GB2113106A - Maze cube - Google Patents

Abstract

The maze comprises a transparent/translucent cubic box (not shown) which encloses a stack of three partitions (X, Y, Z) alternating between four lattices (A, B, C, D) and a ball. The partitions and the lattices comprise holes negotiable by the ball and impassable holes (1', 2'), which are slightly smaller in diameter than the ball. The maze further comprises blind alleys and routes through the maze can be varied by interchanging parts of the lattices and/or by altering the positions of the partitions (X, Y, Z). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Cubic plaything The present invention relates to cubic playthings composed of lattices and partitions with several negotiable holes and imitation holes, the partitions being stacked alternately one above the other in a transparent or translucent plastic or other box.

The plaything comprises a ball circulatable through the negotiable holes along a predetermined course in the shortest possible time.

At the present time, there are many kinds of cubic playthings known to the world, for example, cubic playthings in which colours and/or pictures are handled to arrange them over the surfaces of the cube, such playthings quickly becoming boring to the player. In order to provide players with further interest and variety, the present invention is intended to control the passage of a ball through a complicated but predetermined irregular course having negotiable holes and imitation holes in every lattice and partition.

According to the invention, there is provided a cubic plaything composed of lattices and partitions each having a plurality of holes negotiable by a ball and/or imitiation holes disposed in a non-uniform arrangement, the lattices and partitions being stacked alternately one above the other in a transparent or translucent cubic box with said ball able to pass through the negotiable holes between various chambers of the lattices.

A feature of the present invention is the provision of the imitation holes which are just small enough not to pass the ball.

Another feature of the present invention is irregularly disposed negotiable holes, some lead the ball to a terminal or objective whilst the others lead the ball to blind lanes. Naturally, the former holes are part of the correct course which the player has to find whilst the latter holes are ones which the player should avoid. Accordingly, the player finds pleasure in detecting a sequence of correct holes amonst the identical "right" and "wrong" negotiable holes and imitation holes in the lattices and partitions.

Advantageously, the present invention comprises four lattices between which there are successively arranged three partitions. Each lattice and each partition preferably has several holes including both the negotiable holes and the imitation holes.

The negotiable holes may be arranged to define as many as four different predetermined correct courses for the ball to go, and return, from the top to the bottom of the cubic box. If the ball leaves one of the correct routes and enters a blind lane or wrong course, it cannot reach the terminal or objective without rectifying the mistake and returning to the correct course. The effort required to find the correct course encourages the interest, endeavour and amusement of the player.

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of the internal components to a cubic box in accordance with the invention illustrating the format of each lattice and each partition and the distribution of the negotiable holes and the imitation holes, Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the internal components of the same cubic plaything illustrating a correct course of the ball, and Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the lattices and partitions assembled together but removed from their enclosing cubic box.

In the drawings, A, B, C, D are square lattices X, Y, Z are square partitions A1, A2, A3 are longitudinal plates of lattice A A4, A5, A6 are perpendicular plates of lattice A B1, B2, B3 are longitudinal plates of lattice B B4, B5, B6 are perpendicular plates of lattice B Ci, C2, C3 are longitudinal plates of lattice C C4, C5, C6 are perpendicular plates of lattice C D,,D2,D3 are longitudinal plates of lattice D D4, D5, D6 are perpendicular plates of lattice D Kistheball E is the cubic box F is the lid of the cubic box 1, 2, 3, and so on are negotiable holes 1', 2' are imitation holes a to z and a' to e' are lattice chambers In the light of the nature of the present invention, there are a lot of possibilities of revising the predetermined correct courses by changing the distribution of the negotiable holes. Also, the negotiable holes that lead to blind lanes may be changed in order to make the game more interesting and provide the player with a fresh challenge.

The following detailed description of the invention is merely an illustration of an exemplary composition of lattices and partitions in a cubic box showing a standard correct course of the ball K.

To avoid an unnecessarily complicated explanation of the illustrated correct course of the ball K, pertinent parts of the drawings are numbered or marked only for the negotiable holes and the lattice chambers on the illustrated correct course or route of the ball K.

Firstly, the distribution of the negotiable holes and of the imitation holes is illustrated (Figure 1).

Next, a correct course of the ball K is to be illustrated (Figure 2).

The first lattice A is a combination of parallel longitudinal plates A1, A2, A3 and perpendicular plates A4, A5, A6 arranged in a 900 crisscross pattern and has negotiable holes and imitation holes in both the longitudinal plates and the perpendicular plates. The longitudinal plates A1, A3 and the perpendicular plates A4, A6 have three negotiable holes and one imitation hole respectively, as illustrated in Figue 1. Longitudinal plate A2 and perpendicular plate A5 each have four imitation holes only.

The first partition X which is arranged under the first lattice A has both eight negotiable holes and eight imitation holes at locations corresponding to those of the lattice chambers of the first lattice A as illustrated in Figure 1.

The second lattice B which is arranged under the first partition X also has negotiable holes and imitation holes in its longitudinal plates and its perpendicular plates. The longitudinal plates B,, B3 and the parallel plates B4, B6 each have two negotiable holes and two imitation holes at the positions illustrated in Figure 1. The longitudinal plate B2 and the perpendicular plate B5 each have only four imitation holes.

The second partition Y which is arranged under the second lattice B has eight negotiable holes and eight imitation holes at locations corresponding to those of the lattice chambers of the second lattice B as illustrated in Figure 1.

