Three-dimensional puzzle with seven axes of rotation
The present invention discloses a spherical puzzle whose visible segments are delimited by seven planar sections through the center of said sphere and may be permuted by rotations of hemispherical groups of visible segments with respect to any planar section of the puzzle about an axis perpendicular to said section through the center of said sphere. Three planar sections are parallel to the faces of a cube inscribed in said sphere, and the remaining planar sections are perpendicular to the diagonals of said cube. The visible segments comprise eight arcuate equilateral triangles and twenty-four arcuate right triangular triangles. As a novelty, this invention integrates an interlocking mechanism of the arcuate right triangular outer segments to a spherical center support with four axes of rotation, with a slidable spring activated interlocking mechanism of the arcuate equilateral triangular outer segments to their side neighbors.
I hereby claim the benefit of the filing date of a copending Provisional Utility Patent Application, with Application Number 61765053, entitled “Three-dimensional Puzzle with Seven Axes of Rotation”, filed on Feb. 15, 2013.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to three-dimensional logical puzzles which include a plurality of segments interlocked in a spherical shape, the segments being capable of adopting a plurality of positions relative to one another by a sequence of rotations of hemispherical groups of segments.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ARTThe art of three-dimensional logical puzzles that comprise a plurality of interconnected segments to be unscrambled by rotating some of the segments relative to each other sequentially along planes in space, gained popularity with the advent of Rubik's 3-D twisty puzzles in the early 1980s, including the Cube, Snake, and Pyramid. Since then, several similar puzzles have been invented giving birth to a brand new toy industry and initiating the study of their properties and solving complexity. The rotation of individual pieces or groups of pieces provides a great number of possible combinations of the individual pieces only one or a few of which are solutions. The solutions are pattern or color combinations selected by the creator or manufacturer from all the other possible combinations of the pieces.
Of particular interest are the puzzles comprising segments coupled together to form a spherical shape, and which always involves the relative rotation of two complete half spheres. These inventions are interesting both as standalone embodiments and as parts of more complex mechanisms. The complexity of these puzzles can be appreciated by looking at the number and orientation of their axes of rotation, and at the means to keep the segments interlocked.
One way to interlock the elements comprising the puzzle is by means of a spherical central structure with circular tracks receiving legs and feet of slidable outer segments. The proper alignment of the outer segments with said central part is ensured by fastening one of the outer segments to the central part. Inventions of this kind are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 213,030 (T. Isobe) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,418 (B. F. Sherman Jr. and S. Francis), which enable the embodiment of a puzzle comprised of eight blocks installed around a central part such that four blocks at a time can be rotated by multiples of 90° about any of three orthogonal axes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,715 (S. C. Titus) discloses another interlocking approach, by means of slidably interlocking connections—arcuate T-shaped slots and complementary arcuate T-shaped studs—between the pieces such that any two interlocked hemispheres can be rotated by 180° relative to each other. The preferred embodiment of this prior invention is a hollow sphere whose outer segments are delimited by planar sections of said sphere having in common a line joining two diametrically opposite poles of the sphere, and can be subjected to rotations by 180° of differing pairs of hemispheres along said planar sections.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,247 (U. Meffert and A. L. Chau) discloses yet another interlocking approach, based on an armed spider whose rotatable tips are the fixed segments of said puzzle. The other segments of the puzzle are coupled with the fixed segments in a spherical shape, and can be permuted by multiple of 120° rotations of hemispherical groups of said segments along planes perpendicular to the four branches of the spider.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,377 (J. J. Ashley) discloses a cubical puzzle whose twenty-four exposed pieces may be permuted by rotations of groups of said pieces about any of seven axes passing through the vertices and the centers of the faces of said cube. Unfortunately, this invention is neither intended nor adaptable for puzzles with rotations of hemispherical groups of segments.
What is desired, and not heretofore been developed, is a spherical puzzle with thirty-two exposed segments which may be permuted by rotations of hemispherical groups of said segments about seven axes passing through the center of said sphere. The easiest way to visualize the relative positions of these axes is by drawing a cube whose center coincides with the center of the spherical puzzle: three axes cross the center of the cube and are perpendicular on its faces, whereas the other four axes of rotation are determined by the center and a corner of the cube.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the present invention to provide a puzzle in the shape of a sphere with seven axes of rotation and with increased entertainment value. The puzzle has thirty-two visible segments delimited by seven planar sections through the center of said sphere, which may be permuted by rotations along any said planar section. Three sections are parallel to the faces of a cube inscribed in said sphere, therefore the axes of rotation perpendicular to them will be called cubical axes. The remaining four sections are perpendicular to the diagonals of said cube, therefore the axes of rotation perpendicular to them will pass through the vertices of a regular tetrahedron inscribed in said sphere and will be called tetrahedral axes. There are eight visible segments with arcuate equilateral triangular faces and twenty-four visible segments with arcuate right isosceles triangular faces, forming fourteen different hemispherical groups rotatable relative to each other about said axes. The cubical axes are intended for hemispherical rotations of the segments of the puzzle by integer multiples of 90°, and the tetrahedral axes are intended for hemispherical rotations by integer multiples of 120°.
The preferred embodiment of this invention comprises a spherical center support and a plurality of thirty-two outer segments of uniform thickness which enclose completely the spherical center support. The spherical center support is an embodiment of the spherical puzzle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,247 (U. Meffert and A. L. Chau), modified to include three orthogonal crossing tracks wherein each track forms a complete circle in the support along the diagonals of the arcuate square puzzle segments of said center support, and includes a pair of outer lips extending toward each other to define a narrow outer slot and an inner enlarged sliding path. The said plurality of thirty-two outer segments comprises:
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- eight segments of arcuate equilateral triangular shape and twenty-four segments of arcuate isosceles right triangular shape, wherein every arcuate segment of equilateral triangular shape abuts three said segments of arcuate right triangular shape,
- legs mounted on said outer segments of arcuate right triangular shape and extending through the narrow slot of said crossing tracks of said spherical center support,
- feet mounted on the inner ends of said legs for sliding in the inner enlarged paths of said crossing tracks and for being engaged by inner surfaces of the lips of said crossing tracks to retain said right triangular outer segments on said spherical center support,
- one outer arcuate equilateral segment called anchor, fastened on top of an arcuate equilateral triangular segment of the spherical center support,
- U-shaped slots along all sides of arcuate outer segments adjacent to the section planes perpendicular to the tetrahedral axes of the puzzle,
- spring latching mechanisms mounted on each side of the arcuate outer segments of equilateral triangular shape, comprising a tongue which is urged by a spring to protrude from its segment into the U-shaped slot facing them on the abutting outer segment.
The spring latching mechanisms keep the outer equilateral segments in position between the abutting outer segments of the puzzle, and provides a slidable interlocking connection for them. The anchor ensures the alignment of the outer segments with the segments of the center support.
As a logical puzzle, this invention is also provided with some easily recognizable coloring or pattern on the visible faces of the outer segments, such as the assignment of a distinct color to every octant of the sphere comprising one equilateral and three right triangular segments. The puzzle may be scrambled by a series of rotations by integer multiples of 90° about cubical axes and integer multiples of 120° about tetrahedral axes. The object of the puzzle is to return by means of a series of such rotations to the unscrambled coloring or pattern.
Overview: The present invention is a puzzle in the form of a sphere comprising a spherical central support and a plurality of thirty-two visible segments of uniform thickness which forms an outer shell enclosing completely the said spherical central support.
