Amusement devices: toys – Construction toy – Including post having plural longitudinal slots for panel or...
Reexamination Certificate
1996-11-20
2001-07-17
Ackun, Jr., Jacob K. (Department: 3712)
Amusement devices: toys
Construction toy
Including post having plural longitudinal slots for panel or...
C446S111000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06261147
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a toy building with associated fittings, said toy building comprising a structure which constitutes the bracing structure of the toy building, and a number of wall elements, and wherein the bracing structure and the wall elements are provided with coupling means for releasably receiving the wall elements in the bracing structure of the toy building.
Such toy buildings are known i.a. from U.S. Pat. No. 3,002,315 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,738. Since the buildings according to this prior art are, as described above, provided with coupling means for releasably receiving the wall elements in the bracing structure of the toy building, it is possible to remove wall elements from the toy building thereby providing a variety ways in which to access the toy building interior.
Additionally, it is possible with this prior art to rearrange and insert the wall elements at different locations, which elements form e.g. facades and partition walls in the toy building. Thus, this prior art distinguishes itself over the conventional toy doll's houses which are inseparably framed structures without the possibility of removing wall elements and the like.
Moreover GB patent application No. 2,196,773 teaches a system for the construction of a three-dimensional interior/setting, said system comprising individual wall elements which may be interconnected consecutively, where e.g. a particular corner element is provided to form corners in the three-dimensional interior/setting which may secure the wall elements at a fixed angle relative to each other.
The wall elements according to this prior art known from GB patent application No. 2,196,773 are provided with horizontal grooves for the suspension of fittings, such as cupboards and the like. The corner junctions according to this prior art not being readily separable, it will be associated with considerable difficulty to rearrange the individual facade elements relative to each other.
In the light of this prior art, it is the object of the present invention to provide a toy building, e.g. a doll's house of the type defined in the introductory part of claim
1
, and which, contrary to the first-mentioned, known toy buildings, allow the releasable wall element which form part of the toy building to be used for another play purpose following removal thereof from the bracing structure of the toy building.
This is obtained by the invention according to claim
1
since the wall elements and the fittings are provided with complementary coupling means which are arranged for mounting of the fittings on the wall elements.
Hereby it is possible to remove the wall elements from the bracing structure of the toy building and mount them independently of each other to form interiors/settings outside the toy building where the wall elements are stabilised since the fittings are mountable on the wall element, whereby the wall elements and the fittings provide a sufficiently large ground surface to obtain good stability.
According to a convenient embodiment the complementary coupling means on the fittings and the wall elements are arranged for releasable coupling thereof as defined in claim
2
, and these releasable couplings may according to claim
3
advantageously consist of frictional couplings or releasable snap-couplings.
Hereby it is obtained that the fittings may be rearranged on the individual wall elements, and in particular by the fact that the elements comprise frictional couplings or releasable snap-couplings means that a certain holding force between the fittings and the wall elements is obtained, thereby allowing the wall elements to be rearranged without the fittings being lost or vice versa.
FIG. 4
indicates how the complementary coupling means on the fittings and the wall elements consist of a number of grooves on the wall elements which grooves are vertical in the in-use position, and associated coupling elements on the fittings, and wherein the vertical grooves and the accompanying coupling elements on the fittings are so designed that the fittings may be displaced in the grooves after mounting.
Due to the frictional force between the fittings and the wall elements, the fittings may be positioned at different heights, thereby allowing e.g. lower cupboards for a kitchen to be displaced upwardly to form an upper cupboard, or they may be arranged on top of another lower cupboard whereby a high cupboard is provided.
By providing the grooves with positioning snaps as defined in claim
5
, it is comparatively simple to position the individual fittings at a correct height relative to each other, despite the vertical grooves and the possibility of mutually displacing the fittings vertically relative to the wall elements, since the position snap clearly indicates the correct positioning.
According to invention the toy building may further comprise floor surfaces with coupling elements on their surfaces, and wherein the fittings have complementary coupling elements on the underside in the in-use position for releasably mounting the fittings on the floor surfaces. Thereby it is possible to mount the fittings on the floor surface or the wall elements as desired so as to allow removal of a wall element of the toy building without simultaneously removing the fittings.
By providing the coupling elements on the upper side of the floor surface at a mutually identical modular distance in a square pattern, and by the mutual distance between the vertical grooves corresponding to a full multiple of this modular distance, the fittings may be interconnected with both the floor surface and the wall element whereby the wall element will be very firmly attached to the toy building.
Invention features a particularly convenient embodiment where the coupling means for releasably receiving the wall elements in the bracing structure of the toy building has a coupling force that exceeds the coupling force obtained with the coupling force provided by the complementary coupling means for releasably mounting the. fittings on the wall elements.
Hereby it is simple to mount or dismount the fittings on a wall element already mounted in the bracing structure of the toy building without pulling the wall element inwards or outwards and without necessitating a counter force.
By providing the coupling means for releasably receiving the wall elements in the bracing structure of the toy building with a releasable tongue- and groove-connection between the vertical side edges of the wall elements and the bracing structure of the toy building, arid by making the toy building's bracing structure flexible at the tongue and the groove so as to allow the tongue and the groove to be pressed in and out of engagement, a particularly simple coupling thereof is obtained.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the wall elements for the toy building are provided with coupling elements on their undersides in the in-use position, said coupling means being designed for coupling the wall element onto the coupling elements on the floor surface.
Following removal of the bracing structure of the toy building, the wall element may consequently be erected e.g. as a partition wall in the toy building interior thereby allowing for a further application for the wall element.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4270302 (1981-06-01), Dandia
patent: 5154656 (1992-10-01), Milsten
patent: 5647181 (1997-07-01), Hunts
patent: 133178 (1933-05-01), None
patent: 512760 (1992-11-01), None
patent: 1184651 (1959-07-01), None
patent: 2405530 (1979-06-01), None
patent: 2516806 (1983-05-01), None
patent: 2042017 (1980-09-01), None
patent: 2196773 (1988-05-01), None
patent: 404163572 (1992-06-01), None
Bach Erik
Kushner Philip Marshall
Michaelsen Carsten Peter
Mikkelsen Kaj Svejstrup
Ackun Jr. Jacob K.
Francis Faye
INTERLEGO AG
Pitney Hardin Kipp & Szuch LLP
LandOfFree
Toy building with associated fittings does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Toy building with associated fittings, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Toy building with associated fittings will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2526230