Construction kit educational aid and toy

• US 4,836,787 A
• Filed: 04/01/1986
• Issued: 06/06/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/1986
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: William O.J. Boo
• Original Assignee: William O.J. Boo
• Inventors: Boo, William O. J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Raduazo, Henry E.
• Application Number:
  US06/847,403
• Time in Patent Office: 1,162 Days
• Field of Search: 52/DIG. 10, 52/DIG. 13, 446/85, 446/108, 446/109, 446/114, 446/116, 446/901, 273/DIG. 30, 434/403
• US Class Current: 434/403
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 33/048 to be assembled using hook and loop-type fastener or the like
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 52/10 Polyhedron
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 52/13 Hook and loop type fastener

Abstract

Sheet material building components or units in the shape of different regular polygons of equal edge length have strips of hook-and-pile fastening materials permanently secured so as to extend along their side edges. Hook type fastening material is disposed toward one end portion of each side edge and pile type fastening material is disposed toward the other end portion of each side edge. The strips of hook type and pile type fastening materials alternate around the circumference of each unit. Different units can be connected substantially edge-to-edge by simply placing the desired edges in contact to form a wide variety of two-dimensional or three-dimensional arrays or shapes.

Claims

1. A construction kit comprising several planar sheets of regular polygonal shape each having respective top and bottom surfaces, each of said sheets having straight peripheral edges of equal length and each of said edges having an elongated strip of a first type of fastening material wrapped around such edge and extending along such edge and along marginal portions of the top and bottom surfaces of its sheet from one end of such edge to approximately the center of such edge, each of said edges further having an elongated strip of a second type of fastening material, different from said first type, wrapped around such edge and extending along such edge and along marginal portions of the top and bottom surfaces of its sheet from the other end of such edge to approximately the center of the edge so that all of said sheet edges are alike, said first and second types of fastening material being complementally adherent so as to be manually connectible by engagement with each other and being manually separable and reusable for reconnection, but said strips fo said first type of fastening material are not adherent to each other and said strips of said second type of fastening material are not adherent to each other, said strips of first and second types of fastening material alternating around the periphery of each of said planar sheets such that separate sheets are manually connectible by placing edges of said sheets in engagement with first type of fastening material strips contacting second type of fastening material strips but without requiring precisely coplanar orientation of adjacent sheets nor edges of adjacent connected sheets to be precisely registered for a secure but manually disconnectible fastening of said separate sheets.

2. The kit defined in claim 1, in which the first type of fastening material is hook type material and the second type of fastening material is loop type fastening material.

3. The kit defined in claim 1, in which several of the sheets are in the shape of a first regular polygon, several of the sheets are in the shape of a second regular polygon and several of the sheets are in the shape of a third regular polygon.