Patent Publication Number: US-9901841-B2

Title: Toy building set

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is the U.S. National Stage of International Application No. PCT/DK2011/050391, filed on Oct. 18, 2011, and published on Apr. 26, 2012 as WO 2012/052025, which claims the benefit of priority to Danish Patent Application Serial No. PA 2010 00953, filed on Oct. 21, 2010. 
     FIELD OF APPLICATION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a toy building set comprising at least one first building element, on which a rotation shaft located along an axis of rotation is arranged; and wherein the toy building set comprises at least one second building element in which a rotation bushing is provided which is configured for receiving and being interconnected with the rotation shaft on the first building element in such a manner that the two building elements can rotate relative to each other about the axis of rotation; and wherein, at the rotation shaft and the rotation bushing, respectively, complementary coupling means are configured for forming a snap connection for interconnection of the rotation shaft and the rotation bushing in such a manner that they cannot be interconnected with or disconnected from each other along the axis of rotation without the snap function being activated by a given force impact along the axis of rotation. 
     STATE OF THE ART 
     Today, toy building sets of the kind set forth above are known in various embodiments, wherein the two toy building elements can be interconnected by means of the rotation shaft and the rotation bushing, whereby it is possible to form eg a turntable which can be used for a wide range of purposes when used during the building of a construction consisting of other toy building elements or toy building blocks. 
     It is a problem of those prior art toy building elements that their holding force is limited by the force which a child is capable of providing for interconnecting the two building elements, and thereby that they impose limitations as to the use thereof in a concrete building structure, it being limited how much force can be imposed on a turntable built from those toy building elements. 
     Therefore, other types of toy building sets are known that comprise pre-assembled turntables that are mounted by the manufacturer and which cannot be dismounted without the turntable being destroyed. 
     OBJECT OF THE INVENTION 
     Based on this, it is the object of the present invention to provide a toy building set of the kind described above, whereby it is possible, by means of relatively few individual components, to construct a wider range of different constructions. 
     This is accomplished in that the toy building element comprises at least one third type of building element, said building element comprising a rotation shaft or a rotation bushing which has respective complementary coupling means for forming a snap connection for interconnecting the third type of building element to the rotation bushing or the rotation shaft, respectively, on the second or the first type of building element, and wherein the complementary coupling means on the third type of building element are configured such that it requires a smaller impact of force to mount the third type of building element on the first or the second type of building element, respectively, than the force needed to interconnect the first type of building element to the second type of building element. 
     It is thus possible, said toy building set thus comprising the option of optionally building, by use of merely three separate toy building elements, a turntable having a relatively large holding force or a corresponding turntable having a smaller holding force, to enable the building of eg constructions where only a grown-up person is capable of mounting the turntable, and other constructions wherein the turntable can easily be mounted by a small child. 
     Another advantage obtained thereby is that, when moulding the toy building elements from eg plastics, only three different mould cavities are needed, whereas, by the prior art technique, moulds are to be used that have at least four different mould cavities. 
     According to the invention, it is furthermore possible to have more than two different interconnection options to the effect that there may be eg a fourth type of toy building element which, when interconnected to another toy building element, provides a further reduced holding force in the snap connection to the effect that it is possible to bring about three levels of holding force, viz a first level at which a turntable requires assembly by means of a tool in order to overcome the force needed to interconnect the snap connection, a second level at which a grown-up person will usually have sufficient force to assemble the turntable by hand, and a third level at which eg a small child will have sufficient force to assemble the turntable by hand. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the force needed to interconnect the snap connection between a building element of the third type and the first or the second building element of the toy building set, is thus less than 90%, and preferably less than 80%, of the force needed to interconnect the snap connection between the first type of building element and the second type of building element. 
     According to a concrete embodiment, the complementary coupling means on the first and the second type of toy building element will comprise a groove extending into the outer side of and all the way around on the rotation shaft on the first type of toy building element, and one or more ribs are arranged on the inner side of the rotation bushing in such a way that each of the ribs engages with the groove when the two building elements are interconnected by means of the snap connection. 
     In this context, the reduced coupling force could be obtained in that the complementary coupling means on the third type of toy building element comprise a rotation bushing corresponding essentially to the rotation bushing on the second type of toy building element; and in that the complementary coupling means on the third type of toy building element also comprise at least one rib arranged on the inner side of the rotation bushing in such a manner that each individual rib has a height or a width which is smaller than each individual rib on the second type of toy building element. 
     However, particularly advantageously this is accomplished by the second and the third toy building element comprising more than one rib; and in that the distance between two adjacent ribs on the third toy building element is larger than the corresponding distance between two adjacent ribs on the second toy building element. 
     The required elasticity of the snap connection can be obtained if the rotation bushing on the second and the third type of toy building element or the rotation shaft on the first type of toy building element is configured as a tube. 
     The invention is particularly advantageous in relation to toy building elements each of which has a substantially plane surface arranged at right angles relative to the axis of rotation; and in that the plane surface of the first type of toy building element abuts on the plane surface of the second or the third type of toy building element, when the two toy building elements are interconnected by means of the rotation shaft and the rotation bushing. Thereby it is difficult to twist the two toy building elements apart, it being to a higher degree necessary to separate them by pulling them apart along the common axis of rotation. 
     In this context, it is furthermore advantageous if the rotation shaft extends outwards from the surface of the first type of toy building element. 
    
