U.S. patent application number 11/738673 was filed with the patent office on 2008-09-25 for three-dimensional logical puzzles.
Invention is credited to MAXIME Paquette.
Application Number | 20080230988 11/738673 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39773901 |
Filed Date | 2008-09-25 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080230988 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Paquette; MAXIME |
September 25, 2008 |
THREE-DIMENSIONAL LOGICAL PUZZLES
Abstract
Semiregular or irregular polyhedron-based puzzles have at least
two different types of faces. The dividing method used to create
the puzzles requires that bisecting planes parallel to the faces be
chosen to exclude at least one type of face. Preferably, the base
polyhedron has a Buckyball (soccer ball) shape. Applying this
dividing method to a Buckyball polyhedron results in (i) a center
element with six axes passing through geometrical centers of
pentagonal faces, (ii) twelve pentagonal rotating elements, and
(iii) thirty mobile elements of tetrahedral shape. The mobile
elements are exchangeable between adjacent groups. In another
embodiment, sliding elements are superimposed over the mobile
elements to enable sliding motion in addition to shifting/rotating
motion. Different indicia patterns can be used to modulate the
difficulty level of the puzzle. The same dividing method can be
used on a sphere to obtain a completely spherical puzzle.
Inventors: |
Paquette; MAXIME;
(Val-des-Monts, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MATTHEW ROY
2241 DES GRANDS CHAMPS STREET
OTTAWA
ON
K1W 1K1
CA
|
Family ID: |
39773901 |
Appl. No.: |
11/738673 |
Filed: |
April 23, 2007 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60896511 |
Mar 23, 2007 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
273/153R ;
273/153S |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F 9/0842 20130101;
A63F 2009/0846 20130101; A63F 9/0838 20130101; A63F 2009/0853
20130101; A63F 9/083 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
273/153.R ;
273/153.S |
International
Class: |
A63F 9/00 20060101
A63F009/00; A63F 9/06 20060101 A63F009/06 |
Claims
1. A three-dimensional semiregular or irregular polyhedron-based
logical puzzle having at least two different types of outer faces,
the puzzle created by a dividing method requiring that bisecting
planes parallel to the faces be chosen to exclude at least one type
of face, thus defining excluded faces, the puzzle comprising at
least three types of elements: (a) a center element having at least
six non-orthogonal axes passing through the geometrical center of
some or all of the outer faces of the polyhedron and passing
through the geometrical center of the puzzle, but without passing
through the excluded faces; (b) a plurality of rotating elements
rotationally connected to the center element, the rotating elements
obtained through the bisecting planes used to slice the base
polyhedron on every outside face corresponding to the axes; and (c)
a plurality of mobile elements obtained through the bisecting
planes slicing the excluded faces, the mobile elements interfitting
with adjacent rotating elements and/or mobile elements to prevent
disassembly of the puzzle and to enable one of the rotating
elements and an associated plurality of the mobile elements to
rotate in a group around its respective axis, whereby rotation of
the group enables a user to interchange mobile elements between
adjacent groups.
2. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 1 wherein the polyhedron
is a Buckyball-shaped polyhedron having six pairs of opposed
rotating elements rotationally connected to the center element
about six non-orthogonal axes, the Buckyball polyhedron having
thirty-two faces including twelve pentagonal faces and twenty
hexagonal faces, wherein the puzzle comprises: (a) one center
element with exactly six axes passing through the geometrical
center of the puzzle and through the geometrical center of each
opposed pentagonal face; (b) twelve rotating elements rotationally
connected to the center element, the rotating elements obtained
through the bisecting planes used to slice the Buckyball-shaped
polyhedron, the bisecting planes being parallel to each of the
pentagonal faces; (c) thirty mobile elements obtained through the
bisecting planes slicing bisected hexagonal faces, the bisecting
planes passing through the geometrical centers of the bisected
hexagonal faces, the mobile elements interfitting with adjacent
rotating elements to prevent disassembly of the puzzle and to
enable one of the rotating elements and five of the mobile elements
to rotate as a group around its respective axis, whereby rotation
of the group interchanges the mobile element positions.
3. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 2 wherein the center
element is an axial rod system having six opposed extensions
extending radially outwardly from the center of the polyhedron in
alignment with the geometrical centers of each pentagonal face of
an invisible regular central dodecahedron, thus providing a total
of twelve extensions for rotationally connecting each of the twelve
rotating elements to the center element.
4. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 2 wherein the center
element is an inner core central element formed by a central
regular dodecahedron located at the geometric center of the
polyhedron-based puzzle having bores for rotationally connecting
each rotating element to the center element.
5. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 4 wherein the inner core
center element is formed by snapping together two half dodecahedral
elements having protrusions facing inwardly and outwardly for
mating the half dodedahedral elements together.
6. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 2 wherein each of the
rotating elements is shaped like an angularly extruded pentagon
comprising one outward face forming one of the twelve outer
pentagonal surfaces of the Buckyball polyhedron, the rotating
element further comprising five obliquely angled triangular faces
shaped as equilateral triangles, forming part of five of twenty
bisected hexagonal faces in the puzzle.
7. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 6 wherein each rotating
element comprises a rotational mechanism having a screw, a coil
spring, and at least one washer arranged within concentric bores,
one external bore being situated at the geometrical center of the
pentagonal face and one internal bore situated in a protrusion, the
internal bore serving to position the rotating element on the
center element concentric with its respective axis, the bores
dimensioned to provide a dividing thickness between the bores to
locate the rotating element at an exact distance from the
geometrical center of the polyhedron.
8. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 6 wherein each rotating
element comprises a rotational mechanism having a screw, a coil
spring, and at least one washer fixed to an internal bore situated
at a geometrical center of a protrusion of each rotating element,
the protrusion serving to position the rotating element on the
center element concentric with its respective axis, and to locate
the rotating element at an exact distance from the geometrical
center of the polyhedron.
9. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 6 wherein the rotating
element comprises a plurality of concealed faces, each concealed
face having an arcuate face that cooperates with another arcuate
face to define arcuate guiding taper faces enabling sliding
movement relative to a mobile element.
10. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 2 wherein the mobile
element is generally shaped like opposed quasi-tetrahedrons having
two equilateral triangular outer faces and two generally triangular
concealed internal faces coplanar with surfaces of the adjacent
rotating elements.
11. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 10 wherein the mobile
element comprises a tapered protrusion for interfitting the mobile
element to adjacent rotating elements, thereby allowing rotation of
the mobile elements with one of the adjacent rotating elements as a
group around a rotational axis of the rotating element.
12. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 2 wherein the rotating
elements and mobile elements further comprise retaining grooves for
enabling superimposed sliding elements to slide relative to the
rotating elements and mobile elements.
13. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 12 comprising 120
sliding elements that are slidingly superimposed within grooves
formed within 30 concealed mobile elements and 12 rotating
elements.
14. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 13 wherein the center
element is an axial rod system having six opposed extensions
extending radially outwardly from the center of the polyhedron in
alignment with the geometrical centers of each pentagonal face of
an invisible regular central dodecahedron, thus providing a total
of twelve extensions for rotationally connecting each of the twelve
rotating elements to the center element.
15. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 13 wherein the center
element is an inner core central element formed by a central
regular dodecahedron located at the geometric center of the
polyhedron-based puzzle having bores for rotationally connecting
each rotating element to the center element.
16. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 15 wherein the inner
core center element is formed by snapping together two half
dodecahedral elements having protrusions facing inwardly and
outwardly for mating the half dodedahedral elements together.
17. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 13 wherein each of the
rotating elements is shaped like an angularly extruded pentagon
comprising one outward face forming one of the twelve outer
pentagonal surfaces of the Buckyball polyhedron, the rotating
element further comprising five obliquely angled triangular faces
shaped as equilateral triangles, forming part of five of twenty
bisected hexagonal faces of the puzzle, arcuate retaining grooves
being formed in every equilateral triangular outer face of the
rotating elements for slidingly receiving superimposed sliding
elements, the arcuate retaining grooves being concentric with a
base vertex of the equilateral triangular outer face, thus guiding
the sliding elements in rotation around the base vertex while
securing the sliding elements to the puzzle.
18. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 17 wherein each rotating
element comprises a rotational mechanism having a screw, a coil
spring, and at least one washer arranged within concentric bores,
one external bore being situated at the geometrical center of the
pentagonal face and one internal bore situated in a protrusion, the
internal bore serving to position the rotating element on the
center element concentric with its respective axis, the bores
dimensioned to provide a dividing thickness between the bores to
locate the rotating element at an exact distance from the
geometrical center of the polyhedron.
19. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 17 wherein each rotating
element comprises a rotational mechanism having a screw, a coil
spring, and at least one washer fixed to an internal bore situated
at a geometrical center of a protrusion of each rotating element,
the protrusion serving to position the rotating element on the
center element concentric with its respective axis, and to locate
the rotating element at an exact distance from the geometrical
center of the polyhedron.
20. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 17 wherein the rotating
element comprises a plurality of concealed faces, each concealed
face having an arcuate face that cooperates with another arcuate
face to define arcuate guiding taper faces enabling sliding
movement relative to a concealed mobile element.
21. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 13 wherein each
concealed mobile element comprises opposed quasi-tetrahedrons
having two equilateral triangular concealed outer faces and two
generally triangular concealed internal faces coplanar with
surfaces of the adjacent rotating elements, the triangular
concealed outer faces having arcuate semi-circular retaining
grooves for sliding of the sliding elements concentrically with a
base vertex of the equilateral triangular concealed outer face,
thus guiding the sliding elements in rotation around the base
vertex while securing the sliding elements to the puzzle.
22. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 21 wherein the concealed
mobile element comprises a tapered protrusion for interfitting the
concealed mobile element to adjacent rotating elements, thereby
allowing rotation of the mobile elements with one of the adjacent
rotating elements as a group around a rotational axis of the
rotating element.
23. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 13 wherein the concealed
mobile elements and the rotating elements comprise arcuate
retaining grooves for slidingly receiving superimposed sliding
elements shaped as equilateral triangles arranged in clusters of
six triangular sliding elements superimposed over each hexagonal
face of the puzzle.
24. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 23 wherein the sliding
element comprises a protrusion at its base acting as a guiding
tongue to engage the sliding elements in respective arcuate
retaining grooves of the concealed mobile elements and of the
rotating elements, the arcuate retaining grooves of the elements
constituting one of the hexagonal faces together forming a circular
slideway to slideably connect each sliding element for rotation as
a cluster of six sliding elements, each circular slideway being
concentric with a respective center vertex of the respective
hexagonal face.
25. A spherical puzzle created by cutting a plurality of outer
spherical sections from a sphere using cutting planes parallel to
each of the faces of a guiding regular polyhedron having at least
twelve faces, the puzzle comprising: i) a plurality of rotating
elements having a convex outer face defining a portion of a sphere;
ii) a plurality of first mobile elements connected to each of the
rotating elements; iii) a plurality of second gap elements
connected to each of the rotating elements between each of the
first mobile elements; whereby the rotating elements, the first
mobile elements and the second gap elements together constitute a
complete sphere and wherein the rotating elements and their
respective groups of first and second elements together define
overlapping circles on the sphere to enable interchanging of first
and second elements of one group with first and second elements of
another adjacent group.
26. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 25 further comprising
a center element defining at least 6 axes, wherein the rotating
elements are rotationally connected to the center element.
27. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 26 wherein the guiding
regular polyhedron is a dodecahedron, thus cutting the sphere into
twelve outer spherical sections that partially overlap, the
spherical puzzle thus comprising 12 spherical rotating elements
rotationally connected in opposed pairs to the center element about
6 axes, wherein the first mobile elements comprise 30 spherical
mobile elements adjacent to the spherical rotating elements, and
wherein the second gap elements comprise 20 spherical gap
elements.
28. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 27 wherein the center
element is an axial rod system having six opposed extensions
extending radially outwardly from the center of the polyhedron in
alignment with the geometrical centers of each pentagonal face of
an invisible regular central dodecahedron, thus providing a total
of twelve extensions for rotationally connecting each of the twelve
rotating elements to the center element.
29. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 27 wherein the center
element is an inner core central element formed by a central
regular dodecahedron located at the geometric center of the
polyhedron-based puzzle having bores for rotationally connecting
each rotating element to the center element.
30. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 29 wherein the inner
core center element is formed by snapping together two half
dodecahedral elements having protrusions facing inwardly and
outwardly for mating the half dodedahedral elements together.
31. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 27 wherein each of the
twelve outer spherical sections comprise a spherical rotating
element rotationally connected to a center element and a group of
spherical mobile elements connected to the spherical rotating
element for rotation in unison with the spherical rotating element,
wherein each spherical rotating element is a convexly curved
pentagon.
32. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 31 wherein each
spherical rotating element comprises a rotational mechanism having
a screw, a coil spring, and at least one washer arranged within
concentric bores, one external bore being situated at the
geometrical center of the convexly curved pentagonal face and one
internal bore situated in a protrusion, the internal bore serving
to position the spherical rotating element on the center element
concentric with its respective axis, the bores dimensioned to
provide a dividing thickness between the bores to locate the
spherical rotating element at an exact distance from the
geometrical center of the spherical puzzle.
33. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 31 wherein each
spherical rotating element comprises a rotational mechanism having
a screw, a coil spring, and at least one washer fixed to an
internal bore situated at a geometrical center of a protrusion of
each spherical rotating element, the protrusion serving to position
the spherical rotating element on the center element concentric
with its respective axis, and to locate the spherical rotating
element at an exact distance from the geometrical center of the
spherical puzzle.
34. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 31 wherein the
spherical rotating element comprises a plurality of concealed
faces, each concealed face having an arcuate face that cooperates
with another arcuate face to define arcuate guiding taper faces for
interfitting spherical mobile elements and spherical gap
elements.
35. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 27 wherein the
spherical mobile elements comprise five convexly shaped generally
oblong elements having outwardly curved sides whereas the second
gap elements comprise five generally spherical triangular elements
that occupy the generally triangular gaps between adjacent oblong
elements.
36. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 35 wherein each
spherical mobile element and each spherical gap element comprises a
tapered protrusion for rotational interfitting with adjacent
spherical rotating elements, mobile elements and spherical gap
elements.
37. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 27 comprising one
center element with exactly 6 axes; 12 modified spherical rotating
elements modified to have grooves therein; 30 modified spherical
mobile elements modified to have grooves therein; 20 modified
concealed spherical gap elements modified to rotationally support
20 spherical-gap cap elements; and 60 spherical rotating cap
elements and 60 spherical mobile cap elements having protrusions
for engaging the grooves for superimposed sliding relative to the
modified spherical rotating elements, modified spherical mobile
elements and modified concealed spherical gap elements.
38. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 37 wherein the center
element is an axial rod system having six opposed extensions
extending radially outwardly from the center of the spherical
puzzle in alignment with the geometrical centers of each pentagonal
face of an invisible regular central dodecahedron, thus providing a
total of twelve extensions for rotationally connecting each of the
twelve modified spherical rotating elements to the center
element.
39. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 37 wherein the center
element is an inner core central element formed by a central
regular dodecahedron located at the geometric center of the
spherical puzzle having bores for rotationally connecting each
modified spherical rotating element to the center element.
40. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 39 wherein the inner
core center element is formed by snapping together two half
dodecahedral elements having protrusions facing inwardly and
outwardly for mating the half dodedahedral elements together.
41. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 37 wherein the
modified spherical rotating elements are convexly-shaped, generally
pentagonal elements comprising arcuate retaining grooves for
receiving superimposed spherical sliding elements that slide in the
grooves with respect to the modified spherical rotating elements,
the arcuate retaining grooves in the convexly-shaped outer faces
being concentric with base vertices of the convexly-shaped
generally pentagonal outer face, thus guiding the sliding elements
in rotation around the base vertices while securing the sliding
elements to the puzzle.
42. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 41 wherein each
modified spherical rotating element comprises a rotational
mechanism having a screw, a coil spring, and at least one washer
arranged within concentric bores, one external bore being situated
at the geometrical center of the pentagonal face and one internal
bore situated in a protrusion, the internal bore serving to
position the modified spherical rotating element on the center
element concentric with its respective axis, the bores dimensioned
to provide a dividing thickness between the bores to locate the
modified spherical rotating element at an exact distance from the
geometrical center of the spherical puzzle.
43. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 41 wherein each
modified spherical rotating element comprises a rotational
mechanism having a screw, a coil spring, and at least one washer
fixed to an internal bore situated at a geometrical center of a
protrusion of each modified spherical rotating element, the
protrusion serving to position the modified spherical rotating
element on the center element concentric with its respective axis,
and to locate the modified spherical rotating element at an exact
distance from the geometrical center of the spherical puzzle.
44. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 41 wherein the
modified spherical rotating element comprises a plurality of
concealed faces, each concealed face having an arcuate face that
cooperates with another arcuate face to define arcuate guiding
taper faces enabling interfitting with, and sliding movement
relative to, the modified spherical mobile elements and modified
concealed spherical gap elements.
45. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 37 wherein the
modified spherical mobile elements are convexly-shaped generally
oblong elements having outwardly curved sides comprising arcuate
retaining groove for receiving superimposed spherical sliding
elements that slide in the grooves with respect to the modified
spherical mobile elements.
46. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 45 wherein each
modified spherical mobile element comprises a tapered protrusion
for slidingly interfitting the modified spherical mobile element
with adjacent elements.
47. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 37 wherein each
modified concealed spherical gap element is convexly-shaped
generally triangular, and wherein each modified concealed spherical
gap element rotationally supports a superimposed spherical gap-cap
element about which a cluster of superimposed spherical sliding
elements may be rotated.
48. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 47 wherein each
modified concealed spherical gap element comprises a tapered
protrusion for slidingly interfitting the modified concealed
spherical gap element with adjacent elements.
49. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 37 wherein each
spherical gap-cap element is convexly-shaped generally
triangular.
50. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 49 wherein each
spherical gap-cap element comprises a tapered protrusion for being
rotationally mounted to a respective underlying modified concealed
spherical gap element.
51. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 37 wherein each
spherical rotating cap element is convexly-shaped generally
triangular having one curved side defining a circular arc.
52. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 51 wherein each
spherical rotating cap element comprises a tapered protrusion for
sliding engagement within a circular slideway defined by the
grooves of underlying elements.
53. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 37 wherein each
spherical mobile cap element is convexly-shaped generally oblong
having one curved side defining a circular arc.
54. The spherical puzzle as claimed in claim 53 wherein each
spherical mobile cap element comprises a tapered protrusion for
sliding engagement within a circular slideway defined by the
grooves of underlying elements.
55. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 12 comprising a visual
indicia pattern displayed on the outer surface of the elements of
the puzzle wherein the pattern has seven indicia locations L1-L7
situated on exposed faces of the puzzle representing seven
different visual indicia S1-S7 and wherein the indicia pattern for
the puzzle is generated based on a layout shaped like a six-pointed
inner hexagon star formed by one inner hexagonal face, three
uniformly distributed pentagonal star points being part of three
adjacent pentagonal faces and three uniformly distributed hexagonal
star points being part of adjacent hexagonal faces, each
trapezoidal side face of the sliding elements situated at the
circumferential boundary of the inner hexagonal face being assigned
a boundary indicia location symbol number from L2 to L7 starting
with L2 being assigned to a first trapezoidal side face located at
the circumferential boundary of the inner hexagonal face and one of
the three adjacent pentagonal faces, the remaining trapezoidal side
faces being assigned boundary indicia location symbol numbers from
L3 to L7, every other face included in the inner hexagonal faces
being identified by an inner indicia location symbol number L1, the
indicia pattern being further generated by adding cross references
identified by the boundary indicia location symbol number L1 for
all three of the pentagonal star points at locations closest to the
circumferential boundary of the inner hexagonal face and three
other L1 references on all trapezoidal side faces of the sliding
elements contiguous with the circumferential boundary of the inner
hexagonal face and situated on all three of the adjacent hexagonal
faces, the indicia pattern being completed by repeating every
boundary indicia location symbol number from L2 to L7 at the tip of
every respective pentagonal and hexagonal star points, the indicia
pattern being repeated for all or a subset of the twenty hexagonal
faces of the puzzle using all or a subset of the seven indicia
location symbol numbers L1 to L7 representing all or a subset of
the thirty-two visual indicia S1 to S32 to be displayed on the
puzzle.
56. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 55 comprising a visual
indicia pattern wherein each cluster of six triangular elements on
each hexagonal face has a specific visual indicium common to each
of the six triangular elements.
57. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 55 wherein the visual
indicia pattern further comprises visual indicia displayed on the
pentagonal faces, thereby challenging a user of the puzzle to
attempt to position the reassembled cluster adjacent a side of the
pentagonal face having the visual indicium corresponding to the
visual indicium displayed on the elements of the cluster.
58. The logical puzzle as claimed in claim 55 wherein the visual
indicia pattern comprises one of up to twenty different visual
indicia S1 to S20 for each cluster of six sliding elements
associated with each of the twenty hexagonal faces of the puzzle,
and further comprises twelve additional visual indicia S21 to S32
for identifying the pentagonal faces of the Buckyball polyhedron.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C.
119(e) from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/896,511
filed on Mar. 23, 2007.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present invention relates generally to three-dimensional
logical puzzles and, in particular, to puzzles having either a
spherical shape or a shape based on a semiregular or irregular
polyhedron.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Since the introduction of the Rubik's Cube, numerous types
of shifting-movement polyhedron-shaped three-dimensional puzzles
have been disclosed. These various puzzles can be classified as
regular, semiregular or irregular polyhedron-shaped puzzles, a
classification based on Leonhard Euler's findings that all
polyhedron patterns can be broken down into three elements: (i)
two-dimensional faces; (ii) one-dimensional edges; and (iii)
zero-dimensional vertices.
[0004] For a polyhedron to be regular, the faces of the polyhedron
must be identical and the same number of faces must meet at each
vertex (called the "valence"). Polyhedrons with only one kind of
vertex (congruent vertex) but two different kinds of faces are
called semiregular. The remaining polyhedrons are classified as
irregular. However, even irregular polyhedreons follow Euler's law
that the number of vertices plus the number of faces in every
polyhedron must equal the number of edges plus two.
[0005] The regular polyhedron family is surprisingly limited to
only five, the tetrahedron (four triangular faces, six edges, and
four tri-valent vertices), the cube (six cubic faces, twelve edges,
and eight tri-valent vertices), the octahedron (eight triangular
faces, twelve edges, and six quadri-valent vertices), the
dodecahedron (twelve pentagonal faces, thirty edges, twenty
tri-valent vertices), and the icosahedron (twenty triangular faces,
thirty edges, and twelve quintus-valent vertices).
[0006] The prior art of shifting-movement puzzles includes regular,
semiregular and irregular polyhedrons. Aside from ubiquitous cubic
puzzles, such as the Rubik's Cube, there are numerous other types
of polyhedron-based puzzles known in the art such as, for example,
those based on a regular tetrahedron (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,866
to Alford), a regular octahedron (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,039 to
Hewlett, U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,418 to Sherman, U.S. Pat. No.
4,496,155 to Goldfarb, U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,484 to Sherman-Francis,
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,593,907 and 4,706,956 to Abu-Shumays and U.S. Pat.
No. 4,593,908 to Ibrahim).
[0007] Furthermore, puzzles based on a regular dodecahedron are
also known in the art (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,453 to Sasso, U.S.
Pat. No. 4,506,891 to Alexander-Piaget, U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,866 to
Alford, U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,199 to Krell, and U.S. Pat. No.
4,674,750 to Abu-Shumays).
[0008] Puzzles based on a regular icosahedron are described in U.S.
Pat. No. 4,473,228 to Hart, U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,376 to Gustafson,
U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,201 to Nadel, U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,088 to Peek,
and U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,956 to Abu-Shumays.
[0009] Semiregular cuboctahedron and icosidodecahedron puzzles are
described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,418 to Sherman and in U.S. Pat.
No. 4,557,484 to Sherman-Francis.
[0010] Irregular rhombicosidodecahedron and irregular rhombic
dodecahedron puzzles are described, respectively, in U.S. Pat. No.
4,529,201 to Nadel and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,593,907 and 4,674,750 to
Abu-Shumays. Furthermore, puzzles based on an irregular prism,
cross, diamond, and truncated cube are described by Abu-Shumays in
U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,907.
[0011] Furthermore, there exist a number of other
irregular-polyhedron-type puzzles based on an irregular heptahedron
(e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,549 to Flake), an irregular (so-called)
hexagram (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,711 to Pataki et al.), an
irregular mix of octahedron and tetrahedron (e.g. U.S. Pat. No.
5,386,993 to Apsan), an irregular stellated icosahedron (e.g. U.S.
Pat. No. 4,529,201 to Nadel), as well as other irregular
polyhedrons (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,090 to Nieto, U.S. Pat. No.
4,522,402 to Henry, U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,908 to Ibrahim, U.S. Pat.
No. 4,600,199 to Krell, U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,657 to Cabrera, and
U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,665 to Brooks.)
[0012] Also of interest in the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,715
to Halpern which teaches an oblique twistable three-dimensional
puzzle that uses, for example, a dodecahedron as the guiding
polyhedron.
[0013] Also known in the art are three-dimensional sliding puzzles,
such as the quasi Buckyball shaped sliding puzzle disclosed by
Blazek and al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,994,343.
[0014] Cubic puzzles having a combination of both sliding and
shifting elements is described by Kuchimanchi in U.S. Pat. No.
4,872,682 and Pop in U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,502.
[0015] Also known in the art are ball-shaped or spherical puzzles
such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,108,263 to Cabeza et
al. The Cabeza puzzle is a sphere dissected by three vertical
planes and three horizontal planes. These orthogonal dissections of
the sphere create two orthogonal pairs of hemispheres which are
further subdivided to create six outer spherical sections. The
hemispheres and outer spherical sections (and the layers defined
therebetween) can be rotated in two orthogonal directions to enable
both shifting and sliding movements.
[0016] Also known in the art are three-dimensional labyrinth
puzzles, such as the one taught by Fang et al. in U.S. Pat. No.
7,165,768. In the Fang puzzle, a sphere is divided by two vertical
planes and two horizontal planes to enable rotation of the
resulting elements. The elements have bores formed therein,
defining tunnels to enable a small ball to travel within the
tunnels from an entrance to an exit.
[0017] Despite the plethora of polydredon-based puzzles and
spherical puzzles that are now known in the art, to the best of
Applicant's knowledge, none of the semiregular or irregular
polyhedron-based puzzles known in the art enable both
rotating/shifting movement in combination with sliding movement
about one specific type of face. Therefore, a semiregular or
irregular polyhedron-based puzzle enabling shifting (and optionally
also sliding movement) would provide a highly challenging,
entertaining and aesthetically-pleasing three-dimensional
puzzle.
[0018] As regards spherical puzzles, to the best of Applicant's
knowledge, none of the spherical puzzles known in the art are
created by dividing a sphere based on a guiding polyhedron, i.e. by
defining outer spherical sections by dividing the sphere parallel
to a guiding polyhedron to create overlapping spherical sections on
the sphere. A spherical puzzle created by this technique would be
challenging, entertaining and aesthetically-pleasing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0019] An object of the present invention is to provide a
challenging, entertaining and aesthetically pleasing semiregular or
irregular polyhedron-based puzzle having elements that can be
shifted (i.e. twisted or rotated) to enable a user of the puzzle to
rearrange the movable elements of the puzzle to attempt to restore
color patterns, or the like, displayed upon outer faces of the
movable elements.
[0020] The present invention thus provides a three-dimensional
puzzle having either a semiregular polyhedron shape or an irregular
polyhedron shape, defining at least two different types of faces
(or "pieces" or "elements"). For example, in a semiregular
polyhedron, there would be two different types of faces, a first
set of faces and a second set of faces. The first set of faces is
rotationally connected to a core or center element to define a
plurality of rotating elements while the second set of faces are
mobile elements grouped around each rotating element, as will be
elaborated below.
