Patent Publication Number: US-10322337-B2

Title: Hexagonal prismatic packing puzzle

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority from Taiwan Patent Application No. 10607052, filed on May 17, 2017 at Taiwan Intellectual Property Office, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present creation is related to a packing puzzle. This piece of work in particular is a packing puzzle which has various shapes. In addition, the small pieces of the puzzle can be assembled into a hexagonal prism by different configurations and may be fitted into a puzzle frame or a slightly deformed frame structure. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A puzzle game is a game which played by arranging or putting puzzle pieces or puzzle blocks with specific shapes into a specific frame, fills up the frame or forms a specific appearance. The puzzle game may improve the cognitive recognition of images, build up the sense of space, and train logical thinking, focus, and patience of a user. When the users are a school age children, the puzzle game may further induce their thinking abilities and improve their mathematical ability. 
     In prior puzzle games, most of them correspond to a single frame or a single solution, such as Tan-gram, Bermuda Triangle and round blocks. The difficulty is usually determined by the number of pieces in the puzzles. In terms of the puzzle pieces, most of the puzzle games are composed of the same unit components such as rectangular, triangular, cylindrical and spherical unit components. However, even though a puzzle game has not only one solution, the final structures and the solution varieties of the prior puzzle games are limited because of the limitation of their design. Similarly, the improvement of the thinking training is also limited. 
     Hence, the present creation designs a hexagonal prismatic packing puzzle to solve the aforementioned problems, improve the defects of the prior techniques and enhance industry implementations of the related creations. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the aforementioned problems of the prior arts, the object of the present creation is providing a hexagonal prismatic packing puzzle to improve the lack of variety of the structure of puzzle games and the corresponding solutions. 
     According to the present invention, a hexagonal prismatic packing puzzle is provided, which comprises: a plurality of puzzles which are able to be pieced into a hexagonal prism, wherein each of the plurality of puzzles is an integrated puzzle or a puzzle being able to be disassembled composed of a plurality of unit components, the shapes of the plurality of the unit components are selected from a group consisting of a first unit component and a second unit component, the first unit component and the second unit component are formed by division along a section formed by three vertices of a triangular prism, the first unit component has a volume larger than that of the second unit component, and the height of the triangular prism is equal to half of the side length of the triangular prism. 
     Preferably, the plurality of the puzzles comprises 18 different shapes, and the number of the plurality of puzzles is 21. 
     Preferably, the plurality of the puzzles comprising 18 different shapes comprises: a first puzzle composed of two pieces of the second unit components; a second puzzle composed of two pieces of the first unit components; a third puzzle composed of one piece of the first unit component and one piece of second unit component; a fourth puzzle composed of one piece of the first unit component and one piece of the second unit component, wherein a configuration of the plurality of unit components of the fourth puzzle is different from a configuration of the third puzzle; a fifth puzzle composed of one piece of the first unit component and one piece of the second unit component, wherein a configuration of the plurality of unit components of the fifth puzzle is different from that of the third puzzle and the fourth puzzle; a sixth puzzle composed of one piece of the first unit component and one piece of the second unit component, wherein a configuration of the plurality of unit components of the sixth puzzle is different from that of the third puzzle, the fourth puzzle and the fifth puzzle; a seventh puzzle composed of one piece of the first unit component and two pieces of the second unit components; a eighth puzzle composed of two pieces of the first unit components and one piece of the second unit component; a ninth puzzle composed of two pieces of the third puzzles; a tenth puzzle composed of two pieces of the third puzzles, wherein a configuration of the two pieces of the third puzzles of the tenth puzzle is different from the configuration that of the ninth puzzle; an eleventh puzzle composed of two pieces of the fourth puzzles; a twelfth puzzle composed of one piece of the fifth puzzle and one piece of the sixth puzzle; a thirteenth puzzle composed of two pieces of the fourth puzzles, wherein a configuration of the two pieces of the fourth puzzle of the thirteenth puzzle is different from that of the eleventh puzzle; a fourteenth puzzle composed of one piece of the first unit component, one piece of the second unit component and one piece of the third puzzle; a fifteenth puzzle composed of two pieces of the second unit component and one pieces of the third puzzle; a sixteenth puzzle composed of two pieces of the first unit components and one third puzzle; a seventeenth puzzle composed on two pieces of the second unit components and two piece of the third puzzles; and a eighteenth puzzle composed of two pieces of the first unit components and two pieces of the third puzzles. 
     Preferably, the numbers of the seventh puzzle, the eighth puzzle and the fourteenth puzzle are 2. 
