Patent Publication Number: US-6702640-B1

Title: Block toy

Description:
This application is a 371 of PCT/KR00/01268 filed Nov. 6, 2000. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to a block toy and more particularly, to a block toy which forms 8 outer peripheral surfaces along vertical and horizontal directions of a radially outer periphery of each of a plurality of coupling beads from the center thereof and enables the basic angle of a plurality of coupling bars each inserted vertically into the surface of the coupling bead to be at 45°, 60° and 90°, thereby allowing a desired model of all kinds of shapes to be assembled in a simple manner. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     Generally, a block toy is composed of a plurality of spherical coupling beads and a plurality of coupling bars connecting the plurality of coupling beads. Using the plurality of coupling beads and the plurality of coupling bars of the block toy, a building or bridge of a desired shape can be assembled. 
     By way of example, there is provided a conventionally known arm type of block toy as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Application No. 57-67798, which is composed of a plurality of coupling beads having 18 flat faces and a plurality of arms (coupling bars) each having an absorption plate to the flat faces of each coupling bead, such that the absorption plate of each arm is absorbed on the flat faces of each of the coupling beads, respectively, thereby forming a three-dimensional structure. 
     Since the above-mentioned conventional block toy absorbs the absorption plate of the arm onto the flat faces of each coupling bead, however, the absorbed state is not rigid and thus, only a small and simple structure can be formed. Additionally, the arms are absorbed on the 18 flat faces at an angle of about 60°, thereby making it difficult to form a delicate and complicated structure. 
     There is also provided a conventionally known multi-purpose block toy as disclosed in Korean Utility Model Laid-Open Application No. 87-6490, which is composed of a plurality of coupling beads of a ball shape on which an insertion groove is formed, a plurality of coupling bars each connected to the coupling beads and having insertion grooves into which a plurality of assembling plates are inserted at different angles and the plurality of assembling plates adapted to be inserted into the insertion grooves of each coupling bar. 
     However, since the above-referenced conventional block toy forms such the plurality of insertion grooves in an irregularly arranging manner on the outer periphery of the coupling bead of the ball shape to thereby connect the plurality of coupling beads by the coupling bars, the angles of the coupling bars inserted into the coupling beads are not uniform, thereby making it difficult to build a desired structure. Further, since the coupling bar forms the insertion grooves thereon in a length direction, there occurs a problem that the assembling plate is not well inserted into the insertion grooves of the coupling bar. 
     Moreover, there is provided a conventionally known block toy coupler as disclosed in Korean Utility Model Laid-Open Application No. 86-1394, which is composed of a plurality of coupling beads with a plurality of through holes on the outer periphery and a plug having a pair of insertion bars formed by the protrusion of a protruded member with a reentrant groove on both ends thereof, for the purpose of connecting the plurality of coupling beads with the through holes. 
     Since the above-referenced conventional block toy coupler inserts the insertion bars into the through holes formed irregularly on each of the coupling beads, however, a simple and easy structure is formed but a delicate and complicated structure is not well formed. Particularly, the plug with the insertion bars on the both ends thereof is manufactured in a complicated manner, thereby accompanying the difficulties of the manufacturing work. 
     DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION 
     It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a block toy capable of carrying out an assembling work of a plurality of coupling beads, a plurality of coupling bars and a plurality of assembling plates in a simple manner, thereby making it possible to build a delicate and complicated structure. 
     According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a block toy having a plurality of coupling beads each having a plurality of insertion grooves on the outer peripheral surfaces thereof, a plurality of coupling bars connecting the plurality of coupling beads to form predetermined three-dimensional frameworks, and a plurality of assembling plates covering the spaces among the predetermined three-dimensional frameworks to form a whole shape, characterized in that each of all outer peripheral surfaces of each of the plurality of coupling beads is made with 8 sides along vertical and horizontal directions of a radially outer periphery thereof from the center thereof, thereby allowing the plurality of coupling bars each inserted into the plurality of insertion grooves of each of the plurality of coupling beads to have basic angles at 45°, 60° and 90°. 
     It is preferable that each of the plurality of insertion grooves on each of the plurality of coupling beads is formed by a predetermined depth towards the center point of the coupling bead, such that each of the plurality of coupling bars is inserted in a perpendicular direction relative to each surface of each of the plurality of coupling beads. 
