Field of the invention

The invention relates to electric top, in particular relates to an electric top as an energy savings toy, equipped with a special propeller and a rolling structure, thereby the top can spin without falling and its movement can be controlled by the player. The invention also relates to a game set of top using these tops.

Background of the invention

Top games have widely been known in Vietnam as well as in many other countries in the world. Various patents have been granted to top toys and top games. A top's operation is based on gyroscopes principle in which the top maintains the vertical direction of its axis while spinning because top effect tends to resist the direction changes of the top axis. When spinning speed is slow down, the top effect is gradually reduced, the spinning axis deviates from the vertical direction, and thus the top staggers little by little and finally fall down.

In order to overcome this disadvantage, numbers of top solutions have been disclosed such as tops according to Korean patent for utility solution No. KR20-2000-0001593 and Korean patent application No. KR10-2003-0039824, wherein the tops are equipped with a motor and blades/a fly-wheel within the top body to maintain its rotational momentum. The tops, however, just lengthen their spinning time but fall at the end. For more improving spinning time of the tops, a variety of solutions including Korean utility solution application No. KR20-2006-0017223 or US patent application No. US2009/0325457 Al have disclosed tops that have vent openings/holes arranged on the top casing so that to provide special airflow inside the tops when the tops spin to act upon the inside blades that increases a jet force applied to the top axis. Spinning time of the tops according to these solutions has been improved. However, a disadvantage of these tops lies in the airflows circulating through the vent openings/holes on the top casing. These airflows, besides having effects on the blade to create jet force to the top axis, may also directly act upon the top casing and create friction force/resistance force to the rotational motion of the tops. This may lead to the high energy consumption and quick discharge battery, so expenditure of the top players is increased. Another disadvantage is that these tops must have high speed to maintain their rotational momentum, stopping these tops in high speed, when necessary, may be very difficult and easier to injure the players than stopping the traditional ones. Furthermore, the tops have a relatively complex like a structure three-tube-linking structure consisting of an actuator handle, a free handle and openings of the top device according to the US patent application No. US2009/0325457 Al, or a systemt of blades and gears of the top device according to Korean utility solution application KR20-2006-0017223. These may require high accuracy of the producing equipments thus results in increase of production cost, so it may be unsuitable with production condition in many developing and underdeveloped countries.

In traditional game of top fighting, players can only act upon their tops by their skills of tossing tops into the game round. Once, a top has been tossed into the game round, the players can not have any effect on it, or if permitted by the game rule, they can only do this by using a cane to make a direct jostle to the top. This may reduce the players' sense of initiative (in case of failing to act upon top), or make top spinning speed decrease or make the top fall (in case of act upon the top by using a cane). As a result, the interest of the game may be decreased.

Therefore, various solutions have been developed to help players control the top movement when it is spinning such as the tops disclosed in WO/2008/002167 or in US patent application No. US2010/0159798 Al . In these devices, a permanent magnet is attached to the top head (head portion of the top), players can use another permanent magnet placed just above the top head to control moving direction of the top. However, the disadvantage of these devices is that the controlling magnet may be useless if it is placed a little bit far from the top head, and may attract the top if it is placed a little bit near the top head. Further, for top antagonistic game, such a hand-moving magnet above the top surely covers players' view, so the interest of the game may also be reduced. Therefore, further development of top toy with simple structure, low production cost, having ability to spin without falling, ability of energy saving, high antagonistic sense, and safety to the players is still in need. This kind of top can be used in a top antagonistic game which well imitates the traditional game of top fighting.

Summary of the invention

Top according to the invention, hereafter is conveniently called "TOOP top" or "TOOP", which has structure as described in this description will be able to overcome the above disadvantages.

For achieving this aim, TOOP may comprise a body with enough space inside to contain a power source and a motor, a spinning axis of the motor is coaxial with a spinning axis of the body, one end of the motor's spinning axis is extruded upwards from said body, the other end is downwards, the motor stato may be undetachably attached to the body so that the body can rotate together with the motor stator; a propeller may be attached to the extruded end of the motor spinning axis which may be attached to rotor axis of the motor so that the propeller can receive the rotational thrust from the rotor; a rolling structure may be disposed in the lowest portion of said body, coexially attached to the lower end of the motor axis, this rolling structure may have a bottom open chamber containing a ball in shape of sphere so that the ball can freely roll within and partially extruded from the bottom of the bottom open chamber, the rolling structure may further have a blocker fitted in with the bottom open chamber so as to hold the ball in the way that the ball can freely roll within and not be dropped out of the bottom open chamber, and so that the bottom open chamber can freely roll relative to the blocker. TOOP may further have a braking structure equipped in the upper portion of the TOOP body in order to slow down then stop rotating motion of the body when neccessary.

