Abstract:
The present invention discloses a toy brick structure, which comprises a box-shaped portion with a plurality of first holding elements formed thereon. The first holding element is composed of four elastic fins. The bottom of box-shaped portion is a hollow, open space with second holding element and third holding element formed therein. The second holding element is composed of four protruding pins, wherein the number and position of said second holding element correspond to the first holding element formed on the box-shaped portion. The third holding element is composed of two holding pins, wherein the third holding element is disposed between two second holding means.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention is generally related to a structure of toy bricks. More particularly, the present invention is related to the structure of toy bricks which can be combined together with the angle of forty-five or ninety degrees. A variety of appearances of the combined toy bricks can be provided by the variety of combinative modes. 
       DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
       [0002]    In general, there is a hollow base formed on a toy brick. The side walls around the toy brick define the hollow base of the toy brick with an open end. There is a certain superstructure formed on the base of the toy brick, and the combinative modes of the toy brick is determined by the configuration of the superstructure. When combining, the base of a toy brick is directly connected to the combination components set on the surfaces of other pieces of toy bricks, and the base of the toy brick is held by the combination components of other pieces of toy bricks and fixed upon the frictional forces between them. In general, the modification or variation of the design of toy bricks elaborated by the toy brick designers is emphasized on the holding means. Without any holding means, the variation of combinative modes between the toy bricks is limited. Further, the spaces inside the hollow base of the toy brick pieces can also be utilized to add certain holding element corresponding to the holding element on their surfaces to get further combinative modes. As illustrated by the  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  of the U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,676, an upper holding element and a bottom holding element of the toy brick are disclosed. The several combinative modes of the toy bricks utilizing the upper and bottom holding element are also showed in the  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4  of the patent. 
         [0003]    The combinative modes of the conventional toy bricks are generally limited to the alignment of the four orthogonal directions by their design of holding means, so the variation of the combinative modes is low. Consequently, several toy bricks which can be combined together beyond the angle of ninety degree are developed by the industry, such as the structure of toy bricks disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,867,784. Their toy bricks can be combined together based on the alignment of the eight directions separated by the angle of forty-five degree, and the holding elements formed on the superstructure of the toy bricks are arranged with symmetrically crossing patterns. Two of the toy brick pieces can be combined together and fixed in eight relative directions which are held between the fins of one toy brick piece and the side walls the bottom of another toy brick piece. Although the novel design of the patented toy bricks provide the combination in eight directions, they did not own any holding element under the bottom of the toy bricks. The combinative modes of the toy bricks are thus limited by only the joint of the bottom walls and the holding element on the superstructure of the toy bricks. Therefore, the present invention provides an improved toy brick structure including novel design of holding element on the bottom of the toy brick for dissolving the problems existed in the prior arts. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The present invention provides a toy brick structure which can be combined together with other identical ones by the angle of forty-five or ninety degrees, while the conventional toy bricks are generally able to be combined together by only the angle of ninety degree. The special holding elements formed on the bottom of the toy bricks of the present invention allow more combinative modes of the toy bricks of the present invention than the prior arts. 
         [0005]    The toy brick structure of the present invention includes a box-shaped portion with a plurality of first holding elements formed thereon. The first holding element is composed of four elastic fins arranged symmetrically with crossing pairs. The bottom of the box-shaped portion includes a hollow open space, and the second holding element and third holding element are formed therein. The second holding element is composed of four protruding pins aligned in the four directions, wherein the number and position of the four protruding pins are corresponding to the first holding element formed on the box-shaped portion. The third holding element is composed of two holding pins and is disposed between every two second holding means. In the combination, the first holding element of the superstructure of the toy brick of the present invention are held by the second holding means, third holding means, and side walls of another identical one for fixing. 
         [0006]    Other combination elements such as slots and tenon joints may be set on the side walls of the toy brick structures, hence lateral combinative modes among the plurality of toy bricks are provided. 
         [0007]    Combination elements such as slots may be set on the upper walls of the toy brick structures for insertion, and further combinative modes are provided. 
