Panel for toy construction system

A panel for housing a photovoltaic cell or the like, for use in combination with a toy construction set of the type having a plurality of connector elements and rod-like struts engageable with the connector elements has a panel body and a plurality of legs extending from the panel body. The legs are adapted for tight frictional engagement with cavities in the connectors and are located such that the connectors mounted thereon can be interconnected to each other using the connectors and struts so that the panel can be incorporated in an assembly comprised of a combination of the connectors and struts. Outside legs are located near the corners of the panel such that one connector can be used to join two adjacent panels. A pair of inside legs are located near the center of the panel for mounting a center connector. The inside and outside legs are oriented such that connectors mounted to the outside legs can be easily interconnected with each other and with the center connector using the connectors and struts of the toy construction set thereby forming a base for the panel.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is directed to a toy construction system, and in 
particular a panel which may be incorporated in such a toy construction 
system. 
The panel of the present invention is designed to be used with a toy 
construction system comprised of a combination of connector elements and 
structural elements which can be combined in various forms to form 
composite structures. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,061,219, 5,137,486 and 5,199,919 to 
Glickman, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference, 
disclose such a toy construction system. The toy construction system 
includes a plurality of hub-like connector elements and rod-like strut 
elements which can be combined in various forms to create rigid skeletal 
structures. As will be further described below, the connectors of this 
system include gripping arms adapted for lateral, snap-in engagement of 
the struts and include cavities disposed radially around a center hub 
portion between the hub portion and the gripping arms. 
The panel of the present invention is suitable to house a photovoltaic cell 
or solar panel, or the like, and includes legs which are sized and shaped 
for a tight frictional engagement with the cavities of the connectors such 
that the panel can be incorporated in an assembly comprised of the 
connectors and struts. 
The legs are located on the bottom of the panel, one at each corner and two 
near the center. Connector elements can be mounted on the legs in various 
combinations to allow the panel to be incorporated in a larger assembly 
composed of the connectors and struts. The legs located at the four 
corners of the panel are spaced from the sides thereof a distance such 
that one connector can be used to engage the legs of two adjacent panels 
thereby allowing the two panels to be joined together. In addition, the 
center legs and the corner legs are located such that connectors mounted 
thereon can be interconnected by a combination of connector elements and 
strut elements thereby providing a rigid support for the panel. 
The known hub-like connector elements have a plurality of generally 
radially oriented sockets for receiving and lockingly engaging end 
portions of the struts. Specifically, the connectors include a plurality 
of spaced-apart gripping arms disposed radially around a center hub 
portion. The gripping arms define socket-forming recessed adapted for 
lateral snap-in insertion of the struts. Additionally, the end extremities 
of the struts are formed with an annular groove, defining a flanged end 
such that the strut is locked against axial and lateral withdrawal from 
the connector once installed. 
As described in the above-mentioned patents, and specifically U.S. Pat. No. 
5,199,919, the connectors are provided in various configurations including 
a planar "snowflake" configuration having eight sockets disposed radially 
360 degrees around, and equidistant from, a center hub portion. Also 
disclosed is a multiplanar, composite connector formed of two connectors, 
each including a special recess adapted such that the two connectors can 
be assembled in a 90 degree relationship to one another. 
The panel of the present invention is particularly suitable for motorized 
structures composed of assemblies of the connectors and strut elements of 
the toy construction system. The panel can be placed adjacent or mounted 
on such structures and can provide power to the motorized structure with 
an enclosed solar cell, or other power source.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring now to the drawing, and initially to FIG. 1 thereof, the panel 10 
of the present invention can house a power source such as a solar cell 12, 
which can power a motor 14 for use in operating a structure comprised of 
the connectors and struts of the toy construction set described above. The 
panel 10 includes a panel body 16 and a plurality of outside legs 18 
projecting therefrom. 
Referring to FIGS. 2-5, preferably the outside legs 18 are located adjacent 
the corners 26 of the panel body 16 and a pair of inside legs 20 are 
located adjacent the center 22 of the panel body 16. Preferably, the 
inside and outside legs 18, 20 are all of the same length such that the 
panel 10 can be placed on a supporting surface such as a table or the 
like. 
The outside legs 18 are preferably arranged symmetrically about the center 
22 of the panel body 16 and are located substantially equidistant from the 
sides 24 of the corners 26 of the panel body 16. Preferably, the inside 
legs 20 are disposed along the lateral center axis 28 of the panel body 16 
on opposite sides of the longitudinal center axis 30 and are spaced 
substantially equidistant from the longitudinal center axis 30. 
The panel also preferably includes a pair of tubular recesses 31 located on 
the top surface 33 of the panel 10. The tubular recesses 31 are preferably 
sized to frictionally engage a strut element inserted therein such that 
the strut, once inserted, will remain perpendicular to the top surface 33 
of the panel 10. With the insertion of a strut element having a certain 
length, the proper distance between the solar cell 12 and a light source 
such as a light bulb can be easily maintained. 
