KIT OF CONSTRUCTION ELEMENTS

Abstract

The kit of construction elements includes a plurality of construction elements and a plurality of rod-like binding elements for connecting said construction elements, wherein the construction elements are in the form of square-based rectangles, and wherein on at least one of the faces of each construction element perpendicular to the base thereof at least one groove is formed in parallel to its base, and along at least one edge of each construction element a groove is formed for receiving a binding element, wherein each binding element is formed to fit into a groove along at least a part of its entire length and further provided with securing members formed to engage with complementary securing members of said groove by form-fitting or force-fitting, and wherein the grooves of the construction elements and the binding elements are sized so that during use the construction elements are substantially in contact along their connecting surfaces.

Description

The invention relates to a kit of construction elements.

In general, the construction element toys comprise a plurality of construction elements which can be put together (e.g. construction cubes) or can be engaged with each other (e.g. LEGO) without using any additional binding element. From those construction elements which are attached to each other by surface-fitting, a non-stable assembly can be formed, whereas with construction elements provided with integrated binding elements, only planar surfaces of limited size can be formed. Other construction element tools are also known, wherein openings are formed on the surface of the construction elements for receiving additional close-fitting binding elements (e.g. Babylon, Java). In these construction element toys, however, the construction elements are not defined by planar surfaces, thus by using such construction elements one cannot form continuous, joint planar surfaces.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate some deficiencies of the known kits of construction elements, and to provide a kit, by means of which larger continuous, joint planar surfaces can be formed.

The above object is achieved by providing a kit of construction elements including a plurality of construction elements and a plurality of rod-like binding elements for connecting said construction elements, wherein the construction elements are in the form of square-based rectangles, and wherein on at least one of the faces of each construction element perpendicular to the base thereof at least one groove is formed in parallel to its base, and along at least one edge of each construction element a groove is formed for receiving a binding element, wherein each binding element is formed to fit into a groove along at least a part of its entire length and further provided with securing members formed to engage with complementary securing members of said groove by form-fitting or force-fitting, and wherein the grooves of the construction elements and the binding elements are sized so that during use the construction elements are substantially in contact along their connecting surfaces.

Preferably, at least one longitudinal notch is formed in said grooves as securing member, and at least one longitudinal rib is formed on the binding elements as securing member, each rib being adapted to fit into a notch.

Preferably, at least one protrusion is formed in the grooves as securing member, and wherein the binding elements comprise at least one notch for receiving a protrusion.

Preferably, the construction elements are formed as square-based rectangles, wherein the height of the construction elements is a multiple of the edge length of the base.

Preferably, the construction elements and the binding elements are made of plastic.

Preferably, image fields are provided on the faces of the construction elements for presenting logical information.

It is preferred that at least one construction element is formed of two or more cubes arranged on each other and held together by a central shaft having studs, and wherein the individual cubes can be rotated independently of each other around said central shaft.

The construction elements may have a hollow core and may comprise an opening on at least one of their faces.

A preferred embodiment of the kit of construction elements further includes a plurality of additional terminal elements, one of the faces of which is entirely flat, whereas the opposite face of said terminal elements comprises at least one binding element adapted for fitting to the construction elements, said binding elements being formed integrally to said terminal elements.

Preferably, the additional binding element is shaped by longitudinally halving a binding element, said additional binding element being arranged on one of the faces of the additional terminal element so as to fit into the groove of an adjacent construction element when they are attached.

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings, in which

FIG. 1a is an axonometric view of the general form of the construction element,

FIG. 1b is an enlarged view of the part “A” of FIG. 1a, showing edge grooves of a construction element meeting at a corner thereof,

FIG. 1c is a top plan view of a generic construction element shown in FIG. 1a,

FIG. 1d is an enlarged view of the part “B” of FIG. 1c, showing a top plan view of a lateral groove of a construction element,

FIG. 2a is a side view of a generic binding element provided with longitudinally extending ribs,

FIG. 2b is a side view of a generic binding element having a frictional surface,

FIG. 2c is a side view of a binding element provided with longitudinal ribs not extending up to the ends of the binding element,

FIG. 2d is a side view of a binding element having a through-hole,

FIG. 2e is a side view of a binding element provided with full-length ribs and notches,

FIG. 2f is a side view of a binding element provided with notches but having no ribs,

FIGS. 2g to 2l are top plan views of the binding elements shown in the side views of FIGS. 2a to 2f, respectively,

