Hand operated gyroscope device

Abstract

A hand-held gyroscope toy or gyroscopic muscle conditioning device with an outer shell containing a drive assembly with a spring-loaded drive button at one end that charges and discharges the gearing inside to provide an accelerated rate of rotation to a flywheel inside the outer shell. The resulting high-speed rotation causes a gyro effect that can be employed as either a fidget-type toy or a resistance device for fine motor or muscle development.

Claims

1. A gyroscope device comprising: an outer shell housing having a cutout at a topmost point and having an ovoid shape adapted to be held in a hand of a user; an engine assembly housed within the outer shell housing; a manually actuatable drive button extending through a cutout at the topmost point of the outer shell housing and mechanically communicating with the engine assembly to induce a gyroscopic effect by rotating a flywheel; wherein the manually actuatable drive button has a surface exposed from the outer shell housing adapted to be pressed by a finger of the hand of the user holding the outer shell housing toward the outer shell housing; and wherein the engine assembly has an input set of gears operatively connected to an output set of gears and a spring gear such that induces rotation of the flywheel with repeated successive pressings of the manually actuatable drive button.

2. The gyroscope device of claim 1 wherein the outer shell housing has an upper outer shell and a lower outer shell.

3. The gyroscope device of claim 2 wherein the upper outer shell and the lower outer shell are joined by a center collar.

4. The gyroscope device of claim 1 wherein the outer shell housing includes a set of rotation buttons diametrically opposed along a spherical axis of the outer shell housing and adapted to allow the hand of the user to hold the gyroscope device.

5. The gyroscopic device of claim 4 wherein the set of rotation buttons are aligned on an axis perpendicular to a rotational plane of the flywheel.

6. The gyroscopic device of claim 1 wherein the spring gear is a coil spring.

7. The gyroscopic device of claim 1 whereby wherein a rack and pinion gear set provides a rotational spring bias to the spring gear.

8. The gyroscopic device of claim 7 wherein the rotational spring bias of the spring gear resets the drive button to a non-actuated initial position.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the gyroscope device showing the outer shell and center collar with the two rotation buttons. The drive button of the drive assembly can be seen at the top of the device.

(2) FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the drive assembly showing the drive button, the upper and lower engine housing and the flywheel assembly with the flywheel hub and metal ring.

(3) FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the entire device showing all the components and the relative radial orientation of the flywheel assembly aligned 90 degrees to the rotation buttons.

(4) FIG. 4 is a top plan view showing the drive button.

(5) FIG. 5 is a side section view of FIG. 4 offset through the input rack and pinion gears of the engine assembly which is housed in the upper and lower engine housings.

(6) FIG. 6 is a side section view of the entire device showing the center collar snap features, the outer shell and the flywheel bearings that carry the flywheel hub for the flywheel assembly.

(7) FIG. 7 is an interior perspective view of the engine assembly showing the various gear elements and their relative arrangement.

(8) FIG. 8 is a graphic showing the gyro device in the hand-held finger charging position.

(9) FIG. 9 is a graphic showing the gyro device freely rotating held by the rotation buttons.

(10) TABLE-US-00001 1 Gryo Device 2 Drive Assembly 3 Drive Button 4 Upper Outer Shell 5 Lower Outer Shell 6 Upper Engine Housing 7 Lower Engine Housing 8 Engine Assembly 9 Flywheel Assembly 10 Center Collar 11 Rotation Buttons 12 Primary Bearing Cradles 13 Snap Beads 14 Flywheel Hub 15 Metal Ring 16 Input Rack Gear 17 Input Pinion Gear 18 Coil Spring Gear 19 Idler Gear 20 Output Gear 21 Flywheel Gear 22 Fly Wheel Axle 23 Flywheel Bearings 24 Rotation Button Bearings 25 Drive Button Axle 26 Rack Gear Guide 27 Charging Position 28 Charging Motion Symbol 29 Rotation Position 30 Hand Articulation Symbol 31 Gyro Induced Rotation

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Background Design

(11) Referring now to FIG. 1, a gyro devise 1 of the present invention includes an upper outer shell 4 and lower outer shell 5 held together by a center collar 10 and having a drive button 3 at one end and two rotation buttons 11 on opposing sides of the center collar 10.

(12) Referring now to FIG. 2, the engine assembly 8 is housed within the outer shell of the gyro device 1. The engine assembly 8 includes a lower engine housing 7, an upper engine housing 6 and a drive button 3 connected to the upper engine housing 6.

