Toy ball with intermeshed gears

Abstract

An intermeshed gear toy, comprising at least eight primary gears, the primary gears spatially interrelated such that they are located at what would be the corners of a virtual cube, the primary gears directly or indirectly connected such that when any one of the primary gears is turned, all of the primary gears turn, and at least six additional gears, at least some of which are located along the faces of the virtual cube, each additional gear intermeshed with one or more of the primary gears, to increase the motion of the device such that all of these additional gears also move when any one primary gear is turned.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An intermeshed gear toy, comprising: 
 at least eight primary gears, the primary gears spatially interrelated such that they are located at what would be the corners of a virtual cube, the primary gears directly or indirectly connected such that when any one of the primary gears is turned, all of the primary gears turn.    
     
     
         2 . The toy of  claim 1  further comprising at least six additional gears, at least some of which are located along the faces of the virtual cube, each additional gear intermeshed with one or more of the primary gears, to increase the motion of the device such that all of these additional gears also move when any one primary gear is turned.  
     
     
         3 . The toy of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the primary gears comprise a user-operable handle and an integral gear located below the handle.  
     
     
         4 . The toy of  claim 3 , further comprising a cover member located under the handles and above the integral gears, to allow the handles to be operated by a user.  
     
     
         5 . The toy of  claim 4 , further comprising a core portion located within the cover member.  
     
     
         6 . The toy of  claim 5 , wherein the core portion carries the primary gears.  
     
     
         7 . The toy of  claim 6 , wherein the core portion carries the additional gears.  
     
     
         8 . The toy of  claim 5 , wherein the core portion comprises a plurality of identical core members engaged with one another to create the core portion.  
     
     
         9 . The toy of  claim 8 , wherein the core portion is made up of six core members.  
     
     
         10 . The toy of  claim 8  wherein the core portion is made up of two core members.  
     
     
         11 . The toy of  claim 9 , wherein each core member comprises a central post and four prongs equally spaced circumferentially around the post.  
     
     
         12 . The toy of  claim 11 , wherein the core portion defines eight primary gear-receiving posts, each created by three adjacent core member prongs.  
     
     
         13 . The toy of  claim 12 , wherein the additional gears are located on the central posts of the core members.  
     
     
         14 . The toy of  claim 4 , further comprising caps engaged with each additional gear and lying in part outside of the cover member, to hold the additional gears in place relative to the cover member.  
     
     
         15 . The toy of  claim 3 , wherein the user-operable handle is hemispherical.  
     
     
         16 . The toy of  claim 3 , wherein there are eight primary gears, each comprising a user-operable handle and an integral gear.  
     
     
         17 . An intermeshed gear toy, comprising: 
 eight primary gears, one or more of the primary gears comprising a user-operable handle and an integral gear located below the handle, the primary gears spatially interrelated such that they are located at what would be the corners of a virtual cube, the primary gears directly or indirectly connected such that when any one of the primary gears is turned, all of the primary gears turn;    six additional gears located along the faces of the virtual cube, each of such six additional gears intermeshed with one or more of the primary gears, to increase the motion of the device such that all of the six additional gears also move when any one primary gear is turned;    a cover member located under the handles and above the integral gears, to allow the handles to be operated by a user; and    a core portion located within the cover member, wherein the core portion carries the primary gears and the additional gears.    
     
     
         18 . An intermeshed gear toy, comprising: 
 eight primary gears, one or more of the primary gears comprising a user-operable handle and an integral gear located below the handle, the primary gears spatially interrelated such that they are located at what would be the corners of a virtual cube, the primary gears directly or indirectly connected such that when any one of the primary gears is turned, all of the primary gears turn;    six additional gears located along the faces of the virtual cube, each of such six additional gear intermeshed with one or more of the primary gears, to increase the motion of the device such that all six of the additional gears also move when any one primary gear is turned;    a cover member located under the handles and above the integral gears, to allow the handles to be operated by a user; and    a core portion located within the cover member, wherein the core portion carries the primary gears and the additional gears, and wherein the core portion comprises two or more engaged core members, the core portion defining eight posts that carry the primary gears, and six additional posts that carry the additional gears.