The TOOP body which may take traditional shape or pear shape swelling at the upper part and gradually tapering at the lower part, may consist of an upper body and a lower body that can be fitted into each other by conventional assembling manners such as by screws, bolts or nipples. On the top of the upper body, there may be a hole from which the upper end of the motor axis extrudes upward and coincides with the top axis. A chamber to contain a rolling structure may be placed at the lowest position of the lower body.

A new and creative technical feature of the invention is that TOOP has a rolling structure. This rolling structure may be disposed in the lowest portion of the TOOP body, coaxially fixed to the lower end of of the rotaitng axis of the motor, having a bottom open chamber containing a ball in shape of sphere so that the ball can freely roll within and partially extruding from the bottom of the bottom open chamber, and a blocker fitted in with said bottom open chamber so as to hold said ball in the way that said ball can freely roll within and not be dropped out of bottom open chamber, and so that said bottom open chamber can freely roll relative to said blocker. This ball may be made of ferromagnetic materials, such as iron. By means of using this rolling structure, TOOP movement will be affected by the smallest sliding friction. Controlling TOOP by using magnetic field to act upon the rolling structure, at the same time, may make the top be able to move as wishes with the smallest force effect of changing spinning axis direction. Moreover, because this rolling structure is attached to the motor axis, but not to the TOOP body, thereby the moment generated by the ball rolling on the playing surface do not put resisting moment on the TOOP body, but advantageously combine with the moment of the propeller that will be disclosed below to increase the moment that rotates the body of the TOOP top. This increases efficiency of the TOOP top and contributes to help the TOOP top spin without falling and save energy.

In one embodiment of the invention, TOOP may have a propeller that can be (un)detachably mounted to the upper end of the TOOP axis that is the out-extruding end of the motor axis. Since the propeller is mounted to the out-extruding end of the motor axis, the propeller rotates in the same direction with the rotational direction of the motor axis whenever the motor rotates, thus in opposite direction with the rotational direction of the TOOP body. This makes the angular velocity of the TOOP body high enough to help TOOP able to spin without falling.

In another embodiment of the invention, the propeller may have blade(s) with curved surface. Because the propeller is mounted outside the TOOP cover and its blades have curved surface, maximum reactive force can be produced from the air when the propeller rotates. A certain total area of the blades can be calculated enough to create reactive force for maintaining spinning momentum of the top without consuming too much energy. This creative technical feature helps the TOOP top able to spin without falling and save more energy than the existing electric tops do.

Surprisingly, by using such a propeller and its assembling as mentioned above, it is possible to use soft, plastic materials such as plastic resin to produce the propeller with desired effects. The usage of plastic resin to produce the propeller contributes to make the TOOP top safe to players even when they touch the rotating propeller.

For maintaining the ability to spin without falling, the TOOP top itself has to spin with a speed high enough. To stop TOOP safely, according to further embodiment of the invention, TOOP may be equipped with a mechanically spinning braking structure that includes a brake disc tightly attached to the TOOP body and untightly contacted with the brake pads and brake arm fixed into the propeller. By using this spinning braking structure of the invention, a player can stop his/her TOOPs any time without occurring any harm effect of spinning force to his/her fingers. This may make the TOOP top suitable for small children whose age requires toys with strict safety.

In one another embodiment of the invention, TOOP may have the upper end of the motor axis, where the center of the propeller is mounted, attached with a magnetized material, preferably a permanent magnet. This permanent magnet preferably may have its upper side flat enough so as to make up a seat surface for another TOOP to spin on. Since the TOOP rolling structure is made of ferromagnetic materials, when a second TOOP is placed on a first TOOP fitted with a permanent magnet, this second TOOP rotates topically on the top of the first TOOP. According to this embodiment, various TOOPs can spin over each other and make up an amusive game of TOOPs.

