Abstract:
A building block includes a cube, five of six sides of which is respectively provided with four through holes while the sixth side is diagonally symmetrically provided with two projections and two through holes. The building blocks may be connected to one another in many different manners to create various shapes, and could be conveniently stored in a closed container and produced at reduced cost.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to a building block, and more particularly to building blocks that may be connected to one another in many different manners to create various shapes, and could be conveniently stored in a closed container and produced at reduced cost.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Young children need good “exercises” to achieve good development of brain and growth of muscle. In addition to encourage the young children to use their brains, it is also necessary to cultivate their ability in balancing control. Building blocks are frequently strongly recommended to young children by experts because they are constructive toys allowing children to observe with eyes and touch with hands. Through trial and error, children gradually learn to assemble a mass of individual building blocks into a complete thing or body. In the process of assembling the building blocks, the children naturally learn the concept of space, and understand the relation between “whole” and “part” to build the mathematical concept about “quantity” or “amount”. Young children tend to develop different shapes in playing the building blocks in the course of their growth. They have a lot of fun in their own imaginative creations built with the blocks. Blocks are therefore very useful in developing children&#39;s imagination and training their brain.  
         [0003]     However, it should be noted that a good building block adapted to achieve the above-mentioned learning effects is certainly not only a few pieces of geometric blocks for practicing piling. A well-designed building block must be highly reproducible and have ingenious and balancing structure. While many commercially available building blocks are in compliance with the above-mentioned requirements, they still have many defects in the design.  
         [0004]     Please refer to  FIGS. 1 and 2  that illustrates a first conventional building block  1 . The building block  1  is a cube, three of four lateral sides of which are respectively provided with an insertion hole  11  while the fourth lateral side is provided with a centered projection  12 . By engaging the projection  12  of one building block  1  with any one insertion hole  11  of another building block  1 , a plurality of the building blocks  1  may be connected to or stacked over one another to create various formations, providing a good way for training young children&#39;s brain through free creation of different shapes. A disadvantage of the first conventional building block  1  is that, no matter how the building blocks  1  are arranged for storing in a container  2 , there is always one projection  12  extended from one of the building blocks  1  to prevent the container  2  from being covered with a lid (not shown).  
         [0005]      FIGS. 3, 4 , and  5  illustrates another two conventional building blocks  3  and  30 . The building block  3  shown in  FIG. 4  is a cube, five of six sides of which are respectively provided with an insertion hole  31  while the sixth side of which is provided at a center with a projection  32 . By engaging the projection  32  of one building block  3  with any one insertion hole  31  of another building block  3 , a plurality of building blocks  3  may be connected to or stacked over one another to create different shapes. The building block  30  shown in  FIG. 3  is also a cube, which is particularly designed for use as an ending block for other building blocks  3 . All six sides of the building block  30  are respectively provided with an insertion hole  301 , enabling all building blocks  3  and  30  in one complete set to be fitly received in the container  2  without the problem of a projection  32  preventing the container  2  from being covered with a lid. However, it requires two molds for manufacturing the building blocks  3  and  30 , and it is necessary to stock up both the building blocks  3  and  30 , resulting in uneconomically increased manufacturing and warehousing costs.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     A primary object of the present invention is to provide a building block, a plurality of which may be continuously connected to one another in many different manners to create various shapes, be conveniently stored in a closed container, and be produced at reduced cost.  
         [0007]     To achieve the above and other objects, the building block according to a first embodiment of the present invention mainly includes a cube, five of six sides of which is respectively provided with four squared through holes while the sixth side is diagonally symmetrically provided with two round-sectioned projections and two squared through holes.  
         [0008]     According to a second embodiment of the present invention, the building block includes a cube, five of six sides of which is respectively provided with four round through holes while the sixth side is diagonally symmetrically provided with two round-sectioned projections and two round through holes.  
