Patent Application
20240416253
This application claims priority to German Application No. 102023115361.7, filed Jun. 13, 2023, titled “KIT FOR MODULAR PLAY STRUCTURE”, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of children's toys and play structures. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a kit for constructing a modular play structure that is paintable and washable.
Play structures such as playhouses are a traditional solution for providing an interesting environment for children to play in. They often consist of miniature versions of buildings such as houses or castles and are colorfully decorated to keep the attention of playing children.
Examples of the methods and systems discussed herein are not limited in application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The methods and systems may be capable of implementation in other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Examples of specific implementations are provided herein for illustrative purposes and are not intended to be limiting. Acts, components, elements, and features discussed in connection with any one or more examples may be configured to operate and/or be implemented in a similar role in any other examples.
The phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description. References to examples, embodiments, components, elements, or acts of the systems and methods herein referred to in the singular may also embrace embodiments including a plurality. Similarly, references in plural to embodiments, components, elements, or acts may be implemented as a singularity. References in the singular or plural form may therefore not be intended to limit the presently disclosed systems or methods, their components, acts, or elements. The use herein of “including,” “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and variations so forth, may encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.
References to “or” may be construed as inclusive so that any terms described using “or” may indicate any of a single, more than one, and all of the described terms. For example, the phrase “at least one of A or B” may refer A and/or B—that is, A only, B only, or A and B together. In addition, in the event of inconsistent usages of terms between this document and documents incorporated herein by reference, the term usage in the incorporated documents is supplementary to this document. For irreconcilable differences, the term usage in this document controls.
According to at least one aspect of the present disclosure, a kit element, in particular wall and/or ceiling and/or roof panels, for detachable and non-destructive joining together with at least one kit element of the same type, comprises at least one base element, in particular a wall and/or ceiling and/or roof panel, and at least one connection system for detachable and non-destructive joining together with at least one kit element of the same type, wherein the at least one connection system is formed by means of a plug-in system with a Velcro, rice tape, or plug-in tape, so that two base elements can be connected to each other without destruction.
According to one embodiment, the at least one base element is formed with a plastic, a wood, and/or a paper. In another embodiment, the at least one base element is formed using a 2D or 3D printing process.
According to another embodiment, the kit element is designed in the form of a foldable template and for the production of hollow kit bodies. In one embodiment, the kit element is a children's toy or at least forms part of the children's toy.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a kit comprises at least two of the kit elements described above. In one embodiment, the at least two kit elements can be detached from one another and connected in a non-destructive manner by means of the at least one connection system.
According to one embodiment, a kit for building a modular play structure comprises at least three wall panels, each wall panel comprising a planar, rectangular panel having a length, a width and four edges, wherein the two edges extending along the width and one of the edges extending along the length comprise a plurality of interlocking tabs and/or hook-and-loop, rice, tuck-in tape, at least one door panel, the at least one door panel comprising a planar rectangular panel having a length equal to the length of the wall panel, a width equal to the length of the wall panel, and four edges, and wherein the two edges extending along the width and one of the edges extending along the length comprise a plurality of interlocking tabs, the door panel further comprising a doorway, and at least one roof panel, said at least one roof panel having a planar polyhedral shape consisting of two rectangles each having a length and a width and being joined together along an edge extending along their length by a foldable pleat so that they can form a sloping roof structure, when folded along the fold, each rectangle having a triangular extension joined along each of the two edges extending across its width by a foldable fold, the edges of the roof panel being provided with a plurality of interlocking tabs, wherein each of the panels is made of a plastic material that is paintable and washable.
In one embodiment, each locking tab and/or hook-and-loop, rice, tuck-in strap is formed from a rounded extension having a length connected to an edge of a corresponding panel by a foldable pleat spanning a portion of said length, the remaining portion of said length forming a gap for receiving a further locking tab and/or hook-and-loop, rice, tuck-in strap.