Spherical central support: The spherical central support of this invention is an adjustment of an embodiment of the spherical puzzle with four axes of rotation disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,247 (U. Meffert and A. L. Chau) and illustrated in
Outer shell: The twenty-four arcuate right triangular segments of the outer shell are mounted on the crossing tracks of the spherical central support. As shown in
When protruded, the outer surfaces of tongues are engaged by the inner surfaces of the side tracks of slots 56 and prevent segment 50 comprising said tongues from falling out from the outer shell of the puzzle. There are eight side tracks for the tongues, one side track on each side of the outer shell delimited by a section along the great circles 12, 14, 16 and 18 shown in
Rotation about cubical axis:
Rotation about tetrahedral axis:
Method of assemblage: The assemblage of spherical central support with segments 40 mounted on the crossing tracks coincides with the assemblage of Meffert's puzzle ball disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,247 (U. Meffert and A. L. Chau), with the only difference that segments 40 are placed on top of inner segments 20 prior to the assemblage of the spherical central support. A segment 50 can be assembled by squeezing springs 58 through slots 56 into their cylindrical slots, followed by the insertion of tongues 52 through their sliding slots in said segment 50. Afterwards, one segment 50 is fastened on top of a segment 10 of the center support, e.g., by means of a pin. Finally, every remaining segment 50 can be positioned in the outer shell of the puzzle by first pressing its tongues inside and next pushing said segment 50 inward between three segments 40 until it snaps into place.
Method of use: The visible faces of the puzzle are preferably marked with a predetermined pattern or coloring so that only one or a few relative orientations of its outer segments define a solution. For example, in the preferred embodiment shown in
Since many modifications, variations and changes in detail can be made to the above described embodiment, it is intended that all matter in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
Claims
1. A spherical sliding element puzzle comprising: and the said outer segments being attached either to the central spherical core or to the neighbouring segments in a manner that enables rotations of hemispherical groups of segments relative to each other along the said sectioning planes.
- a spherical central core which is an embodiment of the prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,247 (U. Meffert and A. L. Chau) adjusted with three mutually orthogonal circular crossing tracks receiving legs and feet of some slidable outer segments;
- a plurality of thirty-two outer segments which forms a spherical shell completely enclosing the said spherical central core, the shapes of the said outer segments being determined by seven planar sections through the centre of the spherical core, such that three of the said planar sections are perpendicular to each other and cut the said outer shell into eight octants; the other four said planar sections are along the midpoints of the arcuate edges of the said octants, thus splitting every said octant into three arcuate right isosceles segments and one arcuate equilateral triangular segment;
2. The spherical sliding element puzzle of claim 1 wherein
- each of the said circular crossing tracks forms a complete circle in the spherical central support along the diagonals of its arcuate square segments and includes a pair of outer lips extending toward each other to define a narrow outer slot and an inner enlarged sliding path;
- the arcuate right isosceles segments have legs attached to their inner side, which extend through the narrow slots of the corresponding tracks of the central core and have feet mounted on their inner ends for sliding in the inner sliding paths and for being engaged by inner surfaces to slidingly retain the said arcuate right isosceles segments on the support;
- seven of the arcuate equilateral triangular outer segments have a mechanism intended to keep them attached to the spherical core and to the neighbouring outer segments while being able to slide relative to them, the said mechanism being comprised of three spring-activated tongues installed on the sides of said arcuate equilateral triangular outer segments, which protrude in U-shaped side channels along the adjacent sides of the neighbouring segments and retract during collisions between said tongues, that may occur when performing to some hemispherical rotations;
- one arcuate equilateral triangular outer segment is rigidly mounted on top of a corresponding arcuate equilateral triangular segment of the said central support, in order to keep all the segments of the outer shell properly aligned on top of the corresponding segments of the central support after performing a complete hemispherical rotation by a multiple of 90° along any of the three mutually orthogonal planar sections of the puzzle, or after performing a complete hemispherical rotation by a multiple of 120° along any of the other four said planar sections of the puzzle.
3. The spherical sliding element puzzle of claim 1 wherein the visible faces of the outer segments are marked with a predetermined pattern or colouring so that only a few relative orientation of its outer segments define a solution, the object of the puzzle being to start from a scrambled arrangement of its outer segments and to return to an arrangement corresponding to a solution by means of a series of hemispherical rotations.
4. The spherical sliding element puzzle of claim 3 wherein the predetermined solution is given by assigning a colour to every group of four outer segments that comprises a spherical octant delimited by the mutually orthogonal planar section of said puzzle.
5. The spherical sliding element puzzle of claim 3 wherein the predetermined solution is a raised relief on its outer segments.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 14, 2014
Publication Date: Aug 21, 2014
Inventor: Mircea Marin (Timisoara)
Application Number: 14/181,400
International Classification: A63F 9/08 (20060101);