FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to three-dimensional puzzle toys, and in particular, to manipulable puzzles containing rotatable elements.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The known in the art Rubik's Cube™ puzzle consists of 26 cubic elements and interior central connecting mechanism. As disclosed by Rubik in HU 170,062 and later by Sugden in U.S. Pat. No. 6,974,130 cubic elements are connected to neighbor elements or to central mechanism by cam connectors of specific shapes. Those connectors are attached to unexposed part of cubic elements. Assembled puzzle has six flat exposed outer surfaces each formed by nine surfaces of cubic elements, which are used to formulate the puzzle problem to be solved, e.g. they can carry colors, patterns, figures, symbols, signs or else. All cubic elements are connected so that any of nine elements, belonging to the same outer surface of the cube can be rotated about the axis going through the center of that surface and puzzle geometrical center. The object of the game is to restore the initial undisturbed state of the cube from its disturbed state by means of rotation of groups of nine elements.
Since classic 3×3×3 cube is difficult to solve for many children there were efforts in the art to change the level of difficulty. Rubik's Cube™ puzzle level of difficulty depends on number of combinations defined by total number of elements, and can be reduced as disclosed by Rubik in U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,116 for 2×3×3 cube and U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,117 for 2×2×2 cube or can be increased as disclosed by Sebesteny in U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,311 for 4×4×4 cube or by Krell in U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,199 for 5×5×5 cube. The assembly difficulty can also be reduced by increasing the number of possible solutions by means of using less colors, e.g. two- or three-color cube or cube with two-color patterns disclosed by Sugden in U.S. Pat. No. 6,974,130. In this case not all elements will have their unique position. Although reducing number of colors without changing element shape can significantly simplify Rubik's puzzle and can lead to loss of motivation. Thus there is a need for a puzzle with a motivating balance between number of elements, their colors and shapes.
Imagination skills required to solve Rubik's cube puzzle of all sizes and its spherical or other geometrical and stereo metrical modifications are based on outer surface color or pattern perturbation, which might be not suitable for those children or adults, who prefer spatial relationships to color ones, or for color-blind or blind people. Thus there is a need for element shape variation to develop players' different imagination skills.
There are 3-D puzzles known in the art referenced in the present invention that use not only colors but also shapes of rotatable elements. Amusement device disclosed by Ayers in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,708,345 and 4,881,738 used cylindrical shape of elements forming a regular polygon and rotatable about their longitudinal axis and divided into halves rotatable about axis orthogonal to polygon plane to assemble the puzzle. Those puzzles use outer surfaces as a key for puzzle problem formulation and/or solution but they do not use puzzle interior space. Thus there is a need for using of puzzle internal 3-D space to make it more entertaining and challenging and with variable level of difficulty.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A three-dimensional tube puzzle is presented in the current invention as a new modification of known 3×3×3 Rubik's cube puzzle. It consists of plurality of hollow cylindrical elements of two main exposed shapes: straight pipe (Coupling) and corner pipe (Elbow). The dimensions of each element are so that it fits into a cubical cell. Assembled tube puzzle fills out an imaginary cubical space. Due to spatial relationships of the disclosed 3×3×3 tube puzzle there is one cell remaining unfilled by tube elements and it can be filled out by an element of exposed spherical shape, which can serve as a Container to retain an article of appropriate size that can be put through the solved puzzle. Tube elements have arm-and-cam connectors of specific shapes modified from cam connectors disclosed by Rubik in HU 170,062 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,116 and by Sugden in U.S. Pat. No. 6,974,130. All tube elements can be connected by those arm-and-cam connectors to neighbor elements or to puzzle interior central connecting mechanism, using the same mechanical principles disclosed by Rubik, so that any nine elements, belonging to one of six side surfaces, can be rotated about the central axis going through the central element of that one surface and through puzzle interior central mechanism. Unexposed part of each element is similar in shape to the same part of cubic element with flat surfaces in each spatial dimension formed by respective number of parallel or perpendicular edges in order to provide stable rotation of element arrays.
