Educational Yacht Toy

Abstract

To provide a teaching material yacht toy that helps children understand the concepts of vector decomposition and component forces, which are the principles of how a yacht runs, and allows them to learn while playing on a desk or on water such as in a bathtub. [Solution] A toy yacht consisting of a hull 5 equipped with tires 4 or a centerboard, and a sail assembly consisting of a sail 1, a boom 2, and a mast 3, is provided with a mast lower insertion section 6 shape and a hull upper surface hole 7 shape that make it possible to select and fix the sail opening angle relative to the hull's direction of travel at either 0 degrees or 45 degrees. This allows the hull to not move when the sail opening angle is 0 degrees when wind hits it from the side, but to start sailing when the sail opening angle is 45 degrees due to the generation of a component force in the hull's direction of travel.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a toy yacht. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there have been radio-controlled yacht toys that move on water while adjusting the sail opening angle using a motor. Utility Model Document 1 discloses a yacht that is not motor-driven, but passively reverses the sail opening angle and rudder angle in response to the wind, resulting in a meandering course. Toy yachts for use on desks or as decoration have long been known. The land yacht toy shown on the webpage shown in Non-Patent Document 2 is a toy consisting of a hull with wheels, a mast, a sail, and crew figures. It is not a toy that moves with the wind, but is primarily a toy for children and a decoration. Non-Patent Document 3 shows a windsurfing toy equipped with wheels and a sail, in which the mast rotates passively with the force of the wind received by the sail, creating a sail opening angle, and the toy moves on a desk. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0003] [Non-Patent Document 1] Publicly Disclosed Utility Model Publication No. 108695 (Showa 59)

[0004] [Non-patent document 2] "Shop at the Ostheimer Sale," by magicforest, Magic Forest Shop, [https: / / www.magicforestshop.com / ], (referenced December 23, 2025; search for "yacht toys")

[0005] [Non-patent document 3] Public Utility Model Publication No. 3233462 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] This invention realizes a toy yacht that will not move when the sail is opened at an angle of 0 degrees relative to the direction of travel of the hull, when the hull is exposed to wind from the side, both on land and in water, but will start moving when the sail is opened at an angle of 45 degrees.The purpose of this invention is to provide an educational toy that can experimentally teach the concept of vector decomposition, in which a sail generates a component force in the direction of travel of the hull from the force of wind from the side of the hull. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object, the toy yacht of the present invention is configured as follows.

[0008] The invention described in claim 1 is a structure in which the mast insertion portion at the bottom end of the sail assembly consisting of the mast, sail, and boom can be inserted and removed from a hole provided on the top surface of a hull equipped with four-wheel tires, and the shape of the hole on the top surface of the hull is designed so that the mast insertion portion, which has a rectangular shape, can be inserted and fixed at two angles differing by 45 degrees.

[0009] The invention described in claim 2 is the yacht toy described in claim 1, in which the cross-sectional shape of the bearing holes through which the axles of the four tire wheels pass is a rectangle including a square.

[0010] The invention described in claim 3 is a yacht toy described in claim 1 that does not have four-wheel tires, axles, or bearings, but instead has a centerboard on the bottom of the hull, and further divides the inside of the hull into two spaces, upper and lower, with the lower space having an opening that connects to the top of the hull. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] The common feature of the present invention described in claims 1, 2 and 3 is that the sail opening angle relative to the direction of travel of the hull can be selected and fixed at 0 degrees or 45 degrees. If a sail opening angle of 0 degrees is selected, the hull will not move even when exposed to wind from the side, but if a sail opening angle of 45 degrees is selected, a yacht toy can be realized that will start moving.

[0012] However, the toy yacht of the present invention described in claim 1 has the disadvantage that if the rolling resistance of the tires and bearing parts is high, it will not move unless there is a strong wind from the side of the hull.Furthermore, the distance between the left and right tires must be large to prevent it from tipping over due to strong winds.

[0013] The toy yacht of the present invention, as described in claim 2, solves the above drawbacks by making the holes through which the bearing axles pass square rather than round, thereby reducing the rolling resistance of the bearing part. This allows the yacht to run even with the weak wind from modern handheld fans, making the yacht toy smaller, making it easier to handle and reducing costs.

[0014] The toy yacht of the present invention described in claim 3 is equipped with a centerboard on the bottom of the hull instead of tires, enabling it to move on water. Furthermore, the interior of the hull is divided into two spaces, an upper and a lower. Therefore, by injecting water into the lower space through an opening connected to the upper surface of the hull, it functions as a ballast tank, improving the stability of the hull, making it less likely to tip over in crosswinds, and providing the ability to recover if it does tip over.

