US3121566A - Game - Google Patents

Description

S. MANEA Feb. 18, 1964 GAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 19, 1961 R 0 T N E V N S. MANEA Feb. 18, 1964 GAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 19, 1961 INVENTOR United States Patent 3,121,566 GAME Sebastian Manes, tlanadian Research 2: Development Eating-anion, 1 34 Queen St. W., Toronto, Gntario 3,

ana a Filed Jan. 1?, 1951, Ser. No. 83,8112 2 Claims. (Cl. 273-131) This invention relates to improvements in indoor games, and more particularly to improvements in childrens games of the checkers variety.

it is conventional practice for children and the like to attempt to play chess or checkers at an early age and Without a full comprehension of either the rules of the games or the various moves which may be made by utilizing different players.

These games have the disadvantages that they are somewhat complicated, especially for younger children, there are a great number of parts to be dealt with, the more intricate moves are difficult to remember, and, furthermore, especially in checkers, it is possible to cheat.

It is an object of this invention to provide an indoor game which will be much simpler than chess or checkers and Within the ability of even young children.

It is another object of this invention to provide an indoor game wherein at least one set of moves is limited and substantially predetermined.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide an indoor game which will substantially eliminate the element of cheating.

it is a further object of this invention to provide an indoor game that will be easily understood by young people.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an indoor game that will take only a short time to play and therefore be suitable for young children whose ability to concentrate for long periods is not yet developed,

It is another object of this invention to provide an indoor game which may be played with only a few pieces.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide an indoor game which may be played on a small board, the principal portion of which is permanently attached to the board and other pieces may take convenient forms such as, for instance, pennies, buttons or the like.

These and other objects and features of the invention 'Will become apparent when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention, showing the board, the cen e block, and the pieces laid out in preparation for a game to be played thereon.

FIG. 2 is a fractional perspective view of the centre block as illustrated in FIG. 1, showing particularly the method by which the centre block is hingeably attached to the board.

FIG. 3 is a fractional, perspective view of the board as illustrated in FIG. 1, illustrating one move of the centre block about its hinged portion.

FIG. 4 is a fractional, perspective view of the board as illustrated in FIG. 1, showing a second move which may be made by centre block.

FIG. 5 is a fractional, sectional View of the board as illustrated in FIG. 1, showing a third move of the block to be permitted by the hinge system as illustrated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is another fractional, cross section view of the board as illustrated in PEG. 1, illustrating a fourth position which may be adopted by the centre block while still remaining hingeably attached to the board.

FIG. 7 is a fractional, perspective view of a board as illustrated in FIG. 1, showing the centre block having been moved to yet another location upon the board.

Referring to FIG. 1, a substantially square game board 11) having four sides 11, 12, 13 and 14, has its upper surface 15 divided into an odd number of equal size squares 16 by a plurality of parallel, equally spaced apart lines 17 running parallel with sides 12 and 14 of board 10, and a like number of lines 18 in equal, parallel, spaced apart relationship, running at right angles thereto and parallel with opposite sides 11 and 13 on board 10.

In this instance, board 10 is divided into 25 squares 16. One square 19 of squares 16 is centrally located on board 10.

A block 26 of substantially cubic configuration, each side of which is substantially equal to a square 16, is hingeably located upon centre square 19 by means of a two-Way, double acting hinge 21.

For the purposes of this specification, movement of block 20 towards side 11 or 13 of board 10 will be known as longitudinal movement, and movement of block 2% towards side 12 or 14 of board 10 will be known as transverse movement.

Referring to FIG. 2, hinge 2:1 as illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a plurality of hingeably interconnected, substantially square, fiat plates 22, each substantially the same size as a square 16, and a plurality of restraining strips 23-. Restraining strips 23 are adapted to prevent hinge 21 from opening in concertina fashion as herein illustrated, and are therefore shown in a broken condition. It should be noted that this attitude of hinge 21 is herein illustrated for clarity of explanation only, and, upon being fully assembled, plates 22 and block 20 may move hingeably, arcuately only.

Hinge 21 comprises two distinct portions, a base portion 2 1, which is adapted to permit longitudinal movement only and an upper portion 25, adapted to permit transverse movement only of block 20.

