Amusement devices: games – Puzzles – Folding and relatively movable strips and disks
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-16
2004-01-20
Wong, Steven (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Puzzles
Folding and relatively movable strips and disks
Reexamination Certificate
active
06679493
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to the field of folding puzzles; particularly, to folding puzzles that are useful for advertising and are interactive.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Advertisers have long-recognized the need for advertisements that are interactive and capture the target audience's attention. Such long-felt needs have been particularly prevalent in advertisements that are often discarded as “junk mail.” It has long been recognized that puzzles often capture the full attention and concentration of their solvers, yet advertisers have been slow to adopt puzzles as an advertising medium.
Numerous prior art devices have recognized the demand for creative sectional and folding picture puzzles games. Sectional picture puzzles typically consist of a plurality of cards that when joined together in a particular fashion form a larger image. Folding picture puzzles generally form an image, or series of images, when the puzzle is folded along a series of predetermined lines.
Folding picture puzzles are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 2,327,875 to Edborg, U.S. Pat. No. 2,655,382 to Belsky, U.S. Pat. No. 3,267,597 to Jannes, U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,355 to Finkin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,380 to Polsky, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,520 to Matos. The '875, '382, '597, '355, and '380 can generally be classified as non-fold-through puzzles. A fold-through puzzle is one in which an aperture is formed through which the remaining portion of the puzzle is ultimately passed once folded or oriented correctly.
Non-fold-through puzzles, while they can be clever, all suffer from the same serious drawback: Their mode of operation is obvious even to the most casual observer. They rely on simple over-folding to bring apparently incongruous features into proximity to produce a clever result. A typical example is that of the '875 patent, where over-folding allows the puzzle worker to create four animals' heads.
Fold-through puzzles operate on a different principle. The casual observer of this type of puzzle is immediately struck by an apparent paradox. Intuitively believing that it is physically impossible to pass part of a piece of paper through itself over and over again, the puzzle worker finds himself or herself drawn into repeating the puzzle over and over again in search of discovering the “trick.” The puzzle solver finds in remarkable not to have to, at some point, unfold the puzzle in a reverse direction. The simpler the puzzle appears, the more baffled the puzzle solver becomes, and as a result, the more intrigued with the puzzle and more inclined to continue laboring over it. Simplicity begets attention, making a simple fold-through puzzle an ideal advertising medium, as it is difficult to put down.
The '520 patent discloses a fold-through puzzle. The apertures of the various embodiments disclosed in the '520 patent are all created from a plurality of incisions interior to the puzzle periphery. However, the folding patterns required by the various '520 embodiments are rather cumbersome and complex, therefore not desirable for a number of applications wherein the ultimate goal is to capture the users attention for a period, perhaps for as little as a few seconds, while ensuring that the user does not become frustrated with the complexity of the device.
Accordingly, the art has needed a means for improving the art of fold-through picture puzzles. While some of the prior art devices attempted to improve the state of the art of fold-through puzzles, none has achieved the unique and novel configurations and capabilities of the present invention. With these capabilities taken into consideration, the instant invention addresses many of the shortcomings of the prior art and offers significant benefits heretofore unavailable. Further, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
In its most general configuration, the present invention advances the state of the art with a variety of new capabilities and overcomes many of the shortcomings of prior devices in new and novel ways. In its most general sense, the present invention overcomes the shortcomings and limitations of the prior art in any of a number of generally effective configurations. An object of this invention is to provide an advertising medium in the form of a fold-through puzzle that is both clever and amusing and that engages the puzzle solver long enough for the solver to be adequately exposed to an advertising message. An additional object of the invention is to provide an amusing puzzle, with no advertising or other message on the puzzle.
The fold-through puzzle of the instant invention enables a significant advance in the state of the art. The preferred embodiments of the apparatus accomplish this by new and novel arrangements of elements that are configured in unique and novel ways and which demonstrate previously unavailable but preferred and desirable capabilities.
The detailed description set forth below in connection with the drawings is intended merely as a description of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, and is not intended to represent the only form in which the present invention may be constructed or utilized. The description sets forth the designs, functions, means, and methods of implementing the invention in connection with the illustrated embodiments. It is to be understood, however, that the same or equivalent functions and features may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention. The fold-through puzzle of the instant invention includes at least one planar member and a plurality of fold lines, such that the puzzle may be manipulated to create the illusion that paper is being endlessly passed through itself. In one of the many preferable configurations, the fold-through puzzle incorporates, among other elements, at least one planar member.
In one of the many preferable embodiments, the fold-through puzzle incorporates, among other elements, a first planar member, a second planar member, a third planar member, and a fourth planar member. In this embodiment, the puzzle includes a plurality of planar members as follows. There is a first planar member having a first surface, a second surface, a first fold line, and a second fold line. There is a second planar member, substantially coplanar with the first planar member, having a first surface, a second surface, a first fold line, and a second fold line. Similarly, there is a third planar member having a first surface, a second surface, a first fold line, and a second fold line, wherein the first planar member second surface and the third planar member second surface are joined in part at a first joining location and the second planar member second surface and the third planar member second surface are joined in part at a second joining location.
There is a fourth planar member, substantially coplanar with the third planar member, having a first surface, a second surface, a first fold line, and a second fold line wherein the first planar member second surface and the fourth planar member second surface are joined in part at a third joining location and the second planar member second surface and the fourth planar member second surface are joined in part at a fourth joining location.
The fold-through puzzle may be configured such that the first joining location joins a third planar member first joining area and a first planar member first joining area. The second joining location may join a third planar member second joining area and a second planar member first joining area. The third joining location may join a fourth planar member first joining area and a first planar member second joining area. The fourth joining location may join a fourth planar member second joining area and a second planar member second joining area.
The arrangement of the planar members is such that the first planar member may pivot about
Cyril-Scott Company
Dawsey David J.
Gallagher Michael J.
Gallagher & Dawsey Co. LPA
Wong Steven
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