         [0008]    In a first aspect of the present invention, a toy brick structure is provided which a plurality of the toy brick pieces can be combined together with the angle of forty-five or ninety degrees; 
         [0009]    In another aspect of the present invention, improved holding elements of the toy bricks are provided, therefore a greater degree of freedom for combinative modes among the toy bricks than the prior art is provided; 
         [0010]    By referring the following description and illustration of the embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying figures, the advantages and the spirit of the present invention can be better understood. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a pictorial view of the upper portion of the toy brick according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a pictorial view of the bottom portion of the toy brick according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 3   a  is a top view of the toy brick according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3   b  is a bottom view of the toy brick according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 4   a  is a top sectional view of the combination of two toy bricks with the angle of ninety degree according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 4   b  is a top sectional view of the combination of two toy bricks with the angle of ninety degree according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4   c  is a top sectional view of the combination of two toy bricks with the angle of ninety degree according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4   d  is a top sectional view of the combination of two toy bricks with the angle of ninety degree according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 5   a  is a top sectional view of the combination of two toy bricks with the angle of forty-five degree according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 5   b  is a top sectional view of the combination of two toy bricks with the angle of forty-five degree according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 5   c  is a top sectional view of the combination of two toy bricks with the angle of forty-five degree according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 5   d  is a top sectional view of the combination of two toy bricks with the angle of forty-five degree according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0023]      FIG. 6   a  is a top sectional view of the combination of a toy bricks of the present invention with a toy brick of prior art according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0024]      FIG. 6   b  is a top sectional view of the combination of a toy bricks of the present invention with a toy brick of prior art according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0025]      FIG. 7   a  is a pictorial view of the lateral combination of two toy bricks via the joint of the tenon joints according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0026]      FIG. 7   b  is a pictorial view of the lateral combination of two toy bricks via the joint of the tenons and grooves according to the embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0027]      FIG. 7   c  is a pictorial view of the combination of a toy brick and a component via upper slot according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0028]    The following description provides the detailed embodiments of the present invention for being thoroughly understood of the embodiments of the present invention. However, it should be apparent to the skills in the art that certain details are not necessary for carrying out the present invention. Further, the jargons or terminologies used in the embodiments of the present invention should be defined by the widest ways. 
         [0029]      FIG. 1  is a pictorial view of the upper portion of the toy brick according to the embodiment of the present invention, and it illustrates the configuration of the upper portion and part of the side portion of the toy brick  100 . As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the toy brick  100  of the present invention includes a box-shaped portion  101  comprising four side walls  103  and an upper wall  105 . The upper wall  105  of the toy brick  100  includes a superstructure which is a configuration on the surface for the purpose of combining together the plurality of toy bricks. In the present invention, the configuration on the surface of the toy brick  100  includes a plurality of first holding element  107  for combining together by frictional holding with other toy bricks via their corresponding holding means.  FIG. 2  is a pictorial view of the bottom portion of the toy brick  100  according to the embodiment of the present invention, and it shows the configuration of the box-shaped portion  101  and part of the side portion of toy brick of the embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the bottom portion of the box-shaped portion  101  includes a hollow open space with the second holding element  109  and the third holding element  111  formed therein. The second holding element  109  and/or the third holding element  111  are utilized to form various combinative modes between other identical toy bricks via the frictional holding with the corresponding first holding element  107  on the upper walls  105  of the other toy bricks. The detailed structures and combinative modes of the second holding element  109  and the third holding element  111  will be introduced and illustrated in the following embodiments. 
         [0030]      FIG. 3   a  and  FIG. 3   b  are the top view and the bottom view of the toy brick according to the embodiment of the present invention. As the square area presented by dashed lines illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the upper wall  105  of the toy brick  100  in the embodiment includes two first holding elements  107  formed simultaneously with the forming of the superstructure of the toy brick  100 . In this embodiment, the two first holding elements  107  are arranged with identical distances d 1 , and each of the first holding element  107  is composed of four fins  113 . The four fins  113  are arranged symmetrically with crossing pairs aligned on the diagonals of the square area represented by dashed lines of the first holding element  107 . The near ends of fins  113  are arranged with the identical distances d 2 , and the far ends of fins  113  are pointed to the four corners around the upper wall  105 , respectively. It should be noticed that the above-mentioned arrangements of the two first holding elements  107  are just for illustration. In other embodiments, there may be two or more first holding element  107  set on the single toy brick  100 , and the first holding element  107  can be arranged in array but not single row or column to increase the variety of the combinative modes of the toy bricks. The configuration of the bottom portion of the toy brick, as shown in  FIG. 3   b , includes the second holding element  109  and the third holding element  111  within the hollow space of the box-shaped portion  101 . In