Amusement devices: toys – Construction toy – Having parts assembled for relative movement
Patent
1997-05-19
2000-12-19
Ackun, Jacob K.
Amusement devices: toys
Construction toy
Having parts assembled for relative movement
446128, A63H 3308
Patent
active
061621080
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention concerns a stacking block system comprising box-shaped blocks whose upper side is provided with one or more coupling knobs arranged in a uniform pattern with a mutual firm modular distance, and whose underside is provided with complementary coupling means.
Such building block or stacking block systems are available today in numerous different embodiments, in particular with a view to the building of structures by means of the blocks. The knobs on most of the known systems are mostly plane on the surface, which impedes mounting of a block on top of another, since the two blocks are to be positioned relatively accurately with respect to each other for the coupling knobs and the complementary coupling means to engage. German Offenlegungsschrift DE 42 12 492 and EP A1 0 045 963 disclose a building block system which overcomes the above-mentioned drawback, since the blocks are upwardly provided with coupling knobs which are rounded or tapered at the surface, thereby forming a guide face which ensures easy positioning of the blocks with respect to each other when these are to be joined.
The object of the present invention is to provide a stacking block system which, to a higher degree than the known ones, provides blocks which are simple to stack, in particular for small children, i.e. children under 2-3 years of age. Another object of the present invention is to provide such a stacking block system as provides a number of different degrees of difficulty with respect to coupling or stacking blocks on top of each other.
This is achieved with a stacking block system of the type mentioned in the opening paragraph in that the coupling knobs, at least partly, form a rotationally symmetrical surface which has an upwardly rounded or tapering shape, thereby forming a guide face for the complementary coupling means, and that the greatest transverse dimension of the base face of a block having a coupling knob is smaller than or equal to the difference between the diameter and the coupling knobs and twice the modular distance.
This provides very varying degrees of difficulty for the stacking of blocks in the system. Thus, a block having just one coupling knob, when positioned on another block, will be freely rotatable on the other block, no matter how many knobs are provided on the second block, and no matter where the first block is placed on the second block. This contributes to making a stacking block having one knob extremely easy to stack on top of another block, since this just requires positioning of the block to be stacked on top of the other with respect to a coupling knob on the other block.
Thus, when a block having just one coupling knob is to be stacked, no orientation of the block is required with respect to the underlying block. However, this circumstance changes as soon as a block having two knobs is to be stacked on top of another block, since this requires a certain orientation and simultaneous positioning of the block to be stacked on top of another block. The requirement with respect to the accuracy of the orientation increases with an increasing number of knobs in a straight row on the block to be stacked on top of another block.
The stacking block system may have different patterns for the positioning of the coupling knobs, but a preferred embodiment is defined wherein the coupling knobs are arranged in a square pattern.
The guide faces on the coupling knobs may have a wide range of different embodiments, it being preferred, however, that upwardly the coupling knobs approximately form a ball face or a dome face. This results in softly rounded knobs, so that there are no sharp edges owing to the safety during play.
In one embodiment of the invention the lower part of the coupling knobs is substantially formed by a cylinder face.
In other embodiments of the present invention, the side walls of the complementary coupling means and the blocks, respectively, are formed by flanges which extend from the upper part of the block and downwardly. This provides a stacking block which can be
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patent: 2461535 (1949-02-01), Erhardt
patent: 2649803 (1953-08-01), Andre
patent: 4919635 (1990-04-01), Bertrand
patent: 5554062 (1996-09-01), Goldsen
patent: 5661941 (1997-09-01), Vataker
Ackun Jacob K.
Carlson Jeffrey D.
INTERLEGO AG
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