    
     
       LIST OF FIGURES 
         FIG. 1 : is a perspective view showing a set of building elements according to the present invention, seen in an inclined view from above. 
     
    
    
     EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
     Thus,  FIG. 1  shows four different building elements  1 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 , wherein the first building element  1  comprises a box-shaped body member having a plane surface  2 , on which, from the plane surface  2 , a rotation shaft  3  extends in the form of a circular cylindrical tube being, on its outer side, provided with a groove  4  that extends uninterruptedly all the way around the rotation shaft  3  on the outside thereof. 
     Moreover,  FIG. 1  shows three other building elements  5 ,  6 ,  7 , all of which have a box-shaped body member, on which, on each member, a total of four coupling studs  8  are arranged that have a shape which allows that those building elements can be interconnected with other building elements (not shown) in a toy building set which is known as such. 
     Moreover, each of the other building elements  5 ,  6 ,  7  is provided with a rotation bushing  9 ,  10 ,  11  which is configured such that the rotation shaft  3  on the first building element  1  can be introduced into any one of those rotation bushings  9 ,  10 ,  11 , following which the unit as a whole forms a turntable, wherein the first building element  1  is capable of rotating about an axis of rotation relative to the second building element  9 ,  10 ,  11  with which the first element is interconnected. 
     In order to secure the other building elements  9 ,  10 ,  11  in the interconnected state on the first building element  1 , each of the rotation bushings  9 ,  10 ,  11  on the other building elements  5 ,  6 ,  7  is provided with at least one rib  12 ,  13 ,  14  extending around on the inner side of the rotation bushings  9 ,  10 ,  11 . The ribs  12 ,  13 ,  14  are configured such that the rotation shaft  3  on the first building element  1  can be pressed into each of the rotation bushings  9 ,  10 ,  11  only in case one specific force is exerted to the effect that a snap function is thereby formed. 
     As will appear, the rib  14  on one of the other building elements  5  is configured as a continuous rib extending uninterruptedly around on the inner side of the rotation bushing  11 , whereas it will appear that the ribs  12  and  13  on the other rotation bushings  9  and  10 , respectively, on the respective building elements  6  and  7  are configured as four individual ribs  12  and  13  that sit in succession of one another with a distance between them, and such that they combine to form an interrupted rib which, in the same manner as the rib  14  on the building element  5 , extends around on the inner side of the rotation bushings  9  and  10  and has the same function, viz to provide a snap connection between the first building element  1  and one of the other building elements  5 ,  6 ,  7 . 
     Moreover, it will appear that the distance between the individual ribs  12  on the one of the two other building elements  7  is greater than the corresponding distance between the individual ribs  13  on the other one of the two other building elements  6 . 
     Thereby the option is provided of building three different turntables by interconnection of the first building element  1  with one of the other building elements  5 ,  6 ,  7 , it being accomplished, due to the different configurations of the ribs  12 ,  13 ,  14 , that the magnitudes of force needed to press the rotation shaft  3  into one of the rotation bushings  9 ,  10 ,  11 , respectively, are different, in that the continuous rib  14  on the second element  5  requires the largest force impact, and in that the ribs  12  on the second element  7  require the smallest force, the distance between the ribs  12  being larger than the distance between the ribs  13  on the second building element  6 . 
     To the person skilled in the art it will be obvious that this fundamental principle can be varied relative to the embodiment shown in the figures, since eg the box-shaped body member on the building elements  1 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7  may have other shapes than the one shown, such as a rectangular shape, circular shape, or other. The coupling studs  8  may also be varied as to number and shape depending on the building system for which the building elements are intended to be used. 
     In this context, the definition ‘toy building set’ is used to describe a building system comprising a plurality of building elements that are compatible with and hence can be interconnected with the building elements according to the invention. A building system may thus consist of one or more separate building sets, each of which may be packed in a separate packaging.