US20090007896A1

US20090007896A1 - Pneumatically and Manually Actuating Toy Gun Structure

Info

Publication number: US20090007896A1
Application number: US11/772,625
Authority: US
Inventors: Yang Chung-Kuan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-07-02
Filing date: 2007-07-02
Publication date: 2009-01-08

Abstract

A pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure includes a main body, a barrel, an energy source, a first control portion, and a second control portion. When the toy gun structure is driven by high-pressure gas, one can pulls the pivotally furnished connecting rod by pressing the trigger of the first control portion, and the meshing catch portion furnished beneath the connecting rod is capable of exactly driving the hook portion of the knock hammer making it generate a rotational power to hit the gas valve and letting the gas flow into the barrel through the sleeve barrel of the second control portion and shoot the plastic bullets. However, when the gas is used up, one can directly pull the handle of the piston of the second control portion making the piston move backward and letting a flange beneath the piston exactly catch an angle portion of a piston catch. As one presses the trigger by one's finger, the second salient pin furnished at the distal end of the connecting rod that interlocks with the trigger is capable of hitting the piston catch and making the piston catch generate rotational displacement and letting the angle portion of the piston catch separate from the flange of the piston. The piston exerted by the resilient force of the restoring spring moves forward and compresses the air within the cylinder instantly to shoot the plastic bullets and achieve the pneumatically and manually actuating function of toy gun structure of the invention.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure, and more particularly, to a pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure having both the pneumatically and manually driving of controlling structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among the current common toy gun products having projectile plastic bullet, there are manual, pneumatic, and electric power types of structure. The pneumatic type of toy gun makes use of an attached air bottle for providing the high-pressure gas to generate pressure propelled plastic (PP) bullet for projecting off the bullets. However, the manual type of toy gun makes use of the resilient spring force released from the compressed spring for propelling a piston to generate high-pressure gas for projecting off the bullets. Both types of toy gun have significant difference in structure since their power sources are different.
As far as the structure of the manual type of toy gun is concerned, a relatively simpler one propels the piston for compressing the spring by a manually pulling type of action. This kind of structure of the toy gun is lacking in enjoyment while one is playing on the gun since it has only the function of a single shooting. However, there is another one having both the functions of single shooting and continuous shooting through a switching action by the use of an electric power motor to compress the spring via the transmitting mechanism to drive the piston. This one is relatively enjoyable while one is playing on the gun. Nevertheless, as far as the current products are concerned, the way of driving all exists in a single state no matter whether it is a manual, pneumatic, or electric motor's driving. Moreover, there is no toy gun having both the manually and pneumatically driving structure of today. Consequently, the fact that the pneumatically driving toy gun is unable to function once the compressed air is used up forms a demerit upon usage, thereby it is lacking in product competitiveness on the market.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In light of the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior arts that there is no toy gun having both the manually and pneumatically driving-controlled structure, the invention aims to ameliorate at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art or to provide a useful alternative.
The primary objective of the invention is to provide a pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure having both of the pneumatically and manually driving methods. Besides being capable of effectively improving the variation in application, it is fun, too.
To achieve the above-mentioned objective, the invention provides a pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure that includes a main body, a barrel, an energy source, a first control portion, and a second control portion. The energy source further includes a gas storage case and a restoring spring. The first control portion consists of a connecting rod, a trigger, a knock hammer, a piston catch, and a coil spring while the second control portion consists of a cylinder, a piston, a sleeve barrel, and a restoring spring. When the toy gun structure is driven by high-pressure gas, one can pulls the pivotally furnished connecting rod by pressing the trigger of the first control portion, and the meshing catch portion furnished beneath the connecting rod is capable of exactly driving the hook portion of the knock hammer making it generate a rotational power to hit the gas valve and letting the gas in the gas storage case of the energy source flow into the barrel through the sleeve barrel of the second control portion and shoot the plastic bullets. However, when the gas is used up, one can directly pull the handle of the piston of the second control portion making the piston move backward and letting a flange beneath the piston exactly catch an angle portion of a piston catch. As one presses the trigger by one's finger, the second salient pin furnished at the distal end of the connecting rod that interlocks with the trigger is capable of hitting the piston catch and making the piston catch generate rotational displacement and letting the angle portion of the piston catch separate from the flange of the piston. The piston exerted by the resilient force of the restoring spring furnished within the channel of the piston moves forward and compresses the air within the cylinder instantly to complete manually controlled shooting and achieve the pneumatically and manually actuating function of toy gun structure of the invention.
The accomplishment of this and other objectives of the invention will become apparent from the following description and its accompanying drawings of which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an isometric and fragmentary cross-sectional view showing the assembled structure of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the structure of the invention;

