Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20090071456 | Mortar Launching Toy - A mortar launching toy has an angularly adjustable firing barrel and a soft rocket-shaped toy mortar for being launched from the barrel in various modes of play. The toy includes a spring-activated launching pole to which the mortar is pre-loaded, the mortar/pole subassembly is loaded into the barrel to prepare for launching. A locking feature retains the subassembly in the barrel prior to launching. A trigger mechanism cooperates with a symmetrical dual-finger release mechanism to release the mortar during launching. The locking feature retains the launching pole in the barrel during launching. | 03-19-2009 |
20090159058 | Interactive Device for Process Excellence Training - An interactive catapult training device is provided for teaching and demonstrating the principles of problem solving using tools and techniques of applied statistics, Six Sigma, lean manufacturing and other process excellence techniques. The device includes a base and a hub fixed to a position with respect to the base and removable from the base. A swing arm is coupled to and rotatable about the hub from a first angle to a second angle, the swing arm being removable from the hub. A cup is fixed to a position with respect to the swing arm and adapted to receive a projectile, the cup being removable from the swing arm. A spring is coupled between a first coupling point fixed with respect to the base and a second coupling point on the swing arm. The spring provides tension for setting the swing arm in motion from the first angle to the second angle. The spring can be removable from the first and second coupling points. Inputs that can be varied and measured include the first coupling point, the second coupling point, the first swing arm angle, the second swing arm angle, the hub position with respect to the base and the cup position with respect to the swing arm can be varied and measured. Outputs than can be measured include the linear distance and the angle of deviation of the launched projectile as well as cycle time for launching. The input and output data can be managed electronically for online teaching and learning. | 06-25-2009 |
20090293853 | Projectile launching assembly - A simulated gun launches a retrievable projectile in the form of a cylinder containing a compressible spring. The spring is compressed by inserting the barrel of the gun into the bore of the cylinder. A tab on the end of the cylinder rides in a helical groove on the surface of the barrel to cause the projectile to rotate about the axis of the barrel as the projectile is launched. | 12-03-2009 |
20100018511 | Dog Ball Shooting Device - This device is designed to shoot balls and can be used to play with dogs. It comprises a handle, an upper tube attached to the handle, a trigger mechanism, a lower tube slidably mounted against a mechanical energy storage device such as a metal spring, a rubber band or compressed air in the upper tube, and a gripping mechanism mounted in the lower end of the lower tube. The gripping mechanism is designed to grab the ball when the device handle is pushed down and to release the ball when the trigger is pulled and the lower tube is extended outward by the force of the spring causing the ball to fly away. | 01-28-2010 |
20100037878 | Methods and Apparatus for a Projectile Firing System - Methods and apparatus for firing a projectile according to various aspects of the present invention comprise a stock capable of holding a projectile, a spring attached to the stock such that stored elastic energy is used to impart a propulsive force to the projectile. The spring may also engage a retention device configured to hold the spring in a predetermined position thereby allowing elastic energy to be stored in the spring until the user desires to fire the projectile by disengaging the retention device. | 02-18-2010 |
20100180877 | NOVELTY DEVICE - A novelty device for launching projectiles includes a housing defining a storage chamber and a launch channel. The launch channel is open proximate an upper end of the housing. A plurality of projectiles are disposed in the storage channel. A projectile staging arrangement is operative for moving a select one of the plurality of projectiles from the storage chamber to the launch channel. An ejector arrangement is associated with the launch channel and operative for launching a staged projectile disposed within the launch channel at one of a plurality of launch velocities. | 07-22-2010 |
