US3437084A - Elastic loop launcher - Google Patents

Description

April 8, 1969 A. c. HYTER 3,437,084

ELASTIC LOOP LAUNCHER Filed Dec. 22. 1965 A 4 INVENTOR. 5% ALFRED c. HYTER United States Patent 3,437,084 ELASTIC LOOP LAUNCHER Alfred C. Hyter, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to Alaron Pattern & Model, Inc., Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Dec. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 515,639 Int. Cl. F41b 7/08; F41f 7/00 US. Cl. 124-49 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is related to elastic loop launchers generally, and more particularly to devices for shooting elastic loops such as rubber bands from a hand held device shaped and responding in the manner of a pistol.

The design of projectile launchers for childrens play, games for all ages, and general pastime has been the goal of craftsmen since the advent of the first crude projectile launchers used for hunting, warfare and the like. However, such toy guns, bow and arrows, and other designs have in the past accomplished their purpose with such effectiveness that the projectiles being launched were dangerous to those using them or to their companions. If such success has not been achieved, then the toy has failed to such an extent that it loses its attractiveness for play purposes.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an elastic loop launcher which is successful in being able to reliably release and direct one or more stretched elastic loops or rubber bands to a target within a reasonable range, and which allows the use of smaller elastic loops or rubber bands so that in the event of misuse damage will not occur to persons or objects within the range of the launcher.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved elastic loop launcher which is accurate, simple to operate, inexpensive to construct, reliable in its operation, and capable of withstanding a severe degree of abuse as might be given by very small children.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved elastic loop launcher which is capable of releasing a plurality of elastic loops or rubber bands one after the other at spaced intervals or to release the plurality of elastic loops in rapid fire sequence.

Apparatus for accomplishing the above objects features in the preferred embodiment shown herein an elastic loop launcher comprising an elongated carrier means having a pair of spaced stop means adapted to retain a stretched elastic loop. A release means is disposed intermediate the pair of stop means and has a cam surface. Means are provided for moving the release means and the carrier means with respect to each other to engage one end of the elastic loop with the cam surface on the release means and urge the engaged loop end off of its stop means thereby launching the stretched elastic loop into flight past the other stop means. The carrier means may comprise a main body means and a rod-like extension carrying one of the pair of stop means. The release means may be slidably supported on the rod-like extension With its cam surface facing the stop means. Guide means for the release means may comprise a male guide means attached to one of the carrier and release means, and female guide means may be formed in the other of the carrier and release means to recive and guide the male guide means. The main body may be formed to provide a hand grip for the launcher. The male guide means may be attached to the release means and the female guide means formed in the main body. Means may be further utilized which depend from the male guide means, as it extends through the main body, for finger engagement to move the release means to urge an elastic loop off of its stop means for launching.

The cam engageable stop means may comprise a slot cut into the carrier, which slot may have a retaining side forming at least a angle with the direction of flight of the elastic loop. The other stop means may also comprise a slot formed in the carrier, advantageously having one side substantially parallel to the plane formed by the stretched elastic loop engaged thereby. The cam surface is advantageously an inclined plane with respect to the cam engageable stop means. For the smoothest triggering the inclined plane cam surface and the cam engageable stop slot may form an angle of substantially 90.

In the embodiment shown, the carrier means may comprise an elongated rod-like means. The release means may have an aperture formed therein to receive the rod-like means and slide thereon. Means such as a hand grip may be provided for supporting the rod-like carrier and the supporting means may have a stop surface formed thereon to limit the travel of the release means on the rod-like means. The release means may have a substantially fiat surface formed thereon to slidably engage a similarly substantially flat surface formed on one of the rod-like means and support means to prevent rotation of the release means on the rod-like means. If the device is provided with the mutually engageable substantially flat surfaces for the release means and the rod-like means or support means then a guide means such as described above is not necessary. However, to aid in the ease of moving the release means to engage stretched elastic loops and to better simulate the action of a hand weapon, a driving rod may be secured to the release means, the main body having an aperture formed therethrough to slidably receive the driving rod. The driving rod will then extend through the main body and depending triggerlike means may be secured to the driving rod for finger engagement for reciprocably moving the driving rod in the aperture formed in the main body, and thus also moving the release means to launch the elastic loops as desired.

