US2801107A - Three-dimension tic-tac-toe apparatus - Google Patents

Description

July 30, 1957 c. s. GREER, JR 2,801,107

THREE-DIMENSION TIC-TAC-TOE APPARATUS Filed Jan. 14, 1954 INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent TIREE-BEMENSEfi-N TIC-TAQ-TGE APPARATUS S. Greer, Ilia, Albion, Mich.

Application January 14, 1954, Serial No. 404,081

1 Claim. (Cl. 273--i.31)

This invention relates to apparatus for playing the game known as tic-tac-toe.

Hitherto the aforesaid game has been generally played with the use of paper and pencil, the paper being lined to define squares which are filled by and X markings.

The present invention has for its object to provide apparatus by which the game tic-tac-toe can be played without the use of paper and pencil and which forms a permanent piece of apparatus usable over and over again for playing the game in question.

A further and important object of the invention is to provide apparatus by which the said game can be played in a number of diiferent planes and, in particular, in three different planes, whereby to form, in effect, threedimension tic-tac-toe apparatus.

The above and further objects and advantages of the invention, residing in the construction, arrangement and combination of parts will appear clear from the following detail description, with reference to the accompanying drawings, and from the appended claim.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of apparatus according to the invention shown in erected condition and showing beads, with which the game is played, assembled upon the framework, the beads and the framework constituting the apparatus by which the said game is capable of being played, and

Figure 2 is a section of one of the beads.

Referring to the drawings, apparatus by which the game tic-tac-toe can be played in three-dimensions comprises a framework and a multiplicity of beads 12 having central bores 14 and constituting playing pieces equivalent to the usual 0 and X markings.

The framework may, conveniently, be made of round section wire and is of rectangular outline, as shown.

In the particular form illustrated, the frame is built-up from vertical wire rods 16 located at the four corners of a rectangle and formed at their lower ends with angularly bent up portions 16' to define feet, by which the frame can be supported upon a suitable support surface, such as a table. Secured to the rods 16 on opposite sides of the rectangle are three vertically spaced horizontal and parallel wire rods 18, 18', 18" which may be welded to their respective vertical rods 16, as indicated at 20.

The vertical rods 16 on opposite sides of the frame are inter-connected by transverse wire connections 22, 22 which may be of smaller gage than the previously described rods and, at their ends, are bent as indicated at 24, into loop formation around the rods 18 and 18". In their central portions, these wire connections 22, 22' are bent into loop formation, as indicated at 26, and are secured by these loop portions to a central frame composed of the two vertical wire rods 28 and three vertically spaced and parallel wire rods 30, 30, 30", to which the rods 28 may be secured by welding, as indicated at 32.

Patented July 30, 1957 The aforesaid loop connections 24 and 26 permit the frame to be collapsed, as a whole, into a flattened position to facilitate packaging the frame or storage thereof, when not in use.

When erected, as shown in Figure 1, the vertical rods 16 and 28 extend in parallel spaced relation, with the rods 16 and 18 on opposite sides (the left and right-hand sides, as seen in Figure 1) in alignment and with the horizontal rods 18, 30, 18-18', 30', 18 and 18 30", 18" also in spaced and parallel alignment.

Each of the horizontal rods, aforesaid, is provided with a central upstanding peg 34 and, at its opposite ends, with further upstanding pegs 36, whereby each said rod has three spaced apart pegs.

The pegs 34 may be formed by separate wire rod sections secured, as by welding, to their respective horizontal rods, while the pags 36 may be formed by integral bent-up end portions of their respective rods, which portions extend beyond the vertical rods 16 and 28 such, as it is believed, will be clear from examination of Fig ure 1.

The said pegs serve to receive the beads 12 by the engagement of the pegs in the bead bores 14. Beads are provided in number corresponding to the number of pegs, which is 27, and will be constituted by three sets of 9 beads each of different colors, such as red, blue and yellow.

The pegs take the place of the usual squares while the beads take the place of the usual 0 and X markings. Otherwise the game is played in accordance with the well known tic-tac-toe game but because of the three-dimension arrangement of the playing surfaces containing the pegs the game is made far more intriguing and provides many possible winning combinations.

Having thus disclosed my invention, what I claim as novel, and Wish to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

A game apparatus for playing tic-tac-toe comprising a frame having upstanding peg portions in number and arrangement corresponding to the usual squares of a three-dimensional tic-tac-toe game apparatus and a plurality of bead elements removably engageable with said peg portions, said frame being of rectangular wire construction portions with said upstanding peg portions being defined on the different wire components of said frame, said wire components extending in different planes in which there are nine of said peg portions, said beads having openings for receiving the same upon said peg portions, said wire components of said frame being swingably connected with each other to permit said frame to be collapsed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 423,066 Massey Mar. 11, 1890 565,954 Austin Aug. 18, 1896 818,237 Elburn Apr. 17, 1906 967,941 Laridon Aug. 23, 1910 1,465,160 Luchio Aug. 14, 1923 1,477,523 Ruttenberg Dec. 11, 1923 1,500,767 Rice July 8, 1924 2,075,619 Klemin Mar. 30, 1937 2,284,518 Green May 26, 1942 2,293,298 Macdonald Aug. 18, 1942 2,313,473 Heacock Mar. 9, 1943 2,408,270 Rebholz Sept. 24, 1946 2,502,328 Kuhn Mar. 28, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 116,522 Germany Dec. 31, 1900 259,904 Germany May 16, 1913

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