US20050112990A1

US20050112990A1 - Water submergence toy

Info

Publication number: US20050112990A1
Application number: US10/949,362
Authority: US
Inventors: Mitsuru Higashida
Original assignee: Thermal Co Ltd
Current assignee: Thermal Co Ltd
Priority date: 2003-10-10
Filing date: 2004-09-27
Publication date: 2005-05-26
Also published as: JP2005111166A

Abstract

A water submergence toy using screws requires two electric motors to move straight ahead and turn. Because of this, it is difficult to reduce the size of the water submergence toy. Further, when moving straight ahead, the two electric motors must operate at the same time thereby increasing the amount of battery power consumed resulting in shorter operating times the toy can be continuously used. The water submergence toy related to the present invention drives a pump using one electric motor and uses a directional control valve to change the direction liquid expelled from this pump is directed. As an example, if the liquid is discharged towards the rear, the water submergence toy can move forward and if the liquid is discharged from the lateral part of the rear, the water submergence toy can turn. In addition, the switching action of this directional control valve is performed by means of reversing the rotational direction of the electric motor thereby eliminating the need for an actuator such as a separate electric motor.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention
The present invention is related to a water submergence toy that can move within water in a desired direction by means of radio control.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, as stated in Kokai (Japanese unexamined patent publication) No. 11-90049, this type of conventional water submergence toy is equipped with two electric motors onto which screws are attached. Both screws are arranged side-by-side at the left and right. The composition is such that when both screws are rotated, the water submergence toy moves straight ahead and when only one of the screws is rotated, the water submergence toy turns.
Using screws in this manner, however, requires two electric motors in order for the water submergence toy to move straight ahead and turn. Because of this, it is difficult to reduce the size of the water submergence toy. Further, when moving straight ahead, the two electric motors must operate at the same time thereby increasing the amount of battery power consumed resulting in shorter operating times the toy can be continuously used.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The water submergence toy related to the present invention drives a pump using one electric motor and uses a directional control valve to change the direction liquid expelled from this pump is directed. As an example, if the liquid is discharged towards the rear, the water submergence toy can move forward and if the liquid is discharged from the lateral part of the rear, the water submergence toy can turn. In addition, the switching action of this directional control valve is performed by means of reversing the rotational direction of the electric motor thereby eliminating the need for an actuator such as a separate electric motor.
This is not particularly limited to a mechanism that drives a directional control valve. For example, a driven gear can be mounted to the axis of rotation of the pump and a idle gear provided that always meshes with this driven gear along with a drive gear mounted to the axis of rotation of the electric motor and a planet gear that always meshes with this drive gear to allow the outer periphery of the drive gear to move and the direction of rotation of the electric motor to be reversed forward and backward to achieve selective meshing of the planet gear with either the driven gear or the idle gear and the directional control valve being driven together with the movement of this planet gear.
If the intake port of the pump is opened towards the downward direction, the suction from the intake port will generate a force in the direction of submergence making it easier to submerge the water submergence toy.
If one of these nozzles is directed towards the rear and a fin member that generates a diving force downward due to forward movement provided on both sides of the main body of the toy, it will become easier to submerge the water submergence toy when moving forward.
The diverging paths mentioned above can branch off into two directions and the fluid directed towards these two directions at the same time.
Or else, two power units whose principal components are the above-mentioned pump, electric motor, directional control valve, and various gears can be equipped to form a composition wherein each fluid is suitably discharged from a nozzle that opens in four directions.
As made clear from the description above, the present invention can discharge fluid in two desired directions by means of only reversing the direction of rotation of one electric motor forward and backward. Therefore, the amount of electrical power consumed is reduced compared to a conventional water submergence toy that requires the use of two electric motors. Because of this, the water submergence toy according to the present invention can continuously operate for longer periods of time than a conventional water submergence toy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[FIG. 1] The composition of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
[FIG. 2] Longitudinal cross-section.
[FIG. 3] Cross-section of III-III.
[FIG. 4] Exploded view showing the gear train.
[FIG. 5] Plan view showing the gear train.
[FIG. 6] Switching state using a directional control valve.
[FIG. 7] The discharge direction of water.
[FIG. 8] The composition of a remote control.
[FIG. 9] Plan view showing another composition.