Other objects, advantages and features of this invention will become more apparent when the following description is taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a device embodying the teachings of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view in perspective of the device illustrated in FIGURE 1 having some of the moving parts separated to better illustrate the operation thereof;

FIGURE 3 is a side view in elevation of the carrier means for the stretched elastic loops and the hand grip support means for the carrier means; and

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of a release means suitable for use with the device in FIGURE 3.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated an elastic loop launcher which comprises an elongated carrier means generally indicated at 10. In the embodiment shown, the carrier means comprises a main body means 12 having rod-like extensions 11 extending from each side thereof. The rod-like extensions 11 may be one dowelshaped rod extending all the way through the main body 12 and may be rounded, square, hexagonal, etc., in cross section depending upon the esthetic appearance desired.

Stop means for the stretched elastic loop are provided on the carrier means and are spaced to retain the elastic loop in place once it has been stretched and placed thereon. One stop means 21 may be formed as a slot on the left end of the carrier means 11. One side of the slot or stop means 21 may be formed substantially parallel to the plane formed by the loop stretched through the slot to aid in guiding the elastic loop in the direction of aim of the rod-like carrier 11. Both sides of the slot may be made substantially parallel. Alternatively, a slot may not need be required at all since the left end of the rod-likecarrier may be used as a stop means simply by snubbing an elastic loop thereover. However, some reliability is lost with this method, particularly when loading the device with a plurality of stretched elastic loops.

At the other end or right of the rod-like carrier 11 a plurality of stop means or slots 22 are formed in the carier 11. When loading the device with a plurality of elastic loops, one end of the first loop is placed in slot 21 while the other end of the elastic loop is placed in the slot 22 furthest from the slot 21. Successive loops are similarly placed in slot 21 and in successive slots 22 moving toward the left. This enables the elastic loops to be discharged successively, one at a time without interfering with the remainder of the loops stretched on the carrier.

A release means generally indicated at 30 is disposed intermediate the pair of stop means and has a cam surface 31. In the embodiment shown herein, the release means has an aperture 34 formed therein to receive the carrier means 11 and slide thereon. Details of the release means are best seen in FIGURE 4. When the release means is journally mounted on the rod 11, there is provided a substantially fiat surface 18 on the body or hand grip portion 13 and a similarly substantially fiat surface 33 on the under side of the release means 30. These two substantially flat surfaces are slidably engageable and act in conjunction with the carrier 11 extending through the aperture 34 formed in the release means as a guide means for reciprocable action of the release means 30. If another design is desired in which it is not convenient to place the flat surfaces .18 and 313 on either the release means or the main body of the elastic loop launcher, the triggering means which will be described hereinafter may also be utilized as a guide means. That is, a male guide means 36 may be secured to the release means 30 and received by an aperture 14 formed through the main body 12 of the carrier means. The action of the male guide means 36 and the female guide aperture 14 in conjunction with the similar action of the rod-like carrier 11 and the aperture 34 formed in the release means 30 acts to guide the release means 30 back and forth on the rod-like carrier 11 without rotation of the release means 30 on the rod-like carrier 11.

A stop surface 19 formed on the main body 12 engages a similar stop surface on the release means 32 to limit the travel of the release means 30 on the rod-like carrier 11. It will be noted that the main body 12 has a cut-out portion, defined here by flat surfaces 18 and 19, to receive and conform to similar surfaces 33 and 32 of the release means so that the release means appears to be an integral part of the carrier 11, main body 12 and hand grip 13 providing a pleasing appearance to the article very similar to a real hand weapon.

Referring again to the cam surface 31 on the release means 30, it will be noted that the cam surface 31 is formed to act as an inclined plane with respect to the slots 22. That is, as the inclined plane cam surface 31 moves to the right the surface 31 may engage an elastic loop lodged in a slot 22 and urge this engaged end up out of one of the slots 22 Without touching or effecting the next successive loop engaged in the adjacent slot or stop means formed on the carrier means. The most advantageous construction of the inclined plane surface 31 with respect to the slot means 22 requires that the angle formed between the lines defined by the slot and the inclined plane surface is substantially as noted in FIG- URE 1. This provides the smoothest triggering of each of the elastic loops as they are urged from their position in the stop means. It is to be noted that instead of slots as shown at 21 and 22 that pins or other stop means may be utilized in conjunction with the carrier 11 to retain the stretched elastic loops in position. However, the pres ent embodiment reflects that most desirable esthetic approach while not providing any protrusions from the weapon to scratch persons or objects, or to be knocked or broken off of the device.

