HK1077770B - Construction kit - Google Patents

Description

Building blocks

Technical Field

The invention relates to a building block consisting of components with magnetic components and ferromagnetic balls.

Background

The building blocks are particularly suitable for use in children's toys, teaching aids, in the manufacture of decorations or for technical purposes, for example in the manufacture of building models.

There is known a building block comprising a plastic rod having permanent magnets at both ends thereof and a ferromagnetic ball interposed between the magnets at both ends of the two members to detachably connect the two members together by magnetic attraction. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional, net-like structures of different shapes can be produced with such a construction.

The structural stability of the components consisting of rod-shaped and spherical parts is poor. Therefore, permanent magnets with strong magnetic force are adopted, and a small iron bar or a magnet bar is added into each plastic rod between the two magnets for improving the adsorption force.

This known building block has the further disadvantage that it can only be used to produce net-like structures, so-called "open" structures.

The building blocks of the above form are the subject of WO 99/60583a 1.

German patent DE 3910304 a1 discloses a toy brick whose elements have ferromagnetic contact surfaces and whose coupling elements are or contain permanent magnets. Furthermore, the member may be a plate and the connecting coupling may in particular be a ball. In addition, the contact surfaces of the members are concave to accommodate a male connection coupling (e.g., a ball). The structure of the sphere is shown in fig. 2 and described in column four, line 60 to column five, line 57. These spheres are very complex in structure and expensive to manufacture. They have the disadvantage in practice that the components can only be oriented at an angle relative to the ball joint coupling, otherwise the magnetic attraction is not sufficient.

German patent DE 3323489 a1 discloses an amusement and teaching tool based on spherical elements, the sphere of which contains magnetic elements. The balls are used for clamping the strip-shaped member and are fixed by the action of magnetic force generated among different layers of balls. This is illustrated in figure 3. These strip-like members use plexiglass and do not contain ferromagnetic elements.

Disclosure of Invention

Based on the above situation, the invention aims to create a building block, which is not limited to be only capable of manufacturing a net-shaped structure, and the structure can achieve enough stability without adopting special measures to improve the magnetic attraction force.

This task is solved by the building blocks of the character described below.

The toy building block according to the invention has planar and/or three-dimensional components with magnetic elements on the corners and/or sides and ferromagnetic balls which can be placed between the magnetic elements of adjacent components in order to detachably connect the components together by means of magnetic attraction, wherein the axes of the magnetic elements are aligned exactly with the bisectors of the corners of said components.

The toy bricks of the invention are made up of planar and/or three-dimensional elements with magnetic elements at the edges and/or corners and with ferromagnetic balls that can be placed between adjacent elements, the elements being detachably connected together by magnetic forces.

Since the building blocks comprise planar and/or three-dimensional structural elements, the stability of the construction produced by these structural elements and the ferromagnetic balls is significantly improved compared to prior art building blocks comprising rod-shaped structural elements and spheres. This allows the use of less magnetic magnets and avoids the need for additional magnetic components within the structure. Furthermore, the construction of a large and stable structure, and planar or three-dimensional construction elements, has the advantage that a more or less closed structure can be built, which increases the entertainment and makes it possible for many interesting applications. Meanwhile, the use of the magnet with small magnetic force also avoids the interference caused by the magnetic field, such as attracting some small objects or influencing other precise mechanical parts such as clocks and watches.

The planar structural members are joined substantially on one face, but may extend in a direction perpendicular to the face. The solid member may extend in all directions. In contrast, the rod-like members of the prior art can only extend along one axis, with little extension in the transverse direction.

The magnets of the planar member are preferably positioned substantially on the bisector of the angle between the corners of the two major parallel sides of the planar member. The magnetic members are preferably arranged angularly parallel to the two major sides, in particular in the median position between them.

The magnets of the three-dimensional structure are preferably positioned at the corners, subtending an angle bisector of all angles, which means that in the case of a cube, the magnetic elements are essentially placed at the angle bisector of the cube going from the centre to the corners.

The planar member may also be, for example, an arcuate planar member. The planar or solid member may also have various configurations. They can be closed or open members, such as: the frame-shaped components can form a plane or a three-dimensional shape.

