GB2176125A

GB2176125A - Toys

Info

Publication number: GB2176125A
Application number: GB08613949A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Kenzou Kassai
Original assignee: Aprica Kassai KK
Current assignee: Aprica Kassai KK
Priority date: 1985-06-07
Filing date: 1986-06-09
Publication date: 1986-12-17
Also published as: KR870000088A; FR2582954A1; ES297004Y; IT1204874B; DE3617142A1; IT8620577A0; AU5845586A; GB8613949D0; JPS61284282A; ES297004U

Abstract

A combined toy comprises: a plain base sheet 1 providing a two-dimensional arena for play; a plurality of planar sheet panels 2a-2c, 3a-3e, 4, 5 adapted to be freely placed on the base sheet and so arranged that depictions on at least one of their respective surfaces and their entire contours represent elements of particular scenes, such as roads, flower beds and ponds; a plurality of cubic toys 13, 14, 15, 20 adapted to be freely placed on the base sheet or on the panels and representing particular cubic shapes, such as human beings, animals, trees and fences; and structures 16, 17, 18, 19, 21 formed from building blocks adapted to be assembled on the base sheet or on said panels. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Combined toy Background of the invention Field of the invention This invention relates to a combined toy which comes under the category of building blocks or block toys and which provides a background of play.

Description of the prior art Japanese Utility Model Application Laying-Open Gazette No. 196298/1984 discloses a building block toy comprising building blocks and a panel on which to place them. In this building block toy, the panel has the function of providing a two-dimensional domain for play and has patterns indicated on its face and back, which patterns, when combined with building blocks, represent certain scenes. Thus, when building blocks are placed on the panel in agreement with the patterns indicated on the panel, the planar patterns on the panel harmonize with the cubic form represented by the building blocks, thereby presenting an interesting scene.

According to the prior art described above, the panel, or base, which forms an arena for play, has various patterns fixedly depicted thereon in advance, with the result that when building blocks are to be placed thereon, while building blocks themselves can be combined together freely to some degree, the manner in which they are combined with the base, i.e., at which positions on the base they are to be placed, will be limited.

Children tend to be absorbed in playing in an imaginary world of their own creation. Using combined toys such as building blocks, children build a world or kingdom of their own and break it down and rebuild it, creating a world of dream and fantasy. While it should not be overlooked that in so doing children learn manual dexterity, they also cultivate and emotional faculty for harmony. In other words, using this kind of combined toy, a child remembers the past, re-creates the present and foresees the future, trying to invent various situations.

With such background taken into account, it may be said that a toy to be given to children should preferably be such that it enables them to play with unlimited imagination. Although mention is made of unlimited imagination, a toy which gives no hints about ways of playing would not arose the interest of children of absorb them.

Summary of the invention Accordingly, this invention is intended to provided a combined toy adapted to give children hints about some ways of playing while enabling them to play with unlimited imagination.

This invention is a combined toy comprising a plain base sheet which gives a two-dimensional domain for play, and a plurality of planar panels adapted to be freely placed on said base sheet, each panel having a depiction on at least one surface thereof, which depiction cooperates with the overall contour of the panel to form an element of a particular scene. In that the panels are placed on the base sheet, this combined toy can provide an arena for play using other toys.

Some of the aforesaid panels represent roads, others flower beds and other ponds.

Accordingly to this invention, a two-dimensional domain for play is provided by the base sheet.

Since the base sheet is plain, it is possible for children to freely exercise their imagination to construct various worlds on the base sheet. To construct such imaginative world, a plurality of panels are used for placement on the base sheet.

In what combination panels are to be placed at which positions on the base sheet is quite optional.

Since such base sheet is planar, it may be used to place other toys thereon, and the upper surface of the base sheet together with the upper surfaces of the panels provides an arena for play. Children enjoy setting up any desired situation in this arena as by changing panels. Each panel represents an element of a particular scene, thus giving a child a hint about how to assemble the toy and helping him play with interest; for example, he would place toy vehicles on panels representing roads or place toy dolls beside panels representing flower beds.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized by further including a plurality of cubic toys in the form of cubes adapted to be placed on the base sheet or panels.

The cubic toys may be toy animals or human beings, toy trees representing trees, or toy tables representing tables.

In the aforesaid preferred embodiment, a plurality of cubic toys in the form of particular cubes can be added to the child play. Since the cubic toys can be placed on the base sheet or panels, as desired, free play can be enjoyed by placing cubic toys on or beside the panels. Other toys may be combined with such cubic toys.

Another preferred embodiment of the invention is a combined toy having a block toy adapted to be assembled on the base sheet or panels. As is known in the art, the blocks of a block toy have holes, grooves and projections so that they can be assembled into various forms with some degree of freedom by mechanically combining them together.

