Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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IMPROVEMENT IN INTERLOCKING TOY BRICKS
The present invention relates to improvements in toy bricks or blocks in
particular
of artistic and educational type, in which a plurality of brick elements are
releasably
interlocked between each other by means of tongues and grooves to produce a
great variety of precise and coherent patterns or designs of fine details.
An example of such known building or interlocking blocks are those in European
patent specification n 0766585 in which the building elements can be clicked
and
assembled with identical elements to form patterns. According to the
description
made, it is impossible in practice as described on the abovementioned patent
to
get such bricks to click a forth brick with three already assembled to form a
square.
The only way to get a forth brick with three already assembled to form a
square is
only by sliding the forth element from above.
-While such building toy can build a variety of patterns, its versatility or
ability to
build up with other shaped bricks is somewhat limited.
However, it is an object of the present invention to provide with interlocking
bricks
which are even more versatile.
Accordingly, this invention provides a plurality of interlocking brick
elements
provided in a variety of different shapes and different colors to be
interlocked
between each other to form precise and coherent patterns of extreme details.
Each brick element inciude an upper part, a lower part and an annular recess
which is positioned between the upper and the lower parts and which surrounds
the middle part of the longitudinal height of the brick element. The upper
part of the
brick is formed of a regular circle, regular polygonal or partly spherical
shape; the
lower part of the brick element is formed of circular or polygonal shapes and
has
on its longitudinal height at least one longitudinal tongue and at least one
longitudinal groove, and these tongues and grooves are shaped and configured
so
that they can frictionally slide between each other and to be releasably
interlocked.
The clearance provided by the annular recess within the brick elements enables
the tongues of the bricks to engage through and slide into corresponding
grooves
of other already assembled bricks to form a variety of coherent patterns with
tongues and grooves hidden by the upper part of the brick elements.
Furthermore, at least some of the brick elements having polygonal shapes are
provided with one or more concave and/or one or more convex complementary
sides.
Preferably the toy bricks are made of rigid or semi rigid suitable plastic
materials in a
variety of different sizes and different colors.
The advantages offered by this invention are mainly:
a) All interlocking bricks require no other means to be assembled such as
glue,
magnets or base plates.
b) The toy bricks are provided in different sizes so that they can suit all
different
ages.
c) The toy bricks have high educational and entertainment value and can bL-
used
to create pixel artistic frames where the size and design of the pixel frames
is only
limited by the desire and imagination of the users and where the patterns
created
can stood on a surface or hung on a wall as decorative and artistic work of
art.
Other advantageous, objects and novel features of the present invention will
become more apparent with the following description and the added drawings in
which:
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FIG.1 is a front perspective view at an enlarged scale of a brick element
according
to the present invention.
FIG.2 is a front perspective view at an enlarged scale of another alternative
brick
element of FIG.1 according to the present invention.
FIG.3 is a bottom perspective view of the brick element of FIG.1.
FIG.4 is a front view of two brick elements of FIG.1 assembling between each
other.
FIG.5 is a top perspective view of another brick element of the present
invention.
FIG.5.A is a top perspective view of another brick element of the present
invention.
FIG.6 is a top perspective view of another brick element of the present
invention.
FIG.6.A is a top perspective view of another brick element of the present
invention.
FIG.7 is a top perspective view of another alternative of brick element of
FIG.1.
FIG.8 is a top perspective view of a peg according to the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a top perspective view of a base element used to assemble and
accommodate with the peg element of FIG.8 according to the present invention.
FIG.10 is a top perspective view of another alternative of the base element of
F I G.9.
FIG.11 is a top perspective view of another brick element of the present
invention.
FIG.12 is a bottom perspective view of another brick element according to the
present invention.
FIG.12.A is a pattern created with the brick elements of FIG.12.
FIG.13 is a top view of a small pattern created by assembling peg elements of
FIG.8 with base elements of FIG.9.