[0021] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the
semiregular or irregular polyhedron-shaped puzzle can further
include superimposed sliding elements that slide in grooves in the
underlying faces so as to provide a combination of sliding and
shifting ("twisting" or rotational) movements, as a further
challenge.
[0022] Another object of the present invention is to provide a
challenging, entertaining and aesthetically-pleasing spherical
puzzle.
[0023] Accordingly, another aspect of the present invention is a
spherical puzzle having a sphere dissected into twelve overlapping
outer spherical sections that are created by "slicing" (i.e.
sectioning or dividing) the sphere using cutting planes that are
parallel to each one of the twelve pentagonal faces of a
dodecahedron. In general, this spherical puzzle includes an
optional central core, such as a dodecahedron, a plurality of
rotating elements rotationally connected to the optional central
core, each rotating element having a convex outer face defining a
portion of a sphere, a plurality of first mobile elements connected
to each of the rotating elements, a plurality of second mobile
elements connected to each of the rotating elements between each of
the first mobile elements, whereby the rotating elements, the first
mobile elements and the second mobile elements together constitute
a complete sphere and wherein the rotating elements and their
respective groups of first and second mobile elements together
define overlapping circles on the sphere to enable interchanging of
first and second mobile elements of one group with first and second
mobile elements of another adjacent group.
[0024] In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the
spherical puzzle can further include superimposed sliding elements
for sliding in grooves formed in the underlying rotating and mobile
elements to thus enable sliding movement in addition to shifting
movement. The convexly shaped superimposed sliding elements are
clustered in non-overlapping circles on the sphere to enable
exchanging of sliding elements when the clusters are rotated.
[0025] Another object of the present invention is to provide a
three-dimensional Buckyball or spherical puzzle that serves as an
advertising medium, particularly in the realm of sports where the
puzzles can be made to resemble or mimic sports balls. The outer
surfaces of these puzzles can be used to display logos such as, for
example, corporate logos of sponsors or sports team logos.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0026] The embodiments of the present invention will now be
described with reference to the appended drawings in which:
[0027] FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a semiregular
Buckyball-shaped polyhedron puzzle in accordance with a first
preferred embodiment, showing one group partially rotated;
[0028] FIG. 2 illustrates the six axes of the center element
oriented as a regular dodecahedron polyhedron;
[0029] FIG. 3 is an isometric detailed view of a rotating element
shaped like an angularly extruded pentagon;
[0030] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the rotating element
taken along line b-b of FIG. 3;
[0031] FIG. 5 is an isometric view of an opposed
quasi-tetrahedron-shaped mobile element;
[0032] FIG. 6 shows an isometric view of the puzzle in accordance
with a first preferred embodiment in which every rotating element
is assembled on the center element, and also showing a cross
section of one group constituted by one rotating element and a
plurality of mobile elements;
[0033] FIG. 7 illustrates the dividing method used to cut out the
rotating and mobile elements;
[0034] FIG. 8 illustrates the method used for interfitting rotating
and mobile elements;
[0035] FIG. 9 is an isometric partial cross-sectional view of a
rotating element in accordance with a second preferred embodiment
that incorporates a retaining groove;
[0036] FIG. 10 is an isometric view of a concealed mobile element
in accordance with the second preferred embodiment;
[0037] FIG. 11 shows a sliding element mainly shaped as an
angularly extruded equilateral triangle with a guiding tongue used
in the second preferred embodiment;
[0038] FIG. 12 illustrates a view of the second preferred
embodiment with an exploded view of a hexagonal cluster constituted
of sliding elements;
[0039] FIG. 13 is an isometric view of the second preferred
embodiment with an augmented group containing five half-clusters
rotated;
[0040] FIG. 14 shows possible physical locations of indicia
patterns for the second preferred embodiment used to modulate the
difficulty level of the puzzle;
[0041] FIG. 15 illustrates an example of indicia patterns for the
second preferred embodiment of a novice-level puzzle;
[0042] FIG. 16 illustrates an example of indicia patterns for the
second preferred embodiment of an intermediate-level puzzle;
[0043] FIG. 17 illustrates an example of indicia patterns for the
second preferred embodiment of an expert-level puzzle.
[0044] FIG. 18 is an isometric view of a spherical rotating element
of the third preferred embodiment shaped like a convex
pentagon;
[0045] FIG. 19 is an isometric view of a spherical mobile element
of the third preferred embodiment;
[0046] FIG. 20 shows an isometric view of a spherical gap element
of the third preferred embodiment;
[0047] FIG. 21 shows an isometric view of the third preferred
embodiment with an exploded view of a spherical group containing
one spherical rotating element, five spherical mobile elements and
five spherical gap elements;
[0048] FIG. 22 shows an isometric view of the fourth preferred
embodiment illustrating an augmented spherical group and an
augmented spherical cluster;
[0049] FIG. 23 is an isometric view of a split hollow polyhedron
center element assembled from a snapping action of two half center
core elements partially shown; and
[0050] FIG. 24 shows a half center core element and another
connecting means for mounting any of the rotating elements of the
four preferred embodiments.
[0051] These drawings are not necessarily to scale, and therefore
component proportions should not be inferred therefrom.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0052] By way of introduction, four preferred embodiments will be
presented in the present disclosure.
[0053] A first embodiment entails a Buckyball-shaped polyhedron
having twelve pentagonal rotating elements and twenty hexagonal
faces, each hexagonal face being subdivided into six triangular
faces, three of these six triangular faces being part of three
mobile elements while the other three of these six triangular faces
being part of three rotating elements. The quasi-tetrahedron shaped
mobile elements are grouped around each of the rotating elements in
shifting sections of the Buckyball to thus provide a soccer-ball
shaped shifting puzzle whereby mobile elements of one group can be
interchanged with mobile elements of other groups.
[0054] A second embodiment also entails a Buckyball-shaped
polyhedron but further includes, on each of the hexagonal faces,
superimposed permutable sliding members that slide in grooves in
the underlying hexagonal faces to provide both shifting and sliding
movements.
[0055] A third embodiment is a shifting spherical puzzle created by
dissecting a sphere with cutting planes that are parallel to each
of the twelve faces of a guiding dodecahedron to generate twelve
partially overlapping outer spherical sections, each centered about
a respective spherical rotating element. The resulting spherical
puzzle thus has twelve convexly curved pentagonal rotating elements
each having five inwardly curved sides for engaging five oblong
mobile elements, each having outwardly curved sides. Between each
adjacent pair of the oblong mobile elements are disposed one of
five triangular spherical gap elements. The five oblong mobile
elements and the interspersed spherical gap elements together
constitute a group of mobile elements that orbits together in
unison when their respective rotating element is rotated. With the
rotating element, the five oblong mobile elements and the five
spherical gap elements together constitute an outer spherical
section of the sphere (i.e. a convexly shaped outer portion of the
sphere having a circular base plane) that overlaps with each of the
five adjacent outer spherical sections associated with each of the
five adjacent rotating elements. Since the mobile elements of one
group are shared with adjacent groups, rotation of one group can
cause mobile elements to be interchanged with mobile elements of
adjacent groups.
[0056] By analogy with the first and second embodiments, the fourth
embodiment builds upon the third embodiment by adding sliding
movement to the pre-existing shifting movement to further
complicate the puzzle. In the fourth embodiment, in addition to the
shifting of each group of spherical mobile elements, the spherical
rotating elements, the spherical mobile elements and the spherical
gap elements are provided with grooves to enable superimposed
sliding elements to slide relative to the underlying shifting
spherical gap elements. The superimposed sliding elements include
three quasi-oblong elements with outwardly curved sides, three
quasi-triangular gap elements and a central triangular cap element
that together constitute a rotatable circular cluster.
Embodiment 1: The Shifting Buckyball Puzzle
[0057] The first preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 1 to FIG.
8.
[0058] Reference is now made to FIG. 1. The guiding polyhedron used
to create this three-dimensional logical puzzle is a semiregular
Buckyball polyhedron having twelve pentagonal and twenty hexagonal
faces. Bisecting planes such as a1-b1-c1-d1-e1 that are parallel to
each pentagonal face are used to divide the polyhedron. Each
hexagonal face such as aa-bb-dd-ee-ff-gg with geometrical center cc
is bisected. This dividing method results in three types of
elements: (i) a concealed center element, (ii) twelve rotating
elements 20, (iii) thirty mobile elements 30. Each mobile element
30 is connected to the puzzle by a retaining means, i.e. a
fastener, fastener subassembly, retainer or other retaining
mechanism that enables elements to be interchanged from one group
to another group by "shifting" (i.e. twisting or rotating) one
group relative to the other groups. For the purposes of
nomenclature, a "group" in this embodiment is constituted of one
rotating element 20 and five mobile elements 30. Each rotating
element 20 has five outer faces 202 shaped like equilateral
triangles such as face aa-cc-gg which forms part of one of the
bisected hexagonal faces. Each rotating element includes means for
retaining the pieces in an interfitting relationship to thus enable
rotational movement parallel to the bisecting planes along rotating
axes like axis a. Every mobile element 30 is effectively shared
among its adjacent groups. Each mobile element 30 has two outer
faces 301 and 302 which are also part of the adjacent bisected
faces. Vertices c1 and d1 are coincident with vertices bb and ff
when the group is in its initial non-rotated position, and
non-coincident when partially rotated as illustrated in FIG. 1.
[0059] The center, rotating and mobile elements will now be
described individually. The center element, located inside of the
polyhedron puzzle, can be either (a) an inner sphere, or (b) an
internal concentric regular polyhedron, or (c) an axial rod (pivot)
system, the latter being illustrated in FIG. 2.
