Abstract: An improved mouse pad of soft and resilient material such as neoprene foam that incorporates a deformable component that allows the pad to retain any shape into which it has been molded. This shape-retaining ability is imparted by constructing the mouse pad as a sandwich in which a layer of shape-retaining material such as open mesh metal screening is laminated between two layers of neoprene foam or similar resilient material. A portion of the mouse pad can readily be molded along the sharp edge of table or formed into a padded ridge to protect the user's wrist. Further, this shape-retaining ability allows the mouse pad orientation to be varied in an ergometrically sound manner to minimize excessive stretching or awkward movements on the part of the user. This invention produces a versatile mouse pad that can be readily altered by the user to solve a wide range of problems.

Abstract: A construction/puzzle toy comprised of pairs of half-polyhedrons that are connected along one margin by a living plastic hinge. A chain is formed by permanently attaching adjacent pairs to each other by an axle-like component that rotatably joins two half-polyhedrons to form an entire polyhedron. This combination of a rotatable joint within each whole polyhedron and a hinge joint between adjacent polyhedrons allows the chain to be rearranged into a large number of different shapes. A preferred assembled shape for a chain of the polyhedrons is that of a cube. A closed ring of eight cuboidal polyhedrons forms a challenging puzzle that can be reconfigured to form a large cube with four cuboidal polyhedrons on each face. Likewise, a closed chain of 27 cubes can create a large cube with 9 cuboidal polyhedrons per face. Chains that are not closed to form a ring can be used to construct a wide variety of interesting shapes. The invention can be equipped with small knob-shaped tips to the axle-like component.