In the aforesaid preferred embodiment, the blocks can be assembled into a desired cubic form which may be placed, e.g., on the base sheet. The blocks can be assembled into a desired form and placed at desired positions in connection with the planar presentation provided by the base sheet and panels or the cubic representation provided by the cubic toys. For example, a building may be representing by blocks and placed at the terminal end or along one side of a road represented by panels; a line representing the boundary of the land represented by the base sheet may be represented by blocks; or a vehicle placed on a road represented by panels may be represented by blocks.At any rate, combination of a block toy with the base sheet and panels which provide an arena suitable for playing with unlimited imagination helps children to create various situations, enabling them to undergo various transcendent experiences.

These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an assembled state of a combined toy according to an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view singly showing a base sheet 1 shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing various panels alone placed on the base sheet 1; and Figure 4 is a prespective view showing part of another assembled state.

Description of the preferred embodiments An example of an assembled state of a combined toy according to an embodiment of the invention is shown in a perspective view in Figure 1.

The assembled state shown in Figure 1 is an example only, and the various planar and cubic forms shown therein are represented by articles simply placed on a plain base sheet 1 shown in Figure 2.

The base sheet 1 may be formed, e.g., of a rectangular soft or rigid plastic sheet. The base sheet 1, which provides a two-dimensional arena for play, may be of any desired shape. The base sheet 1 may be formed of a magnetic sheet. The base sheet 1 is coloured typically green to provide an image of turf as a whole.

Looking at the base sheet 1, a child would consider it as an arena for play and imagine a particular scene therein.

Referring to Figure 3, this combined toy includes a plurality of a planar panels 2a-2c, 3a-3e, 4 and 5 having depictions on at least one of their respective surfaces, said depictions cooperating with the contours of the panels to represent particular scenes. These panels are in the form of planar resin sheets, each having a particular depiction given on one surface thereof as by printing. In addition, such depictions are suitably colored, not shown, and may be slightly undulated. All the panels are about 1-2 mm thick The panels 2a-2c are road panels each representing part of a road, and are classified typically into three types. First panels 2a represent straight portions of a road; second panels 2b represent curved portions of a road; and a third panel 2c represents a cruciform intersection of a road.Each of the road panels 2a-2c has a centerline 6 and side strip marks 7 drawn thereon in different colors. These road panels 2a-2c are used to represent various roads by simply placing them on the base sheet 1; for example, they may represent a road shown in Figure- 3.

Panels 3a-3e are flower bed panels representing flower beds. There are five kinds of flower bed panels 3a-3e different in size and shape. Each of the flower bed panels 3a-3e has many flowers 8 drawn thereon, e.g., in yellow, the background of these flowers 8 being green which is thicker than the color of the base sheet 1.

A panel 4 is a pond panel representing a pond, and its periphery being a bank 9 colored green, and the region surrounded by the bank 9 is colored blue, representing a water surface 10. Rocks 11 are drawn at some places, and a bridge 12 extending from a bank 9 toward the center ofthe water surface 10 is also drawn.

A panel 5 is a floor panel which, when a building (Figure 1) is placed therein, represents its floor.

The floor panel 5 is in the form of a single sheet, e.g., rectangular, and has a suitable pattern, such as a checkered pattern, drawn on one surface thereof.

In addition, the aforesaid various panels 2a-2c, 3a-3e, 4 and 5 have suitable depictions given on one of their respective surfaces, but such depictions may be applied to both surfaces, and the -depiction on one surface may be made different from that on the other.

When various panels are placed on the base sheet 1, as shown in Figure 3, there is presented on the base sheet 1 a two-dimensional arena for play using cubic toys.

Figure 1 shows a situation in which cubic toys are placed on the two-dimensional-scene represented on the base sheet 1. In addition, to avoid making the drawings complex, reference characters associated with the various panels shown in Figure 3 are omitted in Figure 1.

Placed on the base sheet 1 or on particular ones of the various panels 2a-2c, 3a-3e, 4 and 5 are cubic toys and a block toy assembled into a suitable form.

Some of the cubic toys ar toy dolls. The toy dolls 13 represent suitable animals or human beings; in the illustrated embodiment, the dolls simulate rabbits.

Among the cubic toys are toy trees 14 representing trees.

A plurality of toy fences 15 representing fences are prepared as cubic toys.

In a block toy, each block has holes, grooves and projections so that blocks can be- joined together form any desired shapes. In Figure 1, such blocks are used to form a building 16, an arch 17 and an automobile 18.

In the assembled state shown in Figure 1, a first toy doll 13 is placed on the road panel 2b, a second one on the bridge 12 over the pond panel 4, and a third one on the automobile 18. Further, a first toy tree 14 is placed intermediate between the building 16 and the flower bed panel 3a and a second one beside the pond panel 4. The toy fences 15 are suitably combined with the block toy and placed to surround almost all periphery of the base 1. The building panel 16 is placed on the floor panel 5 and has its two surfaces contacted by the road panels 2a and 2b. The arch 17 is placed between the toy fences to extend over the road panel 2a. The automobile 18 is placed on the road panel 2a.

