Patent Publication Number: US-2019192987-A1

Title: Toy building brick system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/852,832, filed on Dec. 22, 2017. 
    
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to toy building brick devices and more particularly pertains to a new toy building brick devices for allowing a user thereof to create cubic type patterns and provide for coverings therefore. Additionally, the invention includes bricks including all male connectors positioned on all sides of the brick. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a base brick having a cubic shape such that the base brick comprises six outer walls. The base brick has an open interior and each of the outer walls comprises a female receiver such that six female receivers are formed in the base brick. In this manner, the base brick defines an all-female brick. A plurality of inserts is provided and each of the inserts is removably engaged with one of the female receivers such that an outer surface of each of the inserts faces outwardly of the open interior. 
     Another embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a brick having an outer surface. The outer surface includes a plurality of outer walls. A plurality of male connectors is mounted on the brick. Each of the male connectors is engageable with a female connector of a different toy building brick. The brick is configured to only be capable of engaging with female connectors. The brick is devoid of female connectors such that the brick is incapable of direct engagement with female connectors. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a top perspective view of an all-female brick of a toy building brick system according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a bottom view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the disclosure taken along line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of another embodiment of an all-female brick of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a top perspective view of an embodiment of an insert of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a bottom view of an embodiment of  FIG. 5  of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a top perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure of an insert including a rotational coupler connection. 
         FIG. 8  is a top view of an embodiment of the disclosure of an insert including a rotational coupler connection. 
         FIG. 9  is a top perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure of an extension member including a rotational coupler connection. 
         FIG. 10  is a top perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure of an extension member including a rotational coupler connection. 
         FIG. 11  is a top perspective view of an embodiment of an extension member of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 12  is a top perspective view of an embodiment of an extension member of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 13  is a bottom perspective view of an embodiment of an insert of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 14  is a top perspective view of an embodiment of an insert of  FIG. 13  of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 15  is a front perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 16  is a rear perspective view of  FIG. 15  of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 17  is a partially exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 18  is a bottom perspective view of a cover of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 19  is a top perspective view of an embodiment of  FIG. 18  of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 20  is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 21  is a perspective view of a male peg of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 22  is a side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 23  is a top perspective view of a cover of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 24  is a bottom perspective view of  FIG. 23  of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 25  is a top view of a single peg brick an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 26  is a bottom view of  FIG. 25  of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 27  is a perspective view of a single peg brick of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 28  is a top and front perspective view of an all-male sided brick of the disclosure wherein a bottom and rear perspective view thereof is a mirror image of  FIG. 28 . 
         FIG. 29  is a top perspective view of an embodiment of a cover of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 30  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  30 - 30  of  FIG. 29 . 
         FIG. 31  is a top view of  FIG. 28  of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 32  is a side view of  FIG. 28  of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 33  is a cross-section taken along line  33 - 33  of  FIG. 32  of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 34  is a cross-section taken along line  34 - 34  of  FIG. 32  of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 30  thereof, a new toy building brick devices embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 30 , the toy building brick system  10  generally comprises a structure and system to be utilized with building brick systems utilizing generally similar structures for frictionally coupling together these structures. Typically these structures comprise interconnecting toy bricks and the systems therefore. These brick systems are ubiquitous in the toy arts and are found in multiple references such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,005,282. Toy bricks of this type may be found, for instance, being sold under the names Lego and Duplo. Lego and Duplo bricks may be analogous to either generally, but vary in size with respect to each other. More particularly, the Duplo toy bricks includes larger features than Lego toy bricks which allows Duplo type bricks to be used more easily by small children. 
     The system  10  herein includes a base brick  12  having a cubic shape such that the base brick comprises six outer walls  14 . The base brick  12  has an open interior and each of the outer walls  14  comprises a female receiver  15  such that six female receivers  15  are formed in the base brick  12 . More specifically, each of the outer walls  14  includes a panel that has an outer surface  17  and an inner surface  18 . The panel has an opening  19  therein extending through the outer  17  and inner  18  surfaces and is centrally located. Though other shapes may be utilized, such as particularly rectangular, more typically the opening  19  will be square shaped and is bounded by a perimeter surface  20 . A shoulder  21  is formed in the perimeter surface  20  and extends inward of the opening  19 . The shoulder  21  is co-extensive with the perimeter surface  20 . The shoulder  21  is spaced from the outer surface  17  to form the female receiver  15  from the outer surface  17  to the shoulder  21 . The shoulder  21  may further have an interior edge  22  bounding the opening  19 . In particular version of the base brick, as found in  FIG. 4 , includes an interior being entirely open. Another embodiment, found in  FIGS. 1-3 , includes internal bracing  23  structure to provide rigidity to the base brick  12  as well as structural support to prevent the base brick  12  from bending or cracking along its outer edges. 