In still another embodiment for increasing pleasure of the TOOP top, TOOP further may have one or more inside and/or outside LED(s) attached to its body. When powering up to start the motor, TOOP rotates and the LED(s) light(s) up so as to increase the attraction of the TOOP top. The motor and the LED(s) operate thanks to the power source placed inside the TOOP body. The power source may be kept undetachably within and by the space containing power source, and switched on/of using an electric switch that may be installed on the outer side of the TOOP body.

The outer side of the upper body of the TOOP top may also be decorated with pictures, or be colored and/or glued with decanes to differentiate TOOPs from each others, and to increase the attraction of the TOOP outer side. Pictures on outer side of the TOOP top body may be drawn in special image form so that certain motion pictures which can be seen through a net with parallel slots will create vivid pictures.

Another purpose of the invention is to introduce game set of TOOPs that includes a playing board thick enough so as not to obstruct magnetic field effects, one or more TOOP(s), and one or more controlling bar(s) whose head(s) is bound with a magnetized material such as a permanent magnet. With this game set of TOOPs, a player may play alone with one or more TOOP(s) to be placed spinning over each other, or he/she may play the game with other people, wherein each player can control moving direction of his/her one TOOP or his/her one pile of TOOPs to "attack" his/her competents' TOOPs in order to discard them out of the playing board. The board may be a flat surface in such shapes of square, rectangle, oval, circle or the likes of convenience. Preferably, the playing board should have its high edge to prevent the tops from dropping out when playing.

Technical principles for designing TOOPs

A. Principle of Non-Stop TOOP

Description of TOOP structure

TOOP comprises four main parts: a body, a motor, a propeller and a rolling structure:

+ The body, having its central axis of symmetry, occupies the largest weight of the TOOP top to create rotational momentumfor keeping TOOP not to fall down, and has a case at its lowest portion to contain a rolling structure as mentioned below;

+ The motor, whose stator is undetachably fixed to the TOOP body, the upper end of the rotor axis is detachably mounted to a propeller and the lower end of the rotor axis is mounted to a rolling structure, produces energy for TOOP to spin non-stop; + The propeller is detachably mounted to the upper end of the rotor axis to create an air resisting force to produce rotational momentum to the body;

+ The rolling structure has a ball which can freely roll to reduce sliding friction when TOOP is moving on the play board surface, and produces resisting moment to combine with resisting moment of the propeller in order to generate rotational momentum to the body.

In order to invent a non-stop spinning top, it is necessary to carry out a dynamics analysis as shown below.

TOOP Dynamics Analysis

TOOP dynamics analysis was performed under the following conditions:

- Player holds the propeller in one hand, and in the other hand, turns on the power switch of electric motor so as to make TOOP to roll about its central axis. After a certain period of time for enough speed, TOOP is dropped down on a horizontal hard and even floor. After short transitory time, the body and the propeller rotates with a stable speed. When reaching stable mode, the rotational momentum of the top system must be higher than a certain threshold value so that the top will not fall.

The equations describing the movement of a top, wherein:

CQ\ - angular velocity of the rotor and the propeller relative to the stationary reference system;

a>2 - angular velocity of the stator and the top body relative to the stationary reference system;

<2>i2 - angular velocity of the rotor relative to the stator;

l _m - electromagnetic moment applying to the rotor;

M _2m - electromagnetic moment applying to the stator;

l _e - moment of external force applying to the top body relative to center O; 2 _e - moment of external force applying to a propeller relative to center O;

L _\ - rotational momentum of the rotor and the propeller relative to center O;

L ₂ - rotational momentum of the stator and the top body relative to center O;

7i - moment of inertia of the rotor and the propeller doi voi the central axis of symetry cua top; I ₂ - moment of inertia of the stator and the top body relative to the central axis of sy merry of the top;

R _m - resistance of the motor's stator wire;

k _m - electromagnetic coefficient of the motor;

kia - coefficient of air motion obstruction to the propeller;

k _2a - coefficient of air motion and floor friction obstruction to the top body, are as follows:

1. Electromagnetic moment of the motor:

(£/ - ¾„. ω,,)

^K m

2. Motion equation of the rotor and the propeller: do , l .

3. Motion equation of the stator and the top body:

4. Supposing that the resisting moment is in proportion to spinning speed:

Combining the above equations leads in a system of equations describing the motion of the top with two variables co _\ and ω ₂ M _2m =—k.