There are total 26 elements forming the 3×3×3 element puzzle of the present invention: 25 tube elements, including 16 Elbows and 9 Couplings, and one Container element, consisting of unexposed hollow half-cube with exposed locking semi-spherical cap and serving as a container for an article.
In its undisturbed initial state the puzzle represents a continuous pipeline structure of 3×3×3 tube elements, wiggling from its starting point to its ending point inside cubical space so that an article, e.g. ball, of appropriate size can be put through the puzzle from its entry point at its top layer to its exit point at its bottom layer (or visa-versa). The Container element is positioned in the center of the surface with ending point. The puzzle is solved when the whole pipeline is assembled from its disturbed state preferably with an article hidden inside any tube element. The game can be played in a competitive way measuring a progress by time or by number of moves spent to release an article or to solve the puzzle completely.
In order to vary the level of puzzle difficulty all tube elements can be the same one color or transparent. In this case element shape and orientation will be the main criteria to solve the puzzle. Although not all tube elements will have their unique positions, which will increase the number of puzzle possible solutions and will lower the level of difficulty. Such version of the present invention puzzle can be designed as an entry level tube puzzle for children younger than 8 years old (a recommended age for Rubik's cube) or for blind children and adults, and with an amusing article in the form of object or character, e.g. treasure box or mouse or sport ball, hidden inside any tube element. The next level of difficulty can be designed using three colors, e.g. one for each of three layers of the tube puzzle. The number of possible solutions will be reduced compare to single-color version, because there will be three different groups of elements belonging to respective layers and each group should be assembled as a continuous pipeline using the shape and orientation criteria. This three-color tube puzzle can be designed as three-gray-scale-level version friendly for color-blind children and adults, e.g. Black-White-Gray. A multi-colored version of the disclosed tube puzzle can be designed in such a way that each tube element has different color and all 25 tube elements represent a sequence color equivalent to discrete rainbow spectrum, i.e. from “infra-red” at starting point to “ultra-violet” at ending point, when each element color matches preceding and subsequent element colors in an undisturbed state of said puzzle, e.g. Dark Blue-Blue-Light Blue, and a container element can be white or black. In such version each tube element will have a unique position and there will be only one solution for the disclosed tube puzzle as it is for classic Rubik's puzzle with the same level of difficulty but with additional stimulation of pipeline assembly. The disclosed tube puzzle can be also designed as a full gray-scale version when 25 tube elements represent sequential levels of gray scale from black at starting point to white at ending point, and container element can be designed with a pattern. Those multi-colored or full gray-scale versions also introduce an encouraging opportunity for younger children: first to assemble the whole pipeline without matching colors or gray-scale levels for training and entertainment and for releasing a hidden article, and then to try to assemble the puzzle with all colors or gray-scale levels matched. Tube elements also can be numbered or patterned or can have any signs or symbols to form a predefined logical sequence of tube elements.
Each tube element can be made of plastic or other synthetic material of appropriate color using injection-molding technology. Arm-and-cam connectors can be produced hollow in order to save material.
