Patent GB-471487-A (GB)
Title: A new or improved method or system of construction for dolls' houses
IPC: A63H3/52
Filed: 1936-03-03
Abstract: 471,487. Toys. SPROULE, A. L. B. March 3, 1936, Nos. 6389 and 10289. [Class 132 (iii)] A dolls' house is formed of a number of self-supporting interchangeable rooms, which may be collapsable, of common size capable of standing adjacent to or on top of each other, the rooms being provided with apertures to register with interchangeable doors, windows, stairs, &c. The rooms may be made of wood, synthetic products or metal, may be finished in any colour or combination of colours and may be provided with means for mutual attachment. The front and/or back wall 2 of each room may be removably attached to the room by having recesses 6 co-operating with lugs 5 on one or two pairs of slideways 4 on to which the front and/or back wall 2 may be slid when access to the room is required. A closure strip 37 may be provided for use when the front wall 2 is in the ceiling position to conceal the edge of the wall and the gap between the ceiling and the roof 3. Balustrading 8 in sections and chimneys 11 may be attached to the roof by pins on the parts 8 and 11 engaging holes in the roof. Frames 14 with or without hinged doors 16 are detachably connected in apertures 27 in the walls of a room by a vertical tongue 17, formed by T, channel or angle section strip, in each upright edge of the aperture engaging with a slot 18 in each upright edge of the frame. Windows of glass or celluloid or filling blanks may be similarly inserted in apertures. The frames are inserted by an upward movement in the apertures and locking or frictional devices may be used to hold the frames in position. Skylights 28 may be similarly provided in the upper walls of rooms. External elements such as garage 33, conservatory 34 or greenhouse 35, may be fixed to the walls by dowels or press-stud fastenings. Room fires may be simulated by a battery - actuated electric light and the rooms may be lighted interiorly by electric lights energized by an internal or external battery. An electric bulb, battery and switch may be formed as a unit suspended from the ceiling by guideways, dowels or pressstud fastenings. The rooms may be attached to each other, to allow the house to be lifted as a unit, by semi-permanent means such as by angle, straight, T- or X-shaped plates fixed to the outer faces of the walls by wood screws where the rooms adjoin, or by hand or lever separated resilient means. The rooms may be collapsable either by means of single or double hinges so that the walls are connected in folded and assembled condition, or by means of press-studs, stubs for engagement by a thumb screw or nut or by turn buttons, either in the walls themselves or in fitments attached thereto, so that the walls are connected in the assembled condition but separated in the collapsable condition. A combination of the two means of connection may be used. The walls of a room may be provided with connecting means only intended to be used in the initial assembly of a room, such as projections on one wall adapted for insertion in and turning over a mating part in another wall, such as a slot when the walls are of sheet metal.