According to a preferred embodiment, the component is plate-shaped. With the plate-shaped structural element a number of interesting and particularly stable structures can be realized.

The magnetic component of the structural part is preferably arranged at a corner. In addition or in contrast, they can also be arranged on both sides of the component, in particular on the narrow sides of the planar component.

The plate-shaped structural member may be a member having any number of vertical angles. The plate-shaped structural member may also have a curved surface. According to another design, the building blocks may comprise triangular and/or quadrangular and/or hexagonal and/or octagonal and/or circular and/or semicircular plate-shaped structural members.

In another design, the building blocks comprise plate-shaped structural members of isosceles triangles and/or squares and/or double squares and/or multiple squares.

In another embodiment, the building blocks comprise polyhedral (e.g. regular hexahedral, parallelepiped, prismatic, pyramidal) and/or pyramidal and/or spherical crown-shaped and/or cylindrical and/or barrel-shaped cross-sections and/or ring-shaped cross-sections of the three-dimensional elements.

In one design, the blocks comprise members having a chamfered edge at one edge. This facilitates the insertion of a number of components at each edge.

In one design, the building blocks comprise elements which have thinner walls between the edges than at the edges.

In one design, the toy bricks comprise elements which are notched at the corners and/or edges to accommodate a portion of a sphere. This allows for a compact array of elements and allows the spheres to be embedded as far as possible into the corners of the elements.

In another embodiment, the recess is formed by a chamfer at the corner of the component and/or essentially by a spherical or trough-like recess at the corner and/or edge.

In one design, the axis of the magnetic member is located substantially on a bisector of each apex angle. This is advantageous in distributing the magnetic attraction force acting on the member and the ball. In another embodiment, the structural part has a magnet on the side, the magnetic component of which has an axial direction which is substantially perpendicular to the side and is directed towards the recess of the side.

In another design, the magnetic member is cylindrical.

According to a preferred embodiment, the magnetic component is a permanent magnet. In principle, it is also possible to use electromagnets as the magnetic element.

The building blocks comprise elements which are constructed in particular rigidly. In the design of the building block, the building block has at least one deformable element. The member may be deformed by the user himself, manually or using a tool. And more particularly to a plastically or elastically deformable structural member. The user can thus produce structural elements that are free of the dimensions specified for the elements. He can also take into account the stress state in the structure using elastically deformable members.

According to one embodiment, the building blocks use at least one component with a light source. Whereby a user can design a variety of lighting effects. The structure is also preferably provided with magnetic elements and can be incorporated into the structure by means of ferromagnetic balls, according to the modes described above. In addition, the structural part adopts different mounting technologies, such as a sucker fixing mode.

An electric light source may be used according to a preferred design. In addition, a design, building blocks adopt the power, if: batteries, accumulators or external power sources. The power supply may provide an electric light source and/or power for actuation of the electromagnetic element. For example: it may be incorporated into other components or a structure with a light source using a button cell. The power supply can be built into the base plate or be a separate building element.

In another design, the structural members are at least partially made of plastic and/or metal and/or wood. The magnetic element and/or the light source, i.e. the lamp base and/or the power supply, can be cast and/or injection-molded and/or built-in, in particular into the structural part.

The structural part is preferably a plastic injection-molded part.

According to one design, the building blocks contain at least one cube, with different side markings. The sides of the cube may be marked with different indicia, either entirely or only partially. Preferably, the side faces are marked with marks and/or symbols respectively for the components and/or the spheres and/or for special rules of play. One or more players may obtain the member or sphere as a cast cube. Thus, everyone can play the game and see who the work built by the component design obtained by the throwing cube is the highest, the largest or the most ornamental. The symbol of the game rule may be, for example, a "king". The player who rolls to the king side may have optional members. The other symbol may be, for example, a blank surface without any description. If the handler is thrown to such a blank surface, he cannot access the component. Another possible symbol is to write a number of the number of members that the player can take.

According to one embodiment, the building blocks have black and/or white and/or colored elements and ferromagnetic balls. In particular, the building blocks may comprise elements and/or spheres of various colours, such as black or white.