FIG. 3a is an exploded view of three construction elements and a binding element connecting them through ribs,

FIG. 3b is an enlarged view of the part “A” of FIG. 3a,

FIG. 4a is an exploded view of two construction elements and a binding element connecting them through ribs,

FIG. 4b is an enlarged view of the part “A” of FIG. 4a,

FIG. 5a is an exploded view of two construction elements and a binding element connecting them through ribs, wherein the lateral grooves of the construction elements comprise end protrusions and a central protrusion,

FIG. 5b is an enlarged view of the part “A” of FIG. 5a,

FIG. 5c illustrates the cross-section of the arrangement shown in FIG. 5a in connected state,

FIG. 5d is an enlarged view of the part “C” of FIG. 5c,

FIG. 6a illustrates the arrangement shown in FIG. 5a, wherein the lateral grooves comprise only end protrusions,

FIG. 6b illustrates the cross-section of the arrangement of FIG. 6a in a connected state,

FIG. 7a is an exploded view of four construction elements and a binding element connecting them through ribs and notches,

FIG. 7b illustrates the cross-section of the arrangement shown in FIG. 7a in a connected state,

FIG. 8a is an exploded view of three construction elements and a binding element connecting them only through its notches,

FIG. 8b illustrates the cross-section of the arrangement of FIG. 8a in a connected state,

FIG. 9 is an exploded view of a binding element shown in FIG. 2c and a construction element to be attached thereto,

FIG. 10 is an axonometric view of an arrangement including three square-based construction elements of different heights and two binding elements of respective lengths,

FIG. 11 is an axonometric view of an arrangement including a plurality of construction elements of different heights, each having a generally shaped or square base, and associated binding elements,

FIG. 12 is an axonometric view of an arrangement including three-part, square-based construction elements presenting numbers on their outer surfaces,

FIG. 13a illustrates a three-part, square-based construction element comprising cubes which can be rotated around a shaft,

FIG. 13b is a longitudinal sectional view of the construction element and its internal shaft shown in FIG. 13a, wherein the cubes are in the same position, and

FIGS. 14a and 14b are schematic axonometric views of an additional terminal element and a sectional view illustrating the connection between a terminal element and a construction element.

FIG. 1 illustrates the general form of a construction element 10 of a kit of construction elements according to the present invention, said construction element having a form of a square-based rectangle, along the edges of which edge grooves 12 are formed. On at least one of the lateral faces of the construction element 10 orthogonal to its base, there is at least one lateral groove 11 formed. The lateral grooves 11 extend in parallel to the edges of the base, and preferably they are arranged at an equal distance from each other and from the base. Preferably, the cross-section of the edge grooves 12 is a quarter circle, and in this case the cross-section of the lateral grooves 11 is a semicircle. Obviously, the cross-sections of the edge grooves and the lateral grooves may have other shapes.

For connection the construction elements 10, rod-like binding elements 20 are provided, the preferred embodiments of which are shown in FIG. 2. Within one kit of construction elements, the binding elements 20 have the same diameter, but their length may be different according to the available side lengths of the square-based construction elements 10. It is preferred that the length of the binding elements 20 is shorter than the side length of a particular construction element by the diameter of a binding element. Accordingly, during use further binding elements 20 can be inserted into the transversal grooves at the two ends of the binding elements 20 when they have already been inserted into the respective grooves of the construction elements 10.

The construction elements 10, their grooves 11, 12 and the binding elements 20 are dimensioned so that during use the construction elements 10 are substantially in contact with each other along their connecting surfaces. Accordingly, the diameter of the binding elements 20 is substantially equal to the diameter of the grooves extending along the edges and on the lateral surfaces of the construction elements 10. When two construction elements 10 are placed adjacent to each other, the lateral grooves 11 of semicircle cross-section formed on their contacting faces together form a hole having the shape of a full circle, thereby being capable of receiving a binding element 20. Similarly, a hole having the shape of a full circle is formed when four construction elements 10 are joined along their edges, or when two construction elements 10 joined along their edges are combined with a further construction element 10 attached to former ones by one of its face.

The binding elements 20 may have a hollow core as shown, for example, in FIGS. 11 and 12 illustrating the binding elements of FIGS. 2d and 2j, wherein a through-hole is formed along their longitudinal axis. In this case the assembled set of construction elements can be made even more stable by inserting a stiffening rod into the aligned binding elements 20, on the one hand, and due to the absence of material within the through-hole, the binding elements are lighter in weight and due to their capability of light transmission, they are also more spectacular, on the other hand.