In another embodiment, the kit includes additional wall, door, or roof panels to facilitate the creation of multiple play structures or an extended play structure. In one embodiment, the kit further comprises one or more sets of stickers in the form of standard reusable stickers and/or felt and/or polyester and/or foam comprising a vinyl layer and an adhesive layer for sticking and/or adhering by thermoplastic elastomers to the outside of a play structure built using the kit.
Various aspects of at least one embodiment are discussed below with reference to the accompanying figures, which may not be drawn to scale. The figures are included to provide an illustration and a further understanding of the various aspects and embodiments, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, but are not intended as a definition of the limits of any particular embodiment. The drawings, together with the remainder of the specification, serve to explain principles and operations of the described and claimed aspects and embodiments. In the figures, each identical or substantially similar component that is illustrated in various figures may be represented by a like numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every figure. In the figures:
As discussed above, play structures such as playhouses are a traditional solution for providing an interesting environment for children to play in. However, children's attention spans are often short and they can quickly tire of play structures. In addition, these structures are often expensive and difficult or time-consuming to set up and dismantle due to their size. It is against this background that the present disclosure is to be seen.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a kit for assembling a modular play structure that is easy to assemble, disassemble, and transport and that provides an outlet for the imagination of the children who play with it, so that their own creativity keeps them interested in the structure.
Thus, the present invention discloses a kit comprising a set of panels for constructing a modular play structure in a versatile and expandable manner by connecting the lightweight panels into a play structure using interlocking tabs and/or hook and loop, rice, tuck tape along the edges of the panels. Furthermore, the panels are made of a plastic material that is washable, paintable and reusable, extending the functionality of the play structure to a reusable canvas.
According to the current disclosure, the kit element, in particular wall and/or ceiling and/or roof panels, for detachable and non-destructive joining together, i.e. with at least one kit element of the same type, comprises at least one base element, in particular a wall and/or ceiling and/or roof panel and at least one connecting system for detachable and non-destructive joining together, i.e. with at least one kit element of the same type, wherein the connecting system and/or connecting rails and/or connecting clips are formed by means of a plug-in system with a hook-and-loop fastener, a rice tape or a plug-in tape, so that two base elements can be connected to one another in a non-destructive manner.
According to at least one embodiment, the base element is formed with a plastic, a wood, and/or a paper.
According to at least one embodiment, the base element is formed using a 2D or 3D printing process.
In principle, the following non-exhaustive list of materials can be considered as materials for the kit element, provided that it is a plastic:
where applies:
The kit element can also be manufactured using the following non-exhaustive list of 3D printing processes.
Alternative names: Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), Fused Layer Modeling (FLM)
The process refers to the layer-by-layer application (extrusion) of a material through a hot nozzle. The consumable material is in the form of a long wire (so-called filament) on a roll and is pushed through the conveyor unit into a print head, where it is melted and applied to a print bed. The print head and/or print bed can be moved in 3 directions. In this way, plastic layers can be applied to each other step by step.
In contrast to the sintering process, in which materials in powder form are bonded together under the influence of heat, the SLS process uses a laser (or alternatively an electron beam or infrared beam) to selectively fuse materials together. This means that only a certain part of the powder is fused together.
For this purpose, a thin layer of powder is always applied to the print bed by the coating unit. The laser (or other energy source) is now precisely aligned to individual areas of the powder layer to form the first layer of print data. The powder is melted or fused and then solidifies again by cooling slightly. The unmelted powder remains around the sintered areas and serves as support material. Once a layer has solidified, the print bed lowers by a fraction of a millimeter. The coating unit now moves over the print bed and applies the next layer of powder. The second layer of print data is then sintered by the laser (or another energy source). This creates a three-dimensional object layer by layer.
The 3DP process works very similarly to selective laser sintering, but instead of a directed energy source, a print head moves over the powder. This releases tiny droplets of binder onto the underlying powder layers, which are then bonded together. Otherwise, this process is similar to the SLS process.
Instead of a plastic wire or printing material in powder form, the stereo lithography process uses liquid resins, so-called photopolymers. They are hardened layer by layer using UV radiation to create three-dimensional objects. To do this, the building platform is gradually lowered into the resin basin. There are also variants (known as the polyjet process) without an entire basin of liquid resin. In this case, an epoxy resin is applied drop by drop from a nozzle and cured immediately by a UV laser.
