GB2054393A - Model building tiles - Google Patents

Abstract

A planar, triangular building tile 10 has three slots 42, 44, 46 extending inwardly from each corner and a plurality of slots along each side which slots permit similar tiles to be interconnected, some of the slots being at right angles to their associated side and others being at angles of 54 DEG , 60 DEG and 841 DIVIDED 2 DEG relative their associated sides. The tile has ridged flaps 52, 48, 50 lying in a plane offset from the plane of the remainder of the tile to permit two or more tiles to engage such that they lie in substantially the same plane. Some of the slots 30, 36 have side walls which diverge from one face of the tile 10 to the other, so that similar tiles can be connected other than at right angles to one another. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A building tile This invention concerns building tiles primarily for recreational and educational purposes.

A square building tile having a respective slot extending perpendicularly inwardly from the centre of each side is known. Various structures can be produced from tiles of this type by fitting the tiles together through interengagement of their slots, However the versatility of such a tile is limited in that any pair of tiles can only be fitted together in one way namely such that they lie in perpendicular planes, intersecting one another along a line bisecting both tiles.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a building tile of greater versatility so that a wider variety of, and more complex, structures may be erected from a plurality of these tiles than is possible using the known tiles mentioned above.

According to one aspect of this invention a building tile comprises a polygonal substantially planar element having extending inwardly from its sides a plurality of slots, at least some of which slots are arranged at different angles relative to the associated sides.

For example, some of the slots may extend perpendicularly relative to the associated sides whereas, in the case of a triangular element, as is prefered, others of the slots are disirably arranged at angles of 54 , 60 and 84l2 relative to the associated sides.

Advantageously, at least one of the slots has a side wall or side walls arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis of the slot but inclined relative to a plane through this axis perpendicular to the plane of the tile. This enables two tiles to be fitted together in such a mannerthatthey do not lie in perpendicular planes.

Furthermore, the slots may be of unequal lengths; and slots may be provided at the corners of the tile.

The features mentioned above enable a relatively large number of different structures including pyramid constructions and ridged roof constructions, to be erected as compared with the known tiles described.

According to another feature of the invention, the building tile is provided with at least one flap offset from the general plane of the tile and arranged to form with body of the tile a resilient clip whereby the tile is capable of engaging a further tile such that the two tiles lie in substantially the same plane.

Ridges may also be provided on the tile in this case for promoting a better connection between the two tiles.

The invention is described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a tile according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of two such tiles fitted together so as to lie in substantially the same plane; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of two of the tiles fitted together so as to lie in perpendicular planes; Fig. 4 is a view of a pyramid construction erected from tiles corresponding to the tile illustrated in Fig.

1, and Fig. 5 is a view of a ridged roof construction produced from tiles corresponding to the tile illustrated in Fig. 1.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, the illustrated tile comprises a substantially planar element 10 in the form of an equilateral triangle. A plurality of slots 16, 18 , . .. 40,extend inwardly from the sides 12, 12' and 12" of the element, these slots being arranged at various angles relative to the associated sides, and three slots 42, 44, 46 extend inwardly from the corners 14, 14' and 14" ofthe element, bisecting the angle at each corner.

More specifically, the slots 16, 20, 24, 26, 32, 34 and 40 are disposed at right angles to the associated sides; the slots 18 and 22 extend at angles of 54" relative to the associated side; the slots 28 and 38 make angles of 60 with the associated sides; and the slots 30 and 36 are disposed at angles of 84 relative to the associated sides.

As can be seen, the slots vary in length as well as in disposition. Furthermore, whereas each slot has two side walls extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the respective slot, in the case of each of the slots 30 and 36 one of the side walls is inclined at an angle of 5210 relative to a plane through the respective axis perpendicular to the plane of the element 10. In other words the two side walls of each slot 30, 36 diverge from one face of the element 10 towards the opposite face. Referring to Fig. 1 the side walls of the slots 30, 36 diverge from the front face as illustrated towards the near face. The remaining slots each have two parallel side walls.

In additlon to the slots, the element 10 is formed with three flaps 48, 50 and 52 offset from the plane of the element 10 and defined between pairs of adjacent slots 18, 20; 20, 22; and 28, 30 respectively.

