Amusement devices: toys – Construction toy – Resilient interlocking joint
Patent
1986-03-06
1988-04-19
Johnson, Richard J.
Amusement devices: toys
Construction toy
Resilient interlocking joint
446127, A63H 3308
Patent
active
047386487
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a device with a toy building brick, comprising at least one plug-in head carried on a neck, being composed of a middle piece having a constant cross-section in longitudinal direction of the neck, and two endpieces, each of which on the bases passing over in a front side of the middle piece, which endpieces are projecting from the front sides of the middle piece, being of identical shape and tapering off respectively towards the free end of the plug-in head or towards the neck, of which the outer surface is recessed towards the edge of the endpiece, where the plug-in head is octagonal in longitudinal section and can be lodged in a recess of another toy building brick and arrested alternatively in two different depths.
Such a device is already known (German Specification No. 27 28 677). In that device the middle piece is a cylinder while the end-pieces are formed like truncated cones. The edges of the truncated cones are arranged on an imaginary spherical surface. The recess consists of a main chamber and an antechamber passing over into one another. The main chamber is arranged at a lower level in the interior of the respective toy building brick than the antechamber. While the main chamber is adapted to one truncated cone and to the cylinder, the antechamber has a convex middle section and two elastic projections. The middle section in its shape is adapted to the imaginary spherical surface. The elastic projections are arranged at the input and the output of the antechamber, and after inserting the plug-in head, each of the projections is bordering on a partial area of the surface areas of the truncated cone.
When pushing the plug-in head into the antechamber, the truncated cone and the cylinder will press the elastic projection at the mouth of the antechamber radially outwards till the plug-in head has taken up its holding position in the antechamber. When the plug-in head is inserted in the main chamber, then the projection at the output of the antechamber together with the truncated cone and the cylinder must also be pressed radially outwards. The force that must be applied to radially dislocate the projections, at the same time determines the holding force of the plug-in heads in the antechamber or the main chamber. A higher holding force requires an even higher force to be applied for pushing in and pulling out the plug-in heads.
It is the object of the invention to further develop a device of the kind as described at the beginning in such a manner that plug-in heads can be more easily inserted in recesses and removed therefrom.
According to the invention this problem is solved by the measures as described in claim 1. As the respective recess has not only one opening but is open on two sides opposite to each other, the plug-in heads can be easily pushed in from one of these sides. Thereby it is no longer necessary to press aside projections. The force for inserting and removing the plug-in heads is conditional on the cross section of the respective segment and the elasticity of the material used for the toy building brick. Therefore the projections can be of thicker construction in order to provide a high holding force for the plug-in heads inserted in the recess. The plug-in head can be inserted in the outer section with different positions of the neck. A swinging around the longitudinal axis of the recess effected after inserting the plug-in head in the outer section, will require less force than the inserting of the plug-in head from above.
In an expedient embodiment plane surfaces are arranged between the additional projections and the edges of the recess extending over them, which plane surfaces are moving away from each other outwardly and together with the perpendicular are enclosing an angle of 45.degree. each on the bottom of the recess. The plug-in head can be inserted in the outer section at different angle positions. Thereby the neck is arranged along the perpendicular on the bottom of the recess, or inclined toward the perpendicular at 45.degree.. In this inclined
REFERENCES:
patent: 2752726 (1956-07-01), Calverley
patent: 3510979 (1970-05-01), Fischer
Bierman Jordan B.
Johnson Richard J.
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