A base plate 26 of base portion 24 is firmly affixed to board 111 and is adapted to completely cover centre square 19. A hinge plate 27 is hingeably attached to one side of base plate 26 and is adapted to move arcuately from a face to face position upon base plate 26 to a position substantially at right angles thereto in the direction of side 11 of board 1%. A centre plate 23 is hingeably attached to plate 27 at the opposite edge to base plate 26. Plate 23 is adapted to lie flatly, in face to face relationship, with plate 27 and to move arcuately upwardly to a position substantially at right angles to plate 27 in a longitudinal plane towards side 13 of board 10.

Two oppositely located restrainer strips 29 and 30 are hingeably attached at their lower ends to the opposite edge of base plate 25 to hinge plate 27 and are hingeably attached at their upper ends to the opposite edge of centre plate 28 to hinge plate 2 7.

It may be seen therefore, that, upon being fully assembled, the hinge portion between restrainers 29 and 30 and centre plate 28 is in axial alignment with the hinge portion between base plate 26 and hinge plate 27, and, the hinge portions between restrainer strips 29 and 31) and base plate 26 are in axial alignment with the hinge portion between hinge plate 27 and centre plate 28.

Thus, it may be seen, that upon moving hinge plate 2 7 to an upright position, centre plate 28 is retained in face to face relationship with plate 27 by means of restrainer strips 29 and 30 and, upon moving centre plate 28 to an upright position, hinge plate 27 remains .in face to face relationship with base plate 26.

Upper portion 25 is similarly constructed to base portion 24, centre plate 28 of base portion 24 acting as the base plate for upper portion 25. A hinge plate 31 is adapted to lie flatly upon the upper surface of centre plate 28 and to be hingeably attached thereto so that it may be moved arcuately upwardly therefrom in a transverse direction towards side 14 of board 10. An upper plate 32 is permanently atfixed to the under side of block 20 and is hingeably afiixed to hinge plate 31 at the opposite edge to plate 28. Two restrainer strips 33 and 34 are oppositely, hingeably attached to plates 28 and 32 in a manner similar to restrainer strips 29 and 30 of base portion 24, and are adapted to permit arcuate movement only of binge plate 31 and upper plate 32, in face to face relationship, transversely towards side 14 of board 10, and upper plate 3-2 transversely towards side 12 of board 10.

FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 illustrate the manner by which the construction of hinge 21 may be utilized to control the movements of block 211 upon the upper surface of board 10.

It should be noted that plates 26, 27, 28, 31 and 32 comprise the plurality of plates 22 and restrainer strips 29, 30, 3 3 and 34 comprise the plurality of restraining strips 23 herein previously described.

To facilitate the explanation of the operation of block 20, the eight squares 16 which are contiguous to centre square 19 are numbered from 4 1 to 47 inclusive, squares 40, 42, 44 and 46 being those located between centre square 19 and sides 11, 12, 13 and 14 respectively in which the whole length of the one side is contiguous thereto, the remaining squares 41, 43, 45 and 47 being located diagonally of centre square 19 and located between squares 40 and 42, 42 and 44, 44 and 46, and 46 and '40 respectively.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, it is seen that from a central position as illustrated in FIG. 1, hinge 2 1 has been operated so that block 20 may move transversely onto square 42 causing plate 32 to move arcuately upwardly at right angles to plate 31.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, from the position as illustrated in FIG. 3, block 2t) may be moved arcuately, longitudinally, about one edge through 90 to cover square 41 on board 10. Hinge plate 31, centre plate 28, and binge plate 27 remain in face to face contact, upper plate 32 and hinge plate 31 remain disposed at right angles to each other and hinge plate 27 has been moved arcuately upwardly from base plate 26.

Any arcuate transverse movement of block 20 in a vertical plane is prevented by the fact that the hinges between plates 27 and 28, and 31 and 32 are now located vertically above board 10.

Although not illustrated, it may be seen that from a position as illustrated in FIG. 3, block 20 may be rotated about one edge to cover square 43, hinge plate 27 remaining in face to face contact with base plate 26.

Referring to FIG. 5, block 20 and hinge 21, from a position as illustrated in FIG. 1, have been operated so that block 20 has moved arcuately through 90 in a longitudinal direction to cover square 40. In this instance, hinge plate 27, centre plate 28, hinge plate 31 and upper plate 32 remain in face to face contact, their interconnecting hinges are vertically above board 11) and therefore, transverse movement of block 20 is fully restricted, block 20 being unable to move arcuately to cover either square 41 on the one side or square 47' on the opposite side.