     Preferably, the plurality of the puzzle comprises a plurality of arrangements for piecing together into a hexagonal prism. 
     Preferably, the hexagonal prismatic packing puzzle further comprises a puzzle frame, wherein: the puzzle frame comprises an upper cover, a lower cover and two side plates, the upper cover and the lower cover have a plurality of grooves individually, the two side plates insert into the plurality of grooves to form an accommodating space corresponding to the hexagonal prism. 
     Preferably, the plurality of the grooves is disposed with a slope angle; and a side slope angle of the hexagonal prismatic within the accommodating space is adjusted by the slope angle, wherein, the slope angle is 30°. 
     Preferably, a separation groove is disposed at the upper cover and the lower cover; and a separation plate is inserted into the separation groove to adjust a volume of the accommodating space, wherein, the volume of the accommodating space is equal to ⅔ of the volume of the hexagonal prism. 
     As described above, the hexagonal prismatic packing puzzle has one or more advantages described below: 
     (1) The hexagonal prismatic packing puzzle two unit components with different volume and shapes. In comparison with the prior puzzle games which only have a single type of puzzle, the present creation is much more complex and may be more effective in the improvement of logical thinking and sense of space. 
     (2) The hexagonal prismatic packing puzzle adapts to a puzzle frame having a hexagonal prismatic accommodating space, which provides the convenience when piecing the puzzles and makes it portable. Simultaneously, the adjustment of the frame plate may provide hexagonal prisms with various volumes and side angels. Thus, variety of the configurations may be enhanced. 
     (3) The hexagonal prismatic packing puzzle does not have a specific pattern, and is not limited to a single solution. Depending on various users, various puzzles may be designed by configuring the puzzle to various initial puzzles, in order to adjust the difficulties of the puzzle and make sure to adapt to the users of various ages. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is the schematic scheme of the unit component of the present creation. 
         FIG. 2  is the schematic scheme of the puzzles having various shapes of the present creation. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic scheme of the combination of the first puzzle and the third puzzle. 
         FIGS. 4A to 4R  are each the stereo-gram and three-view drawing of the first puzzles to the eighteenth puzzles of the present creation. 
         FIG. 5  is the schematic scheme of the puzzle frame of the present creation. 
         FIG. 6  is the schematic scheme of the first embodiment of the configuration of the puzzles of the present creation. 
         FIG. 7  is the schematic scheme of the second embodiment of the configuration of the puzzles of the present creation. 
         FIG. 8  is the schematic scheme of the third embodiment of the configuration of the puzzles of the present creation. 
         FIG. 9  is the schematic scheme of the fourth embodiment of the configuration of the puzzles of the present creation. 
         FIG. 10  is the schematic scheme of the fifth embodiment of the configuration of the puzzles of the present creation. 
         FIG. 11  is the schematic scheme of the sixth embodiment of the configuration of the puzzles of the present creation. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     For ease of explaining the technical features, contents and advantages of the present creation to the Examiner, the present creation will be described hereinafter by embodiment taken in conjunction with the appended drawings. The mentioned drawings are only for demonstrating and supporting this specification but are not exactly the real ratio and accurate configuration upon implementation. Hence, the creation shall not be realized only depending on the ratios and configurations shown in the drawings, and shall not be limited upon practice. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is the schematic scheme of the unit element of the present creation. As shown in the figure, each of the puzzles of the hexagonal prismatic packing puzzle is composed of two or more unit components. Wherein, the unit component is selected form the group consisting of a first unit component and a second unit component which have different volumes. In the present embodiment, the first unit component may be a big unit component BU, and the second unit component may be a small unit component SU, but the present creation is not limited thereto. The big unit component BU is constructed together with the small unit component SU. In particular, the construction process is to dispose a triangular prism A of which the height h is equal to half of the side length s of the triangle. The triangular prism A is divided into two parts along the section CS formed by three vertices a, b and c, wherein the smaller part is the small unit component SU and the larger part is the big unit component BU. 
     In order to describe the small unit component SU and the big unit component BU more clearly to be beneficial in the description of puzzles. The shapes of big unit component BU and small unit component SU are described by coordinated vertices defined in a three-dimension coordinate system. For example, the coordinates of the four vertices of small unit component SU and the five vertices of big unit component BU are shown in Table 1. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Unit Component 
                 Vertex Coordinate 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 Small Unit Component SU 
                 (0, 0, 0), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (0, 0, 2) 
               
