Child's Building Toy

Abstract

A child's building toy of various basic building units is disclosed each of which building units is in the form of an elongated double-ended member having at least one bend. Each basic building unit further includes a connector upon each end to allow a child to interfit and interconnect the basic building units to construct and interconnect an arrangement of basic building units of his own design comprising any number of units to the maximum number available. The basic building units are hollow to allow water to flow therethrough, and at least some of the units include apertures to allow the water to issue from them as a spray upon children climbing and otherwise playing upon an interconnected arrangement of the basic building units.

Description

BACKGROUND

This invention relates to children's toys, more particularly to children's playground toys, and still more specifically to a type of child's playground toy which may be constructed by the child and played with and upon.

An advantageous child's playground toy is one which is versatile enough to allow a child full use of his imagination, which is easy to fabricate, and which is easy to transport. The present invention provides such a toy.

In summary, the preferred embodiment of the child's building toy of the present invention includes basic building units in the form of L shaped members or angularized U members each having at least two ends with a male connector on one end and a female connector on the other end. The connectors are arranged to quickly connect and disconnect to allow a child to interfit the basic building units and construct an interconnected arrangement of units of its own design comprising any number to the maximum available.

The basic building units are of a hollow construction allowing the passage of water, and at least some of the units have apertures formed therein to allow water passing through the units to issue as a spray from the apertures. In this manner, water under pressure may be applied to the interconnected arrangement of basic building units of a child's design and issue from the apertures as a spray upon children climbing and otherwise playing with and upon the interconnected arrangement of basic building units.

Since each arrangement is of the child's own design, the children's building toy of the present invention is versatile and allows a child the full use of his imagination. Since each basic building unit may be quickly connected and disconnected from another, the toy may be quickly broken down to its constituent basic building units, stored or transported, and again provided to a group of children for play.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a novel child's toy.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel child's toy which is versatile and allows a child full use of his imagination.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel child's toy which is easy to fabricate.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel child's toy which is easy to transport and store.

This and further objects and advantages of the present invention will become clearer in the light of the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of this invention described in connection with the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of one example of the myriad arrangements possible with the child's building toy of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged cross section of the connection between the pieces of the arrangement of FIG. 1 according to the section line 2--2 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a further enlarged cross sectional view of the connection between the pieces of FIG. 1 according to the section lines 3--3 in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show enlarged views of one form of a basic building unit of the children's toy of the present invention, the L shaped member, to better illustrate the connection between the pieces.

FIG. 6 shows another form of a basic building unit of the children's toy of the present invention, the angularized U member, in all possible configuration, with three of the possible configurations shown in phantom.

DESCRIPTION

In FIG. 1, an example of the myriad arrangements possible with the children's building toy of the present invention is generally designated 10. Arrangement 10 includes a plurality of basic building units 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22. Each basic building unit 11-22 is interconnected to another in a manner best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, a water tight, rapid connect/disconnect member 24 is shown including a male connector 26 and a female connector 28. The form of connector 24 used in the preferred embodiment is manufactured by Dover Corporation/OPW Division under the trademark KAMLOK quick coupling. Of course many other quick connect/disconnect connectors may be used by those skilled in the art. As shown, the male connector 26 includes an annular indentation 30 into which two lever cams 31 having arm portions 32 and cam portions 33 can pivot upon pins 34 journaled in female connector 28. The pivoting of lever cams 32 is such that when the lever portion 32 is parallel to the longitudinal dimension of connector 24, the engagement of the cam portion 33 pivoted upon the female connector 28, with the annular indentation 30, formed in the male connector 26, securely engages and mates the connectors 26 and 28. A gasket 35 between connectors 26 and 28 aids in maintaining a water tight seal for purposes hereinafter explained.

Although not necessary, quarter stops 36, 37, 38, and 39, best shown in FIG. 3, are useful in preventing the rotation of the male connector 26 with respect to the female connector 28 caused by the rotation of the cam portion 32 of lever cam 31 within indentation 30. The rotation is limited by quarter stops 37-39 in that the cam portion 33 of lever cam 31 connected to the female connector 28 is rotationally stopped by quarter stops 37-39 formed integrally with the male connector 26 and within the annular indentation 30.

A male connector, such as 26, is then secured to one end of each basic building unit 11-22 by threads or other means, and a female connector such as 28 is secured to the remaining end of each basic building unit 11-22 by threads or other means. Thus, connectors 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50, which are similar if not identical to connector 24, interconnect the basic building units 11-22 of FIG. 1 along with connector 24.

As shown in the Figures, the basic building units of the child's building toy of the present invention take the form of elongated members of at least two ends, such as the L shaped unit 17 best seen in FIG. 4 having ends 51 and 52. Each basic building unit includes at least one bend formed therein such as the ninety degree bend 53 in L shaped member 17. Further, each basic building unit includes a male connector attached to one end thereof and a female connector attached to the other end, such as the female connector 54 forming a part of connector 45 on one end of basic building unit 17 of FIG. 4 and male connector 55 attached to the other end of basic building unit 17 of FIG. 4 and forming a part of connector 44.

Another form of basic building unit is the angularized U member best seen in FIG. 6 and designated 58. Angularized U member 58 includes a first leg 60 shown as arranged in upstanding direction and having a female connector 62 threaded or otherwise secured to the uppermost end thereof. The lower end of leg 60 is integrally connected to a horizontally arranged leg 64 which forms a connection between leg 60 and a leg 66 further horizontally arranged at right angles to leg 60 and leg 64 and having a male connector 68 threaded or otherwise secured to the outermost end thereof. As can be seen from FIG. 6, leg 66 can have various angular orientations with respect to legs 60 and 64 other than the right angled orientation shown in solid line, and the term angularized U member is defined for the purposes of this description to include all of these orientations.