As described above, the disclosed in present invention three-dimensional tube puzzle stimulates player's spatial imagination skills to assemble a continuous pipeline structure using shape and orientation criteria and if designed colors or gray-scale levels or patterns or other signs or symbols. The disclosed tube puzzle uses its internal 3-D space and provides additional motivation and amusement features compare to puzzles with rotatable elements previously known in the art that use outer surfaces.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 represents three-dimensional tube puzzle in assembled state made in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 shows views of six side surfaces of 3×3×3 tube puzzle: A—top, B—front, C—bottom, D—left, E—right, F—back;
FIG. 3 represents views of tube elements belonging to the first sub-group of the first group;
FIG. 4 represents views of tube elements belonging to the second sub-group of the first group;
FIG. 5 represents views of tube element belonging to the third sub-group of the first group;
FIG. 6 represents views of tube elements belonging to the first sub-group of the second group;
FIG. 7 represents views of tube elements belonging to the second sub-group of the second group;
FIG. 8 represents views of tube elements belonging to the third sub-group of the second group;
FIG. 9 represents views of tube elements belonging to the first sub-group of the third group;
FIG. 10 represents views of tube elements belonging to the second sub-group of the third group;
FIG. 11 shows top views of horizontal cross-sections of the tube puzzle layers along the central lines t-t, m-m and b-b in FIG. 2B: A—top layer along the line t-t, B—middle layer along the line m-m, C—bottom layer along the line b-b;
FIG. 12 shows side views of vertical cross-sections of the tube puzzle along the central lines u-s and v-w in FIG. 2A;
FIG. 13 shows views of unexposed sides of the assembled tube puzzle: A—without top layer, B—without two upper layers;
FIG. 14 shows side views of three-gray-scale-level tube puzzle.
FIG. 15 shows views of six side surfaces of 4×4×4 tube puzzle: A—top, B—front, C—bottom, D—left, E—right, F—back;
FIG. 16 shows views of six side surfaces of 5×5×5 tube puzzle: A—top, B—front, C—bottom, D—left, E—right, F—back.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, 13 and 14, illustrated therein is a three-dimensional tube puzzle 10 made in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1 shows a volumetric view of assembled tube puzzle 10, consisting of 26 elements, connected so that an array of any 9 elements, belonging to the same side surface of the puzzle, can be rotated about one of spatial axes X, Y, Z. The dimensions of each tube element are so that it fits into cubical cell with suggested characteristic edge equal to about 1 inch, so that suggested characteristic dimensions of the tube puzzle can be equal to 3″×3″×3″. An article 12 of the size smaller than internal tube diameter can be put though the puzzle from its entry point 14 and released at its exit point 16. Other numbers designate different type of tube elements disclosed in the present invention.
Six side surfaces of the disclosed puzzle 10 are shown on FIGS. 2A-2F: A—top, B—front, C—bottom, D—left, E—right, F—back. Puzzle layers can be identified as: Top, Middle and Bottom, as indicated by lines t-t, m-m and b-b respectively in FIG. 2B. Hereinafter the numbers designate fully visible elements, e.g. 30, and numbers with apostrophe sign designate partly visible elements, e.g. 30′.
FIGS. 3-10 represent volumetric and plane views of tube elements that are divided into three main groups based on their spatial position, exposed shape and type of connectors.
FIGS. 3-5 represent the first group of six tube elements that are positioned in the center of each of six puzzle side surfaces and are rotatable in one plane. Those six elements have identical unexposed surfaces and arm connectors to be connected to the central connecting mechanism but are divided into 3 sub-groups based on their exposed shape and orientation. FIG. 3 shows the sub-group of four Couplings 30. FIG. 3A is a volumetric view, FIG. 3B is a backside view and FIG. 3C is a side view of central Coupling element. Exposed surface of that hollow Coupling has cylindrical shape and its unexposed surface has complex shape formed by cubic basement with four identical parallel edges 32a-d that are cut-off at 45 degrees from each of four sides forming a shape of pyramid with four identical edges 33a-d that provide enough space for passing of neighbor and corner elements connector arms. Top of that pyramid is cut-off by a crossing of four spherical surfaces with four identical edges 35a-d that provide smooth sliding of cam connectors of an array of neighbor elements in a respective plane of rotation. On top of that multi-spherical surface there is a cylindrical arm connector 34 that connects to puzzle central connecting element following the same mechanics disclosed by Rubik in HU 170,062. Cubic part creates flat side surfaces to stabilize sliding motion of neighbor element arrays while rotation.