the present invention, the number of the second holding element  109  is identical to the number of the first holding element  107  formed on the upper wall  105 . For example,  FIG. 3   a  shows two first holding elements  113  formed on the toy brick  100 , so that the bottom portion of the toy brick also includes two corresponding second holding elements  109 . Therefore, the more the number of the first holding elements  113 , the more the number of the second holding elements of  109 . Further, the position of the second holding element  109  is also corresponding to the position of the first holding element  113 . For regular geometric combination, both the holding elements are matched with the same center point (i.e., the center point of the square area represented by dashed lines). In the present invention, the second holding elements  109  are composed of four arch protruding pins  115 . As illustrated, the arch protruding pins  115  are arranged in the four directions of up, down, left, and right, and each of the arch protruding pins  115  faces one of the inner walls around the box-shaped portion  101 . Each of the distance between the arch protruding pins  115  and the nearest inner walls is d 3 , and the distance approximates the width of the fins  113  of the first holding element  107  according to this embodiment for appropriate effect of frictional holding. Furthermore, the distance d 4  between every two neighbor protruding pins  115  has to be greater than the width of fins  113  for receiving the fins  113  without shifting. In addition, the third holding elements  111  are arranged between the two second holding means. As showed in  FIG. 3   b , the third holding elements  111  are set on the mid-line of the side walls of the box-shaped portion  101 , and the second holding elements  109  are symmetrically arranged on the both sides. In the present invention, the third holding elements  111  are composed of two curved holding pins  117 . As illustrated, the curved holding pins  117  are arranged in pair, and they face the two longer side walls of the box-shaped portion  101 , respectively. In this embodiment, the width of holding pin  117  approximates the distance d o  between the two neighboring fins  113  of the first holding element  107  illustrated in  FIG. 3   a  for appropriate frictional holding. The distance d 5  between the holding pins  117  and the nearest inner walls approximates to the width of fins  113  of the first holding element  107  for the appropriate frictional holding. The novel holding element set on the toy brick  100 , including the first, the second, and the third holding element  107 ,  109 , and  111 , can carry out more amounts of combinative modes between the toy bricks than the amount prior art can provide. The details of the embodiments will be described bellow. 
         [0031]      FIG. 4   a - 4   d  illustrate the various combinative modes of the toy bricks with the angle of ninety degree according to the embodiment of the present invention. The structure design of the present invention allows two or more toy bricks to be combined together with the angle of ninety degree. As illustrated in  FIG. 4   a , one of the second holding elements  109  on the bottom portion of the toy brick  100   a  is utilized to be frictionally held with one of the first holding elements  107  on the upper portion of the toy brick  100   b.  Two of the fins  113   a  of the illustrated first holding elements  107  are stuck by two corners among the inner walls of the toy brick  100   a,  while other two fins  113   b  are stuck by the middle parts of the inner walls of the toy brick  100   a.  In this exemplary embodiment, the four protruding pins  115  of the second holding element  107  are placed between the two fins  113  and been stuck, so that the toy brick  100   a  will not shift up and down after combining In the other embodiment illustrated by  FIG. 4   b , the third holding element  111  and part of the second holding element  109  on the bottom of the toy brick  100   a  are utilized to be combined with the first holding element  107  on the upper portion toy brick  100   b.  As illustrated, the ends of four fins  113  on the upper wall of toy brick  100   b  will get stuck with the longer inner side walls of the toy brick  100   a,  while the second holding element  109  and the third holding element  111  of the toy brick  100   b  will be placed and stuck between the four fins  113  of toy brick  100   a,  so that the toy brick  100   a  will not shift up and down after combining A further embodiment is illustrated in  FIG. 4   c , the third holding element  111  of the toy brick  100   a  will be closely jointed with the fins  113 . Credited to the joint among the far ends of fins  113  and the inner walls of toy brick  100   a,  the toy bricks are combined together and fixed. A still further embodiment is illustrated in  FIG. 4   d , the far ends of the fins  113  are stuck with the third holding element  111  of the toy brick  100   a,  and the toy brick  100   a  is fixed. 
         [0032]    The foregoing  FIG. 4   a - 4   d  illustrate various combinative modes of two toy bricks with the angle of ninety degree, and the following  FIG. 5   a - 5   d  illustrate embodiment of the various combinative modes of two toy bricks with the angle of forty-five degree.  FIG. 5   a  illustrates the combination between toy brick  100   a  and toy brick  100   b  via the frictional holding between inner walls and two protruding pins of toy brick  100   a  and two fins  113   a  of toy brick  100   b,  and the fixing effect is provided by the joint of outer walls of toy brick  100   a  and the two fins  113   b  of toy brick  100   b.  In  FIG. 5   b , the frictional holding is generated between the inner walls, protruding pins  115 , and a holding pin  117  of the toy brick  100   a  and the fins  113   a  of the toy brick  100   b,  and the fixing effect is provided by the joint of outer walls of toy brick  100   a  and a fin  113   b  of toy brick  100   b.  In  FIG. 5   c , the frictional holding is generated between the inner walls and two holding pins  117  of the toy brick  100   a  and the two fins  113   a  of the toy brick  100   b,  respectively, and the fixing effect is provided by the insertion of the other two fins  113   b  of the toy brick  100   b  into the two second holding elements  109  of the toy brick  100   a.  In  FIG. 5   d , the holding is generated between the three fins  113   a  of the toy brick  100   b  and the side walls, holding pins  117 , and second holding element  109  of the toy brick  100   a,  while another fin  113   b  is inserted into the second holding elements  109  of the toy brick  100   a.  The illustrations of the embodiment in  FIG. 5   a - 5   d  describe the combinative modes of the toy bricks of the present invention with the angle of forty-five degree. The combination of the toy bricks provided by the present invention includes further combinative modes and appearances which can not be achieved by the prior arts, since the toy bricks of the present invention own the novel second holding element  109  and the third holding element  111 . 
