A TOY BUILDING SET WITH FLEXIBLE TOY BUILDING SHEET ELEMENT

Abstract: A toy building set comprising a plurality of toy building elements (1, 3) provided with complementary coupling means. At least one of the toy building elements (3) is/are provided with at least one groove (4) provided in an outwardly facing face of the toy building element (3), said groove (4) being able to receive and frictionally secure the edge of a toy building sheet element (5, 5a). The toy building sheet element (5, 5a) is planar with an even thickness that slightly exceeds the narrowest width of the groove (4) in the second toy building element (3), and it is made of a self-supporting, soft, elastically deformable, and form-stable material.

Description: A toy building set with flexible toy building sheet element The invention relates to a toy building set as featured m the introductory part of claim 1. Today, many varieties of toy building sets are known that have the distinguishing feature of containing a number of different toy building elements whereby it is possible to build various structures by interconnection of different toy building elements. Most prior art toy building sets comprise a number of building elements made of a relatively hard plastics material. Typically, the building elements are provided with coupling means, eg studs, on their top face and with coupling means on their bottom face that are complementary to the coupling means arranged on the top face. There are plastics toy building sets wherein some ele- ments have "organic" shapes, le elements that deviate from a purely box-like shape. Such elements, however, are also made of a hard plastics material, and therefore they do not exhibit any flexibility. Toy building sets are also known that comprise metal ele ¬ ments in the form of bars and sheets provided with holes, which elements can be assembled by means of bolts and nuts. In this toy building set there are also thin plas ¬ tics sheets that are also provided with holes and which can therefore be joined with the metal elements by screwing. Depending on the mounting of the plastics sheets, they can be caused to assume organic shapes to allow structures of various appearances. It is a drawback of this building set that the plastics sheets are to be mounted by means of bolts and nuts which makes mounting very cumbersome. Finally, a building system is known from DE 196 42 507 CI that comprises building elements provided with grooves, and other building elements m the form of assembly lists that can be mounted and secured m the grooves. The as ¬ sembly lists are made of a rigid material and have corru ¬ gated edges that impart a securing flexing effect thereto when said edges are mounted m the grooves. The assembly lists being made of a rigid material, they are unable to assume organic shapes. Thus, there is a need for a toy building set comprising sheet elements that can be caused to assume various organic shapes and that can be mounted directly on toy building elements without use of particular assembly means . This is obtained by configuring the toy building set described above with the features given m the characterising part of claim 1. Hereby a toy building set is obtained whereby it is pos- sible to construct organic structures, wherein the toy building sheet elements can be caused to assume an unlimited number of organic shapes depending on the way m which they are mounted m a toy building element featuring a groove or between a plurality of such toy building elements. The thickness of the toy building sheet element slightly exceeding the width of the groove, and it being made of a soft material, the edge of the toy building sheet element can be pressed into the groove and frictionally secured therein, since the material presses on the inside of the groove . If the toy building sheet element is arranged between two toy building elements provided with grooves, it can be caused to assume any organic shape between these toy building elements. When the toy building sheet elements are once again removed from the other toy building ele- ments, it will resume its original planar configuration because it is made of an elastically deformable and form- stable material. Preferably the toy building sheet element is made of a foamed plastics material, eg polystyrene, which imparts a relatively high moment of inertia to the toy building element relative to its weight. This means that a relatively high degree of rigidity will be imparted to the toy building sheet element while, simultaneously, its softness is maintained. In order to make the toy building sheet element more interesting, it may be configured with an organically shaped outer contour. Simultaneously the toy building element featuring a groove can be configured as an upwardly domed cylinder provided with two vertical grooves m two diametrical planes. If a toy building sheet ele ¬ ment with an organically configured outer contour is ar ¬ ranged in such toy building element featuring grooves it is possible to imitate eg trees and bushes. Preferably the grooves have decreasing width from the outer edge of the toy building element and inwards which allows the toy building sheet element to wedge itself securely m the groove. According to a particularly preferred embodiment the cou- pling means of the toy building elements comprise cylindrical coupling studs and coupling means that are complementary therewith. The invention will now be described m closer detail with reference to the drawings, wherein Figure 1 shows a landscape construction wherein a toy building set according to the invention has been used; Figure 2 shows a preferred embodiment of a toy building element provided with grooves for receiving a toy building sheet element; and Figure 3 shows a toy building element known per se and provided with a groove for receiving a toy building sheet element . Figure 1 shows a landscape that has been constructed by means of toy building elements m a toy building set ac- cording to the invention. The toy building set comprises a building plate 1 provided with coupling studs 2. Pref ¬ erably the entire building plate 1 is provided with coupling studs 2, but for the sake of clarity only some of these are shown. Moreover, the toy building set comprises toy building elements 3 that are provided with grooves 4 for receiving the edge of toy building sheet elements 5,5a. On their bottom face, the toy building elements 3 are provided with coupling means that are complementary with the coupling studs 2 on the building plate 1. The building plate 1 and the toy building elements 3 are preferably made of a relatively hard plastics material, as it is generally known in case of toy building sets. In a preferred embodiment, the toy building sheet elements 5,5a are made of a foamed plastics material, eg polystyrene, m order to obtain a sheet which is soft and pliable. Owing to the cell structure the sheet has a relatively high moment of inertia compared to its weight and therefor it appears to be relatively rigid when it is to support its own weight only. However, the material is so pliable that the toy building sheet elements 5,5a can readily be deformed elastically to a desired form, as it is the case eg with the toy building sheet element 5a shown m Figure 1. During construction of the landscape shown m Figure 1, the toy building elements 3 are arranged on the building plate 1 on the desired locations. Then the toy building sheet elements 5,5a are mounted m the grooves m the toy building elements 3 where they are secured frictionally. In the embodiment shown, the toy building sheet elements 5 imitate trees or bushes while the toy building element 5a imitates a hedge. In the embodiment shown the toy building sheet elements 5,5a are green, optionally with patterns painted thereon (not shown) . Figure 2 shows the toy building element 3 m an enlarged scale. The toy building element 3 is configured as an up- wardly domed cylinder, and it is provided with two verti ¬ cal grooves 4 that are situated perpendicular to each other m each their diametrical plane. On its bottom face (not shown) the toy building element 3 is provided with coupling means that are complementary with the coupling studs 2 on the building plate 1 shown m Figure 1. The grooves 4 extend from the top of the toy building element 3 and almost to the bottom 6; however, the bottom 6 being high enough to allow for the presence of the complementary coupling means. Some of these coupling means are constituted by cut-outs 7 that are configured for seizing across the coupling studs 2 on the building plate 1. The grooves 4 are slightly conical, their width being widest at the top of the toy building element 3 and gradually decreasing towards the bottom. At the top of the toy building element 3, the width of the grooves 4 exceeds the thickness of the toy building sheet elements 5,5a which allows for easy introduction of their edges into the grooves 4. At the bottom 6 of the toy building element 3, the width of the grooves 4 is narrower than the thickness of the toy building sheet elements 5, 5a, which permits securing thereof by friction. The toy building sheet elements 5,5a being made of a soft mate ¬ rial allows them to adapt readily to the narrow grooves 4. Mounting of toy building sheet elements 5,5a can be ac ¬ complished by their edges extending through a groove 4 which is situated m the diametrical plane as shown m connection with the toy building sheet elements 5 m Fig- ure 1. Alternatively, the toy building sheet elements 5, 5a can be mounted as shown m connection with the toy building sheet element 5a shown m Figure 1, where it bends, as will appear to the right m the drawing, due to its being pressed down into both grooves 4 of a toy building element 3. Figure 3 shows an alternative embodiment of a toy build- ing element provided with a groove for receiving an edge of a toy building sheet element 5,5a. The toy building element 8 shown m Figure 3 corresponds to commonly known box-shaped toy building elements with coupling studs 2 on the top face and coupling means at the bottom (not shown) that are complementary therewith. Additionally, the toy building element 8 is provided with a groove 9 for receiving an edge of a toy building sheet element 5,5a. Advantageously, the groove 9 can also be slightly wedge- shaped like the grooves 4 in the toy building element 3 to facilitate mounting of the toy building sheet elements 5,5a and to improve the securing by friction. In the examples shown, the toy building sheet elements 5 are shown with organically configured outer contours. However, they could also be configured with regularly shaped contours, eg m the form of rectangles, polygons, circles, etc, without hereby departing from the idea of the invention.