In a further preferred embodiment, the toy bricks comprise a base plate with indentations and other surface textures and/or other magnetic elements for facilitating the placement of the balls and/or elements or by means of which the balls and/or elements are detachably connected by magnetic force. According to the grid which is drawn in advance by the bottom plate, some favorable structures can be easily spliced on the basis of the bottom plate. The base plate is a very useful aid in the bridging of the stabilization structure, especially when it is large in size.

The base plate may also be provided with indentations and/or other surface textures and/or further magnetic elements, for example a grid thereof, on both sides in order to be able to produce different structures. In addition, the double-sided base plate can be used for shielding some structures and reconstructing new structures on the basis of the structures.

In another embodiment, the indentations and/or other surface textures have a round and/or elongated shape. The base plate can here be used for placing components of different side lengths, such as square plates and triangles, isosceles triangles or non-isosceles triangles.

In one embodiment, the base plate is black and/or white or colored. In one design, the base plate is a plastic part. In addition, the other magnetic elements of the base plate are preferably permanent magnets. In particular, a bottom plate magnet can be other magnetic elements or electromagnets, and the strong magnetic force of the bottom plate magnet endows the whole structure with great stability.

In one embodiment, the toy bricks comprise a container having an upper part and a lower part, the lower part having magnetic elements comprising segments and spheres, and the upper part being removable from the lower part and having a base. The upper portion has a dual function of both playing and covering the container for storage and transport of the components and balls.

In one design, the building block has a container with a plastic lower part and a flip-top, and at least one insert with a grid for holding the elements and balls. The insert in one design is also a plastic piece. Another design uses a clear plastic for the container and/or the insert. In other designs, the flip is hinged to the base with a film hinge. Still another design uses flat folds of plastic material and corners that are glued, welded or otherwise attached together. In one design the building blocks comprise an inserted bottom plate.

Drawings

The invention is further illustrated by the figures of examples. In the drawings:

FIGS. 1a and b are a top view (FIG. 1a) and a side view (FIG. 1b) of a square plate member;

FIGS. 2a and b are a top view (FIG. 2a) and a side view (FIG. 2b) of a planar member in the form of a double square;

FIGS. 3a to c are a top view (FIG. 3a), a left side view (FIG. 3b) and a right side view (FIG. 3c) of a triangular planar member;

FIGS. 4a to c use the components of FIGS. 1 and 3 and a frontal view (FIG. 4a), a side view (FIG. 4b) and another angular side view (FIG. 4c) of the prismatic structure of the ferromagnetic ball ride;

FIG. 5 is a top view of a pyramidal structure constructed from the components of FIG. 3 and ferromagnetic balls;

FIGS. 6a to c are a top view (FIG. 6a), a side view (FIG. 6b) of a base plate with grooves for placing balls and a side view (FIG. 6c) of the base plate after placing balls;

figures 7a to c are a top view (figure 7a) of the upper part, a top view (figure 7b) and a vertical section (figure 7c) of the container for storing the components and the spheres;

FIG. 8 is a perspective side view of a cube;

FIG. 9 is an icon of a cube and a list of game rules.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding features throughout the several views of the drawings.

Detailed Description

The square panel element 1 of fig. 1 has a panel 2 with small chamfered surfaces 3 at 45 ° to the edges at each of the four corners.

In addition, a magnetic element 4 in the form of a small cylindrical permanent magnet is embedded in each corner. The axis of the magnetic element 4 is opposite to the angular bisector of the included angle between the two adjacent edges of the plate 2, namely points to the central position of the plate 2.

In addition, the outer plate 2 has a circumferential chamfer 5 on both sides.

The plate 2 in the example has an edge length of about 40 mm and a wall thickness of about 5 mm. The magnet 4 used in the other example is about 4 mm in diameter and about 5 mm in length.

Fig. 2a shows a double square plate element 6, in which the plate 7 has a length twice the length of the plate 1 (approximately 80 mm). Each corner of the plate 7 has a chamfer 3. Where the magnetic element 4 is built in. The periphery of the outer part is surrounded by a chamfer 5.

In addition, the plate-shaped member 6 has a basin-shaped recess 8 in the center of each of the two long sides. The bottom of these grooves in turn have magnetic elements 4 built in.

