NL1031088C1 - Modular building system for children. - Google Patents

Description

Title: Modular building system for children

Qehisd

The invention relates to a modular building system for children, specifically intended for building houses and other spatial forms that are dimensioned such that they can be accessed by the children.

Back grcad

Research shows that there is a need for "large building toys", that is, toys with which children can build life-sized huts independently.

"Move-and-stic" is a building system consisting of plastic pipes, panels and 10 connecting pieces. "Move-and-stic" can be used both indoors and outdoors and is meant for private use. However, it can also be found in indoor playgrounds, mainly for small children (up to 6 years). The tubes are attached to the connectors with tube dips. Help from parents is often necessary.

1δ "Maxi building blocks" can be found in more and more indoor playgrounds. The blocks are made of plastic and are approximately 20 cm long. Children can easily stack the blocks and with different panels it is possible to make a roof. Quite a lot of blocks are needed to make a building that children can sit on themselves.

20 "Building playgrounds" are intended for older children. In a construction playground, children can build their own cabin with posts, planks and nails. Different types of tools are required for this. A playground must always be supervised to ensure that materials and tools are handled safely and to prevent huts from being built that can collapse quickly. Agreements about this are made with the children in advance. Because building a hut takes a lot of time, the children usually have the opportunity to come and build their hut several times in succession.

1031068 '2

Various kinds of toys already exist due to which children can build their own huts. A limitation here is that help from adults is often necessary to guarantee safety or to make the connections. Another limitation is that sometimes many parts have to be assembled before the intended structure starts to emerge. Children will not always have the patience to build with this.

Summary

The present invention has for its object to obviate the above-mentioned drawbacks and needs by providing a modular building system for children, which comprises panels which are each provided with flexible fixing elements, which panels and fixing elements are adapted for simple and repeatable mutual assembly and detachability.

The new building system proposed here therefore comprises panels (plates) which have such dimensions and structural properties with regard to weight, stiffness, manageability, etc. that children of the "playing age" can quickly and easily construct a structure such as a hut, house, castle, etc. In addition, possibilities are provided for attaching the panels to each other and making them detachable, sturdy and safe for children.

For example, the panels can for a large part be made of a foamed plastic, so that the panels can be light, safe and inexpensive.

Preferably at least a part of the panels has the shape of an equilateral triangular or polygon and the ribs of said panels are preferably equal in length to each other. In the proposed modular building system, some of the panels will preferably be in the form of an equilateral triangle, some in the form of an equilateral quadrangle and some in the form of an equilateral pentagon, said shapes being extremely suitable for building a wide variety of spatial forms. However, the proposed modular building system can also have other shapes - equilateral or non-equilateral - for example rectangles with 3 ribs that are equal to the ribs of the other building panels or whose length of some ribs is, for example, double or half the standard (rib) length '.

Said flexible fixing elements are preferably located in the center of the relevant panel rib. The fixing elements are preferably formed in such a way that it does not matter how the panels are attached to each other, in other words there are no substantial limitations as regards their mutual fixing as regards their front and rear sides.

Each fastening element is preferably formed on the one hand by a flexible strip extending outwardly from the panel in question and on the other hand by a cavity extending inwardly in the panel in question, wherein the strip and the cavity are provided with mutually engaging connecting means. As will be further elucidated hereinbelow by means of a figure description, all this is preferably arranged and dimensioned such that for the purpose of connecting panels to each other the strip of a first panel can be introduced into the cavity of a second panel. and vice versa, and the connecting means of both can be brought into engagement with each other. For the purpose of "concealing" unused fixing strips, all this is preferably arranged and dimensioned such that such a strip can be led into a nearby cavity of the same panel and the connecting means of the two can be brought into engagement with each other. .

The connecting means - on the one hand on the attachment strip and on the other hand in the fastening bolt · are preferably formed by a cooperating Velcro system (also known as Velcro ™, see www.velcro.cowl. Usually formed by a "lueje8" part and a " brackets' part.

The panels preferably comprise three layers, namely a first layer, for example made of a first polymer, a (thin, flexible) second layer made of, for example, a second polymer or another type of material, and 4 a third layer made of a third polymer, for example equal to the first polymer. The first and / or the third polymer include, for example, polyethylene (PE) in foamed form, an inexpensive, environmentally friendly and light material. The second layer is, for example, of polypropylene (PP) or of high-density polyethylene (PE-HD). In general, the second layer serves as a constructional intermediate layer which in particular serves to permanently connect the PE panels and the connecting strips to each other. In addition to a (strong) film, the material used can also be woven material (of natural or synthetic fibers).