(13) Referring now to FIG. 3, the overall assembly of the gyro device 1 is shown including the components of the drive assembly 2 comprising the upper engine housing 6, the lower engine housing 7, and the engine assembly 8 that is nested between these two elements. The drive button 3 is disposed to contact the input rack gear 16 protruding from the engine assembly 8. When in use the flywheel assembly 9 is driven by the engine assembly 8.

(14) Referring now to FIG. 4, a top view of the gyroscope device 1 shows the drive button 3 at the top center and the two rotation buttons 11 at the sides. Using the Section B line as a reference, this location ascribes a centerline through flywheel assembly 9 at the axis of the flywheel axle 22.

(15) The Section C line reference is an offset cutting plane through the input rack gear 16 and the smaller gear diameter of the input pinion gear 17.

(16) Referring now to FIG. 5, Section C is a front section view through the input rack gear 16 and the input pinion gear 17 and showing the engine assembly 8 nested between the upper engine housing 6 and lower engine housing 7. The upper outer shell 4 captures the drive button 3, and the drive button axle 25 is nested into a rocker slot in the upper engine housing 6. The drive button 3 is shown contacting the input rack gear 16. The rack gear guide 26 is adjacent to the input rack gear 16 as shown. The two opposing rotation buttons 11 are shown held in the side wall of the center collar 10 by two rotation button bearings 24. The flywheel axle 22 of the flywheel assembly 9 is shown running perpendicular to the section planc.

(17) Referring now to FIG. 6, Section B is a side section view through the center axis of the of the flywheel axle 22 showing the flywheel assembly 9 including the two metal rings 15 attached to the two flywheel hubs 14. The two flywheel bearings 23 contact the two flywheel hubs 14 to carry the flywheel assembly 9. The two snap beads 13 on the inner face of the center collar 10 attach both the upper outer shell 4 and lower outer shell 5. The upper outer shell 4 and lower outer shell 5 are shown capturing the upper engine housing 6 and lower engine housing 7 of the engine assembly 8, thus suspending the engine assembly 8 within the outer shell.

(18) Referring now to FIG. 7, an interior perspective view of the engine assembly 8 shows the arrangement of the gears. The input rack gear 16 contacts the smaller diameter gear teeth of the input pinion gear 17 whose larger diameter gears contact the smaller gear of the coil spring gear 18. The larger gear of the coil spring gear 18 contacts the idler gear 19 such that the direction of rotation of the coil spring gear 18 influences the idler gear 19 to ride freely back and forth in a slot, and thus the idler gear 19 alternates between a first neutral position disconnected from the output side of the system and a second output position connected to the small diameter of the output gear 20. The large diameter of the output gear 20 finally connects to a gear on the flywheel axle 22. The gear ratios are such that repeated cycles of the input rack gear 16 induce increasing rotational speed of the flywheel assembly 9 of the gyro device 1.

(19) Referring now to FIG. 8, the graphic shows the hand-held charging position 27 for the gyro device 1. The charging motion symbol 28 indicates the repeated manual actuation of the input drive button 3.

(20) Referring now to FIG. 9, the graphic shows the hand-held rotation position 29 for the gyro device 1. The hand articulation motion symbol 30 indicates the manual back and forth tilting motion of the hand while holding the rotation buttons 11 which allows for gyro induced rotation 31 of the gyro device 1.

(21) Generally then the invention can provide a hand-held gyroscope toy or gyroscopic muscle conditioning device with an outer shell containing a drive assembly with a spring-loaded drive button exposed at one end that retractably charges and discharges the gearing of a drive assembly to impart continually accelerated rotation of a flywheel contained within the outer shell. The resulting high speed rotation causes a gyro effect that can be employed both as a fidget-type toy or a resistance device for fine motor or muscle development. Buttons on two sides of the outer shell allow the device to be held and rotate freely demonstrating the physical effects of the gyroscopic rotation. Thus the device would be an entertaining fidget toy that is interesting to activate, hold and observe as well as a useful resistance exercise device for strength conditioning or occupational therapy recovery.

(22) The above description has been that of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it will occur to those that practice the art that many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. A number of different types of gearing systems and alternate spring designs may be employed to provide optimal rotational output of the gyro device described herein. Similarly, alternate housing and bearing arrangements could be devised for case of manufacture. In order to apprise the public of the various embodiments that may fall within the scope of the invention, the following claims are made.