SECTIONED SHELL PUZZLES

• US 3,819,188 A
• Filed: 12/29/1972
• Issued: 06/25/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Gerald Allen Freedman
• Original Assignee: Gerald Allen Freedman
• Inventors: Freedman, Gerald Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): Oechsle, Anton O.
• Application Number:
  US05/319,475
• Time in Patent Office: 543 Days
• Field of Search: 273/157R,160 46/24,25,30
• US Class Current: 273/160
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/1216 using locking or binding pins
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/12 Three-dimensional jig-saw puzzles

Abstract

A plurality of pieces constitute the normal edge dissection of a polyhedron shell. Selections of said pieces can be used to reconstruct the shell perfectly. Male and female keys along the edges of each piece interfit to form the edges and corners of the shell perfectly. Cubic and tetrahral shells are illustrated. Selected pieces can be used to construct variously shaped shells. The pieces may be provided with binding holes through which binding pins may be inserted to hold adjacent pieces together.

Claims

1. A puzzle comprising a finite number of puzzle pieces of a normal edge dissection of a polyhedron shell, wherein selections of said pieces can be fit together to form the original polyhedron shell perfectly, each of said pieces being planar and comprising an entire face of said polyhedron shell, each piece at each edge thereof having either a centrally located male edge key with female edge keys on opposite sides thereof or a centrally located female edge key with male edge keys on opposite sides thereof, and each piece further including at each corner a male or a female key, a said selection of said pieces being equal in number to the number of faces of a given polyhedron to form the faces thereof, with the male and female edge keys of said selected pieces together forming the given polyhedron edges perfectly, and with the male and female corner keys of said selected pieces together forming the corners of the given polyhedron perfectly.

2. The puzzle of claim 1 where the section locations of the edge piece part dissection number two and are located at the interior end points of 3 equal edge segments of every exterior shell edge;

and where every exterior shell edge is greater in length than 3 times the uniform shell thickness.

3. The puzzle of claim 1 where the section locations of the edge piece part dissection number two and are located anywhere on the exterior edges of shell edge pieces.

4. The puzzle of claim 1 where the section locations of the edge piece part dissection are any number 2 or more and are located anywhere on the exterior edges of shell edge pieces;

and where plural edge keys are provided to each edge of each piece in a manner similar to the single-keyed pieces.

5. The puzzle of claim 1 where the exterior edges of said polyhedron shell all have the same length.

6. The puzzle of claim 5 where said polyhedron shell is a cube.

7. The puzzle of claim 5 where said polyhedron shell is a tetrahedron.

8. The puzzle of claim 1 where a finite number of said puzzle pieces provides selections of said pieces that are able to build shells of different size and shape than that of the original dissection and constitute a construction block toy.

9. The construction block toy of claim 8 where said pieces have binding holes sectioned therein and there are binding pins capable of engaging the binding holes to secure pieces together in the same and at intersecting planes.