US3612537A

US3612537A - Assembling toy

Info

Publication number: US3612537A
Application number: US846812A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jun Sato
Original assignee: Nintendo Co Ltd
Current assignee: Nintendo Co Ltd
Priority date: 1969-01-20
Filing date: 1969-08-01
Publication date: 1971-10-12
Anticipated expiration: 1988-10-12

Abstract

A toy having in combination a hexahedral hollow body whose walls are provided with through-holes of the number beginning with one and ending with six as is in the case of a die, and rods adapted to be inserted into the through-holes, the rods being classified into four kinds in respect of their lengths, the arrangement being such that the rods are adapted to be all received in the through-holes in the walls of the body only when each of the through-holes is associated with a rod of suited length and otherwise an interference will occur between rods inserted through through-holes.

Description

United States Patent Inventor Jun Sale [56] References Cited y l p UNITED STATES PATENTS m 2 1969 472,292 4/1892 Goodson 273/153 Patented 1971 3,165,750 l/1965 Tell 273/DIG. 2

9 Assignee Nintendo CLLtd. 3,375,009 3/1968 Stubbmann et al. 273/156 Kyoto, Japan FOREIGN PATENTS Priority Jan. 20, 1969 101,431 4/1941 Sweden 273/160 12 3 Primary ExaminerAnton O. Oechsle Attorney-Karl W. Flocks ABSTRACT: A toy having in combination a hexahedral hollow body whose walls are provided with through-holes of the J" number beginning with one and ending with six as is in the rawmg case of a die, and rods adapted to be inserted into the through- U.S. Cl 273/156, holes, the rods being classified into four kinds in respect of 273/146 their lengths, the arrangement being such that the rods are Int. Cl A63f 9/08, adapted to be all received in the through-holes in the walls of A63f 9/04 the body only when each of the through-holes is associated Field of Search 273/153, with a rod of suited length and otherwise an interference will 156, 157, 160, 146 occur between rods inserted through through-holes.

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PATENTEUUBT 12 197i FIG. 4

20d 20c mw d al INVENTOR JUN snro I BY (L9 'WOCKS ATTORNEY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toy and, more particularly, to a toy having a plurality of parts which are to be assembled into a predeterminedassembly.

In general, toys are designed chiefly aiming at amusing an operator or user regardless of whether or not the designs are educational. This is not desirable in the case where a particular toy is designed for use by children. It is most desirable if it is possible to give children a toy which not only interests them but also serves as an educational device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a toy which is designed not only to amuse children but also to cultivate their abilities to logically and deeply think and consider things and matters.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a toy which is amusing not only to children but also to adults.

According to a feature of the present invention, there is provided a toy comprising in combination a hexahedral hollow body whose walls are provided with through-holes of the number beginning withone and ending with six as in the case of a die, and rods adapted to be inserted into the throughholes, the rods being classified into four kinds in respect of their lengths, the arrangement being such that the rods are all received in the through-holes in the walls of the body only when each of the through-holes is associated with a rod of suited length and otherwise and interference will occur within the body between rods inserted through through-holes.

Other objects and features of the present invention will be made apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a boxlike body portion of the toy of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates in side elevation a typical one of each of DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The combination toy according to the present invention comprises a boxlike major body portion generally indicated by 10 in FIG. 1 and sets of rods generally indicated by 20 in FIG. 2. The body portion 10 of the toy is molded from a plastic material and is in the form of a regular hexahedron in this embodiment. The body portion 10 is hollow as will be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4 and has relatively thicker walls 11 of square shape. It will be apparent that the walls 1 l have the same size.

The walls 11 of the body portion 10 are provided with through-holes 12 of the number beginning with one and ending with six as is in the case of a die. In other words, the body 10 comprises a first wall having a single through-hole 12, a second wall having two such holes, and a sixth wall having six such holes. These holes have the same diameter.

In each of the surfaces or walls which have odd-number holes, the central hole is disposed centrally of the corresponding surface. In the surfaces except for the surface having a single hole, the holes in the comers are disposed at identical positions or points. In addition, in the six-hole surface, the holes are arranged in two rows in each of which the intermediate hole is disposed centrally of the length of the row.

