Hollow Building Block

Abstract

A hollow building block incorporates separable prismic sections which are hinged together preferably at an intersection of laterally extending block walls and which are attachable not only to one another, but also to other similar block sections. This versatility of attachment employing a snap-type lug and recess arrangement enables the user to create a multitude of other stable block configurations.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to toy building blocks and relates more particularly to a toy building block which can be opened and interconnected with other similar toy building blocks.

2. History of the Prior Art

It has been speculated that toy building blocks have been used by children since before recorded history. Egyptian children likely used small blocks of stone to build small structures in an attempt to imitate the adults who were using larger blocks to construct huge stone structures.

It is known that building blocks were used during the Victorian Era for teaching religious history. The blocks were provided with portions of a picture which cooperated with other blocks having other portions of the picture so that the blocks could be assembled to display an entire religious scene.

In the 19th century, hollow building blocks were used which had recesses or cavities covered with a transparent material such as glass and which contained ornaments, pictures, or other objects which could be seen through the glass.

More recently, building blocks have been invented which are hollow, can be opened and can be interconnected with other similar building blocks. These blocks have a sidewall which is hinged and can be opened to expose the interior of the block. The hinged sidewall can be connected with a sidewall on similar blocks; however, the connection between the hinged sidewall and a sidewall of the other block results in a construction having a thickness at the connection which is double the thickness of either of the unconnected sidewalls. When the hinged sidewall was open, the double thickness at the connection interfered with stacking of the connected blocks. No prior art openable block permitted connection of the open block to another openable block without interference to stacking. In addition, no prior art openable block permitted an open portion of the block to be connected after it was opened to an open portion of another block to form a structure having a shape which was substantially the same shape as the shape of one of the original openable blocks.

Recently, a block was developed which opened along a plane between at least two opposing lateral edges of a prism or edges of a polyhedron, the parting or opening lines of which were hidden by the edges where the plane intersected the edges of the prism or other polyhedron, thus the resulting openable block was more appealing to the eye. This prior art block, however, did not provide for interconnection with other similar blocks to form structures from interconnected blocks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The block herein disclosed similar to the previously discussed prior art block opens along a plane between at least two opposing lateral edges or sidewalls to form at least two polyhedral preferably prismic sections. The block is however provided with a connecting structure which permits interconnection with similar open blocks along the planar area on each prismic section formed by the plane. The connection along the planar area with another prismic section from another block can form a structure having a shape substantially the same as the original block and can form a structure which can be stacked with other unconnected blocks or with other connected blocks. In addition, the connection along the planar area can form symmetrical shapes and the openings into the block along the planar area, if it is hollow, can be closed by the interconnection of blocks.

The unique block likewise provides a novel constructional toy for interconnecting building blocks to form structures. The block, which may permit the formation of either symmetrical or asymmetrical shapes, which may be hollow, yet be closed by interconnection with other blocks and which can be used as regular unconnected building blocks, without external connecting structures is interesting, educational and amusing and therefore meets the requirements of an excellent toy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of the novel toy building block.

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of the opened toy building block.

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view showing two of the toy building blocks with a secondary prismic section of one of the blocks assembled to a secondary prismic section of the other block.

FIG. 4 is a front plan view showing four of the blocks of the invention assembled together to form a hexahedron.

FIG. 5 is a top perspective view of the block shown in FIG. 1 rotated 90.degree. to the right.

FIG. 6 is a top perspective view of the block shown in FIG. 5 with one corner broken away.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the block connection taken along lines 7--7 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 8 is a front perspective view of the inventive toy building block shown in a partially opened position.

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of the block shown in FIG. 2.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In carrying into effect the substance of this invention concept, any polyhedral toy building block may be used which is defined by at least one base and a plurality of connecting sidewalls and is sectioned along a plane passing through at least two opposing sidewalls. Two secondary polyhedral sections will be formed by the sectioning plane and these sections are hinged together along one of the lines defined by the intersection of the sectioning plane with the base or one of the sidewalls so that the toy building block may be opened by pivoting the secondary sections relative to one another about the noted hine. The block may likewise be similarly sectioned by more than one plane and the resulting sections may be attached to each other by more than one hinge.

In accordance with this invention, each of the secondary polyhedral sections is provided with a connecting means that selectively retains the secondary polyhedral sections in a closed position and which is adapted to interconnect with similar mating sections of like polyhedral toy building blocks when each have been opened.

While a toy building block having any polyhedral shape can be made having the majority of advantages taught by this invention a hexahedral shape is preferred due to the regular stacking and connecting features which result. Further, when employing this basic shape the secondary polyhedral sections spoken of may be easily made in prismic form and such form contributes significantly to the advantages of the block as is noted throughout the specification. For example, when a prismic polyhedral shape is used, the sectioning plane may pass through a line formed by the intersection of a pair of the sidewalls of the hexahedron or in other words, a lateral edge thus a parting line between the polyhedral secondary prismic sections is hidden by the lateral edge.

FIG. 1 shows a polyhedral prismic block of the preferred embodiment. The particular block shown in FIG. 1 is a prismic hexahedral block 10 which is cubical in shape, although the particular polyhedral prism could be of any othe shape such as a right triangular prism. The prismic block is defined by two major bases 34 and 35 connected by lateral walls 17, 18, 19 and 20. The intersection of the lateral walls define lateral edges 29, 30, 31 and 32. In the preferred embodiment, block 10 is sectioned along a plane between two opposing lateral edges to form prismic sections 11 and 12. Prismic section 11 is defined by secondary bases 13 and 14, lateral walls 17 and 18 and lateral area 36. Prismic section 12 is defined by secondary bases 15 and 16, lateral walls 19 and 20 and lateral area 37. The intersection of lateral area 36 with lateral walls 17 and 18 form lateral edges 29a and 31a respectively and the intersection of lateral area 37 with lateral walls 19 and 20 form lateral edges 29b and 31b respectively. Lateral edges 31a and 31b are connected by hinge 33 so that the secondary prismic sections 11 and 12 may be separated by pivoting one of the secondary sections about the hinge in relation to the other secondary prismic section. Of course the lateral areas 36, 37 in essence are representative of the sectioning plane spoken of.