FIG. 4 represents the fifth central element 40, which can be used as a Container for an article 12. FIG. 4A shows a volumetric view, FIG. 4B shows back view and FIG. 4C shows bottom view of central Container element exposed surface. Unexposed surface of Container 42 has the same complex shape as Coupling central element, i.e. it has: a cubic part with four identical edges 42a-d and four identical edges 47a-d and a pyramid part with four identical edges 43a-d, which is cut-off by a crossing of four spherical surfaces forming four identical edges 45a-d, and a cylindrical arm connector 44. The exposed surface of Container 42 is shown in FIG. 4C and is formed by semi-spherical detachable cap 46, as shown on FIG. 4B, and by visible four corners of Container cubic part formed by edges 47a-d. The Container element 40 is designed to fill out the remaining empty 26th cell, which cannot be filled by any tube element due to spatial relationships of the tube puzzle 10 disclosed in present invention.
FIG. 5 represents the sixth central Elbow element 50. FIG. 5A shows a volumetric view, FIG. 5B shows right side view, FIG. 5C shows backside view, FIG. 5D shows topside view (unexposed surface) and FIG. 5E shows bottom side view (exposed surface) of central Elbow element. Unexposed surface of Elbow 50 has the same complex shape as Coupling and Container central elements, i.e. it has: a cubic part with four identical edges 52a-d and two identical edges 57a, b and a pyramid part with four identical edges 53a-d. The pyramid part is cut-off by a crossing of four spherical surfaces with four identical edges 55a-d. A cylindrical arm connector 54 is on top of that multi-spherical crossing surface. The exposed surface of Elbow 50 is shown in FIG. 5E and is formed by corner tube arc 59 and by visible corner of cubical part with edges 57a, b. The role of cubic part of each central element described above is to block visibility of internal central connector and intrusion of any objects inside puzzle to prevent its damage.
FIGS. 6-8 represent the second group of twelve tube elements that are positioned in the middle of each edge formed by any two side surfaces of the present puzzle and are rotatable in two perpendicular planes. Those twelve elements have identical arm-and-cam connectors with cam part having a shape of square cuboids but are divided into 3 sub-groups based on their exposed shape and orientation. FIG. 6 represents the first sub-group of five mid-Couplings 60. FIG. 6A shows volumetric view, FIG. 6B shows front view and FIG. 6C shows side view of mid-Coupling 60. The exposed part of mid-Coupling 60 has cylindrical shape and its unexposed part is formed by a crossing of two flat surfaces with edges 62a, b and 62c, d. The edge formed by a crossing of those two flat surfaces is not exposed because its both corners are cut-off at 45 degrees to each spatial axis forming two flat triangular surfaces 66a, b that provide enough or the arms of neighbor elements' connectors. Between those two triangles there is an attached arm-and-cam connector 64, which has an extension arm 64a ended with a cam 64b. Arm-and-cam connectors have two functions: to keep mid-Coupling elements between two central elements shown in FIGS. 3-5 and to receive and hold cam connectors of neighbor corner elements shown in FIGS. 9-10 by its flat surfaces 64c with bordering part formed by a fragment of cylindrical surface 64d.
FIG. 7 represents the second sub-group of three mid-Elbows 70. FIG. 7A shows volumetric view, FIG. 7B shows front view and FIG. 7C shows top view of tube element 70 with arm-and-cam connector 74, which has the same structure and respective features 74a-d as connector 64 but is attached to the center of the edge located between two ends of the tube element. There are two identical flat surfaces at the top 70a and the bottom of element 70 with edges 72a, b and 72c, d respectively limited by arc 70b going along the central axis of curved cylindrical element. Two corners adjacent to connector 74 are cut-off at 45 degrees to each of spatial axis forming two flat triangular surfaces 76a, b to provide enough space for the arms of neighbor corner elements' connector.