               
                 Big Unit Component BU 
                 (0, 0, 2), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), 
               
               
                   
                 (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2) 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Hereinafter, the puzzles will be described with the same ratios as the unit components in Table 1. The values in the table are only for describing the shape of the unit components but not for limiting the substantial length of the puzzles. 
     Herein, various puzzles composed of the big unit components BU and small unit components SU will be described. Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which is a schematic scheme of the puzzles having various shapes of the present creation. As shown in the figure, in the present embodiment, the puzzles are classified into 18 shapes comprising the first puzzle b 01  to the eighteenth puzzle b 18 . Each puzzle is a convex polyhedron composed of two or more unit components, and may be an integrated puzzle or a puzzle being able to be disassembled. Similarly, each of the puzzles is labeled according to the said three-dimension coordinate system. Corresponding to  FIG. 2 , the vertex coordinates of the 18 shapes of puzzles, that is, first puzzle b 01  to the eighteenth puzzle b 18  are shown in Table 2. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Unit Component 
                 Vertex Coordinate 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 The First Puzzle b01 
                 (2, 0, 0), (−2, 0, 0), (0, 4, 0), (0, 2, 2√{square root over (3)}) 
               
               
                 The Second Puzzle b02 
                 (2, 2, 0), (2, −2, 0), (−2, 2, 0), (−2, −2, 0), (0, 0, 2√{square root over (3)}) 
               
               
                 The Third Puzzle b03 
                 (2, 0, 0), (−2, 0, 0), (0, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (2, 0, 2), (−2, 0, 2), (0, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2) 
               
               
                 The Fourth Puzzle b04 
                 (2, 0, 0), (−2, 0, 0), (0, 4, 0), (2, 1, √{square root over (3)}), (−2, 1, √{square root over (3)}), (0, 5, √{square root over (3)}) 
               
               
                 The Fifth Puzzle b05 
                 (−4, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2) 
               
               
                 The Sixth Puzzle b06 
                 (4, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2) 
               
               
                 The Seventh Puzzle b07 
                 (4, 0, 0), (−4, 0, 0), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2) 
               
               
                 The Eighth Puzzle b08 
                 (4, 0, 0), (−4, 0, 0), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (4, 0, 2), (−4, 0, 2) 
               
               
                 The Ninth Puzzle b09 
                 (2, 0, 0), (−2, 0, 0), (0, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (2, 0, 4), (−2, 0, 4), (0, 2√{square root over (3)}, 4) 
               
               
                 The Tenth Puzzle b10 
                 (4, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (4, 0, 2), (0, 0, 2), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2) 
               
               
                 The Eleventh Puzzle b11 
                 (2, 0, 0), (−2, 0, 0), (4, 0, 0), (2, 2, 2√{square root over (3)}), (−2, 2, 2√{square root over (3)}), (0, 6, 2√{square root over (3)}) 
               
               
                 The Twelfth Puzzle b12 
                 (4, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (4, 1, √{square root over (3)}), (0, 1, √{square root over (3)}), (2, 5, √{square root over (3)}), 
               
               
                   
                 (−2, 5, √{square root over (3)}) 
               
               
                 The Thirteenth Puzzle b13 
                 (0, 0, 0), (2, 4, 0), (−2, 4, 0), (0, 8, 0), (0, 1, √{square root over (3)}), (2, 5, √{square root over (3)}), (−2, 5, √{square root over (3)}), (0, 9, √{square root over (3)}) 
               
               
                 The Fourteenth Puzzle b14 
                 (0, 0, 0), (4, 0, 0), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 0), (0, 0, 2), (2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 2), (−2, 2√{square root over (3)}, 4) 
               
               
                 The Fifteenth Puzzle b15 
                 (2, 4, 0), (−2, 0, 0), (0, 4, 0), (4, 0, 0), (0, 2, 2√{square root over (3)}), (2, 2, 2√{square root over (3)}) 
               