The outer surface of the binding elements 20 may have different colors so that different sub-groups of the construction elements can be visually distinguished from each other more easily.

Preferably, the majority of the construction elements 10 are formed to have at least one lateral groove 11 on each of four lateral faces thereof perpendicular to their base. Alternatively, the kit of construction elements may also contain construction elements 10 in which not all of the lateral faces perpendicular to the base comprise a lateral groove 11. A construction element 10 which comprises no lateral groove on its one, two or three lateral faces can be used only as a marginal construction element. Optionally, the binding elements 20 may be provided with securing members 21 or 22 which can be attached by form-fitting to respective, complementarily shaped securing members 14, or 15, 16 of other construction elements 10.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a possible way of binding. In this case the securing members 21 are provided on the outer surface of the binding element 20 in the form of longitudinal ribs which fit into the complementarily shaped securing members 14 formed in the respective longitudinal grooves of the lateral groves 11, 12 of the construction element 10. On the binding element 20, four longitudinal ribs are preferably arranged at equal distance from each other as shown, for example, in FIGS. 2a, 2c, 2d and 2e, and accordingly, an associated notch 14 is formed in the grooves 11, 12 of the construction elements 10 at every quarter circle position.

In this embodiment a binding element 20 is capable of connecting two adjacent construction elements 10 only if at least two of the four ribs formed on its surface fit into the respective notches of the attached construction elements, wherein said two notches belong to two adjacent construction elements 10 which contact each other along their edges or faces.

In a typical way of interconnecting construction elements 10, two lateral grooves 11 of semicircle cross-section formed on a lateral face together form a through-hole of full circle cross-section. Each of the four longitudinal ribs of the binding element 20 inserted into the thus obtained through-hole engages with a respective notch of the opposite construction element 10, as it is shown in FIG. 4.

In another typical way of interconnection, instead of two construction elements 10, even three construction elements 10 may be connected to each other through a single binding element 20. In this case two lateral grooves 12 of two construction elements 10, each lateral groove having a quarter circle cross-section, and a semi circle lateral groove 11 of a third construction element 10 together form a through-hole of full circle cross-section. In this arrangement two ribs of the binding element 20 inserted in the through-hole engages with two respective notches of the third construction element 10, while the other two ribs engages with a respective groove of the first and the second construction elements 10, as it is illustrated in FIG. 3.

As shown in FIGS. 2a, 2d and 2e, the securing members 21 formed as ribs on the surface of the binding elements 20 extend along the entire length of a binding element 20, and similarly, the grooves 14 formed in the lateral and edge grooves also extend up to the extremities of a construction element 10. In another preferred embodiment, however, neither the ribs 21, nor the grooves 14 extend up to the extremities of the binding elements 20 and the construction elements 10, but they terminate at a certain distance a from the extremities, as illustrated in FIG. 2c and FIG. 9. In this way the overprojection of an inserted binding element 20 beyond the extremities of the associated construction elements 10 can be eliminated, which primarily helps in easily assembling the construction elements.

Additionally, stability of the assembled construction elements 10 may also be enhanced by forming longitudinal notches 22 between the ribs 21, said notches serving as securing members on the surface of the binding elements 20. These notches are preferably arranged at an equal distance from the adjacent ribs. As the counter-parts of said notches, longitudinal protrusions 15, 16 extending towards the binding elements 20 are formed in the lateral grooves 11, 12 of the construction elements 10, as shown in FIG. 5. In case of lateral grooves 12 having a quarter circle cross-section, typically there are two protrusions 15 provided, each serving as a longitudinal flange of the lateral groove. The lateral grooves 11 are preferably formed with three protrusions from which two protrusions 15 are formed as a longitudinal flange of the groove, whereas a third protrusion 16 is arranged in the center of the groove 11, at an equal distance from the other two end protrusions 15. For the sake of the easy use, the binding elements 20 have only one design within a particular kit, said design being available for use in any combination of the construction elements. Accordingly, the notches 22 are dimensioned so that a single notch 22 is capable of receiving two protrusions 15 at the same time or only one protrusion 16. The thickness of a protrusion 16 is therefore twice of the thickness of a protrusion 15. FIG. 6 illustrates another possible solution, wherein the construction elements 10 have no such a central protrusion 16 at all.

