US2739414A - Knockdown toy glider - Google Patents

Description

March 27, 1956 C. H. CLEVELAND KNOCKDOWN TOY GLIDER Original Filed Aug. 13, 1951 INVENTOR.

United States Patent KNOCKDOWN TOY GLIDER Charles H. Cleveland, Portland, Oreg.

Continuation of application Serial No. 241,525, August 13, 1951. This application April 26, 1954, Serial No. 425,586

4 Claims. (Cl. 46-17) This invention relates to a toy glider and particularly to a toy glider of the knockdown type.

The present application is a continuation of my copending application entitled Wing Attachment for Toy Airplanes, Serial No. 241,525, filed August 13, 1951, now abandoned.

Heretofore knockdown toy gliders have been constructed with both wings formed as a unitary panel, which is most frequently curved or bent to give a dihedral effect, or, less frequently, flat. The unitary panel is designed to fit tightly or snugly within a slot formed in a fuselage, when the glider is erected or assembled, to provide a wing at each side of the fuselage.

The packaged disassembled glider parts of such a conventional toy glider are comparatively bulky because of the considerable span of the unitary wing panel and, in case of the panel is curved, because of the curvature of the wing panel. It is evident that such bulky packaging adds to the cost of distribution and sale of such items. Furthermore, when the wing panel is curved or bent, special packaging is frequently necessary in order to prevent damage to such panel, and to prevent the panel from losing a considerable amount of its curvature or bend.

With the conventional glider it has not been possible. to form the fuselage slot and the unitary wing panel accurately enough to assure symmetrical angular relationship, both in transverse and longitudinal planes, of the unitary wing panel to the fuselage. Even with those. particular kits in which the preferable angular relationship of the unitary wing. panel to the fuselage is initially correct, this condition is rather quickly destroyed and rendered unsatisfactory after the toy glider has been thrown several or more times and has collided with the. earth or other objects. Such collisions also frequently cause splitting or cracking of the fuselage along the slot and thus make the glider thereafter unsatisfactory for use.

It is a main object of the present invention to provide a. knockdown toy glider having, instead of a unitary wing panel, two separate wing panels, a separate. fuselage, and a releasable connector designed to releasably hold the separate wing panels and fuselage in a, predetermined assembled aerodynamic relation. The separate. parts of such a glider may be accommodated within a package which is only about half the length of the package which much be provided to accommodate the parts of the con,- ventional toy glider. Furthermore, the connector of the present invention is particularly adapted for holding the wing panels in a dihedral relationship. It is evident that the separate parts of such a glider may be contained within a package which is not only short but which is also substantially flat as contrasted with the package required to accommodate a curved or bent unitary wing panel.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a knockdown toy glider of the type described in the. above paragraph, wherein the connector is designed to be shifted along the fuselage to enable the user to adjust the flight characteristics of the. glider from long. smooth glides to tight loops or turns.

ice

Another object of the present invention is to provide a knockdown toy glider having separate wing panels and a-fuselage made of a soft, penetrable, yet form-sustaining material, such as balsa wood, and a connector made of a comparatively hard, impenetrable material and having grooves or slots receiving portions of the wing panels and fuselage, there being hard, impenetrable projections on the side walls of the grooves or slots penetrating into the fuselage and wing panels. Thus, the wing panels and fuselage are retained against ready separation from the connector.

A further object is to provide a glider as described immediately above wherein at least certain of the projections each has an abrupt inwardly facing portion and a relatively smooth outwardly facing portion to permit relatively ready insertion of the fuselage and wing panels into their respective slots or grooves, but to preclude ready separation of said fuselage and wing panels from said slots or grooves.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a knockdown glider having a slotted connector in which each slot is formed by a pair of laterally flexible flanges having portions normally spaced apart a distance less than the thickness of the part fitting thereinto. Thus when a part is inserted between its flanges, the flanges will be expanded or sprung apart and will fr'ictionally grip said part.

A still further object is to provide a connector for a glider as just described wherein at least one. flange of each pair of flanges has a projection on its inner Wall which is caused by the sprung apart condition of the flanges to penetrate into the part received therein.

A further object of'the present invention is to provide a knockdown toy glider including a connector having fuselage receiving flanges so joined to Wing receiving flanges that manipulation of the fuselage receiving flanges greatly facilitates. removal or insertion of the wings relative to'the wing receiving; flanges.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide a toy glider connector having the features of the connector described above.