[0060] Reference is now made to FIG. 2 showing the center element
10. This center element 10 includes opposed extensions 11 and 12
extending radially from the center of the polyhedron and aligned on
axis a which is one of the six non-orthogonal axes of the center
element 10 disposed as in a regular dodecahedron for a total of
twelve extensions. Each extension has faces like face 101 parallel
with every bisecting plane. At the tip or end of each extension is
a bore or other mounting means 13 for pivotally securing each
respective rotating element 20. Again, while the center element is
illustrated as a dodecahedronal axial rod system, it should be
apparent that the center element could be constructed from a
central polyhedron or a sphere without having an axial rod system.
Center elements constructed in this fashion are within the scope of
the present invention. Depending on the guiding polyhedron and the
selected dividing planes, the center element may or may not have
exposed faces.
[0061] Reference is now made to FIG. 3. The illustrated rotating
element 20 is shaped like an angularly extruded pentagon with a
protrusion 21. This protrusion 21 is used to place the rotating
element 20 at an exact distance from the geometrical center of the
polyhedron. Each outward face (or outer surface) 201 corresponds
with one of the twelve pentagonal faces of the Buckyball
polyhedron. Each surface 201 is provided with a bore or other such
holding means 22 for pivotally holding the rotating element 20 on
the center element 10. This bore or other holding means 22 is
situated at the geometrical center of surface 201, and is thus
concentric and coincident with a respective axis of rotation of the
rotating element relative to the center element 10. The five
outward faces 202 associated with each respective rotating element
20 are shaped as equilateral triangles similar to aa-cc-gg and are
part of five of the twenty bisected hexagonal faces forming the
remaining faces of the Buckyball polyhedron. An underside surface
205 is coplanar and coincident with the bisecting plane associated
with the surface 201. Faces 203 of rotating element 20 are obtained
from adjacent bisecting planes slicing through the polyhedron.
Arcuate faces 204 are provided to hold or retain the mobile
elements 30.
[0062] Reference is now made to FIG. 4 which depicts a cross
section of a rotating element 20 taken along line b-b of FIG. 3.
This cross section provides a better view of the underside surface
205, while illustrating a mounting means for pivotally mounting
each rotating element 20 on one of the center element axial
extensions. This mounting means is integrated in each rotating
element 20 by two countersunk bores 22 and 24 terminated
respectively by faces 23 and 207, each having a common center hole
passing therethrough. Face 207 is intended to rotate freely over
face 101. Bore 24 centers rotating element 20 on one of the six
axes of the center element 10. Face 206 is only used to illustrate
the cross-sectional view along line b-b and for some further
references.
[0063] Reference is now made to FIG. 5. This figure depicts that
mobile elements 30 are shaped like opposed quasi-tetrahedrons with
outward equilateral triangular faces 301 and 302 (which are similar
to triangle aa-bb-cc) which are exposed and part of one of the
bisected hexagonal faces. The mobile element 30 is provided with a
protrusion 31. This protrusion 31 is a simple holding means for
holding the mobile elements 30 in an interfitting relationship with
each respective rotating element 20. Faces 305 and 306 are
concentric with faces 204 of the two adjacent rotating elements 20.
Protrusion 31 is terminated by face 307 and is tapered to
positively lock the mobile elements 30 to the adjacent rotating
elements 20, thus securing the mobile elements 30 to the puzzle and
enabling rotation and exchange of mobile elements 30 from a group
associated with one rotating element 20 to another group associated
with a different rotating element. Faces 303 and 304 are obtained
by dividing the base polyhedron with adjacent bisecting planes.
[0064] Reference is now made to FIG. 6 showing rotating elements 20
assembled on center element 10 plus a cross-section of a group
constituted of a single rotating element 20 and five mobile
elements 30 with only half being shown in the cross section. The
cross section of this group is represented by a cross section of
the rotating element 20 referenced by face 206 as in FIG. 4, two
visible mobile elements 30 and one sectioned mobile element 30
along line aa-bb of FIG. 5 referenced by face 308. In this
cross-sectional view, two mobile elements 30 are removed from the
group to show one connecting means. This connecting means, which is
used for pivotally interconnecting the protrusion 21 of each
respective rotating element 20 on center element 10, preferably
includes a screw 50, two washers 60 and a coil spring 70. The
recessed bores of the rotating elements 20 enable insertion of
screws 50 from outside the puzzle through the common hole to fasten
the rotating elements 20 to the center element 10. These
interconnecting means advantageously allow the rotating elements 20
to rotate about their respective axis. The coil spring 70 located
between the screw head 50 and the bottom of the recessed bore in
between two optional washers 60 reduces friction generated between
adjoining surfaces and provides easily movable elements that are
not prone to jamming, catching or getting hung up. It should be
understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the
interconnecting means could be replaced by snapping-action parts,
which would also fall within the scope of the present invention.
FIG. 6 also illustrates how the mobile elements 30 are taper locked
onto respective adjacent rotating elements 20 through faces 204.
These interconnections of the mobile elements 30 with the rotating
elements 20 provide rotation about the non-orthogonal axes and
interfitting of elements 20 and 30 for enabling the interchanging
of mobile elements 30 among different adjoining groups. Also
illustrated in FIG. 6 is the relation between bisecting planes like
a1-b1-c1-d1-e1 and faces 203 and 205.
[0065] Reference is now made to FIG. 7. This figure illustrates the
dividing method for obtaining the rotating elements 20 and mobile
elements 30. As mentioned previously, first divisions of the
polyhedron are made with bisecting planes parallel to every
pentagonal face of the Buckyball. By doing so, the Buckyball is
sliced or cut along twelve planes equivalent to a1-b1-c1-d1-e1
producing twelve rotating elements 20 and also thirty mobile
elements 30. This result is obtained if planes like a1-b1-c1-d1-e1
are coincident with their respective vertices situated at the
junction of every two of the bisected hexagonal faces and every
pentagonal face. Different positions of the bisecting planes would
result in different types, forms and numbers of elements, all
within the scope of the present invention. Faces 201, 202 and 205
in this first preferred embodiment are fully determined by these
first divisions through bisecting planes. Faces 203 and 204 are
completed through second divisions by cutting a cylindrically
shaped bore as shown. The radius R of these cylinders is selected
so that the circles described by radius R at the intersections with
hidden pentagonal faces like a1-b1-c1-d1-e1 are fully inscribed
within those pentagons. Provision is made with respect to the
radial dimension R for a wall thickness along line cc-cl. These
second divisions enable interfitting of mobile elements 30 with
rotating elements 20 through arcuate guiding taper faces that
enable the mobile elements to be slidingly engaged with the
rotating elements. These interfittings securely hold mobile
elements 30 to the puzzle while enabling selective rotation of
mobile elements 30 and respective rotating elements 20 in groups
along the inscribed circles, thus enabling a user of the puzzle to
exchange or interchange mobile elements 30 from group to group.
[0066] Reference is now made to FIG. 8. This figure further
illustrates the interfitting of one mobile element 30 with two
adjacent rotating elements 20 mounted on a center element 10. As
shown, two adjacent bisecting planes divide part of the polyhedron,
thus resulting in two faces 203 and one mobile element 30 having a
visible triangular face 301 corresponding to equilateral triangle
aa-bb-cc and a hidden triangular face 302. Faces 303 and 304 of
mobile element 30 are coplanar and contiguous with the two faces
203. Faces 305 and 306 of the protrusion 31 are concentric and
contiguous with adjacent arcuate faces 204. The angle formed by
faces 203 and 204 is such that mobile element 30 cannot slide out
of its fitted position, thus preventing disassembly. Rotation of
rotating element 20 around axis a will move mobile element 30
freely in circles, thus displacing mobile element 30 into an
adjacent group. Other interfittings, mechanisms or locking means
are possible to allow for interfitting and rotational movement
between rotating elements 20 and mobile elements 30. For example,
locking means could include a tongue and a groove mechanism, all
within the scope of the present invention.
Embodiment 2: Shifting and Sliding Buckyball Puzzle
[0067] FIG. 9 to FIG. 13 illustrate a second preferred embodiment
of the invention, which is a three-dimensional logical puzzle also
based on a Buckyball polyhedron. In addition to the rotational
"shifting" movement described with regard to the first embodiment
(i.e. rotation of rotating elements with their associated groups of
mobile elements), this second embodiment also provides for
rotational "sliding" movement (i.e. rotation of clusters of
superimposed elements that slide in grooves formed in the
underlying mobile elements and rotating elements of the
puzzle).
[0068] Reference is now made to FIG. 9 showing a partial
cross-sectional view of a rotating element 20' that is similar to
the rotating element 20 but further incorporating an arcuate groove
25 on each triangular aa-cc-gg face 202 centered on every vertex
cc. In this preferred embodiment the groove is dovetail-shaped 26.
It is understood that this groove could be male (protrusion) or
female (cavity), and of other shapes like L-shaped or T-shaped or
of any shape that provides a retaining means allowing rotation
about an axis perpendicular to face 202 and passing through vertex
cc. Vertex cc is the geometrical center of the bisected hexagonal
face.
[0069] Reference is now made to FIG. 10 showing a concealed (i.e.
hidden or "invisible") mobile element 30' similar to the mobile
element 30 but further incorporating two arcuate retaining grooves
32, one on each of its outer faces 301 and 302. These arcuate
retaining grooves 32 are concentric to their respective base
vertices cc (each vertex cc being the geometrical center of its
respective bisected hexagonal face). In this preferred embodiment,
the grooves 32 are also dovetail-shaped 33 like the dovetail-shape
26 of the groove 25 in the rotating element 20'. Different groove
shapes can be substituted (e.g. T-shaped, L-shaped, etc.) as was
the case with the groove of the rotating element 20'.
