BACKGROUND AND BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to a play toy structure usable by children of ages 1-100. More particularly, the present invention provides a combination of structural elements and connectors for supporting those elements in fixed, but modifiable, positions. The connector is easily bendable so that the structural elements may be held in any desired angular and complex relationship to each other. The elements may be planar, bendable and/or cylindrical in shape (as well as other shapes).
Arts, crafts and toy enthusiasts are constantly seeking new, sturdy, cost effective and easy to use play structures. The present invention provides an easy to use, inexpensive and sturdy play structure usable by persons of all ages.
The prior art includes a variety of play toy structures, including, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,505,034; 3,747,262; 3,998,002; 5,487,690; 6,015,149 and 6,447,360. Those prior art structures include little or no adjustability of the connectors. In addition, most of the structural elements are simple, planar panels. In contrast, the present invention provides planar and non-planar elements, such as tubular and curved elements, and a play structure wherein an infinite number of angles may be easily formed between any two elements. Complex structures can be built with the present invention. Tubular elements may be connected together or connected with planar elements to form a wide range of fanciful structures.
The connectors are preferably carbon steel wire and each includes first and second clamping sections, separated by an intermediate section of material. By varying the length of the intermediate section, variable spacing between elements is achieved, further increasing the number of possible structures.
The present invention provides a simple yet effective and reliable play structure wherein multiple connectors may be used to connect multiple elements in a virtually unlimited number of various configurations. The structure is sturdy, inexpensive and its use is intuitive.
A primary object of the invention is to provide a play toy structure wherein multiple elements are assembled and connected in a variety of angular relationships to each other.
A further object of the invention is to provide a play toy structure which is readily and easily altered by the user to modify or vary the angular relationships between two or more elements supported by the connectors.
Another object of the invention is to provide a very sturdy, economical play structure wherein the use of the elements is intuitive and extremely easy to use.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the drawings wherein:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a complex action figure according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a fanciful toy structure according to the invention;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a single connector according to the invention;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the connector of FIG. 3 supporting first and second panels;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the connector and panels of FIG. 4 showing how the connector may be bent;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a structure involving concentric tubular members according to the invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of a structure involving four hollow cylindrical members joined by four connectors according to the invention;
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a generally S-shaped structure joined by five connectors according to the invention;
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an alternate connector shown joining two panels;
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the alternate connector shown in FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 is a multi-panel structure according to the invention utilizing connectors as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10;
FIG. 12 illustrates a convex and curved structure according to the present invention;
FIG. 13 illustrates a 3-way connector according to the present invention;
FIG. 14 illustrates a 4-way connector in accordance with the present invention; and
FIG. 15 is a section on the line 15-15 of FIG. 3.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 illustrates a complex, three-dimensional action FIG. 10 according to the present invention that is assembled using multiple elements 20 and multiple connectors 30. As described in detail below, the action FIG. 10 can be modified to assume different stances by simply bending some of the connectors 30. Elements 20 are rigid, planar panels.
FIG. 2 illustrates a fanciful toy structure 50 according to the invention, wherein an array of hollow, cylindrical elements 60 are joined and supported by multiple connectors 70.
FIGS. 3-5 illustrate a single connector 110 used to assemble the action FIG. 10 of FIG. 1. A minor variation of connector 110 is used to assemble the fanciful structure 50 of FIG. 2.
As shown in FIG. 3, connector 110 includes a first segment 120 of resilient material, such as carbon steel wire, formed into two adjacent and concentric loops 121 and 122. The loops 121 and 122 are preferably adjacent (i.e. non co-planar) and preferably each has the same diameter as shown in FIG. 15 so that a panel (or other element) may be slid between the loops easily. An additional advantage is that the loops grasp the panel without causing the panel to wrinkle, as is the case with a common paper clip. A common paper clip, in contrast to the present invention, uses co-planar loops which tend to wrinkle material to which they are attached. A second segment 130 of resilient material is formed into two adjacent and concentric loops 131 and 132. An interconnecting length of resilient material 140 is formed between the first and second segments 120 and 130 for holding the segments 120 and 130 in a fixed angular relationship. The connector 110 has a total of four loops, two of which are utilized to hold a first element and the other two of which are utilized to hold a second element as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. The first segment 120 is a helical coil and extends angularly from tip 123 through approximately 630° to a point 124 at which the interconnecting length 140 begins. Similarly, second segment 130 is a helical coil and extends from its tip end 133 through an arc of approximately 630° to point 134 at which it begins to form a portion of the interconnecting length of resilient material 140. The preferred angular length of first and second segments 120 and 130, respectively, is between 540° and 720°. It is within the scope of the invention to use more than a double loop, i.e. angular lengths exceeding 720°, such as a triple loop of 1,080°, etc.
