WO2010122283A1

WO2010122283A1 - Vehicle construction toy

Info

Publication number: WO2010122283A1
Application number: PCT/GB2010/000752
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rabah Aggar
Original assignee: Rabah Aggar
Priority date: 2009-04-22
Filing date: 2010-04-15
Publication date: 2010-10-28
Also published as: GB0906870D0

Abstract

A vehicle construction toy kit formed with a plurality of rod elements (10) having a gripping C-shaped clip (13) at each end, a plurality of connecting torus elements (30) and a single-piece chassis body formed with wheels (45). The chassis is formed with connecting torus elements attached to each other through rod portions so that the C-shaped clips of the rod elements can detachably connect to the chassis body in different ways to construct a variety of different vehicles.

Description

VEHICLE CONSTRUCTION TOY

This present invention relates generally to toy vehicles and more particularly to toy vehicles formed of different elements which are assembled between each other. Toy vehicles have been very popular with children of different ages over the years, however these vehicles are generally formed with a large number of different parts which makes the assembly of the vehicles complicated.

Another disadvantage of these vehicles is that they require a certain level of dexterity and finger strength, and sometimes adult supervision is needed to accomplish the building of a type of a vehicle, because of their complicated connecting means.

Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide with this novel construction toy vehicle formed of a very limited number of different elements which are very simple to use.

It is another object of the present invention to provide with a toy vehicle set formed with very simple and very easy connecting means where very little effort is needed to build a variety of different vehicle structures. It is another object to provide with this toy vehicle set to be manufactured at a very low cost.

It is another object of the present invention to provide with a toy vehicle without the use of separate fastening elements such as nuts and bolts. It is also desirable that the construction vehicle kit is versatile, allowing the shapes of vehicles to be varied and modified without disassembling the whole constructed vehicle.

The toy vehicle set of the present invention comprises a plurality of rod elements having C-shaped clip at each end, a plurality of torus elements and a single-piece chassis to support the upper structure of the vehicle. The single-piece chassis is formed with connecting torus elements which are attached to each other through rod portions to form the chassis having generally a shape of a flat frame.

The sides of some of the chassis bodies are provided with axles so that rotatable wheels can be mounted upon the chassis. The rods, torus elements and chassis body are assembled to each other in a variety of different combinations to build a large variety of different toy vehicles. Other objects and features of this invention will be more apparent on the description carried out in accordance to the drawings included, in which: FIGS.1 and2 illustrates a front view of rod elements. FIG.3 shows a top view of a connecting torus element. FIG.4 shows a top view of a torus portion.

FIG.5 illustrates a rod portion formed with cylindrical studs that may be used on the chassis of this present invention. FIGS.6,7,8 and 9 illustrates a top view of four different single-piece chassis frames according to the present invention. FIG.10 illustrates a hexagonal connecting element that may be used to replace the torus elements of the chassis frames of this present invention. Referring to the drawings; FIG.1 illustrates a rod element 10 formed with cylindrical or polygonal shaped body 11. Each end of the rod element 10 is formed with a C-shaped gripping clip 13 to be assembled to the torus element 30 of FIG.3 and to the torus elements 30 of the single-piece chassis frames 60,70,80 or 90 of respectively FIGS.6,7,8 and 9. The C-shaped gripping clips 13 of the rod element 10 are formed of two symmetrically opposed gripping jaws 14 which extend parallely to the longitudinal axis of the rod element 10 as shown in FIG.1.

FIG.2 illustrates the embodiment of another rod element 20, similar to the one of FIG.1. Here the jaws 14 of the rod element 20 extend perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the rod element to allow the rod elements to be laterally connected to the torus elements 30. The body of the rod portions 41 of the chassis of FIGS.6,7,8 and 9 can also be configured to receive and retain the C-shaped gripping clips 13 of the rod elements of FIGS. land 2.

FIG.4 illustrates a torus portion 35 having a stud 36 at each end. The torus portion 35 is used to assemble with the holes 37 of the chassis 60 of FIG.6 so that the rod elements 10 and 20 can be connected in a wide range of angular positions between each other. The cross section of the body 11 of the rod element 10 may be made equal to the thickness of the torus element 30 so that rod elements 10 and 20 can connect to each other, making the toy more creative. The single-piece chassis frames of FIGS.6,7,8 and 9 are preferably formed with cylindrical rod portions 41 which are attached to each other through connecting torus elements 30. The external sides of the chassis may be provided with axles 42 so that rotatable wheels 45 can be mounted upon the chassis as shown from FIG.6. Retaining means 43 which enables the wheels to be retained on the axles 42 may also be formed at the end of each axle 42 as shown from FIGS.6,7 and δ.The axles 42 may be formed in any other configuration. The diameter of the cross section of the rod portions 41 of the chassis of FIGS.6,7,8 and 9 can be made equal to the thickness of the torus elements 30 so that C- shaped clips of the rod elements can be connected to the rod portions 41 of the chassis frame. The rod portions 41 and the torus elements 30 of the chassis of this present invention may be formed with holes 37 as shown in chassis 60 of FIG.6 to receive and retain the torus portions 35 of FIG.4 so that the rod elements of FIGS.1 and 2 can be connect to the chassis in a variety of different ways, and yet rotate and swivel so that they can be positioned in different angular positions to each other.

The rod portions 41 of the chassis can be formed in cylindrical, polygonal or any other configuration. The rod and torus elements are detachably connected to each other and to the chassis to build the upper structures of different vehicles. The chassis of the present invention may be formed without the torus elements 30, where the ends of the rod portions 41 are directly connected to each other, not through the torus elements 30.

The structure of the chassis of this present invention may be formed in any shape with any kind of configuration having any number of torus elements so that the constructed structures can resemble to all kind of vehicles. The rod portions 41 of the chassis of this present invention may be formed with curved shapes.

By providing the chassis to support the upper structures of the vehicles, the constructed vehicles remain rigid and stable during manipulation. Motors and remote controls may also be used in the toy vehicles of the present invention. The chassis of the present invention may be formed without the axles 42 to build vehicles that do not require wheels, they can also be made in three dimensional scope so that other toys such as planes, helicopters, boats and motorbikes can be constructed. The surface of the rod portions 41 of the chassis bodies of the present invention may be formed with cylindrical studs 55 as shown from the rod portion 41 of FIG.5. These studs 55 are used to receive and detachably retain other building brick or tile elements such as the well known bricks used under the LEGO trademark, enabling the shape of the assembled vehicles to be varied somewhat. The chassis of the present invention may be made in different sizes so that to be suitable to children of all ages and they can be made in more than one single -piece frame to build vehicles such as lorries or any other vehicle. The torus elements 30 of the chassis may be replaced with any other connecting element, that are able to receive and retain C-shaped clips of rod elements 10 and 20 of respectively FIGS.1 and 2, such as the hexagonal connecting element shown in FIG.10 at an enlarged scale. The present invention has been disclosed for illustrative but not limitative purposes, it will be obvious that any modification and any change may be introduced.

Claims

1.A toy vehicle kit, comprising: a single-piece frame for forming a toy vehicle chassis formed with at least two connecting torus elements connected to each other through rod portions, said frame is formed with side members which are formed with axles to receive and retain rotatable wheels; said connecting torus elements of said toy vehicle chassis are formed to receive and detachably retain rod elements having C-shaped gripping clips at each end to build and support the upper structures of different vehicles.

2. A toy vehicle kit according to claim 1 , wherein the frame is a complete vehicle chassis.

3.A toy vehicle kit, according to claim 1or claim 2, further comprising at least one rod element formed with gripping C-shaped clip at both ends.