               
                 The Sixteenth Puzzle b16 
                 (4, 4, 0), (−2, 0, 0), (−2, 4, 0), (4, 0, 0), (0, 2, 2√{square root over (3)}), (2, 2, 2√{square root over (3)}) 
               
               
                 The Seventeenth Puzzle b17 
                 (2, 4, 0), (−4, 0, 0), (−2, 4, 0), (4, 0, 0), (−2, 2, 2√{square root over (3)}), (2, 2, 2√{square root over (3)}) 
               
               
                 The Eighteenth Puzzle b18 
                 (4, 4, 0), (−4, 0, 0), (−4, 4, 0), (4, 0, 0), (−2, 2, 2√{square root over (3)}), (2, 2, 2√{square root over (3)}) 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     In the aforementioned 18 shapes of the puzzles, the seventh puzzle b 07 , the eighth puzzle b 08  and the fourteenth puzzle b 14  may be composed of two repeated puzzles. Hence, the piece number of the puzzles of the present embodiment may be 21. A hexagonal prism may be pieced by these 21 shapes of puzzles, and a hexagonal prism having smaller size or different slope angles may also be pieced by picking up appropriate puzzles. The detail of the piecing configurations will be explained below taken in conjunction with a puzzle frame. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3 , which is the schematic scheme of the combination of the first puzzle and the third puzzle. As described above, the puzzles of the present creation have 18 different shapes, which are composed of two to six unit components (big unit component BU or small unit component SU). For instance, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the first puzzle b 01  is composed of two small unit components SU and the third puzzle b 03  is composed of one big unit component BU and one small unit component SU. The configurations of other puzzles of the present embodiment are listed in Table 3. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 3 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Unit Component 
                 Composition 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 The First Puzzle b01 
                 small unit component SU + small unit component SU 
               
               
                 The Second Puzzle b02 
                 big unit component BU + big unit component BU 
               
               
                 The Third Puzzle b03 
                 small unit component SU + big unit component BU 
               
               
                 The Fourth Puzzle b04 
                 small unit component SU + big unit component BU 
               
               
                 The Fifth Puzzle b05 
                 small unit component SU + big unit component BU 
               
               
                 The Sixth Puzzle b06 
                 small unit component SU + big unit component BU 
               
               
                 The Seventh Puzzle b07 
                 small unit component SU + big unit component BU + small 
               
               
                   
                 unit component SU 
               
               
                 The Eighth Puzzle b08 
                 big unit component BU + small unit component SU + big 
               
               
                   
                 unit component BU 
               
               
                 The Ninth Puzzle b09 
                 third puzzle b03 + third puzzle b03 
               
               
                 The Tenth Puzzle b10 
                 third puzzle b03 + third puzzle b03 
               
               
                 The Eleventh Puzzle b11 
                 fourth puzzle b04 + fourth puzzle b04 
               
               
                 The Twelfth Puzzle b12 
                 fifth puzzle b05 + sixth puzzle b06 
               
               
                 The Thirteenth Puzzle b13 
                 fourth puzzle b04 + fourth puzzle b04 
               
               
                 The Fourteenth Puzzle b14 
                 small unit component SU + third puzzle b03 + big 
               
               
                   
                 unit component BU 
               
               
                 The Fifteenth Puzzle b15 
                 small unit component SU + third puzzle b03 + small 
               
               
                   
                 unit component SU 
               
               
                 The Sixteenth Puzzle b16 
                 big unit component BU + third puzzle b03 + big 
               
               
                   
                 unit component BU 
               
               
                 The Seventeenth Puzzle b17 
                 small unit component SU+ third puzzle b03 + third 
               
               
                   
                 puzzle b03 + small unit component SU 
               
               
                 The Eighteenth Puzzle b18 
                 big unit component BU + third puzzle b03 + third 
               