The second layer is therefore preferably located between the first and the third layer and has a shape that preferably largely corresponds to the shape of the first and / or the third layer (the panel shape), plus the shape of the flexible strips belonging to the relevant panel. The flexible strips - part of the intermediate layer - can thus be easily and tightly connected to the panel and the intermediate layer moreover forms a good and flexible reinforcement on the panel, which is thus formed by a "sandwich" construction of successively a PE- layer, a (thin) intermediate layer of flexible material and again a PE layer.

The building system is intended for play areas in childcare, at 20 schools, in bungalow parks, campsites, etc. The goal is to provide building elements that children can use to build life-size huts, etc. By using different modular elements, children are offered the opportunity to use and develop their creativity. With the present system children can build a hut etc. safely and creatively without the help of their parents. The intended play fadlity is meant in particular for children from 6 to 12 years and is very suitable to connect with themes that children like to use. Safety is a very important point in this design, both for users within and outside the target group. In addition, the proposed system is suitable - for example due to color schemes, additional printing on the 30 panels, additions, etc. - to have an attractive appearance, so that 5 children would like to play with it.

Embodiment example and figure description

Figure 1 shows a simple structure that can be made by children using panels from the modular building system as described in the foregoing;

Figures 2a to 2c show the embodiment of a triangular panel;

Figure 8 shows the embodiment of a square panel;

Figure 4 shows the embodiment of a pentagonal panel;

Figures 5a to 6d show some details of the foregoing.

In order to get an impression of the possibilities of the modular building system as described above, figure 1 shows a "house" that can be made by children using different panels from that building system. The structure is in this case formed by two panels in the form of an equilateral triangle (one of which is invisible in the figure), a panel in the form of an equilateral quadrangle and two panels in the form of an equilateral pentagon.

Each panel may, as shown in Figs. 2 to 4, be formed by a first plate 1 and a second plate 2, each made, for example, of polyethylene (PE) foam of approximately 15 mm thick which are hermetically together 20, preferably via an intermediate layer of, for example, 1 mm polypropylene (PP) or high-density polyethylene (PE-HD), which will be discussed in more detail below. Both plates 1 and 2 can be of different color and lot structure if desired. In figure 1, especially the plates 2 are visible.

Each of the panels is provided with flexible fastening elements and the panels and fastening elements are arranged for simple and repeatable mutual assembly and loosability that will be explained in more detail below. At least a part of the panels (all in the example of Figure 1) has the shape of an equilateral triangle or polygon and the ribs of these panels are equal in length to each other. In particular, panels in the form of an equilateral triangle, an equilateral quadrangle and an equilateral pentagon are very suitable for the present purpose and will form an essential component of the whole. Incidentally, other "panels" can also be added to that "basic set", for example rectangular panels of which for example two ribs are twice as long as the "basic rib length", Lc. the length of the ribs of the equilateral triangles and polygons. Some (for example again rectangular) panels may also have two ribs with a length equal to half the basic rib length.

The flexible fastening elements are located in the middle of the relevant panel rib or, if the rib length is greater than the basic rib length, at corresponding distances, such that the fixing elements will always fit well together.

In figures 2a and 2b, among others, it is shown that each fastening element is formed on the one hand by a flexible strip 3 extending parallel to the surface of the panel in question and made out of for instance polypropylene (PP) with a thickness of approximately 1 mm and, on the other hand, through a cavity 4 extending parallel to the plane of the panel in question, wherein the strip and the cavity are provided with mutually engaging connecting means, viz. a cooperating Velcro system formed by a "shark". "Part 6 in the cavity 4 and a" loops "part 5 at the end of the strip 8. In addition, the end of the strip 3 is also provided with an engagement part 7, on the other side than the" loops "part 5, with the aid of which the "loops" part 5 can be firmly pressed onto the "hooks" part 6 in cavity 4 of (for example) another panel. The engaging part 7 must also be able to be easily detached again by the Velcro connection 5-6. Finally, on the same side, an additional "loops" part 8 can be attached, with the aid of which additional decorative elements can be arranged on the structure if desired (see for example figure 5d).

Figure 2c shows that per panel the strips 3 can be connected to each other and all form part of one plate (also indicated in Figure 2b by 7 reference number 3), with a shape similar to that of the (in Figure 2a triangular, in figure 3, square and in figure 4, pentagonal panel, plus the outwardly protruding actual strips. The result is that each of the panels is formed by panel parts 1 and 2, both for example of PE foam of 15 mm, 6 with a PP layer of 1 mm bonded to both PE parts 1 and 2 between them. The whole forms a sandwich plate which is very suitable for the present purpose, consisting of successively layers 1 (15 mm PE foam), 3 (1 mm PP) and 2 (15 mm PE foam), as well as in Figure 2b is visible.

