GB2121302A - Display tablets - Google Patents

Abstract

A display tablet 10 for use in teaching or as a games piece has a transparent plastics outer part 12 having a window surface 14 and a depending skirt 16, an inner plug part 22 having projections 24 on each side thereof for a wedge-type fit in the body 12, and a paper or card insert held between the parts 12 and 22 so as to be visible through the window 14. The outer part may be square, rectangular, circular, oval, pentagonal or hexagonal. The tablets may have letter symbol inserts for spelling, number and mathematical symbol inserts for arithmetic, or colour or symbol inserts for forming repeating patterns; may be used as counters in board games; or may represent draughtsmen or chessmen. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Display tablets This invention concerns display tablets which may be useful in teaching and in playing of games.

According to this invention there is provided a tablet for display purposes comprising an outer part having at least a transparent portion and an inner part retainable in said outer part whereby a display insert can be held between said body parts and be seen through said transparent portion.

The outer part may be circular, oval or of any polygonal shape. Preferred shapes are circles, rectangles, pentagons and hexagons.

In a preferred enibodiment the outer part has a transparent generally rectangular, preferably square portion, with a depending skirt forming a recess into which a correspondingly shaped and sized, usually flat, plug can fit. The plug preferably has one or more projections or spacing points on one or more, usually all, of its vertical faces which contact the inner faces of the depending skirt of the outer portion.

To facilitate insertion of the plug, the bottom edge of the skirt may be chamfered. Also, the skirt may be slightly flared.

The outer part will usually be made entirely of transparent plastics material but the plug may be made of either transparent or opaque plastics material. The outer part is preferably of rigid material but the plug may be flexible to permit deformation of the projections or spacing points when the plug is put into the outer part so as to give a wedge type fit.

It will be appreciated that any other suitable shaping of the outer part and/or plug may be adapted to give a wedge type fit of the plug in the outer part.

The display insert may be of card or paper. A great variety of coloured and printed inserts will be provided so that the resultant display tablets can be used for a variety of teaching projects, board games and puzzles. The inserts could have on them symbols, pictures, letters, numbers colours etc. which can be seen through the transparent part of the tablet.

The tablets can be provided to customers already assembled with appropriate inserts or they can be provided as separate outer and plug parts with a selection of inserts for the customer to assemble as desired.

The tablets may simply be laid out side by side for teaching purposes but usually the outer part will have a pair of notches on opposite sides of its skirt so that they can be positioned on ribs of an aligning tray. Alternatively, the tablets can be positioned in a grid having appropriately sized apertures. To enable removal of the tablets from such a grid it is preferred that their height be sufficient for their tops to be above the top of the grid.

The tablets of the invention may also be used with UNIFIX cubes as described in British Patent No. 774850, if the tablets are so dimensioned thal their depending skirt fits over the spigot part of the UNIFIX cube.

The tablets with appropriate inserts may be used as "counters" in board games, such as ludo or snakes and ladders or to represent draughtsmen or chessmen. For the latter it would be preferable to have taller tablets but of different heights for the different pieces.

The tablets of this invention have a number of advantages over known display tablets. It is cheaper and easier to produce a standard tablet with a variety of coloured or printed card or paper inserts than to produce a variety of tablets each having a different moulded or printed symbol thereon. Usually symbols etc. are provided on a display tablet by hot foil blocking and printing directly onto the upper surface of the tablet. Thus the cost of this operation will be saved.

Production runs of tablets of this invention can be uninterrupted since the outer parts or plugs are all the same, whereas tablets produced from coloured plastics require interruptions of the injection moulding runs and subsequent changes of dies in the stamping or printing operations.

The tablets of this invention can also be assembled by the customer which provides for a cheaper product.

The paper or card insert is fully protected from damage or soiling and can be seen clearly.

However, symbols moulded, printed or adhered to a plastic surface can be easily damaged rendering them unclear.

The assembly of the tablets of the invention is relatively easy requiring only a small amount of pressure on the plug to achieve a tight fit with the insert up against the transparent part of the body.

Tablets having letter symbol inserts can be used on trays as aforementioned for spelling, or with number and mathematical symbol inserts for arithmetic or with colour or symbol inserts for repeating patterns. It will be appreciated that these are just a few of the uses to which the tablets of the invention can be put.

This invention will now be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a display tablet; Figure 2 is an enlarged section along line AA of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view from above of the tablet of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a part sectional side view of the tablet of Figure 1 mounted on a unifix cube; Figure 5 is a plan view of a plug of the tablet of Figure 1; Figure 6 is an end view of the plug of Figure 5; Figure 7 is a plan view of part of a grid for use with the tablet of Figure 1; and Figure 8 is a plan view of part of a tray for use with the tablet of Figure 1.

Referring to Figures 1 to 6, a display tablet 10 has a generally square transparent plastics outer part 12 having a window surface 14 and a depending skirt 1 6. A pair of opposite sides of the skirt 16 are notched at 18 and the skirt is chamfered at its lower edge 20 to facilitate insertion of a plug 22.

The plug 22 has two projections 24 on each side which provide for a wedge type fit of the plug 22 in the outer part 12.

Between the outer part 1 2 and the plug 22 is a paper insert 26 held against the outer part 1 2 to be visible through the window 14.

In Figure 4 the tablet 10 is shown mounted on a UNIFIX cube 30.

Tablets 10 may also be used in grid 32 (Figure 7) by fitting them into apertures 33 of the grid resting on ledges 34.

Tabiets 10 may also be used on trays 40 such as shown in Figure 8, which have ribs 42, the notches 1 8 fitting over the ribs 42 for alignment of the tablets.

Claims (11)

1. A tablet for display purposes comprising an outer part having at least a transparent portion and an inner part retainable in said outer part, whereby a display insert can be held between said parts and be seen through said transparent portion.

2. A tablet as claimed in claim 1 wherein the outer part has a transparent portion with a depending skirt forming a recess into which said inner part can fit.

3. A tablet as claimed in claim 2 wherein said inner part is a substantiaily flat plug having one or more projections or spacing points on one or more of its vertical faces.

4. A tablet as claimed in claim 2 or 3, wherein said skirt has its bottom edge chamfered to facilitate insertion of the inner part.

5. A tablet as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4 wherein the skirt is flared.

6. A tablet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the outer part is made entirely of transparent plastics material.

7. A tablet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the outer part is of rigid material.

8. A tablet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the inner part is of flexible material.

9. A tablet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the insert is of card or paper.

10. A tablet as claimed in any of claims 2 to 9 wherein the skirt has a notch on each of an opposite pair of sides for positioning the tablet on a rib or the like of an aligning tray.

11. A tablet for display purposes substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 6 of the accompanying drawings.