FIG. 2A is an exploded view showing the enlarged partial elements of the second control portion of circled area of FIG. 2 of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary-cross-sectional view and schematic diagram showing the pneumatically controlling structure (I) of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary-cross-sectional view and schematic diagram showing the pneumatically controlling structure (II) of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary-cross-sectional view and schematic diagram showing the pneumatically controlling structure (III) of the invention;

FIG. 5A is a schematic and enlarged diagram showing the pneumatic valve structure of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary-cross-sectional view and schematic diagram showing the manually controlling structure (I) of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary-cross-sectional view and schematic diagram showing the manually controlling structure (II) of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary-cross-sectional view and schematic diagram showing the manually controlling structure (III) of the invention;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is an isometric and fragmentary cross-sectional view showing the assembled structure of the invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the structure of the invention, FIG. 2A is an exploded view showing the enlarged partial elements of the second control portion of circled area of FIG. 2 of the invention while FIG. 3 is a fragmentary-cross-sectional view and schematic diagram showing the pneumatically controlling structure (I) of the invention. As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 2A and FIG. 3, it can be seen significantly that the invention includes a main body (1), a barrel (2), a energy source (3), a first control portion (4), a second control portion (5). The main body (1) furnishes a handle portion (11) and a slot (12). As the main body (1) and the barrel (2) are both of the prior art, it is not necessary to depict them in detail. The energy source (3) consists of a gas storage case (31) and a restoring spring (32). The first control portion (4) further includes a connecting rod (41), a trigger (42), a knock hammer (43), a piston catch (44), a coil spring (45), (46). Moreover, the second control portion (5) further includes a cylinder (51), a piston (52), a sleeve barrel (53), a restoring spring (54).
Among them, the gas storage case (31) of the energy source (3) is a container for storing gas that is capable of filling with high-pressure gas having high safety criteria. A gas nozzle (314) is provided at an appropriate location on the top end of the gas storage case (31). Moreover, a gas-valve seat (312) being provided on the gas route between the gas storage case (31) and a gas nozzle (314) furnishes a gas valve (311) that is capable of controlling the gas flow. A space (not shown in the Figure) is provided on a side of the gas storage case (31) for storing the plastic bullets (6) while a propped-up portion (321) for propping up the plastic bullets (6) is also provided on top of the restoring spring (32).
As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 2A, the connecting rod (41) of the first control portion (4) being a rectangular plate has a salient pin (411) furnished at one end thereof, a salient portion (412), a lug (413) having a slot (4131) penetrated through on the top side thereof a meshing catch portion (414) with a slot (417) on the bottom side thereof, as well as a cut-off portion (418), a first salient pin (415), and a second salient pin (416) at the other end thereof. Moreover, shaft portions (421 a), (421 b) for slipping on or catching the corresponding springs (423), (424) are provided on the opposite sides of the trigger (42). What is more, a recess (422) being provided at the top end of the trigger (42) is corresponding to the salient pin (411), that has the spring (424) penetrated through, of the connecting rod (41). Furthermore, the salient pin (411) of the connecting rod (41) exactly penetrates and protrudes through the recess (422) for the spring (423) to press against. A firing pin (431) is furnished by extending from a side of the knock hammer (43) and corresponding to the gas valve (311) of the gas storage case (31). A shaft portion (432), a shaft pin (434), and a salient portion (433) are provided by extending from one side of the knock hammer (43) while a shaft portion (432), a shaft pin (434), and a hook portion (435) are provided by extending from the other side of the knock hammer (43). A coil spring (45) is pivotally placed at the shaft portion (432). A piston catch (44) being an arcuate plate element has a shaft portion (441) and a pin shaft (443) provided on each side respectively. A salient portion (442) is provided on an appropriate side of the piston catch (44), and an angle portion (444) is also formed at the distal end of the piston catch (44). Besides, a spring (46) is pivotally provided at the shaft portion (441).
