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United States Patent Application	20080261481
Kind Code	A1
Hom; Young	October 23, 2008

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Claims

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1. A hand thrown flying toy comprising:a convex surface portion having a shape of a partial outer surface of a cylindrical shell extending along a first direction, the cylindrical shell having a predetermined thickness;a concave surface portion having a shape of a partial inner surface of the cylindrical extending along the first direction;a plurality of linear edge portions, each of which defining a first joining edge between the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion and extending along the first direction; anda plurality of curved edge portions, each of which defining a second joining edge between the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion, wherein each of the plurality of curved edge portions is substantially semi-circular in shape and connects the plurality of linear edge portions,wherein the convex and concave surface portions are configured to generate a plurality of general pattern of differences in air flow around the hand thrown flying toy so as to obtain a plurality of loci of flight based on throwing force thrust and throwing angle.

2. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 1, wherein the concave surface portion is configured to be inscribed by a circle of diameter from about 2.5 inches to about 4.5 inches.

3. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 2, wherein the circle has a diameter of 3.0 inches.

4. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 2, wherein the circle has a diameter of 4.0 inches.

5. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 4, wherein a thickness between the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion is substantially even across the surface portions.

6. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 4, wherein a thickness between the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion is thicker in a central portion than in an edge portion.

7. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 4, wherein a thickness between the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion is thinner in a central portion than in an edge portion.

8. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 1, wherein the convex surface portion is slightly curved-up along a central portion.

9. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 1, wherein the convex surface portion is concave along a central portion with a predetermined curvature.

10. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 9, wherein the predetermined curvature of the central portion of the convex surface portion is smaller than a curvature of the cylindrical shell.

11. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 1, further comprising a soft and resilient edge disposed around each of the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion.

12. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 1, wherein the convex surface portion comprises a film of high reflectivity against visible light, and wherein the concave surface portion comprises a film of low reflectivity against visible light.

13. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 1, wherein the convex surface portion comprises a film of low reflectivity against visible light, and wherein the concave surface portion comprises a film of high reflectivity against visible light.

14. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 1, wherein the convex surface portion comprises a film of night glow.

15. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 1, wherein the concave surface portion comprises a film of night glow.

16. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 1, wherein the convex surface portion comprises a plurality of patterns.

17. The hand thrown flying toy of claim 1, wherein the plurality of loci of flight comprises an up-climbing locus, a curving-to-the-left locus, a curving-to-the-right locus, and a returning-curve locus.

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Description

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001]The present invention relates to a hand thrown flying toy. More particularly, this invention relates to a hand thrown flying toy, which flies in various generally controllable loci.

[0002]Flight has fascinated the humankind for such a long time. The legend of Icarus shows the eagerness for the flight of people.

[0003]Even though a personal flight as in Icarus or Rocketeer is still challenging for technological or economical reasons, flight can be or is being enjoyed just by flying a paper plane or a frisbee.

[0004]Flying things could catch an extensive attention of people from an ancient time, which is why all kinds of flying toys are still popular.

[0005]Some of the flying toys or flying devices show a lot of different trajectory of flight, some of which really show gravity-defying pattern of flight, which defies intuition and common sense of gravity of people so abruptly as to inspire joy and fun to make a good toy.

[0006]The invention discloses a new device with a structure different from the prior arts.

[0007]Accordingly, a need for a hand thrown flying toy has been present for a long time considering the thrill that flying objects have inspired the people through the history. This invention is directed to satisfy the long-felt need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008]An objective of the invention is to provide a hand thrown flying toy.

[0009]Another object of the invention is to provide a hand thrown flying toy, the flying loci of which can be controlled generally.

[0010]An aspect of the invention provides a hand thrown flying toy. The hand thrown flying toy includes a convex surface portion, a concave surface portion, a plurality of linear edge portions, and a plurality of curved edge portions.

[0011]The convex surface portion has a shape of a partial outer surface of a cylindrical shell extending along a first direction, and the cylindrical shell has a predetermined thickness.

[0012]The concave surface portion has a shape of a partial inner surface of the cylindrical extending along the first direction.

[0013]Each of the plurality of linear edge portions defines a first joining edge between the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion, and extends along the first direction.

