Amusement devices: toys – Construction toy – Having parts assembled for relative movement
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-29
2003-05-20
Ricci, John A. (Department: 3712)
Amusement devices: toys
Construction toy
Having parts assembled for relative movement
C446S109000, C446S111000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06565406
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a geometric construction system, more particularly to a geometric construction system including a plurality of flat panels and a plurality of connecting rods for sidewisely interconnecting the panels.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,358 discloses a coupling device for polygonal elements designed to form polyhedral toys. The polygonal element can be a flat polygonal panel provided with the coupling device that is formed on side edges thereof. The coupling device includes at least one female recess and at least one male projection complementary to the female recess. The male projections and the peripheries of the female recesses are provided with bosses and depressions complementary to the bosses so as to permit coupling of the polygonal elements and reciprocal rotation of every two coupled polygonal elements. The design of the aforesaid polygonal element is disadvantageous in that the angle of the rotation of each coupled polygonal element is limited within a certain range, which limits the variety of the shapes of the polyhedral toys, and which is not sufficient to permit every two adjacent polygonal elements to overlap with each other.
FIGS. 1 and 2
illustrate a geometric construction system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,365. The geometric construction system, includes a plurality of flat polygonal construction panels
2
and a plurality of cylindrical axles
1
that function as coupling devices to couple the panels
2
together to form two- and three-dimensional arrays Each panel
2
has side edges, each of which is formed with two opposite hooks
4
. Each cylindrical axle
1
has two opposite ends respectively formed with cup-like sockets
3
which permit frictional engagement with the hooks
4
on the side edges of the panels
2
so as to permit coupling of the panels
2
. The geometric construction system permits more than two panels
2
(which can be up to six panels
2
) to be coupled together via each cylindrical axle
1
. Each coupled panel
2
on the cylindrical axle
1
is movable along the respective cup-shaped socket
3
about an axis (Z) that passes through the center of the cylindrical axle
1
.
The design of the aforesaid toy construction system is disadvantageous in that the movement of each panel
2
about the axis (Z) is inconvenient due to the frictional engagement between the hook
4
and the socket
3
. Moreover, each two adjacent coupled panels
2
on the cylindrical axle
1
can not overlap with each other due to the annular shape of the socket
3
which results in interference between the hooks
4
of the adjacent coupled panels
2
when the latter are moved move toward each other. A further drawback is illustrated in FIG.
2
. While each coupled panel
2
is rotatable about a center of the respective hook
4
, the angle (&agr;) of rotation is relatively narrow due to interference between the coupled panel
2
and the socket
3
of the cylindrical axle
1
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a geometric construction system that is capable of permitting two adjacent coupled panels to overlap with each other.
Accordingly, a geometric construction system or this invention comprises: at least two substantially flat panels of equilateral polygonal shape, each of the panels having a plurality of side edges, each of which has two opposite end sections and a basins section that extends between and inwardly relative to the end sections and that has two opposite end faces respectively transverse to the end sections; and at least a connecting rod having at least two interconnected connecting portions, each of which extends in a longitudinal direction and each of which is complementary to and is received in the basin section of one of the side edges of one of the panels, each of the connecting portions having two opposite ends respectively pivoted on the end faces of the basin section of one of the side edges of the respective one of the panels so as to permit each of the panels to be freely turnable about an axis that extends through the opposite ends of the respective one of the connecting portions of the connecting rod in the longitudinal direction.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5100358 (1992-03-01), Volgger
patent: 5137485 (1992-08-01), Penner
patent: 5472365 (1995-12-01), Engel
patent: 6176757 (2001-01-01), Lin
patent: 6186855 (2001-02-01), Bauer et al.
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