GB2083368A - Intellectual training toy - Google Patents

Abstract

A number of marbles attracted by a magnet are placed on a base. A transparent cover is put over the marbles. A spacing is provided between the base and the cover so as to allow the marbles to be movable therebetween. When an operating stick comes close to the top surface of the cover, a magnet disposed at the lower end of the operating stick attracts a marble between the base and the cover. The thus attracted marble may be moved to the desired position by moving the operating stick along the top surface of the cover. When the operating stick is moved away from the cover, the marble is dropped on the base. In this manner, various figures may be depicted by a number of moved marbles. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Intellectual training toy This invention relates to an intellectual training toy wherein a plurality of marbles is placed on a sheet of base one after another whereby various figures or patterns may be depicted by these marbles.

Well-known intellectual training toys of the type described have been proposed for placing a plurality of marbles on the board one after another directly by hand or using a pincette to depict a favourite figure. In these conventional toys, it is very easy to place the marbles on the desired locations. Accordingly, the aforementioned toys are aimed at moving the marbles to depict various favourite figures rather than moving the marbles for play. In this respect, usefulness therefor is highly rated.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an intellectual training toy wherein children may move marbles for play. That is, in this toy, the marbles are covered witiî a cover so that children may not direct! vouch marbles by hand, but they can ingeniously utilise a magnet over the cover to move the marbles.

It is a further object of this invention 0 provide an intellectual training toy wherein a plurality of marbles may be placed in desired position while moving them hard whereby favourite patterns, figures, letters and the like may be depicted by the thus placed marbles.

It is another object of this invention to provide an intellectual training toy wherein even if, during moving a plurality of marbles one after another, the base with several marbles already placed thereon is erroneously shaken as being beside oneself with movement of marbles, these marbles already placed may be maintained in a neatly positioned state, and as a result the marbles may be desperately moved.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1(A) is a plan view showing a body of an intellectual training toy: Figure 1(B) is a plan view showing the state where a plurality of cards is placed one over another; Figure 2 is an enlarged fragrnentar, view in plan of the body; Figure 3 is a sectional view taken C. line Ill-Ill of Fig. 2; Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 2; Figure 5 is a partially cutaway and partially omitted front view of an operating stick; Figure 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a marble; Figure 7 is a view showing the state where marbles are moved by the operating stick;; Figure 8 is a view showing the state where the operating stick exerts its magnetic force on the marbles; Figures 9 and 10 respectively show examples of patterns depicted by a plurality of marbles; Figure 11 is a plan view showing a modified form of a marble; Figure 12 is a sectional view taken on line Xll-Xll of Fig. 11; and Figure 13 is a partially cutaway plan view of marbles being manufactured.

Referring now to Fig. 1 (A) and (B), there is shown the whole intellectual training toy, which comprises a body 11, an operating stick 12 and a plurality of cards 13, 1 3.

First, the body 11 will be described in detail with reference to Figs 1 to 4.

The body 11 has a sheet of base 1 5 at the lowermost portion thereof. The base 1 5 is formed of a material composed of a mixture of 70% styrene and 30% high impact styrene and has a sufficient rigidity, that is, hardness whereby a central portion of the base 1 5 is not flexed downwardly. It will be noted that other suitable hard materials may also be used to form the base. In order to provide such hardness as noted above, a rib may be disposed beneath the central portion of the base 15. The base 1 5 is also coloured in white to obtain a better contrast to colour of marbles 30 later described. The surface of the base is finished smooth so that the marbles 30 may be slid well thereon.The base 1 5 has two zones thereon, one for a play zone 1 6 on which marbles 30 are placed for play, and the other for a storage zone 1 7 on which unused marbles 30 are kept Between these zones 1 6 and 1 7 is formed an introducing portion 1 8 adapted to introduce the marbles 30 into the zone 1 6 from the zone 1 7. This introducing portion 1 8 comprises an inclined surface as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

In the play zone 16, the base 1 5 has its top surface formed with a number of recesses 20 adapted to receive therein the marbles 30.

These recesses 20 are regularly arranged crosswise. At the edge of the base 1 5 there is formed a support member 21 surrounding the play zone 1 6 and the storage zone 17, and externally of the support member there is formed a suitable number of spacers 22 in a suitably spaced relation with one another.

A cover 23 is put on the support member 21. This cover 23 is provided to cover the aforementioned zones 1 6 and 1 7 and is formed of a transparent plastic material through which the zones are visible. The cover 23 is formed of a material having a rigidity enough to prevent, when an infant holds the central portion of the cover by hand, that portion held from being greatly flexed towards the base 1 5. A spacing between the lower surface of the cover 23 and the upper surface of the base 1 5 is formed as described later.

