They Invented What? (No. 156)

U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,265:  Animated Display.

JW Note:  Wishing a Happy Holidays to all!  See you in 2010! 

This and other modifications of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and this invention includes all modifications falling within the scope of the following claims.

1. An animated display comprising support means including an elongated arm, a first figure attached to said support means, said first figure being shaped to represent a vehicle, a plurality of animal figures each pivotally attached to said arm, said animal figures being spaced in aline along said arm, each of said animal figures being shaped to represent a draft animal, linkage means interconnecting said animal figures together, and means for actuating said linkage means and thereby simultaneously rocking the entire line of animal figures about their pivotal attachment to the arm to simulate a galloping motion of said animal figures, said animal figures being pivotally attached to said arm in pairs abreast by means of U-shaped brackets which pass through openings in said arm, the upper ends of each U-shaped bracket being bent over to form support arms for a pair of said animal figures, there being a pair of animal figures attached to each pair of said bent over support arms, and the openings in said arm for said Ushaped brackets being spaced along said arm to form a line of said pairs of animal figures.

2. An animated display as defined in claim 1 in which said means for pivotally linking the adjacent animal figures together comprises a plurality of pivotal linkage rods each pivotally connected between the bent over support arms of adjacent U-shaped brackets.

3. An animated display as defined in claim 2 in which each of said pivotal linkage arms comprises a rod having a transverse opening at each end thereof for pivotally engaging one of said bent over support arms.

4. An animated display as defined in claim 1 in which the support arms for the U-shaped bracket are offset from said openings to give the figures a fore and aft component of motion as well as a pivotal motion with respect to said rod.

5. An animated display as defined in claim 1 in which said support means comprises a simulated house, said means for actuating the linkage means comprising a motor concealed within said house.

Previous AT! holiday postings may also be viewed as follows:

They Invented What? (No. 123)

They Invented What? (No. 78)

Happy Holidays from Anticipate This!