Patent Publication Number: US-2005133994-A1

Title: Self-interlocking cubic puzzle

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a spatial logical toy cube having a total of twenty-four toy elements mounted in a self-interlocking manner with eight tetrahedral elements and a central solid element.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      The well-known “Rubik&#39;s Cube” is a geometrical solid cube, built up of twenty-six small cubic toy elements, with any nine small cubes forming one surface of the overall larger cube, and which may be rotated in any direction along six different planes normal to three mutually perpendicular axes within the cube. The small cubic elements forming the plane surface of the large cube are either colored or indicated with numbers, figures or any other symbols. By rotating the small cubic elements, several combinations become possible in compliance with the contents yielded by the cube surface identifiers.  
      A number of patents have been granted that are concerned with various spatial logical toys and devices. Rubik, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,116, describes a spatial logical toy with eighteen toy elements arranged in a 3.times.3.times.2 matrix. Rotation of a portion of the matrix along the X, Y or Z axis is possible. Solving the puzzle is similar to the well-known Rubik&#39;s cube. Rubik, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,117, describes another spatial logical toy with eight toy elements arranged in a 2.times.2.times.2 matrix. The geometrical shape can be a cube or a sphere, with rotation of a portion of the matrix along the X, Y or Z-axis. The structure employs a spring-loaded connector to hold the matrix pieces together.  
      In U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,179, Rubik discloses a cylindrical shiftable element puzzle. The puzzle has two tiers of six elements each, with the pieces rotatable about three axes as well as between the two tiers. Sasso, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,453, describes a puzzle in the form of a multicolored regular solid. Plates on the faces of the solid have multiple colors and the objective is to arrange the plates so that no two colors of adjacent plates are the same.  
      In U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,418, Sherman, Jr. discloses a three-dimensional sliding element puzzle having a spherical inner support with circular tracks for movement of the puzzle pieces. One puzzle with square and triangular surface pieces is shown. Nadel, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,201, discloses a geometrical puzzle toy with a spherical base and with a plurality of tile members that are attachable to the base member. A variety of polyhedron shapes can be produced with various tile shapes.  
      In U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,908, Ibrahim describes a movable block geometrical puzzle having eight core pieces and having rotatable pyramid pieces connected to plane surfaces formed by the surfaces of at least two of the core pieces. The puzzle uses the 2.times.2.times.2 matrix configuration for the core blocks. The puzzle provides rotatable movement of pyramid blocks about an axis perpendicular to the plane surface to which the blocks are secured, as well as movement along with the supporting core blocks. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,665 Brooks discloses an octagon cube toy with twenty-six toy elements.  
      None of the above patents disclose a spatial logical toy cube having a total of twenty-four toy elements, with right-angled triangular external surfaces, mounted in a self-interlocking manner on eight tetrahedral solid elements and a central solid core element.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention is a spatial logical toy composed of twenty-four identical toy elements plus eight identical tetrahedral solid elements and a central solid core member arranged in a self-interlocking manner to form a cube. External triangular surfaces of eight toy elements form one face of the overall larger cube, and each toy element can be rotated in any direction of the spatial axes of the toy about eleven spatial axes within the cube. The external triangular surfaces of the toy elements forming the plane surface of the larger cube are either colored or indicated with numbers, figures or any other symbols. According, by rotating the toy elements, several combinations become possible in compliance with the contents yielded by the toy element surface identifiers.  
      In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the central solid core member includes twelve cylindrical ridge structures, eight equilateral triangular surfaces and six pyramidal structures oriented such that any two opposite triangular surfaces are perpendicular to a diagonal of the larger assembled cube. The cylindrical ridges of the central solid core mate with the corresponding cylindrical faces of the twenty-four toy elements forming the six surfaces of the cube. The central solid core member also has eight cylindrical holes, together with appropriately positioned spherical recess, which are coaxial with the four diagonals of the larger assembled cube. The eight identical tetrahedral solid elements each have a cylindrical extrusion together with a correspondingly positioned spherical bulge corresponding to the spherical recess in the holes of the said central solid core member. The tetrahedral solid element fits on the central solid core member in a self-interlocking manner, wherein the spherical bulge of the cylindrical extrusion on the tetrahedral solid mates with the corresponding spherical recess in the holes of the central solid core member. This self-interlocking method also allows rotation of the tetrahedral solid about the axis of the hole in the said central solid core element. Since there are eight spherical recesses in the central solid core member there are eight axis of rotation for the eight tetrahedral elements.  
      The tetrahedral solid also has partial cylindrical recesses on the same face as the cylindrical extrusion. The twenty-four identical toy elements have corresponding partial cylindrical extrusions corresponding to the partial cylindrical recess in the tetrahedral solid and also corresponding to the cylindrical ridges in the central solid core element. When assembled as a cube the outer surfaces of the partial cylindrical extrusions in the twenty-four toy elements mate with the partial cylindrical recess in the eight tetrahedral solid elements to form a self-interlocking cube. The inner surfaces of the partial cylindrical extrusion in the twenty-four toy elements mate with the corresponding cylindrical ridges in the central solid core member. The twenty-four toy elements can be repeatedly rotated and translated about any one of eleven axes such that the twenty-four toy elements, forming the surface of the cube, can be arranged in many combinations on the cube. The eleven axes about which the twenty-four toy elements can be rotated consist of eight axes collinear with the holes of the central solid core member together with three mutually perpendicular axes normal to the six faces of the larger assembled cube and passing through the center of the assembled cube.  
