Building plaything primarily for creating rolling tracks

Details Building plaything primarily for creating rolling tracks Building plaything primarily for creating rolling tracks

1998-02-02

1999-08-31

Muir, D Neal

Amusement devices: toys

Including unattached gravity-fed rolling, tumbling, or...

446 89, 446128, A63H 2908, A63H 3304, A63H 3308

Patent

active

059445750

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a building plaything for creating primarily rolling tracks out of which building plaything several types of rolling tracks can be made through utilizing building elements of various forms.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

These days, numerous types of different building playthings are known. The common feature of all these is that through assembling identical or several types of different building elements various objects can be assembled. One of the most widespread playthings of this kind is the building plaything known as "LEGO". With that, and with playthings of similar kind, particular objects can be assembled out of several kinds of minute building elements which elements are, however, identical by sort.
With this sort of building playthings the point of the playing is the assembling that develops the combinatory skills of children to a major extent. However, the assembled objects are suitable for further playing, with a very few exceptions, only to a limited extent, and further use is not a target upon assembly either.
In addition to the building elements, generally additional accessories have to be used for proper shaping of the various objects, the accessories usually being prefabricated pieces. Through their application, children will learn how to use building elements as modules but it will provide no genuine construction experience because no more has to be performed in each instance than inserting the particular piece prefabricated at the module level.
With other types of building playthings through assembly a structure or object suitable for further utilization is created. Here the aim of the game, in addition to assembling, is shaping a serviceable structure to be suitable for further playing. Such a building plaything is shown in the patent specification and drawings of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,143, which is a marble run game comprising building elements used as block elements. Each of the block elements has a top surface and at least one side surface and these surfaces define the groove for travel of a marble. The groove, as shown in the figures, can determine straight, curved, spiral, sloped etc. runs of the marble. In such playthings the main problems are that the run of the marble is either too slow or too fast, further the marble has sometimes an unwanted tottering sideways motion which in fact spoil the play and cause the complete failure of the plaything. The same disadvantage occurs with the plaything shown in the figures of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,143. Here, the shape of the cross-section of the groove is a semicircular arch. The marble is supported on one point of the groove and, for this reason, it can have an unrequired to-and-fro sideways motion which results in a drop in speed.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to implement a building plaything and with the plaything rolling tracks of various shapes in optional forms can be implemented through fitting various building elements and accessory elements side by side and which plaything is free from the drawbacks above mentioned.
It has been recognized that, with a rolling groove shaped with slanting sides having an obtuse angle to one another, the problem above mentioned can be solved. A further recognition of the invention is that, with the use of such a shape of the rolling groove, much more interesting combinations of assemblings can be made, than with the use of other shapes of the groove.
The invention is, therefore, a building plaything, primarily for creating rolling tracks comprising building elements connected in a known way, produced in module size or in any multiple thereof, a rolling groove is shaped on the building elements and directrix of the rolling groove is straight or arched and/or slanting, and the building elements are shaped as straight elements and/or arched elements and/or slanting elements, and the plaything, in a given case, comprising connecting elements to be joined to the building elements in the known way, the plaything furthermore comprising a rolling ele

REFERENCES:
patent: 2000808 (1935-05-01), Williams
patent: 2532521 (1950-12-01), Stair
patent: 3237512 (1966-03-01), Beverett
patent: 4429487 (1984-02-01), Taylor et al.
patent: 4553749 (1985-11-01), Bender et al.
patent: 5344143 (1994-09-01), Yule
patent: 5564962 (1996-10-01), Espinosa

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