     It is desirable that each of said coupling beads is a cylindrical shape and has a curved outer peripheral surface and each of the assembling plates is provided on the edges thereof with a plurality of reentrant grooves on the portion assembled with each of the coupling bars, such that it can cover the outer peripheral surface of each of the coupling bars and is assembled with the coupling bar. 
     Each of the assembling plates is of a curved surface shape, so that it is assembled to each of the coupling bars, thereby allowing the whole block toy to be of a curved surface shape. 
     According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a block toy having a plurality of coupling beads each having a plurality of insertion grooves on the outer peripheral surfaces thereof, a plurality of coupling bars connecting the plurality of coupling beads to form predetermined three-dimensional frameworks, and a plurality of assembling plates covering the spaces among the predetermined three-dimensional frameworks to form a whole shape, characterized in that each of the assembling plates is provided on the edges assembled to each of the coupling bars with a plurality of protrusions which are formed in a zigzag order to take a “V” shape, such that the plurality of assembling plates cover the outer peripheral surfaces of the plurality of coupling bars along the outer peripheral surfaces of the coupling bars of the cylindrical shape and are assembled therewith. 
     In order to assemble each of the assembling plates with the coupling bars, each edge of each of said assembling plates is divided into four areas on which the four protrusions are formed and a fine clearance is desirably formed between the protrusions. 
     According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a block toy having a plurality of coupling beads each having a plurality of insertion grooves on the outer peripheral surfaces thereof, a plurality of coupling bars connecting the plurality of coupling beads to form predetermined three-dimensional frameworks, and a plurality of assembling plates covering the spaces among the predetermined three-dimensional frameworks to form a whole shape, characterized in that each of all outer peripheral surfaces of each of the plurality of coupling beads is made with 12 sides along vertical and horizontal directions of a radially outer periphery thereof from the center thereof, thereby allowing the plurality of coupling bars each inserted into the plurality of insertion grooves of each of the plurality of coupling beads to have basic angles at 30°, 60° and 90°. 
     According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a block toy having a plurality of coupling beads each having a plurality of insertion grooves on the outer peripheral surfaces thereof, a plurality of coupling bars connecting the plurality of coupling beads to form predetermined three-dimensional frameworks, and a plurality of assembling plates covering the spaces among the predetermined three-dimensional frameworks to form a whole shape, characterized in that each of all outer peripheral surfaces of each of the plurality of coupling beads is made with 16 sides along vertical and horizontal directions of a radially outer periphery thereof from the center thereof, thereby allowing the plurality of coupling bars each inserted into the plurality of insertion grooves of each of the plurality of coupling beads to have basic angles at 22.5°, 45°, 60°, 67.5° and 90°. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the construction of a block toy according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating an example of a coupling bead in the block toy of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a top view of the coupling bead; 
     FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the block toy according to the present invention in an assembled state; 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating another example of the coupling bead in the block toy of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating yet another example of the coupling bead in the block toy of the present invention. 
    
    
     BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
     Now, a block toy of the present invention will be hereinafter discussed with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     As shown in FIGS. 1 to  4 , the block toy of the present invention is composed of a plurality of coupling beads  10  each having a plurality of insertion grooves  1   a  on the outer peripheral surfaces thereof, a plurality of coupling bars  12  connecting the plurality of coupling beads  10  to form predetermined three-dimensional frameworks, and a plurality of assembling plates  14 ,  24  covering the spaces among the predetermined three-dimensional frameworks to form a whole structure shape. 
     Each of the coupling beads  10  of a spherical shape is assembled with the plurality of coupling bars  12  at basic angles at 45°, 60° and 90° between the coupling bars  12  inserted into the insertion grooves  10   a  and has 8-sided outer peripheral surfaces along vertical and horizontal directions of a radially outer periphery thereof, respectively. 
     Each of the plurality of insertion grooves on each coupling bead  10  is formed by a predetermined depth towards the center point of the coupling bead  10  on the center of each surface thereof, such that each of the plurality of coupling bars  12  is inserted in a perpendicular direction relative to each surface of each coupling bead  12 . 