[0070] Reference is now made to FIG. 11. This figure introduces an
optional fourth "sliding" element 40 shaped as an angularly
extruded equilateral triangle having four outer faces 401, 402, 403
and 404. A protrusion 41 having a dovetail shape 407 similar to
groove shapes 26 and 33 is provided to engage grooves 25 and 32.
The shapes of the protrusion and grooves can be varied (L-shaped,
T-shaped, etc.) as was the case for the rotating element 20' and
the concealed mobile element 30'. In this preferred embodiment, the
protrusion 41 extends underneath plane aa-bb-cc and acts as a
guiding tongue. Both faces 405 and 406 are concentric with vertex
cc and slideably retain in the grooves 25 and 32 the sliding
element 40 with either the rotating element 20' and/or the
concealed mobile element 30'. This mechanism enables sliding
element 40 to slide in the grooves in a curved (circular) path, to
thus enable a cluster of such elements 40 to effectively rotate
about the geometrical center of the cluster. In other words, each
superimposed sliding element 40 slides in a curved track (the
adjoining grooves) over the outer faces of the rotating elements
20' and of the concealed mobile elements 30' along a circular
slideway groove formed by adjacent grooves 25 and 32. In other
words, this tongue-and-groove locking mechanism enables sliding
element 40, rotating element 20' and mobile element 30' to interfit
in sliding engagement with each other to enable curved "sliding"
movement by which a cluster of such sliding elements 40 can be
rotated by sliding around the circular slideway. Thus, by adding
sliding elements 40 in this second embodiment, a puzzle of
increased complexity is created that combines both shifting and
sliding movements in a single polyhedral puzzle. Although the
foregoing represents best mode of implementing the second
embodiment of this puzzle, it should be understood by those of
ordinary skill in the art that other locking and sliding mechanisms
can be utilized or substituted in order to achieve similar results,
all of which lie within the scope of this invention.
[0071] Reference is now made to FIG. 12 to better illustrate the
sliding actions added to the shifting puzzle in this second
embodiment of the invention. This figure illustrates a partially
assembled puzzle in accordance with the second preferred
embodiment, depicting an exploded view of a cluster of sliding
elements 40. A "cluster" is constituted of six equilateral
triangular sliding elements 40 entirely or partially covering all
or a subset of the bisected hexagonal faces aa-bb-dd-ee-ff-gg of
the Buckyball puzzle. This cluster can be pivoted around the
geometrical center point cc, thus interchanging sliding elements 40
from one "augmented" group to another augmented group, thereby
greatly increasing the difficulty level of the puzzle. An
"augmented group" is constituted of a rotating element and a group
of mobile elements upon which are superimposed or carried half
clusters of sliding elements 40. Therefore, a complete Buckyball
puzzle has twenty clusters for a total of one hundred and twenty
(120) sliding elements 40. FIG. 12 shows that grooves 25 and 32
form a smooth circular slideway for sliding rotational movements of
the cluster of sliding elements 40 to thus enable a user of the
puzzle to interchange sliding elements from one augmented group to
another. The dovetail-shaped grooves prohibit sliding elements 40
from becoming disconnected from the puzzle. Faces 401, 402 and 403
are cut to be coplanar with their respective resting positions
adjacent pentagonal faces and their respective adjacent bisecting
planes. This prevents interference between elements when augmented
groups are rotated.
[0072] Reference is now made to FIG. 13, which is an isometric view
of the Buckyball puzzle in accordance with the second preferred
embodiment of the present invention wherein one of the augmented
groups has been partially rotated to a position between resting
positions. This augmented group is positioned outwardly of
pentagonal face a1-b1-c1-d1-e1 as would be a (non-augmented) group
in the first preferred embodiment. In addition to the five
concealed mobile elements 30', however, the augmented group also
displaces fifteen sliding elements 40. The entire Buckyball puzzle
of the second preferred embodiment is thus covered by one hundred
and twenty sliding elements 40. Sliding elements 40 can now be
exchanged from augmented group to augmented group (in pure shifting
movement) and also permuted within each cluster of sliding elements
(in superimposed sliding movement). These two types of movement
combine to produce a potentially enormous number of permutations
for the puzzle.
[0073] Reference is now made to FIG. 14 which shows possible
physical locations of visual indicia patterns (e.g. colors, logos,
emblems, symbols, etc.) used to modulate the difficulty level of
the puzzle. There are seven indicia locations identified from L1 to
L7 gathered inside a six-pointed inner hexagon star layout pattern.
This layout pattern can be repeated for all or a subset of every
hexagonal face of the puzzle, thus requiring a total of thirty-two
different indicia to make use of the full potential of the puzzle.
It is to be understood that the number of visual indicia used can
be other than thirty two. These indicia could be made of
distinctive colors, textures, visible legends (numbers, letters,
symbols, images, or a combination) or a combination of the above
applied on the visible portions of the puzzle. Indicia patterns are
used to impose challenges to the user of the puzzle in
reconstituting a predetermined pattern and others. Proper selection
of patterns and number of indicia modulates the difficulty level of
the puzzle from novice to expert without any other modification to
any of the constituting elements. All the indicia pattern
principles introduced here can be applied to the first preferred
embodiment of this invention with proper adjustments. For a basic
level puzzle each hexagonal face in the first preferred embodiment
could simply be attributed a specific color (or other visual
indicium).
[0074] Reference is now made to FIG. 15, illustrating an example of
a visual indicia pattern for a novice-level puzzle in accordance
with the second preferred embodiment. The visual indicia pattern
for this novice-level puzzle is equivalent to the basic puzzle of
the first preferred embodiment with the exception that there are
one hundred and twenty sliding elements 40 instead of merely thirty
mobile elements 30 to be repositioned. In the pattern of this
novice-level puzzle, a cluster is constituted of six sliding
elements 40 identified by one visual indicium, e.g. a single color,
emblem, logo or symbol. In order to solve a shuffled novice-level
puzzle, each cluster must be reassembled, but without any regard to
the relative positioning among the clusters. The added number of
sliding elements increases the difficulty level of the novice
puzzle compared to a basic level puzzle. In this novice pattern no
specific position is imposed on any sliding element 40 within a
cluster.
[0075] Reference is now made to FIG. 16 which depicts an example of
a visual indicia pattern for an intermediate level puzzle in
accordance with the second preferred embodiment. By adding unique
positioning indicia on the pentagonal faces 201, the challenge
becomes not only to reassemble each one of the clusters (by
reuniting the six sliding elements of like color or indicium) but
also to orient the cluster to concord with one of the unique
positioning indicia depicted on the side of the pentagonal rotating
element, as shown in FIG. 16. Thus, the difficulty level is now
much greater. However, any sliding element 40, being a member of a
cluster, can be positioned anywhere in the cluster.
[0076] Reference is now made to FIG. 17. This figure depicts an
example of a visual indicia pattern for an expert level puzzle in
accordance with the second preferred embodiment. Only one possible
solution exists for this expert puzzle because visual indicia are
displayed on both the pentagonal faces 201 of the rotating element
20' and the faces 403 of the sliding elements 40. Thus, the one
hundred and twenty (120) sliding elements 40 must be returned to a
unique position in order to solve a shuffled puzzle. As will be
appreciated, the number of permutations is astronomically large,
thus providing a potentially very difficult puzzle to solve.
However, a simplified, yet still challenging version of the puzzle,
can be made by modulating the visual indicia pattern so that the
puzzle can be solved by puzzle enthusiasts within a reasonable
time.
[0077] By way of partial summary thus far, and without limiting the
foregoing discussion, the first and second embodiments of the
present invention are based on the Buckyball-shaped polyhedron,
i.e. a polyhedron that is shaped approximately like a soccer ball
in which there are twelve pentagons and twenty hexagons (each
hexagon being divided into six triangles).
[0078] The Buckyball polyhedron used in the first and second
preferred embodiments is defined as a semiregular polyhedron, with
thirty two faces, twelve pentagons and twenty hexagons, ninety
edges and sixty vertices, exactly three edges emanating from each
vertex (tri-valent), and all edges being of equal length.
[0079] The resulting Buckyball puzzle includes:
[0080] (i) A center element (or core) having six axes passing
through the center of the puzzle and the geometrical center of
every pair of opposite pentagonal faces of an imaginary, or real,
central regular dodecahedron polyhedron;
[0081] (ii) Twelve rotating elements shaped generally like an
angularly extruded pentagon rotationally mounted on the center
element to provide a plane of rotation for these elements parallel
to their pentagonal outer faces;
[0082] (iii) Thirty mobile elements shaped like opposed
quasi-tetrahedrons attached to the puzzle in groups of five around
each rotating element with proper guiding surfaces enabling the
mobile elements to change from one group to another when the
rotating elements are rotated; and
[0083] (iv) Optionally, one hundred and twenty sliding elements
shaped generally like angularly extruded equilateral triangles
guided and secured in coincident semi-circular retaining groves
provided in both rotating and mobile elements, thus constituting
hexagonal clusters of six permutable sliding elements superimposed
on every hexagonal face of the puzzle.