               
                   
                 puzzle b03 + big unit component BU 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     In Table 3, although the third puzzle b 03  to the sixth puzzle b 06  are composed of one big unit component BU and one small unit component SU, the configurations of the big unit component BU and the small unit component SU therein are different. Hence, the said four kinds of puzzle have different shapes, which can be referred to the drawings and the coordinate listed in Table 2. The same as above, the shapes are also different from each other between the ninth puzzle b 09  and the tenth puzzle b 10 , and the eleventh puzzle b 11  and the thirteenth puzzle b 13 . Further, the arrangement and configuration of the unit components thereof are also different, so that the shapes of these 18 kinds of puzzle are different. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 4A to 4R , which are each the stereogram and three-view drawing of the first puzzles to the eighteenth puzzles of the present creation. As shown in the figures, in  FIG. 4A , the first puzzle b 01  is represented by stereograms  FIG. b01C , front view  FIG. b01F , right view  FIG. b01R  and upper view b 01 T. Similarly, the second puzzle b 02  to the eighteenth puzzle b 18  are represented in  FIGS. 4B to 4R  by the four views same as above. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 5 , which is the schematic scheme of the puzzle frame of the present creation. As shown in the figure, the puzzle frame F includes a lower cover  19   a , an upper cover  19   b  and two side plates  20 . The lower cover  19   a  and the upper cover  19   b  both have a groove  21  corresponding thereto for insertion of the side plates  20  and forming a hexagonal prismatic accommodating space  22 . The aforementioned 18 different puzzles (21 pieces) may exactly fill into the accommodating space  22  and accomplish a complete hexagonal prismatic structure. The lower cover  19   a  and the upper cover  19   b  may have the same and symmetrical structures, that is, an user may alternatively accomplish the packing puzzle by the support of the accommodating space  22  formed by the side plate  20  and lower cover  19   a  or the side plate  20  and the upper cover  19   b , and cover the packing puzzle with another cover for easy carrying. Besides, the slope angle or interval distance of the groove of the puzzle frame F may be set to make the packing puzzle more changeable and improve diversity upon operation. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 6 , which is the schematic scheme of the first embodiment of the configuration of the puzzles of the present creation. As shown in the figure, the lower cover  19   a  and the side plates  20  of the puzzle frame F forms a hexagonal prismatic accommodating space and all of the puzzles are arranged as in the figure to exactly fill into the accommodating space. The arrangement of the present embodiment is only for demonstration. The hexagonal prism may also be accomplished by changing angles or arrangement. Hence, there may exist many kinds of solutions. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 7 and 8 , which are the schematic scheme of the second and third embodiments of the configuration of the puzzles of the present creation respectively. As shown in  FIG. 7 , the groove  21  of the lower cover  19   a  is set at a slope angle so that the side plate  20  at the right side may provide a 30° angle between the side plate and the surface of the hexagonal prism when inserted, and another type of hexagonal prismatic accommodating space will be obtained. Since the shape of the complete structure is changed, the configuration of the puzzles may be different from the aforementioned embodiment. In the present embodiment, the puzzles may be configured as shown in  FIG. 7 , i.e. filling into a puzzle frame. Similarly, in  FIG. 8 , another groove  21  of the lower cover  19   a  may also be set at a slope angle so that the side plate  20  at the left side may provide a 30° between the side plate and the surface of the hexagonal prism when inserted, and yet another type of hexagonal prismatic accommodating space will be obtained. The puzzles may be filled into the puzzle frame as shown in the figures to accomplish the packing puzzle of the present embodiment. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 9 , which is the schematic scheme of the fourth embodiment of the configuration of the puzzles of the present creation. As shown in the figure, the side plates  20  may be inserted as separation side plates into the separation groove  21   a  at the middle so that the length is shortened to ⅓ of original and the volume of the hexagonal prism is decreased to ⅔ original. Since the volume is changed, not all of the puzzles should be used to accomplish the packing puzzle but only 12 to 16 pieces. Similarly, the packing puzzle also has various solutions. The exemplary solution is shown in  FIG. 9 . 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 10 and 11 , which are the schematic scheme of the fifth and sixth embodiment of the configuration of the puzzles of the present creation respectively. As shown in the figures, when the side plates  20  are inserted into the separation groove  21   a , the slope angle of the plate  20  may also be adjusted to obtain various complete structure of the packing puzzle.  FIG. 10  is an aspect that the side plate  20  at the right side is set obliquely and the exemplary solution thereof.  FIG. 11  is an aspect that the side plates  20  at two sides are all set obliquely and the exemplary solution thereof. Similarly, the solution of the packing puzzle of the present embodiment is not only limited to one. 
     The aforementioned descriptions are only for demonstration but not for limiting the scope of the present creation. A person skilled in the art is able to understand the core concept of the present invention after reading the content of above, and to modify the embodiment depending on requirements. In other words, the embodiment described above are not intended to limit the present invention. The scope protected by the present invention is defined by the appended claims.