In another preferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, there are only protrusions 15, 16 in the lateral grooves 11, 12 and there are only notches 22 on the binding elements 20, while no grooves 14 and ribs 21 are formed at all. Instead of the above mentioned securing members 14, 21 and their associated securing members 15, 16, 22, other form-fitting connections may also be used, including, for example, bayonet joint, force-fitting, such as an engagement based on friction between the contacting surfaces of the grooves and the binding elements.

During assembling the construction elements 10, the insertion of a binding element 20 between the adjacent construction elements is not necessary until a complete through-hole of a full circle cross-section is formed therefrom (although in case of form-fitting connections, it is always possible). The binding elements 20 may be inserted between the construction elements 10 by snapping or, when the ribs 21 and the notches 14 extend up to the extremities of the binding elements and the construction elements 10, respectively, it may be done also by sliding.

Preferably, the construction elements 10 and the binding elements 20 are made of a material that allows slight flexible deformation thereof, i.e. typically an elastic plastic material.

FIG. 11 shows a particular combination of the construction elements 10 and the binding elements 20 of the kit of construction elements, wherein the construction elements can be connected to each other by means of the binding elements 20 not only vertically, but also in a lateral direction.

It is particularly preferred that the construction elements have a rectangular form having a square base, wherein the height of the construction elements 10 is equal to the length of the edges of the square base or a multiple of the length of the edges of the square base. Accordingly, in such a kit the binding elements 20 are available with various lengths. FIG. 10 shows a combination of square-based construction elements 10, wherein the height of the construction elements 10 may be equal to the length of an edge of the base, or even the double or the triple thereof. Accordingly, the binding elements 20 are also available with three different lengths.

In this case the lateral grooves 11, which are formed on the lateral faces perpendicular to the base, are spaced apart at a distance which corresponds to the length of an edge of the base.

On the surface of the construction elements 10, an image field may also be provided for presenting logical information. The logical information may include color information, figure or information represented in alphanumeric form. FIG. 12 shows a combination of construction elements in an assembled form wherein various numbers are displayed on the faces of the construction elements. In this embodiment attaching the construction elements to one another should be carried out by taking the numbers into view according to predefined logical rules.

In a further embodiment, the square-based rectangular construction elements 10 are not formed as one piece, rather they comprise multiple individual cubes defined by edges 11. The individual cubes are attached to each other by means of a central shaft 17 in such a way that the individual cubes can be independently rotated relative to each other around said central shaft 17. This embodiment allows for the construction elements 10, for example, to be attached to each other on the basis of various colour-figure combinations or alphanumeric information, according to even more complicated logical rules. FIG. 13 illustrates such a square-based construction element 10 containing a triplet of cubes. The shaft 17 coupling the cubes comprises a disc 18 for each cube, said discs being accommodated in a respective hole within each cube. Instead of discs, other shapes, like a sphere, may also be used as securing members. Alternatively, said securing members may even be omitted within the intermediate cubes since it is enough to use them in the cubes accommodating the two ends of the shaft. In this specific embodiment, at least the terminal cubes may be made from two halves, said halves being joined after insertion of the shaft 17 into the cubes by means of gluing or other form-fitting engagement. For the intermediate cubes, it may be enough to provide them with a through-hole for receiving the shaft 17.

One of the advantages of the invention is that unlike the conventional construction toys, the rectangular construction elements allow assembling any spatial configurations in which the adjacent construction elements provide continuous, joint planar surfaces. These planar surfaces allow, for example, to display visual information on the faces of the construction elements for logical tasks. However, the kit of construction elements according to the invention may also be used as a logical toy in itself, i.e. without presenting visual information, as long as it contains a plurality of construction elements of different sizes and/or shapes.

Another advantage of the invention is that when it is used as a logical toy, the way of building a specific configuration is not restricted by the three-dimensional design of the construction elements, which is due to the fact that the construction elements are functionally arranged symmetrically with respect to the binding elements. With three-dimensional logical toys, if a toy includes a plurality of pieces, it is necessary that the construction elements are compatible and conform in terms of their size and connectivity. If a construction element comprises a binding element on one of its faces and a receiving part on its opposite face, then the use of the logical toy is also restricted by its three-dimensional design, which is an undesired effect. However, in case the player is allowed to decide on which face of a three-dimensional body is used as a receiving part or an intruding part, then the factor which limits the use of the logical toy can be eliminated.

