Abstract:
A self-retaining structural support fastener that grips a portion of rigid tile material and aligns the tile material in a planar direction to form structures. The invention more specifically relates to a plastic, acrylic, rubber or polymeric clip that is formed in U, T, X, I or L shapes and provides for an attachment of one or more clips together to form fasteners of various shapes in various planar directions, the fasteners to be used to fabricate multi-dimensional representative environmental constructs that simulate modular, multilevel structures and man-made and natural environments.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a self-retaining structural support fastener or clip that grips and secures a rigid generally planar material aligning and connecting the rigid material in a desired position relative to other rigid materials to build a desired structure or environment. The invention more specifically relates to a plastic, acrylic, rubber or polymeric fastener that is formed in U, T, X, I, L or other angular shapes and also provides for an attachment of one or more fasteners together to form more complex fasteners to fabricate multi-dimensional representative environmental constructs that simulate modular, multilevel structures and man-made and natural environments. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The use of plastic or metal fasteners to secure, hold, align or group tiles of material such as paper, plastic, cardboard or wood is well known. The fasteners may be formed in various shapes having support legs that extend from a hinged common point to a barb or nub that grips around the sheet of material. These fasteners or clips are commonly in sizes that range from 2 mm to 4 mm (0.08″ to 0.16″) and may provide partial structural support with increased support requiring more fasteners to be used to increase rigidity. The fasteners may be shape in U, T or L shapes to align, hold or secure one or more tiles in a perpendicular or parallel direction. 
         [0003]    A drawback with many fasteners is the inability to modify the planar direction of a fastener relative to another fastener. The present invention overcomes this issue by creating fasteners which combine with one or more other fasteners to create angular or multi-directional fasteners capable of supporting one or more tiles or tiles of material in one or more planar directions. A need exists for a structurally superior fastener that provides for simple and complex structural support with a minimal number of fasteners and facilitates combination and connection of the fasteners themselves to allow modification of the relative planar direction between fasteners and arrangement of supported tiles in a plurality of various planar directions. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The present invention relates to a structural support fastener formed from plastic, acrylic, rubber or other polymer which is provided with an inherent elastic bias and frictional gripping capability to engage a generally planar tile piece. The fastener has a pair of opposing support legs extending from a hub and one or more gripping teeth formed at the free ends of at least one of the support legs to facilitate engagement with a tile piece. The opposing support legs and teeth define a jaw into which the tile piece is inserted. The opposing support legs, and hence the jaw, is formed or molded in such a way that the support legs squeeze or grip the opposite sides of the tile piece. The teeth at the free ends of the support legs facilitate insertion by guiding the tile into the jaw of the fastener and also help retain the tile piece in the jaw of the fastener. 
         [0005]    The tile may be a generally planar, rigid sheet of paper, plastic, cardboard, wood or other material which can be inserted within the jaw of the fastener and suitably frictionally retained and supported therein. The fastener may have several sets of opposing support legs, or jaws arranged in the form of a U, T, I, X, or L-shape that provide for the insertion of one or more adjacent tiles. It is the rigidity of the fastener and the multiple adjacent tiles which facilitates forming for example floors and/or walls of a structure. The tiles may be graphically designed generally planar, although multi-planar tile surfaces are possible as well, and using a plurality of tiles and fasteners, floor layouts, walls, ceilings and/or roofs, may be formed and designed to fabricate multi-dimensional structures and environments. It is also to be appreciated that topographical representational surfaces, for example a structure representing a topographic map or other natural or man-made environmental surface may be fabricated by such fasteners and tiles as well. 
         [0006]    The structural support fastener may be of a width of approximately 1.27 cm to 3.81 cm (0.5″ to 1.5″) and more specifically a width of 1.91 cm (0.75″). The width providing structural support along an edge and parallel to one or more tiles, the tiles being of an approximate width of 1.5 cm to 20.32 cm (0.59″ to 8″) and more specifically 7.62 cm to 15.24 cm (3″ to 6″). This increased width of the fastener over the prior art provides for increased spacing between fasteners of at least 5.08 cm (2″) and greater structural support. 
         [0007]    Structural support is also provided by the fastener from an increased length of the support leg, the support leg stretching a distance over a tile secured in the jaw of the fastener of approximately from 0.64 cm to 1.91 cm (0.25″ to 0.75″) and more specifically a distance of 1 cm (0.39″). In other embodiments the fasteners may be of any length and dimension to accommodate much larger or much smaller tile dimensions, the length determined by approximately scaling the length of the fastener and support legs as described above with respect to other tile dimensions. 
