US702188A - Puzzle. - Google Patents

Description

N0. 702,I88 Patented Julie 10, I902.

J. ELLIOTT.

PUZZLE.

(Application filed Feb. 21, 1902. (No Model.)

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NiTED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN ELLIOTT, OF SGRANTQN, PENNSYLVANIA.

PUZZllEs srncrmcnmmn forming atter iietters Patent-1\To.-702,188, dated June 1o, 1902i h pplicationjfiled February 21, 1902. Serial No. 95,015. (No model.)

Be it known that I, J OHN ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United States, residingat Scranton, in; the county ofLackawanna and State ofPennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvementsiu Puzzles, of which the following is a full and complete specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of this invention isjtoprovide a puzzle the solution of whichis; exceedingly difficult,1but may be accomplished by the exercise of careand skill 'in the manipulation of the separate partsthereof, a further object being to provide a puzzle the solution of which is controlledby a'figredrulefandis comparatively simple when the rule is known. Myimproved puzzle comprises a plurality of blocks or rds which are preferably rectangn'larin form and thenumber of. which is the square of some prime number from which,

as will beunderstoodf'thebloclis or cards are divided intdseparatejseries, the number of. which is controlled by the number which is squared to determinethe number of blocks or cards employed,and the separateblocksing saidblocks or cards in such manner that no two blocks or cards of the same color nor of the same number shall appear in any one horizontal or vertical row or in any one diagonal row, the arrangement of said blocks or cards being also suchthat when the rows are added either horiz'ontallyjor vertically the result willbe thesame, a similar result being also obtained by adding the parts of the longest diagonalrows;

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of b which the accompanying drawings form a part, in which the separate parts of my improvement are designated by the same reference characters in each of the views, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan View of a box or casing which I preferably employ and showing the arrangement ofthe cards or blocks in the solution of the puzzle, and Fig. 2 a section on the line 2 2 of Fig.1.

' For the purposes of this description I select the number 4:9, whichis the square of'the number 7, and I thereforeemploy forty-nine blocks or cards a, and this numher, is made up of seven separate series, the

blocks of each series being separately numbered from l to 7 and being also separately.anddistinctively colored. In practice I prefer to place theseblocks or cards in a box comprising a bottom I), having, side and end walls 6 and in practice the separate blocks or cards are arranged indiscriminately either in'a receptacle, box, orcasing, or on a table or other support, and the solution of the puzzle consists in placing said blocks or cards in the position shown in Fig. 1, in whichposition the separate horizontal and vertical rows when added will amount to the number I 28, which number will also be the result of adding the longest diagonal rows. In order to accomplish this result, I first arrange the left hand vertical column by taking the block No. l of any color and place six other whether the series he an increasing series or a decreasing series. 1 next arrange the top horizontal row by taking the above-mentioned block 1 asa base, the face-numbers of this row increasing from left to right by twos, as l, 3, 5, 7, &c., and the color of each block in each row must correspond to the color of the block in the left-hand vertical column 00- cupying the position counting from the top toward the bottom indicated by the face-number of the desired block. As the face-number of the second block in the first horizontal row is 3, so it must be the color of the third block from the top to the bottom in the left vertical row, therefore using all the colors and face-numbers in the left vertical row once and no one color or face-number being used more than once, the succeeding vertical rows being arranged by placing six blocks beneath the top block already in position in the top horizontal row of each vertical row, the facenumbers of each block in each row decreasing by one from the block next above it and the colors of the blocks of the next vertical row to be in the same order or sequence as in the left vertical row when once started on any color. When all the blocks are arranged according to these directions, the totals of each vertical and horizontal and each longest diagonal row will be the sum of 28, and each color and face-number will appear but once in each vertical, horizontal, and diagonal Although in the foregoing description I have selected the number 49 as representing the number of blocks or cards employed, it will be evident that other numbers, such as 25 or 81, may represent the total number of blocks or cards, these numbers being the squares of 5 and 9, respectively, and in such case the solution will be the same as that herein described.

By following the foregoing directions the solution may be easily accomplished; but otherwise the said solution is exceedingly difficult, and it would require great time and study to accomplish the same.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 15-- A puzzle comprising a plurality of blocks or cards which equal in number the square of a predetermined number, wherebya number of blocks or cards are employed and divided into a predetermined number of equal series, the blocks of each series being separately numbered from one upwardly and being also separately or distinctively colored, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of the subscribing witnesses, this 15th day of February, 1902.

J OI'IN ELLIOTTL l/Vitnesses:

L. O. GRAMBS, E. O. DEAN.

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