FIG. 8 represents the third sub-group of four mid-Elbows including one Elbow 80 and three Elbows 88. FIG. 8A shows volumetric view, FIG. 8B shows top view, FIG. 8C shows left side view, FIG. 8D shows front view and FIG. 8E shows right side view of mid-Elbow 80 with arm-and-cam connector 84. Connector 84 has the same structure and respective features 84a, 84b, 84c, 84d as connectors 64 and 74 described above. Connector 84 is attached to one end of element 80 at the center of the edge formed by two perpendicular planes: a flat surface 86 with edges 86a, 86b and 86c and a plane going through that end of tube element 80. Two corners adjacent to connector 84 at both sides are cut-off at 45 degrees to each of spatial axis forming flat triangular surfaces 82a, b to provide enough space for the arm of neighbor corner elements' connectors. Another three mid-Elbows 88 are exact mirror reflected copies of element 80, as shown in FIG. 8F.
FIGS. 9-10 represent the third group of eight corner tube elements that are positioned in the corners of the puzzle disclosed in present invention and are rotatable in three planes about spatial axes. Those corner-Elbows have identical shape of arm-and-cam connectors and are divided into 2 sub-groups based on their orientation, function and unexposed shape. FIG. 9 represents the first sub-group of six corner-Elbows 90. FIG. 9A shows volumetric view, FIG. 9B shows front view, FIG. 9C shows top view and FIG. 9D shows bottom view of corner-Elbow 90. The unexposed part of corner-Elbow has a shape of cube corner formed by three edges 92a-c with attached cylindrical arm 94 ending with cam connector 96. Cam connector 96 has an approximate shape of ellipsis-quarter cut-off by surfaces of three types 96a, 96b and 96c similar to the one disclosed by Rubik and later by Sugden and fits into 3-D space limited by cuboid cam connectors of neighbor tube elements and spherical surfaces of central tube elements 30, 40 and 50. As shown in FIG. 9D element 90 has flat surface 90a at the bottom side limited by arc 90b going along the central axis of curved cylindrical element.
FIG. 10 represents the second sub-group of two mirror reflected corner-Elbows 100 and 110 that serve as an entry and exit point elements for the article that can be put through the puzzle. FIG. 10A shows volumetric view, FIG. 10B shows front view, FIG. 10C shows top view and FIG. 10D shows bottom view of entry point corner-Elbow 100. Unexposed part of tube element 100 has a shape of cube corner formed by edges 102a-c and arc edges 100b and 100d with respective flat surfaces 100a and 100c. A cylindrical arm 104 is attached to the unexposed corner of Elbow 100 ending with cam connector 106 identical to cam connector 96 described above. FIG. 10E shows bottom view of exit point corner-Elbow 110, which is mirror reflected copy of element 100. It has the similar flat surfaces at unexposed sides, and surface 10c is located between edges 112a,b and arc edge 10d.
FIG. 11 represents three cross-sections of disclosed puzzle layers. FIG. 11A shows cross-section of the Top layer of puzzle 10 along the line t-t in FIG. 2B viewed from top. Assembled Top layer forms a continuous pipeline way for an article 12 beginning with entry point corner-Elbow 100 and ending with corner-Elbow 90, which provides transition to the lower Middle layer. FIG. 11B shows cross-section of the Middle layer of puzzle 10 along the line m-m in FIG. 2B viewed from top. Assembled Middle layer forms a continuous pipeline way for an article 12 beginning with corner-Elbow 80 and ending with central Elbow 50, which provides transition to the lower Bottom layer. Central connecting mechanism 20 is connected to central Couplings 30 and central Elbow 50 based on the same mechanics 22 disclosed by Rubik in HU 170,062. FIG. 11C shows cross-section of the Bottom layer of puzzle 10 along the line b-b in FIG. 2B viewed from top. Assembled Bottom layer forms a continuous pipeline way for an article 12 beginning with mid-Elbow 88 and ending by exit point corner-Elbow 110. The central element is presented by Container 40 without cap 46 shown in FIG. 4.
FIG. 12 represents two cross-sections of the puzzle along two perpendicular planes. FIG. 12A shows central cross-section of the puzzle along the line u-s in FIG. 2A viewed from point w.
