GB2224953A - Constructional toy - Google Patents

Abstract

A constructional toy comprises a plurality of main building elements in the form of triangular-, square- and hexagonal-section building blocks, each having flat side surfaces containing a dovetail-shaped groove 20. The blocks can be joined together to form a variety of interesting shapes by means of elongate double dovetail-shaped connecting members 30. Each longitudinal half of each connecting member is shaped to be a tight sliding fit in the grooves of the blocks, to permit the blocks to be joined together face-to-face. <IMAGE>

Description

CONSTRUCTIONAL TOYS This invention relates to constructional toys.

One prior art form of constructional toy is described in United Kingdom Patent Specification No.

959 581, and comprises main building elements consisting of rectangular panels having outer edges which engage in parallel grooves in the side faces of common connector elenents, to build up generally box-like structures. While such a to can build up a variety of box-like structures, its versatility, or ability to build up other shapes, is sorewhat lir.ited. It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a constructional toy in which this lack of versatility is alleviate.

According to the present invent on, there is provided a constructional toy comprising a plurality of elements cf at least two different types which car be assembled together to form a varietyof three-dimensional structures, said elements including: a main element in the forn of a buildIng block having a plurality of flat side surfaces at least one of said surfaces having a groove therein, said groove haing a mouth narrower than the remainder thereof; and an elongate connecting member having twe longItudinal) y-extending symmetrical halves each shaped to be a tight sliding fit in groove of c main elerent; whereby two of the said main elements can be secured together by placing respective ones of their side surfaces in contact with each other with their respective grooves aligned with each other, and sliding the respective halves of a connecting element into respective ones of the grooves.

Typically, the groove is dovetail-shaped in cross-section, and each half of the connecting member is preferably shaped to be complementary in cross-section to the groove.

Advantageously, each main element has first and second substantially planar, parallel, ends which are interconnected by said side surfaces. Further, each of said side surfaces preferably extends perpendicularly to said ends. Preferably, each main element has a cross-section, perpendicular to said side surfaces. in the shape of a regular polygon: thus, some main elements may be triangular in cross-sect Ion, sore tay be square and sore may be hexagonal.

The main elements and connecting elements are preferably rad2 in a plurality of heights, of which the greater heights are conveniently integral multiples of the srallest height.

Said side faces are preferably all of the same width.

In a preferred erbodiDent of the invention, the main elements are all hollow, with one of said planar ends closed and the other open. Preferably, all the elements are moulded in a suitable plastics material, for example ABS, acrylic plastic, polystyrene or polypropylene.

The liwention will now be descrIbed, by way of example only, with reference to the accorpanying drains, of whi oh: Figures 1 and 2 show one form of main building element of a constructional toy in accordance with the present invention; Figures 3 and 4 show connecting elements for use with the main building elements of Figures 1 and 2; Figures 5 and 6 show another form of main building element of the constructional toy of the present invention; Figures 7 and 8 show yet another form of main building element of the constructional toy of the present invention; and Figure 9 is an illustration of a three dimensional structure built with some of the elements of Figures 1 to 8.

The main building event of Figures 1 and 2 is indicated generally at 10, and comprises a hollow square-section building block 12 having four identical rectangular side surfaces 13 each perpendicular to its two adjacent side surfaces and extending betWeen substantially square and planar top and bottom ends 1D, 16. The top end 14 is flat and closed, while the bottom end 16 is open.

Each cf the side surfaces 13 is provided with an identical dovetail-shaped groove 20 extending perpendicularly between the top and bettor ends 14, 16 along the middle of the side surface.

The block 12 is moulded in one piece in a suitable plastics material such as ASS or polypropylene.

The blocks 12 of Figures 1 and 2 are both typically 25 m square: however, the block of Figure 1 is typically 18.5 mm high, and can be regarded as the "basic" block, while the block of Figure 2 is exactly twice as high, le The constructional toy of the present invention comprises plurality of the blocks 12, preferably moulded in different colours. Furthermore, and as already foreshadowed by Figures 1 and 2, the blocks 12 are made in several different heights, advantageously all integral multiples of 18.5mm, eg 37mm, 55*5my2 74mm (while still being 25mm square).

A plurality oo these differently coloured and sized blocks 12 can then be joined together to form a great variety of interesting and/or visually attractive three-dimensional structures, by means of elongate connecting elerents of the kind indicated at 30 in Figures 3 and 4.

The connecting element 30 of Figures 3 and 4 comprises a double dovetail-shaped merger having two longitudinally extending halves 34, 36, each of which is shaped to be complementary to, and a tight sliding fit in, each groove 20 of the main building block 12 of Figures 1 and 2: the cnly difference between the elements of Figures 3 and 4 is that the former is 18.5ras, high, while the latter is 37mm high. Thus two of the blocks 12 can be secured together by placing respective ones of their side surfaces 13 in contact with ea-h other, with the grooves 20 aligned with each other. A connecting element 30 of appropriate height is then slid into both grooves 20 by sliding a respective one of the halves 34, 36 into each groove. The two blocks 12 are then firmly secured together with respective ones of their side surfaces 13 held flush with each other.

The ccnnecting elements 30 are moulded in the same plastics material as the blocks 12, and like the blocks 12, they are moulded in the same heights (typically 18.5my, 37mm, 55.5my and 74tom). They are also preferably made in the same range of colours.