FIG. 4 illustrates connector 110 supporting first and second rigid panels 160 and 170. Panels 160 and 170 are rigid sheet material such as plastic, cardboard, heavy paper, metal or other such rigid sheet material. Panels 160 and 170 may have different thicknesses. Panel 160 is supported by first segment 120. Edge 161 of panel 160 is simply inserted between loops of first segment 120 from any direction. The loops 121 and 122 serve to grasp and hold the panel firmly in position. Similarly, panel 170 is connected to second segment 130 by having the edge 171 slid between loops 131 and 132 of second segment 130.
FIG. 5 illustrates how the connector illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 may simply be bent, causing a change in the angular relationship between panels 160 and 170. For example, the angle A1 illustrated in FIG. 5 is 90° and the angle2A is also 90°. The user simply bends segments 120 and 130 toward each other which causes a bend to occur in the interconnecting length of resilient material 140. The user may bend the connector 110 to form any desired angle in relative orientation between panels 160 and 170.
Connector 110 may be utilized to connect structural elements such as the hollow cylindrical elements 60 illustrated in FIG. 2.
FIGS. 6-8 illustrate sample structures 180,185 and 190, respectively, which are formed using an array of connectors 130 as shown in FIGS. 3-5.
FIG. 6 illustrates an inner tubular member 181 connected to outer tubular member 182 by three connectors 130 to form structure 180.
FIG. 7 illustrates four tubular, or hollow cylindrical members 186-189, joined by four connectors 130 to form structure 185.
FIG. 8 illustrates a flexible, rectangular panel 191 bent into a generally S-shaped configuration and joihed by five connectors 130.
FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate an alternate connector 210 used to join panels 260, 270 at an angle A3. A first segment 220 of connector 210 includes adjacent and concentric loops 221, 222. Second segment 230 includes adjacent and concentric loops 231, 232. An inter-connecting length of resilient material 240 is between segments 220 and 230. Angle A3 may be changed by simply bending the segments 220, 230 either toward or away from each other. Each segment 220, 230 can alternately be rotated relative to the other. For example, segment 230 is rotatable about axis B-B.
FIG. 11 illustrates a multi-panel structure 310 including four planar panels 311-314 joined by a plurality of connectors 320. Each connector 320 is identical to connector 210 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, except that the segments of connector 320 are elliptical rather than circular. Planar panels 311,312 and 313 are connected at their edges to each other and perpendicularly to each other. Panel 314 is perpendicular to panel 312 and is connected by moving it toward panel 312 as shown by arrows.
FIG. 12 shows a convex, curved structure 410 in the shape of one-half of a football. Curved panels 411,412 are joined by connectors 420. Connectors 420 are identical to connector 210 except that its segments are elliptical and the segments have been bent to achieve the convex surface of structure 410.
FIG. 13 illustrates an alternate embodiment wherein three way connector 510 includes three segments 520, 530 and 540 for holding three panels 560, 570 and 580, respectively. Panels 560 and 580 each form 90° angles with panel 570. Those angles are readily adjustable as described above.
FIG. 14 illustrates a four way connector 610 having four segments 620, 630, 640 and 650 for holding four separate panels 660, 670, 680 and 690, respectively. The angles between adjacent segments are quickly adjustable.
FIG. 15 illustrates how loops 121 and 122 are adjacent, have the same diameter d1 and d2 and are not co-planar. This design allows elements to be easily slid into place between the loops.
It is also within the scope of the invention to provide more than four segments in a single connector for supporting more than four panels. A number of n segments may be provided in a single connector for supporting n separate panels, where n is greater than one.
It is significant to note that the connectors may have circular shaped segments such as 120 and 130 shown in FIG. 3, or elliptical or elongated segments, as shown in FIGS. 1,2,6-8 and FIGS. 11-12. For example, in FIG. 2, the narrower the tubular elements 60 are, the more elongated and less circular are the first and second segments of each connector.
The structures may be readily disassembled and the components stored for reuse.
The foregoing description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best use the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications suited to the particular use contemplated. The scope of the invention is to be defined by the following claims.
Patent Application
20050070199
