JP2716338B2 - Module unit - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a modular unit or puzzle piece that can be assembled as a three-dimensional free-standing structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Puzzles are toys that test the dexterity and impose player patience. Puzzle games usually involve the selection and sequential assembly of a plurality of contoured polygonal sheet pieces around a flat sheetboard to recreate the original image. Is included. More complex puzzle games include assembling a three-dimensional free standing structure with various puzzle pieces along the edges of the interlocked horizontal and vertical walls.

An example of the latter type of three-dimensional puzzle can be found in Roy in a recent US Pat. No. 4,824,112 issued Apr. 1989. A disadvantage of such puzzles is more particularly that non-planar puzzle pieces must be used at the corners of the two lateral walls of the self-assembled structure. See FIG. 7a of Roy's citation. This means that two different dies are required for the manufacture of puzzle pieces, one for the flat planar piece and the other for the bent corner piece. Means This is inefficient.

[0004] Other three-dimensional puzzles rely on their self-standing ability on locking pins or the like to lock the corners of a pair of lateral walls forming part of the puzzle. This can be found in Johnson's U.S. Pat. No. 2,569,107. This also requires another specific means inherent in the puzzle pieces, such as manufacturing efficiency.

[0005] 3 created exclusively by planar puzzle pieces
A three-dimensional self-contained puzzle structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,70, issued in 1972 to Education Publishing Co., Ltd. of Japan.
No. 1,214. In this patent, each puzzle piece has a groove joint in an edge direction portion for interlocking engagement with a groove joint in a complementary edge direction of an adjacent puzzle piece. It is a flat polygonal block. Adjacent blocks are interlocked by the engagement of mating male and female mating dovetail joint elements.

[0006]

Although the patent of Education Publishing Company is of interest, the dovetailed male element of the first block has a dovetailed groove of the second block in the plane in any of these two blocks. As it engages with the female elements, it must be extremely difficult to assemble the corner parts of a self-supporting structure if each wall is made of a number of puzzle pieces. More specifically, to interlock the male and female dovetail joint elements, as is well known in the art, the elements are first laterally aligned with one another and then It must be inserted laterally through that face. The male-type grooved element can certainly not be inserted through the mouth of the female-type grooved element.

[0007] Accordingly, in a puzzle publisher's puzzle piece, where each wall is comprised of one or more puzzle pieces, how a completely enclosed, self-contained, continuous three-dimensional structure can be created. I don't know. Indeed, educational publication patents allow the construction of a building structure having possibly many puzzle pieces walls, two or three, but the fourth of the building structures surrounding this puzzle piece. The last wall of the fourth wall can in fact be mounted on its two opposing side walls because the dovetail joint interlocking axis prevents an edgewise positioning of the fourth wall with respect to the two side walls. Will not.

FIG. 8 of the teaching publication patent discloses a discontinuous but enclosed structure with its grooved joint puzzle.
It suggests that it can be composed of pieces. However, for this to occur, each wall of the structure must be composed of a single puzzle piece, as illustrated in that figure. The inventor contemplates the creation of precision puzzles and does not contemplate providing a free standing structure having a single module unit for each wall. In any case, the image obtained from FIG. 8 of the Educational Publication Patent has a discontinuous corner portion.

Accordingly, the gist of the present invention is to provide a three-dimensional structure in which all puzzle pieces, which are modular units, are made of flat sheet material, and the constructed puzzle structure forms a continuous enclosure. To provide a self-contained puzzle game.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a three-dimensional puzzle game.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce the manufacturing cost of the system.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, in accordance with the objects of the present invention, a first opposed major flat surface, a second opposed major flat surface, and a right angle to the first and second opposed major flat surfaces. A planar polygonal block extending in a direction and defining a peripheral edge that is continuous with the two, an image intended to face the exterior of the puzzle structure on at least one of the first and second opposed major flat surfaces Forming on the periphery of the block (a) removably engaging with the dovetail means for complementing the second block along the side of the first block in the plane of the first block; A first subsequent means which is a dovetail means for stopping;
And (b) the first in a plane perpendicular to the third block.
A second mortise means that is a linear mortise mortise means that frictionally engages with the mating mortise mortise means of the third block along the sides of the block; Three-dimensional self-supporting type, characterized in particular by the possibility of assembling a large number of walls, each made up of a plurality of said module units, and a puzzle structure having a continuous external surface surrounding an enclosure. A modular unit for use in a continuous puzzle structure is disclosed.

