US20100147277A1

US20100147277A1 - Toy gun

Info

Publication number: US20100147277A1
Application number: US12/378,680
Authority: US
Inventors: Jeffrey C. Zimmerman; Chor-Ming Ma
Original assignee: Buzz Bee Toys HK Co Ltd
Current assignee: Buzz Bee Toys HK Co Ltd
Priority date: 2008-12-17
Filing date: 2009-02-18
Publication date: 2010-06-17
Also published as: HK1127696A2

Abstract

A toy gun for individually shooting soft projectiles has a body and a magazine attached to the body for housing an array of soft projectiles and delivering them individually to a firing position within the body. A firing mechanism in the body fires a first projectile from the firing position. A projectile separator acts upon a second projectile adjacent to the first projectile to at least reduce frictional interaction between the first and second projectiles during firing and to smooth the projectile loading process.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to toy guns. The invention more particularly, although not exclusively, relates to a toy dart gun for shooting individual soft projectiles from a magazine holding a multitude of soft projectiles.
Toy dart guns are known to comprise a rotating barrel within which a multitude of projectiles (darts) are retained for shooting as the barrel rotates to bring the individual projectiles into a firing position. Such toy guns are expensive to ship due to the width of the barrel and the resultant low packing density that is achievable. Toy guns having a narrow projectile magazine can be more densely packaged for shipping.
A problem exists with toy guns having magazine-loaded soft projectiles. Whether gravity-fed, or force-fed, the projectiles bear laterally against one another. More particularly, the projectile adjacent to the projectile being fired bears against the projectile to be fired and the resultant frictional forces reduce firing efficiency and shooting range.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate at least one of the above disadvantages and/or more generally to provide an improved toy gun.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

There is disclosed herein a toy gun for individually shooting soft projectiles, comprising:
a body;
a magazine formed integrally with or attached to the body for housing an array of soft projectiles and delivering them individually to a firing position within the body;
a firing mechanism in the body for firing a first said projectile from the firing position in a trajectory direction;
a projectile separator adapted to act upon a second said projectile adjacent to said first projectile to at least reduce frictional interaction between the first and second projectiles during firing.
Preferably, the projectile separator is movable in between said first projectile in the firing position and said second projectile.
Preferably, the projectile separator moves substantially parallel to the trajectory direction.
Preferably, the projectile separator comprises a bifurcated tongue.
Preferably, the bifurcated tongue comprises a V-shape between bifurcated fingers.
Preferably, the firing mechanism releases a blast of air to the first projectile.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred forms of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional elevation of a toy gun with a magazine and loaded projectiles, with a projectile separator commencing insertion between first and second projectiles;

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional elevation repeating FIG. 1, but showing a holding catch opened for firing and the projectile separator more deeply inserted between the first and second projectiles;

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional elevation repeating FIG. 2 and showing the first projectile exiting the gun in a trajectory direction;

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective illustration of an array of projectiles with the projectile separator commencing insertion between first and second projectiles;

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing the separator partially inserted beneath the second projectile; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional elevation of an alternative toy gun having a modified holding catch release mechanism;

FIG. 7 is a schematic elevation of an alternative separator arrangement in a first position;