[0015] As described above, the toy yacht of the present invention allows children to experimentally experience the effect of different sail opening angles on the sailing of a yacht, and serves not only as a toy but also as a science learning material for understanding vector decomposition. Furthermore, since toy yachts with wheels are classified as land yachts and can be easily played with on a desk, and toy yachts with a centerboard instead of wheels can be played with in the bath, it provides an opportunity for parents to explain the concept of vector decomposition to their children and promote parent-child interaction. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] 1A is a side view of a toy yacht according to a first embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 1C is a top view of the cross-sectional shape of the hole on the top surface of the hull and the mast insertion portion inserted therein when the sail opening angle is 0 degrees (b) and 45 degrees (c). [Figure 2] 1A is a front view of the toy yacht of the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a top view of the toy yacht of the first embodiment when the sail opening angle is 0 degrees. [Figure 3] 1A and 1B are a front view and a top view, respectively, of the toy yacht of the first embodiment of the present invention when the sail is opened at a 45-degree angle. [Figure 4] 10A is a front view and FIG. 10B is a partial cross-sectional side view showing the positional relationship of tires, axles, and bearings of the hull of a toy yacht according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] 10 is a partial cross-sectional side view of a toy yacht according to a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the following examples. [Example]

[0018] As shown in Figure 1(a), the toy yacht of the first embodiment of the present invention is composed of a sail assembly consisting of a sail 1, a boom 2, and a mast 3, and a hull 5 equipped with tires 4. As shown in Figures 1(b)-6 and 1(c)-6, the mast insertion part 6 at the bottom end of the mast 3 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a square cross section, and can be inserted and fixed into a hull top hole 7 provided on the top surface of the hull 5. The shape of the hull top hole 7 is designed so that the mast insertion part 6 can be inserted at two angles, each 45 degrees apart.

[0019] 2 and 3 show the positional relationship between the sail assembly and the hull 5 when the sail opening angle is 0 degrees and 45 degrees, respectively, in the toy yacht of the first embodiment of the present invention. (a) and (b) are a front view and a top view, respectively, of the toy yacht of the first embodiment. The two tires 4, one on each side, are connected by an axle 8 and fixed to the hull 5 via a bearing 9.

[0020] The toy yacht of the first embodiment in the state shown in FIG. 2(b) will not start moving even if the sail 1 receives wind 10 from the left side of the hull in the drawing, because no component force in the direction of the hull's advance is generated.

[0021] On the other hand, when the sail 1 of the toy yacht of Example 1 in the state shown in FIG. 3(b) receives wind 10 from the side of the hull from the left on the drawing, it starts moving due to a component force 11 in the direction of the hull's advancement generated by vector decomposition. [Example]

[0022] 4 shows the hull structure of the toy yacht of Example 2, with (a) being a front view and (b) being a partially sectional side view. The hull 5 and the tires 4 are mounted on the axles 8 inserted into square hole bearings 12 with a rectangular cross section. [Example]

[0023] Figure 5 shows a toy yacht according to a third embodiment of the present invention, which has a centerboard 13 and a rudder 14 on the bottom of the hull 5 instead of tires 4, and is capable of running on water while catching the wind using the same principle as in the first embodiment. The interior of the hull is divided into two spaces: an upper space 15 and a lower space 16, and the lower space 16 has an opening 17 connected to the top of the hull for pouring water in. The rudder 14 can be omitted by adjusting the position of the centerboard 13.

[0024] The sail assembly of the present invention, which is made up of the sail 1, boom 2, and mast 3, is not limited to being assembled from separate parts. For example, various configurations are possible, such as molding them all as a single unit, or omitting the boom and combining the mast with a sail made of cardboard paper or plastic. Furthermore, the object of the present invention can be achieved even if the number of tires is three instead of four.

[0025] The shapes of the mast insertion portion 6 and the hull upper surface hole 7 are not limited to those in the embodiment, and for example, the cross section can be a regular polygon or a gear shape, or a cylindrical shape with a protrusion on part of the side surface. Similarly, the shape of the hull 5 is not limited to those in the embodiment, and for example, it can be a deformed shape such as an airplane or an animal instead of a ship.

[0026] Furthermore, the sail opening angle and the number of options are not limited to 0 degrees and 45 degrees, but can be increased by changing the shape of the hull upper surface hole 7. In the first embodiment of the present invention, in addition to 0 degrees and 45 degrees, the sail opening angle can be selected from 90 degrees, 135 degrees, 180 degrees, 225 degrees, 270 degrees, and 315 degrees.

[0027] Furthermore, there is no limitation on the material of each part of the yacht toy in this invention, and it can be selected appropriately from plastic, paper, corrugated cardboard, wood, metal, etc. For example, if plastic corrugated cardboard is used as the hull material, it can easily be equipped with square hole bearings. [Explanation of symbols]

[0028] 1. Sail 2. Boom 3 Mast 4 tires 5. Hull 6 Mast insertion part 7 Hull top hole 8 axles 9 Bearings 10. Wind across the ship 11 component force 12 Square hole bearing 13 Centerboard 14 Ladder 15 Upper space 16 Lower space 17 Opening

Claims

1. This sailboat toy has a structure in which a rectangular parallelepiped mast insertion section located at the lower end of the mast of a sail assembly consisting of a mast, a sail, and a boom is inserted into a hole provided on the top surface of a hull equipped with four-wheel tires, and the hole on the top surface of the hull has a shape that allows the sail opening angle of the sail assembly relative to the direction of travel of the hull to be selected and fixed at 0 degrees or 45 degrees.

2. 2. The toy yacht according to claim 1, wherein the holes in the bearings through which the axles of the four tires pass are rectangular.

3. 2. A yacht toy according to claim 1, characterized in that a centerboard is provided on the bottom of the hull instead of four-wheel tires, the interior of the hull is divided into two spaces, an upper space and an lower space, and the lower space has an opening connected to the upper surface of the hull.

Images