US1495576A - Puzzle - Google Patents

Description

Petented ay 27, 1924a ALBERT CUSHING CREHOBE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

PUZZLE,

Application filed April 7, 1922. Serial No. 550,556.

Puzzle, of which the following is a speci-v fication.

The object instruction, entertainment or amusement. The puzzle may be likened to a game of solitaire.

To illustrate the puzzle and state the rules to be followed and material. to be employed reference will be made to one specific example of it. though many obvious variations from this one form are possible Without departing from the fundamental principles of this invention as set forth in the claims. A reference to the well known sixteen-block puzzle will assist in explaining the new one. In that puzzle a shallow square box is filled with sixteen square blocks numbered from one to sixteen, all

being laid in one layer on the plane surface of the bottom of the box, the sixteen blocks almost exactly filling it and forming a square with four blocks on each side. One

of these blocks is then removed from the box, say number sixteen, thus making it possible to slide one of the adjacent blocks either in a. vertical column orl in a horizontal row along the smooth surface of the bottom of the box into the place left vacant by the absence of block number sixteen. In this manner by a succession ofmoves sliding different adjacent blocks into the one always vacant square the original order of arrangement of the blocks may be completely changed. The puzzle is to arrange the blocksaccording to any predetermined order or sequence after placing the blocks in the box at random., and to do so by executing successive moves as described` ,moving but one block at a time into the 5 one vacant square without lifting any block from contact with the bottom of the box. Such a puzzle or problem may evidently be worked out on an ordinary checker board by providing fifteen number-ed men andv exercising some care not to disarrange the men by improper-moves. or by jarring the board. The evident purpose of thefbox above mentioned is to prevent automatically any impifoper moves due to possible accidents It appears at once "to one using a of the invention is to afford' checker board that a similar puzzle might be proposed by using a square of three. five, seven or eight on a side instead of a square of four on a side, or by using some other limitation of the indefinite board such as a. rectangle instead of a square, or several rectangles combined.V VViththe square of` three, however, the problem has no solution generally, since byl observing the rules any random orderfof the men cannot be converted into any predetermined order.

In the invention now to be described and claimed use is made ofa hexagon board instcad of one based upon the square referred to above. Just as isthe case with acollection of square blocks, so a`collection of hexagonal Vblocks can Vbe laid adjacent ;to

each other to cover a given area leaving no interstices or open spaces between lolocks. When one hexagon block is removed from the midst of such a collection of hexagon blocks closely packed,none of the'siX blocks adjacent to this one can be slidinto the space thus vacated without disturbing the other blocks. This is a new condition that does not apply to a formation using square bloc-ks. To facilitate the transfer of other blocks intoV a vacant hexagonal space without raising anyblock off from the surface it is proposed to use split or half hexagon blocks intesad of complete hexagons, each hexagon to bedivided by adiagonal through its center from point to point of the hexagon-this beingthe longest straight line that lcan be drawn within the hexagon. In the accompanying drawings Figure y1 illustrates the hexagon' board and :the method by which one hexagon may be moved into an adjoining.vacanthexagonal space by the useof split hexagon blocks.

lFigure 2- shows one fiform of the puzzle, or game of solitaire based upon the hexagonal board. i u InFigurel is shown acentralhexagon, c bnbzczdz -with its center c1 .at the center of the -whole figure. This is surrounded by six. other equal hexagons`l lo-f which ae/:bod is one` each divided into two halves asrepresented b v a full diagonal line through 'its center.-- The dividing line for' the hexagon aefbcd is the diagonal e7?, and the half hexagon aefbr representing one block Vis givenl thenumber 1. i, The other half; of this hexagomabcd, representinga separate4 block is givenv the number Z Each of the susv los

other five hexagons surrounding the central one is similarly divided by one full diagonal line, thus representing the half hexagon blocks numbered 3, 4; 5, 6; 7, 8; 9, 10 and 11, 12 in pairs.

The group of seven hexagons shown in Figure 1 is typical of and may represent a portion o-f an indefinite hexagon board.` surrounding these there` inay be any number of other equal hexagons with which we are. not now concerned, except that, when theyrepresent blocks closely packed in a box, they serve the-purpose of holding each block firmly inits place. Let it now be supposed' thatl the central hexagon 0bb1b2c2al2 of Figure l isa vacant space not occupied by'blocks, whilel allother spaces upon the board. are filled with blocks. It is evident that'none ofthe six blocks adjacentto this vacant space could be. slid into the vacant space without moving any of the other blocks orV rasing any from the surface, provided these blocks Vwhere complete undivided hexagons. Andit is also evident that, if such hexagon blocks aredivided by diagonal lines into split hexagon blocks as shown in Figure 1, some of them inay be slid into the central vacant hexagonal space immediately in one move or operation, while others cannot be thus immediately moved but require a succession. of'moves. A block which may be'v thus immediately moved is thehalf hexagon abad designated by the number 2. This may be-slid first so that the point a moves toa,, bv to b1 and c to 01,. the new boundaries of this block beingyindicatedv in thefigure by dottedl lines.` It may be slid second so that the point a, moves to a,, b1 to bzland 01 to 02, which locates the final position of block 2, designated 'by 2' in its new position, namely agbgczal,V filling half ofthe centralihexagon originally vacant.