All this is arranged and dimensioned such that, for the purpose of connecting panels to each other, the strip of a first panel can be led into the cavity of a second panel and the connecting means of both can be brought into engagement with each other, such as in more detail in Figure 5a. This shows how two panels can be connected to each other.

Figure 5b shows how three panels can be connected to each other (in the same way more, for example four, panels can be connected to each other).

Figure 5c shows how - when a strip is not used to connect a panel to another panel - that strip in a nearby one (i.c.

The opposite cavity of the same panel can be fed and the connecting means of the two can be brought into engagement with each other. In this way unused strips 3 can thus be neatly concealed.

The various figures show how each strip 3 can still be provided with an additional piece of "loops" - Velcro tape 8, with the aid of which a structure can still be decorated with "protrusions" which are provided with a piece of "eyelets" - Velcro tape Figure 5d shows an example of a structure which is adorned with "ears" arranged in this way and with decorative elements (eyes, mouth) arranged on the panels and which therefore takes the form of a fantasy animal. Such decorative elements can also be applied to the panels with the help of Velcro. To prevent the panels from 'Velcro' to each other as a result of that Velcro tape, the Velcro tape is preferably applied in (extra) cavities in the panels, as well as - and for the same reason - the Velcro strips 6 in the cavities 4.

Finally, the following is noted to supplement and clarify the foregoing: - The fixing elements have a front and back, namely the protruding strips and the cavities in which the strips must be placed.

In order to be able to fix the panels together, it is important that the fixing elements are placed alternately (as far as possible, with an odd number of sides such as a pentagon, it becomes front - front - rear - front - rear). If the fixing elements were not placed alternately, for example, a "roof" could not be formed from three panels, because the fixing elements would then be in each other's way.

- By placing the Velcro hooks in a cavity in the panels, the panels will not stick to each other (“tangles”) when they are stacked on top of each other. This prevents large surfaces from sticking Velcro together and would be very difficult to remove.

- By using Velcro it is possible to place the panels in "all" possible angles with respect to each other. This increases the building possibilities enormously. This also contributes to the fact that the panels can always be attached to each other, because the angles between the panels are different and often not multiple. If there were only a discrete number of angles available, the third panel would often not be placed between the first two panels (for example, Lego ™ can only be built at angles of 90,180 or 270 degrees, which limits the building possibilities).

1031088

Claims (12)

A modular building system for children, comprising panels which are each provided with flexible fastening elements, which panels and fastening elements are adapted for simple and repeatable mutual assembly and detachability. Modular building system according to claim 1, wherein at least a part of the panels is in the form of an equilateral triangle or polygon and the ribs of said panels are equal in length to each other. 3. Modular building system according to claim 2, wherein some of the panels have the shape of an equilateral triangle, some the shape of an equilateral quadrangle and some the shape of an equilateral pentagon. Modular building system according to claim 2, wherein said flexible fastening elements are located in the middle of the relevant panel rib. 5. Modular building system according to claim 1, wherein each fastening element 15 is formed on the one hand by a flexible strip (3) extending outwardly of that panel and on the other hand by a cavity (4) extending inwardly in the panel concerned, wherein the strip and the cavity be provided with mutually engaging connecting means. 6. Modular building system as claimed in claim 5, all arranged and dimensioned such that for the purpose of connecting panels the strip of a first panel can be led into the cavity of a second panel and the connecting means of both of these to each other can be brought into engagement. Modular building system according to claim 5, wherein the connecting means are formed by a cooperating Velcro system. 7. Modular building system according to claim 5, all arranged and dimensioned such that the strip of a panel can be led into a nearby cavity of the same panel and the connecting means of both can be brought into engagement with each other. 1.0 31 0 8 8 8. Modular building system according to claim 5, wherein the panels comprise a first layer (1) made of a first material, a second layer (3) made of a second material, and a third layer (2) made of the first material or from a third material. The modular building system of claim 8, wherein the first and / or the third material is formed from a polymeric foam. 10. Modular building system according to claim 8, wherein the second material is a polymer film. The modular building system of claim 8, wherein the second material is a fabric of natural or synthetic fibers. 12. Modular building system according to claim 8, wherein the second layer (3) is located between the first (1) and the third layer (2) and has a shape that at least largely corresponds to the shape of the first and / or third layer, plus the shape of the flexible strips (3) belonging to the panel in question. 1031088