[FIG. 10] Longitudinal cross-section of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, 1 is the main body of the water submergence toy according to the present invention. This main body 1 is a resin material injection formed into a hollow shape. The power unit 2 is enclosed inside the main body 1 for the purpose of moving or turning the main body 1. The power unit 2 suck in water from around an intake port 11 that opens at the bottom of the main body 1 and then discharge the water from either a discharge port 12 that opens towards the rear or a discharge port 13 that opens towards the left rear side.
A divergence path 24 is used to link the power unit 2 to the discharge port 12. Furthermore, a manually adjusted rudder 12 a is mounted to the discharge port 12. When water is discharged from the discharge port 12, the main body 1 moves forward. At this time the rudder adjusts whether to move the water submergence toy straight ahead or to gently turn it.
Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, one electric motor 4 is enclosed inside the power unit 2. The electric motor 4 is driven and rotated by the electrical power from a pair of batteries 32 installed inside the same power unit 2. These batteries 32 are rechargeable. It is preferable to use a quick recharge type that can be recharged in approximately 30 seconds such as an electric double layer capacitor battery.
This water submergence toy is a radio-controlled type whose operation is controlled by radio waves received from an external source. A control PCB 3 is installed inside the toy to control the direction of rotation of the electric motor 4 based on the received radio waves. In the figure, 31 is a pair of recharging electrodes. The composition is such that if a recharging power source is brought into contact with these electrodes 31, the batteries 32 will be recharged through the electrodes 31. In addition, these electrodes 31 are covered by a cap 14 provided with an O-ring to keep them in a watertight state. Even if the main body 1 is submerged in water, water will not leak to the installation position of the electrodes 31. The cap 14 is removed when recharging the batteries.
The electric motor 4 is installed such that the axis of rotation is facing upward. A drive gear 41 is mounted to this axis of rotation. The drive power from the drive gear is transmitted to the pump 5 through a predetermined gear train.
Referring to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, a planet gear 61 meshes with the drive gear 41. This planet gear 61 is mounted to freely rotate on an oscillating arm 6 that oscillates centered on a position identical to the rotation center of the drive gear 41. Consequently, even if the oscillating arm 6 oscillates, the planet gear 61 is always maintained in a meshed state with the drive gear 41.
In contrast, a driven gear 51 is mounted to the pump 5 and an idle gear 52 meshes with this driven gear 51. In FIG. 5, if the drive gear 41 rotates to the left, the planet gear 61 will mesh with the driven gear 51 so as to rotate in the left direction. As a result, the drive gear 41 is linked to the driven gear 51 through the planet gear 61. The center distance between the axis of rotation of the drive gear 41 and the axis of rotation of the driven gear 51 is set to become shorter when these three gears are lined up in a straight line. Because of this, the planet gear 61 is continuously positioned between the drive gear 41 and the driven gear 51 without passing through the space between the drive gear 41 and the driven gear 51.
If the direction of rotation of the drive gear 41 is reversed, the planet gear 61 will move towards the right direction while it is meshed with the drive gear 41. When this occurs, the planet gear 61 cancels the meshed state with the driven gear 51 and then meshes with the idle gear 52. Therefore, the drive gear 41 and the driven gear 51 are linked through the planet gear 61 and the idle gear 52. Although the idle gear 52 will increase more than when only the planet gear 61 is between them, the direction of rotation of the drive gear 41 reverses with respect to the case described above. Consequently, the direction of rotation of the driven gear 51 will always be the same direction and not reverse.
A coupling pin 62 is set on the other end of the oscillating arm 6. A fork 63 is coupled to the coupling pin 62 in such a manner that it pinches both sides of the coupling pin 62. Because of this, when the oscillating arm 6 oscillates, the fork 63 will also oscillate. A directional control valve 64 is mounted to this fork 63.
Referring to FIG. 6, when the pump 5 rotates, water is sucked from the intake port 11. Then, this sucked in water is expelled to a discharge path 21. This discharge path 21 branches out to two divergence paths 22, 23. The directional control valve 64 is positioned in the branching portion of the divergence paths 22, 23. As described above, when the oscillating arm 6 oscillates due to the direction of rotation of the electric motor 4 reversing forward and backward, the directional control valve 64 will oscillate along with that oscillation. This directional control valve 64 isolates one of the divergence paths 22, 23 at both oscillation end positions with respect to the discharge path 2. Therefore, water expelled to the discharge path 21 is guided to the divergence path that is not blocked.
Referring to FIG. 7, in this manner the flow of water expelled due to the directional control valve 64 oscillating is changed. For example, when water is discharged from the discharge port 12 as described above, the main body 1 moves forward. Fin members 15 are attached to both sides of the main body 1 in a manner that allows oscillation forward and backward. If these fin members 15 are adjusted such that the front of the fins are hanging down, the main body 1 will submerge while it is moving forward when the main body 1 moves forward. Furthermore, when water from the discharge port 13 is changed so as to be discharged, the main body 1 will rotate at a high speed as seen on the left side in FIG. 7. If water from the discharge port 12 is changed once again so as to be discharged at the moment the main body 1 changes its direction to a desired direction, the main body 1 will move straight ahead in that direction. When the rotation of the electric motor 4 stops, the buoyancy will be adjusted such that the main body 1 slowly rises to the surface.