      In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the eight triangular outer surfaces of the toy elements forming one face of the assembled cube are each provided with one color. Similarly, the other five sets of eight triangular outer surfaces of the toy elements forming the remaining five faces of the assembled cube are each colored with five different colors. In this embodiment, all the triangular outer surfaces of the toy elements forming a face of the assembled cube will have the same color at the beginning and the six different faces of the assembled cube will have six different colors. When the twenty-four toy elements are rotated and translated randomly about the eleven axes, any one of the six faces of the assembled cube will have a mixture of some or all of the six colors. The object of the puzzle is to again rotate and translate about the eleven axes to bring back the toy elements to the original positions such that any face of the assembled cube will have toy elements of the same color.  
      To reduce the cost in production, the elements described above comprising the spatial logical toy cube may be manufactured from synthetic materials by injection molding. In order to save material, all the elements may be prepared as hollow elements. The simplicity provided by self-interlocking elements disclosed here, without any screws nuts bolts or springs facilitate ease of manufacture and assembly of the puzzle described here. Press fitting all the elements described here can easily assemble the puzzle.  
      Further aspects of this invention will become apparent in the following description and by reference to the attached drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  illustration of the assembled cube.  
       FIG. 2  illustration of one of the twenty-four identical toy elements.  
       FIG. 3  illustration of one of the twenty-four identical toy elements showing the cylindrical extrusion near one edge.  
       FIG. 4  illustration of one of the eight identical tetrahedral solid elements.  
       FIG. 5  illustration of another view of one of the eight tetrahedral solid elements.  
       FIG. 6  illustration of the top view of the central solid core element.  
       FIG. 7  illustration of the front view of the central solid core element.  
       FIG. 8  illustration of the section view of the central solid core element.  
       FIG. 9  illustration of the exploded view of the assembled cube.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
      In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments or processes in which the invention may be practiced. Where possible, the same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like components. In some instances, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. The present invention, however, may be practiced without the specific details or with certain alternative equivalent devices and methods to those described herein. In other instances, well-known methods and devices have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention.  
      I. Overview and Assembly of the Components  
       FIG. 1  illustrates the assembled cube, as a preferred embodiment of the fundamental concept of this invention. The outer surfaces of the cube are formed from twenty-four identical toy elements  20 . Eight triangular outer surfaces of the toy elements  20  form one face of the assembled cube as shown in  FIG. 1 .  
       FIGS. 2 through 8  illustrate the various components used to achieve the main objects of this invention.  
       FIGS. 2 and 3  show two views of the toy element  20 . One edge of the equilateral triangular surface  21  of the toy element  20  has a partial cylindrical extrusion  23  shown in  FIG. 3 . At the center of the equilateral triangular surface  21  of the toy element  20  there is a small hemispherical recess  22 . This hemispherical recess will facilitate in the alignment of the toy element  20  during manipulation of the assembled cube by rotation of the toy elements.  
       FIGS. 4 and 5  depict a preferred embodiment of the tetrahedral element  24 . On one face of the tetrahedral element  24  there is a cylindrical extrusion  27  together with a spherical bulge  28  and the three edges of this face also have partial cylindrical recess  26 . The remaining three faces of the tetrahedral element have a small hemispherical bulge  25 , which correspond to the small hemispherical recess  22  in the toy element  20 . The small hemispherical bulge  25  will facilitate in the alignment of the toy element  20  during manipulation of the assembled cube by rotation of the toy elements. The spherical bulge  28  in the cylindrical extrusion  27  facilitates in the self-interlocking of the tetrahedral solid element with the central solid core element. When the cube is assembled, the partial cylindrical recess  26  mates with the outer surface of the partial cylindrical extrusion  23  of the toy element  20  resulting in self-interlocking of the toy element  20 .  
      In a preferred embodiment,  FIG. 6  shows the top view and  FIG. 7  shows the front view of the central solid core element.  FIG. 8  shows the section view of the solid core element taken along  8 - 8  in  FIG. 7 . The central solid core element has eight holes  31  each placed at the center of the equilateral triangular surface  30  and perpendicular to the surface  30 . Each of the holes  31  also has a spherical recess  32 , which corresponds to the spherical bulge  28  in the tetrahedral element  24 . The spherical recess  32  in the central solid core element and the spherical bulge  28  in the tetrahedral solid element facilitate in the self-interlocking of the tetrahedral solid element with the central solid core element. When the cube is assembled the equilateral triangular surface  29  of the eight tetrahedral solid elements shown in  FIG. 5 , align with the corresponding eight equilateral triangular surfaces  30  of the central solid core member. The cylindrical ridge  33  mates with the inner surface of the partial cylindrical extrusion  23  of the toy element.  
       FIG. 9  shows an exploded view of the cube assembled from twenty-four toy elements, eight tetrahedral elements and the central solid core member.  
     II. Conclusion  
      While certain preferred embodiments have been described and shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments are merely illustrative of, and not restrictive on, the broad invention. Other embodiments that are apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, including embodiments that do not provide all of the features and advantages set forth herein, are also within the scope of this invention. Further, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the specific construction and arrangements shown and described since various modifications or changes may occur to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is defined by the claims that follow. In the claims, a portion shall include greater than none and up to the whole of a thing. In the method claims, reference characters are used for convenience of description only, and do not indicate a particular order for performing the method.