Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
2070999
B~IL~ING BLOCK
This invention relates to building blocks. More
particularly but not exclusively, it relates to an
educational toy to teach different aspects of mathematics to
children of all ages.
According to the present invention, there is provided
a multi-faced building block adapted for assembly to produce
a plurality of shapes by connecting a number of said
building blocks, said block including male hinge means at a
first edge of a face of said block and characterised by
female hinge means at a second edge of said face opposite
and parallel with said first edge, whereby two said blocks
can be joined hingedly by connecting the male hinge means of
one block to the female hinge means of the other block, and
whereby two said blocks can be joined fixedly in face to
face relation by connecting both the male and female hinge
means of one block to the female and male hinge means,
respectively, of the other block.
The building block may be in the shape of a triangular
prism, preferably an isosceles triangular prism and, more
preferably a right-angled isosceles triangular prism. The
prism preferably has square faces lying between the short
sides of the triangular faces.
The male and female hinge means may be located on the
edges of the face which joins the hypotenuse of the right-
angled triangle faces, whereby two substantially identical
building blocks can be joined fixedly to form a cube.
The male and female hinge means may be located on the
edges which define the ends of the hypotenuse. Preferably,
the hinge axis lie parallel to the edges which define the
ends of the hypotenuse.
The building block may have a female face connection
means on one face defining one of the equal sides of the
isosceles triangle, and a male face connection means on the
other face defining the other of the equal sides of the
isosceles triangle.
The male hinge means may comprise a pair of oppositely
extending protrusions and the female hinge means may
2 2070999
comprise a pair of oppositely extending recesses adapted to
be engaged by the protrusions with a snap fit. The
protrusions may extend towards one another and the recesses
may open away from one another.
Other independent features reside in the provision of
a building block adapted for assembly to produce a plurality
of shapes by connecting a number of said building blocks,
each of said building blocks comprising a right-angled
isosceles triangular prism, wherein said block has male
hinge means at an edge defining one end of the hypotenuse,
and female hinge means at an edge defining the other end of
the hypotenuse, whereby two blocks can be hingedly joined
together by connecting the male hinge means of one block to
the female hinge means of the other block, and two of said
blocks can be fixedly joined together using both pairs of
hinge means to form a cube.
By way of example, one embodiment of a block according
to the invention will now be described with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which:-
Figure 1 is a side view of a building block;
Figure 2 is an underneath view of the block of Figurel;
Figure 3 is a face view of the block;
Figure 4 is a sectional view along the lines A-A in
Figure 3;
Figure 5 is a view, on an enlarged scale, of a detail
of a snap joint; and
Figure 6 is a sectional view illustrating a pair of
blocks joined together by engagement of two pairs of hinge
means.
A building block 10 of plastics material, although it
will be appreciated that other materials could be
WO91/08811 PCT/GB90/01971
~ 3_ 20~0999
used, is shaped generally in the form of a right-angled
triangular prism. The building block has a pair of
essentially square faces 11, 12 and a rectangular face
13 defining the hypotenuse of the right-angled triangle.
The building block has two end faces 14, 15 which are,
in their general shape, right-angled isosceles
triangles.
The block 10 is provided with male hinge means 20
at one edge defining the hypotenuse of the right-angled
triangular faces 14, 15 and female hinge means 21 at the
other edge defining the hypotenuse of the triangular
faces 14, 15. The male hinge means 20 consist of a pair
of nibs 22 between which extends a space 23, conical
protrusions 24 extending from the nibs 22 towards one
another.
The female hinge means 21 consist of a rib 25
having conical recesses 26 in end faces thereof.
When the male hinge means 20 of one block and the
female hinge means 21 of a second block are to be
engaged together, the rib 25 of the second block is
pushed into the space 23 of the first block and the
conical protrusions 24 of the one block are engaged in
the conical recesses 26 in the second block. In this
way, a hinge connection is provided between the two
blocks.
Additionally, the shape of the blocks and
positionins of the male and female hinge means 20, 21 is
such that two such blocks 10 can be joined together by
engagement of the male and female hinge means of one
block with respective female and male hinge means of the
second block to form a cube, as shown in Figure 6. In
the Figure 6 arrangement, the respective rectangular
faces 13 face towards one another, the faces 13 being
very slightly recessed to ensure that there is no balking
when the male and female hinge means are moved into
WO91/08811 PCT/GB90/01971 -
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engagement.
In addition to the hinge means, the block 10 is
provided with face connection means, there being a
socket 30 provided in the square face 11 and a spigot
31 extending from the square face 12 the spigot of one
block 10 is engageable with the socket 30 of another
block 10 with a snap fit, the engagement profiles of the
spigot 31 and socket 30 being shown in more detail in
Figure 5. In Figure 5, it can be seen that the spigot
31 is essentially cylindrical but with an annular
engagement rim 32 near its free end. The socket 30
has an inwardly extending annular engagement rib 33 such
that the annular rim 32 of the spigot 31 engages the
annular rib 33 of the socket 30 with a snap fit. As
is shown clearly in Figure 5, both the annular rim 32
and annular rib 33 have chamfered profiles to allow
ease of entry of the spigot into the socket and,
furthermore, to allow relative ease of disengagement
of the spigot from the socket since the blocks are
designed to be engaged and disengaged relatively easily,
but still allow sufficient strength of engagement to
form a stable connection.
When two blocks are formed together in the Figure
6 arrangement, a cube is formed having two planar faces,
two faces having a spigot 31 extending therefrom and
two faces including sockets 30. The Figure 6 cube
formed from two blocks 10 allows the blocks 10 to form
part of a structure with existing cubes available under
our Trade Mark MULTILINK, which cube have in their faces
sockets with the same profile as the sockets 30 of the
blocks 10 and spigots with the same profile as the
spigots 31 of the blocks 10. In this way, the blocks
10 provide substantially increased flexibility and
adaptabilit~- to the MULTILINK cubes in that the blocks
10 can be face-to-face connected with the existing cubes
WO91/08811 PCT/GB90/01971
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and, with two blocks.10 connected together at one hinge,
a hinge connection is provided but alternatively with
both hinge connections made, a cube is formed. It will
be appreciated that a large variety of structures is
thus possible.
It will be appreciated that the foregoing
description is by way of example only and that
modifications and alterations may be made within the
scope of the invention.
