TOP TOY

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO THE RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. filed on. 2024-106274 filed on Jul. 1, 2024. The entire content of Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-106274 is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a toy top.

2. Description of the Related Art

There is a known toy top that includes a body including a first coupling unit and a shaft unit including a second coupling unit, in which, by putting the shaft unit and the body together in an above and below direction with their center lines aligned and rotating the body in one direction with respect to the shaft unit, an upper surface of the first coupling unit and a lower surface of the second coupling unit are brought into contact with each other to couple the shaft unit and the body (for example, see Patent Document 1).

The toy top is used, for example, in a battle game in which toy tops are made collide with each other, competing to make the opponent's toy top decoupled first. The decoupling of the toy top in this case is caused when the body is rotated in a different direction with respect to the shaft unit during the battle.

Patent Document

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 5959773

SUMMARY

Problems the Invention is Intended to Solve

In toy top battle games like the above, it is preferable that the toy top is decoupled after the battles are played several times. In a case where the toy top is decoupled too soon, the battles end in an instant before the players experience the thrill, and the players cannot fully enjoy the excitement of the battles.

Therefore, in the toy top like the above, a mechanism is used to add a certain amount of rotational resistance when the body is rotated in a different direction with respect to the shaft unit.

More specifically, according to the above related art, upward projections are provided on an upper surface of the shaft unit and ridges and grooves are provided on a lower surface of the body. The projections are engaged with the ridges and grooves in the above and below direction by the force of a coil spring.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a toy top including a linking structure of a lower rotator and an upper rotator that is different from the related art.

Means for Solving the Problems

A toy top includes a shaft unit, a lower rotator, and an upper rotator. The shaft unit extends along an axis in an axial direction. The lower rotator is configured over the upper rotator in the axial direction. The lower rotator and the upper rotator are relatively rotatable about the axial direction. The shaft unit is attached to the lower and upper rotators. The lower rotator includes a first coupling piece including a lower surface. The upper rotator includes a second coupling piece including an upper surface. The lower rotator and the upper rotator are relatively rotatable between a first relative rotation position and a second relative rotation position about the axis. The lower rotator is configured to be coupled with the upper rotator at the second relative rotation position with the lower surface and the upper surface coming into contact. The lower rotator and the upper rotator are configured to be decoupled when the lower rotator and the upper rotator are rotated from the second relative rotation position to the first relative rotation position by an outside impact. The lower rotator includes a first engagement portion fixedly thereon. The upper rotator includes a second engagement portion fixedly thereon. The second engagement portion is configured, at least when the lower rotator and the upper rotator relatively rotate, to be into contact with the first engagement portion from a radial direction of the axis. At least one of the first engagement portion and the second engagement portion has elasticity. The at least one of the first and second engagement portions is deformed due to sliding contact with each other when relatively rotated from the first relative rotation position to the second relative rotation position. The first engagement portion and the second engagement portion are engaged at the second relative rotation position due to the elasticity of the at least one of the first and second engagement portions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toy top according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a decoupled state of the toy top in a top battle.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an upper body from below.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a lower body.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the lower body.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a locking structure of a shaft.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are top views for explaining how to link the upper body and the lower body.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the shaft.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a top launcher.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating an external appearance of an example of a battle stadium.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toy top 100 according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a decoupled state of the toy top 100 in a top battle.

The toy top 100 is used in, for example, a top battle in which toy tops 100 are made collide and compete against each other. The toy top 100 includes a body 10 composed of an upper body 11 and a lower body 12, and a rod-shaped shaft (rod shaft) 20.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the toy top 100 is made decouplable into two pieces of the upper body 11 and the lower body 12 with the shaft 20 as a result of a top battle.

Toy top 100

The toy top 100 is mainly made of plastic.

Upper body 11

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the upper body 11 from below.

The upper body 11 is an assembly composed of multiple parts although not limited to this example. The upper body 11 includes a metal flywheel, for example. The upper body 11 here is illustrated in a short cylindrical shape but its outer circumference may be formed with concave and convex portions.

On the inside of the outer periphery of an upper surface of the upper body 11, two arc-shaped grooves 11a, 11a (FIG. 1) that extend concentrically with the shaft 20 are formed at a predetermined interval. Note that the number of the arc-shaped grooves 11a, 11a is not limited to two. The arc-shaped grooves 11a, 11a are used to apply a rotational force to the toy top 100.