By virtue of the different heights, the blocks 12 can be connected together to build up vertically as well as horizontally, increasing the range of three-dimensional structures that can be built.

The range of three-dimensional structures that can be built can be increased still further by incorporating additional main building elements 40 each in the form of a three-sided block of the kind indicated at 42 in Figures 5 and 6. The blocks 42 are made in the same material, and the same range of heights and colours, as the blocks 12 of Figure 1; thus the block 42 of Figure 7 is 1.5r high, while that of Figure 8 is 37mm high. However, instead of being sc,uare, the blocks 42 have a cross-section in the shape of an equilateral triangle of 25mm each side.Thus each block 42 has flat parallel top and bottom ends 44,46 interconnected by three identical side surfaces 48 perpendicular to the ends 44, 46 and each containing central groove 50 identical to the grooves 20 of the blocks 12, the top end 44 being closed and the bottom end 46 being open. The blocks 42 can therefore be connected to each other and to the blocks 12 by means of the connecting elements 30.

A third kind of main building eletent is shown at 60 in Figures 7 and 8. The element 60 of Figure 7 comprises a rectangular block 62 which is effectively two Figure 1 blocks 12 having their respective side faces 13 integrally joined together, to form a single rectangular block 25mm by 50mm in cross-section by 18.5mm high. The element 60 of Figure 8 is likewise equivalent to two integrally joined Figure 2 blocks 12.

Figure 9 illustrates by way of example just one of the many three dimensional structures that can be built using t;.e elements 10, 4D and 60 and the connecting elements 30 of Figures 1 to 8. Clearly a great variety of such structures, especially solid geometrical structures of the polyhedron kind, can be built, depending almost entirely on the imagination of the builder. One of the features of the present invention which particularly facilitates the building of large complex structures is the very strong interconnection between the main building elements 10, 40 and 60 achieved by the engagement dovetail shape of the connecting elements 30 in the complementarily-shaped grodves in the main building elements.

Yet another kind of main building element (not shown), in the form of a hexagonal section block with planar ends (one closed, one open) and grooves in each of its six side faces, can be provided if desired, again with 25mm side width, and again in the same range of lengths and cclours as the blocks 12, 42 and 60, thus further extending the range of three-aihens, onal structures which can be built.

Several modifications can be made to the described embodiment of the invention. In particular, the dovetail-shaped grooves 20 and 50 need not have the precise cross-section a shown in Figures 1 and 3, they merely need to be narrower at the mouth than at their baste, while the two dovetail-shared halves 34, 36 of the connecting elements 30 merely need to be shaped to engage and be firmly trapped in the grooves 20, 5C: the term "devetail-shaped" as used herein is therefore used to embrace these shapes.Also, at least some of the various blocks 12, 42 can be provided in their respective end surfaces with grooves identical to thcse in their respective side surfaces, to increase the number of orientations n which the blocks can be connected together. Further, specialised building elements can be provided if desired, in particular elements incorporating wheels, thus enabling various trucks and trailers to be built. Finally, although the use of the word "height" implies that the various building elements are used in the orientation in which they are shown in the drawings, they can in fact be used in other orientations if desired, especially one in which the dimension referred to as "height" extends horizontally.

Claims (14)

1. A constructional toy comprising a plurality of elements of at least two different types which can be assembled together to form a variety of three-dimensXonal structures, said elements including: a main element in the form of a building block having a plurality of flat side surfaces, at least one of said surfaces having a groove therein, said groove having a mouth narrower than the remainder thereof; and an elongate connecting member having two longitudinally-extending symmetrical halves each shaped to be a tight sliding fit in a groove of a main element; whereby two of the said main elements can be secured together by placing respective ones of their side surfaces in contact with each other with their respective grooves aligned with each other, and sliding the respective halves of a connecting element into respective ones of the grooves.

2. A con;trctional toy as claimed in claim 1, w h a r e i n said groove is doxretail-shaped in cross-section.

3. A constructional toy as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each half of said connecting member has a cross-section which is complementary to the cross-section of the groove.

4. A constructional toy as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein each main element has first and second substantially planar, parallel, ends which are interconnected by said side surfaces.

5. A constructional toy as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of said side surfaces preferably extends perpendicularly to said ends.

6. A constructional toy as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein each main element has a cross-section, perpendicular to said side surfaces, in the shape of a regular polygon.

7. A constructional toy as claimed in claim 6, wherein some main elements are triangular in cross-section.

8. A constructional toy as claimed in claim 6 or claim 7, wherein some main elements are square in cross-section.

9. A constructional toy as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein some main elements are hexagonal in cross-section.

10. A constructional toy as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the main elements and connecting elements are made in a plurality of heIghts, of which the greater heights are integral multiples of the smallest height.

11. A constructional toy as claimed in any preceding clain, wherein said side faces are all of the same width.

12. A constructional toy as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the main elements are all hollow, with one of said planar ends closed and the other open.

13. A corstructional toy as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein all the elements are moulded in a suitable plastics material.

14. A constructional toy as claimed in claim 13, wherein the plastics material is selected from ABS, acrylic plastic, polystyrene and polypropylene.