US20050208867A1

US20050208867A1 - Water submergence toy

Info

Publication number: US20050208867A1
Application number: US10/947,355
Authority: US
Inventors: Mitsuru Higashida
Original assignee: Thermal Co Ltd
Current assignee: Thermal Co Ltd
Priority date: 2004-03-22
Filing date: 2004-09-23
Publication date: 2005-09-22
Also published as: JP2005270126A

Abstract

A water submergence toy is not performed using a screw. It is done by only changing the buoyancy by means of changing the volume. Because of this, the control and surfacing responsiveness becomes very poor. The water submergence toy according to the present invention compresses the air inside a piston when the piston is pushed towards the inside of a cylinder to reduce the volume. This makes the buoyancy smaller. Conversely, when the piston is moved in a direction away from the cylinder, the volume of the air inside the piston becomes larger and the buoyancy increases. In addition, because this type of buoyancy adjustment can be performed manually as well, those who play with a water submergence toy can adjust the buoyancy whenever it is necessary. Because of this, the buoyancy of the water submergence toy can always be maintained in a state adjusted for optimum buoyancy.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention
The present invention is related to a water submergence toy that uses radio control for remote control operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
This type of conventional water submergence toy is internally provided with a screw that is driven by a motor and the rotation of this screw moves, submerges, and surfaces the toy. Furthermore, when the electrical power of internal batteries is exhausted and the water submergence toy cannot be controlled, the buoyancy is adjusted to raise the water submergence toy to the surface of the water.
However, if the buoyancy is increased too much, a great deal of electrical power will be consumed while the toy is submerging. Because of this, the buoyancy must be adjusted to the minimum required level. In contrast, if the buoyancy is set as small as possible, the buoyancy will become too small due to errors. It result in the danger of the water submergence toy not rising up to the surface while the motive power is stopped.
For example, a water submergence toy according to Kokai (Japanese unexamined patent publication) No. 2002-102547 is well known wherein the entire water submergence toy is formed in a sealed container and the water submergence toy is controlled and surfaced by extruding one part of this sealed container from the inside of the toy to change the entire volume and change the buoyancy.
In the composition described in the Kokai above, the control and surfacing of the water submergence toy is not performed using a screw. It is done by only changing the buoyancy by means of changing the volume. Because of this, the control and surfacing responsiveness becomes very poor. Consequently, the commercial value as a toy is significantly reduced. Further, in the toy described in the Kokai above, because the internal pressure drops when the volume is increased, if a hole that passes through the inside and outside of the sealed container is opened in order to allow the axis of rotation of the screw to pass through, water will be sucked into the sealed container from the gap between the hole and the axis of rotation thereby making it very difficult to install a screw.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The water submergence toy according to the present invention compresses the air inside a piston when the piston is pushed towards the inside of a cylinder to reduce the volume. This makes the buoyancy smaller. Conversely, when the piston is moved in a direction away from the cylinder, the volume of the air inside the piston becomes larger and the buoyancy increases. In addition, because this type of buoyancy adjustment can be performed manually as well, those who play with a water submergence toy can adjust the buoyancy whenever it is necessary. Because of this, the buoyancy of the water submergence toy can always be maintained in a state adjusted for optimum buoyancy.
For example, an accessory, such as a periscope, is installed protruding on the exterior of the water submergence toy. If this exterior accessory is the manually operated part described above, there are no drawbacks in the design of the water submergence toy.
In another water submergence toy according to the present invention, the volume of the cylinder body does not change but air inside the cylinder body is supplied to a separate balloon and the volume of this balloon changed to adjust the buoyancy. It is possible to freely set the installation position of the balloon and significantly increase the freedom of design in a composition that expands and contracts a balloon and not the cylinder body in this manner.
If the space where the above-mentioned balloon is contained is a space on the side where the rod body extends to the outside of the cylinder body, the pressure of that space will be the same as the exterior water pressure or the pressure will increase somewhat due to the elastic recoil of the balloon. Because of this, even if a hole is formed for the rod body to pass through this space, there is no need to provide a special seal nor will water forcibly enter into the cylinder body from this hole.
If the size of the balloon is suitably set, the buoyancy will be suitably maintained even if the size of the balloon is not changed thereafter and the size of the balloon during submerging and surfacing can be aggressively changed. For example, if the above-mentioned balloon is installed at a position further front than the center of gravity of the water submergence toy and the balloon becomes larger while surfacing, the buoyancy will increase and the nose of the water submergence toy will be facing upward. In contrast, if the balloon becomes smaller while surfacing, the buoyancy will decrease and the water submergence toy will become easier to submerge along with the nose of the water submergence toy facing downward and the movement of the water submergence toy becoming diversified.
As made clear from the description above, the present invention can adjust the buoyancy to an optimum state for each 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 Plan view showing another embodiment