The recess 8 is sized to just receive a portion of a sphere having a diameter of 12.7 millimeters (1/2 inches).

The dimensions of the grooves in the example are about 13 mm wide and 3.5 mm deep.

The triangular panel member 9 in fig. 3 has a panel 10 in the shape of an isosceles triangle, each corner having a chamfer 3 which is perpendicular to the bisector of the angle between adjacent sides.

In the plate 10, cylindrical magnetic elements 4 are embedded at the location of the chamfer 3, their axes being aligned with the angle bisectors of the included angles.

The side length of the plate 10, i.e. the distance measured from one assumed corner to the other, is equal to the side length of the plate 2, which is approximately 40 mm. The wall thickness of the plate 10 is likewise approximately 5 mm.

Fig. 4 and 5 show the combination of the previously described components 1 and 9 with the ferromagnetic balls 11 to create a new structural shape. Wherein the ferromagnetic balls 11 are all located above the magnetic element 4, and the distance between the centers of the balls is about 45 mm.

The prismatic structure shaping of fig. 4a to c is achieved by three square plate members 1, two triangular plate members 9 and six ferromagnetic balls 11. The ball 11 has been partially removed in side view to allow the position of the chamfer 3 and the magnetic element 4 to be clearly seen. It can be seen that a portion of the ball 11 is located in the region of the chamfer so that the members 1, 9 can be placed next to each other.

Fig. 5 shows a pyramidal, i.e. a tetrahedral structure, which is formed by four triangular plate members 9 and four ferromagnetic balls 11.

Of course, the components 1, 9, 6 and other components covered by the present invention can be spliced according to the actual needs of the structural shape and the size and complexity of the components can be selected at will. Other dimensions than those described above may also be selected.

Fig. 6 shows a base plate 12 for the auxiliary frame of some structural shapes, which plate consists of a plate-like body 13, one of which is provided with a number of recesses 14. The grooves given in the examples have been selected to be tapered, although other shapes are possible. The advantage of these recesses 14 is that the ball is held exactly in place on the circumferential line after it has been placed in, so that it is both accurately positioned and can be removed with only a slight effort.

The base plate in the example is substantially square with a side of about 500 mm. If the balls are assigned to the magnetic elements 4 of the dry components 1, 6, 9, the spacing between the recesses 14 is equal to the spacing from the center of the ball 11, i.e. approximately 45 mm.

The components 1, 6, 9 and/or the base plate 12 can in particular be made of plastic. The magnetic element 4 may be injection moulded in a plastic material.

The ball 11 is made of a steel material which can be attracted by a magnet, and a stainless steel material is recommended. The spheres 11 may also be coated.

The lower part 16 of the container 15 shown in figure 7 has a base part 17 and a plug part 18 in which cells 19 of different sizes are present. The compartment 19 is used for inserting the components and the ball. Which are matched in size to the respective component and ball to be inserted.

The upper end of the insert 18 has a circumferential edge 20 which encloses the insertion position of the article.

In this inserted position, an upper part 21 is placed. It comprises a base plate 12 'having an elongate recess 14 "in addition to a circular recess 14', the recess being rounded at both ends. The width of the elongated groove 14 "is equal to the diameter of the circular groove 14 'and its length is three times the diameter of the circular groove 14'.

The recesses 14 ', 14 "are holes through the bottom plate 14'. The upper portion 21 has a thin cover plate 22 which is located below the base plate 12' and covers the perforations.

The container 15 may be made, in whole or in part, of plastic and/or wood and/or metal (e.g., aluminum) as well as another suitable material.

As shown in fig. 8, six faces 24 belonging to a cube 23 of the building block are assigned different icons.

The correspondence of each icon to each surface is tabulated in fig. 9. From this, the rules of the game that the player needs to follow when throwing to a certain icon can be seen.

The player may take a square member and a ball when thrown to the first side.

When thrown to the second side he can take a rectangular member and a sphere.

When thrown to the third face the player has the right to pick up a triangular member and a ball from the store.

When thrown to the fourth surface, he will get a trapezoid element and a sphere.

If he throws to the fifth face, he can acquire both spheres simultaneously.