Alternative name: Layer Laminated Manufacturing (LLM)
The process is based neither on chemical reactions nor on a thermal process. A film or sheet (e.g. paper) is cut along the contour using a separating tool (e.g. a knife or carbon dioxide laser) and glued together in layers. By lowering the building platform, a layered object is created from glued, superimposed foils.
According to at least one embodiment, the present invention comprises a kit, in particular a kit, at least two kit elements, wherein these two kit elements can be detachably and non-destructively connected to each other by means of at least one connection system.
According to at least one embodiment, the kit element is in the form of a foldable template and is designed to produce hollow kit elements.
According to at least one embodiment, the kit element is a children's toy or at least a part thereof.
According to at least one embodiment, the kit for constructing a modular play structure described herein comprises at least three wall panels, each wall panel comprising a planar rectangular panel having a length, a width and four edges, wherein the two edges extending along the width and one of the edges extending along the length comprise a plurality of interlocking tabs and/or hook and loop, rice, push-in tape; at least one door panel, the at least one door panel comprising a planar rectangular panel having a length equal to the length of the wall panel, a width equal to the length of the wall panel, and four edges, and wherein the two edges extending along the width and one of the edges extending along the length comprise a plurality of interlocking tabs and/or hook-and-loop, rice, tapes, wherein the door panel further comprises a door opening.
In at least one embodiment, the kit further comprises at least one roof panel, the at least one roof panel comprising a planar polyhedral shape consisting of two rectangles each having a length and a width and joined together along an edge extending along their length by a foldable crease so that they can form a sloping roof structure when folded along the crease, each rectangle having a triangular extension joined along each of the two edges extending across its width by a foldable crease, the edges of the roof panel being provided with a plurality of interlocking tabs and/or hook and loop, rice, tuck-in tape, each of the panels being made of a plastic material which is paintable and washable.
According to at least one embodiment, each locking tab and/or hook-and-loop, rice, tuck-in strap comprises a rounded extension having a length connected to an edge of a corresponding panel by a foldable pleat extending over a portion of the length, the remaining portion of the length forming a gap for receiving a further locking tab and/or hook-and-loop, rice, tuck-in strap. According to at least one embodiment, the kit comprises additional wall, door or roof panels to facilitate the construction of multiple play structures or an extended play structure. According to at least one embodiment, the kit further comprises one or more sets of stickers comprising a vinyl layer and an adhesive layer for adhering and/or being adhered by thermoplastic elastomers to the exterior of a play structure built with the kit.
In the following, the kit described herein is illustrated in more detail with reference to the figures and the associated description. In the figures and in the detailed description, common reference numerals are used to identify identical elements. The embodiments serve to illustrate aspects of the disclosure, but the disclosure is not limited to one embodiment. The scope of the disclosure includes numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalents.
The skilled person will readily recognize that the above figures are examples and that other architectures, modes of operation, sequences of operation and elements/functions can be provided and implemented without departing from the features and characteristics of the invention as set forth in the claims.
The structure is easy to assemble and disassemble due to the simple but robust design of the interlocking tabs and/or Velcro, rice, plug-in tape that hold the panels together.
In the example shown, the wall panel 100 is square, with its length being equal to its width. It has rows of locking tabs and/or Velcro, rice, tuck-in tape 102 extending along three of its four edges.
The locking tabs and/or Velcro, rice, tuck-in tape 102 consist of a tab and/or Velcro, rice, tuck-in tape which projects from the edge in the same plane and has a rounded tip and which is connected to the edge by a foldable pleat 104, which extends over part of the length of the flap and/or Velcro, rice, tuck-in strip and leaves an opening in the remaining part of the flap length through which a corresponding locking flap and/or Velcro, rice, tuck-in strip from another panel can be inserted.
