SE541790C2

SE541790C2 - A building set for toy houses

Info

Publication number: SE541790C2
Application number: SE1850303A
Authority: SE
Inventors: Anna Vikberg; Josefin Palmgren
Original assignee: Cribble Craft Ab
Priority date: 2018-03-19
Filing date: 2018-03-19
Publication date: 2019-12-17
Also published as: SE1850303A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a building set for toy houses comprising a plurality of floor blocks (1) made of a substantially rectangular shape having a major floor surface (3), and four side surfaces (5) provided with connection means (7) configured to engage with corresponding connection means of other floor blocks to form a floor of the toy house, a plurality of wall blocks (9a-c) configured to form walls in the toy house, made of a substantially rectangular shape and having upper and lower ends(14, 15). Each of the floor blocks (1) is provided with at least two depressions (17) arranged in the major floor surface, at a distance from the side surfaces of the floor block, and each of the wall blocks is provided with first and second jointing projections projecting from the lower wall side surface, and configured to engage with the depressions of the floor blocks, wherein the distance between the first and second jointing projections (19) corresponds to the distance between two of the depressions (17) on two wall blocks engaged to each other, to allow the first and second jointing projections on one and the same wall block to be engaged with the recesses of two different floor blocks engaged to each other so that the wall block extends from one of the floor blocks to another of the floor blocks when the wall block is mounted on the floor of the toy house. The building set comprises a plurality of coupling elements (21) for coupling the upper ends (14) of two adjacent wall blocks (9a-c) to each other.

Description

A building set for toy houses Technical field The present invention relates to a building set for toy houses, in particular for building doll's houses, including floor blocks and wall blocks.

Background EP1557212 discloses a house-building toy comprises element blocks that include floor foundation blocks functioning as the foundation of a house model and structuring a floor portion of the house model, wall blocks structuring a wall portion of the house model, roof blocks structuring a roof portion of the house model, and floor panel blocks structuring on the floor foundation blocks the ground and a floor surface in the house. Hole portions communicating with the element blocks are formed at joints between the floor foundation blocks and the wall blocks and at joints between the floor foundation blocks and the roof blocks.

EP2451548 discloses a building set for toy houses, in particular doll's houses and the like, comprising wall panels with and without openings for windows or doors, as well as coupling elements for assembling the wall panels, the wall panels being configured with a reduced thickness in each of the four corner areas (9) for insertion into a coupling element. The corner area extends on both sides of the wall panel as a plane, recessed section of the face of the wall panel, the section extending between the staggered edges of the corner area, and the corner area is provided with a depression centrally on both sides of the wall panel, and the coupling element is configured with parallel lateral faces for enclosing the corner area.

US3902291 discloses a set of building elements for assembling building models to a reduced scale in which the main load bearing areas such as the floor and ceiling surfaces are built up from elements which are positively locked together. This is achieved by providing the elements of plate-like form with grooves extending around their edges which have an increased internal cross-section into which complementary tongue fillets are inserted.

KR101575095 discloses an assembling toy comprising a body with a groove, a protrusion, and a joining protrusion to facilitate various version of assembling. The assembling type toy has an educational effect of attracting kids' interests by providing easy assembling of various forms. The assembling toy can be used build toy buildings. A disadvantage with using this assembling toy for assembling buildings for children to play with is that the buildings are not stable enough to stand children playing with it.

Summary It is an aim of the present invention to at least partly overcome the above problems, and to provide an improved building set for toy houses, which makes it possible for children to build stable and robust doll houses, which can stand the children playing with it.

This aim is achieved by the building set defined in claim 1.

The building set comprising a plurality of floor blocks made of a substantially rectangular shape having a major floor surface, and four side surfaces provided with connection means configured to engage with corresponding connection means of other floor blocks to form a floor of the toy house, a plurality of wall blocks, with and without openings for windows and doors, configured to form walls in the toy house, made of a substantially rectangular shape and having upper ends with upper end surfaces, lower ends with lower wall side surfaces. Each of the floor blocks is provided with at least two depressions arranged in the major floor surface, at a distance from the side surfaces of the floor block, and each of the wall blocks is provided with first and second jointing projections projecting from the lower end, and configured to engage with the depressions of the floor blocks, wherein the distance between the first and second jointing projections corresponds to the distance between two of the depressions on two wall blocks engaged to each other, to allow the first and second jointing projections on one and the same wall block to be engaged with the depressions of two different floor blocks engaged to each other so that the wall block extends from one of the floor blocks to another of the floor blocks when the wall block is mounted on the floor of the toy house, and the set comprises a plurality of coupling elements for coupling the upper ends of two adjacent wall blocks to each other.

