GB2302039A - Free-wheeling toy vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

A free-wheeling toy vehicle comprising a body (1) fitted to a chassis (2). Wheels (7) are mounted at each end of front and rear axles (5,6) which are fitted into front and rear axle mounting lugs (3,4) provided on the chassis (2). Each wheel (7) is made of a heavy metal material and has an annular tyre (10) fitted in a central groove (9) formed thereon or it can have a heavy metal insert inside each tyre, the tyre being molded with an upstanding bead. The axles (5,6) are retained in positioning slots (3a,4a) on the chassis (2) by means of a tension leaf (8) mounted on a post (12) protruding from the chassis (2). The body (1) and the chassis (2) are preferably molded from a lightweight plastics material so the major portion of the total mass of the vehicle lies in the wheels (7) which greatly assists in the free-wheeling properties of the vehicle.

Description

Toy vEEIa This invention relates to free-wheeling toy vehicles and more particularly but not exclusively to toy vehicles in the lowest price category.

Toy vehicles of this type normally have a cast metal body which is fitted to a molded plastics chassis carrying a pair of axles with lightweight molded plastics wheels thereon. Children require such vehicles to roll as far as possible and one vehicle is perceived to be better than another if it rolls further for the same energy input. This has been achieved in the past by concentrating on developing low friction materials for the axles and using lightweight materials for the wheels, e.g. plastics.

However, manufacturing costs have now reached a level where vehicles of this traditional design can no longer be made for the required low selling price.

According to the invention, there is provided a free-wheeling toy vehicle comprising a body and a set of wheels mounted thereto characterised in that the major portion of the total mass of the vehicle lies in the wheels.

Preferably the vehicle has at least three wheels, at least two of which are provided on a single axle but each wheel could be formed with its own stub axle or cast onto a pair of wheels could be cast onto an axle as a single wheel/axle assembly. The or each axle may be mounted directly on the body or alternatively in a separate chassis to which the body is fitted.

Desirably, the vehicle has four wheels, each pair of wheels being provided on a separate axle and of said high mass in relation to the body and/or chassis.

If the vehicle has three wheels, then at least a pair of said wheels are of said high mass although all three wheels could be of said high mass if required.

Preferably, the or each pair of said wheels are connected by an axle and secured thereto for rotation therewith.

Preferably each wheel of at least a pair of said set of wheels has a resilient tyre fitted thereto.

In one embodiment, each tyre is of a width substantially less than the width of the wheel to which it is fitted. Conveniently, the tyre is formed as an 0-ring fitted in a groove in each wheel.

Alternatively, each tyre can be of a width to cover substantially the whole rolling surface of the wheel to which it is fitted and has an,upstanding bead molded thereon. In a still further embodiment, each tyre is cylindrical in shape and adapted to fit over the wheel which is in the form of a core or insert, the tyre having an end face shaped to cover the end face of the insert and optionally having wheel hub details molded thereon. If the vehicle has four wheels, then all of the wheels can have a tyre fitted thereto but this is not essential.

The body is preferably molded from an extremely lightweight plastics material such as a ABS.

Similarly, the chassis is preferably molded from a lightweight plastics material such as polypropylene or some other low friction plastics material.

Corweniently the wheel is made of a die-cast metal material although this is not essential provided that it is of a high mass in relation to the body and/or chassis. As already mentioned, the wheel can comprise a resilient tyre inside which is fitted a high mass core or insert.

Preferably the wheels are in scale to the body but they can have a large diameter in relation to the wheelbase of the vehicle to give them a large rolling circumference whereby a small energy input will result in the vehicle travelling a considerable distance.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a toy vehicle of the invention; and Figure 2 shows an alternative form of axle/wheel assembly for use with a toy vehicle of the invention.