An example of the first angularized U member orientation is as shown in solid line in FIG. 6. This orientation is characterized by two legs at right angles to one another, such as leg 60 and 66. A second angularized U member orientation is characterized by two substantially parallel legs arranged in the same direction, such as leg 60 and leg 66a shown in phantom in FIG. 6. A third angularized U member orientation is a variation of the second orientation and is characterized by two substantially parallel legs arranged in the opposite direction, such as leg 60 and leg 66c shown in phantom in FIG. 6. A fourth possible orientation is a variation of the second orientation and is characterized by two legs arranged at substantially right angles, such as leg 60 and leg 66b shown in phantom in FIG. 6.

Thus in FIG. 1, the first orientation is exemplified by basic building units 11, 19, and 21; the second oreintation is exemplified by basic building units 12, 20, and 22; the third orientation is exemplified by basic building unit 14, and the fourth orientation is exemplified by basic building unit 18. The remaining basic building units 13, 15, and 16 are examples of the L shaped basic building unit such as unit 17 shown in FIG. 4.

Each basic building unit 11-22 of FIG. 1 is formed of tubing which may be integral and bent as shown or may be straight pieces interconnected by elbows. Being tubing, each basic building unit includes a hollow formed therein such as to pass water. At least some of the basic building units further include apertures, such as apertures 70 shown in FIG. 4 with respect to L shaped member 17. The apertures 70 provides a fluid connection between the hollow inside of the basic building unit and the exterior and allow water under pressure to be applied to the interconnected arrangement of basic building units, such as that shown in FIG. 1 and issue from the apertures 70 as a spray upon children climbing and otherwise playing with and upon the interconnected arrangement of basic building units.

As shown in FIG. 1, basic building unit 11 includes a connection 72 to a source of water under pressure, not shown, for example a water hydrant. Basic building unit 22 further includes a connection 50 to a hose 74 or other means for providing an exit for the water after it flows through all of the interconnected basic building units of the child's design, an example of which is shown in FIG. 1.

OPERATION

In operating the child's building toy of the present invention, a child is taught to rotate the lever portion 32 of lever cam 31 from the position flat against or parallel to the longitudinal dimension of female connector 28, as shown in FIG. 2, to the furthest angular position to which lever cams 31 will rotate about pin 34, such as the position shown with respect to female connector 56 of FIG. 4. The child is next taught to insert a male connector, such as male connector 55 in FIG. 4, into female connector 56 and rotate lever cams 31 back to their original position flat against or parallel to female connector 56, such as the final position shown in FIG. 5.

The child may select any angular orientation of male connector 55 with respect to female connector 56, and, if used, quarter stops 36-39 will maintain this angular orientation at least within 90.degree.. The child should also be taught that if the cam portion 33 of lever cam 31 appears to be difficult to rotate, the cam portion 33 may be engaging a quarter stop and should be rotated a slight amount further. Being quite thin, quarter stops 37-39 do not seriously interfere with manipulation of the toy by the child.

Therefore, a child may select and choose basic building units to interconnect and construct an interconnected arrangement of basic building units of its own design comprising any number of basic building units to the maximum number available.

After an arrangement is completed, connector 72 may be connected to a source of water under pressure, such as a water hydrant, hose 74 may be connected to safely disperse the water once it has traversed the arrangement of interconnected basic building units, and those basic building units having apertures 70 will provide a spray upon the children climbing and otherwise playing upon and with the interconnected arrangement of basic building units shown.

It may now be appreciated that the child's building toy of the present invention allows the child to use his imagination and construct an arrangement of his own design and thereafter allows the child to play with the arrangement of his own design and derive further satisfaction therefrom.

Also, the basic building units of the present invention may be quickly disassembled, stored or transported to another site, and again quickly made available for the amusement of children.

Thus, since the invention disclosed herein may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or general characteristics thereof, some of which forms have been indicated, the embodiments described herein are to be considered in all respects illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims, rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of the equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A child's building toy, comprising: a plurality of basic building units in the form of hollow elongated members of at least two ends, each of the basic building units having at least one bend formed therein, and a plurality of interfitting male and female connecting members arranged to be connected and disconnected by a child and provide a watertight connection between the basic building units with a male connector attached to one end of each basic building unit and a female connector attached to the other end of each basic building unit to allow a child to interfit the male connector on one basic building unit and the female connector on another basic building unit to construct an interconnected arrangement of basic building units of its own design comprising any number of basic building units to the maximum number available and with at least some of the basic building units including apertures formed therein in a manner to provide fluid communication between the hollow of the basic building unit and the exterior of the basic building unit to allow water under pressure to be applied to the interconnected arrangement of basic building units of a child's design and issue from the apertures as a spray upon children climbing and otherwise playing upon the interconnected arrangement of basic building units.

2. The child's building toy of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of basic building units comprise angularized U members.

3. The child's building toy of claim 2, wherein at least a portion of the angularized U members comprise members having two substantially parallel legs.

4. The child's building toy of claim 3, wherein at least a portion of the angularized U members comprise members having two legs arranged at substantially right angles.

5. The child's building toy of claim 4, wherein at least a portion of the angularized U members comprise members having two substantially parallel legs arranged in the opposite direction.

6. The child's building toy of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of basic building units comprise L-shaped members.

7. The child's building toy of claim 2, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of basic building units comprise L-shaped members.

8. The child's building toy of claim 4, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of basic building units comprise L-shaped members.