The term "adjacent wall blocks" shall be broadly interpreted and covers that the wall blocks are arranged at a short distance from each other, e.g. less than 2 cm from each other, in close vicinity, as well as in contact with each other. As shown in the examples, a pillar shaped element can be disposed between the wall blocks.

The coupling element couples the upper ends of the wall blocks to each other and thus makes the toy house more stable.

The invention is robust in material and construction. The wall blocks are locked together in two different directions, cancelling out all potential movement in any four directions. Thus, the walls cannot move sideways, and they are stable even under unfinished stages of model construction, or if the user chooses to build a doll house with a side without walls. Stability is not dependent on the final shape.

It allows for true modularity using a small number of ground parts - making it easy to manufacture and understand.

The present invention is based on 2d elements coming together to become a 3d structure in the end. This has implications both for a smoother production process and another sort of challenge. The present invention consists of fewer different parts, which has implications for economical costs and production, but also in that it allows for greater variation in the end design.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the upper side ends, i.e. the upper end surfaces, of the wall blocks are provided with two spaced apart recesses and the coupling elements is designed to engage with the recesses of two adjacent wall blocks.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the depressions and the jointing projections have a substantially rectangular cross-section.

According to an embodiment of the invention, each of the floor blocks is provided with at least four depressions configured to engage with the jointing projections. This embodiment makes it possible to mount two perpendicular walls to the floor of the toy house.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the floor blocks comprises a central depression arranged between and in line with the at least two depressions, and the building set comprises a plurality of elongated wall elements having the same height as the wall blocks, and designed to engage with the central depression. This solution enables the wall blocks to be of the same length, while at the same time enabling the design to be built with 2-4 joining walls in any of the four directions. A solution without the elongated wall elements would mean that there would have to be a longer variant of the wall for when two walls meet with a 90-degree angle, or that there would in this case be holes between the walls. The elongated wall elements also simulate the techniques used when building real sized houses, and provides an insight into the building process.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the cross section of the elongated wall elements corresponds to the cross section of the central depressions in the floor blocks.

According to an embodiment of the invention, at least one of the floor blocks comprises a central depression disposed in a central part of the floor block and configured to engage with the elongated wall elements, and four depressions configured to engage with the jointing projections of the wall block, and the four depressions are arranged around the central depression so that two of the depressions are in line with the central depression in a first direction, and the other two depressions are in line with the central depression in a second direction perpend perpendicular to the first direction. This embodiment makes it possible to build perpendicular corners.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the depressions are through-holes of the floor blocks. Preferably, also the central depressions are through-holes of the floor blocks. This enables a 2d-based manufacturing technique, simpler, cheaper and more material effective than a 3d-based solution.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the depressions are disposed at least 1 cm, and preferably at least 2 cm from the side surfaces of the floor blocks.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the connection means comprises protrusions and recesses, and each of the floor blocks comprises at least two protrusions and at least two recesses. This locks the walls in all four directions, making them hard to move and able to withstand a lot of play.

Brief description of the drawings The invention will now be explained more closely by the description of different embodiments of the invention and with reference to the appended figures.

Fig. 1 shows an example of a floor block from above and in a perspective view.

Fig. 2 shows an example of a floor built with the floor blocks.

Fig. 3a shows an example of a wall block from above and in a perspective view.

Fig. 3b-d shows two other example of wall blocks with openings for windows and doors. Figs. 4a-d shows examples of coupling elements for coupling two adjacent wall blocks to each other.

Fig. 5 shows an elongated wall element in a perspective view.

Fig. 6 shows a wall block mounted on the floor in a perspective view from above.

Fig. 7 shows two wall blocks mounted on the floor and connected to each other.

