Appendices
Lego Patent
[Two Pictures]
G. K.
CHRISTIANSEN 3,005,282
TOY
BUILDING BRICK Oct. 24, 1961
2 Sheets-
Sheet 1 Filed July 28, 1958 I FIG.2.
2 ,,2|\\ I
5 I2 I I j INVENTOR Godrfred Kirk Christiunsen ATTORNEYS United States Patent
3,00 ,2 a v TOY BUILDING BRICK Godti'red Kirk Christiansen, Biilund, Denmark,
assignor to Interlego A.G., Zug', Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland
Filed July 28, 1958, Ser. No. 751,387
Claims
priority, application Denmark Jan. 28, 1958 7 Claims.- (Cl. 46-45)
This
invention relates to toy building elements and more particularly to toy
building bricks or blocks adapted to be connected together by means of
projections extending from the faces of the elements and arranged so as to
engage protruding portions of an adjacent element when two such elements are
assembled.
Toy
elements of this kind will be referred to generally as building bricks, and the
principal object of the invention is to provide improved coupling means for
clamping such building bricks together in any desired relative position thus
providing for a vast variety' of combinations of the bricks for making toy
structures of many different kinds and shapes.
Fundamentally,
a toy building element according to the invention comprises a base plate
provided with projections at either face thereof, the projections at one face
being arranged in such a manner relatively to the projections at the other face
that the distance between a pair of projections at one face of the base plate
is equal to the maximum of the projections at the other face oi the base plate.
H
Other
embodiments of the invention, including building blocks in the shape of a
rectangular parallelepiped of a hollow construction having one open face, will
be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a
view of a toy brick of the basic type comprising a base plate provided with
projections at both faces.
FIGURE 2 is
a plan view in the direction of the open face of a preferred embodiment of the
invention in the form of a building block in the shape of a rectangular
parallelepiped of hollow construction with one open face and four side walls;
FIGURE 3
shows a section of the block shown in FIGURE 2, along the line 33' in the
direction of the arrows;
FIGURE 4
illustrates the assembly of two blocks displaced relative to one another in the
lengthwise direction thereof,
FIGURE 5
shows a section of the coupled blocks 2, 2a taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4
looking in the direction of the arrows;
FIGURE 6 is
a view wherein the two blocks are laterally displaced relative to one another;
FIGURE 7
shows a section of the coupled blocks 2, 2:; along the line 7-7 of FIGURE 6
looking in the direction of the arrows;
FIGURE 8 is
a plan view showing a block similar to those illustrated in FIGURES 2-7, but
having only two internal projections;
FIGURE 9 is
a modification of the block shown in FIGURE 8;
FIGURES 10
and 11 show further modifications of the block shown in FIGURE 8;
FIGURE 12
is a view of a block comprising a square base plate with four projections at
the external face, one corner being cut away to show the internal projection.
The base
plate, constituting the fundamental element of the brick, is generally
designated by 1, the projections extending from one face of the base plate are
hereinafter referred to as the primary projections 21, and the projections at
the other face are referred to as the sec- 3,005,282 Patented Oct. 24, 1961 2
ondary projections 22. In the embodiments of FIGS. 2-12., where in the base
plate 10 is provided with side walls 11 and end walls 12, so as to constitute a
hollow block open at one face, the primary projections are located at the
external face of the bottom formed by the base plate 10, and the secondary
projections 22 are locar d in the cavity of the hollow block.
In the plan
views, FIGURES 2, 8, 9,. 10 and 11, the primary projections 21 on the outer
face of the base are indicated by the smaller circles in broken lines. Each of
the secondary projections touches the geometrically projected cross sections of
four primary projections. Likewise the geometrically projected cross-section of
each primary projection is tangent to at least one secondary projection and the
inner face of at least one of the side or end walls.
The primary
projections 21- are arranged in two rows parallel to the long edges of the
rectangular base 10, and a standard set of bricks generally comprises units
having four, six, and eight primary projections, although the invention is
naturally not limited to the use of such standard units, but also comprises
base plates having a large number of primary projections 2' 1; Bricks provided
with primary projections arranged in this manner are well-known per se.
It is also
well-known to provide hollow building blocks with internal projections located
in the cavity, but in the previously known blocks of this type the internal
projections are arranged co-axially with the primary projections. H
In
contradiction to prior art, however, the secondary projections 22 according to
this invention are arranged co-axially with the center of a square defined by
four primary projections 21, the cross section of the secondary projections 22
being defined such a manner that it touches the cross sections of the four
primary projections defining said square when said cross sections are
geometrically projected normal to the bottom wall.
