GB2521648A

GB2521648A - Building block toy

Info

Publication number: GB2521648A
Application number: GB1323023.0A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gavin Michael Sansom
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2013-12-24
Filing date: 2013-12-24
Publication date: 2015-07-01
Also published as: GB201323023D0

Abstract

A building block toy 10 comprises a plurality of cuboid-shaped building blocks 12 formed from an open-foamed plastics material; wherein the faces of each block have an area in the range 50cmÂ² to 2000cmÂ². The building blocks may be stored in a compact form within a vacuum storage bag.

Description

Building Block Toy

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a building block toy suitable for building temporary structures; such as castles and Wendy li-louses" etc., that children can safely play in; including a kit of parts that providcs means of compactly storing the building blocks when not in use.

Background Art

Building block toys made from rigid plastics materials are well known; for example LEGO. Earlier toys used solid wooden blocks. Such toys normally comprise relatively small building blocks/components as they are intended, in general, for the construction of structures that children can play with, but not within. Multi-part structures intended for children to play within (that can be assembled and dis-assembled for storage) are also known; however, these do not normally comprise building block components; which would typically be heavy presenting a danger to children; through unexpected collapse etc., and would be inconveniently large to store when not in use.

Disclosure of the Invention

An aim of the present invention is to provide a building block toy that allows children to easily and safely build and modify temporary structures large enough to play within. A further aim is to provide such a toy as a packaged kit in a form in which it can, with ease, be compactly stored when not in use.

In one aspect the invention consists a building block toy comprising: a plurality of, or at least 10 to at least 100, generally cuboid-shaped building blocks formed from an open-foamed material each block having three pairs of rectangular faces; each pair being in a plane at right angles to the other two pairs; each face having an end face area (A) in the

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range 50 cm2 to 1000 cm2.

Preferably, each pair of rectangular faces is planar. Alternatively, at least one of said faces may have at least one cavity. Typicallyç some of the building blocks will be smaller in size than the majority of the blocks; for example half the size (volume); but with the same end face area.

Preferably, the foam-like matenal is an open-foam plastics matcnal.

In another aspect the invention comprises a building block toy kit comprising a building block toy as described above and also a vacuum storage bag in which the building blocks can be stored in compacted form, after partial evacuation of the air from the bag and sealing of the bag in this state (to prevent ingress of air and loss of the required partial vacuum).

Description of Drawings

The present invention will be illustrated by the following diagrammatic figures in which: Figure 1 shows a simple structure made using a kit according to the present invention; Figure 2(a) shows a pcrspcctivc view of a component building block; Figure 2(b) shows a perspective view of a "half-sized" building block; Figure 2(c) shows a perspective view of a building block with a cavity; and Figure 3 shows a kit of building blocks stored when not in use.

Detailed Description

Figure 1 shows a toy (10) according to one embodiment of the invention which uses 13 building blocks (12) to construct a simple barricade/battlement structure. In this case each building block (12) is identical and comprises a low-density open plastics foam structure with no voids or cavities. In this illustration the building blocks are cuboid in shape having square ends with both top faccs and sidc faces having an area of approximately twice the elld face. Each block (see Figure 2a) has three pairs of rectangular faces (14, 16, 18); each pair being in a plane at right angles to the other two pairs. The blocks typically have an end face area (A) in the range 50 to 1000 cm2. Thus, the building blocks are relatively large and so a fairly small number of blocks (typically ID to 100) can together be used to construct play structures large enough for young children to hide within.

It has been found that such building blocks can be used to build walls with window apertures (including a "lintel" portion at the top of such an aperture). Advantageously, the toy may comprise about 10-20% smaller or half volume sized blocks; for example cube shaped blocks of the same end face area as the majority of the larger (double in volume) sized blocks. This assists the building of windows and doorways. The structures built with the toy will normally have an open top (that is no roof).

Figure 2(a) shows a normal sized building block (12) and Figure 2(b) a half-sized (in this case cube-shaped) block (20).

While the building blocks are preferably "solid" having no cavities or (large) voids within -other than the small voids that form part of the open foam material itself; optionally some or all of the building blocks (22) may have a cavity (24), as shown in Figure 2(c).

A toy comprising say 50 building blocks (with an end face area of say tOO cm2) will have a combined volume of I OOlitres (0.1 m3). In order to make storage of such blocks easier (when not in use) the present invention also comprises a kit having said building bricks and also a vacuum storage bag (see Figure 3). After use the blocks are placed side-by side in layers within the bag which is then partially evacuated of air using a vacuum cleaner or the like. This greatly reduces the volume of the kit during storage. After such evacuation the bag is sealed with a sealing cap or the like in order to prevent the ingress of air and so the loss of the required partial vacuum.

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Claims

CLAIMS1. A building block toy (10) comprising: a plurality of, or at least 10 to at least 100, generally cuboid-shaped building blocks (12) fonned from an open-foamed material each block having three pairs of rectangular faces (14, 16, 18); each pair being in a plane at right angles to the other two pairs; each face having an area in the range 50 cm2 to 2000 cm.
2. A building block toy (10) according to Claim I comprising building blocks (12) where each pair of rectangular faces (14, 16, 18) is planar.
3. A building block toy according to Claim 1 where at least one of the building blocks (22) has at least one of said faces (14, 16, 18) that have at least one cavity (24).
4. A building block toy according to Claim I where the foam-like material is a plastics open plastics foam material.
5. A building block toy according to Claim 1 where individual building blocks (12, 20) vary in size.
6. A building block toy kit (30) comprising a building block toy (10) according to any preceding claim and a vacuum storage bag (32) in which the building blocks can be stored in compacted form.