Toy Stunt Vehicle

This invention relates generally to toy vehicles, and more particularly to such vehicles capable of performing wheel stands or so-called "wheelies."

Toy vehicles capable of performing wheel stands or "wheelies" are known in the art, examples appearing in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,757,459 and 4,073,087. Both of these patents disclose toy vehicles which stand upwardly on their rear wheels to perform a wheelie after being accelerated a sufficient amount. However, neither of these patented vehicles is designed to move other than forwardly while performing a wheel stand, the vehicle of the '459 Patent including a trailing leg for engaging a track to ensure lateral stability of the vehicle when its forward wheels are raised above a running surface. Therefore, these prior vehicles cannot be controllably steered during their operation, thus requiring a user to follow after them for purposes of retrieval. Accordingly, a vehicle which is capable of performing wheelies and which may also be steered, as by remote control, is not suggested by the known prior art.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the above and other shortcomings in the prior art wheelie vehicles.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a toy stunt vehicle which can be remotely controlled.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a toy vehicle capable of performing "wheelies" and which is also steerable.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a toy stunt vehicle which is of basically simple construction so as to provide a great user enjoyment at a minimum of expense.

In accordance with a specific embodiment of the present invention, a stunt vehicle comprises a body having a pair of wheels rotatably mounted to its rearward portion. One of the wheels is driven by a motor at a selected torque while the other wheel is free to idle or "free-wheel." The motor is controlled to deliver the selected driving torque to the driven wheel. The vehicle center of gravity is located so that its body is levelly propelled when a first driving torque is selected and the vehicle performs a wheel stand while moving circularly when a second, greater driving torque is selected.

The present vehicle preferably includes another pair of wheels mounted to its forward portion for rotation about a common axis transverse to the body to enable the vehicle to move in a straight path when the first driving torque is selected.

The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following detailed description of the presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative embodiment, in accordance with the present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present vehicle while undergoing a circular wheel stand;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, in outline form, showing interior components of the present vehicle;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view, partly in section, of the present vehicle; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a remote control system for operating the vehicle of the present invention.

Referring now in detail to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment demonstrating objects and features of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle generally designated by the reference numeral 10. The vehicle 10 generally includes a body 12 which is preferably molded of plastic and has a forward portion 14 and a rear portion 16. A pair of wheels 18a and 18b are rotatably mounted to the rear portion 16 of the vehicle body 12, and another pair of wheels 20a and 20b are preferably rotatably mounted to the front portion 14 of vehicle body 12. It is also preferred that all of the vehicle wheels be surrounded by a flat rubber tire to obtain sufficient traction against a substantially level running surface 22. The vehicle body 12 may also include a whip antenna 24 extending upwardly therefrom in the event of remote control operation, as described later below.

FIG. 1 also illustrates the present vehicle 10 performing a wheel stand, known popularly as a "wheelie," and simultaneously moving in a circular path about its right rear wheel 18b. The vehicle shown in outline at 10' after beginning its circular "wheelie" motion, and at a later position 10" which is about halfway through the vehicle's circular path of movement before it returns to its starting position. Of course, the present vehicle 10 can also be operated so that its body 12 moves straight ahead and level with respect to the running surface 22. As will be later described, the vehicle 10 may also be steered in the direction of its above circular path, so that it can be made to eventually return to a user who desires to remain stationary.

Further details of the present vehicle 10 will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

Vehicle body 12 is preferably mounted atop a lower frame or platform 26 which is also preferably formed of molded plastic. Platform 26 has an upward extending lip 28 formed contiguously about its outer perimeter, the lip 28 having recesses 30a, 30b and 32a, 32b formed therein for receiving forward and rearwar axle shafts 34 and 36, respectively. These recesses are configured to enable smooth rotation of the shafts 34, 36 therein, and are formed at opposed locations along the lip 28 so that each of the axle shafts is substantially transversely oriented relative to the vehicle body 12, as shown in FIG. 3.

Wheel 18a is fixedly joined at one end of the shaft 36 as by a press fit, and wheel 18b is mounted at the other end of the shaft 36 for smooth pivotal movement. The wheel 18b is preferably retained on the shaft 36 by a lock ring 38, as shown in FIG. 3. It will be appreciated that the wheel 18b is free to rotate, or to "free-wheel" about the shaft 36, whereas wheel 18a will always rotate along with the shaft 36.

The wheels 20a and 20b, at the forward portion of the vehicle body, are each preferably fixedly joined, as by press fitting, to respective ends of the axle shaft 34. The shaft 34 being free to rotate within the recesses 30a and 30b, the wheels 20a and 20b accordingly are free to rotate together. As the wheels 20a and 20b will rotate together at the same speed by way of the common axle shaft 34, the vehicle body 12 will move in a substantially straight forward direction in response to rotation of the one driven wheel 18a, as long as wheels 20a and 20b maintain sufficient traction with the running surface 22.