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, 1 is the submarine type water submergence toy according to the present invention. A waterproof cap 11 is attached underneath this water submergence toy 1. This waterproof cap 11 is removed when not wet to recharge the batteries. Rechargeable batteries (not shown in figure) are installed inside the water submergence toy 1. If the waterproof cap 11 is removed, recharging terminals are provided inside.
The recharging will start when the power supply terminals are brought into contact with the recharging terminals from the outside. When the recharge is complete, close the waterproof cap 11 again. An internal electric pump 12 is driven by the recharged electrical power, external water is sucked from a water intake port 13 formed underneath the water submergence toy 1, and then water is discharged from a discharge port 14 provided at the rear making it possible for the water submergence toy 1 to move forward. The operation of the electric pump 12 is controlled by control signals sent from a remote control transmitter from the outside. Consequently, a control device is installed inside the water submergence toy 1. This control device receives the control signals and controls the operation of the electric pump 12. If the direction of rotation of the electric pump 12 is reversed, it is switched to discharge water from a discharge port 15 and the water submergence toy 1 will submerge while moving forward.
Meanwhile, a pair of sealed air tanks 2 is internally provided on the deck portion of the water submergence toy 1. A cylinder 21 is formed between both air tanks 2 linked to both air tanks 2. A piston 22 is set on the cylinder 21. Because of this, the piston 22 becomes a cover such that water does not enter into the inside of the air tanks 2.
A screw rod 24 is attached to the piston 22. This screw rod 24 is linked to a fake periscope 23 provided on top of the water submergence toy 1. Because this screw rod 24 is screwed onto the outer shell of the water submergence toy 1, when the fake periscope 23 is rotated, the screw rod 24 moves up and down and the piston 22 moves in the upward and downward directions along with the screw rod 24.
A connection port 25 is formed on the outer shell of the water submergence toy 1 thereby water enters up to the upper surface of the piston 22. When the fake periscope 23 is rotated in the left direction and the piston 22 is drawn upward, water at the upper portion of the piston 22 is forced out from the connection port 25 increasing the buoyancy. In contrast, when the periscope model 23 is rotated in the right direction and the piston 22 is moved downward, water is sucked inside the cylinder 21 through the connection port 25 and the buoyancy decreases.
Because the rotation of the fake periscope 23 increases and decreases the buoyancy in this manner, it is possible to adjust the buoyancy at that moment to a suitable size.
Referring to FIG. 3, another embodiment is described. In this embodiment a sealed cylinder body 3 is provided and a piston body 5 is installed inside this cylinder body 3. The internal space of the cylinder body 3 is separated into two areas by the piston body 5. In this figure, the lower space is a transformation unit 31 and the upper space is a constant pressure unit 32. A circular rod body 50 is linked to a section of the piston body 5 and this rod body 50 extends from the constant pressure unit 32 to the outer portion of the cylinder body 3.
A screw portion 51 is linked to the rod body 50 and a square column portion 52 is also linked to the screw portion 51. This square column portion 52 has a square-shaped cross-section and by means of inserting it into a bearing 52 a formed with a square-shaped bearing hole, functions as a rotational stop for the rod body 50 and the screw portion 51.
A gear 6 screws into the screw portion 51. This gear 6 is maintained in an up/down direction by a thrust receiver 61 and when a gear 62, rotated by a motor, rotates, the gear 6, which is meshed with the gear 62, rotates as well. Because the gear 6 is prohibited from moving by the thrust receiver 61, the screw portion 51 moves in an up/down direction (in the figure) due to that opposing force. Therefore, the piston body 5 moves in an up/down direction along with the rod body 50.
A balloon 4 is connected to the constant pressure unit 32 via a linkage tube 41. Because of this, when the piston body 5 rises upward and the air inside the constant pressure unit 32 is forced out via the linkage tube 41, the balloon 4 becomes larger. Conversely, when the piston body 5 lowers downward, the air inside the balloon 4 returns to the inside of the constant pressure unit 32 and the balloon 4 becomes smaller.
When the piston moves up and down in this manner, the pressure in the transformation unit 31 changes. In particular, when the piston body 5 rises upward and the pressure inside the transformation unit 31 drops, there is a danger that the air might leak from the constant pressure unit 32 to the transformation unit 31. Thereupon, by means of providing a channel 31 a on the sidewall of the transformation unit 31 and lowering the piston body 5 downward, the transformation unit 31 and the constant pressure unit 32 are linked via the channel 31 a and the pressure inside both of them can be set to a constant value.
The figure W represents the position of the center of gravity of the water submergence toy 1 and the balloon 4 is attached so as to be positioned farther in front than this center of gravity W. Because of this, when the balloon 4 becomes larger and the buoyancy increases, the water submergence toy 1 will rise upward and at that time the nose of the water submergence toy 1 will be raised upward. In contrast, when the balloon 4 becomes smaller and the buoyancy decreases, the water submergence toy 1 will submerge and at that time the nose will slope so as to be facing downward. Because the nose slopes when rising and submerging in this manner, the movement of the water submergence toy 1 can be smoothly seen.
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 remotely controlled by control signals from an external source that at least submerges and rises upwards within water and is characterized by being provided with a cylinder inside the covering of said water submergence toy along with a piston being provided that travels up and down inside said cylinder by means of a manual operation from outside said cylinder to obtain small adjustments of the buoyancy by adjusting the up and down movement position of said cylinder.

2. A water submergence toy as set forth in claim 1 wherein said manually operated part is an exterior accessory.

3. A water submergence toy remotely controlled by external control signals that navigates within water and is comprised by a cylinder body which enclose air inside and a freely moveable piston body that is linked to a rod body connected to the outer portion of said cylinder body and that separates the space within said cylinder body into two spaces, said water submergence toy is also provided with a balloon that links to at least one of said two spaces separated by said piston body, and an internal power source that expands and contracts said balloon by means of moving said rod body using control signals from an external source to move said piston body up and down.

4. A water submergence toy as set forth in claim 3 wherein the space that links said balloon is a space on the side where said rod body extends to the outside of said cylinder body.

5. A water submergence toy as set forth in claim 3 wherein said balloon is positioned farther in front than the center of gravity of said water submergence toy.