Claims: C l a i m s 1. A toy building element comprising a plurality of toy building elements (1,3,8) provided with complementary coupling means, at least one of said toy building elements (3; 8) having at least one groove (4; 9) provided m an outwardly facing face of the toy building element (3;8), said groove (4;9) being able to receive and frictionally secure the edge of a toy building sheet element (5,5a), c h a r a c t e r i z e d m that the toy building sheet element (5,5a) is planar with an even thickness that slightly exceeds the smallest width of the groove (4; 9) m the second toy building element (3; 8), and that it is manufactured from a self-supporting, soft, elastically pliable, and form-stable material. 2. A toy building set according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d m that the toy building sheet element (5,5a) consists of a foamed plastics material. 3. A toy building set according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d m that the toy building sheet element (5,5a) has an organically configured outer contour . 4. A toy building set according to any one of claims 1-3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d m that the toy building element (3) featuring a groove (4) is configured as an upwardly domed cylinder provided with to vertical grooves (4) m two diametrical planes. 5. A toy building set according to claim 4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d m that the grooves (4) have a de- creasing width from the top of the toy building element and downwards . 6. A toy building set according to any one of claims 1-5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d m that the coupling means comprise cylindrical coupling studs (2) and coupling means that are complementary thereto.

Inventors: ANDERSEN DORTHE KJAERULFF, ANDERSEN, DORTHE, KJAERULFF
Applicants: ANDERSEN DORTHE KJAERULFF, INTERLEGO AG, LEGO AS, ANDERSEN, DORTHE, KJAERULFF, LEGO A/S
Application year: 2000
Main classification: A63H33
IPC codes: A63H33