         [0008]    The fastener may be made of a plastic, rubber or polymeric material such as nylon, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or other materials that have the desired elastic biasing capabilities and still rigid structural properties to allow the supporting legs of the fastener a certain minimal amount of flexure relative to one another to grasp, support and align the tile within the jaw of the fastener. The dimensions and shape of the teeth at the free end of the legs define a prescribed width and entrance profile for the edge of the tile to be inserted and retained by the fastener. The fastener may be of any color or texture such as a clear see through acrylic to allow the fastener to match the color scheme of a graphical design of the tile material or to provide for a portion of the graphical design to be shown through the fastener. It is to also be appreciated that the fasteners and tiles described herein by this invention may include graphical designs, murals as well as unique structures and environments formed to create multi-level one, two or three dimensional artistic structures for modeling or gaming purposes, although other construction and building uses including civil engineering and architectural design and construction are also contemplated. 
         [0009]    In an embodiment of the invention the fastener is formed having a first and second support leg, a hub region and one or more teeth on an interior surface of the one or more of the first and second support legs. The hub region of a first fastener, and/or an outer surface of the legs may also be provided with one or more angular or circular slots along the exterior width of the first support leg and/or hub region. A second fastener includes a respective second support leg and/or hub region having one or more angular or circular protrusions that match the angular or circular slots of the first fastener. In this embodiment of the present invention, the attachment points of one or more protrusions of the first fastener may be inserted in and along the length of the attachment points of one or more slidably mating slots of a second fastener to form a T, I, L, X, acute angle or obtuse angled complex fastener using similar or identical fasteners. Further varieties of complex fasteners may be formed by connecting other individual fasteners to one another. 
         [0010]    It is an object of the present invention to fabricate multi-dimensional representative environmental constructs that simulate modular, multilevel structures and man-made and natural environments. 
         [0011]    It is another object of the present invention to construct three dimensional, modular, multilevel structures and environments of rigid material tiles such as paper, plastic, cardboard, wood or other material using a structural support fastener that secures a material tile in a planar direction to create floors, walls and ceilings of the structure. 
         [0012]    It is another object of the present invention to use plastic, acrylic, rubber or polymeric material to form the structural support fastener. 
         [0013]    It is another object of the present invention to form the structural support fastener in various shapes such as U, I, T, L, X or other shapes. 
         [0014]    It is another object of the present invention to form the structural support fastener as a self retaining mechanism having a barb, nub or teeth on the interior of one or more support legs of the fastener, the teeth sealing against the opposing teeth or support leg of the fastener. 
         [0015]    It is another object of the present invention to form cutouts and/or protrusions along the exterior surface of one or more support legs. 
         [0016]    It is a still further object of the invention to form T, I, L, X, acute angle or obtuse angle shape fasteners using identical U-shape fasteners. 
         [0017]    The present invention is related to a fastener comprising a hub; a plurality of support legs extending from the hub; at least one protrusion along at least one of the plurality of support legs; at least one slot along at least one of the plurality of support legs mateable to the at least one protrusion formed on a second fastener; and wherein the protrusion of one fastener is insertable into the slot of the second fastener to form a more complex releasably connected fastener. 
         [0018]    The present invention is further related to a method of constructing a complex fastener comprising the steps of forming a first fastener having a hub defining a plurality of support legs extending from the hub; providing at least one protrusion along at least one of the plurality of support legs; forming at least one slot along at least one of the plurality of support legs mateable to the at least one protrusion provided on a second fastener; and inserting the protrusion of the first fastener into the slot of the second fastener to form a more complex releasably connected fastener. 
         [0019]    The present invention is also further related to a representative environmental construct including a plurality of releasably connectable elements which combine to form a desired 3-dimensional composition, the releasably connectable elements of the representative environmental construct comprising a plurality of substantially rigid tiles; a fastener comprising a hub supporting a clip, and the clip being defined by a pair of support legs spaced a predetermined distance apart to frictionally engage at least one of the plurality of substantially rigid tiles; at least a first releasable attachment point located on at least one of the hub and the clip for connecting the fastener to another fastener to form a more complex releasably connected fastener. 