When throwing to the sixth side, he can freely choose any shape of member and one sphere, or four spheres at a time.

The above rules may also be varied at will.

Using one or more cubes 22, for example, an interesting game can be developed between a plurality of players. Each player has a number of cubes and he can splice a figure with members and a reserve of balls thrown. The player's game results may be compared against one or more criteria (e.g., height of structure) to figure out a winner.

Claims (26)

1. A toy building set having planar and/or solid components (1, 9) with magnetic elements (4) at the corners and/or edges and ferromagnetic balls (11) which can be placed between the magnetic elements (4) of adjacent components (1, 9) to detachably connect the components (1, 9) together by magnetic attraction, wherein the axes of the magnetic elements (4) are aligned with the bisectors of the corners of said components (1, 9).

2. A toy building block according to claim 1, characterised in that the toy building block comprises plate-like elements (1, 9).

3. The building block according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the building block comprises plate-shaped elements (1, 9) which are triangular and/or quadrangular and/or hexagonal and/or octagonal and/or circular and/or semicircular.

4. A toy brick according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the toy brick comprises plate-shaped elements (1, 9) which are isosceles and/or isosceles triangles and/or squares and/or double squares and/or multiple squares.

5. A block as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the block comprises polyhedral and/or spherical and/or segmental and/or cylindrical and/or truncated cylindrical and/or barrel-shaped and/or truncated barrel-shaped and/or ring-shaped and/or truncated ring-shaped solid elements.

6. A toy building set according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the toy building set comprises elements (1, 9) with chamfered edges.

7. A toy building set according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the toy building set comprises elements (1, 6, 9) having thinner walls between the edges than at the edges.

8. A toy building block according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the toy building block comprises elements having indentations (3, 8) at the corners and/or edges for receiving a part of the ball (11).

9. A toy building set according to claim 8, characterized in that the indentation is formed by a chamfer (3) on a corner of the element and/or a bulbous or basin-like recess (8) in a corner and/or an edge of the element (1, 6, 9).

10. A toy building block as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the magnet axis is perpendicular to the sides of the element.

11. The building block according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the magnetic element (4) is cylindrical.

12. The building block according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the magnetic element (4) is a permanent magnet.

13. The building block according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the building block comprises at least one deformable element (1, 6, 9).

14. The toy building block according to claim 13, characterized in that the toy building block comprises at least one plastically and/or at least one elastically deformable element (1, 6, 9).

15. The building block according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the building block comprises at least one component (1, 6, 9) with a light source.

16. The building block according to claim 15, characterized in that the building block comprises at least one component (1, 6, 9) with an electric light source.

17. The building block of claim 16, wherein the block includes at least one power source.

18. The building block according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the building block comprises elements (1, 6, 9) made of plastic and/or metal and/or wood.

19. The building block as claimed in claim 18, characterized in that the components (1, 6, 9) are at least partly injection-moulded from plastic.

20. The building block according to claim 1, characterized in that the building block comprises at least one cube (23) with differently marked sides (24).

21. The building block according to claim 20, characterized in that the elements and/or the ferromagnetic balls (11) and/or the markings and/or symbols of a specific game rule are provided on the sides (24) of the cube (23).

22. A toy brick according to claim 1, 2 or 20, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the toy brick comprises black and/or white and/or coloured elements (1, 6, 9) and/or ferromagnetic balls (11) and/or cubes (23).

23. A toy building block according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the toy building block comprises a bottom plate (12) which is provided with recesses (14) and/or other surface structures and/or further magnetic elements in which balls (11) and/or elements can be partly embedded and/or to which balls (11) and/or elements can be detachably connected.

24. The building block according to claim 23, characterized in that the recesses (14) and/or other surface structures have a circular and/or elongated shape.

25. A toy building set according to claim 23 or 24, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the toy building set comprises a container (15) with an upper part (21) and a lower part (16), wherein the lower part (16) has cells (19) for elements and balls, and the upper part (21) is removable from the lower part and comprises the bottom plate (12).

26. The toy brick according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it has a container with a lower part and a flap and at least one insert with a grid for receiving elements and balls, wherein the lower part and the flap are each made of plastic.