At the bottom center of the upper body 11, an insertion hole 11b to which a shaft head 21 (FIG. 8) of the shaft 20 is inserted is formed in a circular recess 11c. Further, at an edge of the recess 11c, a pair of arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d is provided upright as facing each other with the concave sides inside. To an area between the pair of arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d, an annular portion 14a of a shaft locking member 14, describe below, is loosely fitted.

At each end of the two arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d, a wall 11e that extends outward in radial direction in a shape like a cow horn is consecutively provided.

On the outside of one end of each of the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d, a coupling piece 11f extending radially outward in an eaves-like shape is formed. The coupling pieces 11f, 11f are used when the upper body 11 and lower body 12 are coupled. Note that the coupling pieces 11f, 11f may be formed on the outside of other end of each of the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d. With this configuration, the upper body 11 can be used for toy top that rotates in both directions.

Further, an end of each of the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d forms an engagement portion (second engagement portion) 11g with which a later described projection (first engagement portion) 14g engages.

Lower body 12

A. Overview

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the lower body 12, and FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the lower body 12. In the explanation of the lower body 12, the terms “right-left”, “front-back”, and “up-down” represent the directions of “right-left”, “front-back”, and “up-down” indicated by the arrows in FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively.

The lower body 12 includes a lower main body 13 and the shaft locking member 14.

The center portion of the bottom of the lower main body 13 bulges downwards in an inverted-frustum-like shape (see FIG. 2).

The lower main body 13 has a shaft hole 13a that vertically passes through the lower main body 13. Further, to the lower main body 13, the shaft locking member 14 is fitted and fixed from above, and the shaft locking member 14 locks the shaft 20 that has been inserted to the shaft hole 13a from below. FIG. 6 illustrates the locking structure of the shaft 20 by the shaft locking member 14 in a state that the lower main body 13 removed.

B. Shaft Locking Member 14

The shaft locking member 14 includes the annular portion 14a that is in a short cylindrical shape with thick walls, a pair of elastic locked portions 14b, 14b for fixing the shaft locking member 14 itself to the lower main body 13, and a pair of elastic locking portions 14c, 14c for locking the shaft 20.

Each of the pair of elastic locked portions 14b, 14b is formed in an L-shape, is provided vertically downward from the annular portion 14a, and has a lower end that is bent outward to form an outward projection 14d. The pair of elastic locked portions 14b, 14b is positioned opposite each other across the center line of the shaft locking member 14.

Further, each of the pair of elastic locking portions 14c, 14c is provided vertically downward from the annular portion 14a and has a lower end formed with an inward-facing hook 14e. The pair of elastic locking portions 14c, 14c is positioned facing to each other across the center line of the shaft locking member 14.

C. Lower Main Body 13

On an upper surface of the lower main body 13, a pair of arc-shaped walls 13b, 13b is formed at front and back edges of the shaft hole 13a. The pair of the arc-shaped walls 13b, 13b fits inside of the annular portion 14a when the shaft locking member 14 is attached to the lower main body 13.

Further, on the upper surface of the lower main body 13, there provided are three-sided walls 13c, 13c being outside of the arc-shaped walls 13b, 13b respectively, facing the shaft hole 13a, and being formed in a concaved shape when viewed from the above. The three-sided walls 13c, 13c are provided corresponding to the elastic locked portions 14b, 14b and are placed outside of the shaft locking member 14 when the shaft locking member 14 is attached to the lower main body 13.

Between each of the arc-shaped walls 13b, 13b and each of the three-sided walls 13c, 13c placed outside the arc-shaped walls 13b, 13b, a rectangular hole 13d to which the elastic locked portion 14b can be inserted is formed. When the shaft locking member 14 is attached to the lower main body 13, the elastic locked portions 14b, 14b are inserted to the rectangular holes 13d, 13d respectively and the projections 14d, 14d of the elastic locked portions 14b, 14b respectively slip under floors surrounded by the three-sided walls 13c, 13c and are engaged therein due to the elasticity. With this configuration, the shaft locking member 14 is fixed to the lower main body 13.

On the right side and left side of the hole wall that forms the shaft hole 13a, grooves 13e, 13e in which the elastic locking portions 14c, 14c are to be placed are formed. Further, on the upper surface of the lower main body 13, walls 13f, 13f provided upright from edges of the grooves 13e, 13e are formed corresponding to the elastic locking portions 14c, 14c. By placing the elastic locking portions 14c, 14c inside the walls 13f, 13f respectively and pushing the shaft locking member 14 downward, the elastic locking portions 14c, 14c are fitted in the grooves 13e, 13e respectively. In a state being fitted in the grooves 13e, 13e, the hooks 14e, 14e of the elastic locking portions 14c, 14c protrude in the shaft hole 13a respectively.