     The predetermined depth of the insertion groove  10   a  is formed so that the inserted coupling bar  12  is not easily separated from the insertion groove  10   a  when an external shock is applied. 
     Each of the coupling bars  12  has a curved outer peripheral surface, thereby taking a cylindrical shape, in order to be assembled with each of the plurality of assembling plates  14  and  24  in an easy manner. And, it is desirable that the plurality of coupling bars  12  having different lengths are provided in accordance with the angles formed during the assembling with the plurality of coupling beads  10 . 
     For example, it is assumed that a basic unit of the coupling bar  12  is ‘1’ and in case where a regular square is built by using the coupling bar of unit of ‘1’, there are provided the coupling bars having a length of the root of 2 for connecting the diagonal lines of the regular square. 
     If the basic unit of the coupling bar is changed, the coupling bars should be provided according to the unit length of the used coupling bar. 
     Each of the assembling plates  14  and  24  is coupled to the frameworks of the structure built by the connections of the coupling beads  10 , such that the structure takes a complete shape. The triangular and square assembling plates are provided according to the assembling shape of the coupling bars  12 . 
     Each of the assembling plates  14  is provided with a plurality of reentrant grooves  14   a  on the edge portions assembled with each of the coupling bars  12 , for the purpose of being easily assembled to the coupling bars  12  of the cylindrical shape. 
     And, each of the assembling plates  24  is provided on the edges assembled to each of the coupling bars, except the reentrant edges with a plurality of protrusions  24   a  that are formed in a zigzag order to take a “V” shape. 
     Each of the assembling plates (not shown) is of a curved surface shape, so that when it is assembled to each of the coupling bars  12 , the whole block toy takes a curved surface shape. 
     Under the above construction, the coupling bead  10  is disposed at a predetermined position and the coupling bar is inserted into the two insertion grooves  10   a  of the coupling bead  10  that are at an angle of 90° among the 8 sides formed in a horizontal direction. 
     Thus, a pair of coupling beads  10  on which the coupling bars  12  are inserted and another pair of coupling beads  10  on which no coupling bar is connected are assembled to each other, thereby building a square structure. 
     Using the above building manner, the coupling bar  12  is inserted into the insertion grooves  10   a  on the top and bottom surfaces of the coupling bead  10  and into the insertion grooves  10   a  that are at an angle of 90° among the 8 sides on the center thereof in a horizontal direction, respectively, thus to build a regular hexahedron. Based upon the regular hexahedron, a large number of regular hexahedron combinations may be built. 
     Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the coupling bars  12  are inserted into the insertion grooves  10   a  on the upper sides adjacent to the surface of each coupling bead  10  corresponding to the upper edges of the regular hexahedron, and the coupling bead  10  is connected to the point on which the coupling bars  12  are met, thereby building a regular square pyramid. 
     On the other hand, the basic unit of the coupling bar  12  is set long or short, thereby building a right-angled hexahedron. 
     Using the coupling beads  10  and the coupling bars  12 , the structure of a desired shape is built, and the assembling plates  14  and  24  are covered on the spaces formed between the coupling bars  12 , thereby completing the whole shape of the structure. 
     In this way, the assembling plates  14  and  24  can be assembled with the space portions of the structure in rigid and close manners by the formation of the plurality of reentrants grooves  14   a  and the plurality of protrusions  24   a  of the “V” shape on the edges coupled to the coupling bars  12 . 
     On the other hand, each of the coupling beads  10  has the 8 outer peripheral surfaces according to its diameters, but may have 8 or more outer peripheral surfaces for the purpose of building a more delicate and complicated structure. 
     By way of example, FIG. 5 shows a coupling bead  20  having 12 outer peripheral surfaces and FIG. 6 shows a coupling bead  30  having 16 outer peripheral surfaces. 
     INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY 
     As discussed above, a block toy according to the present invention includes a plurality of coupling beads each having 8 outer peripheral surfaces according to its diameters and a plurality of assembling plates each having a plurality of reentrant grooves on the edges thereof coupled to a plurality of coupling bars, whereby the assembling work of the plurality of coupling beads, the plurality of coupling bars and the plurality of assembling plates can be carried out in simple and easy manners and a delicate and complicated structure can be built. 
     While the present invention has been described with reference to a few specific embodiments, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.