Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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1 TOY SPHERE WITH CARD ELEMENTS SLIDABLY DISPOSED TO A
2 PERIPHERY THEREOF
3 BACKGROUND OF THE lNV~-~ ~lON
4 1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toy sphere and
6 more particularly, to a toy sphere with tile elements
7 slidably disposed to a periphery thereof and a user may shift
8 the tile elements disposed thereon to arrange the tile
9 elements into a desired form.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
11 A good toy should have some characters which includes:
12 (1) The toy should be safe such that there is no
13 possible harm for a user operating the toy.
14 (2) The toy should have a feature of stimulating the
brainpower of the user.
16 (3) The toy is able to be operated in a variety of
17 ways to operate it such that the user can concentrate his/her
18 attention on the toy and enjoy the toy.
19 One of such typical toys is called "Rubik's Cube" or
"magic cube" which is a cube and each one of six sides of the
21 magic cube is divided into nine elements with the same color,
22 every row and every column of the elements in each side can
23 be respectively rotated about a vertical axis and a
24 horizontal axis. Before operating the magic cube, all of the
elements are arranged to be an irregular form, that is each
26 one of six sides has more than two colors of elements, a user
27 is then required to operate the magic cube to arrange the
28 colors of the elements to be a certain form, such as to
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1 arrange all the elements with the same color on the same
2 side of the cube. The magic cube only provides the user the
3 chance to rotate the elements, the user cannot shift the
4 elements by sliding on any one of the six sides.
S Another toy is a rectangular plate on which nine
6 positions are defined, each one of the nine positions has the
7 same size and there have eight tiles disposed to the plate. A
8 user can shift one of the tiles to the remaining empty
9 position and by this manner the eight can be re-arranged to
be a certain pattern. This toy only provides the user a
11 chance to slide the tiles.
12 The present invention intends to provide an improved
13 toy which is a sphere with tile elements disposed thereto
14 wherein the sphere is composed of three circular members and
each of the circular members are perpendicular with each
16 other. The tile elements can have their positions changed by
17 moving along the three circular members so as to mitigate
18 and/or obviate the above-mentioned problems.
19 SU~ARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a toy sphere which
21 includes three circular members sharing the same center, each
22 of the three circular members having an axis and the three
23 axes being arranged to be perpendicular with each other. Each
24 one of the three circular members has a track defined in an
outer periphery thereof and the three tracks communicate with
26 each other at intersections. A plurality of tile elements
27 each have a lower portion and an upper portion, with a neck
28 connecting the lower portion and the upper portion. The lower
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1 portion and the neck of each of the tile elements are slidably
2 engaged with the tracks such that the tile elements can be
3 shifted along the three tracks.
4 It is an object of the present invention to provide a
toy sphere on which a plurality of tile elements are shifted
6 along tracks defined in an outer periphery of the toy sphere.
7 It is another object of the present invention to
8 provide a toy sphere on which tile elements can be shifted
9 along a single, respective track or be shifted to other
tracks.
11 Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the
12 invention will become more apparent from the following
13 detailed description when taken in conjunction with the
14 accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
16 Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a toy sphere in
17 accordance with the present invention;
18 Fig. 2 is an exploded view of a first embodiment of
19 the toy sphere in accordance with the present invention;
Fig. 3 is a side elevational view, partly in section,
21 of a tile element received in a track;
22 Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 to show another
23 type of tile element received in a track, and
24 Fig. S is an exploded view of a second embodiment of
the toy sphere in accordance with the present invention.
26 DETATT.T~'~ DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
27 Referring to the drawings and initially to Figs. 1
28 through 3, a toy sphere in accordance with the present
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1 invention generally includes three circular members la , 2a
2 and 3a which share the same center. Each of the three circular
3 members la, 2a and 3a has an axis perpendicularly extending
4 through a center of a plane where the respective circular
member la/2a/3a is located and the three axes are arranged
6 to be perpendicular with each other. Each one of the three
7 circular members la, 2a and 3a has a track defined in an
8 outer periphery thereof and the three tracks communicate with
9 each other at intersections therebetween.
The toy sphere is composed by four one-fourth sphere
11 portions 30, each one of the one-fourth sphere portions 30
12 including a part of each of the three circular members la,
13 2a, 3a. As seen in Fig. 2, the one-fourth sphere portion 30
14 includes a part 301 of the circular member la and a part 303
of the circular member 3a, each of the two parts 301/303 is a
16 half circular section of the respective circular member
17 la/3a. A part 302 of the circular member 2a is connected
18 between a respective middle point of the two parts 301, 303
19 curved peripheries and each of the curved peripheries 301,
302, 303 having an upper layer 31 and a lower layer 32 and a
21 perpendicular connecting portion 34 connected between the
22 upper layer 31 and the lower layer 32. The lower layer 32
23 extends longer than the upper layer 31 such that any two
24 opposite upper layers 32 define a track therebetween, such as
positions where the numerals 322, 324 lead to. The lower
26 layer 32 has studs 306 extending laterally therefrom and
27 recesses 38 defined laterally therein such that the two
28 adjacent one-fourth sphere portions 30 can be combined
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1 together by mutually inserting the studs 36 into the recesses
2 38. Furthermore, each of the studs 36 has a flange 362 (see
3 Fig. 3) extending radially from a periphery thereof so as to
4 securely received in the respective recess 38, by means of an
interference fit.
6 A plurality of tile elements 20 each have a lower
7 portion 24 and an upper portion 22, a neck 26 connected
8 between the lower portion 24 and the upper portion 22 such
9 that the lower portion 24 and the neck 26 are slidably
engaged with the tracks 322, 324. The upper portion 22 has a
11 flat upper surface.
12 Accordingly, when a user (not shown) plays with the
13 toy sphere, he/she is required to shift the tile elements 20
14 along the three tracks of the circular members la, 2a, 3a to
arrange the tile elements 20 into a certain or required
16 pattern. The tile elements 20 can be shifted along a certain
17 track or be transferred to other tracks at the intersecting
18 positions of two tracks such that the toy sphere has variety
19 of ways in which the tile elements 20 thereof can be shifted
and is suitable to be operated by children or adults.
21 Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the tile element
22 20' wherein an upper surface of the tile element 20 is an
23 arcuate surface.
24 Fig. 5 shows a second embodiment of the toy sphere
wherein the toy sphere is composed eight one-eighth sphere
26 portions 40, each of which is configured as a half of the
27 one-fourth sphere portions 30 shown in Fig. 2 when divided
28 from a central center of the track 324 of the part 302 of the
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circular member 2a. Each of the one-eighth sphere portions 40
2 also has an upper layer 42 and a lower layer 43 and, a
3 perpendicular connecting portion 401 is connected between the
4 corresponding upper layer 42 and the lower layer 43 such that
S a track 44 is defined between the upper layer 42 and the
6 lower layer 43. The lower layer 43 has a plurality of studs
7 46 extend laterally therefrom and recesses 48 defined
8 laterally therein such that each of two one-eighth sphere
9 portions 40 of the eight one-eighth sphere portions 40 can be
combined together by receiving the studs 4 6 into the
11 respective recesses 48 in the way described relating to Fig.
12 2. Also, the tile element 20" has a neck 26' with a square
13 cross-section and the tile element 20 in Fig. 2 has a neck 26
14 with a round cross-section.
lS Although the invention has been explained in relation
16 to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many
17 other possible modifications and variations can be made
18 without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention
19 as hereinafter claimed.
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