The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 12, 1993
Filed:
Feb. 04, 1991
David B Ayers, Houston, TX (US);
Other;
Abstract
A pair of platform devices used for interaction with a flexible coil spring toy have a plurality of flat step-like surfaces separated vertically and horizontally corresponding to the periodic step-walking motion of the flexible coil spring toy. The platform devices are manipulated in an alternating sequence in cooperation with the motion of the flexible coil spring toy to give the appearance that the toy is walking down a set of stairs. In the preferred embodiment, the platform devices have a handle and are held and manipulated by a human operator. The spring momentum transfers the coils of the spring from one surface of the device to the next lowermost surface of the device as the spring's adjacent coils successively sweep through the path of an arc. When a certain amount of coils have been moved to the lower surface, the momentum causes the trailing coils to move over the center of mass of the flexible coil spring and land onto another lower surface to give the appearance that the flexible coil spring toy is walking down a set of stairs. When the spring toy reaches the lowermost surface of one of the devices, the other device is placed in position to enable the spring toy to land on its uppermost surface. The manipulation of the devices is continued to repeatedly transfer the spring toy from one device to the other for amusement.