Linking Structure of Upper Body 11 and Lower Body 12

The upper body 11 includes the pair of coupling pieces 11f, 11f and the lower main body 13 includes the pair of coupling pieces 13h, 13h.

Further, on the outer periphery of the annular portion 14a, elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f that are first engagement portions are formed at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction. Each of the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f is provided with the projection 14g at an end of an elastic piece divided by a U-shaped notch (not illustrated). Here, the distance from the center line of the shaft locking member 14 to a distal portion of the projection 14g is greater than the distance from the center line of the upper body 11 to an inner surface of the arc-shaped wall 11d. In addition, to the annular portion 14a, four elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f are formed in the circumferential direction and this configuration can be applied to the upper body 11 for a toy top of counter rotation or both-direction rotation.

Linking of Upper Body 11 and Lower Body 12

The lower surface of the upper body 11 and the upper surface of the lower body 12 are put together as placing the pair of arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d of the upper body 11 inside of the pair of coupling pieces 13h, 13h of the lower body 12 respectively (FIG. 7(A)). Here, by putting the upper body 11 and the lower body 12 together, the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f are made sliding contact with the inner surfaces of the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d and the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f are elastically deformed.

Next, the upper body 11 is rotated counterclockwise relative to the lower body 12. During this rotation, since the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f are kept sliding contact with the inner surfaces of the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d, and the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f are kept being elastically deformed.

Then, the pair of the coupling pieces 11f, 11f of the upper body 11 is placed under the pair of coupling pieces 13h, 13h of the lower body 12. With this configuration, the upper faces of the pair of the coupling pieces 11f, 11f and the lower faces of the pair of coupling pieces 13h, 13h come into contact with each other and the upper body 11 and the lower body 12 are linked. Here, since the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f pass by the ends of the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d, the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f are respectively engaged with the engagement portions 11g, 11g of the upper body 11 due to the elasticity of the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f (FIG. 7(B)).

Shaft 20

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the shaft 20.

The shaft 20 is configured in a rod shape. The shaft 20 includes an inserting section 20A that can be inserted into the shaft hole 13a and a projecting section 20B that is configured to project downward from the lower body 12. The inserting section 20A and the projecting section 20B are fitted in the shaft direction and coupled to each other by a pin (not illustrated). A lower end of the projecting section 20B constitutes a grounding portion.

The shaft 20 is configured to be removable from the bottom side of the shaft hole 13a. The shaft 20 can be replaced with another shaft having different rotational characteristics. Note that the shaft 20 does not have to be configured to be removable.

The shaft head 21 that is an upper end of the inserting section 20A is inserted into the insertion hole 11b of the upper body 11 when the inserting section 20A is inserted into the shaft hole 13a.

Further, the inserting section 20A has a small flange 23 and, directly under the small flange 23, a narrowed portion 26 is formed around the entire circumference. The narrowed portion 26 is divided by partitions in the circumferential direction and, in the partitioned recesses, the hooks 14e, 14e can be fitted. By fitting the hooks 14e, 14e in the recesses of the narrowed portion 26, the hooks 14e, 14e are engaged with the narrowed portion 26 and the shaft 20 is held by the hooks 14e, 14e (see FIG. 6).

Under the narrowed portion 26, a large flange 27 is formed. The large flange 27 constitutes a part of the projecting section 20B. The large flange 27 comes into contact with a lower surface of the lower body 12 when the shaft 20 is held by the hooks 14e, 14e.

Further, in the projecting section 20B, under the large flange 27, a toothed wheel 28 is formed so as to mesh with teeth 93a of a battle stadium 90 described below.

Note that the portions indicated by the reference number 20a in FIG. 8 are convex and configured to be engaged with a fixed portion in the toy top 100 to perform an anti-rotation function.

Decoupling of Toy Top 100

In top battles, when the lower body 12 is hit by an opponent toy top for example, the lower body 12 receives an external force in the direction opposite to the rotation of the toy top 100. This causes that the rotation of the lower body 12 stops while the upper body 11 is forced to continue rotating as it is by inertial force. In other words, the lower body 12 and the upper body 11 tend to rotate in different directions. In this case, the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f and the engagement portions 11g, 11g that are end portions of the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d are respectively engaged and have tendency to resist to rotate in different direction; however, in a case where the external force is large, the engagement between the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f and the engagement portions 11g, 11g at the end portions of the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d are released. Then, after the sliding contact between the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f and the inner surfaces of the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d, the lower body 12 and the upper body 11 are placed to relative rotation positions that allow decoupling, that is, the lower body 12 and the upper body 11 are placed to the relative rotation positions where the contacts between the pair of coupling pieces 13h, 13h and the pair of coupling pieces 11f, 11f are released.