R.

with:

.4 = ^■ i? = we have a differential system of equations describing the motion of the top: d j _f 1

With initial conditions fi?i(0) = 0 and c¾(0) = fi¾o, a solution of the above differential equation leads in the following results:

+ Speed of parts of the top when stable:

B. (fc Is fe _2c ) -

+ Rotational momentum of the entire top when spinning stably:

The key point to keep the top spin non-stop is that when the spin speed of the top has been stable, rotational momentum |L| must be higher than a defined value L ₀ (Lo depends on structure and shape of the top). To qualitatively ensure |L| > L ₀ is to increase value of |L| according to the above formula; this means that value of expression |k _2a .Ii - must be increased. To do so, a structure including two parts with very large k _2a .Ii and very small k _]a .I ₂ . This finding leads into the way to design structure of the present TOOP as follows:

+ A top body impacted by very large moment of inertia, but small resisting force of the air, this means that I ₂ is big and k _2a is small;

+ The rotor and propeller impacted by small moment of inertia, but large resisting force of the air, this means that Ii is small and k _la is large;

When the top has such a structure, the expression |k _2a .Ii— ki _a .I ₂ | has large value. This means that when spinning, the top will have enough moment to spin non-stop provided that the electric power supplied to the motor's spinning motion is ensured.

Energy optimization to the top

To optimize energy, the body must have a speed as small as possible to reduce energy loss caused by air friction. For making the top spin non-stop, its body's speed must be greater than a defined value ω _& . Thus, it is necessary to create an optimal spinning speed for the body to meet the requirements on non-stop spinning and energy savings. Through a number of experiments and calculations, the author of this invention discovered that the threshold value of the spinning speed of the body helping the top spin non-stop is: > _d = 7.5 ~ 8.5 rounds/second

Because the body has defined volume and shape (according to requirements on fine arts design, battery and motor containing volume, etc.), value of must be constant as shown.

Because the smaller spinning speed is, the smaller resisting force will be, so the top will spin non-stop and the smallest energy loss will be ensured if the top is made to spin stably at this shown speed ω _& . The battery, however, will gradually reduce its voltage after a certain playing time. New battery with voltage of 1.6V to 1.7V, and the used one with remaining voltage of 1.3V to 1.4V means that voltage reduction coefficient is about 1.3. For ensuring the optimal usage of the battery energy, spinning speed of the body will be selected as follows:

<¾2 ⁼ 1.3fi>d = 9.8— 11 rounds/second Because the body design is fixed, there are two options to optimize energy savings as follows:

1) The top propeller is firstly fixed, then the electric motor should be designed so as to have a suitable mechanical property; or

2) The motor properly is firstly fixed, then the propeller should be designed so as to reach the optimality.

This TOOP version has been designed based on the option 2), length of the propeller is modified to optimize energy savings. For serving the design work, the following experimental data and graphs have been studied:

+ Measurement data of the air resisting force acting upon the top body in different speeds of the top body;

+ Measurement data of the air resisting moment acting upon the propeller in different speeds and different lengths of the propeller;

+ Measurement result of mechanical property (speed-moment) of the DC motor used in the TOOP top.

According to Fig.l, at the body speed of 9.8 to 11 rounds/second, resisting force acting upon the body is defined as follows: 2 _e = 0.8 ~ 1.0 [nN.rri]

This resisting moment is equal to resisting moment acting upon the propeller, and the moment produced by the motor. According to Fig.lC, spinning speed of the body is defined as follows:

fi? _m =78~85 [round/second]

So, spinning speed of the propeller is defined as follows:

&>i=<z> _m - a>2 = 67-77 [round second]

Therefore, the length of the propeller must satisfy the condition as when spinning with speed of 67~ 77 rounds/second, then a resisting moment of 0.8-1.OmN.m must be produced.

With the two above values, interpolation calculating method can be applied to Fig. IB to define the necessary length of the propeller as follows:

B. Principle of controlling the top by magnet

The analysis was conducted by surveying the relationship between the TOOP weight, the ball size, and the acceleration ability when using a magnet to control the TOOP in horizontal direction.