Variousother objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view showing a glider incorporating the concepts of the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross section taken along line Z2 of Fig. l in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the accompanying drawings wherein similar reference characters designate similar parts throughout, the knockdown toy glider disclosed includes two wings. or wing panels 1 fuselage 3. The glider also includes a tail-assembly 4 of flat parts interfitted into cooperating slots in the end. of the fuselage but inasmuch as these details are con-- ventional. and form no part of the present invention they need not be further described. The fuselage and wing panels are. bold in a predetermined assembled aerody' narnic relation by a centrally disposed elongated con nector 5 as shown. The connector is designed to hold each wing at an obtuse. angle to the. fuselage and to the: other wing and thus the wings are arranged at a positive dihedral angle. The connector could be designed to hold. the wings at substantially right angles from the fuselagebut the flight characteristics. of such type of glider are not as desirable or satisfactory as in the case where. the. wing panels are dihedrally arranged, as shown.

As shown in Fig. 2, the wing panels are relatively thin: as compared with the relatively thick fuselage. The. wings and fuselage are preferably formed of balsa wood-,. or an equivalent light weight, soft, penetrable, yet formsustaining material, and the connector is formed of a relaand 2, and a flat, elongated.

tively hard, impenetrable material such as for instance an extruded thermoplastic material, such as polystyrene. The importance of the relative softness and hardness of the fuselage, wings and connector will be apparent hereinafter.

Connector 5 includes a pair of longitudinally extending, laterally flexible depending flanges 6 adapted to receive or be arranged in straddling relation to an upper straight edge portion of the fuselage. Thus these depending flanges may be termed fuselage holding flanges. The connector also includes two pairs of generally oppositely directed, longitudinally extending, laterally flexible flanges 7 and 3 adapted respectively to receive straight edge inboard ends of wing panels 1 and 2. It is apparent from Fig. 2 that each pair of the above mentioned pairs of flanges are generally parallel and spaced to provide a slot or groove substantially equal to or slightly narrower than the thickness of the part adapted to fit therein.

For clarity of description, the term lateral will be used to indicate a direction normal to any particular flange being discussed, considered in cross section, such as in Fig. 2, and the term transverse will be used to indicate a direction parallel to a flange considered in cross section.

Referring to Fig. 2, it is evident that the wing receiving slots or grooves in connector 5 extend transversely inwardly beyond the fuselage holding flanges and are joined at their inner ends by what will be considered a common web which extends centrally longitudinally of the connector. it is thus evident that the fuselage holding flanges are connected to the lower wing holding flanges at places spaced outwardly from the inner ends of said lower wing holding flanges. The importance of this construction is that inward flexing of the fuselage holding flanges 6, at a time when the fuselage 3 is removed, will positively downwardly flex the lower wing holding flanges a considerable amount relatively independently of the upper wing holding flanges to thus widen the slots or grooves provided by the wing holding flanges. This action allows ready insertion or withdrawal of the wing panels relative to the win g holding flanges.

Another important advantages resulting from the above described structural design will be set forth hereinafter.

Formed on the side walls of the wing slots or grooves in connector 5, that is on the inner walls of the wing holding flanges, are projections 9, three of such projections being shown for each pair of wing holding flanges. Since these projections are integral parts of the connector 5, such projections are formed of hard, impenetrable material as compared with the soft, penetrable material of the wing panels.

As previously mentioned, the spacing between each pair of wing holding flanges is substantially equal to or slightly less than the thickness of the inboard end of the wing panel fitting therewithin. It is thus evident that the projections 9 narrow the wing receiving slots or grooves at the places at which they are located, so that when the inboard ends of the wings are forced between their respective wing holding flanges said flanges will be expanded or sprung apart and the projections will be caused to embed or penetrate into the inboard ends of the wing panels.

Projections 9 comprise longitudinally extending ridges or ribs which may be conveniently formed during the extrusion of the connector. Although the form of projection shown is preferable, it is evident that projections having slightly different forms and achieving substantially the same result could be provided. The three projections 9 and each pair of wing holding flanges are arranged in transverse offset relation. That is, two of such projections are provided on the inner wall of the upper wing holding flange in transverse spaced relation, and one projection on the inner wall of the lower wing holding flange generally transversely between the upper projections. Thus, maximum penetration of said projections into the relatively thin inboard ends of the wing panels is facilitated because no projection interferes with.

the penetration of another projection, as would be the case if two projections were arranged in opposed relation on opposite sides of a relatively thin wing panel.