Preferably,
both the primary and the secondary projections are of cylindrical shape, and
the circular cross section of the secondary projections s will thus touch the
four circular cross sections of the primary projections 21. v V V In the embodiments
shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, g and 12 the secondary projections 22 are
of tubular shape, having a cylindrical cavity therein as shown more clearly in
the sectional views, FIGURES 3, 5, 7 and 12. Other cross sections may, however,
be used as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10', where the secondary projections are
cross-shaped, or they may have any other symmetrical cross section provided
that the contour of the cross section is shaped so as to contact the circular
cross sections of four primary projections as shown by way of example in FIGURE
11. The secondary projections may be provided with longitudinal slits 18, as
shown in FIGS. 8, 10 and 11, to increase the clamping effect of said
projections, when interlocked with four primary projections of an adjacent
brick.
This
particular disposition of the secondary projections relative to the primary
projections which is the essential feature of the invention provides for a vast
number of possible combinations of adjacent bricks.
Although
the clamping effect used for assembling a pair of adjacent bricks by engaging
the secondary projections of one brick with four primary projections of the
other brick is, fundamentally, independent of the presence of the side and end
walls 11 and 12, the bricks according to the invention will preferably be
provided with said walls so as to constitute hollow blocks of brick-like
appearance, and the figures illustrating the assembly of two elements therefore
show such blocks.
In the
preferred embodiments the height of the secondary projections is equal to the
depth of the cavity 15, and these projections will then co-operate both with
the primary projections 21 of the adjacent block and with the inner faces of
the side or end walls thereof as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6.
The blocks shown
in FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 are provided with only two internal projections, but
otherwise their construction and function are the same as in the case of FIGS.
2-7.
In FIG. 9
the cross-shaped secondary projections are designated by 23, and in FIG. 10 the
corresponding secondary projections which are also substantially crossshaped
are designated by 24. These secondary project ions are those of FIG. 11, which
are designated by 25,
V
co-operate with the primary projections 21 of an adjacent element in
substantially the same manner as described with reference to the tubular
projections of FIGS. 1-7. 7
Thus, any
of the elements illustrated in FIGS. 2-11 may be combined with any other
element in any desired relative position either by clamping one or more
secondary projections of one element between four primary projections of the
adjacent element or by clamping a pair of primary projections of one element
between one secondary projection and the inner face of an end or side wall of
the other element.
1 In the
building block shown in FIG. 12 having a square bottom provided with-four
external primary projections 21, an opening 27 in the base 10 is aligned with
the cavity of the tubular secondary projection, thereby providing for the
insertion of a cylindrical connecting member, not shown, extending through the
block co-axially with the centrally positioned secondary projection.
I claim: 1
1
1. In a toy
building set, a hollow building block of rectangular parallelepiped shape
comprising a bottom and four side walls, at least four cylindrical projections
extending normally outwardly from said bottom and arranged in two rows of
opposed projections to define a square, a tubular projection extending normally
from the inner face of said bottom, and parallel to said side walls, the
longitudinal axis of said tubular projection passing through the center of said
square, and the peripheries of said cylindrical projections contacting said
tubular projection and at least one side wall when said peripheries are
geometrically projected normally to said bottom, whereby the cylindrical
projections on one of said blocks may be inserted into clamping engagement with
a tubular projection and a wall of another of said blocks.
2. A
building block as set forth in claim 1, wherein the inside diameter of said
tubular projection is equal to the diameter of said cylindrical projections.
3. In a toy
building set, a pair of identical building blocks each comprising a hollow
parallelopiped body 'open at one face and having a bottom and four side Walls,
primary projections extending normally outwardly from said bottom and arranged
in two rows of opposed projections so that two adjacent pairs of said primary
projections in each of said rows define a square, and at least one secondary
projection on said bottom within the cavity coaxial with the center of one of
said squares, the position of said primary projections relative to the walls
and the secondary projection being such that a pair of primary projections of
one block are clamped between at least one side wall and at least one secondary
projection of the other block when said pair of identical blocks are assembled
by inserting at least two primary projections of one block into the cavity of
the other block.
4. A toy
building block having a bottom wall, straight side Walls each having an inner
surface, said walls encompassing the inner face of said bottom wall, at least
two identical primary protuberances extending from the outer face of said
bottom wall, at least one secondary protuberance extending from said inner face
of said bottom wall and presenting a surface within the region encompassed by
the inner surfaces of said side walls, a geometric projection of the
peripheries of said primary protuberances normal to the inner face of said
bottom wall each being in tangential contact with said surfaces at three
points, at least one of said points of contact being with the surface of said
secondary protuberance, said tangential contact producing a clamping effect
when a primary protuberance of another such block engages the said surfaces.
5. A toy
building block according to claim 4 in which the block has eight primary
protuberances and three secondary protuberances.
6. A toy
building block according to claim 4 in which the secondary protuberances are
cross-shaped.
7. A toy
building block according to claim 5 in which the protuberances are circular in
cross-section.
Disclaimer
3,005,282.Gocltfred Kirk Chflstiansen, Billund, Denmark. TOY BUILDING BRICK.
Patent dated Oct. 24;, 1961. Disclaimer filed Mar. 31, 1978, by the assignee, I
mew-Z690 AG. Hereby enters this disclaimer to claims 1, 2 and 3 of said patent.
[Ofiicial Gazette May 25, 1.978.]
