WO2005005008A1

WO2005005008A1 - An assembling block

Info

Publication number: WO2005005008A1
Application number: PCT/KR2004/001724
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kwan-Young Kim
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-07-11
Filing date: 2004-07-12
Publication date: 2005-01-20
Anticipated expiration: 2006-01-11

Abstract

The present invention is related to an assembling block which can be assembled in cubic and deverse forms. The present aseembling block has several connection parts in diverse dierections and therefore, it can be assembled in cubic forms forming X, Y and Z axis unlike the conventional block assembled only to a plane form of X and Y axis.

Description

AN ASSEMBLING BLOCK

Technical Field The present invention relates to an assembling toy block, in which a female coupler and a male coupler are assembled and connected in a chain-like fashion. Particularly, the invention relates to such an assembling toy block, in which the couplers are simply structured and can be easily assembled into various shapes, thereby reducing manufacturing cost and molding tolerance range.

Background Art As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, a conventional block is composed of a male coupler 100 and a female coupler 200, which are integrally formed with each other. The male coupler 100 has a rotating groove 101, and the female coupler 200 has two coupling pieces 201 and 202, which are spaced apart from each other to an extent for the male coupler to be inserted. When inserted, a rotating projection 201a, 202a formed at the inner side of the coupling piece 201, 202 is inserted rotatably into the rotating groove 101 of the male coupler 100. Therefore, these shapes of blocks are assembled only by inserting and engaging the male coupler 100 between the coupling pieces 201, 202 of the female coupler 200. The assembled block is freely rotatable within a certain angle range when assembled, thereby enabling to be assembled into a two-dimensional shape having X and Y axes . However, since this type of assembling is not able to construct various shapes, attempts have been made to provide an assembling block which can be assembled into three-dimensional shapes having X, Y and Z axes. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 13 or 15, blocks having coupling directions of X, Y and Z axes have been proposed, wherein a male coupler 100 and a female coupler 200 are formed selectively in each direction, thereby enabling to be assembled into a three-dimensional form having X, Y and Z axes.

Disclosure of Invention However, in order to provide these shapes of blocks, a separate die is required for every shape of blocks, which leads to a high manufacturing cost . Since these blocks are fabricated by an injection moulding process, they are loosened or tightened when assembled, due to a minute change of contraction and expansion according to an injection condition, thereby making their easy assembling and disassembling impossible. Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problem. According to the invention, a female coupler or a male coupler can be perpendicularly coupled to between two coupling pieces forming another female coupler such that the male and female couplers can be assembled into a three-dimensional block having X, Y and Z axes. Thus, all the conventional three-dimemsional shape of blocks can be constructed by using only these types of assmebling toy blocks of the invention. According to the invention, various three-dimensional blocks can be assembled by using only three types of assembling blocks. Therefore, it can significantly reduce the number of dies, which may be needed to fabricate each type of conventional assembling block requied for assembling a three-dimensional block.

Brief Description of Drawings Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an assembling toy block according to one embodiment of the invention; FIG. 2 is an assembled perspective view of the assembling toy block of FIG.l; FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of an assembling toy block having a female coupler and a male coupler; FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of an assembling toy block having a coupling projection formed in a female coupler; FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of an assembling toy block having a coupling projection formed in a male coupler; FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an assembling toy block of the present invention assembled into an L-shaped form; FIG. 8 is a perspective showing an assembling toy block of the present invention assembled into a T-shaped form; FIG. 9 is another perspective view showing an assembling toy block of the present invention assembled into a T-shaped form; FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of a rotating hole; FIGS. 11 and 12 are exploded perspective views showing an assembling construction of a conventional block; FIGS. 13 to 15 are perspective views of a conventional block for constructing a three-dimensional shape. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention The preferred embodiments of the invention will be hereafter described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, reference numerals for symmetrical components are omitted in the description of each drawing. As shown in FIG. 1 to 10, the invention relates to an assembling toy block, in which a male coupler is connected to a female coupler of another block. The assembling toy block of the invention is composed of a first block 1, a second block 2 and a third block 3. The first block 1 again comprises a male coupler 10 and a female coupler 20. The female coupler 20 has a coupling piece 21 formed at both side ends thereof, and a coupling recess 23 having a rotating hole 22 is formed in the center of the outer face of the coupling piece 21. The male coupler 10 has a rotating projection rim 11, which is inserted into the rotating hole 22 when being assembled. The second block 2 comprises a female coupler 20a having a coupling projection 30 to be inserted into the coupling recess 23 of the first block 1. The third block 3 comprises a male coupler 10a having a coupling projection 40 to be inserted into the coupling recess 23 of the first block 1. The first block 1 is coupled with the second block 2 or the third block 3, thereby enabling a three-dimensional assembling in directions of X, Y and Z axes. Here, as shown in FIG. 9, the above-mentioned coupling projection 30 is formed only at one side of the female coupler