The tabs and/or Velcro, rice, tuck-in tape on any panel are all oriented in the same direction with respect to the center of the panel, i.e. clockwise or counter-clockwise, which means that the tabs and/or Velcro, rice, tuck-in tape on the opposite edges face in the opposite direction to each other—as can be seen in the example above, the tabs and/or Velcro, rice, tuck-in tape on the right edge face upwards and the tabs and/or Velcro, rice, tuck-in tape on the left edge face downwards. The left and right edges are used to connect to other wall panels and the tabs and/or Velcro, rice, plug-in tape on the upper side is used to connect to a roof panel.
The wall panel 100 can also be provided with a series of openings 106 or “windows” along the center to allow more light into a modular play structure built with it.
In the present example, a hinged door is provided, but in other examples not shown, this could be replaced by a simple opening.
The door and wall panels can be joined together in any number of configurations to form an extended play structure. They can be assembled from T-profiles, cross profiles or at non-perpendicular angles such as 180 degrees or 270 degrees as the folds are foldable at the interlocking tabs and/or Velcro, Rice, push-fit tape. This allows the construction of more complex play structures if desired.
Each “room” of a play structure formed using the disclosed kit 1 comprises a plurality of wall panels and at least one door panel joined together to close off the vertical sides of the room. This structure is left with an open top, the edges of which have a plurality of interlocking tabs and/or hook and loop, rice, tuck-in tape 102 and 202 ready to receive a roof panel.
The roof panel 300 can take many configurations, as the size and shape of the spaces formed by the door and wall panels can vary. In the present example, a simple roof panel is shown that is capable of forming a sloped roof structure on an underlying square space.
The main body of the panel is divided into two equal rectangles 302, which are connected by a foldable seam 304. These rectangles form the surfaces of the sloping roof of a play structure. At least one edge of each rectangle is provided with interlocking tabs and/or hook and loop, rice, tuck-in tape 306 to secure the roof panel 300 to a play structure comprising wall and door panels thereunder.
The rectangles 302 are also connected to a series of triangular extensions 308 by a second series of foldable pleats 310. The triangular extensions 308 are configured to fold 90 degrees along the folds 310 toward the vertical sides of the roof portion of the play structure. The triangular extensions 308 are also provided with locking tabs and/or hook and loop, rice, tuck-in tape for connection to an adjacent wall/door panel below.
In some examples not shown, the roof panel may have additional extensions to increase the effective height of a play structure on which it rests.
Generally, the panels are made of a plastic-based material that can be washed and painted/drawn, such as corrugated polypropylene. It has been shown that a thickness of 5 mm is effective for each panel, but thicknesses in the range of 1-20 mm are also conceivable.
The base element is formed using a plastic, wood and/or paper or using a 2D or 3D printing process.
In addition, the kit is shown, in particular the kit, which comprises at least two kit elements 1, whereby these two kit elements 1 can be detachably and non-destructively connected to each other by means of at least one connection system.
The kit element 1 is thus designed in the form of a foldable template and for producing hollow kit elements and forms a children's toy or at least a part thereof.
The kit 1 of the present disclosure may also include sets of designs printed on standard reusable stickers and/or felt and/or polyester and/or foam to be applied to the panels to give them a particular theme.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein (including technical terms) have the same meaning as generally understood by one skilled in the art to which this invention pertains. It is further understood that terms as defined in dictionaries in common use should be construed to have a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant prior art and the present disclosure, and should not be construed in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
The disclosed embodiments are illustrative, not limiting. While specific configurations of the kit 1 for building a modular play structure have been described in a specific manner with reference to the illustrated embodiments, it will be understood that the present disclosure can be applied to a variety of solutions that fit within the scope and spirit of the claims. There are many alternative ways of implementing the disclosure.
It is understood that the embodiments of the invention described herein merely illustrate the application of the principles of the disclosure. Reference to details of the embodiments illustrated is not intended to limit the scope of the claims.
The kit element and kit of the present disclosure is further described with reference to the following enumerated embodiments and the accompanying figures:
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102023115361.7 | Jun 2023 | DE | national |
