Field of the Invention

This invention relates to flying discs and particularly to toy discs thrown by hand in such a way as to have both forward and angular momentum.

Background of the Invention

The type of toy with which. his invention is concerned is similar to discs marketed under the trademark Frisbee® " by Wham-O Mfg. Co. Such a toy has a relatively flat, circu¬ lar central plate with an outer rim curved away from the plate to form a shallow dish. The edge of the rim has a rounded cross section resembling an airfoil. The thickest part of the airfoil is not immediately adjacent the edge, but is perhaps one-third or so of the distance from the edge of the plate. The inwardly-facing surface of the airfoil sec¬ tion is substantially flat in cross section and, therefore, defines a generally cylindrical surface . The entire disc is molded of a suitable thermoplastic material, such as poly- ethylene, and the cylindrical configuration of the inwardly- facing surface of the rim makes it easy to remove the disc from the mold.

While the central section has been referred to as a plate, it need not be perfectly flat, although it may be. Frequently, this section is molded to have a slightly convex

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curvature as viewed from the side away from the rim. How¬ ever, the central surface is so nearly planar that, for de¬ scriptive simplicity, it will be referred to as planar here¬ inafter. Interest in the type of discs with which this invention is concerned is based on their flight characteristics. The shape of the disc gives it lift, when properly thrown, so that it does not simply sink to the ground as would a smooth, spherical ball of the same mass thrown with the same force. Some enthusiasts try to throw such a disc so that it flies as far as possible, and contests are held for that purpose. Other enthusiasts like to throw a flying disc of the shallow- dish type back and forth to each other, either keeping the disc in the air or bouncing it off the ground somewhere be- tween the players. Still other players try to cause their discs to follow unusual, curved flight paths.

As might be expected, the various requirements of dif¬ ferent players have led to different designs of Frisbee® discs, the only brand of flying discs seriously considered by expert players. Frisbee® is a registered trademark of Wham-0 Mfg. Co., San Gabriel, California, U.S.A. A main difference is in the weight, which may be as light as about 110 grams or as heavy as about 180 grams . Wind conditions have an impor¬ tant bearing on the particular discs that an enthusiast will select at a given time. Heavier ones are usually preferred in windy weather.

Although polyethylene does not shatter as would a more brittle material, it can be nicked, particularly when it is bounced off a paved surface or flies into an abrasive surface. The resulting projections from the originally smooth surface can make the disc painful to catch.

The flight characteristics of a flying disc are affected by the airfoil and surface configuration, especially on the convex surface. Such discs are normally thrown with the rim extending downwardly from the plate, which is equivalent to

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saying that the convex surfaces -face upwardly. For this reason, the convex surfaces will be referred to as the upper ones, and the concave surfaces as the lower ones in the fol¬ lowing description. There is a Right Hand Rule of Spinning Objects that is important in determining the flight path that will be fol¬ lowed by a spinning disc. It has been found desirable to mold slightly raised, concentrically circular ridges in the upper surface of a flying disc near the outer part thereof to reduce air drag and improve precessional qualities of the disc by counteracting the force produced by the Right Hand Rule just mentioned. U. S. Patent 3,359,678 to Headrick de¬ scribes such ridges', which interfere with air flow and there¬ fore are called "spoilers". It is thought that such concen- trie ring spoilers have the greatest effect when the forward velocity of flying discs in scientific terms is greatest re¬ lative to the wind speeds. Thus, the concentric ring spoil¬ ers are effective in flights for distance, but are apparently not so much so in shorter flights. Other publications that describe characteristics of

Frisbee® brand flying discs are the book, FRISBEE, by Stancil E. D. Johnston, M. D., published by Workman Publishing Com¬ pany, New York, and a paper entitled "Adaptation of the Frisbee Flight Principle to Delivery of Special Ordinance" by G. D. Stilley of Honeywell Incorporated and D. L. Carstens of the Naval Ammunition Depot, Crane, Indiana, and presented at the AIAA 2nd Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference at Palo Alto, California, September 11-13, 1972 (AIAA Paper No. 72-982) .