FIG.14 is a top view of a small pattern created by assembling peg elements of
FIG.8 with base elements of FIG.10.
FIG.15 shows three brick elements of FIG.1 interlocked between each other.
FIG.16 shows a combination of few bricks of different shapes assembled and
interlocked between each other.
FIG.17.A-17.C illustrate some different tongues and corresponding groove pairs
that can be used by the brick elements of the present invention.
FIG.18 shows an artistic pixel frame, at a very,reduced scale, created by
using the
brick elements of the present invention.
Referring to the drawings, FIG.1 shows a perspective top view at an enlarged
scale
of the interlocking brick element 10 according to the present invention in
which the
brick10 is formed with an upper part 11, lower part 12 and an annular recess
13
which is positioned between the upper part 11 and lower part 12 and which
surrounds the middle part of the longitudinal height of the brick element 10.
The diameters of the upper part 11 and lower part 12 are equal in size. The
top of
the upper part 11 shows a regular circular shape. The lower part 12 has on its
periphery two adjacent tongues 14 and two corresponding adjacent grooves 15.
The tongues 14 and the grooves 15 extend along the longitudinal height of
lower
part 12, and these tongues 14 and grooves 15 are shaped and configured so that
they can frictionally slide from above into each other as shown in FIG.4 and
be
releasably interlocked. The tongues 14 as well as the grooves 15 can be
positioned to be adjacent or to be opposite to each other and can be
positioned to
be in different angular positions between each other. The recess 13 has a
height
H slightly bigger than the height D of the tongues 14 and has a depth J
slightly
bigger than the width K of the tongues 14, as shown in FIG.4, to allow enough
space for the tongues 14 to engage in the recess 13 and frictionally slide
into the
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corresponding groove 15. With the brick elements of the present invention, the
tongues and grooves are always hidden by the upper part 11 of the brick
elements
and the final created pattern is always precise, coherent and well detailed.
The big advantage of having the annular recess 13 formed in the brick elements
is
to allow not only to slide, a forth brick with three already assembled to form
a
square as shown in FlG.15 but it allows as well to add a brick element to fill
a gap
64 between two other brick elements as shown in the pattern of FIG.16.
FIG.2 shows a perspective top view at an enlarged scale of another brick
element
20 according to the present invention in which the upper part 21 can be formed
with a polygonal shape which can be hexagonal, triangular or square. ln the
case
of the brick element 20 of FIG.2, the upper part 21 shows a regular square and
the
lower part 12 is similar to the lower part 12 of the brick element 10 of
FIG.1. The
width W of the of the side of the square is equal to the diameter Z of the
lower part
12 to allow a construction of coherent patterns without opetiings between the
brick
elements.
The shapes of the upper parts and lower parts of the bricks can be both
circular or
both polygonal or can be a combination of both polygonal and circular shapes.
The
top of the brick elements may be formed as well of partly spherical shape.
FIG.3 shows a perspective bottom view of the brick element of FIG.1 in which
we
can see that the bottom of the brick is hollow. The bottom of the bricks may
also be
provided close as very small brick elements are also designed for the present
invention to create pixel art frames.
Fig.4 shows a front view of two brick elements to be interlocked between each
other. In FIG.4 we can see the tongue 14 of one brick element engaged in the
recess 13 and slide in the corresponding groove 15 of another brick element.
FIG.5 and FIG.5.A show a perspective top view at an enlarged scale of the
brick
elements 30 and 40 with triangular shapes obtained as by splitting the brick
element 20 of FIG.2 vertically through its longitudinal line. The only
difference
between the brick 30 and brick 40 is that the lower part 32 of brick 30 is
formed
with two adjacent tongues 14 whereas the lower part 33 of brick 40 may be
formed
with one or two grooves 15.