A third mortise mortar which is frictionally engaged with a pair of complementary mortise mortise means of the fourth block and the fifth block at the side of the first block. It is preferred to provide the following means, wherein the fourth block is at right angles to the first block and the fifth block is at right angles to both the first and fourth blocks. And an image is formed on the first and second opposed major flat surfaces of a first block.

[0013] The block is advantageously made of a primary semi-rigid resilient foam backing material, and further includes a color film sheet layer in which the image is embedded. The film sheet layer is glued to the face of said foam backing material which is defined to face the outside of the puzzle structure;

Alternatively, the present invention also comprises a combination of a number of first and second module units that are removably locked together to form a three-dimensional continuous puzzle, each module comprising: The unit comprises a block having first and second opposing major flat surfaces and a peripheral portion which is continuous with the first and second opposing major flat surfaces in a direction perpendicular to each other, and wherein the first and second portions of each block are provided. A small image is formed on at least one of the second opposing main flat surfaces, the image being combined with the image of the encoding surface of the other block to form a continuous main image; The perimeter of each block of the unit and the second module unit is: (a) the complementation of the second block along the sides of the first block in the plane of the first block. Arrival means and arrival The first block means of each second module unit includes: (b) in a plane perpendicular to the first block. A second mortise means which is a linear mortise mortise means frictionally engaging a mating mortise means of a third block along a side of the first block; The means is in particular characterized in that it allows the assembly of a number of walls, each made up of a plurality of said modular units, as well as the construction of a puzzle structure having a continuous outer surface surrounding an enclosure.

Preferably, therefore, in its assembled state, the puzzle comprises a horizontal bottom base wall and the base.
Forming a building structure interlocking with the base wall and defining vertical side walls projecting along the sides from the base wall, wherein the enclosure is defined between the vertical side walls; Means are provided which include a large cardboard roof sheet mounted on a defined upper edge and which provide self-supporting of said roof sheet.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a three-dimensional self-contained puzzle is shown at 20 in FIG. The three-dimensional self-contained puzzle 20 has the shape of a small castle, but of course could have other configurations. The three-dimensional self-contained puzzle 20 as a castle has a horizontal ground level 22 which is a bottom base wall as a whole, and an upright wall 2 extending upward from a side of the horizontal ground level 22.
4 and a sloping roof 26 supported at the upper edge of the upright wall 24.

The three-dimensional self-contained puzzle 20, as best illustrated in FIGS. 3, 5 and 11, is a plurality of releasably modular units in this embodiment that are releasably locked together. It consists of blocks or puzzle pieces 28. Puzzle pieces 28 comprise polygon blocks that form modular building blocks or units of variable shape, and thus perform relative positions and functions within three-dimensional freestanding puzzle 20. However, the puzzle pieces 28, which are puzzle blocks, have common features that form the subject of the present invention. These features are as follows. (A) each puzzle block, puzzle piece 28, is completely flat and planar; (b) a planar surface, for example, a horizontal ground level.
Each pair of adjacent puzzles within the base 22 or upright wall 24
The interlocking joint between the blocks is a dovetail means, which comprises a female part 30 and a male part 32 which complement each other. As best shown in FIG.
The corners of the male portion 32 are preferably smooth and rounded; (c) upright with the horizontal ground level 22, for example, at the excess or corner of two adjacent planar surfaces. At the intersection of the walls 24, the mortise mortise means, which is a transverse interlocking joint between each pair of adjacent puzzle blocks 28 which are transverse to each other, is a straight U-shaped tenon. It is of the mortise type, wherein the mortise mortise comprises a mutually complementary U-shaped tenon portion 34 and a square mortise portion 36. As will be described in greater detail below, some tenon portions 34 'are wide to complement two square mortise portions 36, 36 from two additional blocks, puzzle pieces 28, 28. (FIG. 11). (D) Each puzzle block or puzzle piece 28 is comprised of a primary semi-rigid backing material layer 38 defining two opposed primary flat surfaces 38a, 38b. Backing material layer 38
Is preferably made of a compressible resilient foam.
At least one of the opposing major flat surfaces 38a, 38b and both suitable opposing major flat surfaces 38a, 38b (see below)
Support additional film layers 40, 42 which are glued to the foam backing material layer 38. See FIG. 9 and FIG. (E) The perimeter 28a of the block is irregular in height, but is continuous with the opposing major flat surfaces designated 38a and 38b, and is flat and perpendicular to these two major flat surfaces. The peripheral portion is composed of a plurality of sides, and the side portion is provided with a mortise mortise and a tenon mortise. In particular, see FIG.

