Double door opening and closing mechanism for use in toys and models

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a manually operated, opening and closing, mechanism for double doors suitable for use in a toy or model.

There have been known a number of devices, wherein a door used in a toy or model can be opened and closed by operating an operating lever or a switch.

In the conventional door opening and closing mechanism used in, e.g., a model space station airlock, etc., when a single door is opened and closed, the imaginary air-tightness in the space station cannot be maintained. This leads to an undesirable lack of realism during play.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention solves the foregoing problem. A base plate, which is an upper plate of a base, receives a housing formed with entrance-and-exit openings, each receiving a door, and is formed near the openings with elongated holes through which lower ends of the doors pass. Under the base plate is arranged a pair of rotary plates inside the base. The rotary plates are fitted with the lower ends of the doors passing through the elongated holes. A spring extends between and is mounted to the rotary plates and normally biases them closed. A rotary lever, which is engageable with edges of the rotary plates, is provided with a magnetic substance such as a permanent magnet or an iron piece at the upper side of its tip, and is integrally formed with a gear at its base end. This gear is loosely fitted with and supported by a support shaft with a predetermined space therebetween and the tip of the rotary lever is vertically movable. An operating lever projecting from an opening formed at the side of the base plate is pivoted at its center portion and is formed with an arc-shaped edge having a rack engageable with the gear integrally formed with the rotary lever. The tip of the rotary lever is attracted by the permanent magnet incorporated at the lower portion of a doll to move upward.

When the doll is not placed outside the door, the rotary lever is lowered by its own weight and the gear integrally formed therewith is spaced apart from the rack so that the doors cannot be opened and closed, even by operating the operating lever. On the other hand, when the doll is disposed on the base plate outside the door, the tip of the rotary lever moves upward by the attracting force of the permanent magnet incorporated in the doll and the gear integrally formed with the rotary lever engages the rack of the operating lever to rotate the rotary lever. When the tip of the rotary lever engages one of the rotary plates to rotate same, the first door is opened and the doll, being attracted by the magnetic substance provided at the tip of the rotary lever, slides on the base plate and is advanced to the inside of the door. When the doll reaches the inside of the first door, the first door is closed so that the space isolated by the first and second doors presents a seemingly airtight condition. By further continuing the operation of the operating lever, the other rotary plate is rotated to open the second door so that the doll can enter the station. When the doll passes the second door, the second door is closed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the housing and base;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the base with the housing removed;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the housing and base;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the base;

FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are plan views showing various operating states of the mechanism; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view of the rotary lever and bottom of the doll.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a body 1 is constituted by mounting a barrel-shaped shell or housing 3 on a base plate 2a which is an upper plate of base 2. The shell 3 is formed with openings 3a, 3b at the sides thereof for a doll 20 to enter and exit the housing 3. Two doors 4, 5 are provided for opening and closing the openings 3a, 3b. The first door 4 is arranged inwardly of the opening 3a and the second door 5 is arranged inwardly of the opening 3b. An operating lever 12 projecting from an opening formed at the side of the base 2 is placed on a projection 2c provided at the side of the base 2 and is rotatable right and left.

The first and second doors 4, 5 are respectively arched inwardly and made of transparent materials through which the inside of the housing can be seen. The first door 4 is provided at its lower end with a projection 4a which passes through an elongated hole 6b of an arc-shape formed on the base plate 2a. A projection 5a of the second door 5 passes through an elongated hole 6a of an arc-shape formed on the base plate 2a. The reference number 2b denotes a passage on which the doll 20 slides.

As best seen in FIG. 3, under the base plate 2a, a pair of rotary plates 7, 8 are rotatably supported at hole 7b by a support shaft 17 inside the base 2. The rotary plates 7, 8 are respectively formed with openings 7a, 8a. The projection 5a of the second door 5 fits in the opening 7a and the projection 4a of the first door 4 fits in the opening 8a. A coil spring 19 is wound onto a boss 7c projecting from the rotary plate 7 and is fixed at both ends to projections 7g, 8g provided on the rotary plates 7, 8, respectively. The coil spring 19 normally biases the rotary plates 7, 8 to close the first and second doors 4, 5.