[0084] Accordingly, the puzzle provides a plurality of rotating
elements and a plurality of shiftable elements which rotate in
groups and which optionally (in the second embodiment) combine
superimposed sliding elements. The objective of these puzzles is to
exchange or interchange mobile or sliding elements from group to
group, or cluster to cluster, in order to restore the surfaces to
their original pattern. The difficulty level of a single puzzle can
be modulated by varying the indicia patterns situated on exposed
faces of the polyhedron.
[0085] Although the first and second preferred embodiments are
based on the Buckyball polyhedron, other semiregular polyhedrons
could also be used as the guiding polyhedron and bisected with the
same dividing method, all without departing from the scope of the
present invention. Likewise, the dividing method could also be
applied to irregular polyhedrons to achieve create other
interesting and challenging puzzles. Accordingly, the drawings and
description are to be regarded as being illustrative, not as
restrictive. In other words, these embodiments can be generalized
as being polyhedron-based puzzles having at least two different
types of faces and to which a dividing method is applied that uses
bisecting (also known as dissecting or cutting) planes that are
parallel to one of the two faces, thus excluding at least one type
of face (the "excluded faces"). The excluded faces are divided by
the bisecting planes to generate a plurality of mobile elements
while the non-bisected faces provide a plurality of rotating
elements.
[0086] Different positions of the bisecting planes in respect to
the base polyhedron vertices using the same proposed dividing
method will result in a different quantity of elements and a
different type of elements achieving either simpler or more complex
puzzles. These simpler or more complex puzzles are within the scope
of the invention presented in this disclosure. Various
combinations, changes or modifications are possible giving almost
any arbitrary exterior shape if the dividing method is used with
other semiregular and irregular polyhedrons.
[0087] While the puzzle elements and parts are preferably
manufactured from plastic, these puzzles can also be made of wood,
metal, or a combination of the aforementioned materials. These
elements and parts may be solid or hollow. The motion of the puzzle
mechanism can be enhanced by employing springs, bearings,
semi-spherical surface knobs, grooves, indentations and recesses,
as is well known in the art and are already well described in the
prior art of shifting and sliding puzzles. Likewise, "stabilizing"
parts can also be inserted in the mechanism to bias the moving
elements to the "rest positions", as is also well known in the
art.
Embodiment 3: Shifting Spherical Puzzle
[0088] The third preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 18 to FIG.
21.
[0089] Reference is now made to FIG. 18. The illustrated spherical
rotating element 120 is obtained with the same dividing method as
previously mentioned except that the divided polyhedron is now
replaced by a sphere with its radius selected to be coincident with
vertex aa and gg of FIG. 3. The spherical rotating element 120 is
shaped like a convex pentagon with a protrusion 121 performing the
same function as the protrusion 21 of the rotating element 20 shown
in FIG. 3. The protrusion 121 is provided with a holding means (not
shown) for holding pivotally the rotating element 120 on a half
center core element 110. This holding means is situated at the
geometrical center of the protrusion 121 and is intended to be
pivotally retained from within the puzzle without passing through
the outer surface 1201 of the spherical rotating element 120. With
suitable modification, the spherical rotating element 120 could be
assembled on the center element 10, all within the scope of the
present invention. As will be explained below, the center element
10 is optional for the spherical puzzle, i.e. the spherical puzzle
can be designed with or without a center element or core. The
outward face 1201 is a portion of the puzzle spherical outer shell
and corresponds to a combination of face 201 and face 202. Faces
1203 and 1204 are similar to faces 203 and 204 and perform the same
functions.
[0090] Reference is now made to FIG. 19. This figure depicts a
spherical mobile element 130 similar to the mobile element 30 of
FIG. 5. The outer face 1301 also constitutes a portion of the
puzzle's spherical outer shell. Protrusion 131, faces 1304, 1306
and 1307 are equivalent to the protrusion 31, faces 304, 306 and
307. Faces 1309 and 1310 provide exactly the same functions as,
respectively, faces 304 and 306 while furthermore acting to retain
a spherical gap element 180, depicted in FIG. 20 and whose
structure and function will be described below.
[0091] Reference is now made to FIG. 20. This figure shows a
spherical gap element 180 shaped like an equilateral spherical
triangle. The outer face 1801 also forms part of the puzzle's
spherical outer shell. Protrusion 181, faces 1802 and 1803 are
functionally equivalent to previously mentioned protrusion 131 and
faces 1304, 1306. The spherical gap element 180 is optionally cut
along faces 1804 so that the elements do not interfere with each
other when moved, i.e. the cutoff faces 1804 ensure that elements
of the spherical puzzle do not catch when they are displaced
relative to one another.
[0092] Reference is now made to FIG. 21 showing a spherical puzzle
in accordance with the third preferred embodiment wherein one
spherical group is illustrated in an exploded view. This spherical
group is similar to the group defined above, including one
spherical rotating element 120, five spherical mobile elements 130
("first elements") and five spherical gap elements 180 ("second
elements"). In all, the spherical puzzle in accordance with the
third preferred embodiment is constituted of two half center core
elements 110 (shown in FIG. 23 and FIG. 24), twelve spherical
rotating elements 120, thirty spherical mobile elements 130 and
twenty spherical gap elements 180. The puzzle in accordance with
the third preferred embodiment is completely spherical (thus
aesthetically pleasing) and is believed to be slightly more complex
than the Buckyball puzzle in accordance with the first preferred
embodiment. As was the case wit the previous two embodiments, this
spherical puzzle is both challenging and entertaining. Furthermore,
as described above with regard to the first two embodiments, the
difficulty level of this puzzle can be modulated by varying the
number of distinct colours, emblems, logos or other visual indicia
displayed on the outer surfaces of the elements of the puzzle.
Embodiment 4: Shifting and Sliding Spherical Puzzle
[0093] Reference is now made to FIG. 22. This figure illustrates a
shifting and sliding spherical puzzle in accordance with a fourth
preferred embodiment of the invention. The shifting motion of the
puzzle is achieved by enabling augmented spherical group to move
around modified spherical rotating elements 120' while the sliding
motion of the puzzle is achieved by enabling spherical clusters to
move around spherical-gap cap elements 140. In this particular
spherical puzzle, an augmented spherical group includes one
modified spherical rotating element 120', five modified spherical
mobile elements 143, ten spherical mobile cap elements 141, five
modified concealed spherical gap elements 180', five spherical-gap
cap elements 140 and five spherical rotating cap elements 142. All
the previously mentioned modified elements 120', 143, 180'
incorporate modifications similar to the puzzle of the second
preferred embodiment in order to enable sliding of superimposed
elements in each spherical cluster. These modifications are
analogous to the modifications made to the first embodiment to
create the second embodiment, and therefore need not be repeated
herein. In the fourth preferred embodiment, a spherical cluster is
constituted of one spherical-gap cap element 140, three spherical
mobile cap elements 141 and three spherical rotating cap elements
142. A complete puzzle of the fourth embodiment is constituted of
two half center core elements 110 (as shown in subsequent figures),
twelve modified spherical rotating elements 120', thirty modified
spherical mobile elements 143, twenty modified concealed spherical
gap elements 180', twenty spherical-gap cap elements 140, sixty
spherical mobile cap elements 141 and sixty spherical rotating cap
elements 142. All these cap elements are exchangeable from one
augmented spherical group to another augmented spherical group and
within spherical clusters, thus providing a potentially huge number
of permutations for the serious puzzle enthusiast seeking an
ultimate puzzle challenge.
[0094] Reference is now made to FIG. 23. This figure illustrates
the interfitting and snapping action of two half center core
elements 110. When assembled together these two half center core
elements form a hollow center core element shaped as a regular
dodecahedron. Similarities between this hollow center core element
and the center element 10 are apparent from FIG. 2. Faces 111 and
1101 are equivalent to the extension 11 and face 101. The mounting
means (e.g. the bore) 13 is now implemented directly in the
spherical rotating element 120 inside its protrusion 121 with a
bore or other such mounting means 113 serving as a through hole for
assembly. With this hollow center core element there is exactly six
non-orthogonal axes as with the center element 10, axis a-a being
one of them. As with the previous center elements there are twelve
mounting positions provided to receive twelve spherical rotating
elements 120 or 120'. This hollow center core element can replace
the center elements of the first and second preferred embodiments
by making proper modifications to the rotating elements. These
modifications lie within the scope of the present invention. In
general, depending on the guiding polyhedron and the selected
dividing planes, the hollow center core element may or may not have
exposed faces. Snapping protrusions facing inside 114 and outside
115 are provided to enable simple and firm assembly of two half
center core elements 110 to constitute the hollow center core
element.
[0095] Reference is now made to FIG. 24. This figure shows a
mechanism for internally interconnecting the spherical rotating
elements 120 or 120' to the two half center core elements 110. As
depicted in FIG. 24, the spherical rotating elements 120 or 120'
are rotationally connected to the hollow center core element by a
screw 50, two (optional) washers 60 and a coil spring 70. Each
screw 50 is inserted from inside the puzzle through the bores 113
to fasten the respective spherical rotating element 120 or 120' to
the half center core elements 110. No recessed bores are required
on the outside surfaces of the spherical rotating elements 120 or
120' and thus no capping of elements is required in order to obtain
an even and smooth outer surface over the spherical outer shell of
the puzzle. This design can also be implemented in the first and
second embodiments by also using a hollow center core element. FIG.
21 and FIG. 22 illustrate the even and smooth outer shell of the
puzzles in accordance with the third and fourth embodiments. It is
understood that the interconnecting mechanism could be replaced by
snapping action parts, all within the scope of the present
invention.