Interactive force between the ball and the magnet, as shown in Fig. ID, depends on the extent of magnetic field density and direction of magnetic field line between the ball and the magnet. These two factors are based on the ball size, magnet size and position of the ball as compared to that of the magnet. Wherein, position of the ball as compared to that of the magnet is divided into two directions: vertical direction— distance from the ball's surface to magnet's surface which is the thickness of the playing board, and is unchangeable; and horizontal direction - distance from the ball's center to the magnet's axis which will change according to vertical acceleration requirements.

For simplifying the analysis, size of cylinder magnet is previously selected with such criteria as easily processing and compactness to be suitable for the TOOP. In particularly, its diameter is 10mm and its height is 9mm. Therefore, at this moment, interactive force between the ball and the magnet is a function of distance from the ball center to the magnet axis and the ball's diameter.

F _r = / _r (r, D)

wherein:

F _r — force in horizontal direction;

F _z - force in vertical direction;

r - distance from the ball center to the magnet axis.

D - diameter of the ball

The analysis model, which is force of gravity between the magnet and the ball, has axis symmetric property, thus:

1. F _r = 0 when r = 0. When r increases, F _r will increase to the

maximum value, then gradually decrease to 0 if r continues to increase; 2. F _z reaches the maximum value when r=0, then gradually decrease to 0 when r increases.

F _r and F _z were calculated by finite element method when r and D change. Results of F _r and F ₂ are 2-dimension arrays corresponding to the two variables r and D.

Analysis result of interactive force between the ball and the magnet by using finite element method is shown in Fig. IE and IF.

Ignoring the air resisting force when the TOOP moves in horizontal direction, we have:

F _r ÷= m * a + k * (F _x + P) or

a » [F _r - k * (F _s + P)J/m wherein:

a - acceleration in horizontal direction

k - friction coefficient between the ball and the playing board

P - gravity acting upon the TOOP

With each size of ball, there exist Fr and Fz such that the acceleration a is maximum. This maximal value is found by calculating all acceleration values in different positions of r corresponding to each value of the ball diameter and the TOOP weight. The analysis result that finds out the maximum acceleration is shown in Fig.l. Experiments indicate that the maximum acceleration of about 2m/s ² to about 3m/s ² when playing satisfies the requirement. Hence, the TOOP weight of about 0.04kg to about 0.16kg and the ball diameter of about 4mm to bout 13 mm can help to reach the required acceleration.

Brief description of the drawings

The foregoing embodiments and various advantages of this invention become more readily and better understood by the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig.l A is a diagram of resisting moment of the air that acts upon the top body and depends on the spinning speed.

Fig. IB is a diagram of resisting moment of the air that acts upon the blade and depends on the spinning speed and length of the blade.

Fig. 1C is a diagram of the motor's generated moment that depends on the spinning speed.

Fig. ID is an illustration of a ball model and a magnet model according to one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. IE is a diagram of the force in horizontal direction.

Fig. IF is a diagram of the force in vertical direction.

Fig. 1G is a diagram of the maximium acceleration that can be reached at different values of the ball diameter and different top weight.

Fig. 2 is a prospective view of a game set of TOOPs according to one preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3A is schematic top view of a TOOP top according to one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3B is schematic bottom view of a TOOP top according to one preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4A is a detailed illustration of components of a TOOP top in assembling order with the top prospective view according to one preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4B is a detailed illustration of components of a TOOP top in assembling order with the bottom prospective view according to one preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5A is a detailed illustration of components of the propeller according to one preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5B is a schematic illustration of the brake disc according to one preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 6A is a detailed illustration of components of rolling structure according to one preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 6B is a schematic illustration of a longitudinal section view of the rolling structure according to one embodiment of the invention. Fig.7 is a detailed illustration of components making TOOP creative technical features of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a schematic illustration of a controlling bar according to one preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 9 is a schematic illustration of a playing board according to one preferred embodiment of the invention.

Detailed description of the present invention

Fig. 2 imitates a game set of TOOP(s) including a TOOP 1, a controlling 2 and a playing board 3.