As shown again in FIG. 2, the cylinder (51) of the second control portion (5) is a tube-shaped element. The center of the tube forms a cylindrical channel (511), and one end of the tube furnishes a diminished end (510), which has a relatively smaller outside diameter comparing with that of the cylinder (51), with a second air inlet (513) (see also FIG. 3) provided beneath thereof. A buffer spring (512) is provided at an appropriate location on the top side of the cylinder (51). The piston (52) being furnished in corresponding to the cylindrical channel (511) of the tube-shaped cylinder (51) has a handle (521) provided on the top of the tube-shape exterior side thereof, and has a flange (522) provided at the other end of the tube wall thereof (see FIG. 3 and FIG. 6 in detail). Moreover, a channel (523) is formed at the center of the piston (52) with a restoring spring (54) fitted in thereof. What is more, a sleeve barrel (53) being a tube-shaped body that is slightly smaller in outside diameter as comparing with the bore of the diminished end (510) of the cylinder (51) has a salient portion (531) furnished on a side thereof. The sleeve barrel (53) also has a penetrating gas inlet hole (530) (see FIG. 3 in detail). The center of the sleeve barrel (53) being formed a gas route (532) is slipped into the diminished end (510) of the cylinder (51).
As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 2A, and FIG. 3, when it comes to assembling, the barrel (2) is combined with the main body (1) first, then the restoring spring (32) is made to penetrate through an outlet (313) of the plastic bullets (6) of the energy source (3). The gas valve (311) is pivotally furnished in the gas-valve seat (312), and the energy source (3) is placed into the handle portion (11) of the main body (1). As for the first control portion (4), the salient pin (411) at the front end of the connecting rod (41) having the spring (424) slipped in thereof first, is penetrated through the recess (422) of the of the trigger (42) and has one end of the spring (424) press against the shaft portion (421 b) of the corresponding one side of trigger (42) as well as has the other end of the spring (424) press against the salient portion (412) of the connecting rod (41). What is more, the shaft portion (421 a) of the other side of the trigger (42) has a spring (423) slipped thereon. The spring (423) having one of its free end press against the interior wall of the main body (1) of the toy gun has the other free end press against the salient pin (411) that is protruded out of the recess (422) of the trigger (42). The slot (4131) of the lug (413) at the connecting rod (41) exactly meshes the corresponding salient portion (531) of the sleeve barrel (53) of the second control portion (5). Furthermore, the slot (417) of the connecting rod (41) is pivotally meshed with the corresponding shaft pin (434) of the knock hammer (43). The coil spring (45) (see FIG. 2) being slipped on the other shaft portion (432) of the knock hammer (43) has a lower free end press against the interior wall of the main body (1) of the toy gun (see FIG. 3) and has the other free end press against the salient portion (433) of the knock hammer (43). The firing pin (431) at the front end of the knock hammer (43) is furnished in corresponding with the gas valve (311) of the energy source (3), and the hook portion (435) on the bottom side of the knock hammer (43) is capable of performing catching action with respect to the meshing catch portion (414) of the connecting rod (41). What is more, the cut-off portion (418) at the rear end of the connecting rod (41) is capable of exactly letting the pin shaft (443) furnished on a side of the piston catch (44) pass through and be pivotally placed in a corresponding hole (not shown in the Figure) on the interior surface of the main body (1). Furthermore, the spring (46) being slipped on the shaft portion (441) on another side of the piston catch (44) has one free end press against a salient portion (111) (see FIG. 3) provided by extending from within the main body (1), and has another free end press against the salient portion (442) of the piston catch (44) making the piston catch (44) and the connecting rod (41) generate an interlock action.
The cylindrical channel (511) furnished at the rear end of the cylinder (51) of the second control portion (5) is capable of exactly containing the piston (52) while the inner tube portion (not shown in the Figure) at the front end of the cylinder (51) the diminished end (510) is capable of exactly containing the sleeve barrel (53) making the piston (52) and sleeve barrel (53) perform actions in the cylindrical channel (511) and the inner tube portion respectively. Moreover, the second air inlet (513) furnished beneath the diminished end (510) is corresponding to the air inlet hole (530). The restoring spring (54) is contained in the channel (523) provided at the open end of the piston (52). Meanwhile, the flange (522) furnished by extending from the bottom side of the open end of the piston (52) is oppositely furnished with respect to the angle portion (444) of the piston catch (44) forming a pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure.