         [0020]    These and other features, advantages and improvements according to this invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0021]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention showing an L-shaped structural support fastener; 
           [0022]      FIG. 2  is a side view of a first embodiment of the present invention of an L-shaped structural support fastener with a first tile of material being inserted in the fastener; 
           [0023]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention showing a T-shaped structural support fastener; 
           [0024]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention showing an I-shaped structural support fastener; 
           [0025]      FIG. 5  is a side planar view of a first embodiment of the present invention of an L-shaped structural support fastener; 
           [0026]      FIG. 6  is a side planar view of a first embodiment of the present invention of a T-shaped structural support fastener; 
           [0027]      FIG. 6A  is a side planar view of a first embodiment of the present invention of the L-shaped fastener of  FIG. 5  connected to the T-shaped structural support fastener of  FIG. 6 ; 
           [0028]      FIG. 7  is a side planar view of a first embodiment of the present invention of an I-shaped structural support fastener; 
           [0029]      FIG. 8  is a side planar view of a first embodiment of the present invention of an X-shaped structural support fastener; 
           [0030]      FIG. 9  is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention of an L-shaped structural support fastener with a first and second tile of material inserted in the fastener; 
           [0031]      FIG. 10  is a top view of a first embodiment of the present invention of a plurality of L-shaped structural support fasteners with tiles of material inserted in the fasteners; 
           [0032]      FIG. 10A  is an inset of the L-shaped structural support fastener with a first and second tile of material; 
           [0033]      FIG. 11  is a top view of a first embodiment of the present invention of a plurality of T-shaped structural support fasteners with tiles of material inserted in the fasteners; 
           [0034]      FIG. 11A  is an inset of the T-shaped structural support fastener with a first, second and third tile of material; 
           [0035]      FIG. 12  is a top view of a first embodiment of the present invention of a plurality of I-shaped structural support fasteners with tiles of material inserted in the fasteners; 
           [0036]      FIG. 12A  is an inset of the I-shaped structural support fastener with a first and second tile of material; 
           [0037]      FIG. 13  is a perspective view of a further embodiment of the present invention of a U-shaped structural support fastener; 
           [0038]      FIG. 14  is a side view of a further embodiment of the present invention showing the alignment of a plurality of U-shaped structural support fasteners to form an L and angle shaped structural support fastener; 
           [0039]      FIG. 15  is a side view of a further embodiment of the present invention showing an angled fastener formed from a plurality of U-shaped structural support fasteners; 
           [0040]      FIG. 16  is a side view of a further embodiment of the present invention showing an X-shaped fastener formed from a plurality of U-shaped structural support fasteners; 
           [0041]      FIG. 17  is a side view of a further embodiment of the present invention showing a T-shaped fastener formed from a plurality of U-shaped structural support fasteners; 
           [0042]      FIG. 18  is a side view of a further embodiment of the present invention showing an L-shaped fastener formed from a plurality of U-shaped structural support fasteners; 
           [0043]      FIG. 19  is a side view of a further embodiment of the present invention showing a star shaped fastener formed from a plurality of U-shaped structural support fasteners; 
           [0044]      FIG. 20  is a perspective view of a multi-level structure formed from a plurality of material tile and various shaped structural support fasteners. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0045]    A first embodiment of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 1  as an L-shaped fastener  10  which can align respective tiles at approximately a ninety (90) degree angle with respect to one another. It is to be appreciated that the L-shaped fastener is merely one embodiment and other configurations and shapes are certainly possible, other examples of which are shown and discussed below. The L-shaped fastener comprises a hub  12  extending along an axis B and the hub supports two tile clips  14 , each clip  14  being defined as a respective pair of support legs  15  that extends out from the hub  12 . Each clip  14  being designed to engage and retain generally a single tile (tile not shown here), in this case at a right angle relative to one another. 
         [0046]    Each support leg  15  of each clip  14  has an outer surface  16  and an inner surface  18  with one or more teeth  20  formed along or near the free edge  22  on the inner surface  18  of the support leg  15 . Each clip  14  has a first and second support leg  15  extending from the hub  12  to the free edge  22  and defining a jaw  23  between the first and second support legs into which a tile can be inserted. The support legs  15  extend from an integral connection with the hub  12  in the nature of a living hinge which has an inherent elasticity provided by the relative connection of the relatively thinner support legs  15  to the thicker hub  12 . The arrangement of the support legs  15  is a separation which defines the jaw  23  into which the insertion of a tile  26  occurs as shown in  FIG. 2 . The separation of the support legs  15 , or width W of the jaw  23 , is adapted to hold and releasably secure one or more tiles in the jaw  23 . The jaw  23  has a width W which can be smaller than the thickness T of the tile, the same size, or even larger. In either case the teeth  20  may present a reduced width V smaller than the thickness T of the tile, so that a greater pressure is applied by the support legs  15  to a portion of the tile directly engaged with the teeth  20 . In any event the support legs  15  are elastic to the extent that a certain amount of flex permits the jaw  23  to flex open and accept and secure the tile  26  within the jaw  23 . The teeth  20  may have a protruding rounded surface  28  that extends the entire length L of the fastener or a portion thereof or be defined by an angled surface  30  to allow easy insertion of a tile  26  without damage to the surface of the tile material. 