The female part 30 and the male part 32, which are interlocking means for interlocking pairs of puzzle pieces 28, which are building blocks in adjacent conjugate planes, have their common surfaces for their release. Clearly requires a relative displacement of the puzzle piece 28 in the lateral direction. In other words,
Once the blocks of puzzle pieces 28 are interlocked in a horizontal plane (horizontal ground level 22), each horizontal block of puzzle pieces 28 is released to release from adjacent horizontal blocks. Need to be displaced up and down,
That is, it must be pulled up and down from a horizontal plane; the puzzle pieces 28, blocks, once interlocked within the vertical plane (the upright wall 24), are puzzle pieces, adjacent puzzle blocks. To release from the block 28, it is necessary to push the puzzle piece 28, which is a vertical block, from the vertical plane in a horizontal-lateral direction.

An innovative feature is that the core shown in FIGS.
At the corner joint, a straight (U-shaped) tenon portion 34 and a square mortise portion 36 interpose and intersect two building blocks, puzzle pieces 28, 28, with each other. Join along two faces. The corner joints, U-shaped tenon portion 34 and square mortise portion 36, are arranged in a crosswise, preferably right-angled plane along the puzzle piece 2.
The interlocking of the 8, 28 ensures that the vertical wall always sits on the side against the virtually horizontal wall. This causes the straight U-shaped tenon portion 34 and square mortise portion 36 to bias in an interlocked state under the weight of the vertical wall. Furthermore, if the release of the straight U-shaped tenon portion 34 and square mortise portion 36 is required, the first building block, puzzle piece 28, is adjacent in the plane of the first block. It is only necessary to pull away from the puzzle piece, the second lateral block, to release the tenon from the mortise. In order to prevent accidental lateral release of the U-shaped tenon portion 34 from its mating square mortise portion 36, the former dimension is only very slightly smaller than the latter dimension, thereby reducing the friction fit. Should be obtained.

The U-shaped tenon portion 34 and the square mortise portion 36, which are the linear mortise mortise means, enable the building to be constructed with its upright walls defining a continuous enclosure, that is, the side of the building. It is understood that the directional upright wall can be interlocked in a continuous manner around a closed interior chamber. In other words, a U-shaped tenon portion 3 which is a straight tenon mortise piercing means.
4. The square mortise portion 36 allows for installation of all sidewalls, including the last sidewall closing the enclosure.

The reader of this specification is Sakamoto, US Pat.
It will be recalled from the prior art section that there is a No. 01,214 and a puzzle piece equipped with a determined edge-to-edge joint in a grooved type interlocking member. As a result, Sakamoto's joints prevent interlocking engagement of the last wall that closes the enclosure of the 3D puzzle building in the case of a puzzle building with walls of puzzle pieces each. Furthermore, Sakamoto's 3D puzzle is discontinuous. Here, the present invention is different from Sakamoto's reference.