Referring to Fig. 2, each projection 9 has a right triangular cross-sectional shape and is arranged so as to present an abrupt inwardly facing portion, that is inwardly in a transverse direction, and has a gradually sloping, relatively smooth outwardly facing portion. This means that insertion of a wing panel between its wing holding flanges is rendered relatively easy, but ready withdrawal or separation of the wing panel from the Wing holding flanges is precluded.

Formed on the side walls of the fuselage slot, that is on the inner walls of the fuselage holding flanges 6, are two projections 10 and 11, each constituting a longitudinally extending rib or ridge and being disposed locally of the lower end of its flange. Like projections 9, projections 1i) and 11 have abrupt inwardly facing portions, that is, inwardly in a transverse direction, and unabrupt, smooth outwardly facing portions to thus permit relatively ready insertion of the fuselage between the fuselage holding flanges 6, but precluding ready withdrawal of said fuselage from said fuselage holding flanges.

As previously mentioned, the fuselage holding flanges 6 are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to or slightly less than the thickness of the fuselage and thus the projections 16 and 11 narrow the space or slot provided between the fuselage holding'flanges so that the flanges are expanded or sprung apart when the fuselage is forced therebetween to thus cause the projections 10 and 11 to embed or penetrate into the fuselage. Also, as previously mentioned, the fuselage holding flanges 6 are connected to the lower wing holding flanges at places spaced outwardly from the inner ends of the wing holding flanges and thus outward flexing of the fuselage holding flanges causes the lower wing holding flanges to flex upwardly'relatively independently of the upper Wing holding flanges to thus increase the grip of the wing holding flanges on the inboard ends of the wing panels.

Although the fuselage holding flanges 6 of connector 5 relatively tightly frictionally grip the fuselage 3, longitudinal shifting or adjustment of the connector along the fuselage is possible by overcoming the frictional force resisting longitudinal shifting movement of the connector. It is pointed out that such frictional resistance will be considerably less than the frictional resistance resisting direct transverse separation of the fuselage and connector because the end area of the projections 10 and 11 is obviously only a small fraction of the area of the abrupt longitudinal faces of such projections. Such longitudinal shifting or adjustment of the connector permits the user to adjust the flight characteristics of the toy glider anywhere between long smooth glides to tight loops or turns.

In order to permit longitudinal shifting or adjustment of the connector along the fuselage and still maintain appropriate frictional gripping relation of the connector on the fuselage, the fuselage is made of uniform crosssectional thickness, at least at the upper portion thereof along which the connector is to be shifted. The fuselage has a straight upper edge portion 12 along which the connector may be adjusted.

The advantages of the knockdown toy glider of the present invention are believed apparent from the foregoing description and here will merely be noted. By the provision of a centrallydisposed releasable connector, a knockdown glider having its wings dihedrally'arrauged has been provided, which glider in its disassembled state may be accommodated within a relatively short, flat package in contrast to the bulky package necessary in packaging the disassembled parts of the conventional knockdown toy gliden Further, the aerodynamic characteristicsof the knockdown toy glider of the present invention are much superior to those of conventional knockdown toy gliders, in that the connector of the glider of the present invention positively holds the fuselage and wing panels of its glider uniformly in a predetermined desired aerodynamic angular relation. This desired aerodynamic angular relation may be accurately predetermined because the connector, being made of extruded plastic or similar material, can be accurately formed, which was not possible with the unitary wing panel and slotted fuselage type construction of conventional knockdown toy gliders. Furthermore, the toy glider of the present invention may be used over and over again with little possibility of permanent damage, since even under high impact collision conditions all that occurs is that the connector is shifted slightly along the fuselage. Thus, there is no possibility of splitting the fuselage as frequently occurs in a slotted fuselage type conventional knockdown toy glider. Although it is possible with conventional knockdown toy gliders for the user to adjust the long span wing panel longitudinally of the fuselage in a relatively long fuselage slot, there is no assurance of maintaining an accurate transverse relation of the long span wing panel and the fuselage because of the capability and tendency of the long span wing panel to turn within the slot. In the glider of the present invention, longitudinal adjustment of the wings, while maintaining the desired transverse relation of the wings to the fuselage, is readily accomplished because of the longitudinally adjustable connector, which accurately transversely holds the Wings in the desired positions.