     A plurality of inserts  26  is provided and each of the inserts  26  is removably engaged with one of the female receivers  15  such that an outer surface  27  of each of the inserts  26  faces outwardly of the open interior of the base brick  12 . As shown generally in  FIGS. 5-8  and  FIGS. 13-14 , the inserts  26  each include a plate  28  that has a first side  29 , a second side  30  and a perimeter edge  31  wherein the first side  29  defines the outer surface  27 . The perimeter edge  31  is abuttable against and frictionally engaged to the perimeter surface  20  of the female receiver  15 . More particularly, the plate  28  will have the same shape as the female receiver  15  and therefore will typically have a square shape. The second side  30  is abuttable against the shoulder  21 . 
     A plurality of male pegs  34  may be attached to the second side  30  as shown in  FIG. 5 . The male pegs  34  frictionally engaging the interior edge  22  of the shoulder  21  and/or the internal bracing  23  found in  FIG. 1 . Each of the male pegs  34  has a terminal end  35 . As can be seen in  FIG. 5 , the terminal ends  35  may each have notches  36  therein such that the terminal ends  35  are angled downwardly toward adjacent portions of the perimeter edge. Alternatively a ledge may be formed by the notches  36  as shown in  FIGS. 21 and 22 . The notches allow for adjacent interaction of male pegs  34  of stacked of adjacent blocks as shown in  FIG. 22 . The notches  36  may also be utilized to allow a tighter, flusher fit with the perimeter surfaces of the female receivers  15 . While not all male pegs  34  of the Figures include notches  36 , it should be understood that all or none of the male pegs discussed herein and shown in the Figures may include the notches. This may be particularly true for  FIG. 28  depicting an all-male brick  37  having all six sides being male, as opposed to female, couplers. While these male pegs  34  are shown as cylinders, they may also include notches  36 . 
     The structure of  FIG. 28  is further shown in  FIGS. 31-34  and includes a brick  70  having an outer surface which includes a plurality of outer walls  71 . A plurality of male connectors  72  is mounted on the brick  70 . The male connectors  72  are each configured to engage a female connector of a different toy building brick. The brick  70  is configured to only be capable of engaging with female connectors. The brick  70  is devoid of female connectors such that the brick is incapable of direct engagement with female connectors. 
     Each of the outer walls  71  has at least one of the male connectors  72  attached thereto, though each of the outer walls  71  may have at least two male connectors  72  and, as shown in  FIG. 31 , each of the outer walls  71  may have at least four male connectors  72  attached thereto. The number of male connectors  72  will typically vary depending on the size of the brick  70 , though four male connectors  72  on each outer wall may be preferred. 
     The outer walls  71  may have any useful shape, though typically it will be advantageous if the outer walls  71  each have a rectangular shape which, more specifically, may comprise a square shape. The brick  70  will have a length, a width and a height each being less than 3.0 inches. 
       FIGS. 25-27  include male peg  34  and female receiver combination bricks. The notches  36  in these male pegs  34  may extend completely around each terminal end  35  since with a single male peg  34  its entire perimeter is adjacent to portions of the perimeter edges of the brick to which it is attached.  FIG. 25  shows a version of a single pegged sides from the top and  FIG. 26  is shows the bottom having a female connector  38 . Thus,  FIGS. 25 and 26  include five male pegged sides and one female connector side.  FIG. 27  includes three female connectors  38  and the opposite sides include three male pegs  34  which are not viewable from the depicted view. Also contemplated, but not shown, is an embodiment including two adjacent female connectors  38  and an embodiment including two oppositely positioned female connectors  38 . 
     A plurality of male connectors  40  may be provided and attached to outer surfaces, or second sides  30 , of the plurality of inserts  26  as shown in  FIG. 5 . However, as shown in  FIG. 13 , the outer surfaces  30  may be planar. The outer surface  30  of the plurality of inserts  26  having the male connectors  40 , as shown in  FIG. 5 , will include at least one male connector  40  attached thereto and each of the male connectors  40  may comprise a plurality of male pegs  34 . More specifically, each male connector  40  may include four male pegs  34 . Thus, some of the inserts  26  will be reversible and some will not and furthermore some inserts  26  will include means for engaging other bricks opposite of the base brick to which they are first attached. This is best shown in  FIGS. 15 and 16  wherein both types of inserts  26  are being utilized with a single base brick  12 .  FIG. 17  shows how inserts  26  having planar outer surfaces  30  may be positioned such that they encapsulate a plurality of base bricks  12  having inserts including male connectors  40  so that adjacent ones of the base bricks  12  may be coupled together. 