Referring again to FIGURE 4, there is illustrated a driving means for the release means 30 which comprises a. driving rod 36 secured to the release means 30 and adapted to be slidably received by the aperture 14 formed through the man body 12 of the carrier. As may best be seen in FIGURE 2, the aperture 14 formed through the main body 12 of the carrier has had one side opened through a milled or otherwise formed slot 15. The slot 15 extends from the bore 14 downwardly through the main body 12 and provides open communication between the bore 14 and the under side of the main body 12. The slot 15 is milled from the left side of the body 12 to a stop surface 17 formed in the main body of the carrier. To aid in moving the driving rod 36 and thus the release means 30, a depending trigger or strut 37 is secured to the driving rod 36. The depending trigger 37 is positioned on the driving rod 36 to enable finger engagement by the hand that is gripping the launcher at the grip 13. As the finger is tightened toward the hand, the trigger 37 and thus the driving rod 36 and release means 30 are moved to the right in the drawings and the elastic loops are urged from the stop means 22 successively as the inclined plane surface 31 encounters and urges them therefrom.

There has thus been described a preferred embodiment of an elastic loop launcher which is reliable, esthetically pleasing, accurate, and able to stand up under long usage and hard abuse. It should be noted that although only the embodiment shown has been described in detail that the description has been broadened to cover other modifications and methods of construction. The terminology used herein and in the claims is intended to cover all means for moving an inclined plane surface to successively urge stretched elastic loops from stop means retaining the loops. For example, the release means need not be a piece positioned at the rear of the launcher, but may be formed in saddle shape and slide atop the rod-like carrier, constituting in appearance the upper portion of the main body. Guides in the form of engaging fingers and slots may be used to insure the retention of the saddle shaped release means to the carrier and body.

It is apparent, therefore, that within the scope of the invention, modifications and different arrangements may be made other than as herein disclosed, and the present disclosure is illustrative merely, the invention comprehending all variations thereof.

What I claim is:

1. An elastic loop launcher comprising an elongated carrier means having a pair of spaced stop means adapted to retain a stretched elastic loop, a release means disposed intermediate said pair of stop means and having a cam surface, and means for moving said release means and said carrier means with respect to each other to engage one end of said elastic loop with said cam surface and urge said engaged loop end off of its stop means, thereby launching said stretched elastic loop into flight past the other stop means, said carrier means including an elongated rod-like means, said cam surface of said release means surrounding said rod-like means and having an aperture formed through said cam surface to receive said rod-like means and slide thereon thus enabling the cam surface to completely lift said one end from engagement with and above its stop means to insure an accurate flight past the other stop means, the coaction between surfaces of the release aperture and the rod-like means adjacent said cam surface insuring a reliable discharge repeatability for consistent results.

2. An elastic loop launcher as defined in cliam 1 which further includes an additional male guide means attached to one of said carrier and release means, and an additional female guide means formed in the other of said carrier and release means to receive said male guide means, said additional male and female guide means cooperating with said rod-cam surface aperture assembly to further insure consistent loop launching.

3. An elastic loop launcher as defined in claim 2 which further includes a main body portion on said carrier means formed to provide a hand grip for said launcher, said male guide means being attached to said release means, said female guide means being formed in said main body, and further including trigger means for finger engagement to move said male guide means and thus said release means.

4. An elastic loop launcher as defined in cliarn 1 in which said cam surface is formed as an inclined plane with respect to said cam end stop means, said inclined plane cam surface and said cam end stop means defining an angle of substantially ninety degrees.

5. An elastic loop launcher comprising an elongated carrier means having a pair of spaced stop means adapted to retain a stretched elastic loop, a release means disposed intermediate said pair of stop means and having a cam surface, and means for moving said release means and said carrier means with respect to each other to engage one end of said elastic loop with said cam surface and urge said engaged loop end off of its stop means thereby launching said elastic loop into flight past the other stop means, said carrier means comprising a rod-like means; main body means for supporting said rod means; said main body means being formed with a hand grip below said rod means; said rod means extending on both sides of said main body; said release means having an aperture formed therein to receive and slide on one of said rod-like extensions; said main body having a cut-out formed therein shaped to receive and conform to said release means as said release means slides along said one rod-like extension and abuts against said main body; said main body having at least one substantially flat surface formed in said cut-out portion and said release means having at least one substantially fiat surface formed thereon, said flat surfaces being mutually slidably engageable to prevent rotation of said release means on said rod-like extension.

6. An elastic loop launcher as defined in claim 5 which further includes a driving rod secured to said release means, said main body having an aperture formed therethrough to slidably receive said driving rod, said driving rod extending through said main body, and means secured to said driving rod for reciprocably moving said driving rod in said aperture formed in said main body.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,287,266 6/1942 Ostrander 124-18 X 2,462,723 2/1949 Cmich 124-19 2,529,047 11/1950 Paul 124-19 2,680,434 6/1954 Lodahl.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner.

MAX R. PAGE, Assistant Examiner.

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