As shown in Fig. 3A and Fig. 3B, TOOP 1 of the invention may comprise three main parts: a propeller 11 fitted in the highest point so that its spinning axis coincides with the body axis 12; a body 12 in shape of pear which swells at upper part, and tapers at lower part; a motor placed inside the body with a rotor having its upper axis end attached to the propeller and the lower end attached to the rolling structure; said rolling structure which is fixed to the lower part of body 12 in order, to help the body freely spin above the ball.

Fig. 4 A and 4B show parts building up body 12 of TOOP 1. Main parts of body 12 may include a brake disc 121, an upper cover 122, a middle cover 123, a motor chamber 124, and lower cover 125. These four parts may be tightly joined to each other by joining means such as screws and fixed notches. Brake disc 121 may be fitted to upper cover 122 by such joining means like fixed notches. Upper cover 122 may contain a wall to hold brake pad 1221, two holes to keep logos 124, and one hole to keep outer LED 1223. Outer LED 1222, which may be placed in the outer LED-holding hole 1223, may have conducting- wire connected to switch 1241. Upper cover 122 may connect the lower space containing the motor with the upper space keeping brake disc 121, and combine with middle cover 123 to form various kinds of decorating designs of the top. Upper cover 122 may have three inner notches 1255 to undetachably joint with three outer notches 1251 of lower cover 125. Lower cover 125 may be used to protect and fasten motor chamber 124. Two logos printed with alien face 1231 may be attached to the upper side of lower cover 125 with a part open to the case containing logo 1224 of upper cover 12. These two logos may be symmetrical to each other through the spinning axis. Because of being illuminated by the inner LEDs 1236, these two logos may act as the motif of the top so as to increase the attraction to players. Placed in case in shape of screw along with bolt 1253 going through bolt hole 1252, screw 1232 may be used to tightly connect middle cover 123 with lower cover 125 to protect motor chamber 124 inside. Motor chamber 124 may be fixed to middle cover 123 by means of four notches 1244 of motor chamber 124 and four notches 1234 of middle cover 123. Switch 1241, which is used to switch on/off the electric circuit of the top, may be fixed between motor chamber 124 and middle cover 123 by means of two notches 1245 on motor chamber 124 and two joint means 1235 of middle cover 123. Switch arm (not shown), that extrudes out, may be used by players through switch slot 1254 lying on the lower cover 125. Motor

1242 may be undetachably placed in motor tray with an upward axis 1246 which is introduced to a hole of propeller 11, and a downward axis 1247 which is introduced to hole 1311 of the rolling structure 13. When spinning, motor 1242 gives rotational momentoum to the top through reactive force of propeller 11 and partial force from the rolling structure 13. Spinning speed of motor 1242 is also spinning speed of the top relatively to propeller 11 and rolling structure 13. Power source 1243 may comprise four batteries AA 1.5 V placed and connected in series in the motor tray. Power source

1243 of the batteries is supplied to motor 1242, outer LEDs 1222 and inner LEDs 1236 by turning switch 1241 on. Besides the function of protecting motor chamber 124 inside, lower cover 125 may also be used to fix rolling structure 13 in such a way as to partially expose ball 132 ( Fig.4B, 6A, 6B, 7) through out lower ball hole 1255 and to fix the body of rolling structure 13. Thus, when spinning, the body part of rolling structure 13 will spin in the same speed of TOOP 1 and freely rolate relatively to ball 132. The outer side of TOOP 1 may also be decorated with pictures, or colored or glued with decanes to differentiate this TOOP 1 from the other TOOPs when they take part in an antagonistic game, and to increase the attraction of the appearance of TOOP 1. Pictures can be created in conventional ways such as drawing, decane gluing and the likes.

