Patent Application
20130109268
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a light-emitting building block, and in particular to a light-emitting building block having an electricity connection unit received therein and when multiple building blocks are connected to each other, the electricity connection units are connected to illuminate the building blocks.
2. The Prior Arts
Although modern toys or video games provide more vivid entertainment than traditional toys, some traditional toys, such as building blocks, still attract many parents and children. Playing the building blocks can improve hand-eye coordination of young children. Moreover, the building blocks can be assembled and connected in many ways, which is fun. Children and adults both can use bricks in various shapes to create anything and everything, such as vehicles, buildings, and even robots. Therefore, the building block is still one of most popular toys across all ages.
Although the conventional building blocks provide entertainment and stimulate creativity, the building blocks can be improved to attract more children to play. One of schemes to attract attention of the children is to provide a light-emitting building block. The improved building blocks can illuminate when they are connected to each other and still has a structure not too complicated.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a light-emitting building block having a light member and an electricity connection unit received therein. When the building blocks are connected to each other, the electricity connection units form a circuit to supply power to the light members, thereby enhancing entertainment.
In order to achieve the objective, a light-emitting building block having an electricity connection unit according to the present invention comprises a hollow and light transmittable brick and a plurality of electricity connection units disposed in the brick. The brick include a control circuit board disposed therein, a plurality of ring-shaped studs projected from a top thereof and a plurality of tubes defined in a bottom thereof. The numbers, shapes, sizes and the positions of the tubes are corresponding to the studs. The control circuit board has a light member mounted thereon and a plurality of assembling holes defined therethrough. Each assembling hole is disposed between the stud and the corresponding tube.
The electricity connection unit includes a hollow tubular member, two conducting members, a compression spring and an annular electricity connection member. The tubular member includes a top end and a bottom end, and each end comprises a post having a central through hole. The post disposed at the bottom end of the tubular member is mounted on the control circuit board, and the posts disposed at the top end and the bottom end of the tubular member are respectively received in the stud and the tube of the brick. The tubular member includes two half tubes connected with each other. One of the half tubes has a male engaging member and another half tube has a female engaging member corresponding to the male engaging member. After the male engaging member is engaged with the female engaging member, the two half tubes are assembled to form the tubular member.
The two conducting members are received in the top end and the bottom end of the tubular member, respectively. Each conducting member extends through the through hole and projects out of the tubular member. Portions of the conducting members 40 projecting out of the top end and bottom end of the tubular member are received in the stud and the tube, respectively.
The compression spring is vertically received in the tubular member. Both ends of the compression spring are pressed against the two conducting member. The compression spring has a first wire which passes through the tubular member and connects with the control circuit board.
The annular electricity connection member is sleeved on the top end of the tubular member, and received in an inside of the stud. The annular electricity connection member includes a second wire extends along the side wall of the tubular member. The second wire has a length long enough to pass through the control circuit board and includes a bending portion disposed by the inner surface of the tube. A lower end of the second wire is connected with the control circuit board.
When the studs of one brick are engaged with the tubes of another brick, the conducting members disposed in the studs of one brick are contacted with the conducting members disposed in the tubes of the corresponding brick. Moreover, the bending portions are inserted into the studs and contacted with the annular electricity connection members that are located by inner surfaces of the studs. After the multiple bricks are assembled together, the control circuit boards disposed in the bricks are electrically connected with each other in parallel by the electricity connection units. Therefore, when any one of the electricity connection units is connected with the power source or the power source is directly disposed in the brick, the light members disposed in the bricks may be illuminated to provide the interlocking bricks with the visual attraction.
The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiments thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
With reference to the drawings and in particular to
As shown in
The two conducting members 40 are received in the top end and the bottom end of the tubular member 30, respectively. Each conducting member 40 extends through the through hole 32 and projects out of the tubular member 30. Portions of the conducting members 40 projecting out of the top end and bottom end of the tubular member 30 are received in the stud 12 and the tube 13, respectively. The conducting member 40 comprises a head 41 and a tail 42. The head 41 of the conducting member 40 has a diameter larger than that of the through hole 32 and is received in the tubular member 30. The tail 42 has a diameter smaller than that of the through hole 32, and extends through the through hole 32 and projects out of the tubular member 30.
The compression spring 50 is vertically received in the tubular member 30. Both ends of the compression spring 50 are pressed against the heads of the two conducting member 40, thereby forcing the tails 42 to project out of the tubular member 30. The spring 50 has a first wire 51 which passes through the side opening 33 of the tubular member 30 and connects with the control circuit board 11.
The annular electricity connection member 60 is sleeved on the top end of the tubular member 30, so that the annular electricity connection member 60 encircles the post 31 of the tubular member 30 and is received in an inside of the stud 12. The annular electricity connection member 60 includes a second wire 61 extends along the side wall of the tubular member 30. The second wire 61 has a length long enough to pass through the control circuit board 11 and includes a bending portion 62 disposed by the inner surface of the tube 13. A lower end of the second wire 61 is connected with the control circuit board 11. According to the preferred embodiment, the annular electricity connection member 60 is a conical spring.
Referring to
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.