Objects and Summary of the Invention

It is one of the objects of this invention to provide a flying disc with improved flight characteristics.

Another object is to provide a flying disc with improved structural features.

Still another object is to provide a disc with snap-

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attachment means to adjust the flight characteristics .

Another object is to provide a disc with improved spoil ers that operate at low forward velocity of the disc.

A further object is to provide a disc with improved air foil.

A still further object is to provide a disc of improved strength-to-weight ratio.

A still further object is to increase the angular momen tum of a flyable toy disc. Yet another object is to provide a disc suitable for printing art work by photographic techniques.

A still further object is to provide a disc on which in dividual art work can be printed photographically.

Other objects will become apparent from the following detailed description and claims and the associated drawings.

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Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is a top view of a disc according to this inven¬ tion;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of a fragment of a disc of the type in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of a fragment of ano¬ ther embodiment of a disc similar to that in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of still another embo¬ diment of a disc similar to that in FIG. 1; FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of the structure in FIG. 4 at a later stage of construction;

FIGS. 6-8 are enlarged perspective views of fragments of different embodiments of spoilers that can be used;

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view of a fragment of a disc with an external snap-on rim cover;

FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view of a fragment of a disc with an illuminated snap-on ring;

FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view of a fragment of a disc with snap-in weighted rings; FIG. 12 is a cross sectional view of a fragment of a disc with an internally weighted rim;

FIG. 13 is a cross sectional view of a modified attach¬ ment means for joining a central web to an annular rim to form a flying disc;- and FIG. 14 is an enlarged cross sectional view of a frag¬ ment of a disc ring and the edge of a laminated web, and means for joining them together.

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Detailed Description of the Invention

FIG. 1 is a top view of a decorated disc comprising an annular member 21 and a circular central sheet, or web, 22, the perimeter of which is joined to the radially inner part the member 21. The top surface of the annular member 21 has a circular array of-spoilers 23, which are illustrated in this figure as a series of raised, narrow ridges, each of which extends in a substantially radial direction. Several embodiments of suitable spoilers will be described farther o in this description.

The central openings in the annular member 21 are cover ed by a disc of strong, lightweight material, such as Mylar (a trademark of DuPont Co.) or Estar brand film (a trademark of Eastman Kodak Co.), or similar polyester film that has a good strength-to-weight ratio, or a film of other suitable material, such as acrylic material or polycarbonate materi¬ als, or a laminate of polyethylene and polyester, or even cloth, such as denim. Mylar and other plastic films need only be of the order of about .007" to about 0.11" thick, which is thinner than even the thinnest polyethylene web tha can be satisfactorily molded integrally with the annular outer section.

The use of a lightweight, but strong, central web 22 has, as two of its most important advantages, substantially greater tear strength and lighter weight than a thin, inte¬ grally molded polyethylene web, which means that for a poly¬ ethylene molded annular member 21 of ^' exactly the same con¬ figuration, the two-part disc (annular member and web) will stand up under greater abuse than an integrally molded one- part disc. The greater concentration of weight in the outer annular member, or ring, results in increased angular momen¬ tum which, in turn, results in greater stability and flights of longer duration and distance for a given impetus. A Myla web 22 with a thickness of only .007" using .003" laminating material weighs approximately 12 grams and can replace an

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integrally molded central web portion weighing about 50 grams in existing discs, thus resulting in a weight reduction of about 24%. Since the reduced weight is in the central region and not in the outer ring, the weight of the latter automa- tically is a greater percentage of the smaller total weight, which yields longer flight times, slower velocity, and slower_ drop rate. This allows two players throwing such a disc back and forth to ^• each other more time to catch it. ^' Furthermore,, the Mylar or other plastic web is very smooth, which reduces drag and results in flights of still greater distance.