Having described the invention in what is considered to be the preferred embodiment thereof, it is desired that it be understood that the invention is not to be limited by the specific details shown unless they constitute critical features of the present invention, all of which will be apparent by reference to the following claims.

I claim:

1. A knockdown toy glider comprising a separate fuselage and two separate wing panels, an elongated centrally disposed releasable connector including a first pair of flanges arranged in straddling relation to a portion of the fuselage, a second pair of flanges arranged in straddling relation to the inboard end of one wing panel, and a third pair of flanges arranged in straddling relation to the inboard end of the other panel, said flanges extending longitudinally of the connector and being laterally flexible, the flanges of each pair being substantially parallel and being spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the thickness of the part fitting therewithin, said second and third pairs of flanges being disposed at equal angles with respect to said first pair of flanges, said fuselage and wing panels being made of a soft, penetrable, yet form-sustaining material on the order of balsa wood, said connector being made of a hard impenetrable material as compared with the material of the fuselage and wing panels, at least certain of said flanges each having at least one projection on the inner wall thereof, the projection penetrating into the opposed fuselage or wing panel portions, at least certain of said projections each having an abrupt inwardly facing portion and a relatively smooth outwardly facing portion, whereby to permit ready insertion of the fuselage and wing panels between their respective pairs of flanges but to preclude ready withdrawal or separation of said fuselage and wing panels from said pairs of flanges.

2. A toy glider connector adapted for holding in assembled relationship the fuselage and two wing panels of a knockdown toy glider, said connnector comprising a member having three pairs of longitudinally parallel,

laterally flexible flanges, one pair of said flanges adapted to receive a portion of the fuselage, another pair of flanges being angularly disposed with respect to the first mentioned pair of flanges and being adapted to receive the inboard end of one wing panel, and the third pair of flanges being angularly disposed at least with respect to the first and second mentioned pairs of flanges and adapted to receive the inboard end of the other wing panel, at least one flange of each pair having a projection on the inner wall thereof, at least certain of said projections each hav ing an abrupt inwardly facing portion and a relatively gradually sloping smooth outwardly facing portion, whereby to permit ready insertion of the fuselage and wing panels between said flanges, but to preclude ready withdrawal or separation of said fuselage and wing panels from said flanges.

3. A toy glider connector for detachably holding in assembled relationship a fuselage and a pair of relatively thin toy glider wing panels made of soft, penetrable, yet form-sustaining material such as balsa wood, said connector comprising an elongated member having three pairs of longitudinally extending, laterally flexible flanges, two oppositely extending pairs of which constitute wing holding flanges, said pairs of flanges being angularly disposed relative to one another considered in a transverse plane through said connector and adapted to respectively receive portions of a fuselage and two Wing panels, each wing holding flange having at least one inwardly projecting portion on the inner wall thereof, the projections on each pair of wing holding flanges being oflset relative to one another considered in a transverse direction to the associated flanges, whereby said projecting portions are permitted maximum penetration into relatively thin wing panels without interferring with the penetration of one another.

4. A toy glider fuselage and wing panel holding connector adapted for holding a pair of wing panels and a fuselage in assembled relationship, comprising an elon gated member including generally oppositely extending first and second pairs of wing holding flanges joined together at their adjacent ends, said pairs of flanges adapted to receive and hold in gripping relationship the inboard ends of a pair of wing panels, said flanges being laterally flexible, and a pair of fuselage holding flanges, one of said last mentioned flanges being fixed to and depending from each of the lower wing holding flanges in spaced relation to the inner ends of said lower flanges, whereby when said depending fuselage holding flanges are pressed inwardly toward one another, the lower wing holding flanges will be positively flexed downwardly to widen the spaces between the wing holding flanges for ready insertion or withdrawal of the inboard ends of the wing panels, and when said fuselage holding flanges are expanded by insertion of the fuselage therebetween they cause upward movement of said lower wing holding flanges to cause said wing holding flanges to tightly grip the wing panels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,572,166 Smith Feb. 9, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS 480,454 Great Britain Feb. 23, 1938

Images