GB2213395A - Child's construction kit - Google Patents

Abstract

A child's educational construction kit comprises components that are intended for assembly with easily obtainable cheap material e.g. square section wooden rod, cut into appropriate lengths by the child. The components include brackets each with three mutually orthogonal sockets or channels to receive wooden rods. The brackets may also have bearing holes for spindles, and a 45 DEG socket. The components may also include pulley and gear wheels, spindle and locking keys for securing wooden rods in the brackets and for locking the wheels on the spindles. The wheels include flanged wheels radially split into two halves that can be locked together and separated by twisting, and universally meshing gear wheels each of which can be locked together with half of a flanged wheel to form a composite wheel. <IMAGE>

Description

EDUCATIONAL CONSTRUCTION KIT This invention relates to a child's construction kit primarily intended for educational use, such as in schools, to instruct children in technological principles and the simple use of tools.

Traditionally, children's construction kits are selfsufficient in that they contain everything the child needs to build structures and models for the child's amusement.

According to the present invention, a construction kit is provided comprising brackets enabling a child to secure together, in a choice of angular and spatial relationships, longitudinal structural members that the child has prepared, such as by cutting to correct length, from stock consisting of a longer length or lengths of a readily available and readily worked elongate material. A suitable such material is wooden rod or dowelling and the brackets of the construction kit can be formed to provide sockets and/or channels, variously orientated, that are dimensioned so that cut lengths of the wooden material can be inserted into or passed through them with a snug fit and thereby are held in selected angular relationships, e.g. at right angles to one another or at 45 .

Not only does the construction kit according to the invention rely on use together with it of the aforesaid readily available rod or dowelling or like elongate material, for preparation by the child, but preferably also the parts of the kit are purposely designed to be used with other inexpensive readily available and scrap materials, such as plastic containers, pieces of cardboard, lolly sticks, string, rubber bands, drawing-pins etc.

In a further aspect, the invention provides brackets that not only have sockets and/or channels as aforesaid but also provide bearings for axles or spindles, included in the kit, for mounting gear- and/or pulley-wheels, also provided in the kit.

In the preferred form, the kit further includes locking keys for locking the wooden longitudinal members in position in the brackets after they have been inserted, and for locking the gears and pulleys on the spindles. It is preferred to make each pulley so that it divides on a generally radial plane into two separable half-pulleys that lock together face to face, this arrangement providing also for the locking together face to face of a half-pulley to a gear wheel to make a complete gear and pulley wheel.

Arrangements according to the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a pictorial view of a multi-purpose bracket of the construction kit.

Figure 2 is a pictorial view of a corner bracket of the kit.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a locking key of the kit.

Figures 4 and 5 are two pictorial views showing how different structures can be built up using components of the kit and wooden rod of square cross-section.

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of a spindle of the kit.

Figure 7 shows in elevation one half of a pulley wheel of the kit.

Figure 8 is a view in section on the line 8-8 of Figure 7.

Figure 9 shows in elevation a gear wheel of the kit.

Figure 10 is a view in section on the line 10-10 of Figure 9.

Figure 11 is a pictorial view showing the mounting of a small low voltage electric motor for motorising models constructed with the kit.

The intention of the kit is that it should be instructional and form a basis of educational projects enabling children to learn and practise basic technological skills, rather than that it should be in the nature of a toy for amusement only. Therefore, whereas there have long existed construction kits with which children can assemble various structures and working mechanical models, the prior kits have conventionally included all the parts that the child needed together with pictorial and/or written instructions for putting those parts together. By contrast, in the present instance the kit does not provide all the parts that the child needs but instead basic structural members must be made by the child using readily available inexpensive material and conventional tools.