Tests made to determine the puncture strength of Mylar webs attached tautly across the opening formed by removing the integrally molded central polyethylene web of a Wham-O SuperPro Frisbee® disc and to compare the strength so raea- sured with the strength of the .079" thick integrally molded central web of mold #60 SuperPro Frisbee® discs were carried out. The round, or shank, end of a .089" drill bit was cut off perpendicular to its axis, and the intersection of the cutoff end and the cylindrical side was left sharp and not beveled. The bit was placed in a drill press vise with the squared-off end facing upwardly, and the vise was placed on a bathroom scale. The zero adjustment knob of the scale was turned to bring the scale pointer to zero, and the integrally molded web of a .079" thick mold #60 SuperPro Frisbee® disc was forced down on the drill bit until the web ruptured. The scale reading just before rupture was noted, and the same ex¬ periment was performed on five such Frisbee® discs. The ave¬ rage of the five scale readings thus obtained was 19.4 pounds. The same setup was then used to rupture .007" thick 1am- inated circular Mylar webs, the peripheries of which had been attached tautly to the inner perimeter of SuperPro rings . Six such Mylar webs were ruptured, and the average rupture pressure was 25 pounds, which is 26% higher than the rupture pressure of the polyethylene, even though the Mylar web was much thinner.

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A similar set of experiments was performed using a blun presser, the .116" diameter relatively spherically rounded e of a miniature toggle switch lever. In this set of experi¬ ments, five Frisbee® discs of a type having an integrally molded polyethylene web thickness of .074" were used, and th average rupture pressure was 32.6 pounds. The average of si readings of the same type of Mylar web subjected to the same presser was 50.67 pounds, which indicated the Mylar web was 54% stronger than the much thicker polyethylene in withstand ing pressure from a blunt instrument.

Still another advantage of a Mylar web is that it is a suitable photographic base on which to reproduce artistic de signs or personal photographs or commercial messages. FIG. shows a simple design, the yin and yang of Chinese antiquity but this is only a simple illustration. Personal photograph can be printed on a Mylar web or the like, such as Kodak Extacolor I.D. Print Material #4023, with a white back Ester base, to provide incontrovertible proof of ownership in case the disc is commingled with other discs on a beach or other public play area. Designs on the plastic or cloth webs can also be printed by silk screening, and cloth webs can be em¬ broidered.

One surface of the Mylar ^' web can also (or can alterna¬ tively) be given a reflective coating to serve as a signal- ling mirror, or even a solar stove, by covering the concave side of the disc with a rubber membrane that closes the sp c airtight and then pulling the central part of the membrane t create a spherically concave depression in the Mylar web to concentrate reflected sunlight. Another alternative is to leave the Mylar or other plastic web transparent, but form one or both of its surfaces into a Fresnel lens to concen¬ trate the sun' s rays.

FIG. 2 shows part of the annular ring 21 in cross sec¬ tion. In this embodiment, the perimeter of web 22 is glued to the upper surface of the inner perimeter of the ring 21,

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and the radially inner ends of the spoilers 23 terminate at the periphery of the web. The adhesive may be neoprene with 1,1,1-trichloroethane as a thinner. The part of the surface of the ring to which the web is to adhere is oxidized, either chemically or by being directly heated with a flame just long enough to make that part of the surface of the ring 21 slight¬ ly shiny. To apply the flame, the ring may be mounted on a turntable and rotated at about 20 to 100 r.p.m. for several seconds, time enough for the turntable to rotate from about two to twenty revolutions with ^' propane gas flame playing on the surface to be oxidized. The oxidized inner annular part of the ring 21 is coated with the adhesive as is the part of the web 22 to be joined to the ring. The adhesive is allowed to dry for about 15 minutes to 3 hours on the web and the ring before they are brought into contact with each other.