On the intermediate level horizontal block 28 "", there are some mortise sections as illustrated in FIG. 7 to enable the interlocking of the upper and lower vertical blocks 28 ", 28". 34 '''can be deeper than the other U-shaped mortise portion 34. That is, the lower vertical block 2
8 '' tenon 36 '' is an intermediate level block 2
8 '''fits into the inner (deep) side of the deep mortise portion 34''', while the tenon portion 36 'of the upper vertical block 28' slides into the next adjacent tenon 36 ''. The upper vertical block 28 'and the lower vertical block 28 "are parallel to each other so as to fit outside (free) of the mortise 34""of the intermediate level block 28"".

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 10 and 11, as will be briefly checked, also for two horizontal blocks having a wide female and grooved cavity tenon 34 'for securing the intermediate block. The same can be said to be true.

The film layer 40 which is an image of the puzzle piece 28 which is a block of each single image layer is always a castle 3
It is understood that the outwardly facing dimensional self-contained puzzle 20 faces.
Of course, the owner of the three-dimensional self-contained puzzle 20 wants to visually understand the whole building structure by combining a plurality of image parts forming an external continuous image with the puzzle pieces 28 which are interlocking blocks. Therefore, there is no feature in the layer facing inward.

An upright sheet column 4 which stands on a horizontal ground level 22, which is the bottom base wall, and which abuts laterally at the sides against the outer surface of the upright wall 24.
Advantageously, 4 is added. Therefore, such an external upright sheet column 44 is a three-dimensional upright puzzle 2 which is a castle.
Define two opposing major faces facing the outside of zero. Thus, the upright sheet column 44 is adapted to provide an image layer on this major surface (FIGS. 18 and 10).

Here, the sloped roof 26 and the upper edge of the upright wall 24, which is the supporting vertical side wall, will be examined. Reference is made to FIGS. 4-6, 17 and 12-16 of the drawings. FIG.
The bottom and lateral perimeters 28a of the module blocks of the upright wall 24 of the three-dimensional puzzle are joined by female and male sections 32 or U-shaped tenon sections 34 and square mortise sections 36 which are the next means. As will be appreciated, the upper edge 28a 'of the upright wall 24, which is the vertical side wall of the castle, clearly shows the lack of such a secondary means. However, the upper edge 28a 'may be of any type of building structure, for example, a castle crenellated C or tower.
The height changes to form T. Tower T is shown in FIG.
Can be supported at the sides by a single side of the main vertical side wall only. The upper edge of tower T can be completely flat as in FIG. 6 or can include a semi-circular tenon extension 46 as in FIG. 17, the former tower opening at this upper edge, while The latter tower engages the roof section 48 at its upper end in FIG.

FIGS. 12 to 16 show various roof portions 26. FIG. Each roof portion 26 comprises a thin sheet of semi-rigid material that is self-supporting on a peripheral edge 28a 'which is the upper edge of the upright wall 24 which is a vertical side wall. The sloping roof 26 which is the roof of the sheet is a horizontal ground level 22 which is a wall.
Or, it is thinner than the upright wall 24. In the first embodiment of the roof in FIGS.
An extended flat, arc-shaped cardboard sheet having a, 48b, 48c is provided and is formed by folding into a roof 48 having a rectangular cross section, the box roof being suggested in FIG. As shown, it is open at its bottom end 48d. The bottom edge of the box roof 48 is provided with a U-shaped cavity 50 for interlocking engagement by a semi-circular tenon extension 46 of the tower. To maintain the assembled box shape of the tower T, the edge lip 52 engages a slit 54 formed in the opposite end flap 56 of an extended cardboard sheet forming the box roof 48. Combine. The upper end of the roof box 48 is closed by three sets of edge flaps 58.

The second embodiment of the roof is shown in FIG.
Indicated by 0. The main roof 60 is a thin rectangular sheet having a flat extension 62 that mates and locks with the crenellated C in an interlocking manner. Roof 60 is the main roof slope part 4
7 and a raised lip 62a engaging below (FIG. 1).

Each roof is comprised of a substantially rigid backing material, such as, for example, a corrugated ball covered with a single color layer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a three-dimensional (3D) puzzle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a ground level portion of the 3D puzzle.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the 3D puzzle module building block on an enlarged scale, with a few vertical building blocks shown in FIG.
2 shows an aspect in which the horizontal base can be fitted in the horizontal direction.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the middle part of the 3D puzzle, illustrating its vertical wall.

