Toy gun with illuminated firing action

Abstract

A toy gun includes an array of light emitters, electronic circuitry controlling each light emitter of the array, and a light transmissive cover illuminated internally by the light emitters of the array. When controlled electronically to produce light chasing effects, the light emitters illuminate the external surface of the cover in a smooth-motion continuous manner. To achieve this, each emitter of the array is positioned so as to disperse light upon a respective target area of the cover, and adjacent light emitters of the array are so spaced from one another that adjacent respective target areas overlap or are at least contiguous.

1 . A toy gun, comprising:
 an array of light emitters;   electronic circuitry controlling each light emitter of the array; and   a light transmissive cover illuminated internally by the light emitters of the array, wherein each emitter of the array is positioned so as to disperse light upon a respective target area of the cover, and wherein adjacent light emitters of the array are so spaced from one another that adjacent said respective target areas overlap or are at least contiguous.   
   
   
       2 . The toy gun of  claim 1 , wherein the array is a one-dimensional array and wherein the cover forms part of a gun barrel of the toy gun. 
   
   
       3 . The toy gun of  claim 2 , wherein the light emitters of the array are mounted linearly upon a circuit board strip extending along at least a portion of the gun barrel. 
   
   
       4 . The toy gun of  claim 3 , wherein the cover is substantially cylindrical and the circuit board strip extends in a transverse sense substantially tangentially thereof, the cover having an outer dimension D, and wherein adjacent light emitters are spaced apart by a distance Y, wherein Y is greater than about 0.3D and less than about 1.5D. 
   
   
       5 . The toy gun of  claim 1 , wherein the cover comprises a substantially rigid outer layer, and a diffuser sheet located between the light emitters and the outer layer. 
   
   
       6 . The toy gun of  claim 5 , wherein the outer layer is substantially clear. 
   
   
       7 . The toy gun of  claim 6 , further comprising a coloured sheet situated between the diffuser sheet and the outer layer. 
   
   
       8 . The toy gun of  claim 5 , wherein the diffuser sheet is coloured and/or translucent. 
   
   
       9 . The toy gun of  claim 1 , wherein the cover is substantially rigid and light-diffusive. 
   
   
       10 . The toy gun of  claim 9 , wherein the cover is coloured.