[0014]Each of the plurality of curved edge portions defines a second joining edge between the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion, and each of the plurality of curved edge portions is substantially semi-circular in shape and connects the plurality of linear edge portions,

[0015]The convex and concave surface portions are configured to generate a plurality of general pattern of differences in air flow around the hand thrown flying toy so as to obtain a plurality of loci of flight based on throwing force thrust and throwing angle.

[0016]The concave surface portion may be configured to be inscribed by a circle of diameter from about 2.5 inches to about 4.5 inches.

[0017]In certain embodiments, the circle may have a diameter of 3.0 inches. In still other embodiments, the circle may have a diameter of 4.0 inches.

[0018]The thickness between the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion may be substantially even across the surface portions.

[0019]In other embodiments, the thickness between the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion may be thicker in a central portion than in an edge portion.

[0020]In still another embodiments, the thickness between the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion may be thinner in a central portion than in an edge portion.

[0021]The convex surface portion may be substantially straight or slightly curved-up (concave) along a central portion along the first direction.

[0022]In certain embodiments, the convex surface portion may be concave along a central portion with a predetermined curvature so as to form a kind of saddle point.

[0023]The predetermined curvature of the central portion of the convex surface portion may be smaller than a curvature of the cylindrical shell.

[0024]The hand thrown flying toy may further comprise a soft and resilient edge disposed around each of the convex surface portion and the concave surface portion.

[0025]The convex surface portion may comprise a film of high reflectivity against visible light, and the concave surface portion may comprise a film of low reflectivity against visible light. Thereby, the hand thrown flying toy may produce flashing effect during the flight.

[0026]In certain embodiments, the convex surface portion may comprise a film of low reflectivity against visible light, and the concave surface portion may comprise a film of high reflectivity against visible light.

[0027]In still another embodiments, the convex surface portion may comprise a film of night glow. Alternatively, the concave surface portion may comprise a film of night glow.

[0028]The convex surface portion may comprise a plurality of patterns for the purposes of decoration.

[0029]The plurality of loci of flight may comprise an up-climbing locus, a curving-to-the-left locus, a curving-to-the-right locus, and a returning-curve locus.

[0030]The hand thrown flying toy has a simple structure having a convex surface portion and a concave surface portion, which are connected by a plurality of linear edge portions.

[0031]The convex and concave surface portions are configured to generate a plurality of general pattern of loci of flight through fluid dynamic effects based on throwing force thrust and throwing angle. The air flow around the toy is changed by such parameters such that the various aerodynamic forces are generated, resulting the plurality of general pattern of loci of the flight of the toy.

[0032]The size of the flying toy can be adapted to players.

[0033]The advantages of the present invention are: (1) the hand thrown flying toy is simple in structure, but shows a complicated patterns of flying; and (2) the flight of the hand thrown flying toy is controlled with throwing angle and force.

[0034]Although the present invention is briefly summarized, the fuller understanding of the invention can be obtained by the following drawings, detailed description and appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035]These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0036]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hand thrown flying toy illustrating a convex surface portion;

[0037]FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the hand thrown flying toy of FIG. 1;

[0038]FIG. 3 is still another perspective view of the hand thrown flying toy of FIG. 1;

[0039]FIG. 4 is another perspective view of the hand thrown flying toy of FIG. 1 illustrating a concave surface portion;

[0040]FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the hand thrown flying toy along the line V-V of FIG. 1;

[0041]FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the hand thrown flying toy along the line VI-VI of FIG. 1;

[0042]FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a hand thrown flying toy according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0043]FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a hand thrown flying toy according to another embodiment of the invention;

[0044]FIG. 9 is a plan view of a hand thrown flying toy illustrating a central portion and edge portions;

[0045]FIG. 10 is a side plan view of a hand thrown flying toy according to an embodiment of the invention illustrating slightly curved-up central portion;

[0046]FIG. 11 is a side plan view of a hand thrown flying toy according to an embodiment of the invention illustrating curved central portion to form a saddle point;

[0047]FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of a hand thrown flying toy with a reflecting film or pattern on a convex surface portion according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0048]FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a hand thrown flying toy with a reflecting film or pattern on a concave surface portion according to another embodiment of the invention;

[0049]FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of a hand thrown flying toy with a inscribed circle against the concave surface portion; and

[0050]FIGS. 15 through 21 are diagrams illustrating loci of flight and corresponding throwing methods.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0051]FIGS. 1-14 show hand thrown flying toys according to embodiments of the present invention.

