehicle has a hollow body mounted on a chassis, which body includes a front hood section provided with a front bumper, an intermediate cab section having a hinged door on either side, and a rear section. The cab and rear sections are secured to the chassis, whereas the front section, which is formed of resilient material, is free of the chassis. The front wheels rotate on short axles whose bearings are pivoted on the chassis so that these wheels in their normal state are parallel to the chassis, and in the crash state are angled with respect thereto, as a result of which the wheels are skewed. Slidable on the chassis is a slide whose front end is secured to the bumper, the slide being maintained by a spring-biased detent in a forward position and being urged by a spring to a retracted position. The front wheel bearings and the hinged doors are operatively linked to the slide so that in its forward position, the front hood section is undeformed, the doors are closed and the front wheels are in their normal state. When, however, the vehicle makes frontal impact, the shock thereof releases the detent, thereby freeing the slide to cause it to be shifted to its retracted position, in the course of which the wheels are caused to assume their skewed state, the doors are outflung and the front hood section is deformed to simulate a crash.