         [0009]     Areas on each side of the cube other than the through holes and the projections are formed into across-shaped central zone and a squared frame zone. The cross-shaped central zone has a width twice as wide as that of the frame zone. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]     The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein  
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a first conventional building block;  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  shows the receiving of the first conventional building blocks in a container;  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a second conventional building block;  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  shows the connecting of the second conventional building blocks to one another;  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  shows the receiving of the second conventional building blocks in a container;  
         [0016]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a building block according to a first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0017]      FIG. 7  is an exploded perspective view showing a first example of connecting multiple building blocks of  FIG. 6  to one another;  
         [0018]      FIG. 8  is an assembled perspective of  FIG. 7 ;  
         [0019]      FIG. 9  shows the receiving of the building blocks of  FIG. 6  in a container;  
         [0020]      FIG. 10  is an exploded perspective view showing a second example of connecting multiple building blocks of  FIG. 6  to one another;  
         [0021]      FIG. 11  is an assembled view of  FIG. 10 ;  
         [0022]      FIG. 12  is an exploded perspective view showing a third example of connecting multiple building blocks of  FIG. 6  to one another;  
         [0023]      FIG. 13  is an assembled view of  FIG. 12 ; and  
         [0024]      FIG. 14  is a perspective view of a building block according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0025]     Please refer to  FIG. 6  that is a perspective view of a building block  4  according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the building block  4  is a cube, five of six sides of which are respectively provided with four through holes  42  while the sixth side is diagonally symmetrically provided with two projections  41  and two through holes  43 . The projections  41  are round-sectioned, and the through holes  42 ,  43  are square-sectioned. With the four through holes  42  symmetrically provided on each side of the building block  4 , there area cross-shaped central zone  44  and a squared frame zone  45  formed on each side of the building block  4 . It is noted the cross-shaped central zone  44  has a width twice as wide as that of the frame zone  45 .  
         [0026]     Please refer to  FIG. 7  that is an exploded perspective view showing a first example of connecting multiple building blocks  4  to one another. Any of the building blocks  4  may be connected to another one by associating the two projections  41  on that building block  4  with two through holes  42  or  43  on any side of another building block  4 . In this manner, five building blocks  4  may be connected to one another to form a cross-shaped body, as shown in  FIG. 8 . To collect the building blocks  4  in a container  5  for storage as shown in  FIG. 9 , it is possible to position the outmost ones  4  with the side having the projections  41  facing inward, so that the projections  41  are inserted into the through holes  42  or  43  of an adjacent building block  4 . In this way, the projections  41  would not project from the container  5 , and the problem of being unable to close the container  5  with a cover (not shown) can be avoided. Moreover, only one mold is needed to manufacture the building blocks  4  to eliminate the problem of high costs for making more than one mold and stocking up two types of finished building blocks.  
         [0027]      FIG. 10  is an exploded perspective view showing a second example of connecting multiple building blocks  4  to one another. As mentioned above, the cross-shaped central zone  44  has a width twice as wide as that of the frame zone  45 . This design allows one building block  4  to locate over another two parallelly arranged building blocks  4  by separately associating the two projections  41  of the first building block  4  with the through holes  42  or  43  of the other two building blocks  4 , and thereby forms a reverse-T shaped body as shown in  FIG. 11 .  
         [0028]      FIG. 12  is an exploded perspective view showing a third example of connecting multiple building blocks  4  to one another. A first and a fourth building block  4  may be respectively located over and below a second and a third building block  4  by separately associating the two projections  41  of the first building block  4  with the through holes  42  on upper sides of the second and the third building block  4 , and the two projections  41  of the fourth building block  4  with the through holes  43  on lower sides of the second and the third building block  4 , so that the four building blocks  4  are stacked up to form a cross.  
         [0029]     FIGS.  10  to  13  illustrates two additional manners of connecting the building blocks  4  of the present invention to one another. It is understood the building blocks  4  may still be connected to one another in many other manners to extend in different directions to show a variety of shapes.  
         [0030]      FIG. 14  shows a building block  6  according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The building block  6  is also a cube, five of six sides of which are respectively provided with four through holes  62  while the other side is diagonally symmetrically provided with two projections  61  and two through holes  63 . Both the projections  61  and the through holes  62 ,  63  are round in shape.  
         [0031]     The building blocks  6  may be connected to one another in the same manner as illustrated in  FIGS. 7, 8 , and  9  for fitly receiving in a container closed with a cover.  
         [0032]     Alternatively, the building blocks  6  may be continuously connected to or stacked over one another in the same manners as taught with reference to FIGS.  10  to  13  to create various formations.  
         [0033]     In brief, the present invention provides a building block  4 ,  6  that is a cube, on five of six sides of which there are respectively provided four through holes  42 ,  62 , while the sixth side of which is diagonally symmetrically provided with two projections  41 ,  61  and two through holes  43 ,  63 . Wherein, the projections  41 ,  61  are round in shape, and the through holes  42 ,  62 ;  43 ,  63  may be square or round in shape.