Then the adhesive-coated outermost annular part of the web 22 is pressed against the adhesive-coated innermost annular part of the ring 21 with a force of about 250 to 1000 lb./sq. in. pressure for about 10 seconds or longer. A pressure of 500 lb./sq. in. for 15 seconds has been found quite satisfactory. While one inner section 24 of the ring 21 is relatively straight in this cross sectional view and, therefore, cylin¬ drical, or even slightly tapered, in its full, three-dimen¬ sional form, a higher inner surface part 26 is distinctly curved to fit better on the tips of the fingers of a person throwing the disc.

In" FIG I 3, the web 22 is captured between the inner part 27 of the ring 21 and the underside 28 of the section of the ring beneath the spoilers 23. In fact, the spoilers 23 in this ebodiment may, instead of being integrally molded with the ring, be individual strips of suitable material, such as a cloth-based tape, one surface of which is coated with pres¬ sure-sensitive adhesive that is capable of sticking to the material 22. As a further alternative, the peripheral region of the web 22 may be molded within the inwardly-extending

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part of the ring 21 and not merely between the spoilers 23 and an unbroken annular region therebelow.

FIG. 4 shows an annular member 21 modified by having a plurality of projections 28 molded near its inner perimeter and extending substantially parallel to the axis of the annu lar member. The web 22 has a plurality of holes 29 that fit over the projections 28. For adequate dispersion of stresse there should be preferably about 50 pins 28 and holes 29-. FIG. 5 shows the same structure as FIG.. 4, but at a later step of manufacture after the pins 28 have been heated and flattened out. FIG. 5 also shows a cross section of an annular ring 31 of paper having pressure-sensitive cement on its lower surface so that it can be sealed over the flattene pins . The Mylar webs 22 attached to annular rings 21, as show in FIGS. 1-5, are not only more resistant to rupture by ei¬ ther a rounded punch or a sharp-edged punch than are the integrally molded polyethylene webs, but are more resistant to deflection. For example, a two-pound weight resting in the center of a Frisbee® disc having a web thickness of about .055" causes a deflection of about .44". A laminated Mylar web attached to the outer ring of the same type of Frisbee® disc, after the integrally molded web has been removed, is deflected only about .16", which is about 36% of the deflec- tion of the much thicker polyethylene web. It has been sug¬ gested that too thin a web (of the integrally molded type) is deflected too much in flight, which interferes with its fly¬ ing characteristics. The much more rigid web of taut Mylar material avoids this disadvantage. FIGS. 6-8 show radial spoilers that may be used instead of the spoilers 23 that extend partly in a radial direction and partly tangentially. The spoilers in FIGS. 6-8 are inte¬ grally molded on the upper surface of the annular member 21. In FIG. 6, the spoilers 32 have a rectangular cross section; in FIG. 7 the spoilers have a rounded and, in FIG. 8, in fact, a sinusoidal, cross section; and

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the spoilers 34 have a triangular cross section. The spoil¬ ers should be balanced about the axis of the disc, but they may or may not be uniformly angularly spaced apart. For ex¬ ample, the spoilers as shown in any of FIGS. 6-8 could be separated into three groups with those in the first group having one angular spacing, those in the second group having a second spacing, and those in the third group having a third spacing. The three spacings could be selected to set up sound vibrations of the proper relative frequencies to pro- duce, for example, C, E, and G notes, resulting in a C major chord.

The radial spoilers also strengthen the ring 21 by act¬ ing as rip stops for any rip in the tangential direction and within the radial extent of the spoilers . The radial spoil- ers also reduce the tendency to follow a path that curls at the end of a flight, as some flying discs are wont to do.

FIGS. 9-11 show discs 21 with snap attachments. In FIG. 9, an external snap-on cover 36 fits over the down-turned rim of the ring 21 to protect it and to add weight at the peri- phery of the disc. The cover 36 also changes the curvature of the outer surface of the airfoil. However, the original cross section of the ring 21 may be formed with a flatter airfoil so that the snap-on cover provides only an ordinary amount of curvature. In addition, the cover 36 may be of uniform thickness throughout to avoid changing the airfoil shape.