Referring to Figure 1 there is shown a free-wheeling toy vehicle comprising a body 1 fitted to a chassis 2 provided with front axle mounting lug 3 and rear axle mounting lug 4 to receive respectively axles 5 and 6 having wheels 7 fitted to each end thereof. Each wheel is provided with a central annular groove 9 in to which a tyre 10 is fitted. In the illustrated mbodiment, for ease of illustration, tyres are shown to be fitted to three wheels only. It will be noted that the tyre 10 is formed as an O-ring and therefore is of a substantially less width than that of the wheel 7 to which it is fitted.

Figure 2 shows an alternative wheel/axle assembly in which a core or insert 7a cast from a metal material is fitted inside a resilient tyre lOa to provide the high mass wheel, the tyre completely convering at least the outside face and rolling surface thereof.

The rolling surface of the tyre 10a preferably has an upstanding bead 10b provided around its periphery, as illustrated.

Outside face 7b of the tyre is preferably molded to include a design to give it the appearance of a wheel centre such as would be found, for instance, in an alloy road wheel on a full size real vehicle.

As can be seen from Figure 2, the ends of the axle 5 include barbs 5a which make a push-fit with the wheels 5 to retain them thereon but other mounting methods could be used.

The axles 5,6 are retained in the front and rear mounting lugs 3,4 by means of a tension leaf 8 of a molded or punched plastics material such as ABS. The leaf 8 has an aperture 11 located centrally therein which co-operates with a post 12 on the chassis having one or more nibs 13 molded thereon. The arrangement is such that when the leaf 8 is pressed downwardly on to the post 12, the nib(s) 13 will pass through the aperture 11 and engage with the side edges thereof to retain the leaf in position relative to the chassis 2. This arrangement allows the axles 5,6 to move vertically within the slots 3a,4a in the mounting lugs 3,4 when pressure is applied to the body 1 mounted on the chassis 2.This has the affect of providing the vehicle with a suspension system but it also provides it with a braking system because excessive downward pressure on the body 1 by the user will result in the axles 5,6 being pushed upwardly against the biasing force of the leaf 8 until such time as the rubber tyres 10 contact the inside surface of the body 1 thereby preventing it from rolling along.

The body 1 is attached to the chassis 2 by means of a self-tapping screw 14 which passes through hole 15 in the front of the chassis 2 and is received in a suitably formed hole (not shown) in the front of the body 1. The body 1 is connected to the rear of the chassis 2 by means of a lip (not shown). To assemble the body 1 to the chassis 2, the rear of the chassis is hooked into the lip on the interior of the body 1 and the front of the chassis is then pivoted into contact with the bottom of the front of the body 1 and the hole 15 aligned with the hole on the body 1.

The self-tapping screw 14 is then screwed into position to retain the two parts together.

As already mentioned, the wheels are preferably die-cast from metal of a high mass. The wheels would preferably be in scale to the vehicle but they can be made of larger proportions if required to enable the vehicle to roll further for a given energy input.

Individual stub axles (not shown) can be cast onto each wheel instead of mounting a pair of wheels on a single axle, the mounting lugs 3f4 being suitably modified to locate and retain each stub axle.

Alternatively, a stub axle can be molded on the chasses for each wheel. As a still further alternative, the wheels and axle can be cast in one piece.

The use of annular tyres 10 reduces the friction between the wheels 7 and the ground and also provides for silent running. Because of the low friction and the high mass of the wheels 7 in relation to the body 1 and/or chassis 2, the wheels 7 act as flywheels and accordingly store energy for a given energy input and result in the vehicle rolling a considerable distance.

The axles 5,6 can be cast directly into the wheels 7 or alternatively each axle head can make an interference fit with the wheel or can be a push fit into it.

The body is preferably molded in one-piece from an ABS material or some other extremely lightweight plastics material.

The axles are preferably made of a non-tarnish steel, the ends thereof being headed or pinched to provide the wheel fixing methods described above.

Preferably both wheels are attached and secured to an axle as this has been found to improve the rolling properties of the vehicle.