20110192384 | BASEBALL BATTING PRACTICE EQUIPMENT - A baseball batting practice equipment includes a base provided with a movable member controlled to operate by the retaining post of a ball pitching speed adjustment device that is disposed with bevel gears and an actuating member for regulating the speed of ball pitching. An elastic member has opposite sides respectively secured with the movable member and the base for assisting the movable member to recover its original position. The base is further provided with a hooking member for holding an elastic plate and, after the movable member touches the hooking member, releasing the elastic plate for pitching balls. A ball pitching apparatus is provided with an elastic member for adjusting and delaying time of ball pitching, a gear unit and an actuating rod for winding tight or unwinding loose the elastic member. A power unit with a pedal is to carry out pitching balls. | 08-11-2011 |
20110226225 | Biased Releasable Connection System - The present invention is directed to providing a biased releasable connection system that is compact, lightweight, inexpensive and low-power. The system comprises a releasable object that is biased against a retaining mechanism until the connection is released. The system further comprises a small and lightweight shape memory alloy member to actuate the release of the connection. When the connection is released, the biasing mechanism propels the releasable object in a particular direction. The compact design of the system is partly attributable to the strategic utilization and positioning of the shape memory member within the system. | 09-22-2011 |
20120037135 | DOUBLE BARREL TOY LAUNCHER APPARATUS - A toy launcher apparatus for discharging soft foam projectiles, the apparatus having a housing and a barrel assembly, including side-by-side barrels, that simulates a real double barrel shotgun. Within the housing are two launching assemblies operatively connected to the barrels, and a trigger assembly for capturing launching tubes of the launching assemblies and for allowing a user to release the launching tubes, and launching springs mounted around the launching tubes to cause the projectiles to be “fired” when the launching tubes are released. Also mounted to the housing and the barrel assembly, and operatively connected to the launching assemblies, is a cocking assembly having an elongated link pivotally connected at one end to the barrel assembly and at an opposite end to a ratchet and compression mechanism. The ratchet and compression mechanism includes a central block with an upward extending arm for engaging the launching tubes to compress the launching springs, and a downward extending arm for engaging a rack connected to an inner frame of the housing to prevent the launching springs, when partially compressed, from snapping to an expanded position should the user fumble the apparatus during a cocking cycle. The barrel assembly is rotatable between a housing aligned position and a housing nonaligned position. The barrel assembly also includes a slide collar for facilitating sliding the barrels between an extended position and a retracted position when the barrel assembly is in the housing aligned position. | 02-16-2012 |
20120037136 | BALL MACHINE - A ball machine has a link mechanism. One end of the link mechanism is connected with an elastic member, and another end of the link mechanism is connected with a power unit. The link mechanism is connected with a deformable carrier. Thereby, a ball is placed on the carrier. The power unit drives the link mechanism to operate. The carrier is deformed to a certain degree to release the link mechanism. The elastic unit brings the link mechanism to restore the carrier so as to toss the ball automatically. | 02-16-2012 |
20120073554 | TOY PROJECTILE LAUNCHER APPARATUS - A toy launcher apparatus for discharging circular projectiles, the apparatus having a housing, lower and upper panels mounted to the housing, supports mounted to the housing, a cocking slide and a slide spring connected to the supports, a projectile receptacle connected to the cocking slide, release levers mounted to the housing, a guide wall mounted to the lower panel, a positioning wheel also mounted to the lower panel, and a trigger mounted to the housing. The lower panel includes a slot positioned parallel to the guide wall but off center relative to a center point of a load projectile. Beneath the lower panel is a rotatable launch arm connected to a torsion spring and a catch structure. The upper and lower panels are parallel to one another and spaced to receive a projectile. The projectile is loaded into the projectile receptacle when the receptacle is exposed during the time the launch arm and torsion spring are cocked by a user pulling rearward on the cocking slide. The launch arm is captured by the catch structure, and the cocking slide and the receptacle are also captured. After loading the projectile, the one of the release levers is activated to snap the cocking slide, the carriage and the loaded projectile to a predetermined launch position. When a user pulls the trigger the launch arm is rapidly rotated by the torsion spring through the slot where the launch arm impacts the loaded and correctly positioned projectile and causes the projectile to be discharge with a spin. | 03-29-2012 |