The third lattice C which is arranged under the second partition Y also has negotiable holes and imitation holes in each longitudinal plate and each perpendicular plate. The longitudinal plates C1, C3 and the perpendicular plates C4, C8 each have only one negotiable hole and three imitation holes, respectively, as illustrated in Figure 1. The longitudinal plate C2 and the perpendicular plate C5 each have two negotiable holes and two imitation holes, respectively, as illustrated in Figure 1.

The third partition Z which is arranged under the third lattice C has eight negotiable holes and eight imitation holes at locations corresponding to those of the lattice chambers of the third lattice C as illustrated in Figure 1. These eight negotiable holes are arranged on the two diagonal lines of the third partition Z.

The fourth lattice D which is arranged under the third partition Z also has negotiable holes and imitation holes in each of its longitudinal and perpendicular plates. The longitudinal plates D1, D3 and the perpendicular plates D4, D6 each have only four of the negotiable holes and none of the imitation holes. The longitudinal plate D2 and the perpendicular plate D5 each have four imitation holes and no negotiable holes as illustrated in Figure 1.

Finally, the assembled composition of lattices and partitions is packed in the transparent or translucent cubic box E as illustrated in Figure 3.

The combination can be varied by re-arrangement (see the foot of Figure 2) to change the negotiable routes and maintain the interest and challenge of the plaything. The lattice plates are interengageable in many different ways and the positions of the partitions can be changed.

The following is a guide leading the ball K to the terminal or objective lattice chamber (hereinafter referred to as "chamber" alone), where the ball K has to arrive after escaping or avoiding several blind lanes established along with its predetermined ideal course, that is to say, the course illustrated in Figure 2, which is the shortest way to the terminal chamber.

To start, the ball K, which is preferably made of iron or steel, is put in the chamber a of the first lattice A and then the lid F is put on the cubic box E with the composition of lattices and partitions illustrated in Figure 2 inside. The ball K should follow the arrow direction illustrated in Figure 2 along the predetermined correct course through every negotiable hole in numerical order from 1 to 30 and every lattice chamber in alphabetical order from a to z and a' to e'.

Starting from chamber a, the ball K passes through the negotiable hole 1 of the perpendicular plate A4 and drops vertically from the chamber b through the negotiable hole 2 of the first partition X via chamber c and through the negotiable hole 3 of the second partition Y where it reaches the chamber d of the third lattice C. Once again, it passes through the negotiable hole 4 of the perpendicular plate C4, through the negotiable hole 5 of the longitudinal plate C,, via the chamber e, and reaches chamber fwhere it drops vertically to the lattice chamber g of the fourth lattice D. It reaches the chamber i, which is the first terminal or objective chamber, via the chamber h through the negotiable holes 7 and 8 of the fourth lattice D.

For the second step, the ball K changes its course upwards. In practice, the box E is inverted.

The ball K goes up directly to the chamber k of the second lattice B- via chamberjthrough two negotiable holes 9, 10 of the third and second partitions Z, Y respectively. It reaches chamber m through negotiable holes 11, 12 of the second lattice B via chamber It goes up to chamber n through negotiable hole 1 3 and reaches the chamber via chambers o and p through the negotiable holes 14, 15.

The ball K changes its course downward (a re-inversion of the box E being required, in practice) and reaches directly the chamber s of the third lattice C via the chamber r of the second lattice B through the negotiable holes 17, 1 8. It goes to the chamber u via the chamber v through the negotiable holes 19, 20 and drops vertically to the chamber v of the fourth lattice D through the negotiable hole 21 of the third partition Z. It goes to the chamber x via the chamber w through the negotiable holes 22, 23.

Finally, the ball K has to go upward toward its final destination, a further box inversion being needed. It ascends directly to the chamber z of the second lattice B via the chamber yofthe third lattice C through the negotiable holes 24, 25 of the third partition Z and the second partition Y. It goes to the chamber b' via the chamber a' through negotiable holes 26, 27. It goes up to the chamber c' through the negotiable hole 28 and goes to the "return" terminal or objective chamber e' through the negotiable holes 29, 30 via the chamber ff.

As shown in Figure 2, the negotiable holes which are additional to the ones on the predetermined correct course indicated by arrows lead the ball K to various blind lanes.

Claims (9)

1. A cubic plaything composed of lattices and partitions each having a plurality of holes negotiable by a ball and /or imitation holes disposed in a non-uniform arrangement, the lattices and partitions being stacked alternately one above the other in a transparent or translucent cubic box with said ball able to pass through the negotiable holes between various chambers of the lattices.

2. A plaything as claimed in claim 1, wherein both the lattices and the partitions are square.

3. A plaything as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein each lattice comprises a plurality of parallel longitudinal plates and a plurality of relatively perpendicular plates.

4. A plaything as claimed in claim 3, wherein the plates of the lattices are interengageable in different combinations, and the partitions are variable in position, to change the route(s) which the ball must take between a starting lattice chamber and a terminal or objective lattice chamber.

5. A plaything as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein there are three partitions alternating between four lattices.

6. A plaything as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein each partition comprises a total sixteen negotiable holes and/or imitation holes and each lattice comprises a total of sixteen chambers.

7. A plaything as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the bail is'formed from ferrous metal.

8. A plaything as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein one wall of the cubic box is comprised by a lid which is removable from the box.

9. A cubic plaything substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.