Fig. 8 shows an example of a doll house built with a building set according to the invention in a perspective view Detailed description Fig. 1 shows an example of a floor block 1 from above and in a perspective view. A building set for toy houses according to the invention, comprises a plurality of floor blocks (1) made of a substantially rectangular shape having a major floor surface (3), and four side surfaces (5) provided with connection means (7) configured to engage with corresponding connection means of other floor blocks to form a floor of the toy house. Each of the floor blocks (1) is provided with at least two depressions (17a) arranged in the major floor surface (3), at a distance from the side surfaces 5 of the floor block. In this example, the depressions (16) are through-holes of the floor blocks. Alternatively, the depressions are recesses in the major floor surface. In this example, depressions (17b) have a substantially rectangular cross-section. However, the depressions can have other shapes, for example, circular. Preferably, the depressions (16) are disposed at least 1 cm, and preferably at least 1,5 cm from the side surfaces 5 of the floor blocks. The connection means (7) comprises protrusions and recesses. In this example, each of the floor blocks (1) comprises at least two protrusions and at least two recesses. However, the number of protrusions and recesses can vary.

In this example, each of the floor blocks (1) is provided with two pairs of depressions (17a, 17b) configured to engage with the jointing projections (19).

In this example, each of the floor blocks (1) comprises a central depression (25) disposed in a central part of the floor block (1). The four depressions (17a, 17b) are arranged around the central depression 25 so that two of the depressions 17a are in line with the central depression 25 in a first direction, and the othertwo depressions 17b are in line with the central depression 25 in a second direction perpend perpendicular to the first direction, as shown in the figures.

Fig. 2 shows an example of a floor built with the floor blocks 1.

The building set for toy houses according to the invention, comprises a plurality of wall blocks, with and without openings for windows and doors, configured to form walls in the toy house, Fig. 3a shows an example of a wall block 9a from above and in a perspective view, and figs. 3b-d shows two other example of wall blocks 9b-c with openings for windows and doors.

The wall blocks 9a-c are made of a substantially rectangular shape. Each of the wall blocks has two major wall surfaces (11) and an upper end 14 having an upper wall side surface and a lower end 15 having a lower wall side surface. Each of the wall blocks 9a-c is provided with first and second jointing projections (19) projecting from the lower wall side surface of the lower end 15, and configured to engage with the depressions 17a of the floor blocks 1. In this example, the jointing projections (19) have a substantially rectangular cross-section. However, the depressions can have other shapes, for example, circular.

Fig. 6 shows a wall block 9a mounted on the floor in a perspective view from above. The first and second jointing projections (19) are engaged with one the depressions 17a of each of the two neighboring floor blocks 1. Fig. 7 shows two wall blocks mounted on the floor and connected to each other via an elongated wall element 25.

The distance between the first and second jointing projections (19) corresponds to the distance between two of the depressions (17a,) on two wall blocks 1 engaged to each other, to allow the first and second jointing projections 19 on one and the same wall block to be engaged with the depressions 17a of two different floor blocks engaged to each other so that the wall block extends from one of the floor blocks to another of the floor blocks when the wall block is mounted on the floor of the toy house, as shown in figure 6.

The building set comprises a plurality of coupling elements (21) for coupling upper ends 12 of two adjacent wall blocks (9) to each other, as shown in figures 7 and 8. The upper side surfaces (14) of the wall blocks are provided with two spaced apart recesses (16), as shown in figures 3a-d, and the coupling elements (21) is designed to engage with the recesses 16 of two adjacent wall blocks, as shown in figure 7.

Figs. 4a-d shows a plurality of examples of coupling elements 21, 21a-c for coupling two adjacent wall blocks to each other. The design of the coupling elements is different, and depends on the weatherthe adjacent wall blocks are arranged in line or perpendicularto each other, as in a corner, and the number of adjacent wall blocks. The number of adjacent wall blocks to be connected by means of the coupling elements can vary between two and four. In this example, the coupling elements are designed as hollow boxes provided with an opening. The shape of the coupling element 21 is rectangular and designed to couple two aligned wall blocks. The coupling element 21a is cruciform and designed to couple four wall blocks of two walls arranged perpendicular to each other. The coupling element 21b is V-shaped and designed to couple two wall blocks arranged perpendicular to each other to form a corner. The coupling element 21c is T-shaped and designed to couple three wall blocks to each other.

Fig. 8 shows an example of a doll house built with a building set according to the invention in a perspective view.