20a or the male coupler 10a, and the coupling recess 23 is allowed to provide various designs of blocks according to the shape of a joining face 31 formed in the coupling projection 30. In addition, material saving grooves 40, 40a for saving a raw material and also preventing a shape distortion are formed in the blocks of the present invention. These material saving grooves 40, 40a are formed in a direction in which they can be molded concurrently when the molding die approaches and retracts, thereby minimizing the die cost for injection-molding the blocks of the invention. That is, as shown in FIG. 4 or 6, a block of the present invention is formed in a plane structure having only X and Y axes, so that it can be fabricated by a die aproaching only in two directions of X and Y axes. Therefore, the material saving grooves 40, 40a are formed in the same direction as the approaching direction of the die. On the other hand, in order to easily assemble and disassemble the male coupler 10 and the female coupler 20, the assembling toy block of the present invention has V-shaped grooves 11a, 12a and a catching projection 21a. The V-shaped grooves 11a, 12a are formed, on the same line, in a circumference projection rim 12 and a rotating projection rim 11 of the male coupler 10. The catching projection 21a caught by the each V-shaped groove 12a is formed at the front-end part of the inner side face of the coupling piece 21 of the female couplers 20, 20a. Here, a plurality of the V-shaped grooves 12a are formed in certain angular intervals in the circumference projection rim 12 of the male coupler 10, 10a, so that a rotating angle can be controlled when coupled, and a cheerful sound can be produced when rotated. In addition, various shapes of reinforcing portions 23a, 30a may be formed at the inner side face of the coupling recess 23 or in the outer side face of the coupling projection, so that a free pulling-out of the coupling projection 30 from the coupling recess 23 can be avoided. In addition, an inner wall 22a at the rotating hole 22 of the coupling recess 23 has a thickness to the extent that the rotating projecting rim 11 is not projected out of the rotating hole 22. If the rotating projection rim 11 is projected out of the rotating hole 22, the coupling projection 30 is not completley inserted into the coupling recess 23 by the projected-out height, and consequently the assembled state of a block is not stable and also the assembled block can be easily separated. Thus, the assembling toy block of the invention has the coupling recess 23 formed at the outer side of the coupling piece 21 of the female coupler 20, 20a and the coupling projection 30 to be inserted into the coupling recess 23. This is, the assembling toy block of the invention has an X and Y- plane structure having a coupling means in the Z-direction and thus can be assembled into a three-dimensional structure. Therefore, the assembling toy block of the present invention can be assembled in the following manners. As shown in FIG. 7, when the third block 3 having the male coupler 10a with the coupling projection 30 is coupled to the female coupler 10 of the first block 1, which is composed of the female coupler 10 and the male coupler 20, it results in a block having the same shape as the conventional L-shaped block. As shown in FIG. 8, the third block 3 having the male coupler 10a can be coupled to the both sides of the above-mentioned first block 1, thereby allowing for making a block having the same shape as the conventional T-shaped block. As shown in FIG. 9, the third block 3 having the male coupler 10a may be coupled to one side of the above-mentioned first block 1, and the second block 2 having the female coupler 20a may be coupled to the other side of the first block 1. Therefore, a block having another form of coupling mean can be made, which has the same shape as a conventional T-shaped block. In addition, a block having a plurality of coupling means in one direction can be assembled, as shown in FIG. 8. Thus, as described above, the assembling toy block of the invention can be assembled into any conventional block having various shapes . Furthermore, in the present invention the rotating hole 22 is illustrated as a hole formed in the center of the coupling recess 23, but various other types may be proposed in order to ensure a rotatability by inserting the rotating projection rim 11 into a rotating hole 22. For example, a bent projection piece 24 may be formed at the inner side of the coupling recess 23, as shown in FIG. 10. The bent projection piece 24 allows the shape of the joining face 31 of the coupling projection 30 to be changed, thereby resulting in a light weight of the blocks and also a firm assembling thereof.

Disclosed is an assembling toy block where a male coupler is inserted into a female coupler of another block. The assembling toy block comprises a male coupler having a rotating projection rim, and a female coupler having a coupling recess formed in the center of an outer face of a coupling piece. The coupling recess has a rotating hole formed therein. The rotating projection rim is inserted into the rotating hole of the female coupler. The male coupler may have a coupling projection formed rearward thereof, which is inserted into a coupling recess of a female coupler. Also, the female coupler may have the coupling projection formed rearward of the coupling piece thereof, which is inserted into the coupling recess of the female coupler.

Industrial Applicability As described above, various three-dimensional blocks can be assembled by using only three types of assembling blocks.

Therefore, the present invention can significantly reduce the number of dies, which may be needed to fabricate each type of conventional assembling block requied for assembling a three- dimensional block. While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Claims

What Is Claimed Is:

1. An assembling toy block where a male coupler is inserted into a female coupler of another block, the assembling toy block comprising: a male coupler 10 having a rotating projection rim 11, and a female coupler 20 having a coupling recess 23 formed in the center of an outer face of a coupling piece 21, the coupling recess having a rotating hole 22 formed therein; wherein the rotating projection rim 11 is inserted into the rotating hole 22 of the female coupler.

2. An assembling toy block wherein a coupling projection 30 formed rearward of a male coupler 10 is inserted into a coupling recess 23 of a female coupler 20.

3. An assembling toy block wherein a coupling projection 30 formed rearward of a coupling piece 21 of a female coupler 20 is inserted into a coupling recess 23 of a female coupler 20.

4. An assembling toy block according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a V-shaped groove 11a is formed in a circumference projection rim 12 and the rotating projection rim 11 of the male coupler 10, and a catching projection 21a is formed in the coupling piece 21 of the female coupler, the catching projection 21a being inserted into the V-shaped groove 11a.

5. An assembling toy block according to claim 1 or 3 , wherein a reinforcing portion for preventing a free pulling-out of the coupling projection 30 from the coupling recess 22 is formed either at the inner side face of the coupling recess 22 or the outer side face of the coupling projection 30.

6. An assembling toy block according to claim 1 or 3 , wherein the rotating hole 22a of the coupling recess 22 has a thickness to an extent that the rotating projecting rim 11 can be prevented from being projected out.

7. An assembling toy block according to claim 1 or claim 3, wherein the rotating hole is composed of a bent projection piece 24.