FIG. 10 also shows _# snap-on external ring 37 that is generally hollow and contains one or more light-emitting diodes 38 and a printed circuit 39 to control the light of the L.E.D.'s to produce an interesting stroboscopic effect at night. Except for the electrical components, the ring 37 is hollow, which provides enough buoyancy to be certain that the disc will float if it falls into water.

FIG. 11 shows a disc with two snap-in rings 41 and 42 for extra weight. The rings may be graded in some specific

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FIG. 11 shows a disc with two snap-in rings 41 and 42 for extra weight. The rings may be graded in some specific ratio, such as 10-gram intervals. For example, the ring 41 ^• may be representative of 10-gram, 20-gram, and 30-gram weights. The ring 42 is additionally weighted by a loop of steel 43 that is .25" wide and .010" to .020" thick. In fact, the ring 21 may be molded of polyethylene. The snap-i rings are molded to have a tight interference fit with the down-turned rim of the ring 21. Also, the inner surfaces of the ring toes-in slightly. The toe-in angle is known as the Angle of Francioni.

FIG. 12 shows a ring 21 with a steel band 44 molded int it to add weight. The total weight may be 200 grams.

The weighted rings 21 in FIGS. 11 and 12 are less in- clined to remain deformed than are existing flying discs. I deformed in any dirction, they spring back immediately into their proper shape. This minimizes wobbling during flight.

FIG. 12 also illustrates an arrangement for printing in formation photographically on the web 22. The web may be photosensitized Mylar material coated on both surfaces with sheets of 'opaque paper 46 and 47 attached by pressure-sensi¬ tive adhesive to the Mylar web. The top paper 46 layer is peeled off to allow the photosensitized Mylar web to be ex¬ posed to the desired image, and then the latent image is de- veloped. The bottom paper 47 is preferably removed before the latent image in the Mylar web is developed.

FIG. 13 illustrates still another way to attach the web 22 to the ring 21. An annular ring 48 of paper is coated to and bottom with pressure-sensitive cement. It is then place on the ring 21 to be affixed to the top surface of the ring 48.

FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of just the innermost part of the outer ring 21 similar to that in FIG. 1, for example, but showing only the part to which the web is attached. The web, indicated by reference numeral 49, includes a central

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photographic film base or even paper. The central disc 51 is entirely enclosed by two laminated discs 52 and 53 of some¬ what larger diameter than the disc 51. The laminated disc 52 is a sheet of extruded polyester and polyethylene. The layer 54 of polyester is on the outside and is approximately .005" thick, while the layer 56 of polyethylene is approximately .002" thick and is on the inside in contact with the disc 51.. The other extruded disc 53 has corresponding layers of .005" thick polyester 57 and .002" thick polyethylene 58, and an annular band of the edges of the polyethylene layers 56 and 58 are sealed together to encase the disc 51 snugly.

The annular peripheral region of the polyester layer 54 is sealed adhesively to the inner annular perimeter of the upper surface of the ring 21 by coating with neoprene plus 1,1,1-trichloroethane the surfaces to be joined. The proce¬ dure has been described previously and need not be repeated. FIG. 14 also shows two members 59 and 61 to apply pressure to join the disc 49 to the ring 21. The member 59 is a disc of steel or other suitable material capable of withstanding high pressure and has an upturned rim 62 with a frustoconical upper surface 63 having an included angle c . of between 150° and 180° . The outer peripheral region of the layer 54 and the inner peripheral region of the ring 21 are pressed to¬ gether by the members 59 and 61. The frustoconical shape of the surface 63 helps to stretch the disc 49 taut so that it will remain that way after the pressure is removed.

While this invention has been described in terms of spe¬ cific embodiments, those skilled in the art will be aware of further modifications that can be made within the true scope of the invention.

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