Prior art toys are known in which the toys are pushed or pulled along a floor or other surface to open and close jaws held in the toys, as the toys are moved. Examples of such toys are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 757,834 issued Apr. 19, 1904; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,649,072 issued Nov. 15, 1927. In these patents, the mouth of a toy animal is operated as the toy animal is moved over a surface by either a rotating wheel having a crank connected between the wheel and the mouth, or a system of a pulleys, ropes and wire springs which expand and contract as the toy is pulled.
Other mechanical toys are known in which the mouth of the toy is operated upon actuation of a further portion of the toy, such as the tail of an alligator, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,017,718 issued Jan. 23, 1962. In addition, toy games such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,065, disclose jaws of a toy alligator or the like into which game objects are placed. Each game object placed in the lower jaw of the alligator moves it further from a separate upper jaw until the lower jaw reaches an opened position where a latch is released to quickly close the jaws, thereby simulating the snapping jaw action of an alligator.
However, none of the known prior art discloses a push toy of the type disclosed herein in which a wheeled vehicle may be pushed across a surface and selectively either open and close the jaws of the vehicle, or merely move the vehicle in a play environment without operating the mouth.