The kit of construction elements according to the present invention is available not only for use as a toy, but it may be advantageously applied also in the field of the construction industry. In this application field the material of the construction elements and the binding elements, as well as their dimensions are selected so that they are adapted for building either indoor or outdoor constructions. Because of the form-fitting or force-fitting engagement between the construction elements and the binding elements they are preferably made of materials which allow a rather precise shaping. These materials include, among others, the industrial plastics, such as HD polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, plexiglass, etc.

In case of an application in the construction industry, a preferred embodiment of the kit of construction elements according to the present invention contains hollow construction elements with an aperture on at least one of its faces, wherein the internal cavity of the construction elements may be filled out with a specific material. For example, when the construction elements are used as building wall elements, they may be filled out with a heat insulating material, whereas in case of their use as a retaining wall, they may be filled out with soil or any other packing material, such as gravel or break-stone. In a further embodiment, the hollow construction elements have apertures on each of their faces, and in this case the construction elements may be filled out, for example, with a translucent material for decoration or functional purposes, or they may be left event empty for the same reasons.

As shown in FIGS. 14a and 14b, in a particularly preferred embodiment of the kit of construction elements according to the present invention, which may be primarily applied in the field of construction industry, the kit of construction elements is supplemented with thin terminal elements 50, one of the faces 51 of which is entirely flat, whereas on the opposite face 52 thereof, there is at least one binding element 53 integrally formed from the material of the terminal element 50, said binding element 53 being adapted to fit to the construction elements 10. Preferably, the binding element 53 has a shape produced by longitudinally halving an abovementioned binding element 20 and arranging it at an appropriate position of the terminal element 50 so that it can fit to a respective lateral groove 11 of a construction element 10 and thereby the opposite faces of a terminal element 50 and an associated construction element 10 substantially abut against each other. The use of the terminal elements 50 allows making entirely flat wall surfaces.

Still considering the construction industrial application, in a particularly preferred embodiment of the kit of construction elements according to the present invention, the construction elements are disassembled to panels and the three-dimensional bodies of the construction elements can be assembled from the separate panels by means of known fastening techniques, preferably by snap-fitting. In this case the construction elements of the kit are preferably made of a material that is rigid enough for being used as a wall element while also being flexible enough to allow snapping said panels together.

Claims

1. A kit of construction elements including a plurality of construction elements and a plurality of rod-like binding elements for connecting said construction elements, wherein the construction elements are in the form of square-based rectangles, andwherein on at least one of the faces of each construction element perpendicular to the base thereof at least one groove is formed in parallel to its base, and along at least one edge of each construction element a groove is formed for receiving a binding element, andwherein each binding element is formed to fit into a groove along at least a part of its entire length and further provided with securing members formed to engage with complementary securing members of said groove by form-fitting or force-fitting, and wherein the grooves of the construction elements and the binding elements are sized so that during use the construction elements are substantially in contact along their connecting surfaces.

2. The kit of construction elements according to claim 1, wherein at least one longitudinal notch is formed in said grooves as securing member, and wherein at least one longitudinal rib is formed on the binding elements as securing member, each rib being adapted to fit into a notch.

3. The kit of construction elements according to claim 1, wherein at least one protrusion is formed in the grooves as securing member, and wherein the binding elements comprise at least one notch for receiving a protrusion.

4. The kit of construction elements according to claim 1, wherein the height of the construction elements is a multiple of the edge length of the base.

5. The kit of construction elements according to claim 1, wherein the construction elements and the binding elements are made of plastic.

6. The kit of construction elements according to claim 1, wherein image fields are provided on the faces of the construction elements for presenting logical information.

7. The kit of construction elements according to claim 4, wherein at least one construction element is formed of two or more cubes arranged on each other and held together by a central shaft having studs, and wherein the individual cubes can be rotated independently of each other around said central shaft.

8. The kit of construction elements according to claim 1, wherein the construction elements have a hollow core and comprise an opening on at least one of their faces.

9. The kit of construction elements according to claim 1, wherein the kit further includes a plurality of additional terminal elements, one of the faces of which is entirely flat, whereas the opposite face of said terminal elements comprises at least one binding element adapted for fitting to the construction elements, said binding elements being formed integrally to said terminal elements.

10. The kit of construction elements according to claim 9, wherein the additional binding element is shaped by longitudinally halving a binding element, said additional binding element being arranged on one of the faces of the additional terminal element so as to fit into the groove of an adjacent construction element when they are attached.