In the preferred embodiment, each of the secondary prismic sections is provided with means for securing the secondary sections together along the sectioning plane when the sections are not separated, and for securing each of the secondary sections to a separated secondary prismic section of a similar toy building block. As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 9, the securing means of the preferred embodiment comprises a first pair of separated integral lugs 21 and 22 that form a part of flange 38 that protrudes from lateral area 37 on secondary base 15 of secondary section 12. Similarly, another pair of separated lugs 23 and 24 extend from a flange 39 on secondary base 16 and these lugs 21 - 24 engage matching recesses 25, 26, 27 and 28 on secondary section 11 when said sections are closed one upon the other as is shown in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6.

Likewise, as is best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, either the lugs or the recesses may engage matching recesses or lugs respectively of a secondary prismic section of a similar toy building block to form a combined block shape similar to that of original block 10. Thus, by variously interengaging the secondary prismic sections of the blocks, new innovative block arrangements may be created. The combined hexahedrons of FIG. 4 is an example but interlocking chains and other structures are also easily produced.

FIG. 6 shows a block of the preferred embodiment having a corner broken away which shows the engagement of lugs 21 and 24 with recesses 25 and 28 respectively. FIG. 7 shows an enlarged view of the engagement of a lug (for example 24) from a secondary prismic section of a similar block with recess 25. The locking feature having at least two lugs engaging at least two recesses to form a major base 34 or 35 forms a secure attachment which will not easily wobble after the lugs are snapped into the recesses.

It should also be apparent from the various Figures that the major bases 34, 35 and corresponding secondary bases 13, 14, 15 and 16 included exteriorly exposed ribs 40 between which are located land areas 41 (FIG. 8). The ribs 40 are ideally disposed on a bias with respect to the surface configuration and are of varying heights (each decreasing from that which is thickest--the center-most rib). This will accommodate for any material shrinkage in the event the blocks are molded from plastics materials and will thus assure the creation of substantially flat surface areas which are critical for good stacking characteristics. Similarly, rib width is substantially more than land width so that ne ting is prevented. This also is dictated to produce satisfactory stacking features.

Another significant feature of the invention is the unobtrusive hinge 33. Such is no more than a fine line of material connecting lateral edges 31a and 31b and in effect is lateral edge 31. Unexpectedly no excess of material is needed to produce the hinge and therefore each lateral edge is similar to each other such edge. This, of course, is also significant not only to the esthetics of the blocks, but also to the functional interrelationships therebetween.

The block may be manufactured of any suitable material and is preferably manufactured from a resilient, shape-retaining, plastic material to assist in forming a securing means for holding one secondary prismic section to another which securing means can be easily engaged and disengaged.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. In a prismic toy building block having two opposed base portions and a plurality of interconnected and connecting lateral side walls; said building block being sectioned along a plane defined by two opposed lateral edges, each of said lateral edges being formed by the intersection of a pair of said lateral walls, said sectioning forming first and second prismic sections, that are hinged together along one of said opposed lateral edges so that said toy building block may be opened along said sectioning plane by pivoting said prismic sections about said hinge, the improvement comprising means integral with each of said sections for positively yet releasably securing said first and second prismic sections one with the other along the plane of sectioning, said means further being interengagable between respective first and second prismic sections of additional like blocks to create a combined block shaped similarly to said prismic toy block.

2. The toy building block claimed in claim 1 wherein said securing means comprises a plurality of lugs positioned both proximate said hinge the lateral edge opposing said hinge on one said prismic sections and further including matching recesses on the second of said prismic sections.

3. The toy building block claimed in claim 1 wherein said securing means comprises at least two lugs on said first prismic section and a pair of recesses for accepting said lugs on said second prismic section to which said first prismic section is hinged.

4. The block claimed in claim 1 wherein said block is hollow.

5. The block claimed in claim 4 wherein said block is manufactured of a resilient shape-retaining plastic material.

6. The block claimed in claim 1 wherein said securing means comprises a plurality of lugs positioned along lines defined by the intersection of said plane with said base portions on one of said prismic sections and a plurality of matching recesses positioned along lines defined by the intersection of said plane with said base portions on the other of said prismic sections so that said lugs will snap into said recesses to securely and releasably hold said prismic sections together along said planar areas.

7. A toy building block set incorporating at least two similarly constructed prismic toy building blocks adapted for interconnection one with the other each of said blocks having two opposed base portions and a plurality of interconnected and connecting lateral side walls; said building block being sectioned along a plane defined by two opposed lateral edges, each of said lateral edges being formed by the intersection of a pair of said lateral walls, said sectioning forming first and second prismic sections, that are hinged together along one of said opposed lateral edges so that said toy building block may be opened along said sectioning plane by pivoting said prismic sections about said hinge, the improvement comprising means integral with each of said sections for positively yet releasably securing said first and second prismic sections one with the other along the plane of sectioning, said means further being interengagable between respective first and second prismic sections of additional like blocks to create a combined block shaped similarly to said prismic toy block.