It goes without saying that the assembled state shown in Figure 1 is an example only, and various modifications are possible.

For example, Figure 4 shows another form of assembled state established on the base sheet 1 (not shown). In Figure 4, a wall 19 assembled of blocks of a block toy is shown, and the space surrounded by said assembled wall 19 is supposed to be a garden. In this garden, there is disposed a toy table 20 as a cubic toy as well as the aforesaid toy dolls 13 and toy tree 14. Further, a chair 21 is also assembled of blocks.

As best shown in Figure 4, the toy doll 13, which is a kind of cubic toy, is provided with a stand 22 for placing it stably on the plane. Similarly, the toy tree 14 is formed with a stand 23. For example, the stand 22 provided to the doll 13 may be formed with holes or grooves (not shown) on its lower surface for engagement with projections on the blocks of the block toy. This arrangement makes it possible to connect cubic toys, such as the toy doll 13, to blocks which form a block toy. For example, the toy doll 13 placed on the automobile 18 shown in Figure 1 may be considered as connected by said connecting means included in the automobile 18.

In the embodiment described above, the combined toy comprises the base sheet 1, various panels 2a-2c, 3a-3e, 4 and 5, various cubic toys 1315, 19 and 20, and block toy used to construct the building 16; however, even if it comprises the base sheet and panels alone or the base sheet, panels and cubic toys alone, it can be sufficiently enjoyed and, if necessary, may be combined with other toys which the child already has.

Further, by making the ability of block toys to form any desired shapes, the toy fences 15 may be replaced by a block toy to simulate them. Further, the arch 17 represented by a block toy may be replaced by an integrated cubic toy. Such alterations are possible at various places.

The scene created by the combined toy is not limited to the one shown in Figure 1 but depends solely on children's imagination and could, of course, be a zoo or a kindergarten.

If the base sheet 1 is formed of a magnetic sheet, as described above, magnetic material may be contained in various panels and cubic toys for magnetic attraction to the base sheet 1.

Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, the scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A combined toy comprising; a plain base sheet (1) providing a two-dimensional arena for play; and a plurality of planar sheet panels (2a-2c, 3a-3e, 4,5) adapted to be freely placed on said base sheet and so arranged that depictions on at least one of their respective surfaces and their entire contours represent elements of particular scenes; wherein said panels are placed on said base sheet, whereby an arena for play using other toys is presented.

2. A combined toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein said base sheet is colored green.

3. A combined toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein some (2a-2c) of said panels represent part of a road and a continuous road is represented by placing the plurality of road panels.

4. A combined toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein some (3a-3e) of said panels represent flower beds.

5. A combined toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein some (4) of said panels represent ponds.

6. A combined toy comprising; a plain base sheet (1) providing a two-dimensional arena for play; a plurality of planar sheet panels (2a-2c, 3a-3e, 4,5) adapted to be freely placed on said base sheet and so arranged that depictions on at least one of their respective surfaces and their entire contours represent elements of particular scenes; and a plurality of cubic toys (13, 14, 15, 20) adapted to be freely placed on said base sheet or on said panels and representing particular cubic shapes.

7. A combined toy as set forth in claim 6, wherein some of said cubic toys are human beings or animals (13).

8. A combined toy as set forth in claim 6, wherein some of said cubic toys are toy trees (14) representing trees.

9. A combined toy as set forth in claim 6, wherein some of said cubic toys are toy tables (20) representing tables.

10. A combined toy as set forth in claim 6, wherein some of said cubic toys are toy fences (15) representing fences.

11. A combined toy comprising; a plain base sheet (1) providing a two-dimensional arena for play, a plurality of planar sheet panels (2a-2c, 3a-3e, 4,5) adapted to be freely placed on said base sheet and so arranged that depictions on at least one of their respective surfaces and their entire contours represent elements of particular scenes; a plurality of cubic toys (13, 14, 15, 20) adapted to be freely placed on said base sheet or on said panels and representing particular cubic shapes, and block toys (16,17,18,19,21) adapted to be assembled on said base sheet or on said panels.

12. A combined toy as set forth in claim 11, wherein some (15) of said panels represent the floors of buildings constructed using said block toys.

13. A combined toy as set forth in claim 11, wherein some of said cubic toys are toy tables (20) to be arranged inside buildings constructed using said block toys.

14. A combined toy as set forth in claim 11, wherein some (13) of said toy models are connectible to the block (22) of said block toys.

15. A toy comprising a base sheet and a plurality of scenic elements adapted to be placed on the base sheet according to user's choice to create different play scenes.

16. A toy according to claim 15 wherein the scenic elements are substantially planar.

17. A toy according to claim 15 or claim 16 further comprising toy models adapted to be placed on the base sheet and/or the scenic elements,

18. A toy substantially as herein described with reference to, and as illustrated in any one of the accompanying drawings.