Referring to FIGS. 6-7, the inside and outside legs 18, 20 are sized and 
shaped for tight frictional engagement with cavities 32 of the connectors 
34 of the toy construction set described above such that the connectors 34 
can be securely mounted on the panel 10 for incorporating the panel in a 
structure formed of an assembly of the connectors 34 and struts 36. The 
outside legs 18 are preferably located such that when a connector 34 is 
mounted thereon, the center of a hub portion 38 thereof is aligned 
adjacent, and preferably directly over, the corner 26 of the panel body 
16. As will be described in detail below, this allows multiple panels 10 
to be joined together by individual connectors 34. 
The inside legs 20 are preferably aligned to engage separate cavities 40, 
42 of the center connector 44 such that the orientation of the center 
connector 44 is fixed relative to the panel body 16. Also, the location of 
the inside legs 20 with respect to the longitudinal and lateral center 
axes 28, 30, described above, provide that the center connector 44 will be 
aligned with the lateral and longitudinal center axes 28, 30 and with the 
center 22 of the panel body 16. 
Furthermore, the inside and outside legs 18, 20 are oriented such that 
connectors mounted thereon can be interconnected by a combination of 
connectors 34 and struts 36, 37 as shown, and such that the connectors 34 
can be interconnected with the center connector 44 by a combination of 
struts 48, 49 and connectors 50 thereby providing a stable base or support 
for the panel 10. 
Preferably, the panel body 16 has a width and a length which are 
substantially equal to integer multiples of a diameter of the connectors 
34. In the embodiment depicted, the panel body 16 has a width equal to 
approximately twice the diameter of a connector 34 and a length equal to 
approximately four times the diameter of a connector 34. These dimensions, 
along with the location of the outside legs 18 adjacent the corners 26 of 
the panel body 16, provide for the interconnectability discussed in the 
previous paragraph, while allowing two adjacent panels to be connected 
together with individual connectors 34 at the corners 26 of the panel body 
16. 
The connector elements have spoke-like radial walls 58 extending outward 
from the hub portion 38 to the gripping arms. The outward ends of adjacent 
radial walls 58 are connected by web sections 60, each of which forms an 
inner wall of one of the socket-forming recesses and forms an outer wall 
of one of the cavities 32. Thus, the cavities 32 are each bounded by the 
hub portion 38, a pair of adjacent radial walls 58 and a web section 60. 
The strut elements are provided in several, predetermined lengths such that 
in a system of "n" different lengths, the length of each strut is 
determined according to the formula: 
EQU L.sub.x =(1.414).sup.(x-1) *D.sub.min -(2*d), where 
L.sub.x =the length of the x.sup.th strut of a series of 1 to "n", 
D.sub.min =the spacing between hub axis of two connector elements joined by 
the shortest strut element of the series, and 
d=the distance from the hub axis to the end wall of the socket-forming 
section. 
Referring to FIG. 8, two panels 10, 110, can be joined together using 
connectors 34, 44, 144 and a strut 58. As discussed above, the outside 
legs 18 are located such that the hub portion 38 of a connector 34 mounted 
thereon is aligned with the corner 26 (hidden) of the panel body 16. In 
this orientation, the connector 34 is also aligned to accept an outside 
leg 118 of the second panel 110 thereby joining the two panels 10, 110 
together in a close abutting relationship. The width dimension of the 
panel body 16 provides that the center connectors 44, 144 can be 
interconnected with a single strut 58 of the toy construction system. The 
panels 10, 110 are shown joined in a side-to-side relationship, however it 
should be appreciated that the configuration and dimensions discussed 
above also provide that the two panels can be similarly joined in an 
end-to-end relationship. 
Referring again to FIG. 7, the panel body 16 includes a recess 52 
intermediate the two inside legs 20 which allows a multiplanar, composite 
connector, such as the center connector 44 depicted, to mount on the panel 
body 16 in such a manner that it is substantially planar with the 
connectors 34 mounted on the outside legs 18. Such a recess 52 is 
beneficial because the multiplanar connector 44 is comprised of two 
portions, one of which extends a short distance below the other. 
Specifically, a first part 54 extends outwardly, perpendicular to the 
panel body 16 and includes a portion which extends below a second part 56. 
In order for the second part 56 to lie in the same plane as the connectors 
34 mounted on the outside legs 18, the bottom of the recess 52 should be 
below the respective bases of the outside legs 18, i.e. below where the 
outside legs 18 meet the panel body 16. The dimensions of the recess can 
vary, however the inside legs 20 are preferably spaced from the recess 52 
such that the bases thereof lie in substantially the same plane as the 
bases of the outside legs thereby providing a stable, aligned abutting 
surface for the connector 44. 
It should be understood, of course, that the specific forms of the 
invention herein illustrated and described are intended to be 
representative only, as certain changes may be made therein without 
departing from the clear teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, 
reference should be made to the following appended claims in determining 
the full scope of the invention.