Fig. 5 shows an elongated wall element 23 in a perspective view. The building set comprises a plurality of elongated wall elements (23) having the same height as the wall blocks (9), and designed to engage with the central depression 25 of the floor blocks 1. In this example, the elongated wall elements (23) are formed as pillars. The elongated wall elements (23) are designed to fit between two adjacent wall blocks to make it possible to use the same wall blocks in a straight wall as well as in a corner of the doll house. Some of the coupling elements are designed to couple the wall elements (23) and two wall blocks arranged in a line, as shown in figure 7 and 8. In this example, the elongated wall elements (23) has a rectangular crosssection. However, in another example the elongated wall elements (23) can have a circular cross-section.

The floor blocks, wall blocks and elongated wall elements are are suitably made of plywood, but can also be made of other materials such as wood, or plastic. The coupling elements are suitably made of plastic, The present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed but may be varied and modified within the scope of the following claims. For example, the depressions do not need to be through-holes. Alternatively, they depressions can be recessed having a bottom part. The cross-section of the depressions and jointing projections can vary, for example, they can have a circular cross-section. The number and positions of the depressions may vary. The coupling elements can be made in different ways to achieve the same function, for example, they can be formed to clamp the wall blocks.

Reference list 1 Floor blocks 3 Major floor surface Side surfaces of the floor 7 Connection means 9a-c Wall blocks 11 Major wall surfaces 14 Upper end Lower end 16 Recesses 17a-b Depressions 19 Jointing projections 21 Coupling elements 23 Elongated wall elements 25 central depression

Claims

1. A building set for toy houses comprising a plurality of floor blocks (1) made of a substantially rectangular shape having a major floor surface (3), and four side surfaces (5) provided with connection means (7) configured to engage with corresponding connection means of other floor blocks to form a floor of the toy house, a plurality of wall blocks (9a-c) configured to form walls in the toy house, made of a substantially rectangular shape and having an upper end (14), and a lower end (15), characterized in that each of the floor blocks (1) is provided with at least two depressions (17a, 17b) arranged in the major floor surface, at a distance from the side surfaces of the floor block, and each of the wall blocks is provided with first and second jointing projections (19) projecting from the lower end, and configured to engage with the depressions of the floor blocks, wherein the distance between the first and second jointing projections (19) corresponds to the distance between two of the depressions (17a, 17b) on two different floor blocks engaged to each other, to allow the first and second jointing projections on one and the same wall block to be engaged with the depressions of two different floor blocks engaged to each other, so that the wall block (9a-c) extends from one of the floor blocks to the other floor block when the wall block is mounted on the floor of the toy house, and the building set comprises a plurality of coupling elements (21) for coupling the upper ends (14) of two adjacent wall blocks (9a-c) to each other.

2. The building set according to claim 1, wherein the upper ends (14) of the wall blocks are provided with two spaced apart recesses (16) and said coupling elements (21) is designed to engage with the recesses of two adjacent wall blocks (9a-c).

3. The building set according to any of the previous claims, wherein said depressions (17a-b) and said jointing projections (19) have a substantially rectangular crosssection.

4. The building set according to any of the previous claims, wherein each of the floor blocks (1) is provided with at least four depressions (17a-b) configured to engage with said jointing projections (19).

5. The building set according to any of the previous claims, wherein at least some of the floor blocks (1) comprises a central depression (25) arranged between and in line with said at least two depressions (17), and the building set comprises a plurality of elongated wall elements (23) having the same height as the wall blocks (9a-c), and designed to engage with the central depression.

6. The building set according to claim 5, wherein said central depression (25) is configured to engage with said elongated wall elements (23), the central depression disposed in a central part of the floor block (1), and said four depressions (17), configured to engage with said jointing projections (19), are arranged around the central depression so that two of the depressions are in line with the central depression in a first direction, and the other two depressions are in line with the central depression in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

7. The building set according to any of the previous claims, wherein said depressions (17a, 17b) are through-holes of the floor blocks.

8. The building set according to any of the previous claims, wherein the depressions (17a, 17b) are disposed at least 1 cm, and preferably at least 1,5 cm from the side surfaces of the floor blocks.

9. The building set according to any of the previous claims, wherein said connection means (7) comprises protrusions and recesses, and each of the floor blocks (1) comprises at least two protrusions and at least two recesses.