GB2126113A - Sheet blanks for making toy models - Google Patents

Abstract

A cut and creased blank, erectible into a model, is formed of textile material (e.g. a needled felt or spun bonded) treated with a resin to provide the required stiffness. An accompanying playmat of a similar material is marked to indicate the position of the model thereon.

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements relating to models This invention relates to blanks which are foldable into models or the like. The models may be of houses, animals, figures or the like and in a particular use of the models, they are used with the so-called "playmats" which are mats used by children in playrooms and other areas of play.

The playmats are manufactured from synthetic felt which is printed by a dry printing process, to provide, for example, a layout of roads, with roadsigns and other markings, on which the child can play with his or her toys. These mats are robust and can withstand a lot of hard wear, but because the mat is a two dimensional article, the representations which appear on the mat are not too realistic, and this invention was conceived in order to provide a more realistic adjunct for use with the playmats referred to above, being in the form of models of a three dimensional nature; it-is to be pointed out however that the models according to the invention can be used on their own, and they need not be specifically of any particular design.

The invention also provides a blank which is erectible into a model according to the invention; the blank may be cut and creased for easy erection and it may be designed so that it is glued when it is erected or alternatively it may have tabs or the like which lock in slots in other locations in the blank to hold the blank in erected condition.

It is of course well known to provide cut and creased blanks which are erectible into models, but typically such blanks are made of paper or cardboard, and have the shortcoming that they become unusable if they are crushed, which often happens to toys when played with by children.

Models which are used with the aforesaid playmats are much more likely to be crushed as the mats are used on the floor and there is a strong possibility of the children sitting or standing on the models.

The present invention concerns the use of a different material for models which are erected from blanks, and in accordance with the present invention there is provided a blank which is of a textile material such as a needled felt or spun bonded treated with a synthetic resin to give it the required rigidity so that when the model is erected, it will be free standing; the invention also envisages the use of other textile materials, such as knitted webs or woven webs which may or may not be combined with a felt of carded lap, but in all cases, the textile material should have the stiffness to ensure that the model will be free standing when erected.

The blank preferably will be cut and creased from the stock material, the stock being treated with a resin and being printed, for example by means of a sublimatic printing process, before the blank, or a plurality of blanks, are cut from the stock.

The stock may be in the form of a sheet with a plurality of the blanks partially cut therein.

It is to be noted that the preferred material for blanks according to this invention is a needled felt or spun bonded, preferably a polyester felt, which is treated with a suitable resin to make it acquire the required stiffness.

When the blanks, when erected into models, are for use with playmats, the blanks may have tabs which are for insertion into slots in the playmats so that the blanks will remain erect on the playmats.

A significant advantage of the present embodiment of the invention is that the felt material is by far the best material for printing with sublimatic inks, it being possible to obtain a sharp image with these inks when printing on synthetic felt.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a plan of a blank according to the present invention; Fig. 2 shows the blank when erected into a model according to the invention; Fig. 3 shows a blank according to another embodiment of the invention; Fig. 4 shows the blank of Fig. 3 when erected into a model according to the invention; and Fig. 5 shows a sheet, printed and partially cut and creased to define a plurality of blends according to the invention.

Referring to the drawings, the blank shown in Fig. 1 is made from synthetic felt, which may be a polyester felt of weight 330 gms, per sq. metre, which has been treated with a synthetic resin, which may also be a polyester resin, to render the felt sufficiently stiff so that the model which is erected from the material will be free standing.

The blank has front and rear panels 10 and 12, which are joined by a roof panel 14, and there are gable panels 1 6 and 18, so that the blank can be erected into a model house, as shown in Fig. 2. To enable erection of the blank, the wall panels have tabs 1 9 which are adapted to be glued (or welded or heat sealed) to the inside of the gable panels 1 6 and 18, a suitable adhesive being used for the purpose. Instead of the tabs being for attachment to the gable panels by means of an adhesive, they may be insertable in slots or other locking means, to hold the model erect.

As can be seen, the blank is pre-printed with appropriate decoration, and it is also creased so that it can be folded, the crease lines being indicated by double broken lines. The crease lines may be formed by forming half cuts in or by applying heated creasing rules to the material.

The blank erected by folding along the crease lines, but the erected model has the considerable advantage that it can withstand being crushed, without becoming unusable, as the felt material recovers much better than cardboard, which is more usual material for blanks of this type.

Figs. 3 and 4 show another form of blank and illustrates that the type of model which can be constructed can be quite varied, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The blank which is illustrated in Fig. 3 is erectible into a model cow, and to do this, the blank is folded about the crease line 20 so that the two symmetrical halves 22 and 24 come together at regions 26 and 28 where the said halves are glued so that the blank maintains the correct posture indicated in Fig. 4. The blank of Figs. 3 and 4 is also made of a textile material, suitably a felt as used for the previous embodiment.

A preference is made to Fig. 5, and it will be seen that there is shown a sheet 30 of the material from which the models illustrated in Figs.

1 to 4 are constructed, this sheet being provided with a plurality of cut lines and crease lines to define a number of models indicated variously as for example police station, school, supermarket, bus station and so on, and various other models indicated by numeral 32 to define street signs, lamp posts, chimneys for the building models and so on. The blanks of the models are partially cut in the sheet 30, so that they can be easily removed from the sheet and folded into three dimensional form.

The various street signs are folded and glued together in the region of the sign disc, and there is a corresponding playmat in relation to which the buildings would fit in a particular position indicated in the playmat, providing a combined kit.

It can be seen that the invention provides a new use for a material not previously used for the purpose, with the unexpected result that the resulting models will be capable of withstanding crushing and rough treatment, and also they will be almost indestructable with normal use.

Claims (5)

Claims

1. A blank which is erectible into a model, such blank being of a textile material such as a needled felt treated with synthetic resin to give it the required rigidity, so that when the model is erected it will be free standing.

2. A blank according to Claim 1, wherein the blank is cut and creased from stock material which is treated with a resin and printed for example by means of a sublimatic printing process.

3. A blank for erection into a model substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

4. A model erected from the blank according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 or Claim 3.

5. A combination of a printed playmat and plurality of blanks erectible into models positionable on the playmat in accordance with a predetermined sequence, the or each model being as claimed in Claim 4.