[0052]An aspect of the invention provides a hand thrown flying toy 100 as shown in FIGS. 1-6. The hand thrown flying toy 100 includes a convex surface portion 10, a concave surface portion 20, a plurality of linear edge portions 30, and a plurality of curved edge portions 40.

[0053]The convex surface portion 10 has a shape of a partial outer surface of a cylindrical shell extending along a first direction, and the cylindrical shell has a predetermined thickness. The first direction runs longitudinally.

[0054]The concave surface portion 20 has a shape of a partial inner surface of the cylindrical extending along the first direction.

[0055]Each of the plurality of linear edge portions 30 defines a first joining edge between the convex surface portion 10 and the concave surface portion 20, and extends along the first direction.

[0056]Each of the plurality of curved edge portions 40 defines a second joining edge between the convex surface portion 10 and the concave surface portion 20, and each of the plurality of curved edge portions 40 is substantially semi-circular in shape and connects the plurality of linear edge portions 30. The curved edge portion 40 may comprise a plurality of straight lines or parabolic curves in certain embodiments.

[0057]The convex and concave surface portions 10, 20 are configured to generate a plurality of general pattern of differences in air flow around the hand thrown flying toy 100 so as to obtain a plurality of loci of flight based on throwing force thrust and throwing angle as illustrated in FIGS. 15-21.

[0058]During the flight, the convex or concave surfaces of the surface portions 10, 20 make air flow with different speed, which make buoyant force perpendicularly to the central portion 50 (refer to FIG. 9). That is, the air across the convex surface portion 10 flows faster than the air across the concave surface portion 20.

[0059]As shown in FIG. 14, the concave surface portion 20 may be configured to be inscribed by a circle of diameter from about 2.5 inches to about 4.5 inches.

[0060]In certain embodiments, the circle may have a diameter of 3.0 inches. In still other embodiments, the circle may have a diameter of 4.0 inches.

[0061]The thickness between the convex surface portion 10 and the concave surface portion 20 may be substantially even across the surface portions 10, 20.

[0062]In other embodiments as shown in FIG. 7, the thickness between the convex surface portion 10 and the concave surface portion 20 may be thicker in a central portion 50 than in an edge portion 52.

[0063]In still other embodiments as shown in FIG. 8, the thickness between the convex surface portion 10 and the concave surface portion 20 may be thinner in a central portion 50 than in an edge portion 52.

[0064]In certain embodiments as shown in FIGS. 6 and 10, the convex surface portion 10 may be substantially straight or slightly curved-up (concave) along a central portion 50 along the first direction.

[0065]In other embodiments as shown in FIG. 11, the convex surface portion 10 may be more concave along a central portion 50 with a predetermined curvature so as to form a kind of saddle point 12.

[0066]The predetermined curvature of the central portion 50 of the convex surface portion 10 may be smaller than a curvature of the cylindrical shell.

[0067]The hand thrown flying toy 100 may further comprise a soft and resilient edge 70 (refer to FIG. 1) disposed around each of the convex surface portion 10 and the concave surface portion 20.

[0068]As shown in FIG. 12, the convex surface portion 10 may comprise a film 60 of high reflectivity against visible light, and the concave surface portion 20 may comprise a film of low reflectivity against visible light or untreated surface. Thereby, the hand thrown flying toy 100 may produce flashing effect during the flight.

[0069]In certain embodiments as shown in FIG. 13, the convex surface portion 10 may comprise a film 60 of low reflectivity against visible light, and the concave surface portion 20 may comprise a film of high reflectivity against visible light.

[0070]In still other embodiments, the convex surface portion 10 may comprise a film 60 of night glow. Alternatively, the concave surface portion 20 may comprise a film 60 of night glow.

[0071]The convex surface portion may comprise a plurality of patterns for the purposes of decoration.

[0072]As illustrated in FIGS. 15-21, the plurality of loci of flight may comprise an up-climbing locus, a curving-to-the-left locus, a curving-to-the-right locus, and a returning-curve locus.

[0073]While the invention has been shown and described with reference to different embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations in form, detail, compositions and operation may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.

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