Toy gun to shoot rubber bands: US Pat. No. 7,690,371

U.S. Patent No. 7,690,371, issued on April 6, 2010 to The Oldtimer, LLC of Buena Park, CA, discloses a toy gun for launching rubber bands.

The patent discloses a toy gun having a retaining member that holds a taut rubber band until the release mechanism (e.g., a spring-loaded clothes pin) pushes the rubber band off the retaining member, thereby launching the rubber band.  Besides the handgun version shown above, the patent also describes a rifle version as well.

The technology disclosed by the patent certainly is much simpler than the technologies of most of the other patents described in the OC TechInnovation™ blog.  However, I got a kick out of the description on the company’s website of how the invention came to be: a father promising to fix his son’s toy, coming up with an innovative solution, and creating a family business and an opportunity to teach his sons about the value of money and hard work.