In the example described, the basic material needed that is not supplied in the kit is wooden rod of square cross-section that can be obtained at almost any timber or D.I.Y. store. This material is cut into appropriate lengths by the child to provide the structural longitudinal members that will be required in the assembly of whatever model is to be built. The kit itself provides parts that enable the child to secure the wooden structural members, that he or she has cut, to one another in various chosen spatial and angular relationships, together with bearing brackets for the mounting of spindles, gear wheels and pulleys also included in the kit.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is.

a pictorial view of a multi-purpose or bearing bracket 10 that can be used to secure the square-section wooden longitudinal members together in a variety of ways and can also act as a support bearing for a spindle. This bracket has a channel 11 of rectangular U-section, shown disposed horizontally and inverted in the pictorial view, and extending laterally out from one channel side wall 12, that is to say from the longitudinal edge of the side-wall 12 that lies remote from the channel floor 13, is an integral plate portion 14 of the bracket at right angles to the channel side wall 12 and forming a trunnion. This trunnion plate 14 is shown lying horizontally in the pictorial view.

The trunnion plate 14 has through-holes 15 each of which can act as a bearing for a spindle, when desired. Thus, if, for instance, two of the brackets 10 are built into opposite sides of a model, with their trunnion plates 14 in vertical planes and their bearing holes 15 aligned, a spindle can be supported at its opposite ends in the bearing holes. There are also further such bearing holes 15 in the channel side walls 12.

The channel 12 is so dimensioned internally that a square-section wooden structural member as aforesaid can fit snugly into it against the channel floor. Lying against the outer surface of the channel side-wall 12 from which the trunnion plate 14 arises, and extending up to that plate, is a square-section socket 16 again of a dimension to receive snugly a square-section wooden structural member, not forming part of the kit. At the base of the socket 16 there is a square hole in the plate 14 so that the wooden member can pass right through. The axis of the socket 16 is disposed orthogonally to both the longitudinal axis of the channel 11 and the plane of the trunnion plate 14, that is to say it is vertical in the pictorial view. The side wall of the socket 16 parallel to and remote from the channel side-wall 12 has a square aperture 17 that is open at the upper end or mouth of the socket as viewed in Figure 1. This square aperture is in alignment with further square apertures 18 in the channel side-walls, all again being of a size to allow a wooden structural member as aforesaid to be slid through.

The bracket 10 is therefore able to receive and interconnect wooden structural members, not forming part of the construction kit, extending in a selection from three orthogonal directions, i.e. through the channel 11, in or through the socket 16 and through the apertures 17, 18; and it will be noted that a member passing through the apertures 17, 18 retains a member passing through the channel 11 in position against the floor of the channel.

In addition, the trunnion plate 14 can act as a base-plate and/or provide a bearing for a spindle. Further small rectangular apertures 19, 20 are provided in the side-walls of the channel 11, and in the socket 16 adjoining the aperture 17, for the reception, as needed, of locking or stop keys 21, shown in Figure 3, for the wooden members.

There are also small holes or part-holes 22 in the floor 13 of the channel 11, through which drawing-pins (thumb tacks) can be pushed into a wooden member lying in the channel.

Using the same principle, other types of bracket, e.g.

corner brackets (without trunnion plates) to receive wooden members disposed both mutually orthogonally and/or at 45" (or other selected angle), can be provided in the kit, again with apertures for locking keys and/or drawing pin holes or part-holes for securing purposes. All the brackets are moulded in a synthetic plastics material, such as ABS or polypropylene.

Figure 2 shows a corner bracket 43 which has three mutually orthogonal square-section sockets 44, 45, 46 each capable of receiving the end portion of a wooden longitudinal structural member. A fourth 45" socket 47 is also provided that bisects the angle between two of the orthogonally disposed sockets 45, 46 and is joined to them by strengthening webs 48. The third orthogonal socket 44 has two of its side walls formed with longitudinal slots 49 (Figure 5), and each of the sockets 45, 46, 47 has no complete top wall but only spaced tabs 57 extending alternately from opposite side walls of the socket, to more readily receive the end of a wooden longitudinal. The square section passage of the socket 44 passes completely through the bracket 43, as can be seen as 56.As before, there are small holes 22 to receive fixing pins; and the corner brackets are also provided with two bearing holes 15 which can be used to receive spindles.