The vehicle can have three or more wheels. All the wheels need not be of the same size. For instance, if the toy vehicle is a model of a dragster, it will have two large high mass wheels at the rear and two smaller wheels which may not necessarily be of high mass at the front. The same considerations will apply to other wheel combinations.

Whilst it is preferred that the wheels be made of a metal material either cast or turned, they could be made of some other suitable heavy material such as concrete, resin concrete or other composite material.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that the body 1 and chassis unit 2 of the vehicle which are made of a lightweight molded plastics material have an extremely low mass in relation to the heavy metal wheels 7. Accordingly, the vehicle will roll for a considerable distance for a given energy input and much further than known toy vehicles which have the reverse arrangement of a lightweight molded plastics wheels and a heavy metal body. In such vehicles, it is the weight of the body and chassis in combination with the low friction axles and wheels which enable the vehicle to roll for a considerable distance in relation to the energy input.

In such vehicles, the kinetic energy of the heavy body or chassis must first be translated through the axles to the wheels to provide forward motion. In the vehicle of the present invention, no such translation of energy is needed as the wheels themselves act as a store for the kinetic energy.

Rolling motion is further enhanced in the preferred embodiment due to the fact that the high mass wheels on each axle are keyed thereto so rotation of one wheel will assist rotation of the other.

The present invention provides a considerable improvement over known prior art free-wheeling vehicles in that it will travel further for a given energy input, it is cheaper to produce and it incorporates a braking system. These provide the product with several unique advantages which can be of considerable benefit when advertising, selling and promoting the product.

Claims (25)

1. A free-wheeling toy vehicle comprising a body and a set of wheels ounted thereto characterised in that the major portion of the total mass of the vehicle lies in the wheels.

2. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein the vehicle has at least three wheels, at least two of which are provided on a single axle.

3. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 2 wherein the vehicle has four wheels, each pair of wheels being provided on a separate axle.

4. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the or each axle is mounted directly to the body.

5. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the or each axle is mounted in a separate chassis to which the body is fitted.

6. A toy vehicle as claimed in any of claims 3-5 wherein all four wheels are of said high mass.

7. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 3 wherein only one pair of wheels are of said high mass.

8. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 2 wherein the vehicle has three wheels, two of which are of said high mass.

9. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 8 wherein all three wheels are of said high mass.

10. A toy vehicle as claimed in any of claims 2-9 wherein the or each pair of said wheels are connected by an axle and secured thereto to rotate therewith.

11. A toy vehicle as claimed in any preceding claim wherein each wheel of at least a pair of said set of wheels has a resilient tyre fitted thereto.

12. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 11 wherein each tyre is of a width substantially less than the width of the wheel to which it is fitted.

13. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 11 wherein each tyre is of a width to cover substantially the whole of the rolling surface of the wheel to which it is fitted.

14. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 13 wherein an upstanding bead is molded on the tyre.

15. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 13 or claim 14 wherein each tyre is cylindrical in shape and adapted to fit over the wheel which is in the form of a core or insert1 the tyre having an end face shaped to cover the end face of the insert.

16. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 15 wherein the end face of each tyre is molded with wheel hub details thereon.

17. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 12 wherein the tyre is an O-ring fitted in a groove in the wheel.

18. A toy vehicle as claimed in any of claims 11-17 wherein the vehicle has four wheels all of which have a tyre fitted thereto.

19. A toy vehicle as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the body is molded from a lightweight plastics material.

20. A toy vehicle as claimed in any claim dependent on claim 5 wherein the chassis is molded from a lightweight plastics material.

21. A toy vehicle as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the wheels have a large diameter in relation to the wheelbase of the vehicle.

22. A toy vehicle as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the wheels are made wholly of metal.

23. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 15 or claim 16 wherein the insert is made of a metal material.

24. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 22 or 23 wherein the wheels or inserts are die-cast.

25. A toy vehicle substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.