A wrist-borne launcher for a toy vehicle having a road-engaging flywheel mounted on an axle, one end of which extends through the bearing of a false wheel and terminates in a male coupler coaxial with a ring on the outer hub thereof. When not in use, the vehicle is held on a platform having a battery compartment, the platform being provided at its underside with a wrist-engaging cuff. Wires from the battery compartment pass through an arm cantilevered from the platform to reach over the hand of the player. The wires are connected to an electric motor housed in a power box supported at the free end of the arm, a depressible switch being connected in series with the motor. The shaft of the motor terminates in a female coupler coaxially disposed within a cylindrical socket formed in the side of the box corresponding to the underside of the platform, a switch actuator being interposed between the female coupler and the rim of the socket. When the player removes the vehicle from the platform and pushes the false wheel against the power box so as to telescope the hub ring within the socket, the male coupler then engages the female coupler and the ring depresses the switch actuator to activate the motor, thereby driving the flywheel. When the flywheel is revved up, the player then releases the vehicle onto a road surface to permit the vehicle to speed away from the launcher.
An articulated toy vehicle capable of negotiating a difficult terrain such as a terrain characterized by successive troughs and peaks and other irregularities. The articulated vehicle is composed of a wheeled tractor section and a series of wheeled trailer sections linked thereto by means of a motor-driven, multi-section drive shaft, each section of which is operatively coupled to a wheel axle of a respective vehicle section. The drive shaft sections are intercoupled by detachable universal joints whereby as the vehicle traverses the difficult terrain, it assumes a sinuous formation conforming to the varying contours of the terrain to provide a distributed traction making it possible for the vehicle to overcome the difficulties presented by the terrain.
A control apparatus configured to supply power to an article of sales through the finger contact of the article. The embodiment includes interfacing circuit for signals to communicate between the control apparatus and the article of sales when said article is picked up by the fingers of an user.
A travelling toy having a ramp member to which a toy vehicle is selectively secured, and a base member pivotally secured to the ramp member. The base member is pivotable back and forth between two positions. A ratchet device converts the two-directional pivotal motion of the base member relative to the ramp member into one-directional rotational motion of a flywheel within the toy vehicle. A releasing device selectively releases the toy vehicle from the ramp member after the driving force has been accumulated in the flywheel.
A toy automobile diagnostic center in which a toy automobile is directed onto a platform where various measurements and tests are performed that simulate measurements and tests that are performed on real automobiles. The tests are performed upon the toy which is located at a single test location and include length and height measurements, weight, wheel rotation and others.
There is disclosed a wrist-mounted projectile launcher having pivoting launch tubes and a handle that remain in inoperative and convenient positions until it is desired to launch projectiles. The launch tubes and handle are spring-loaded and moved to operative positions simply by pushing a button. A selector valve mechanism can be used to select which of the tubes will launch a projectile.