Claims
- 1. A toy construction kit comprising:
a plurality of elongated rod members of different lengths; and a plurality of joining members, each configured and dimensioned for connecting at least three rod members together around a common vertex point in a weave pattern such that the rods pass by but do not pass through the vertex point and are oriented about the vertex point in a clockwise or counter clockwise arrangement; wherein the rod members can be connected by the joining members to form three dimension space frame objects.
- 2. The toy construction kit of claim 1 wherein the joining members comprise elastic bands or cords.
- 3. The toy construction kit of claims 1 wherein the joining members comprise clay or a plastic connector configured to receive and hold the rod members in the desired orientation and arrangement about the vertex point.
- 4. The toy construction kit of claim 1 wherein at least six rod members and at least three joining members are present and positioned such that each joining member connects at least three rod members about a vertex point and at least three different vertex points are present to form at least one twist polyhedron in the space frame object.
- 5. The toy construction kit of claim 4 wherein at least four joining members are present, each connecting three rod members at each of at least four different vertex points to form at least one twist-tetrahedron in the space frame object.
- 6. The toy construction kit of claim 4 wherein at least six joining members are present, each connecting four rod members at each of at least six different vertex points to form at least one twist octahedron in the space frame object.
- 7. The toy construction kit of claim 4 wherein at least eighteen rod members and at least sixteen joining members are provided by the kit, such that at least four to twelve twist polyhedra are formed in the space frame object.
- 8. The toy construction kit of claim 1 wherein the rod members are flexible and substantially cylindrical.
- 9. The toy construction kit of claim 1 wherein at least some of the rod members are formed with a zig-zag configuration to avoid bending the rod members at vertex points.
- 10. The toy construction kit of claim 1 wherein all of the rod members are formed with a zig-zag configuration to avoid bending the rod members at vertex points.
- 11. The toy construction kit of claim 1 wherein at least one rod member extending from each vertex point is connected to at least two other rod members at another vertex point by at least one additional joining member.
- 12. The toy construction kit of claim 11 wherein at least 20 to 25% of the total number of rod members extending from a vertex point in the space frame object are connected to at least two other rod members at each of at least two additional vertex points by at least one joining member at each additional vertex point to form multiple twist polyhedra in the space frame object.
- 13. The toy construction kit of claim 1 which includes between 25 and 150 rod members and between 25 and 150 joining members.
- 14. The toy construction kit of claim 13 wherein the rod members are made of plastic, metal or cane, have a circular, oval, rectangular or square cross-sectional area, and at least some of the rod members are a different color from the other rod members.
- 15. The toy construction kit of claim 13 wherein the joining members comprise string, cord, elastic bands, clay, an adhesive or a plastic connector.
- 16. A three dimensional space frame object formed from the elongated rod members and joining members which are connected as defined in claim 1.
- 17. A three dimensional space frame object formed from the elongated rod members and joining members which are connected as defined in claim 10.
- 18. A three dimensional space frame object formed from the elongated rod members and joining members which are connected as defined in claim 12.
- 19. A three dimensional space frame object formed from the elongated rod members and joining members which are connected as defined in claim 4.
- 20. The three dimensional space frame object of claim 19 having a panel extending between the rod members on one or more faces of the object, wherein the panels are made of cardboard, plastic or fabric.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of copending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/745,353 filed Dec. 21, 2000.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09745353 |
Dec 2000 |
US |
Child |
10133259 |
Apr 2002 |
US |