5 to 6 are sectional views taken along lines 5-5 and 6-6 in FIG. 4, respectively.

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of three modular building blocks showing both side edge mortise means and tenon mortise means.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the three module units of FIG. 7 in an assembled state.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a modular building block having one side and two opposite sides bearing image film.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a simulated ground-supported vertical column or column laterally supporting a vertical wall of the 3D puzzle castle of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a third embodiment of the module building block.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of the tower portion of the roof for the 3D puzzle castle of FIG. 1;

13 and 14 are perspective views showing how the tower roof of FIG. 12 can be fitted onto the tower of a 3D castle by tenon means.

FIG. 15 is a plan view of the main roof sheet of the 3D castle.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing how the roof sheet of FIG. 15 can be fitted to the vertical wall of the 3D castle of FIG. 1;

FIG. 17 is a cutaway view of the tower portion of the 3D puzzle castle of FIG. 6;

FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a modular building block having one side and two opposite sides supporting an image film.

[Explanation of symbols]

 C crenellated T tower 20 three-dimensional self-contained puzzle 22 horizontal ground level 24 upright wall 26 sloping roof 28 puzzle piece 28 ′ upper vertical block 28 ″ lower vertical block 28 ″ ″ block 28 a peripheral edge 28 a ′ upper edge Part 30 Female part 32 Male part 34 U-shaped tenon part 34 'tenon part 34 "" tenon hole 36 Quadrilateral tenon part 36' tenon 36 "tenon 38 Backing material layer 38a Main flat surface 38b Main flat surface Reference Signs List 40 film layer 42 film layer 44 upright sheet column 46 tenon extension 47 slope part 48 roof 48a broken line 48b broken line 48c broken line 48d bottom end 50 U-shaped cavity 52 edge clip 54 slit 56 end flap 58 flap 60 roof 62 extension 62a raised lip

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on front page (73) Patent holder 595152276 1750 Panet, Laval des Rapids, Quebec, Canada H7G 2R5

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A module unit (28) detachably connectable to another module unit, said module unit comprising a first opposing main flat surface and a second opposing main flat surface (38a, 38a). 38b) and a flat polygonal block having a peripheral portion connecting the first opposing main flat surface and the second opposing main flat surface at right angles to each other. And forming a small image on at least one of said first and second opposing major flat surfaces of each block, said small image being combined with the image of the coding surface of the other block to form a continuous image. A first image located on a different side of the periphery of the block so as to be suitable for forming a three-dimensional free-standing structure;
The next mortise means (30, 32) and the second mortise means (34, 3)
6); the dovetail means (30, 32) comprises a second block extending along the side of the first block in a plane of the first block so as to be suitable for forming a flat wall surface. The mortise mortise means (34, 36) is adapted to mate the first block with a third block along a side of the mortise. Said mortise mortise means (34, 36) form an upstanding wall of said puzzle structure having a continuous exterior surface surrounding a plurality of module units. Thus permitting the assembly of a third block in a plane substantially at right angles to the first block; the connection of the plurality of module units allows the formation of vertical and horizontal walls, as well as , The vertical wall is always on the side of the horizontal wall A modular unit which is seated and allows the interlocking engagement between each of its subsequent means to be maintained. 2. The block is made of a primary semi-rigid compressible resilient foam backing layer (38), wherein the image is a foam backing material intended for the exterior surface of a puzzle structure. Color film sheet (40,
The module unit according to claim 1, wherein the module unit is provided in (42). 3. A bottom base wall (2) removably interconnected with other module units in an assembled state.
2) and a modular unit for building a puzzle forming a building structure connected to the base wall along the side and extending therefrom and defining an upright wall (24), wherein the enclosure is between the upright walls. The puzzle is defined by means of a large cardboard roof sheet (26) mounted on the upper edge formed by the upright wall by means provided for self-support of the roof sheet (26). The module unit according to claim 1, comprising: