Magnetic Toy Construction Piece and Set
A magnetic toy construction piece and set for building lattice structures is disclosed. Magnetic pieces are rod-shaped and have magnets on their long faces. Magnets are color-coded depending on their polarity. Platform pieces for support and offset pieces are also contemplated.
Not applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe field of the invention is toy construction sets. In particular, the invention relates to toy construction sets utilizing rods and magnets.
FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCHNot applicable.
SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAMNot applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONChildren and adults enjoy building structures from basic building blocks. The LEGO™ and DUPLO™ are examples of popular construction toy building devices. These and standard blocks, however, do not utilize magnets to join blocks together.
Magnets provide an interesting and educational means of joining materials together. Magnets can be used to join building blocks together to create three-dimensional structures. Because magnetic attraction is intriguing and powerful, it is desirable to use magnets to facilitate construction. In addition, because magnetic attraction operates differently than mechanical joints, new and different structures can be built.
The prior art discloses building blocks with magnets that can be stacked. However, the prior art does not disclose rods and beams that can build a lattice structure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,625 to Longuet-Higgins describes a magnetic block shaped as a rhombohedron. U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,638 to Shiraishi describes a cubic block with rotatable bipolar magnets on the faces. U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,626 to Mendelsohn describes a magnetic block with bar magnets placed in parallel along four faces of a cube or rectangle, and magnets centered on a face. United States Patent Application Publication 2007/0037469 of Yoon describes a block with movable magnets for stacking blocks. These inventions all use blocks, such as cubes or rhombohedra, for construction. For a given height, width or length of a structure, a block will require more building material, which in turn necessitates more weight and construction pieces, which will limit the size a structure can achieve. In addition, the heavier structure requires stronger magnets to hold itself together. Stronger magnets are more expensive, and thus this drives up the cost of the toy construction set. Blocks also do not allow for the building of aesthetically pleasing lattice structures, which can be seen through.
In addition, the prior art discloses planar toy pieces that can be joined together using magnets to create a three-dimensional structure. But, again, these planar toy pieces are not capable of building aesthetically pleasing lattice structures. U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,021 to Ballard describes a flat square-shaped block set with rounded corners that can be joined together to build structures. U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,070 to Liu describes another planar block with apertures and connectors for building. U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,220 to Snelson also discloses a magnetic toy with flat pieces that are joined together to form structures. U.S. Pat. No. 7,255,624 to Daftari discloses a building set with planar panels and embedded magnets. Similar to block pieces, planar toy pieces consume more material for a given structure size. In addition, these planar toy pieces do not allow building of an aesthetically-pleasing lattice structure.
There are recent patents to magnetic construction sets that use rod-shaped pieces, but these sets require connectors for three-dimensional building. Furthermore, these art do not use two-dimensional cross-sections (triangular, rectangular, etc.) to facilitate novel and interesting building patterns. U.S. Pat. No. 6,566,992 to Vicentelli shows a magnetic construction set with cubic and spherical connector pieces. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,626,727 to Balanchi, U.S. Pat. No. 6,846,216 to Balanchi, U.S. Pat. No. 6,969,294 to Vicentelli, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,234,986 to Kowalski disclose magnetic construction toys using spherical connectors. Connector pieces are undesirable for several reasons. First, they are small and can be swallowed or choked upon, which is a safety hazard for small children. Second, they are additional pieces that can be lost, and once they are lost, the set becomes useless. Third, as an additional piece, a construction set is more expensive to manufacture with these extra pieces. To eliminate these drawbacks, it is desirable to invent a magnetic construction set capable of building lattice structures that does not require connectors.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONOne goal of the present invention is to provide a magnetic toy building set that can build lattice structures. Another goal of the present invention is to be able to build in all three dimensions without the use of connectors. Another goal of the present invention is to provide a stable platform so that a lattice can reach high off the ground. Another goal of the present invention is to allow construction where rods are connected on their long faces, not just their ends. Yet another goal is to provide an invention that will assist children and adults in understanding magnetic fields. Another goal of the invention is to be easy to work with, so that children of young ages and adults with limited motor facility can use the invention.
The present invention is directed to a building set using three-dimensional rod-shaped pieces with magnets attached to the long faces of the rods. Magnets may also be attached to the ends of the rods. Magnets that are attached may be embedded in the face, or be stuck to the surface, or partially embedded.
The rods have a polygonal cross-section (e.g., triangular, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, octagonal, dodecagonal, etc.), and magnets are placed on the long faces of the rods. Magnets may also be placed at the ends of each rod. Different pieces can be held together when a magnet of one polarity on one piece aligns with a magnet of opposite polarity on another piece.
One or more platform pieces can also be used to support the structure. A platform may have a substantially flat shape for stability. The platform may have magnets embedded on it to connect to a rod.
In
The polarity of magnets can be indicated by coloring. In one embodiment, the inventor has colored all magnets of one polarity orange, and all colors of the opposite polarity black. A connection is made by aligning an orange magnet with a black magnet. When coloring is used, a magnet may be colored in any possible manner. For example, the magnet may be painted. Or, the magnet may be covered with an adhesive or film or paper or any other covering that has a color. It is understood that other colors can be used to indicate polarity, or polarity could be indicated by texture (such as diagonal lines or checkerboard pattern). Alternative methods of indicating polarity, such as marking “N” or “S” to indicate “North” or “South” polarity are also contemplated.
A rod may be built of wood or plastic or foam or any appropriate firm material and may be hollow or solid. Magnets on the faces may be embedded or placed on the outside of a rod. Magnets can be held in place mechanically (e.g., in a slot), using adhesive (e.g., glue or cement), or using any other adhering means. It is optional to enclose the magnet area using plastic wrap, lamination or a cover to prevent a magnet from coming loose if the adhering means fails.
Magnets can be of any type and shape. The inventor used flat cylindrical magnets purchased from a nearby supply shop. The strength of magnetic connections should be strong enough to hold the structure together, but weak enough that children can separate the connection.
The invention is not limited to rectangular rods.
In addition, in one embodiment, magnets at some locations are replaced with magnetizable metal. The substitution of magnetizable metal allows that location to be attracted by any polarity magnet, and reduces construction cost. Magnetizable metal could replace all magnets on one face of a rod, or only some magnets on a face of a rod.
A toy building set can include only one type of cross-section rod (e.g., all triangular or all rectangular) or it may include different cross-sections, such as rectangular and triangular, rectangular and octagonal, rectangular and octagonal and triangular, etc.
In a rectangular embodiment, the spacing of magnets is equal on all long faces of the invention. Equal spacing can be used in any other cross-sectional rod set, or in a set mixing rods of different cross-sections.
In addition, the spacing can be adjusted to align magnets for different building approaches.
Rods do not have to be linear.
Alternative embodiments of the invention are also contemplated. For example, magnets do not have to be monopolar on a face. They could be bipolar and they could also be allowed to rotate into alignment.
In addition, magnets could be removable, such as by slipping into a slot. This would allow magnets to be manipulated by the user to make rods, platforms, and offsets attract.
The set is packaged in a box which has different sections for housing the different types of pieces. The box has compartments shaped specifically to match the piece types—there is a section for rods, a section for offsets, and a section for platforms.
The box can also come with directions describing how to build interesting structures.
It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The foregoing descriptions of embodiments of the invention have been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Accordingly, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings.
Claims
1. A rod-shaped magnetic toy piece comprising:
- a rod whose length is substantially greater than each cross-sectional dimension;
- said rod's cross-section has at least three sides; and
- magnets are attached on at least two long faces of said rod.
2. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 1 where a first magnet is attached on the same long face as a second magnet, and where said first magnet is placed near one end of said rod and said second magnet is placed near the opposite end of said rod.
3. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 2 wherein said first magnet is monopolar and said second magnet is monopolar.
4. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 3 wherein said first magnet and said second magnet are of the same polarity.
5. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 4 wherein said first magnet and said second magnet are the same color.
6. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 3 wherein said rod has rectangular cross-section.
7. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 1 wherein each long face has exactly two monopolar magnets attached, with a first monopolar magnet attached near one end of said rod and a second monopolar magnet attached near the opposite end of said rod.
8. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 7 wherein each long face has magnets of the same polarity.
9. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 8 wherein said rod's cross-section is rectangular.
10. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 9 wherein a first long face has monopolar magnets of North polarity, a second long face has monopolar magnets of North polarity, a third long face has monopolar magnets of South polarity, and a fourth long face has monopolar magnets of South polarity.
11. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 10 wherein said first long face is adjacent to said second long face, said second long face is adjacent to said third long face, said third long face is adjacent to said fourth long face, and said fourth long face is adjacent to said first long face.
12. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 1 wherein at least three magnets are attached on the same long face.
13. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 1 wherein at least three magnets are attached on the same long face, a first magnet of said at least three magnets is attached near one end of said rod, a second magnet of said at least three magnets is attached near the middle of said rod, and a third magnet of said at least three magnets is attached near the opposite end of said rod.
14. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 13 wherein said first magnet is monopolar, said second magnet is monopolar, and said third magnet is monopolar.
15. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 14 wherein said rod has rectangular cross-section.
16. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 14 wherein all monopolar magnets of North polarity are a first color and all monopolar magnets of South polarity are a second color.
17. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 1 wherein each long face has exactly three magnets, a first magnet attached near one end of said rod, a second magnet attached near the opposite end of said rod, and a third magnet attached near the middle of said rod.
18. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 13 wherein said first magnets are monopolar, said second magnets are monopolar, and said third magnets are monopolar.
19. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 18 where said rod has rectangular cross-section.
20. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 19 wherein all monopolar magnets of North polarity are a first color and all monopolar magnets of South polarity are a second color.
21. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 18 wherein each long face has magnets of the same polarity.
22. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 21 wherein said rod's cross-section is rectangular, a first long face has North polarity magnets, a second long face has North polarity magnets, a third long face has South polarity magnets, and a fourth long face has South polarity magnets.
23. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 22 wherein said first long face is adjacent to said second long face, said second long face is adjacent to said third long face, said third long face is adjacent to said fourth long face, and said fourth long face is adjacent to said first long face.
24. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 1 wherein at least four magnets are attached to the same long face.
25. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 1 wherein at least four magnets are attached on the same long face, a first magnet of said at least four magnets is attached near one end of said rod, a second magnet of said at least four magnets is attached near the opposite end of said rod, and all four magnets are spaced equal distances apart.
26. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 25 wherein said first magnet is monopolar, said second magnet is monopolar, said third magnet is monopolar, and said fourth magnet is monopolar.
27. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 26 wherein said rod has rectangular cross-section.
28. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 26 wherein all monopolar magnets of North polarity are a first color and all monopolar magnets of South polarity are a second color.
29. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 1 wherein each long face has exactly four magnets, a first magnet attached near one end of said rod, a second magnet attached near the opposite end of said rod, a third magnet and a fourth magnet, where all four magnets are evenly spaced apart.
30. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 25 wherein said first magnets are monopolar, said second magnets are monopolar, said third magnets are monopolar and said fourth magnets are monopolar.
31. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 30 where said rod has rectangular cross-section.
32. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 31 wherein all monopolar magnets of North polarity are a first color and all monopolar magnets of South polarity are a second color.
33. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 30 wherein each long face has magnets of the same polarity.
34. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 33 wherein said rod's cross-section is rectangular, a first long face has North polarity magnets, a second long face has North polarity magnets, a third long face has South polarity magnets, and a fourth long face has South polarity magnets.
35. The rod-shaped magnetic toy piece of claim 34 wherein said first long face is adjacent to said second long face, said second long face is adjacent to said third long face, said third long face is adjacent to said fourth long face, and said fourth long face is adjacent to said first long face.
36. A magnetic toy construction set comprising
- a first rod whose length is substantially greater than each cross-sectional dimension, where said first rod has magnets attached on at least two long faces; and
- a second rod whose length is substantially greater than each cross-sectional dimension, where said second rod has magnets attached on at least two long faces.
37. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 36 where a long face of said second rod has at least three magnets attached.
38. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 37 wherein the distance between two magnets on a long face of said first rod is equal to the distance between two magnets on a long face of said second rod.
39. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 36 wherein said at least two magnets on said first rod and said at least two magnets on said second rod are monopolar.
40. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 39 wherein said monopolar magnets of the same polarity are the same color.
41. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 40 wherein the distance between two magnets on a long face of said first rod is equal to the distance between two magnets on a long face of said second rod.
42. The magnetic toy set of claim 36 further comprising a third rod whose length is substantially greater than each cross-sectional dimension, where a long face of said third rod has at least two magnets attached.
43. The magnetic toy set of claim 37 further comprising a third rod whose length is substantially greater than each cross-sectional dimension, where a long face of said third rod has at least four magnets attached.
44. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 43 wherein the distance between two magnets on a long face of said first rod equals the distance between two magnets on a long face of said second rod and the distance between two magnets on a long face of said first rod equals the distance between two magnets on a long face of said third rod.
45. A magnetic toy construction set comprising
- a first rod whose length is substantially greater than each cross-sectional dimension, where said first rod has magnets attached on at least two long faces and one long face has exactly two magnets attached; and
- a second rod whose length is substantially greater than each cross-sectional dimension, where said second rod has magnets attached on at least two long faces and one long face has exactly three magnets attached.
46. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 45 wherein said first rod has rectangular cross-section and said second rod has rectangular cross-section.
47. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 45 wherein all long faces of said first rod have exactly two magnets attached and all long faces of said second rod have exactly three magnets attached.
48. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 47 wherein all adjacent magnets on all long faces of said first rod are spaced equal distances apart as all adjacent magnets on all long faces of said second rod.
49. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 48 wherein all magnets on all long faces are monopolar and all magnets on all long faces of same polarity are the same color.
50. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 45 further comprising a third rod whose length is substantially greater than each cross-sectional dimension, where a long face of said third rod has exactly four magnets attached.
51. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 50 wherein said first rod has rectangular cross-section, said second rod has rectangular cross-section, and said third rod has a rectangular cross-section.
52. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 50 wherein all long faces of said first rod have exactly two magnets attached, all long faces of said second rod have exactly three magnets attached, and all long faces of said third rod have exactly four magnets attached.
53. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 52 wherein all adjacent magnets on all long faces of said first rod are spaced equal distances apart as all adjacent magnets on all long faces of said second rod and all adjacent magnets on all long faces of said third rod.
54. The magnetic toy construction set of claim 48 wherein all magnets on all long faces of said first rod, said second rod, and said third rod are monopolar; and all magnets on all long faces of said first rod, said second rod, and said third rod long faces of same polarity are the same color.
55. The magnetic toy set of claim 36 further comprising at least one offset block.
56. The magnetic toy set of claim 41 further comprising at least one offset block.
57. The magnetic toy set of claim 45 further comprising at least one offset block.
58. The magnetic toy set of claim 47 further comprising at least one offset block.
59. The magnetic toy set of claim 49 further comprising at least one offset block.
60. The magnetic toy set of claim 55 further comprising at least one platform block.
61. The magnetic toy set of claim 56 further comprising at least one platform block.
62. The magnetic toy set of claim 57 further comprising at least one platform block.
63. The magnetic toy set of claim 58 further comprising at least one platform block.
64. The magnetic toy set of claim 59 further comprising at least one platform block.
65. The magnetic toy set of claim 36 further comprising at least one platform block.
66. The magnetic toy set of claim 45 further comprising at least one platform block.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 27, 2008
Publication Date: Mar 4, 2010
Inventor: Matthew Lamport Kaplan (Brooklyn, NY)
Application Number: 12/199,784
International Classification: A63H 33/04 (20060101);