     The system  10  includes a plurality of covers  42 , examples of which are found in  FIGS. 18, 19, 23, 24, 29 and 30 . Each of the covers  42  is removably attached to one of the male connectors  40 . The covers  42  are positionable over and cover an associated one of the outer surfaces  30 . Each of the covers  42  includes a rectangular member  43  having a first side  44  and a second side  46 . The rectangular member  43  comprises a solid wall and the second sides  46  of the covers  42  each including a female connector  47  engageable with one of the male connectors  40 . The female connector  47  includes a receiving space for receiving and frictionally engaging the male pegs  34  of the male connectors  40 .  FIGS. 18 and 19  include trapezoidal side walls and open sided ends for allowing a person to more easily grip the covers  42  to disengage them from the male connectors.  FIG. 23  and  FIG. 24  depict additional embodiments of the covers  42  having corner openings  50  therein. The embodiment in  FIGS. 29 and 30  provide for a peripheral wall  48  having cutout  49  formed therein for gripping by a person&#39;s fingernail. The open sided ends, corner openings  50  and cutouts  49  all provide a gripping area to facilitate disengagement of the coves  42  from the male connectors  40 /male pegs  34 . It should be understood that each cover  42  may be sized to engage any selected amount of male pegs  34 . The embodiment in  FIG. 24  may best be suited for engagement with single male peg while that found in  FIG. 18  might include any required size so that it would fit matrixes of 2×2 male pegs, 3×3 male pegs and the like. The first sides  44  of the covers  42  are completely planar meaning that they are without any structure extending upwardly therefrom. 
       FIGS. 9-12  depict various extenders  52  that are connectable with the inserts  26  to allow two inserts  26  to be coupled together. Each of the extenders  52  includes a frame  53  having an outer perimeter wall  54  bounding an inner space  55 . The outer perimeter wall  54  has an interior surface  56  and an exterior surface  57 . The interior surface  56  extends around an aperture  58  passing through the extender  52 . Each of the male connectors  40  is removably receivable and engageable with one of the interior surfaces  56 . The aperture  58  may be square shaped or substantially square shaped as is shown in  FIG. 11 . A pair of supports  59  traverses the aperture  58  and is attached to the interior surface  56 . The supports  59  are orientated perpendicular to each other. As can be seen in  FIGS. 9-12 , the supports  59  divide the aperture  58  into four sub-openings  60  each positioned to receive a single male peg  34 . In this manner, the extenders  52  allow two inserts  26  to be attached together. When multiple base bricks  12 , inserts  26  and extenders  52  are used in conjunction with each other, the system  10  may be used to form various structures such as a cube. The extenders  52 , particularly those of the type shown in  FIG. 11 , will typically have apertures having a depth equal to at least two times a height of the male pegs  34  but less than 2.5 times the height of the male pegs  34 . The extenders  52  may also be used with all-male bricks  37  of the type found in  FIG. 28  to allow two male bricks to be coupled together in close proximity to each other to simulate a cube shape as is being formed in  FIG. 20 . However, it should be understood that the structure of  FIG. 20  may be comprised of all-female base bricks  12  including inserts  26  having outwardly extending male couplers  40  that are engaged with the extenders  52 . 
     While  FIGS. 9 and 10  appear to have a similar depth as the extender of  FIG. 11 , these extenders  52  may only require a depth equal to at least the height of a male peg  34 . These versions of the extenders  52  include rotational couplers. Each of rotational couplers includes a first mating member  61  and a second mating member  62 . At least some of the extenders  52  has one of the first mating members  61  coupled thereto and at least some of the extenders  52  has one of the second mating members  62  coupled thereto. The first mating member  61  of one of the extenders  52  is removably engageable to the second mating member  62  of one of the extenders  52  to rotationally couple corresponding ones of the extenders  52  together. The corresponding ones of the extenders  52  has a rotational axis orientated and aligned with an axis of associated ones of the apertures  58 . The first  61  and second  62  mating members may also be found on inserts  26  as shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . The rotational couplers allow pairs of the inserts  26  and/or pairs of extenders to be rotationally coupled together as well as inserts  26  rotationally coupled to extenders  52 . The first mating member  61  may include a pair of arms  63  each having a free end including a flange  64 . The arms  63  are extendable into the second mating member  62  and the flanges  64  insertable into an annular slot  65  positioned within the second mating member  62  to allow the flanges  64  to engage and rotate with respect to the second mating member  62 . 
       FIG. 12  provides for an extender  52  having a peripheral edge including male pegs  34  for engagement with other bricks. The male pegs  34  shown in  FIG. 12  include two male pegs  34  positioned on each independent side of the peripheral edge wherein the peripheral edge includes four independent sides. However, only two oppositely positioned ones of the independent sides may include male pegs  34 . 
     In use, the system  10  allows a person to utilize all-female building bricks, represented by the base bricks  12 , to construct arrangements not previously allowed by way of conventional toy brick assemblies. The user may use the inserts  26  to simply cover the female receivers  15 , attach covers  42  to the base bricks  12  or, by utilizing the extenders  52 , to connect base bricks  12  together. As can be seen in  FIGS. 17 and 20 , this structure allows the user of the system  10  to build in all directions simultaneously and to build cubic structures not available with other toy brick assemblies. The covers  53  provide for pleasing aesthetics and may be colored multiple colors to allow personal tailoring of structures created with the system  10 . 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.