The reference numeral 24 designates a frame, which is formed of a hard plastic material similarly to the base 15. The frame 24 has its lower surface formed with spacers 25 to be positioned opposite the spacers 22 on the base 15. Ends of screw rods, which extend from the lower surface of the base 1 5 into the spacers 22, are threaded into the spacers 25 so that the base 1 5 and the frame 24 are formed into an integral structure. A keep member 26 is formed in an inner peripheral edge of the frame 24. This keep member 26 is provided to hold the edge portion of the cover 23 placed on the support member 21 to prevent levitation of the cover 23. Further, the frame 24 has a part of the top surface thereof formed with a recess 27 adapted to receive therein an operating stick 12.

Next, the marbles 30 will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 6.

The marble 30 comprises three elements 31, 32 and 33. The elements 31 and 32 are respectively formed of sheet metal, and an edge 31a of the element 31 is bent over an edge 32a of the element 32 to provide an integral formation. It should be noted that the elements may also be formed of magnetic material instead of sheet metal.

The element 33 is formed of a plastic material, and a lower end 33a thereof has its surface formed smooth so that said surface may be slid well on the upper surface of the base 1 5. The element 33 is made integral with the element 32 by a connecting member 32b obtained or formed by downwardly bending the central portion of the element 32.

The dimension of the marbles 30 is predetermined in connection with the dimension of the recesses 20 in the base 1 5. That is, the outside diameter of the element 31 is made slightly smaller than the diameter of an opening of the recesses 20, and the outside diameter of the element 33 is made slightly smaller than the diameter of a bottom surface 20a of the recesses 20. With this arrangement, the marble 30 may be received into the recess 20 without tightly and without large play, as clearly shown in Fig. 7. The height of the back of the marble 30 is made slightly greater than the depth of the recess 20 to the extent that a portion upwardly of the largest diameter portion of the marble 30 extends from the recess 20.A spacing formed between the lower surface of the cover 23 and the top surface of the base 1 5 is that a clearance may be formed between the upper surface of one marble 30 fitted in the recess 20 and the lower surface of the cover 23 so that the other marble 30 may pass therethrough.

A number of marbles 30 of the construction as described above is prepared. Some elements 31 have their surface coated in blue while some in red, and likewise the number of marbles 30 is coloured in blue, red, green and yellow. In the illustrated embodiment, marbles 30 different in colour are provided with hatching different from one another with initials indicative of respective colours affixed thereto in addition to the reference numerals 30.

In the following, the operating stick 1 2 will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 5.

The operating stick 1 2 comprises two elements 35 and 36 respectively formed of plastic material to form a contour thereof. The plastic material used includes somewhat soft material such as polypropylene. The element 36 is in the form of a square drum. The element 35 has its lower portion in the form of a square drum whereas its upper portion being reduced in diameter in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in Figure 5 so that it may be easily gripped by a small hand of the infant. Both the elements 35 and 36 are made integral by fitting an annular fitting convex portion 36 formed in the outer surface of the element 36 into an annular fitting recess 37 formed in the inner surface of the element 35. A magnet 39 is disposed on the bottom of the element 36.The magnet 39 has magnetic poles N and S directed sidewise of the element 36, and iron pole shoes 40 and 42 are placed in contact with the magnetic poles, respectively. Lower ends of both the pole shoes 40 and 41 extend downwardly from the lower surface of the magnet 39 so that an intense magnetic force may be exerted towards the lower portion of the operating stick 1 2. A spacing between both the pole shoes 40 and 41 is made smaller than the diameter of the element 31 in the marble 30 so that many of the magnetic lines of force emitted from the pole shoes 40 and 41 may pass through the elements 31 and 32 in the marbles 30, as shown in Fig. 8. The intensity of the magnet 39 is preset to be capable of attracting the marbles 30 through the cover 23 and a card 1 3 placed thereon, as shown in Fig. 7.These magnet 39 and pole shoes 41 and 42 are fixedly mounted on the element 36 by adhesives. The operating stick 1 2 is connected to the base of the body 11 by a string or cord 42 as shown in Fig. 1(A) so as to prevent the stick from being lost when the infant handles the stick.

The card 1 3 is designed in size so that it may be placed on the top surface of the cover 23 at the upper portion of the play zone 1 6.

The card 1 3 is formed of a transparent plastic material through which the base 1 5 and the number of marbles 30 are visible, on which surface is depicted an example 45 represented by a number of circles illustrating figures or other patterns such as animals or characters (see Figure 1(B)). The circles representative of the sample or example 45 are coloured in colour similar to those of the marbles 30. A plurality of cards 1 3 of the type described is prepared on which variously different examples 45 are depicted.

Next, the method for the use of an intellectual training toy of the construction described above will be described.

First, the body 11 is inclined so that the storage zone 1 7 in the base 1 5 assumes a lower position to relocate all of marbles 30 to the storage zone 1 7. The card 1 3 on which a favourite example 45 is depicted is placed on the cover 23.