At the positions, the upper body 11 and the lower body 12 with the shaft 20 are decoupled into two parts.

Top Launcher 80

FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a top launcher 80.

The top launcher 80 includes a top holder 81 that holds the toy top 100 to be rotated. The top holder 81 is formed with insertion pieces 81a, 81a of the same number as the arc-shaped grooves 11a, 11a of the toy top 100 in a corresponding manner. Each of the insertion pieces 81a, 81a is formed with a locking portion 81b that protrudes in the direction of rotational force. After inserting the insertion pieces 81a, 81a into the arc-shaped grooves 11a, 11a of the toy top 100, the toy top 100 is rotated relative to the top holder 81 in an opposite direction with respect to the direction of rotational force of the toy top 100 to lead the locking portions 81b, 81b under edge walls at ends of the arc-shaped grooves 11a, 11a and the toy top 100 is attached to the top holder 81 thereby.

The top launcher 80 has a handle 82 and an end of a string (not illustrated) is attached to the handle 82. The string is wound around an input rotator (not illustrated) by a restoring force of a spiral spring and, when the string is pulled out by operating the handle 82, a rotational force is applied to the input rotator. The input rotator is linked to the top holder 81 and the top holder 81 is rotated by the rotation of the input rotator.

In the top launcher 80, the top holder 81 is rotated by operating the handle 82 so that a rotation force is applied to the toy top 100 attached to the top holder 81. When the operation of the handle 82 is stopped, since the rotation of the top holder 81 stops while the toy top 100 continues to rotate due to the inertial force, each of the locking portions 81b, 81b is released from the bottom of the edge wall at an end of the arc-shaped groove 11a and pushed out by sliding contact with inclined surface of the back of the insertion piece 81a, thereby launching the toy top 100.

Note that, in this example, the input rotator linked to the top holder 81 is rotated by the string; however, the input rotator linked to the top holder 81 is made as a toothed wheel, and the toothed wheel may be rotated by a gear rack belt having a belt portion with teeth formed thereon.

Battle Stadium 90

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating an example of the battle stadium 90.

A bottom surface of a field 91 of the battle stadium 90 is formed as a concave curved surface and the field 91 is covered by a transparent cover 92 with an opening in the center. In the field 91, a guide portion 93 is provided and the guide portion 93 is formed with the teeth 93a that mesh with the toothed wheel 28 of the shaft 20 of the toy top 100 moving around in the field 91.

With this battle stadium 90, by meshing the teeth 93a with the toothed wheel 28 of the shaft 20 of the toy top 100, the movement speed of the toy top 100 can be increased by rotating the toy top 100 against the guide portion 93.

Modification

The embodiment of the present disclosure has been described, but it is obvious that the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiment and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

For example, according to the above embodiment, one end of each of the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d is formed as the engagement portion 11g; however, the engagement portions 11g, 11g may be simply formed as projections without forming the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d. In short, by the relative rotations of the lower body 12 and the upper body 11, the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f having the elastic engagement portions 14g, 14g are to be elastically deformed and then engaged with the engagement portions 11g, 11g.

Further, according to the above embodiment, a structure in which a lower rotator as the lower body 12 and an upper rotator as the upper body 11 are linked to each other has been descried; however, the linking structure may be applied to a case where the lower rotator is a shaft portion and the upper rotator is a body.

Further, according to the above embodiment, it has been explained that the first engagement portions are the elastic engagement portions 14f, 14f and the second engagement portion are the arc-shaped walls 11d, 11d; however, both of the first engagement portions and the second engagement portions may be provided as elastic engagement portions.

The present disclosure realizes an toy top that includes a linking structure of a lower rotator and an upper rotator, in which, the first engagement portion and the second engagement portion are configured such that, when being relatively rotated from the first relative rotation position to the second relative rotation position, the at least one of the engagement portions is elastically deformed due to sliding contact with each other, and then the first engagement portion and the second engagement portion engage with each other at the second relative rotation position due to the elasticity of the first engagement portion and/or the second engagement portion so as to resist the relative rotation toward the first relative rotation position.