FIG. 8 is a schematic plan of the alternative separator arrangement of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a schematic elevation of the alternative separator arrangement in a second position in which projectile 13B is lifted away from projectile 13A; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic plan of the alternative separator arrangement of FIG. 9.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In FIGS. 1 to 5 of the accompanying drawings there is depicted schematically a toy gun 10 comprising a body 11 and a magazine 12. The parts are typically of moulded plastics material. The magazine 12 may be formed integrally with the body 11 or manufactured separately and attached thereto. The magazine 12 may be removable or might instead comprise a lid via which a plurality of projectiles is inserted thereto.
The drawings depict an array of soft projectiles 13 loaded into the magazine 12. These include a first projectile 13A delivered to a firing position within the gun body 11 and a second soft projectile 13B adjacent to the first projectile at the bottom of the magazine 12. The soft projectiles move under gravitational force into the firing position one by one.
The firing mechanism comprises a cylinder 14 having a piston 15 biased into a forward position by a spring 19. At the leading end of the cylinder 14, there is a nozzle 20 that is inserted into a longitudinal cavity at the back of the first projectile 13A. The cylinder 14 moves longitudinally within the body 11 between the various positions indicated in the drawings to enable the nozzle to be inserted into the first projectile as described.
Upon squeezing a trigger 17, a release mechanism 16 releases the piston 15 so that it moves rapidly forward under the spring force to inject a pulse of air to the first projectile so that it exits the gun in a trajectory direction as illustrated in FIG. 3.
There is a holding catch 18 in front of the first projectile 13A which is lowered to the position depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3 for firing. The holding catch 18 serves to hold the first projectile 13A against movement during insertion of the air nozzle 20 prior to firing.
Each projectile 13 has a plastics nose tip 25 comprising a suction cup, and a soft foam cylindrical body 26. The nose tip 25 fits over the forward end of the cylindrical body 26 and is slightly wider.
As shown in FIG. 4, under gravitational force the tail end of each cylindrical body 26 rests upon the tail end portion of the cylindrical body therebeneath. Such engagement is undesirable between the first 13A and a second 13B projectiles as the frictional engagement would reduce firing efficiency and range as the first projectile would drag along the second projectile. To overcome this problem, a separator 21 is introduced between the tail ends of projectiles 13A and 13B. In the preferred embodiments, the separator 21 is in the form of a tongue having a bifurcated tip comprising two fingers 23 laterally separated by a V-shaped cut-out 22. The tongue 21 is attached to the cylinder 14 and therefore moves longitudinally (i.e. parallel to the trajectory direction) together with the cylinder 14 as the cylinder moves. If the tongue 21 for the sake of argument had a simple flat leading edge, it could catch on the tail end of the soft foam projectiles causing unwanted deformation. The bifurcated nature of the tongue enables the tongue to be smoothly inserted. Moreover, the two sides of the V-shaped cut-out between the fingers 23 act as a wedge against the circular lower peripheral portion of the tail end of projectile 13B to lift it away from projectile 13A. The Tongue 21 is made of a smooth material such as plastics or metal not only to assist easy insertion, but to provide low friction against the projectile 13A in case they engage during firing.
An alternative toy gun 60 is depicted in FIG. 6. The trigger 17, whilst engaging the release mechanism 16 is connected by a series of links 24 to the holding catch 18.
An alternative separator is depicted in FIGS. 7 to 10. In this embodiment, the separator 21A, rather than moving in the longitudinal direction, is designed to lift the second projectile 13B after being pivoted laterally from one side to a position underneath it. To this end, the separator 21A is mounted to pivot about a vertical axis at pivot 27 and is activated by a mechanism (not shown).
It should be appreciated that modifications and alterations obvious to those skilled in the art are not to be considered as beyond the scope of the present invention. For example, rather than providing a V-shaped cut-out to bifurcated the tongue, the cut-out could be U-shaped or indeed a single tongue could be replaced by a pair of parallel pins. Furthermore, rather than inserting the separator between adjacent projectiles, a separator could comprise a single tip designed for insertion into the longitudinal recess of the second projectile 13B to raise it without being inserted between adjacent projectiles at all.

Claims

1. A toy gun for individually shooting soft projectiles, comprising:

a body;

a magazine formed integrally with or attached to the body for housing an array of soft projectiles and delivering them individually to a firing position within the body;

a firing mechanism in the body for firing a first said projectile from the firing position in a trajectory direction;

a projectile separator adapted to act upon a second said projectile adjacent to said first projectile to at least reduce frictional interaction between the first and second projectiles during firing.

2. The toy gun of claim 1, wherein the projectile separator is movable in between said first projectile in the firing position and said second projectile.

3. The toy gun of claim 2, wherein the projectile separator moves substantially parallel to the trajectory direction.

4. The toy gun of claim 3, wherein the projectile separator comprises a bifurcated tongue.

5. The toy gun of claim 4, wherein the bifurcated tongue comprises a V-shape between bifurcated fingers.

6. The toy gun of claim 1, wherein the firing mechanism releases a blast of air to the first projectile.