These flaps are all formed in a similar manner as described with reference to the flap 48. The tongue 54 defined between the slots 18, 20 is bent away from the body of the element 10 along a line 56 and back again towards the plane of the element 10 along a line 58 so that the flap 48 thus formed is raised from the front face of the element 10 and is inclined towards this face. The element 10 is made of a plastics material giving the flap 48 some resilience relative to the body of the element 10 and as a result the flaps 48, 50 together with the end regions of the tongues defined between the slots 42, 18 and 22, 44 provide a resilient clip for engaging another tile as described below. Likewise, the flap 52 and the end regions of the tongues defined between the slots 46, 30 and 28, 44 form a resilient clip so that resilient clips are provided on the two sides 12, 12' of the tile.

The third side 12" has no flaps and thus has a generally flat edge region. In order to promote a secure connection between the two tiles, ridges 60 of sawtooth section are disposed parallel to the associated side 12, 12' or 12" on both the front and rear faces of the flaps 48, 50, on the rear face of the flap 52, and on both the front and rear faces of the tongue defined between the slots 36, 38.

Other features of the illustrated tile include the provision of cut away corners 62 for reasons set out below, and recesses 64 at the free ends of the slots 44, 46 for enabling certain connections as described below to be achieved.

Taking a pair of the tiles illustrated in Fig. 1,these can basically to fitted together in two ways, namely by the engagement of a side of one tile in a resilient clip of the other or by the interengagement of respective slots of the two tiles. An example of the former possibility is illustrated in Fig. 2 and an example of the latter in Fig. 3.

Referring firstly to Fig. 2, a first tile 10 is engaged with a secondsimilartile 10suchthatthetwotiles lie in substantially the same plane. The flat edge region of the tile 10 is received between the flaps 48, 50 and the end regions of the tongues defined between the slots 42, 18 and 22, 44 and is held there by the engagement of the ridges 60 on the flat edge region behind the ridges 60 on the rear faces of the flaps 48, 50 and by the resilience of the flaps 48, 50 which are arranged to be pressed away from the plane ofthe element 10 upon the insertion of anothertile between these and the tongues formed by the slots 42, 18 and 22, 44.

It is feasible in practice forthe two tiles also to be joined in the manner of Fig. 2 along their sides 12', 12" respectively or along the sides having respectively the flaps 48, 50 and the flap 52. This latter connection is achieved by fitting the side 12', apart from the flap 52, of one tile into the resilient clip on the side 12 of the other tile, with the rear face of the flap 52 of the first tile engaging the front faces of the flaps 48, 50 of the second. The connection is rendered firm by the engagement of the ridges of the flap 52 behind the ridges on the front faces of the flaps 48, 50.

Using a side to side connection such as that illustrated in Fig. 2 walls of tiles can be constructed.

Should the separation of two tiles interconnected in this manner be desired, the two tiles are merely bent about their interengaging sides, to release the ridges 60 from behind one another, and drawn apart.

Turning now to Fig. 3, two tiles slotted together along their slots 46 and 44 respectively are illustrated. Since these slots have parallel side walls the two tiles lie perpendicularto one anotherwhen connected in this manner. The lengths of the slots 44 and 46 are identical and are selected so that when two tiles are joined by interengagementofsuch slots the vertex of each tile at the outer end of the respective one of the interengaged slots almost reaches but does not project beyond the facing side of the outer tile.

Using a side-to-side connection such as that illustrated, in Fig. 2, further tiles may be connected to the pair shown in Fig. 3 along the sides 12', 12" of the upper as illustrated and along the sides 12, 12' of the lower as illustrated to form two perpendicular walls.

The reason for providing each tile with cut away cor ners becomes evident in this instance since the entrances to the slots 44, 46 respectively of the two tiles shown in Fig. 3 must be freely accessible when other tiles are connected to these two in side-to-side relationship to form the two walls. These entrances would be obscured if the corners were not cut away.

Equally, the side 12"ofthe lowertile in Fig. 3 may, for example, be connected in side-to-side relationship with the side 12' of a further tile, this connection showing the need for the provision of the recesses 64 since the end of the slot 46 of the upper till is expected to receive the flap 52 of the further tile as well as the body of the lower tile illustarted.