Below the rotary plates 7, 8 is arranged a rotary lever 9. The rotary lever 9 is integrally formed with a gear 10 at its base end and a support shaft 16 is loosely fitted in a relatively large bearing hole 10a of the gear 10. The rotary lever 9 is formed with a cylindrical portion 9a at one end receiving on an upper portion a magnetic substance 11, such as permanent magnets or iron pieces. The outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 9a is engageable with the edges of the rotary plates 7, 8 and functions to rotate the rotary plates 7, 8 against the elastic force of the coil spring 19.

The operating lever 12 is rotatably supported by a support shaft 18 at a bearing hole 13 formed at an intermediate portion thereof. The support shaft 17 passes through an elongated hole 14 of an arc-shape formed at an intermediate portion of the operating lever 12. The elongated hole 14 is provided such that the support shaft 17 does not prevent the operating lever 12 from turning right and left.

As best seen in FIG. 4, in the opening and closing mechanism for doors having the foregoing structure, when the doll 20 is not placed on the base plate 2a outside the doors 4, 5, the rotary lever 9 is lowered on the side facing the operating lever 12 by the weight of the rotary lever 9 shown by the chain line. The gear 10 is then out of engagement with a rack 15a formed at an arc-shaped section 15 of the operating lever 12 so that the doors 4, 5 are not operated to open and close even by operating the operating lever 12.

On the other hand, when the doll 20 is placed on the base plate 2a outside the doors 4, 5, the tip of the rotary lever 9 is moved up by the attracting force of the permanent magnets 21 incorporated in the doll 20 so that the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 9a formed at the tip of the rotary lever 9 engages with the outer edge 8d of the rotary plate 8 (refer to FIG. 5). When the operating lever 12 is turned in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 5, the gear 10 rotates in the counterclockwise direction to rotate the rotary plate 8, which is engaged with the cylindrical tip portion 9a of the rotary lever 9, in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 5 against the elastic force of the coil spring 19. Simultaneously, the first door 4 is moved away from the opening 3a, which is an entrance-and-exit to be opened (refer to FIG. 6). The doll 20 is slidingly moved to the inside of the first door 4, being attracted to the base plate 2a by the attracting force between the permanent magnets 21 incorporated in the doll 20 and the magnetic substance 11, including a permanent magnet, of the rotary lever 9. The outer periphery of the cylindrical tip portion 9a of the rotary lever 9, when it is rotated nearly halfway of its stroke, engages with the center edge 8e of the rotary plate 8, the rotary plate 8 rotates in the clockwise direction in FIG. 5 so that the first door 4 is closed when the cylindrical tip portion 9a of the rotary lever 9 is between the pair of rotary plates 8 and 7 (refer to FIG. 7). In this state, the doll 20 is positioned inside the first door 4 with the first door and the second door 5 being closed to present a seemingly airtight condition. By continuing the operation of the operating lever 12, the outer periphery of the cylindrical tip portion 9a of the rotary lever 9 engages the center edge 7e of the rotary plate 7 to rotate the rotary plate 7 in the clockwise direction in FIG. 7 so that the second door 5 is opened. Subsequently, the cylindrical portion 9a engages the outer edge 7d to close the second door 5 gradually so that the doll 20 can enter the station from the airlock.

FIG. 8 shows the arrangement of the permanent magnets 21 incorporated at the lower end of the doll 20 and the permanent magnets 11 mounted in the cylindrical tip portion 9a of the rotary lever 9. This arrangement is intended to permit the doll 20 to face forward at all times when the doll 20 is operated to go in and out of the doors 4, 5. Specifically, the permanent magnets 21 incorporated at the lower end of the doll 20, i.e., at the feet, are arranged such that one leg shows the south pole and the other shows the north pole. The permanent magnets 11 mounted in the cylindrical tip portion 9a of the rotary lever 9 are arranged to show the north pole, the south pole and the north pole along the length of the rotary lever 9. Accordingly, when the doll 20 goes in and out, the doll is advanced facing forward at all times even though the doll slightly moves in the axial direction of the rotary lever 9.

The opening and closing device for doors having the foregoing structure is not operated as long as the doll incorporated therein with the permanent magnet is not placed outside the door. The doll disposed outside the door slides and gets inside in association with the doors being opened and closed by operating the operating lever. Accordingly, the opening and closing mechanism can be provided, which has a wide variety of uses as the opening and closing device of the doors of an airtight space.

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