Referring to FIG. 6, from the centre position as illustrated in FIG. 1, block 20 has been moved arcuately, transversely onto square 46, hinge plate 31 and upper plate 32 are retained in face to face relationship by means of restraining strips 33 and 34, and base portion 24 of hinge 21 is in the fully folded position.

Referring to FIG. 7, from the position as illustrated in FIG. 6, hinge plate 2.7 has been moved arcuately upwardly, longitudinally and, therefore block 20 has been tilted 90 about one edge to cover square 47.

Although not illustrated, it may also be seen that from a position as illustrated in FIG. 6, block 20 may also be rotated about one edge to cover square 45.

From the foregoing description it may be seen that the movement of block 21} is restricted to the centre square 19 and its adjoining 8 squares 4tl4'7 inclusive, and, upon moving block 21} longitudinally to either square or square 44, the hinge mechanism 21 is such that block 20 may not be moved transversely from either of these positions. In order to rest on squares 41, 43, and 47, block 21} must first be moved transversely to square 42 or square 46 and then moved longitudinally onto the respective, contiguous squares. Furthermore, from the four corner squares 41, 43, 45 and 47, block 211 may not be moved transversely onto squares 40 0e44, but must first be returned to centre square 19.

This action of block 21) may be utilized in the form of a game in which a plurality of playing pieces as shown in F163. 1 and 3 to 7 inclusive may be arranged on board 21 and moved from square to square in an at tempt to avoid block 2i). Another player may manipulate block 20 in an attempt to move it onto a square 411 to 47 inclusive upon which a piece 50 may have landed. The operator of block 20 may count a point for each piece 50 so eliminated from board 119, and the operator of pieces 50 may count a point for each piece 50 moved onto centre square 19 without having been intercepted by block 21 Many other combinations and methods of scoring may be devised utilizing block 219 and playing pieces 50, and may be varied according to the intellectual standard of the persons playing.

It will be seen that block 21), hinge 21 and board 10 are integral and, therefore, will not become separated, in say, a toy box, and pieces 50 need take no special form, a plurality of pennies or the like being utilized if necessary.

The general design of the individual parts of this invention as explained above may be varied according to requirements in regards to manufacture. and production thereof, while still remaining within the spirit and principle of the invention, without prejudicing the novelty thereof.

, The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A game comprising a board member, the top surface of said board being ruled with a plurality of lines thereby forming a plurality of substantially square sections, a plurality of markers, and a movable for-m equal in size to said sections and secured by hinge means to the top surface of said board co-extensive with one margin of a square section pivoted selectively about several of its edges, said hinge means comprising a pair of double acting hinges, said pair of double acting hinges operable at right angles to each other.

2. A game comprising a board member, the top surface of said board being ruled with a plurality of lines thereby forming a plurality of substantially square sections, a plurality of markers, and a movable form secured by hinge means to the top surface of said board, said hinge means comprising a pair of double acting hinges, said pair of double acting hinges operable at right angles to each other, each one of said pair of hinges comprising a plurality of flat strips, an upper and a lower base member, the ends of said plurality of strips being secured to said base members in an alternate pattern.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,162,876 Barton June 20, 1939 2,221,267 Robertson Nov. 12, 1940 2,395,174 Drueke Feb. 19, 1946

Claims (1)

1. A GAME COMPRISING A BOARD MEMBER, THE TOP SURFACE OF SAID BOARD BEING RULED WITH A PLURALITY OF LINES THEREBY FORMING A PLURALITY OF SUBSTANTIALLY SQUARE SECTIONS, A PLURALITY OF MARKERS, AND A MOVABLE FORM EQUAL IN SIZE TO SAID SECTIONS AND SECURED BY HINGE MEANS TO THE TOP SURFACE OF SAID BOARD CO-EXTENSIVE WITH ONE MARGIN OF A SQUARE SECTION PIVOTED SELECTIVELY ABOUT SEVERAL OF ITS EDGES, SAID HINGE MEANS COMPRISING A PAIR OF DOUBLE ACTING HINGES, SAID PAIR OF DOUBLE ACTING HINGES OPERABLE AT RIGHT ANGLES TO EACH OTHER.

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