Of course it is possible to achieve configurations other than that shown in Fig. 3 by interengaging respective slots of two tiles. For example, any one of the slots 16, 24, 26, 32, 34, 40 of one tile may be fitted to such a slot of anothertife These slots are of an identical length which is chosen so that there is no obstruction of the slots 44,46 when tiles are slotted together using a respective pair of the slots 16, 24, 26, 32, 34, 40 of the two tiles Another possibility is to fit two tiles together using orte of the slots 28, 38 of each tile. By virtue of the 60 angle between each slot 28, 38 and the associated side, this results in a connection wherein each tile lies parallel to a respective side of the other tile.

Turning now to Fig. 4, this shows a pyramid construction achieved by fitting together eight tiles, similarto the one illustrated in Fig. 1, using only the slots 30, 36. For each tile, the two slots 30, 36, which are identical in length, are arranged such that upon engagement with the slots 30, 36 respectively of two further tiles, the two further tiles lie at an angle relative to one another with their sides 12', 12" respectively meeting along a common line of contact. More especially, the angle of the slots 30, 36 of any tile relative to the associated sides 12', 12" of that tile and the angle of divergence of the side walls of the slots 30, 36 are mathematically determined so that when two further tiles are connected to the tile in the manner just described, these two further tiles form two faces of a pyramid.It has been calculated that the angles of 84l2 and 5l2 for the slots 30, 36 and their side walls, as mentioned previously, fulfil this requirement in the case of a pyramid having a square base and fourtriangularfaces.

Finally, Fig. 5 illustrates a roof construction produced when the slots 42 of two lower tiles as illustrated are engaged with the slots 18, 22 of another, upper tile. The slots 18, 22 are ofthe same length, this length together with the length of the slot 42 and the angle of 54" for the slots 18, 22 being selected such that the vertices 14 of the two lower tiles lie close to but do not interfere with one another in the erection illustrated in Fig. 5.

It will be appreciated that a wider variety of structurves can be achieved using a plurality of the tiles than has been described. Amongst the structures possible are models of: vertical walls, horizontal walls, floors, flat roofs, causeways, pyramids, gulleys, gable roofs, hipped roofs, and abstract shapes both symmetrical, such as a diamond shape, and unsymmetrical. The structures may be mounted on a base or suspended, this latter being possible at least partially by virtue of the firm connection which may be achieved in the manner shown in Fig. 2 as a result of the interengaging ridges 60. The versatility of the tile may be seen from the fact that there are at least 134 different ways of joining two tiles together, 7,000 different ways of joining three tiles together, and 10,000,000 ways of jointing four tiles together.

Claims (11)

1. A building tile comprising a polygonal substantially planar element having extending inwardly from its sides a plurality of slots, at least some of which slots are arranged at different angles relative to the associated sides.

2. A building tile as claimed in claim 1, in which some of the slots extend perpendicularly relative to the associated sides whereas others of the slots are arranged at various angles relative to the associated sides.

3. A building tile as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which at least one of the slots has a side wall or side walls arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis of the slot but inclined relative to a plane through this axis perpendicular to the plane of the tile, whereby two tiles can be fitted together in such a mannerthatthey do not lie in perpendicular planes.

4. A building tile as claimed in claim 1,2 or 3 in which the slots are of unequal lengths.

5. A building tile as claimed in any preceding claim in which slots are provided at the corners of the tile.

6. A building tile as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the building tile is provided with at least one flap offset from the general plane of the tile and arranged to form with the body of the tile a resilient clip whereby the tile is capable of engaging a further tile such that the two tiles lie in substantially the same plane.

7. A building tile as claimed in any preceding claim in which ridges are provided on the tile for promoting a better connection between the two tiles.

8. A building tile as claimed in any preceding claim in which the tile is triangular and has a slot at each corner and at least four slots along each side.

9. A building tile as claimed in claim 8, when dependent on claim 6, in which at least one flap is provided on two sides.

10. A building tile as claimed in any preceding claim, in which some of the slots are arranged at angles of 544 60 and 84l2 relative to the associated sides.

11. A building tile constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the drawings.