20120080018 | TOY PROJECTILE LAUNCHER APPARATUS - Several variations of a toy projectile launcher apparatus for discharging EVA balls. The apparatus includes a housing, a ram movable in the housing, a carriage also movable in the housing, a negator spring, a handle for cocking the apparatus, and a lever pivotally mounted in the housing just behind a ball to be discharged. In operation, a user pulls the handle rearward and a connector engages the ram to pull the ram rearward. The ram abuts the carriage and when the ram moves rearward the carriage also moves rearward. The carriage is attached to the spring and extends the spring when the carriage moves rearward. At a predetermined location the connector disengages the ram. | 04-05-2012 |
20120080019 | TOY PROJECTILE LAUNCHER APPARATUS - A toy projectile launcher apparatus for discharging balls. The apparatus includes a base, a ram movable in the base, a carriage also movable in the base, a negator spring, a handle for cocking the apparatus, a lever pivotally mounted in the base just behind a ball to be discharged and a trigger. In operation a user pulls the handle rearward to cock the apparatus and a catch engages the ram. The carriage is attached to the spring and extends the spring when the carriage and the ram move rearward. The user pulls the trigger to release the ram and the carriage. Before striking the lever, the carriage is stopped and the ram is mounted to the carriage to allow forward sliding movement to enable the ram to impact the lever causing the lever to slap the ball to cause discharge. | 04-05-2012 |
20120266852 | Toy Hand Grenade - A toy hand grenade has a plurality of bores which receive soft darts. A launcher is received in each bore and is spring loaded. An actuator retains the launchers in a spring-loaded, unactuated position. The actuator is displaceable relative to the body to release the launchers and substantially concurrently eject the darts from the hand grenade. A pin or a clip may be employed to lock the actuator in a locked position. | 10-25-2012 |
20120266853 | Toy Hand Grenade with Timer Mechanism - A toy hand grenade has a plurality of bores which receive soft darts. A launcher is received in each bore and is spring loaded. An actuator retains the launchers in a spring-loaded, unactuated position. The actuator is displaceable relative to the body to release the launchers and substantially concurrently eject the darts from the hand grenade. A pin or a clip may be employed to lock the actuator in a locked position. A timer is employed to delay actuation of the actuator to release the launchers and eject the darts from the hand grenade. A sandbag ring is imposed to ensure proper orientation and stability of the hand grenade for the timer actuated feature. | 10-25-2012 |
20130074818 | TOY PROJECTILE LAUNCHER APPARATUS - Several variations of a toy projectile launcher apparatus for discharging EVA balls. The apparatus includes a housing, a barrel portion, a grip portion, a trigger, a ram movable in the housing, a carriage also movable in the housing, a negator spring, handles for cocking the apparatus, and a lever pivotally mounted to a shaft in the housing just behind a ball to be discharged. In operation, a user pulls a handle rearward to move the ram and carriage and extend the spring. Pulling the trigger disengages the ram to impact the lever causing the lever to slap the ball to cause discharge of the ball. The lever and the shaft may be moved from side to side to cause the ball to be discharged straight ahead or curved to the left or right. | 03-28-2013 |
20130092138 | PINATA DEVICE - A piñata device includes a main body housing an open-top container that may be filled with candy, toys, or other items. The open-top container is spring loaded using and arrangement of elastomeric bands and a locking mechanism which, when triggered, releases the open-top container, thereby causing the container to immediately accelerate towards an opening on the main body and launch the items outwards of the main body and onto the floor for collecting by the participants. In a preferred embodiment, the locking mechanism is triggered by hitting a target with a ball. After use, the container may be pushed or pulled back into a loaded position for reuse. | 04-18-2013 |