The sets of rods 20 are adapted to be inserted into the holes 12. Each of the rods has a stem portion of a diameter which is easily but tightly or snugly received in one of the holes in the body portion and has a head of increased diameter. It will therefore be noted that when the rods are inserted into the holes 12, the shoulders on the heads of these rods are brought into engagement with the circumferential edges of these holes so that the heads are positioned outside the outer surfaces of the body portion 10.

The rods 20 are composed of four sets of

rods

20a, 20b, 20 c 0 and 20d which are classified in respect to their lengths. The set of rods 200 comprises two rods and is of the longest kind that has a stem of such an axial dimension that when a rod 200 of this kind is inserted into a hole 12 in a surface 11, the rod substantially reaches to or falls short of the surface or wall which is in opposite relationship to the wall through which the rod involved extends, as will be seen in FIG. 4. In other words, each rod 20a of this kind has a stem portion of an axial dimension which is the same or slightly smaller than a dimension of one side of each wall 1 l of the body portion 10.

The set of rods 20b consists of seven rods each of which has a stem of an axial dimension such that a rod 20b of this kind is inserted through a hole in a wall 11, this rod will fall short of another rod of the same or other kind which extends in parallel and close to the wall through which the rod 20b in question extends, as will be seen in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4.

The set of rods 20c consists of four rods each of which has a stem of an axial dimension which is substantially one half the axial dimension of the stem of a longest rod 20a.

The shortest kind of rods 20d comprises eight rods each having a stem of an axial dimension which is substantially equal or slightly larger than the thickness of each wall 11. Thus, a rod 20d of this kind does not interfere with any of other rods whichever hole the rod 204 is inserted through.

The total number of the sets of rods 20a through 20d is 2l which is the same as the total number of the holes 12 in the body portion 10. All of the rods 20a through 20d are adapted to be received in the holes 12 if the rods are suitably arranged or, namely, if an appropriate hole is selected for each of the rods. However, difficulties will be encountered in completely inserting all of the rods into the holes 12 to completely assemble the body portion 10 and the rods into a finished assembly. For example, if two longer rods are inserted into opposite or axially aligned holes in a pair of opposite walls, they contact one another at the forward ends within the boy and, thus, one of them cannot be inserted completely or until the shoulder of the head of the one rod is brought into engagement with the circumferential edge of the corresponding hole. In addition, even if a longer rod (for example, a rod 20a or 20b) is inserted into a hole having no hole in opposite relation thereto, there will be a possibility that this rod interferes with another rod which has been or is to be inserted from a hole in a wall which is parallel to the longer rod involved. Thus, much consideration is required in selecting a rod and a corresponding or suited hole in the six surfaces 11. If a player or child who tries to assemble the parts of the toy according to the present invention fails to finish the entire assembly of the box portion and the rods, he will be required to completely disassemble the combination which he has assembled and to try again to assemble the parts in different way. These repeated considerations and thoughts will cultivate and develop habit and ability to deeply and logically consider and think things and matters.

The toy of this embodiment may also be used as a die. In this instance, the toy is used in its completely assembled state. If the heads projecting from the walls are felt objectionable, a plastic cover may be applied over the toy. This cover, however, is not a part of the present invention.

The present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiment in which the toy is in the form of a hexahedron. It is however to be understood that those skilled in the art may readily apply the principle or basic idea of this invention to other forms such as an octahedron or a tetrahedron.

What is claimed is:

relationship such that the rods are all received in the throughholes only when each of the through-holes is associated with a rod of suited length and otherwise an interference will occur between rods inserted into the hollow body through the through-holes.

Claims

1. A toy having in combination a hexahedral hollow body whose walls are provided therein with through-holes of the number beginning with one and ending with six as is in the case of a die, and rods adapted to be inserted into said hollow body through said through-holes, the rods being classified into four kinds in respect to their lengths, the hollow body, the throughholes and the rods having dimensional and positional relationship such that the rods are all received in the through-holes only when each of the through-holes is associated with a rod of suited length and otherwise an interference will occur between rods inserted into the hollow body through the through-holes.