Referring now to Figure 3, it will be seen that each locking key consists of a rectangular section locking tongue 23 extending from a head 24 with a through-hole 25, the tongue having, near its root, a section that progressively widens at one edge 28 with an undercut 27 to form a resiliently depressible latching wedge 26. At its end remote from the head, the tongue of the key is rounded for easy insertion. The key is moulded in resilient synthetic plastics material, such as an acetal copolymer.

Figures 4 and 5 show examples of how structures are built up using the kit components so far described. In Figure 4, two of the multi-purpose brackets 10 are used, in different orientations, together with wooden square-section longitudinal members 50. In Figure 5, two corner brackets 43 are shown built into a structure, again using wooden square-section longitudinal members 50.

Figure 6 shows a spindle 29 such as may be inserted into the trunnion bearings 15 of the brackets 10. This spindle has a key-way 30 to receive a locking key or keys 21 for locking one or more pulleys/gearwheels on to the spindle. The spindle can be moulded in a material such as polyvinyl chloride. The kit also includes collars (not shown) that can be locked on the spindles by means of the keys 21 to locate spindles axially in a model.

Referring now to Figures 7 and 8, pulley wheels are included in the construction kit in various sizes and the Figures show one half 31 of one such wheel. Each halfpulley is moulded, for example in ABS, with a hub portion 32, a flanged rim portion 33 and, in the instance shown, a radial web portion 34 connecting the hub and the rim. The half-pulley of Figures 7 and 8 has an axially stepped web portion 34 but it need not be stepped, especially in smaller sizes, and indeed in the smallest size the radial web can be omitted, the rim portion in that case joining directly to the hub portion. The rim portion 33 of the half pulley provides one pulley side flange 35 and half the total width of the rim. The mating half-pulley provides the other flange and the remainder of the rim, and of course the rest of the pulley hub etc.For fitting the two halves together, each has a pair of axially protruding dogs 36 with turned-over ends that are inserted into a pair of slots 37 in the other that each extend for some distance circumferentially and have a stepped narrowing in their width about half-way along. Relative turning of the two pulley halves after the dogs have been inserted through the wider parts of the slots therefore locks them together.

In the case of the pulley of which one half is shown in Figures 7 and 8, the rim has slots 38 equidistantly circumferentially spaced and in radial alignment with a similar set of slots 39 in the step 40 of the web portion 34. These are provided to enable a child to make a paddle or vane wheel by inserting flat pieces of e.g. wood (not provided in the kit) into the slots - lollysticks are good for this purpose. Smaller pulleys, however, may not have these slots. The axial hole through the pulley hub is dimensioned to fit on a spindle, as shown in Figure 6, and has a complementary key slot 41 to enable a locking key, as shown in Figure 3, to be inserted for locking the pulley on the spindle. There are various ways of making belts for drivingly connecting pulleys in models. The child can use elastic bands, for example, or a flexible strip of plastics material with pop-fastenings can be provided in the kit.

The larger pulleys may also have off-axis axial holes for use in making simple cranks, fixing cranking handles etc.

Referring now to Figures 9 and 10, the construction kit also includes meshing gear wheels in different sizes, each generally similar to a half-pulley except that the rim has gear teeth 42 and no flange. By providing dogs 36 and slots 37 on the gear wheels similar to those on the halfpulleys, it is made possible to connect a half-pulley alongside a gear to make a composite gear a pulley wheel, or to connect together two gears of different diameters to make a double gear wheel. It is also possible to combine pulley wheels of different sizes to make a composite wheel with two different diameters.

The gears have teeth that are designed to mesh not only when two meshing gear wheels have their axes parallel but also when the gear wheel axes intersect at an angle, which can be any angle up to a right angle.

It is further contemplated that, by adding components from a child's electrical kit, working electrical models can be made. To that end, a motor mounting 51 is provided as a further component of the kit. In Figure 11, it is to be seen that the motor mounting consists of a cradle 52, in the form of a channel with upwardly divergent side walls, to receive a small battery-voltage d.c. electric motor 54..