As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 5A, they are isometric and fragmentary cross-sectional view showing the assembled structure of the invention, and fragmentary-cross-sectional view and schematic diagram showing the pneumatically controlling structure of the invention. Before the user tries to press the trigger (42), the meshing catch portion (414) on the bottom side of the connecting rod (41) is in engaging status (see FIG. 3) with the hook portion (435) furnished beneath the knock hammer (43). Moreover, the route of the gas nozzle (314) is exactly covered by the gas valve (311) of the energy source (3). As the user presses the trigger (42), the connecting rod (41) will be driven by the trigger (42) and moved toward the muzzle-end direction (see also FIG. 4) since the recess (422) of the trigger (42) is furnished to pivotally catch the salient pin (411) of the connecting rod (41). The slot (4131) of the lug (413) of the connecting rod (41) is capable of driving the salient portion (531) of the sleeve barrel (53) of the second control portion (5) to make the sleeve barrel (53) move forward. Afterwards, the correspondingly furnished gas inlet hole (530) of the sleeve barrel (53) is capable of communicating with the second air inlet (513) of the of the diminished end (510) of the cylinder (51). What is more, the meshing catch portion (414) at the bottom side of the connecting rod (41) is capable of driving the knock hammer (43) to perform rotational motion, and in the mean time, the firing pin (431) of the knock hammer (43) separates from the contact with the gas valve (311). As the knock hammer (43) rotates to a critical point, the connecting rod (41) is driven by the hook portion (435) of the knock hammer (43) and relatively generates a downward displacement. At this moment, the knock hammer (43) is capable of forcing the knock hammer (43) to perform reverse rotation, and in the meantime making the firing pin (431) knock the gas valve (311) instantly and let the gas storage case (31) release an appropriate amount of high-pressure gas stored therein (see also FIG. 5). FIG. 5A is a schematic and enlarged diagram showing the airflow status on the route between the gas-valve seat (312) and the gas nozzle (314. As shown in FIG. 5A, when the high-pressure gas flows through the gas nozzle (314) and enters the second air inlet (513) of the cylinder (51) and the gas inlet hole (530) of the sleeve barrel (53), the piston (52) pressed against by the restoring spring (54) is capable of sealing the gas, that is between the diminished end (510) of the cylinder (51) and the sleeve barrel (53), from leaking from the rear end of the cylinder (51). Consequently, the high-pressure gas is completely forced to flow toward the muzzle of the barrel (2). In the meantime, a plastic bullet (6) positioned at the outlet of the sleeve barrel (53) subjected to the impact of the high-pressure gas is capable of shooting out through the muzzle of the barrel (2). What is more, when the trigger (42) and the connecting rod (41) are subjected to the actions of the spring (423) and spring (424) respectively, the spring (45) is also capable of instantly making the knock hammer (43) restore to the corresponding initial status. All the user has to do is continuously press the trigger (42) in order to achieve the efficacy of continuously shooting plastic bullets (6) by making use of the high-pressure gas of the pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure.
FIG. 6 is a fragmentary-cross-sectional view and schematic diagram showing the manually controlling structure (I) of the invention; FIG. 7 is a fragmentary-cross-sectional view and schematic diagram showing the manually controlling structure (II) of the invention; while FIG. 8 is a fragmentary-cross-sectional view and schematic diagram showing the manually controlling structure (III) of the invention. As shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8, when the high-pressure gas is used up, the user may change the way of shooting the plastic bullets (6) as follows: following the arrowhead direction, the hands of the user pull the handle (521) of the piston (52) backward along the slot (12) (see also FIG. 2) toward the back end of the cylinder (51). As a result, the flange (522) of the piston (52) is also pulled back as shown in FIG. 6 and pressed against the angle portion (444) of the piston catch (44). At this moment, the restoring spring (54) in the channel (523) is in compressed status making the plastic bullets (6) lead to the front end of the sleeve barrel (53). As the user presses the trigger (42) (as shown in the arrowhead of FIG. 7), the trigger (42) pull the connecting rod (41) forward toward the muzzle of the barrel (2). In the meantime, the second salient portion (13) at the rear end of the connecting rod (41) is capable of moving forward and exactly pressing against the bent portion of the piston catch (44) making the piston catch (44) perform rotational action as shown in the arrowhead of FIG. 7. Consequently, the angle portion (444) of the piston catch (44) instantly separates the pressing status with the flange (522) making the restoring resilient force of the restoring spring (54) push the piston (52) toward the muzzle of the barrel (2). The plastic bullets (6) are shot off the muzzle (see FIG. 8) by making use of the high-pressure gas generated instantly with the piston (52) in the cylinder (51). After completing the manually shooting action, the whole structure will be restored back to the initial status.