         [0047]    The hub  12  may have a grip feature  24  as shown in  FIG. 1  along the axis B to more easily hold the fastener when inserting a tile of material  26  or may have a flat surface  27  as seen in  FIG. 2 . The hub  12  may also comprise a recess  17  for receiving a tile from an upper level of a multi-tiered structure, the recess  17  providing alignment and stability to the construction of one three-dimensional level on top of another. A tile from the upper level rests within the recess  17  and aligns the upper level in place over a lower level. The hub  12  may also be flat, rounded or other shapes which facilitate the connection of additional fasteners as well as handling of the individual fasteners themselves. In further embodiments as described below a slot or protrusion may be formed within the hub  12  or leg  15  to allow one or more other fasteners having corresponding slots/protrusions to be attached to a first fastener to form the more complex fastener in various shapes and angles. The fastener may also be in a variety of colors or translucent to provide for viewing of a graphical design on a tile of material  26  through the structural support fastener. 
         [0048]    The fastener may be formed in various shapes such as a T-shaped  32  as shown in  FIG. 3  or in an I-shaped  34  as shown in  FIG. 4 . The support legs  15  of the T, I or L-shaped fastener may be of comparable widths W or the width W between some legs  15  may be greater in comparison to another clip  14  having a smaller width W′ to provide additional rigidity for more complex structures or for thicker, heavier or thinner and less rigid material tiles  26 . The teeth  20  may be formed along the entire length L of the support leg  15  providing increased surface area between the fastener and the tile  26  to more securely hold the tile within the fastener. Additional teeth may be provided along the inner surface of each leg  15  besides that shown in the figures. 
         [0049]    A profile view of the L, T, X and I shaped fasteners is shown in  FIGS. 5-8  having the respective clips  14  at right angles to one another. It is to be appreciated that the clips can extend from the hub  12  relative to one another at other angles besides right angles as well. The teeth  20  may be formed on each of the support legs  15  as shown in  FIG. 5  or a plurality of teeth may be formed separated or adjacent one another on the inner surface of the support legs  15  as shown in  FIG. 7 . Alternatively, teeth  20  may be formed on each of the support legs  15  with different embodiments producing varying degrees of frictional engagement between the tile  26  and the fastener. The tile material  26  may also be dimpled or ridged to secure the material within the fastener. 
         [0050]    As best seen in  FIGS. 5 and 6  a slot  42  may be formed in the hub  12  to receive a respectively mating protrusion  40  of another hub  12 . As seen in  FIG. 6A , the combination of the fasteners of  FIGS. 5 and 6  produces a more complex fastener having the clips  14  of the L-shaped fastener  10  extending at a 45 degree angle relative to the adjacent clips  14  of the T-shaped fastener  32 . 
         [0051]    By inserting more than one tile  26  in the L-shaped fastener  10  as shown in  FIG. 9 , a two sided structure may be formed. The tiles  26  are rigidly held, and by forming an indented cutout  38  having a depth about half the thickness of the hub  12  at the edge of the tile  26  as shown in  FIGS. 10-12 , the edges of each of the tiles of material  26  may directly abut, or touch with a minimal gap or one tile may overlap the other. The L-shaped fastener  10  aligns the tiles perpendicularly and with other fasteners the tiles  26  define floors  46 , walls  44 , ceilings, roofs and other structural elements. As shown in  FIG. 10 , three tiles  26  and three fasteners  10  are used to construct two walls  44  and a floor  46 . The inset  FIG. 10A  shows the tile  26  pinched between the teeth  20  of the fastener  10  securing the tile  26  in place. The walls  44  are formed by aligning two tiles  26  within a first fastener  10  and then attaching an L-shaped fastener  10  to the same side of each of the two tiles  26 . As seen in  FIG. 10A  the tiles forming the walls  44  are shown overlapping a portion of the hub  12  due to the cutouts  38  in the tiles  26  to abut and form a substantially closely toleranced corner section of the structure. A third tile  26  is inserted into each fastener  10  on each of the tiles  26  to form a floor  46 , or ceiling  48  if the structure is inverted. 
         [0052]    A structure having two separate interiors may be formed by using a T-shaped fastener  32  in place of the first and second L-shaped fasteners as shown in  FIGS. 11-11A . The T-shaped fastener  32  allows three walls  44  to be constructed, with one wall  44  dividing the floor region  46 . The interior wall  44  can be used to structurally support a second level of similar construction above the first, with the second structure forming a ceiling  48  to the first structure. Alternatively a wall  44 , floor  46  or ceiling  48  may be extended by replacing the T-shaped fasteners  32  with I-shaped fasteners  34  as shown in  FIGS. 12-12A . An X or cross shaped fastener  36  may also be used to engage four walls  44  and create multiple rooms. 
