A rotary drive mechanism for toys, kinetic sculptures, and the like, employs a pawl and ratchet mechanism to transmit driving torque between a driving wheel and a driven inertia wheel. The driving wheel may itself be driven by means of a drive string that may frictionally engage a circular drive surface to permit the driving wheel to be rotated independently with limited slippage between the string and the drive surface. A fixed and uniform amount of energy can be imparted to the driving wheel and the driven wheel through a spring that is connected to the drive string and preloaded by a predetermined amount. A second inertia wheel can be mounted coaxially of the one inertia wheel and both wheels may operate with random motion through an interference coupling. The pawl and ratchet mechanism in one embodiment forms an escapement to provide intermittent drive to the wheels. The inertia wheel is rotationally unbalanced with a weight offset from the axis of rotation.

Disclosed are promotional products such as buttons, badges, toys, signs, and displays, and in particular promotional products that display inscriptions vertically, no matter the orientation of the product, more particularly words or phrases spelled the same forwards as backwards, as for example BOB or MOM or WWW. The products each have a rotatable shaft connected to a base member, and a plurality of sheets imprinted with inscriptions and attached by pins onto the base member so that the sheets hang vertically. As the shaft rotates, the base member rotates but the sheets continue to maintain a vertical position.

A puppet (10) or other character representation includes an inner tube (11), an outer tube (12) and an extra tube (13) located within the inner tube (11). The upper ends of the inner and outer tubes (11 and 12) are connected by a sleeve (23) of simulation hair. A moulding (16) is secured to the outer tube (12) and has the appropriate facial characteristics including an opening (19) corresponding to the mouth of the character. The extra tube (13) has an upper edge which is connected to the part of the moulding (16) which provides the lower jaw of the character.

A toy having an element which forms a message such that a person under its influence feels an urge to fall asleep, and a sending element which senses a signal from the person when he or she does not sleep and then activates the message forming element, so that the latter not only tells stories or fairy tales but also puts a user to sleep. One of the messages can be a lullaby. The toy can also be actuated by the pulse beat of the user, and the pulse beat data can be displayed so that the toy simultanesouly serves as a medical instrument.

Wheel cover for the wheel of a vehicle, comprising a securement and support device (1) secured to the hub (2) or to the rim (3) of the wheel (4) and a substantially flat shield element (5), mounted on the device (1) for rotation and having an asymmetric spacing of its mass relative to its axis of rotation (6), permitting the shield element (5) to maintain a fixed angular position relative to the horizontal, even during rotation of the wheel (4). The securement and support device (1) comprises a base plate (7) fixed to the hub (2) or to the rim (3) of the wheel (4) and a support shaft (9), of cylindrical shape, removably mounted on the base plate (7) and provided with an external circular abutment (17). There is a rotative connection between the securement and support device (1) and the shield element (5) comprised by a roller bearing (13) mounted on the support shaft (9) by an annular intermediate member (26) disposed adjustably between an internal ring (14) of the roller bearing (13) and the support shaft (9), and delimited by a perforated disk (27), whose diameter corresponds substantially to that of the internal ring (14).