Toy Bow Dual Elastic Launch Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing toy bow and arrow systems pose a safety hazard when the string breaks, as the broken components can whip back towards the user, potentially causing injury, especially to the eyes of children.
Innovation Solution
A toy bow assembly with a rigid structure and two separate elastic elements anchored to each arm section, terminating in loop structures that engage hooks on the projectile, distributing the launch force and preventing the broken elastic elements from whipping back due to their orientation and the low probability of simultaneous failure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single elastic string is used to launch the arrow, then the bow structure can be simple, but the broken string may whip toward the user causing injury
Solution Approach 1:
The single elastic string is divided into two separate elastic strings, each anchored to a different arm section of the bow. This segmentation reduces the risk of injury because if one string breaks, the other remains intact and prevents the broken string from whipping toward the user's face.
2Device complexity
If the elastic string is anchored to create a fixed length, then the bow can be simpler, but overdrawing may cause the string or bow to break and whip toward the user
Solution Approach 1:
The bow uses two separate elastic strings instead of one fixed-length string. Each string is anchored to a different arm section, allowing independent operation. This segmentation provides safety against overdraw failure because if one string breaks due to overdrawing, the other string remains intact and prevents catastrophic failure.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If two separate elastic elements are used, then the safety risk from broken strings is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bow structure is segmented into two independent elastic string systems, each anchored to a different arm section. This segmentation achieves the safety goal of reducing injury risk while maintaining reasonable complexity by using a symmetric, modular design that is easy to manufacture and assemble.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design significantly reduces the risk of injury from broken elastic elements by ensuring they do not whip towards the user and minimizes the likelihood of simultaneous failure, providing a safer play experience for children.
Implementation Method 1
When the projectile is drawn back, the elastic elements stretch and provide the spring energy needed to launch the projectile into flight when it is released
Data Source
AI summary
A toy bow assembly used to launch toy projectiles. The toy bow assembly has a rigid bow structure. The bow structure has a first arm section, a second arm section, and a central region. Two separate and distinct elastic elements are provided to launch a projectile. The first elastic element is anchored to the first arm section of the bow structure. A second elastic element is anchored to the second arm section. Both of the elastic elements terminate with loop structures that extend into the central region between the first and second arm sections. A toy projectile is provided that has extending hooks. The hooks on the projectile engage the loop structures of the elastic elements. When the projectile is drawn back, the elastic elements stretch and provide the spring energy needed to launch the projectile into flight when it is released.