[0096] As mentioned above, the spherical puzzles of the third and
fourth embodiment can also be constructed without a core or center
element 10. While it is preferable to utilize a core or center
element 10, it is also possible to construct the spherical puzzles
of the third and fourth embodiment without any core or center
element 10. A coreless spherical puzzle can be constructed by
providing the spherical rotating elements 120, spherical mobile
elements 130 and spherical gap elements 180 with appropriate
protrusions and grooves. These protrusions and grooves cooperate as
interfitting male and female connections to slideably and rotatably
interlock the various elements to thus hold the elements together
to form a complete sphere. Since the spherical rotating elements
120, spherical mobile elements 130 and spherical gap elements 180
are interlocked, there is no longer any need for a center element
10 or core to retain or hold the various elements of the spherical
puzzle in place. For example, in one implementation of this
coreless spherical puzzle, each spherical rotating element 120
would have grooves (or female connectors) on each of its five
inwardly curved sides. To interlock with each spherical rotating
element 120, each spherical mobile element 130 would have
protrusions (male connectors) on its two outwardly curved sides
with grooves (female connectors) on its two inwardly curved sides.
To interlock with both the spherical rotating elements 120 and the
"female sides" of the spherical mobile elements 130, each of the
spherical gap elements 180 would have protrusions (or male
connectors) on each of its three sides.
[0097] The same techniques for arranging the display of colours,
emblems, logos or other visual indicia on the outer surfaces of the
puzzles to modulate the difficulty level (as was described with
regard to FIGS. 14-17) are also applicable, with minor
modifications, to both the third and fourth preferred embodiments.
However, with spherical puzzles, the difficulty level for a
particular indicia pattern will generally be higher due to the
added number of elements involved, particular for the fourth
preferred embodiment with its one hundred and eighty-two outer
elements. More complex indicia patterns can be developed to impose
a unique solution on every outer element. Complex descriptions of
evoluted patterns are not included in the present disclosure for
the sake of simplicity, but are well within the scope of the
technology introduced here and can be easily derived from the
principles already disclosed. Generally, though, the indicia
patterns are used to modulate the puzzle difficulty level by
changing the total number of permutations to make the puzzle
reasonably solvable.
[0098] The visual indicia could be made of distinctive colours,
textures, visible legends (numbers, letters, symbols, images, or a
combination) or a combination of the above, or patterns of the
above, or corporate and/or team logos, or emblems, or national
flags applied on the visible portions of the puzzle. The outer
shell of the puzzles can be used to mimic objects such as a soccer
ball, basketball, baseball or the like. The outer shell could
reproduce cartoons, heads and/or faces, organs, planets and the
like. The outer shell could be used for learning purposes,
publicity and marketing purposes, artistic purposes and other
applications as well.
[0099] In a variant, some or all of the hexagonal faces can be made
pyramidal, i.e. the geometrical centers of the hexagonal faces can
be stellated. The resulting stellated puzzle would have a spiky
appearance.
[0100] It will be noted that exact dimensions are not provided in
the present description since these puzzles can be constructed in a
variety of sizes.
[0101] The foregoing puzzles are symmetrical,
aesthetically-pleasing, entertaining and challenging. Although the
theoretical number of permutations is enormous, especially for the
second and fourth embodiments, the difficulty level of these
puzzles can be easily modulated by reducing the number of different
visual indicia (e.g. color schemes or face patterns) that are
displayed on the faces. In other words, different versions of the
puzzle can be provided for novice, intermediate or expert players,
or even for kids.
Three-Dimensional Puzzles Having Outer Element Surfaces Displaying
Corporate and/or Team Logos
[0102] Another aspect of the present invention is a
three-dimensional puzzle that serves as an advertising medium. In
other words, this three-dimensional logical puzzle includes a
plurality of moving elements having outer surfaces upon which can
be displayed one or more logos such as, for example, corporate
logos or sports team logos.
[0103] The puzzle is preferably either a Buckyball-shaped puzzle or
a spherical puzzle, but other shapes could be used for displaying
corporate or team logos. For example, since the Buckyball
approximately resembles a soccer ball, the Buckyball-shaped puzzle
is ideally suited as a promotional item in the world of soccer. For
example, since the Buckyball-shaped puzzle has 32 faces (12
pentagons and 20 hexagons), the Buckyball puzzle would be ideally
suited to display the national soccer team logo of each of the 32
nations in the FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament. Of course, the
puzzle can be used to display team logos for other tournaments or
leagues having fewer than 32 teams (by simply leaving some surfaces
blank or by using one or more of these "spare" surfaces to identify
the league or authority (e.g. FIFA, UEFA, English Premier League)
or to identify the host country, year of the tournament, etc.)
[0104] Again by way of example only, the faces of the Buckyball
could also display corporate logos of sponsors of a tournament or
event. For example, the logos of each of the corporate sponsors
(Yahoo.RTM., Coca-Cola.RTM., Mastercard.RTM., etc.) of the FIFA
World Cup tournament could be displayed on each of the outer faces
of the Buckyball puzzle. Alternatively, the puzzle could display a
mix of team and corporate logos. Alternatively, only a subset of
the outer faces of the puzzle could display logos, with the other
surfaces being blank or solid coloured (i.e. to reduce the
difficulty level of the puzzle, e.g. for kids).
[0105] As other examples, all or a subset of the faces of the
Buckyball puzzle could be used to display team logos for the
various teams of national soccer leagues, such as the English
Premier Division, the Italian Serie A, the German Bundesliga, etc.
As further examples, the Buckyball puzzle could display player
jerseys (with player names and/or numbers), player faces, league
emblems, etc. In addition to the Buckyball puzzle, the spherical
puzzle is also ideally suited for corporate advertising or team
logos in the world of soccer due to its close resemblance to a
soccer ball.
[0106] Using the puzzles for advertising or displaying team or
corporate logos can of course be utilized in other sports,
including, but not limited to, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf,
volleyball, handball, water polo, etc. where the puzzle can be made
to mimic the look of the actual ball, for example, by drawing or
printing suitable seams, lines, dimples, etc. on the outer surfaces
of the puzzle to create a replica of the actual ball. For example,
a puzzle made to look like a baseball could have seams drawn over
the outer surfaces, with major league team logos or emblems on each
of the outer surfaces, or on a subset of the outer surfaces.
[0107] Although the spherical puzzle is best suited for producing
replica balls for sports having round balls, the same concept can
be applied to sports that do not involve balls, or to sports having
differently shaped balls (regardless whether the shape of the
puzzle matches the shape of the actual ball used) such as, for
example, for hockey, football, rugby, boxing, motor sports,
etc.
[0108] In the foregoing examples, it should be noted that the
difficulty-level of the puzzles could be modulated by displaying
fewer logos on the puzzle, with some faces being solid colours or
blank (white) for example, or by displaying logos that cover more
than one of the outer surfaces of the puzzle. A very simple
Buckyball or spherical puzzle would thus have two solid coloured
hemispheres. By analogy, a logo puzzle having only two large logos,
one on each of the hemispheres, would be fairly easy to solve.
Alternatively, a single corporate sponsor could advertise
exclusively on a spherical puzzle or Buckyball puzzle by having
multiple instances of their emblem, for example, interspersed with
solid colours (or white surfaces), or alternatively, have a single
corporate emblem or logo printed on the entire outer surface such
that it is effectively "wrapped around" the entire sphere or
Buckyball.
[0109] Thus, it should be apparent that the logos need not be
confined to each hexagonal or pentagonal surface of the Buckyball,
e.g. a logo could be displayed over two or more contiguous outer
faces. In the case of the spherical puzzle, the logos or other
visual indicia could be printed without discretely confining the
displays to each cluster of elements. Thus, for example, one could
also produce a spherical puzzle having a map, stylized map or
satellite photo of Planet Earth, of the moon, or of another planet,
of a head of a person (historical, celebrity, famous or otherwise),
or any other pattern of colors, artwork, photo, etc. that would
provide an interesting visual puzzle.
[0110] In another example, a spherical or Buckyball puzzle could
have alternating black and white faces like a traditional soccer
ball but upon which a small number of logos would be displayed.
Again, the difficulty level of the puzzle can be modulated by
changing the number and size of the logos. A replica of the
official ball of the FIFA World Cup or of a particular team or
league or tournament or event could be created. For example, for
fans of the Azzurri, a puzzle replicating a blue soccer ball with
the colours and emblems of the Italian national soccer team could
be produced, e.g. with the red, white and green Italian flag placed
on one or more faces of the ball. For example, for fans of
Manchester United, a puzzle replicating a red ball could be
produced with the team emblem on one or more faces.
[0111] The puzzle with logos would provide not only a useful
advertising medium for corporate sponsors, but also serve as
entertainment for fans before the game, during half-time, or
afterwards. In addition to being a challenging and fun toy, the
puzzle displaying team logos, player jerseys, player faces, etc.
would also serve as a lasting souvenir or memento of a particular
tournament for fans to cherish for many years afterwards, while
providing highly valuable, ongoing advertising for corporate
sponsors, particularly for those puzzles that display a mix of team
and corporate logos, for example, the emblems of the two finalists
of a major tournament or league plus the corporate names/logos of
the tournament's primary sponsors.
[0112] Although the preferred embodiments are the Buckyball puzzle
and the spherical puzzle, it should be noted that advertising,
corporate logos or team logos could also be placed onto the
surfaces of other types of three dimensional puzzles to create
promotional vehicles or souvenirs.
[0113] It is understood that the above description of the preferred
embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of the present
invention, which is defined solely by the appended claims.
* * * * *