FIG.6 and FIG.6.A show a top perspective view, at an enlarged scale, of other
brick elements 50 ad 60 with semi circular shapes obtained as by splitting the
brick
element 10 of FIG.1 vertically through its diagonal line. The lower part 52 of
the
brick 50 is formed with only one tongue 14 positioned in the middle of the
straight
side of the lower part 52. The lower part 62 of the brick 60 is formed with
only one
groove 15 positioned in the middle of the straight side of the lower part 62.
FIG.7 shows a top perspective view, at an enlarged scale, of another
alternative of
the brick element 10 of FIG.1 in which a cylindrical portion 71 protruding up
from
the center of the top side of the upper part 11 of the brick element 70 and a
corresponding cylindrical recess 16 protruding in the centre of the bottom
side of
the lower part 12 of the brick 70. The brick elements 70 can be assembled
between each other through the tongues 14 and corresponding grooves15 as well
as through the corresponding cylindrical protruding portions 16 and 71 to
provide
with a two or three dimensional patterns or designs.
FIG.8 shows a top perspective view, at an enlarged scale, of a peg element 80
according to the present invention in which the peg 80 is formed with an upper
part
11 similar to the one of brick element 10 of FIG.1. The lower part of the peg
is
formed with a stem 81 which has a recessed bottom 82 which is made to
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frictionally fit in the recess 91 of the base elements 90 and 100 of
respectively
FIGS.9andlO to provide with brick elements similar to the brick 10 of FIG.1.
FIG.9 shows a perspective top view, at an enlarged scale, of a base support
element 90 which could be made of circular or polygonal shape. The base
support
90 is provided with at least one tongue 14 and one corresponding groove 15
that
extend along the longitudinal height of base element 90. The centre of the
base
element 90 is formed with a recess 91 protruding through which is used to
frictionally receive and retain the peg 80 to create a brick element similar
to the one
of FIG.1.
In FIG.9, the tongues 14 as well as the grooves 15 of the base element are
spaced
apart by 90 deg angles which allows the creation of patterns having rows
similar to
the ones shown in FIG.13 where the rows are mounted one above the other
without displacement between the rows.
FIG.10 shows another base support element 100 simiiar to the one of FIG.9 in
which the tongues 14 as well as the grooves 15 are spaced by 135 degrees angle
which allows the creation of patterns having displaced rows similar to the
ones
shown in FIG.14
FIG.11 shows a top front perspective view of another brick element 200, with a
larger size than the brick element 20 of FIG.2. Here the brick element 200 is
shown
with a shape of a planar square tile, which is designed for younger children
of an
early age. The brick element 200 can be provided in different shapes to
include a
circle, an oval shape, a leaf having two concave arcs, a crescent and a
polygon.
At least some of the polygonal brick elements of the present invention are
provided
with one or more concave and/or one or more convex sides, as shown in FIG.12
and in the tiles 88 and 89 of FIG.16, and where the concave and convex sides
are
complementary to each other.
FIG.12 shows a perspective bottom view of another brick element 300 having
planar triangular shape which has two concave sides and one convex side. The
brick 300 shows the annular recess 13, tongue 14 and corresponding groove 15
similar to the ones of brick element of FIG.1 for the same purpose.
FIG.12.A shows a top view, at a reduced scale, of a small pattern created by
assembling a plurality of bricks 300 of FIG.12.
The top surface of the brick elements of the present invention can be provided
with
representations of letters, digits or symbols for educational and teaching
purposes
or to be used as puzzles.
The brick elements of the present invention are also formed of very small size
so
that pixel art frames of different designs and different sizes can be created
such as
the pixel frame shown in FIG.18, at a very reduced scale.
FIG.17.A-17.C show some different shapes of tongue 14 and groove 15 pairs that
may be used in the brick elements of the present invention. Other shapes of
tongues and grooves can also be used in these brick elements.
It will be appreciated by a skilled persori of art that the present invention
is not
limited to what has been specifically shown and described hereinabove and that
various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from
the
scope of the present invention.
