A patent was issued to Louis Marx in 1924 for this mechanical toy football player, which kicks balls queued up at the end of the platform.
My invention relates to that type of mechanically operated toys in which means are employed for imparting movements to various members in the figures supported on a platform or standard containing the motor mechanisms, and the object of my present invention is, among other things, to provide an improved toy of this class in which a spring-impelled member of a toy human figure is intermittently retracted against the tension of the spring by a motor mechanism, and thereafter suddenly released at a certain point in the normal operation of such motor mechanism.
In the present embodiment the figure of a football player is positioned upon a platform in which a hinged leg is normally forwardly impelled by a spring coiled at the hip joint in combination with a spring motor to withdraw such leg against the coil spring and thereafter release such leg when withdrawn to the limit, which is quickly swung forwardly by the spring to kick a ball arranged in the arc of movement of the foot at the end of the toy ... My improved toy also embodies an inclined run-way mounted on the platform for automatically feeding a plurality of balls to be successively struck from the "kick-off" position in the normal operation of the toy.