Integral with the cradle 52 are two spigots 53 of the same square cross-section as that of the wooden longitudinals that are used in constructing a model with the kit, one of these spigots extending vertically downward below the floor of the cradle channel and the other projecting longitudinally from one end of the channel. Figure 11 shows an assembly in which the longitudinal spigot 53 of the motor mounting is inserted through the apertures 18 of a multi-purpose bracket 10 to assemble the motor mounting to the bracket. The motor 54 is very simply held in place in the cradle of the mounting by means of rubber bands 55, the cradle side walls having out-turned top edges provided with recesses to locate the bands 55. Providing the motor is thus held securely in place, it is not necessary for the mounting cradle to be upright, as shown in Figure 11, but it can have other orientations as may be convenient in the building of any particular model.

With the kit as described, children in school can, under the guidance of a teacher, construct a great variety of educational and instructional models.

Claims (15)

1. A child's construction kit for educational use, comprising brackets each formed with at least three channels for the snug-fitting reception of portions of cut lengths of a readily available readily workable elongate stock-material, such as wooden rod of square section, the three channels having mutually orthogonal axes.

2. A kit according to Claim 1, wherein the brackets include corner brackets in which the three channels have mutually orthogonal axes that intersect at a common point, two of the channels being in the form of sockets of square cross-section to receive the end portions of lengths of the elongate stock material while the third channel passes right through the bracket.

3. A kit according to Claim 2, wherein the corner brackets each have a fourth 45" square-section socket the axis of which lies in the same plane as and bisects the angle between two of said three mutually orthogonal socket axes.

4. A kit according to Claim 3, wherein the three sockets including the 45" socket the axes of which lie in the same plane are connected to one another by strengthening webs and all four sockets have at least one longitudinal side that is slotted or otherwise parted longitudinally for at least a portion of its length to facilitate the insertion of the elongate stock material.

5. A kit according to any preceding claim, wherein the brackets include bearing brackets in which at least two of the three channels provide passages for square section elongate stock material right through the bracket, and the axes of said through passages do not intersect but lie in parallel planes offset from one another so that lengths of said elongate stock material can be passed right through both said passages without obstructing one another.

6. A kit according to Claim 5, including one or more spindles, and wherein said bearing bracket is formed with an integral trunnion plate providing at least one bearing hole for a spindle.

7. A kit according to Claim 6, wherein the bearing bracket has a plurality of bearing holes so as to be capable of receiving spindles in at least two mutually orthogonal directions.

8. A kit according to any preceding claim, including locking or stop keys, and wherein at least some of the brackets are provided with slots for the reception of said locking or stop keys to lock in place or serve as end stops for lengths of elongate stock material inserted in said channels.

9. A kit according. to any preceding claim, wherein the brackets are provided with small holes to receive pins, e.g. thumb tacks, for pressing into inserted lengths of elongate stock material to retain them in position.

10. A kit according to any preceding claim, further including wheels, such as flanged pulley wheels, that are made split in two halves that mate together on a radial plane and are arranged to lock together to form a complete wheel and to unlock for separation by twisting of the two halves relatively to one another about the wheel axis.

11. A kit according to Claim 10, wherein at least some of the wheels have radial slots in their peripheries to receive vanes for forming a vane or paddle wheel.

12. A kit according to any preceding claim, further including gear wheels with teeth arranged to mesh with one another both when the gear axes are parallel and when they intersect at an angle such as a right angle.

13. A kit according to Claims 10 and 12, wherein the gear wheels are arranged such that a gear wheel and one half of a split wheel can be locked together and separated in the same manner as the two halves of a split wheel.

14. A kit according to any of Claims 10 to 13 taken together with Claims 6 and 8, wherein the wheels have key slots and the spindles have key ways, whereby the wheels can be locked on the spindles by means of said locking or stop keys.

15. A kit according to any preceding claim, further including a mounting cradle for a small electric motor, which mounting cradle has at least one integral spigot of the same cross section as the elongate stock material for insertion into a channel in a bracket.