US1241009A - Alphabetical construction toy. - Google Patents

Description

l -CQH. PAJEAU. ALPHABEUCAL CONSTRUCTION TOY.

P N FILED FEB 1 l l PatentedSept. 25,1917.'

CHARLES HAMILTON PAJEAU, OF EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.

ALPHABETICAL CONSTRUCTION TOY.

Application filed February 1, 1917.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES HAMILTON PAJEAU, citizen of the United States, residing at Evanston, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Alphabetical Construction Toys; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it'appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to educational toys, its general objects being to provide an inexpensive but fascinating combination of a structural and an alphabetical toy, and to provide unusually effective means for displaying such a toy. In marketing goods of this general class, the sales depend to a large extent upon the manner in which the goods are presented; that is to say, upon the effectiveness with which the toy-buying parent can be made to see the real nature and purposes of what is offered to him. Owing to the limited display space on the surface of the packages containing such toys, it is usually impossible to present sufliciently large pictures on the box labels to show the use of the box contents to the casual 0bserver. To be effective, such pictures would have to be of a size for which the average storekeeper has no room on his toy counters or in his store windows. Cn the other hand, the presentation of the toy or game by a demonstrator involves an expense out of proportion to the retailers usual prot on the sales and demands expert service which is not commonly available, hence the selling of such articles has been seriously handicapped.

To overcome this handicap, particularly in connection with educational toys intended for word-building, I pack such a set of elements in a container shaped and marked to form a mammoth reproduction of certain of the distinctive elements comprising the set, and also pack in this container correspondingly proportioned auxiliary means adapted to coperate with the container for constituting a complete enlarged representation of any of the numerous members which may be constructedy from the set. For example, in

roviding alphabet blocks for use in worduilding, I use blocks l each having on at least one face a letter, the blocks being of the same shape and desirably also of the same size. To display these blocks pleas- Speccation of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 25, 1917..

serial No. 145,848.

ingly and to add to the childs fascination in playing with the same, I preferably provide a detachable pedestal, as for example by providing dowels 2 interchangeably fitting bores in the bottom of the blocks and in bases 3, as illustrated in Figure 2. All of these parts are preferably packed while disassembled, so as to afford the user the pleasure of constructing or assembling these elements in the form shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. These parts are all packed in a box which also provides storage room for mammoth reproductions of both the dowel or pillar 2 and the base 3. The giant pillar 2A is equipped at its upper end for socketing in a bore in the bottom of the box,as shown in Fig. 1, and at its lower end for socketing the same in the giant base 3A, while the box 4 is shaped like any one of the blocks l and is equipped on at least one face with a letter proportioned to the corresponding letter on one of the said blocks. Consequently, when these mammoth reproductions of the block, pillar and base portionsof each word-building member of my set are assembled as shown in Fig. 3, they constitute a giant facsimile of the word-building members. By thus using the container itself as one element of the display form 0f my toy, I am able to display the latter effectively on counters and in show windows without resorting to posters, cutouts or other auxiliaries, the display effect being readily enhanced by also placing part of the assembled contents of the box alongside the latter. Consequently, I am able to secure greatly increased sales without resorting to auxiliary advertising or employing demonstrators.

However, while I have shown separable dowel and base portions as the means for holding each letter-block in eective position, and likewise for holding the letterblock-simulating box in display position, I do not wish to be limited to these or other details of the. construction and arrangement herein disclosed, it being obvious that the same might be modified in many ways without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

l. A set of alphabetical construction blocks each comprising a block equipped on one face with a letter of the alphabet, and an equal number of base elements and of dowels, the blocks' andgbase elements, alllhaying bores Jfor interchangeably receiving opy posite ends of the` doWels.

2. The combinationwith abox, of`- apedestal for supporting the box. in an elevated 3. The` combination with. al box havingfa..

perforation in E its bottom, of a pedestal: hav.-

ing anv upper.l end' adaptedr tosocketf in said perforation, a( plurality. of'. miniature. repro:

ductions. of: the pedestal,l and a plurality; ofi miniature blocks` of: substantiallyL thel same shape;r4 said.' box? and; eachj-y arranged? for mounting the same on one of the miniature pedestals, the said box normally serving as a containerV for` allK of-` the other elements above recited.

4. The combination with a box, of elementsallnormally housed by thesame.; saidy elements comprising a support for holding the box in; displayv position, blocks similar in shape to the box and respectively marked with diiferent legends,. andi miniature sup? portsi simulating the` aforesaid. support and arrangedf respectively 'for similarly holding said blocks.v

Signed at Evanston, IlL, January 30, 1917.

CHARLES-HAMILTON; PAJ EAU.

Copies. of, this patent may; be obtained'. fornve cents each-,1 1031i*ad@,fessing,the.Crolrmgtissioner of Patents,.. Washington, DfGf-f

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