FIG. 12B shows central cross-section of the puzzle along the line v-w in FIG. 2A viewed from point s. Central tube elements 30, 40 and 50 are connected to central connecting element 20 using the same mechanics 22 disclosed by Rubik in HU 170,062. Tube elements 60, 80, 88, 90 and 100 are kept between central elements by their arm-and-cam connectors.
FIG. 13 shows two views of unexposed sides of the assembled tube puzzle. FIG. 13A shows a top view of assembled Middle layer with removed Top layer of the puzzle. Arm connectors 34 and 54 of central tube elements 30 and 50 are connected to the central connecting mechanism 20 based on the same mechanical principles disclosed by Rubik in HU 170,062. Corner mid-Elbows 70 and 80 are inserted between neighbor central elements 30 and 50 so that arm-and-cam connectors 74 and 84 keep them attached to central elements forming the Middle layer. Tube elements' unexposed surfaces can be made flat, as marked by shaded gray areas 30a, 50a and 70a in order to stabilize sliding motion of element arrays while rotation.
FIG. 13B shows view of unexposed side of assembled puzzle Bottom layer with removed two upper layers. Square cuboid shape connectors 64 of mid-elements 60 and 88 receive Cam connectors 96 of corner tube elements 90 and 110. Arm connector 44 of Container element 40 is located in the center and when connected to the central connecting mechanism keeps the Bottom layer attached to the Middle layer. Flat surfaces 60a, 90a and 110a provide stable rotation of element arrays and are shaded by gray color.
Cubical parts of all elements of the present puzzle not only stabilize the sliding motion of element arrays but they block visibility of element unexposed internal sides with arm-and-cam connectors and cut-offs except some features of Elbow elements such as flattened surfaces of elements 80, 100 and 110 or corners of elements 40 and 50.
FIG. 14 shows front view (similar to one shown in FIG. 2B) of three-gray-scale-level puzzle. Top layer of the puzzle has gray color, Middle layer is white and Bottom layer is black.
The disclosed in the present invention 3×3×3 tube puzzle can be extended to 4×4×4 tube puzzle as shown in FIG. 15 or to 5×5×5 tube puzzle as shown in FIG. 16 based on the same principle of extension arm for connectors disclosed in the present invention and following mechanical principles disclosed by Sebesteny in U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,311 and by Krell in U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,199 respectively for element interconnection. In 4×4×4 extended version of tube puzzle a container element with exposed spherical shape is optional since all cells of the puzzle can be filled out by tube elements. Extended 4×4×4 or 5×5×5 tube puzzle elements can be the same one color or transparent or can be respectively 4 or 5 gray scale levels belonging to each of 4 or 5 puzzle layers respectively or can represent a sequence of colors equivalent to discrete rainbow spectrum analogically to described above 3×3×3 tube puzzle.
All elements' and connectors' dimensions and shapes disclosed in the present invention are shown to reveal the principal structure, features and functioning of the tube puzzle and can be adjusted and slightly rounded during injection molding manufacture process in order to provide smooth and stable rotation of tube element arrays. Configuration of continuous pipeline in initial state of tube puzzle of any size can be produced variable. Arm-and-cam connectors can be maid hollow in order to save material.
The disclosed tube puzzle and an article can be designed in a form of identifiable objects, creatures or characters to resemble an identifiable environment, e.g. a tunnel structure with a racing car or a snake swallowing a prey or any other.
While the above is a complete description and illustration of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to use various alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be determined not with reference to the above description but should, instead, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with their full scope of equivalents. In the claims that follow, the indefinite article “A”, or “An” refers to a quantity of one or more of the item following the article, except where expressly stated otherwise. The appended claims are not to be interpreted as including means-plus-function limitations, unless such a limitation is explicitly recited in a given claim using the phrase “means for.”
Patent Application
20090273139