Continuing now with reference to FIG. 3, a motor drive mechanism is provided for wheel 18a, this mechanism including a pinion gear 40 axially joined to the axle shaft 36 at a location intermediate the ends of the shaft. A DC electric motor 42 is fixedly mounted to the vehicle body platform 26 and has a driving gear 44 which operatively engages the pinion gear 40 about the axle shaft 36. Motor 42 is conventional and is preferably of the type which can provide a desired driving torque to the wheel 18a via the gears 40 and 44 and shaft 36, depending upon the amount of current supplied to the motor 42 from a power source such as one or more batteries. By this construction, it will be understood that rotational movement from the motor 42 is provided to the wheel 18a at a desired level of torque, while the shaft 36 does not transmit driving torque to the wheel 18b owing to the pivotal mounting of wheel 18b on the shaft 36.

In the preferred embodiment, the present vehicle 10 is constructed to carry a battery power source for the motor 42, the batteries to be contained within a compartment 46 formed within the vehicle body 12, as shown in FIG. 2. These batteries may comprise a number of penlight cells 48, the particular connection of the cells 48 to the motor 42 being explained in greater detail later in connection with FIG. 4. Compartment 46 also contains an additional battery 49 for powering an electronic remote control unit 50 secured to the platform 26.

As will be explained later in connection with FIG. 4, remote control unit 50 operates to actuate the motor 42 to provide a selected driving torque to the wheel 18a.

From the foregoing description, it will be understood that when the vehicle 10 is operated, its body 12 is heavily weighted at its rear portion 16 owing to the batteries within compartment 46 and the motor 42. Such body weight distribution contributes to the ability of the present vehicle 10 to perform its wheel stand maneuver, as it is important for the center of gravity of the vehicle body 12 to be just slightly forward of the axle shaft 36. This enables the torque delivered to the wheel 18a to act on the vehicle body 12, including the platform 26, so as to cause the forward body portion 14 to be raised upwardly thereby lifting the wheels 20a and 20b from the running surface 22 (FIG. 1). As noted earlier, once wheels 20a and 20b are free of engagement with the running surface 22, the vehicle will be circularly propelled about its idling wheel 18b by the driven wheel 18a.

In order that the forward body portion 14 not be raised to too great a height such as might cause the vehicle 10 to overturn during operation, a weight 52 in the form of one or more metal washers is fixedly mounted to the forward portion of the body platform 26, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The weight 52 should be great enough to prevent excessive upward movement of the forward body portion 14 but light enough to allow the wheels 20a and 20b to be raised from the running surface 22 when the desired driving torque is provided to the wheel 18a.

The present vehicle 10 is capable of being steered in the direction of its circular "wheelie" movement. As the "wheelie" maneuver can be stopped at any time before the vehicle 10 completes one entire revolution, the vehicle will then move straight ahead in a direction different from the one in which it moved prior to the maneuver.

The above steering feature of the present vehicle 10 makes it desirable to remotely control the vehicle as by a radio or sound signaling system. In the preferred embodiment, vehicle 10 is remotely controlled with the aid of a conventional, hand held radio transmitter device which emits a continuous wave signal upon a user's command. This allows the user to select one of two driving torques for the wheel 18a and thereby cause the vehicle 10 to move either straight and level, perform a circular wheel stand maneuver, or to steer by causing the vehicle 10 to wheel stand momentarily as described above.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a preferred remote control system 53 for the present vehicle 10 is illustrated in block form. The system 53 includes a hand held transmitter 54 which emits a continuous wave radio signal of given frequency from a whip antenna 56 in response to depression of a push button 58 by the user. Located at the vehicle 10 is the receiving portion of the system, which includes the vehicle whip antenna 24 and the control unit 50. As seen in FIG. 4, control unit 50 includes a detector 60 which is responsive to the signal transmitted by the hand held transmitter 54, and a relay 62 which is energized by the detector 60 in response to the radio signal. The relay 62 operates to energize the DC motor 42 by voltage source V.sub.1 when no signal is received by the detector 60, and to energize the motor 42 by another voltage source V.sub.2 when a signal is received.

Voltage sources V.sub.1 and V.sub.2 may comprise different combinations of the penlight cells 48 within the vehicle battery compartment 46. For example, source V.sub.1 may consist of a single penlight cell, while source V.sub.2 may include two penlight cells in series so as to provide about twice the current to the motor 42 and, hence, about twice the driving torque to the wheel 18a, when a signal is received by the detector 60 as compared to a no-signal condition.

From the foregoing, it will be understood that the remote control system 53 can operate to allow the vehicle 10 to move straight ahead and level with respect to the running surface 22 when no signal is radiated by the transmitter 54, i.e., button 58 is in an up position; and to cause the vehicle 10 to perform a circular wheel stand when a signal is radiated, i.e., button 58 is depressed. The effective range of the remote control system 53 will, of course, be determined by the relative sizes of the antennae 24 and 56, as well as the power level of the radio signal produced by the transmitter 54. In the preferred embodiment, both the transmitter 54 and the detector 60 are each powered by a standard nine-volt battery. With the detector 50 being of the regenerative type, the outdoor effective range of the remote control system is about 30 feet (9.1 meters) when operating at a frequency of about 27 Mhz.

As will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, the present invention may be realized in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalents of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.