         [0033]    The above-mentioned design of toy bricks allows the toy bricks of the present invention to be combined together with the identical ones and be combined together with the toy bricks provided by prior arts, and the application is widely broadened.  FIGS. 6   a  and  6   b  illustrates the schematic diagrams of the combination between the toy bricks  116  of the present invention and the conventional toy brick  118  with the angle of ninety degree. As illustrated, there are eight round tenons  120  formed on the upper portion of the conventional toy brick  118 , and these tenons  120  are arranged in arrays with the identical distance d 6 . Combined with the angle of ninety degree as illustrated in  FIG. 6   a , the protruding pins  115  of the second holding element  109  on the bottom of the toy brick  116  of the present invention will be inserted into the two tenons  120 , and the effect of frictional holding is achieved. The width of the protruding pin  115  approximates to the distance d 6  between tenons  120 . For better effect of fixing, blades  122  can be formed on the corner of the inner side walls of the toy brick  116 . One end of the tenon  120  of the toy brick  118  is intended to be stuck by the two protruding pins, and the other end of the tenon  120  is stuck by a blade  122 . Via the holding provided among the tenons  120 , protruding pins  115 , and blades  122 , the toy brick  116  of the present invention can be combined with the conventional toy brick  118  with any orthogonal angels (including vertical and horizontal directions).  FIG. 6   b  illustrates another combinative mode of the present invention. In this embodiment, the effect of fixing is achieved by the holding between the toy brick  116  and the two tenons  120 . 
         [0034]    In other embodiments, there are other various elements can be formed on the surface in addition to the first holding element  107  for providing other various combinative modes. As illustrated in  FIG. 7   a , it illustrates the exemplary embodiment of the lateral combination of two toy bricks  100   a  and  100   b  via their slots and tenon joints. As illustrated, there are two slots  119  formed on the two longer side walls of both the toy bricks  100   a  and  100   b,  and the slots  119  cross through the longer side wall  103   a  for connecting with the slot (not shown) on the other longer side wall. In this embodiment, the tenon joint  121  is a cylindrical component with the flanges  121   b  on the two ends and the mid-position, and its length is the sum of the width of toy brick  100   a  and  100   b.  When inserting the tenon joints  121  into the corresponding slots  119  on the two toy bricks, the flanges  121   b  on the tenon joints  121  are engaged with the grooves on the slots  119  of the toy bricks for fixing. As illustrated in the right part of  FIG. 7   a , the longer side walls of the toy bricks will contact with each other, and the end walls  103   a  are arranged in alignment with each other. The plurality of toy bricks can be lateral combined via the design of the tenon joints  121  and slots  119  for providing more combinative modes. In other embodiments, the tenons  124  and slots (not shown) can be further formed on the longer side walls of the toy bricks  100   a  and  100   b  for combination. Via the engagement of the tenons and slots of the two toy bricks, the toy bricks can be lateral combined without above-mentioned additional tenon joints  121 . 
         [0035]    Further, other slots can also be formed on the upper walls of the toy bricks for further combinative modes. As illustrated in  FIG. 7   c , there is a slot  123  formed between the two first holding elements  107  of the toy brick. Being similar to slot  119 , there are also grooves formed of the slot  123  for engaging with other tenon joints. As illustrated in  FIG. 7   c , a flag type insert  125  is inserted into the slot  123  for engagement, and thus further combinative modes are provided via the design on the upper portion of the toy brick. The insert  125  can be implemented as any type of accessories of toy bricks such as flag, number, and/or holder type accessories or appearances for providing more combinative modes. 
         [0036]    The detailed description of the present invention is not for the purpose of limit. Within the spirit and the scope of the present invention, several modification and variation related to the description and illustration of the specification can be allowed. And thus, the scope of the present invention is intended to be defined by the following claims and the equivalents with the possible modification and variation.