20130239936 | TOY PROJECTILE LAUNCHER APPARATUS - A toy launch apparatus for projectiles having a soft exterior and an open bottom with a bordering strong inner wall. The projectile's open bottom is positioned atop a slot, with respect to a launch deck and a carriage in a housing assembly. A cocking assembly includes a pivotal launch arm and a launch spring connected to the carriage movable with an engaged slide, a slide link and carriage lock, which are cocked when a user pulls the slide rearward. At a first rearward position of the slide the carrier is restrained in a cocked configuration. On the way to a second rearward position of the slide, the slide, slide link and carriage lock disengage from the carriage, launch arm and launch spring. When the carriage and launch arm are triggered, the launch spring releases and the launch arm impacts the inner wall of the projectile for discharge. | 09-19-2013 |
20130247887 | ARROW FOR AERODYNAMICALLY STABILIZING A PAYLOAD IN FLIGHT - A system and method for propelling pellets from a launch tube in flight includes a payload section and a stabilizing section. The launch tube and its pellets are essentially the payload section. The stabilizing section is essentially the equivalent of an arrow, and it includes a connector for selectively engaging the stabilizing section with the payload section. In use, the stabilizing section is reusable with a sequence of payload sections. | 09-26-2013 |
20130263836 | FIGURINE LAUNCHER - A figurine launcher is described. The figurine launcher includes at least two shell components. The shell components are hingedly attached with one another to move between an open position and a closed position. An open mechanism is attached with at least one of the shell components and is adapted to allow a user to selectively separate the shell components when in the closed position. A launch positioning mechanism is attached with at least one of the shell components. The launch positioning mechanism is adapted to engage with a figurine and conceal the figurine within the housing when the shell components are in a closed position. Alternatively, when the shell components are in an open position, the launch positioning mechanism is adapted to move the figurine into a launch position. When in the launch position, the user can compress the shell components to force the figurine from the launcher. | 10-10-2013 |
20140034034 | DEVICE FOR EJECTING BALLS - An apparatus for ejecting balls including: a frame supporting a ball holder; an ejecting arrangement adapted for ejecting the ball from the ball holder; and a control unit; the ejecting arrangement including a spring-biased pivot arm which is pivotable about a shaft and has an impact face spaced apart from the shaft, where the pivot arm has a circular path with a first extreme position where the pre-tensioning of the pivot arm is maximal, and a second extreme position where the pre-tensioning of the pivot arm is minimal, where the ball holder and the impact face are arranged such that the ball is hit by the impact face during the working stroke of the pivot arm in a direction from the first towards the second extreme position, at which the frame further supports a spring-biased pivotable braking plate with one or more vertically oriented springs. | 02-06-2014 |
20140083400 | TOY LAUNCH APPARATUS WITH DART MAGAZINE AND AUTOMATICALLY RETRACTING DART TUBE - A toy launch apparatus for discharging soft foam darts, the launch apparatus having a cylinder, a piston, a launch spring, a dart magazine and a dart tube. The dart tube is biased by a return spring so that after a dart discharge the dart tube is moved rearward from a launch chamber to allow the magazine to spring load a fresh dart. During a cocking cycle the dart tube moves forward and receives the dart so that loading of a second dart is blocked. The automatic withdrawal of the dart tube after discharge of a dart also allows an empty magazine to be disengaged from the launch apparatus and a freshly loaded magazine to be attached. This may be accomplished without an operator having to take any other action thereby resulting in a very quick reload. | 03-27-2014 |
20140090629 | Projectile Launcher And Applications Therefor - A toy projectile launcher having a handle for receiving a removable projectile clip mechanism that stores projectiles in an unstretched state. A trigger mechanism is provided to engage and stretch a projectile when pulled towards the rear, and is configured to release the stretched projectile when pulled past a pre-determined distance. A blow-back mechanism is provided and movable secured about an upper portion of the body. The trigger mechanism is configured to engage the blow-back mechanism as the trigger is pulled and the blow-back mechanism is configured to disengage from the trigger mechanism when the trigger is pulled past the pre-determined distance to substantially coincide with the release of the stretched projectile. | 04-03-2014 |