TOOP 1 may further have a propeller 11, which is attached to the motor axis end lying outside the spinning body and has rotational direction opposite to the rotational direction of TOOP 1. A main function of propeller 11 is to create reactive force for the motor in order to give rotational momentum to rotate the body. Propeller 11 may have one or more blades; more preferably propeller 11 has two or three blades, and it is best if propeller 11 has two blades. Fig. 5 shows propeller 11 with two blades according to one preferred embodiment of the invention. A hole 115 may be drilled at the middle of propeller 11 to attach propeller to motor axis 1232 for receiving rotational momentum from this motor. Two blades 114 prefferably have curved surfaces to create maximum reactive force from the air when propeller 11 rotates. The blade area contacting with the air must be large enough to create reactive force for maintaining rotational momentum with not much energy consumption. According to numerous experiments, total area of a optimal propeller to maintain spinning momentum and save energy is about 90mm ² to about 530 ² mm.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, TOOP 1 may have spinning braking structure which is designed to allow players to safely stop the top with a simple action. This structure may comprise a brake pad, a brake arm, and a brake disc as shown in Fig.5A and 5B. Two brake discs 112, whose inner area is made of high friction material, may be fastened to the inner side of brake arm 113. Because the material for making propeller 11 is a kind of soft, light synthetic resin, players may also touch it even when the top is rotating at hight speed without worrying about being hurt. Then, as players can use their two fingers to clip two brake arms 113, thereby the inner side of the two brake pads 112 tightly pinch the neck of brake disc 121, thus TOOP 1 can be stopped quickly. This advantageous technical feature of the invention allows the top to be played with very highly safe ability, and be suitable for every players' age. Fig. 5B shows brake disc 121 in detailed. Brake neck 1211 may be covered with a friction forming layer so that when it contacts with break pad, a significant friction coefficient is created to quickly decelerate the top. Four notches 1212 lying on the lower edge of brake disc 121 may be used to attach brake disc 121 to upper cover 122 by tightly being fastened to the edge holding brake disc 1221. Brake disc 121 and brake pad 112 being designed so as they can be detached, if necessary, for replacement allows players to replace parts of the braking structure when they are worn out due to long usage. This helps reduce expenditure of people playing TOOP 1.

TOOP 1 may have a special rolling structure. This creative structure may help TOOP 1 minimally reduce effects of friction from the playing surface to the top's motion when TOOP movement being controlled. Fig 6A shows components of rolling structure 13 and Fig 6B is a schematic illustration of cross-sectional view of the element when its components are connected to each other. The structure may consist of a bottom open chamber 133, wherein a ball 132 may move freely inside and partially extrudes from the bottom. Ball 132 may be made of ferromagnetic materials such as iron and iron compounds, preferably it is made of iron. Blocker 131 may keep ball 132 always be in the chamber and rotate freely with a small friction coefficient. On blocker 131, a small hole 1311 may be drilled to fit axis of the rolling into the lower axis of the motor coaxially. This creative technical feature of the invetion allows TOOP 1 to spin freely basing on ball 121 of the structure, while ball 132 itself can roll in controlling direction of the top. This reduces maximally friction force caused by contact surface which decrease significantly rotation moment. To satisfy requirement of controlling acceleration of about 2m/s to about 3m/s when playing, the ball's diameter varies from about 7mm to about 13mm, and weight of TOOP 1 is in range of about 0.04kg to abpit 0.16kg. Moreover, this rolling structure may be attached to the motor axis, but not onto the body of TOOP 1, thus moment generated by the rotation of the ball on the playing board surface does not produce resisting moment to the TOOP body, but it combines with the propeller's moment to increase rotation moment of the TOOP body. This helps to increase efficiency of the TOOP top.

In one another preferred embodiment of the invention, TOOPs 1 may spin over each other thanks to a magnet holder element. This element may be a permanent magnet 111 with a flat upper side to create a flat seat for another TOOP 1 to spin on. This permanent magnet 111 may be fixed to the top of propeller 11. As rolling structure 13 has ball 132 made of ferromagnetic materials such as iron, iron compounds, preferably made of iron which can bear magnetic field effects, when a second TOOP 1 is placed on the top attached with a permanent magnet of a first spinning TOOP 1, it will spin topically on the top of the first one. Specially, these TOOPs 1 can spin over each other, but either be separated form each other, nor depend on spinning speed of each TOOP.

Fig.7 generally shows the key parts of creation of TOOP 1. Propeller 11 may be connected to the end of motor axis 1242 to create rotational momentum which helps TOOP 1 spin without falling. Permanent magnet 111 mounted on top of propeller 11 may allow a second TOOP 1 to spin on it but not dropping out. Brake pad 112 fastened on propeller 11 may untightly contact with brake neck 1211, and together with brake arm 113, create the deceleration function to the TOOP top. The rolling structure may be constructed of ball 132, which may be made of ferromagnetic materials such as iron, and rotate freely in the bottom open chamber 133 and blocker 131 allows TOOP 1 not to reduce its spinning speed when ball 132 is controlled in different directions. This rolling structure may be attached to lower end of the motor axis and freely rotate in the same direction with the rotational direction of the motor.