Ina similar manner it is evident that the halfhexagon block a-efb numbered 1 may be.

slid-into the position l'ithus filling therest ofthe central hexagonal space and completely vacating the space aefbccl aty firstoccupied'by the blocks 1 and 2. In like manner it isd evident that-the surrounding adjacent'hexagons 3, 4.; 7, 8; or 9. 10 might have been transferred' by sliding into' the vacant h'exagonal'space at the center, but that the thediagonal of the hexagon must point 'co-- blocks' 5, 6 and 11', 12 could not have been thus directly transferred becausek of the way orl the direction in which the diagonals of these'hexagons lie. To effect animmediate transfer of'a block the line of'division or wards or touch the vacant hexagonal space with one of itsendss There are but three possiblerelativedirections that the line of division or the diagonals of the hexagons Inayfltake, and these are shown in Figure 1 by the blocks 1, 3 and 5, each having a p different direction* for its'f'diagonal, ab for,

block l, bg for 3 and hk for 5, making angles of 120o with each other. When the direction of the diagonal of a hexagon block is once assigned, it will keep this direction throughout the Whole series of moves to be executed because there is no way to turn one of the blocks around through 120 without disturbing other blocks or lifting a block out of its place, which is not supposed to be allowed. In placing a collection of split hexagon blocks in a box designed to hold them the directions of the diagonal lines of division of. the. hexagons make a: difference, and afford much flexibilityin the design of any specific puzzle7 for these directions may either be regarded or disregarded.

A preferred form of hexagon board consists of a central hexagon surrounded by six other adjacent hexagons, as described in Figure 1, and these again surrounded by twelve other adjacent hexagons as shown in Figure 2. A preferred way of arranging the diagonalsV of the split hexagons is also illustrated in Figure 2, each hexagon having but one diagonal line drawn across it as representing its line of division. The nineteen hexagon spaces thus required are filled with split hexagon blocks, which are numbercd consecutively from one to nineteen, one number only being placed upon one-half only of each split hexagon block, its other halfbeingleft blank.

The blocks may be held in their places by same size as all the, other blocks., shown by the hatched areasat talag; b1b'2; 0102; 62102; eez and flf,, thesel blocks thusforming a part of the boxorV container which fit the contourv ofthe group of nineteenhexagons shown. Any suitable cover may beprovided for the box which completely covers all of the blocks so that they will remain in their places when the box is transported as in mailing, for example.

It is to benoticed that all the number-s are placed'upon the blocks in Figure 2 so thatthey are right side up when EF is taken as the top ofthe box and BC the bottom of it. This placingof numbers or characters in fixed positions on each block makes it possible to be sure that the diagonal lines of division of each hexagon have the directions assigned to them in Figure 2, for When the numbers are seen right side up the directions of their diagonals allso correspond.. with their directions as drawn in Figure 2. To assist in distinguishing the blocks numbered 6 and 9, which figures resemble each other when one of them is inhalf hexagon with a numbered half to form a complete hexagon, to which only one number is assigned. In this manner the whole box may be filled with the blocks with every number right side up, but the order of the numbers taken at random will differ from the regular sequence shown in Figure 2. Then remove from the box one complete hexagon, say number nineteen, and by moving one block at a time into the space thus made vacant, and another block into the space left vacant by the first move proceed to arrange all of the blocks in the exact order shown in Figure 2 without lifting any block off from the bottom of the box.

lhat I claim as my invention is:

l. The herein described block puzzle employing blocks having the shape of half a regular hexagon the said hexagon blocks having been divided by a diagonal line from point to opposite point, arranged in close -proximity to each other so as to cover the surface of a suitable container and to form hexagons leaving no appreciable interstices between the blocks, with the single exception that one complete hexagonal space is to be left vacant, into which space some one of the adjacent blocks may be moved along the surface of the container without disturbing the positions of the other blocks, as and for the purpose described.

2. The herein described puzzle employing blocks having the shape of half a regular hexagon the said hexagon blocks having been divided by a diagonal line from point to opposite point, arranged in close proxim ity to each other so as to cover the surface of a suitable container and to form hexagons leaving no appreciable interstices between the blocks with the single exception that one complete hexagon space is to be left vacant, the directions of the diagonals or longest sides of the split hexagon blocks being Iixed in accordance with any predetermined scheme, as and for the purpose described.

The herein described puzzle employng split hexagon blocks, the line of division of the hexagon being a diagonal line from point to opposite point, to form a compact group of hexagons covering the surface of a suitable container without interstices between the blocks except that one complete hexagon space is to be left vacant when operating the puzzle, each hexagon space being assigned a number or character, there being as many numbered blocks less one as there are hexagon spaces in the container, as and for the purpose described.

Li. The herein described puzzle employing split hexagon blocks arranged in hexagons in compact form so as to cover the flat bottom surface of a suitable container, but half of the blocks being given a number or character, each hexagon space in the container except one being filled by two half hexagon blocks, the one having a number or character and the other being left blank, as and for the purpose described.

ALBERT CUSHING CREHORE.

Images