20140283802 | Stringed Projectile Weapon - A stringed weapon for launching shafted projectiles while eliminating a flat spring construction. Specifically, the stringed weapon herein utilizes a torsional spring, and particularly a torsional coil spring, to provide for the force to move the string and, thus, fire the projectile. | 09-25-2014 |
20140326228 | TOY LAUNCH APPARATUS WITH SAFETY LATCHES - A toy launch apparatus for discharging circular projectiles of predetermined diameter and height. The apparatus includes multiple safety features to prevent inappropriate objects inserted into the apparatus from enabling the apparatus to operate. A side latch is mounted that locks a shuttle to a housing assembly unless a properly sized projectile is inserted that rotates a side latch bar rotatably mounted to the shuttle out of engagement with an abutment surface in the housing assembly. A top latch is mounted that locks the shuttle to the housing assembly unless the inserted projectile also rotates a top latch bar mounted to the shuttle out of engagement with another abutment surface in the housing assembly. | 11-06-2014 |
20150090237 | Extreme Distance/Velocity Projectile Throwing Toy - A long-distance projectile throwing toy. A launching section is hingedly attached at one end to a handle section. The distal end of the launching section includes a ball holder for releasably securing a ball/projectile loosely enough to allow the ball to come flying out of the ball holder when the device is whipped by the user. The device is configurable into at least two configurations by selectively moving an angular delimiter on one section into or out of engageability with various ramped portions of the other section. A throwing configuration keeps the launching section at a minimum angle to maximize the force imparted to the projectile and thus its distance and speed. A collapsed configuration enables the launching section to be substantially parallel with the handle section thereby enabling the device to be stored or shipped more easily. The ball holder imparts backspin to the projectile to maximize flight. | 04-02-2015 |
20160016095 | PARTY CANNON - A party cannon includes a cannon body and an open-top container movably retained within the cannon body by interconnecting biasing elements. The open-top container is structured and disposed for holding candy, toys, or other items that are loosely filled therein and is held in a loaded position against the force of the one or more biasing elements. Operation of a trigger and locking mechanism releases the open-top container in a rapid forward movement towards an open muzzle end of the cannon body causing the items within the container to be launched outwards from the open muzzle end of the cannon body and through the air so that the items land scattered throughout an area of a room or outdoor ground surface. The container can be re-filled for another launch, thereby allowing for ongoing reuse of the party cannon at the same party and at future events. | 01-21-2016 |
20160031530 | MARKER-BUOY DEPLOYMENT SYSTEM - Apparatus and associated methods relate to a marker-buoy deployment system having a launching module that becomes armed by inserting a marker buoy, then laterally launches a loaded marker buoy in response to a user command. In an illustrative embodiment, launching module may be spring operated. In some embodiments, the release device may be foot operated. In an exemplary embodiment, a safety device may prevent an accidental launch, for example, from a trailered boat. In some embodiments, a visual indicator may indicate whether the safety is on, or the buoy has been loaded or launched. In some embodiments, a deployed-buoy location system may record the location coordinates of one or more deployed marker buoys. In an exemplary embodiment, marker buoys may be loaded automatically from a magazine each time a marker buoy is deployed. In some embodiments, marker-buoys may advantageously be deployed by a boater whose hands are otherwise occupied. | 02-04-2016 |
20160116248 | GEAR CHECKED CONSTRUCTION FOR TOY GUNS - A gear checked construction for a toy gun comprises a gun body, a piston, a driving gear, and a check assembly. The piston is mounted inside the gun body and a rack is formed on the bottom of the piston. The driving gear engages with the rack to drive the piston and includes a clamping part. The check assembly comprises a hinge and a check bar. The hinge is mounted inside the gun body and the check bar is set around the hinge and comprises a forward part and a reverse part. The clamping part touches on the forward part and bursts through the check bar when the driving gear rotates in one direction to drive the piston, and the clamping part engages with the reverse part to stop the driving gear's rotation when the driving gear rotates in the other direction. | 04-28-2016 |