Fig. 8 is one another preferred embodiment showing controlling bar 2 in detailed. This controlling bar may consist of three elements: controlling handle made of light plastic; the handle head 21 having one small hole 23, preferably in shape of circle; and one permanent magnet 22, preferably in shape of cylinder with enough size to be fixed and engaged into hole 23. A player may control his/her TOOP 1 by the controlling bar 2 through controlling slot 33 of playing board 3 (referring to Fig. 9). Permanent magnet 22 has magnetic field effects on the rolling ball of spinning TOOP 1, and TOOP 1, at the same time, moves according to the controlling direction of the player.

Fig. 9 shows the top playing board. The playing board may be made of nonferromagnetic materials and has enough thickness so as not to obstruct the effects of magnetic field. This playing board may contain a board surface 31 reentrant in its center, thereby the tops intend to move into the center to collides each other if there is no action from controlling bar 2. The board wall may be designed high to prevent the top from dropping out of playing board 3. Two starting points 32 may be designed to be higher than the board surface and have their edges beveled at the board surface.

Operation of this game set may be as following: the player may activate TOOP 1 by turning on switch 1241 on the top body to start motor 1242 (spinning start), at the same time, he/her may firmly hold propeller 11 to give acceleration to body 12 for spinning. Then, TOOP is dropped into playing board 3, and he/her may take controlling bar 2 with a permanent magnet at its head into the lower side of board 3, then move the head with permanent magnet 22 to control moving direction of TOOP 1 as his/her wishes.

When playing an antagonistic game, two TOOPs (with different color and different logo on the top body to differentiate from each other) of two players may be activated to rotate, and placed at starting points 32, the TOOP tops may move to the playing board by an action of the players through controlling slot 2. Controlling slot 33 may be a narrow slot at the outer edge of the playing board 3. This slot's size may be small enough for the controlling bar to move easily around the playing surface. Players may direct their TOOPs to "attack" their opponent TOOP so as to make them fall.

For another way of playing, wherein a first TOOP top may be activated to rotate, and placed on playing board 3 or on any hard surface, a second TOOP may then be activated and placed on the top of first TOOP, then on a third TOOP, a forth TOOP and etc. The TOOP tops may spin above each other without either leaving or depending on speed of each other to create interestingly decorated toys. These "clusters/piles" of TOOPs may be taken to the antagonistic game; the winner is the one whose top cluster remains the most tops after "attacking" to make his competitors' cluster/pile of TOOPs fall or drop out.

With this game set of TOOPs, the tops may spin over each other to create an attractive decorative device. Or a game of two players may be performed, wherein each player controls one TOOP top or one cluster/pile of TOOPs, and, by using controlling bar to direct the moving path of his/her TOOP cluster/pile to "attract" and make his opponent's TOOP cluster/pile fall down.

Therefore, with such simple but creative structure, the TOOP top of the invention can achieve the following advantages:

- TOOP has ability to move easily on a playing surface due to its special rolling structure and controlling bars used by the players that broaden the players' activeness in an antagonistic game;

- TOOP can spin without falling when the power supply is not changed thanks to special structure and assembling of the propeller and rolling structure, so the game's attraction is increased, especially in antagonistic games;

- TOOP can save energy thanks to the structure and assembling of the propeller and rolling structure, so operating cost to the users is reduced;

- TOOP can be played safely thanks to the braking structure having simple but effective design and the propeller made of soft plastic material; - TOOPs can spin over each other during the time the power source remains thanks to its top and tip made of magnetized matetials, which creates a kind of attractive decoration toy;

- TOOPs and its accompanying set make up a highly attractive antagonistic top game set because sense of activeness of the players and spinning time of the top are significantly promoted;

- TOOP's best applications are to be safe toys for children or decorative devices.

While various preferred embodiments of the invention have been described, the description is intened to be exemplary, rather than limiting, and it will be apparent to those of ordinary skills in the art that many more modifications beside those described above are possible within the scope of the invention.