CONCLUSION

The pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure of the invention makes use of the driving force of high-pressure gas for shooting plastic bullets. When the gas is used up, a manual method is employed to instantly compress the air within the cylinder by the use of the predetermined action of the resilient force of the restoring spring furnished in the piston to achieve function of manually controlled shooting. The control structure of the invention possesses the efficacy of either single or continuous shooting.
It will become apparent to those people skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing description, it is intended that all the modifications and variation fall within the scope of the following appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure comprising:

(a) a main body having a handle and a slot:

(b) a barrel;

(c) an energy source further comprising a gas storage case and a restoring spring wherein the gas storage case has a gas-valve seat for pivotally furnishing a gas valve;

(d) a first control portion further comprising a connecting rod, a trigger, a knock hammer, a piston catch, and a coil spring; and

(e) a second control portion further comprising a cylinder, a piston, a sleeve barrel, and a restoring spring;

wherein, the energy source being furnished in the handle portion provides a gas valve within the gas-valve sea; the connecting rod of the first control portion is pivotally connected to the trigger of the second control portion; the lug of the connecting rod is connected to the corresponding sleeve barrel of the second control portion; moreover, a meshing catch portion furnished beneath the connecting rod is pivotally connected to the corresponding hook portion of the knock hammer making the firing pin at the front end of the knock hammer is furnished in corresponding with the gas valve of the energy source, and the hook portion on the bottom side of the knock hammer is capable of performing catching action with respect to the meshing catch portion of the connecting rod; furthermore, the piston catch penetrated through the cut-off portion of the connecting rod is pivotally furnished in the corresponding hole on the interior wall surface making the piston catch and the connecting rod generate an interlock action; meanwhile, the cylindrical channel furnished at the rear end of the cylinder of the second control portion is capable of exactly containing the piston while the inner tube portion of the diminished end at the front end of the cylinder is capable of exactly containing the sleeve barrel making the piston and sleeve barrel perform actions in the cylindrical channel and the inner tube portion of the diminished end respectively; moreover, the second air inlet furnished beneath the diminished end is corresponding to the air inlet hole; furthermore, the restoring spring is contained in the channel provided at the open end of the piston; in the meantime, the flange furnished by extending from the bottom side of the open end of the piston is oppositely finished with respect to the angle portion of the piston catch forming a pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure.

2. The pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connecting rod of the first control portion being a rectangular plate has a salient pin furnished at one end thereof, a salient portion, a lug having a slot penetrated through on the top side thereof, a meshing catch portion with a slot on the bottom side thereof, as well as a cut-off portion, a first salient pin, and a second salient pin at the other end thereof.

3. The pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein shaft portions for slipping on or catching the corresponding springs are provided on both sides of the trigger, and a recess being provided at the top end of the trigger is corresponding to the salient pin of the connecting rod where the salient pin has a spring slipping on thereof.

4. The pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein a firing pin is furnished on a side of knock hammer by extending from a side thereof, and is corresponding to the gas valve of the gas storage case; moreover, a shaft portion and a shaft pin are furnished by extending from both sides of the knock hammer; furthermore, a salient portion is provided above the shaft portion while a hook portion is provided at an appropriate portion by extending from the other side thereof, and a spring is exactly pivotally furnished at the shaft portion.

5. The pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the piston catch being an arcuate plate element has a shaft portion and a pin shaft provided on each side thereof respectively; moreover, a salient portion is provided on an appropriate side of the piston catch, and an angle portion is also formed at the distal end of the piston catch; besides, a spring is pivotally provided at the shaft portion

6. The pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cylinder of the second control portion being a tube-shaped element, forms a cylindrical channel at the center thereof and furnishes a diminished end with a second air inlet provided beneath thereof; moreover, a buffer spring is provided at an appropriate location on the top side of the cylinder.

7. The pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein a handle is provided on the top of the tube-shape exterior side of the piston of the second control portion, and a flange is also provided at the other end of the tube wall thereof; moreover, a channel is formed at the center of the piston with a restoring spring fitted in thereof.

8. The pneumatically and manually actuating toy gun structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the a sleeve barrel being a tube-shaped body that is slightly smaller in outside diameter as comparing with the bore of the diminished end of the cylinder has a salient portion furnished on a side thereof; moreover, a gas inlet hole is furnished at an appropriate location beneath the sleeve barrel; what is more, the center of the sleeve barrel being formed a gas route is slipped into the diminished end.