Patent ID: 7648407
Filing Date: 2010-01-19
Classification: A63H

Abstract:
1. A building element for a set of toy building elements that are capable of being interconnected in a releasable engagement, comprising: a top, a bottom and sidewalls; wherein at least one of the sidewalls includes at least one pair of outwardly extending ridges forming a groove therebetween in the sidewall with an entry opening of a predominant minimum width; wherein at least one of the sidewalls includes at least one outwardly extending tongue having a distal portion of a predominant maximum width that is greater than the predominant minimum width of the groove entry opening for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement within but not extending through a said groove in another said building element; wherein the at least one tongue extends outward beyond a virtual plane of the sidewall that includes the at least one tongue, with said tongue-sidewall virtual plane being defined as a plane that passes through a midpoint of a line that connects a central point on an outer surface of the sidewall that includes the at least one tongue to a central point on an outer surface of the sidewall of the other building element that includes the at least one pair of ridges and is perpendicular to a line that passes through the central points of said interconnected building elements when said building elements are interconnected in a centered configuration; wherein at least one ridge of said at least one pair of ridges extends outward beyond a virtual plane of the sidewall that includes the at least one pair of ridges, with said ridge-sidewall virtual plane being defined as a plane that passes through a midpoint of a line that connects a central point on an outer surface of the sidewall that includes the at least one pair of ridges to a central point on an outer surface of the sidewall of the other building element that includes the at least one tongue and is perpendicular to a line that passes through the central points of said interconnected building elements when said building elements are interconnected in a centered configuration; and wherein the at least one tongue extends outward beyond the tongue-sidewall virtual plane by a lesser distance than the distance by which each ridge of said at least one pair of ridges extends beyond the ridge-sidewall virtual plane.