In this manner stopping the electric motor 4 and changing the forward and reverse rotation of the electric motor 4 is performed by remote control. Referring to FIG. 8, two buttons 71, 72 are provided on a remote control 7. The composition is such that when one of the buttons 71 is pressed, the electric motor 4 rotates forward and when the other button 72 is pressed, the electric motor 4 rotates in reverse (backward). Moreover, the electric motor 4 will stop when neither of the buttons are pressed.
This remote control 7 forms a cartridge 73 for the power supply portion and when the electrical power is consumed, makes it possible to quickly resume use of the water submergence toy by replacing with a new cartridge 73. An adapter 74 is provided on the end of the cartridge 73. The composition is such that when the cartridge 73 is inserted into the remote control 7 from below, the adapter 74 will make contact with an electrode provided on the remote control 7 and supply electrical power to the remote control 7.
As described above, when recharging the batteries 32 of the main body 1, the adapter 74 is inserted with the cap 14 removed to allow the adapter 74 to make contact with the electrodes 31 and recharge the batteries.
In the embodiment above, a case in which one pump 5 is installed was described. However, as shown in FIG. 9, two pumps 5A, 5B can be installed. For this case, two electric motors are also provided and to independently switch each directional control valve 64A, 64B.
In the example shown in FIG. 9, the directional control valve 64A switches between divergence path 81 and divergence path 82. When the water is guided to the divergence path 81, that water is discharged from a discharge port 81 a provided on the right front side creating a movement that turns the main body 1 towards the left direction. In contrast, when the water is guided to the divergence path 82, the water is discharged from a discharge port 82 a that opens upward as shown in FIG. 10 and the main body 1 settles downward. In addition, the divergence path 82 branches to a discharge port 82 b and while the main body 1 is settling downward it slowly moves forward.
Another directional control valve 64B switches between divergence path 83 and divergence path 84. Water that is diverted to the divergence path 83 is discharged from a discharge port 83 a provided on the left front side. When this occurs, a force generates turning the main body in the right direction. When the water is diverted to the divergence path 84, the water is discharged from the discharge port 84 a and the main body 1 moves forward. Further, when water is discharged from both discharge ports 81 a, 83 a on the left and right sides, the main body 1 slowly settles downward in a vertical direction due to a reaction caused by suction from the intake port 11 without the main body 1 moving horizontally in any direction.
These operations are performed by only changing the direction of rotation of the two electric motors. In the example shown in FIG. 9, the expelling side of the pump 5A and the expelling side of the pump 5B are linked although the composition can be such that a partition is provided between both pumps so as to alternately isolate the pump 5A and the pump 5B. In the embodiment above, examples with one electric motor and two electric motors were disclosed. However, even more complex compositions with three or more motors can be applied.
Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above but can be modified within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A water submergence toy provided with a centrifugal type pump that is rotated and driven by means of an electric motor and moved by means of sucking in peripheral fluid using said pump and discharging the fluid from a discharge port in a desired direction, with said water submergence toy being characterized by having a divergence path that diverts a discharge path of a pump to each discharge port provided at two locations along with being provided with a directional control valve that guides fluid discharged from a pump to either divergence path at a branch portion of this divergence path and drive said directional control valve by changing the direction of rotation of said electric motor and guide the fluid to the other divergence path.

2. A water submergence toy as set forth in claim 1 wherein a driven gear is mounted to the axis of rotation of said pump and a idle gear provided that always meshes with this driven gear along with a drive gear mounted to the axis of rotation of said electric motor and a planet gear that always meshes with this drive gear to allow the outer periphery of the drive gear to move and the direction of rotation of said electric motor is reversed forward and backward to achieve selective meshing of said planet gear with either said driven gear or said idle gear and said directional control valve being driven together with the movement of said planet gear.

3. A water submergence toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein an intake port of said pump is opened towards the downward direction.

4. A water submergence toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein the other discharge port faces towards the rear and fin members are provided on both sides of a main body to generate a diving force downward by the toy moving forward.

5. A water submergence toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein said divergence path branches in two directions to guide fluid in two directions at the same time.

6. A water submergence toy characterized by being provided with two power units whose principal components are the above-mentioned pump, electric motor, directional control valve, and various gears forming a composition wherein each fluid is suitably discharged from a nozzle that opens in four directions.