Patent Application
20180154275
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The disclosure and prior art relates to flexible building block devices and more particularly pertains to a new flexible building block device for allowing male and female connectors to engage each other while allowing a block on which they are positioned to be freely bent into an arcuate shape.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a connector panel having a top side, a bottom side and a perimeter edge. The connector panel is resiliently flexible and is comprised of an elastomeric material. The perimeter edge includes a first end edge, a second end edge, a first lateral edge and a second lateral edge. The connector panel is elongated from the first end edge to the second end edge. A plurality of male interconnection members is integrally formed in and extends upwardly from the top side. The male interconnection members are arranged in a plurality of columns extending from the first end edge to the second end edge and rows extending between the first and second lateral edges wherein a number of the rows is equal to or less than a number of the columns.
An embodiment of the disclosure also meets the needs presented above by further comprising a connector panel having a top side, a bottom side and a perimeter edge. The connector panel is resiliently flexible and is comprised of an elastomeric material. The perimeter edge includes a first end edge, a second end edge, a first lateral edge and a second lateral edge. The connector panel is elongated from the first end edge to the second end edge. A plurality of female interconnection members extends upwardly into the bottom side. The female interconnection members are arranged in a plurality of columns extending from the first end edge to the second end edge and rows extending between the first and second lateral edges wherein a number of the rows is equal to or less than a number of the columns.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The mat 12 is used with block systems by frictionally coupling the male protrusions 22 together with toy blocks 70. These toy blocks 70 are ubiquitous in the toy arts and are found in multiple references such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,005,282, though it should be understood that this reference depicts only one such block and some variations in sizes and shapes are known. These types of blocks may be found, for instance, sold under the trademarks Lego and Duplo. Generally, the male protrusions 22 extend into and frictionally engage the toy blocks 70 of type discussed in the patent reference above. Typically, these toy blocks 70 are themselves constructed of rigid plastics and are used with rigid plates. However, the mat 12 of the system 10 is comprised of a non-rigid elastomeric material such as natural rubber, synthetic rubbers, or, in particular, silicone polymers which are resiliently flexible. This allows a child to roll the mat 12 up when not in use which in turn provides an opportunity to use a much larger mat 12 than would be practical with respect to a rigid plate.
The connector panel 24 is provided and has a top side 26, a bottom side 28 and a perimeter edge 30. The connector panel 24 is resiliently flexible and is comprised of an elastomeric material and may again, in particular, be comprised of a silicone polymer or other similar material. The perimeter edge 30 includes a first end edge 32, a second end edge 34, a first lateral edge 36 and a second lateral edge 38. The connector panel 24 may be elongated from the first end edge 32 to the second end edge 34. The connector panel 24 has a width dimension from the first lateral edge 36 to the second lateral edge 38 and a height dimension from the top side 26 to the bottom side 28. The width dimension is preferably at least three times greater than the height dimension and typically the height dimension is less than 0.5 inches. Utilizing heights greater than 0.5 inches may prevent desired elastic properties of the connector panel 24, such as forming it into a partial or fully closed loop, as well as increase costs of manufacturing. As can be seen in
A plurality of male interconnection members 40 is integrally formed in and extends upwardly from the top side 26. The male interconnection members 40 are arranged into a plurality of columns extending from the first end edge 32 to the second end edge 34 and rows extending between the first 36 and second 38 lateral edges. The male interconnection members 40 each may have a shape resembling the male protrusions 22 on the mat 12. More particularly, each of the male interconnection members 40 comprises a protuberance having a geometric shape, wherein the geometric shape may, in particular, comprise a cylindrical shape. The plurality of columns may only comprise two columns and will generally comprise no more than six columns though three or less columns is typically preferred and the connector panel 24 may further be provided without any male interconnection members 40. It should be understood that the number of rows is of the male interconnection members 40 is equal to or great than the number or columns of the same. The male interconnection members 40 may have one or more rows having a greater diameter than remaining ones of the male interconnection members 40 for reasons discussed below.
A plurality of female interconnection members 42 extends upwardly into the bottom side 28. Each of the female interconnection members 42 releasably receives and frictionally engages one of the male interconnection members 40 or one of the male protrusions 22, depending on the usage of the connector panel 24 as described below. Each of the female interconnection members 42 has generally same geometric shape as the male interconnection members 40. Thus, if the male interconnection members 40 form an upwardly extending cylinder, the female interconnecting members 42 form a cylindrical well. At least two of the female interconnection members 42 is positioned adjacent to the first end edge 32 and at least two of the female interconnection members 42 may be positioned adjacent to the second end edge 34. Each of the female interconnection members 42 is aligned with one of the male interconnection members 40 and thus the female interconnection members 42 are also positioned in rows and columns. However, the number of male interconnection members 40 need not be equal to the number of female interconnection members 42. Moreover, the connector panel 24 may be formed without any male interconnection members 40.
As stated above, the male interconnection members 40 may come in a variety of sizes wherein a first row or first two rows may be of a greater size than remaining ones of the rows of the male interconnection members 40. This is due the height restrictions of the connector panel 24. As can be seen in
An embodiment of the invention is shown in
In use, the system 10 and its structures may be used together or singularly in a number of manners. For example,
The embodiments shown in
Another usage of the connector panel 24 is with the mat as found in
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
