Patent ID: 7044825

Claim:
A construction toy system comprising a plurality of girders and connectors, characterized by (a) at least certain of said girders being of molded plastic construction and comprising an elongated body portion having a longitudinal axis and an interlocking element on at least one end of said body portion, (b) said body portion being of generally polygonal configuration, (c) said interlocking element extending axially of said body portion and comprising a rod-like extension projecting from an end of said body portion, a neck groove at an outer end of said rod-like extension, and a flange adjacent an outer edge of said neck groove, (d) said rod-like extension having a generally circular cross sectional configuration and at least one of said neck groove and flange having a non-circular cross sectional configuration for effecting rotational orientation of an assembly of a girder and a connector, (e) said flange, in at least one transverse dimension thereof, being of substantially the same dimension as the diameter of said rod-like extension, (f) said connectors being of molded plastic construction and being formed with at least one socket having an open side and an open end, for the lateral snap-in reception of an interlocking element of a girder, (g) said connector socket having an axis and having opposed sidewalls defining axially adjacent regions for the reception of the rod-like extension, neck groove and flange respectively of an interlocking element of a girder, (h) a first of said axially adjacent sidewall regions having an axial dimension generally corresponding to an axial length of a rod-like extension, and an opposed pair of said first sidewall regions being spaced apart such as to snugly grip a rod-like extension between them, (i) said first side wall regions having axially extending grooves therein for snap-in reception of said rod-like extension and thereby resisting lateral separation of said rod-like extension from said connector socket, and (j) at least one of said side walls having in a second region thereof a transversely disposed locking rib projecting into the space between said opposed side walls and positioned to be received within the neck groove of a girder interlocking element inserted laterally into said connector socket, to resist axial separation of said interlocking element from said socket, (k) said socket having a portion spaced from said locking rib and defining a third region of said sidewalls, for the reception of the flange of a girder interlocking element.