         [0053]    In a further embodiment, the fastener may be formed as a U-shaped clip  50 , the clip having two support legs  54  extended from a hub  52 , the hub  52  retaining the clip in a normally closed position. The hub  52  is defined having an axial length along the axis B such that each of the support legs  54  extend radially therefrom to a free end  62 . The hub  52  and first and second support legs  54  defining a jaw  53  to form a living hinge having an elasticity permitting at least some separation through the insertion of a tile  26  into the jaw  53 . Each support leg  54  has an inner surface  58  with one or more teeth  60  formed along or near the free end  62  of the support leg planar surface  56 . The teeth  60  of the U-shaped clip facilitate securing the tile  26  in the jaw  53 . 
         [0054]    Each of the planar surfaces  56  of the U-shaped clip  50  may have one or more attachment points in the form of protrusions  40  and/or slots  42  formed along the axial length of at least either or both the hub  52  and an outer surface  56  of one or more support legs  54 . The protrusions  40  or slots  42  may be formed in various shapes with an angular or round surface, the shape of the protrusions  40  are mateable and releasably connectable to the shape of the slots  42 . As shown in  FIG. 14 , a first clip  50   a  is aligned with a second clip  50   b,  the first clip  50   a  having a protrusion  40  that mates with a slot  42  of the second clip  50   b.  Once aligned, the protrusion  40  of the first clip  50   a  may be slid, or snapped, into the slot  42  and secured to the second clip  50   b,  forming an L-shaped fastener from the two U-shaped clips  50 . A protrusion  40  of the second clip  50   b  may then be aligned with a slot  42  of a third clip  50   c  and be slid into the slot  42  and secured to the third clip  50   c  forming a modified T-shaped fastener where at least one clip  50   c  is aligned at a different angle than 90 degrees relative to an adjacent clip  50   b.  Tiles  26  may then be inserted into each U-shaped fastener to form intricate structures and environments. 
         [0055]    A slanted roof for construction on top of wall structures as described above may be formed by using two U-shaped clips  50  as shown in  FIG. 15 . The attachment link L demonstrates the alignment of one U-shaped clip  50   a  within another  50   b  with the position of the link L on the fastener determining the overall planar extension and direction of a tile of material  26  that is inserted within the fastener. Common shapes described above such as X, T or L shapes as shown in  FIGS. 16-18  may be formed by interlocking the uniform U-shaped clips  50  providing for a reduction in manufacturing costs. Uniform shapes other than a U-shaped clip, such as integral L, I or T shaped fasteners, may also be formed with similar protrusions and slots or cutouts providing for even more complex attachments and designs. The complexity is shown in  FIG. 19  with the formation of a star shaped fastener from a set of uniform U-shaped clips  50 . The star shape may be formed by interlocking a first U-shaped clip  50   a  with a second U-shaped clip  50   b  to form an L-shaped fastener. A second L-shaped fastener may be formed from clips  50   c  and  50   d  and by interlocking the slot of  50   c  and the protrusion of  50   d  and then a cross or X-shaped fastener may be formed by interlocking the protrusion of  50   c  with the slot of  50   b  and the slot of  50   d  with the protrusion of  50   a.  Additional fasteners may then be interlocked between each of the U-shaped fasteners forming the cross ( 50   a,    50   b,    50   c,    50   d ) with each fastener ( 50   e,    50   f,    50   g,    50   h ) extending at 45° angles from each of the 90° angles formed by the cross shaped fastener. 
         [0056]    The structural support fastener of the present invention either preformed for alignment of tile material in a specific planar direction, or by providing a uniform shaped fastener with interlocking attachments, allows complex structures to be created. As shown in  FIG. 20 , the structural support fasteners align tile material of various shapes and sizes and rigidly support the material and construction providing for a structure to be easily picked up and moved, or stacked on top of another structure to form multilevel environments. The tiles  26  may depict graphical representations of stone, wood or brick walls, tiled floors, terraces, balconies, windows, doors and other architectural structures. The structural support of the fasteners also provide for cutouts or openings within the tile to allow access to the interior and depict doors or windows for the structure. A roof  48  may be formed as described above from the interlocking of two U-shaped clips  50  to form the proper angle for a tile of material  26  to extend and cover the enclosure. By mixing and matching the fasteners of various planar extensions, structures may be easily constructed and then taken apart and reformed into other structures to adapt to other uses and environments for gaming or for use with miniatures or figurines. 
         [0057]    The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.