Patent Application
20130242615
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a light-emitting building block, and in particular to a water-proof light-emitting building block that are assembled to the a top end or a bottom end of light-emitting building block, so as to prevent first and second two-way conductive members from being exposed to the exterior environment and prevent water from entering the interior of the assembled building blocks.
2. The Prior Arts
Building blocks are a popular toy which allows players to construct anything, ranging from robot to airplane. Not only Children of all ages enjoy playing daily, but also playing the building blocks can improve hand-eye coordination of young children.
Generally, the conventional building blocks are classified into two categories: basic interlocking bricks and accompanying decoration bricks, such as gears and minifigures. The player can fit together the basic interlocking bricks to construct anything, such as buildings and vehicles. The decoration bricks are used to decorate the forms or shapes of the assembled basic interlocking bricks to provide an attractive appearance. For example, the decoration brick can provide a driver figure to a bus made by the basic interlocking bricks. Referring to
Each of the first two-way conductive members 80 has a sleeve 81, two conductive rods 82 and a spring 83. The sleeve 81 respectively defines a through holes 811 in the top and bottom thereof The bottom of the sleeves 81 are inserted into the through holes 711 of the circuit board 71 and located corresponding to the connection portions 72 at the bottom of the brick 70. The top of the sleeves 81 is located corresponding to the connection portions 72 of the top end of the brick 70. The two conductive rods 82 are respectively located at the top and bottom of the sleeve 81 and protrude out of the sleeve 81. The spring 83 is disposed between the two conductive rods 82. The spring 83 is connected with a wire (not shown) which extends through the sleeve 81 and is connected with the circuit board 71.
Each of the second two-way conductive members 90 is mounted to outside of the sleeve 80 and has a wire 91 at the bottom thereof The wire 91 extends through the circuit board 71 and then forms a bent portion 92 corresponding to the edge of the connection portion 72. Then a free end of the bent portion 92 is connected with the circuit board 71.
Generally, the connection portions 72 at the top end of the brick 70 are studs and the connection portions 72 at the bottom end of the brick 70 are tubes, or vice versa.
As shown in
Because the player can assemble as many basic interlocking bricks 70 as he wishes, the first and second two-way conductive members 80, 90 have to be exposed to the exterior so that the circuits of the unlimited bricks 70 can be electrically connected together. However, if the bricks 70 are played at outdoors or on a wet surface and the first and second two-way conductive members 80, 90 of the bricks 70 are damped by water, a short circuit would occur. Thus, it is necessary to develop a water-proof light-emitting building block to prevent the occurrence of short circuit.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a water-proof light-emitting decoration building block that overcomes the disadvantages of conventional designs which can not prevent water from entering the interior of the connected building blocks.
In order to achieve the objective, a water-proof light-emitting decoration building block according to the present invention comprises a light-transmittable brick having a top end and a bottom end. One of the top and bottom ends has a water-proof decoration portion, and the other end has a plurality of connection portions. A circuit board is located in the brick and a light is connected to the circuit board. A plurality of insertion holes are defined in the circuit board and located corresponding to the connection portions.
A plurality of first one-way conductive members are respectively connected to the circuit board and each of the first one-way conductive members has a sleeve, a conductive rod and a spring. The sleeve is inserted into the insertion hole and extends into the connection portion of the brick. The conductive rod is received in the sleeve and extends through a through hole of the sleeve. The spring is located in the sleeve and biased between an inside of the sleeve and the conductive rod. The spring has a wire connected thereto and the wire is connected to the circuit board.
A plurality of second one-way conductive members are respectively located in the connection portions of the brick and connected with the circuit board.
The water-proof light-emitting decoration building blocks according to the present invention can be connected to the top or bottom ends of assembled light-emitting basic interlocking bricks. Therefore, the water-proof light-emitting decoration building blocks provide water-proof feature. The water-proof decoration portion can be in any shape to provide decoration feature. The first and second one-way conductive members of the water-proof light-emitting decoration building blocks are respectively connected to the first and second two-way conductive members of the basic interlocking bricks. Thus, the water-proof light-emitting decoration building blocks provide light-emitting feature.
The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
With reference to
The first one-way conductive members 20 are connected to the circuit board 12 and each of the first one-way conductive members 20 has a sleeve 21, a conductive rod 22 and a spring 23. The sleeve 21 has a through hole 211 defined in a bottom thereof The bottom of the sleeve 21 is inserted through the insertion hole 121 of the circuit board 12 and projected into the connection portion 11 of the brick 10. The conductive rod 22 is received in the bottom of the sleeve 21 and extended out of the sleeve 21. The spring 23 is axially disposed in the sleeve 21 and biased between an inside of the sleeve 21 and the conductive rod 22. The spring 23 has a wire 231 connected thereto. The sleeve 21 has a side hole 212 defined in a wall thereof The wire 231 extends through the side hole 212 of the sleeve 21 and connects with the circuit board 12. The conductive rod 22 has a wide portion 222 received in the sleeve 21 and a narrow portion 221 passing through the through hole 211 of the sleeve 21 and extending out of the sleeve 21.
The second one-way conductive members 30 are fixed to the circuit board 12. The second one-way conductive members 30 are respectively disposed in the connection portions 11 of the brick 10 and electrically connected with the circuit board 12. The second one-way conductive member 30 according to the first embodiment is a U-shaped metal wire.
Referring to
The sleeve 21 of the first one-way conductive members 20 has a through hole 213 defined in the top thereof so that the conductive rod 22 is received in the sleeve 21 and projected out of the sleeve 21. The bottom of the sleeve 21 is inserted into the insertion hole 121 of the circuit board 12 and the top of the sleeve 21 is disposed in the connection portion 15 of the brick 10. The spring 23 is biased between the inside of the sleeve 21 and the conductive rod 22. The sleeve 21 has a side hole 212 defined in a wall thereof and the wire 231 extends through the side hole 212. Each of the conductive rods 22 has a wide portion 222 received in the sleeve 21 and a narrow portion 221 passing through the through hole 213 of the sleeve 21 and extending out of the sleeve 21.
Each of the second one-way conductive members 30 is fixed to the outside of the top of the sleeve 21 and located in the connection portion 15. The wire 31 is connected to the bottom of the second one-way conductive member 30 and electrically connected to the circuit board 12. According to the second embodiment, the second one-way conductive member 30 is a cone-shaped spring.
Referring to
As shown in the lower portion of
The water-proof light-emitting decoration building block according to the present invention provides the water-proof decoration portion 101, 102 respectively disposed at the top end and bottom end of the brick 10, and the first and second one-way conductive members 20, 30 disposed in the brick 10 to be respectively connected to the first and second two-way conductive members 80, 90 of the conventional light-emitting basic interlocking brick 70. The water-proof light-emitting decoration building blocks according to the present invention can be used to be connected to the top ends and/or the bottom ends of the connected basic interlocking bricks 70. The water-proof decoration portions 101, 102 of the brick 10 prevent water from entering the interior of the light-emitting blocks form top or bottom to protect the circuit.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment 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.