Then, the lower end of the operating stick 1 2 is placed in contact with the top surface of the card 1 3 to attract suitable favourite coloured marbles 30 among the number of marbles 30 in the storage zone 1 7. If the operating stick 1 2 is then slid along the top surface of the card 1 3 towards the play zone 16, the marbles 30 are attracted by the attraction of the magnet 39 and moved in the same direction of the stick.When the marbles 30 arrive at positions of circles coloured in the same colour as those of the marbles 30 in the card 13, the operating stick 1 2 is moved in the direction away from the card 1 3. At this time, the magnetic force of the magnet 39 will not be exerted on the marble 30 any longer and as a result, the marbles 30 drop on the base 1 5 and fit into the recesses 20.

Even if a part of marble edge engages an opening edge in the recess 20 when the marble 30 drops, the marble 30 may slide down and fit into the recess 20 since the side wall 20b of the recess 20 has an inclined surface and since the top surface of the base 1 5 as well as the lower end 33a of the element 33 is formed smooth. Next, another marble 30 is moved to the desired location indicated on the card 1 3 and fitted into the recess 20.As shown in Figures 7 and 8, in this case, even if a subsequent marble 30 is moved over the marble 30' already fitted in the recess 20, this marble 30' will never be attracted up by the magnetic force of the operating stick 1 2. The reason is that first, the magnet 39 and pole shoes 40 and 41 are designed as previously mentioned and many of the magnetic lines of force from the pole shoes 40 and 41 may pass through the attracted marbles 30 and therefore most of the attraction exerts only on the marbles being attracted, and secondly, the element 33 at the lowermost portion in the marbles 30 is formed of a plastic material and therefore attraction of a magnetic portion in the marble 30' by a magnetic portion in the marble 30 will not occur.

The successive repetition of the operation as described above causes the number of marbles 30 to depict a "truck" as shown in Fig. 1, a picture such as an "elephant" as shown in Fig. 9 or an alphabet and a number as shown in Fig. 10. Since these pictures or figures are depicted on the white base 1 5 by a number of coloured marbles 30, they are visible very beautifully.

While the case in which the card 1 3 is used has been described, it should be appreciated, if one becomes accustomed to the method of use or if a favourite figure is desired to be depicted, that the operation similar to the above may be carried out without using the card 13.

Next, a marble different in construction from the foregoing will be explained with reference to Figs. 11 to 1 3.

A marble 50 may be used in place of the aforementioned marble 30 and has a dimension of contour thereof substantially similar to that of the marble 30. The marble 50 is coated with an outer cover 52 of which core 51 formed of an iron sheet having a surface thereof formed of plastic material. The outer cover 52 is variously coloured similarly to the case of the marble 30.

The marble 50 constructed as above is manufactured for example as shown in Fig.

13. That is, first, a number of cores 51, 51 . . is blanked from an iron sheet into the shape that they are connected by connecting members 53, 53,. . Next, an outer cover 52 is formed so as to cover the individual cores 51. This formation is accomplished by pouring resins into a mold. Finally, the connecting members 53, 53,. . are cut by the outer cover 52 to form marbles 50.

Claims (9)

1. An intellectual training toy comprising a body and an operating stick, said body including a base on the top surface thereof formed with a number of recesses shaped to be circular in plan, a plurality of marbles shaped to be circular in plan of diameter slightly smaller than that of each of said recesses and formed of a magnetic material, and a cover disposed in parallel to said base upwardly of said base and formed to a transparent material, a spacing between said base and said cover being slightly greater than the height of the marble, said marbles being movably inserted between said base and said cover; said operating stick being provided at the lower end thereof with a magnet of intensity capable of attracting marbles located under the cover from over said cover.

2. An intellectual training toy as claimed in Claim 1 wherein each of said recesses has a side in the form of a dish.

3. An intellectual training toy as claimed in Claim 1 wherein each of said marbles comprises an element formed of a magnetic material and the other element attached to the lower surface of said first element and formed of a non-magnetic material.

4. An intellectual training toy as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said magnet disposed at the lower end of the operating stick has magnetic poles N and S directed sidewise of said operating stick, said magnetic poles N and S of magnet having pole shoes, respectively, placed in contact therewith, said pole shoes extending downwardly from said magnet, a spacing between lower ends of said pole shoes being smaller than the diameter of each of the marbles.

5. An intellectual training toy as claimed in Claim 3 wherein said magnet disposed at the lower end of the operating stick has magnetic poles N and S directed sidewise of said operating stick, said magnetic poles N and S of magnet having pole shoes, respectively, placed in contact therewith, said pole shoes extending downwardly from said magnet, a spacing between lower ends of said pole shoes being smaller than the diameter of the element formed of a magnetic material.

6. An intellectual training toy as claimed in Claim 5 wherein each of said recesses has a side in the form of a dish.

7. An intellectual training toy as claimed in Claim 1 further comprising a card placeable on the cover, said card being formed of a transparent material, said card having an example depicted thereon.

8. An intellectual training toy as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said base is white in colour, and a number of marbles is coloured in plural colours different from one another.

9. An intellectual training toy substantially as described and as shown in the accompanying drawings.