EP0357605B1

EP0357605B1 - Toy set of elements for forming patterns or pictures

Info

Publication number: EP0357605B1
Application number: EP88901288A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Valéria HIDVEGI
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-02-05
Filing date: 1988-02-03
Publication date: 1992-11-04
Also published as: DE3875730D1; CA1304764C; DE3875730T2; ATE81990T1; WO1988005680A1; AU1221988A; HUT50649A; JPH02502067A; EP0357605A1

Abstract

A toy set of elements that can be fitted together so as to form a pattern or picture which comprises types of flat prismatic elements of different forms, in which the number of elements is greater than the number of types, which comprise the following elements types: a square element, a square element with a circular opening in the middle, two different square elements from which a corner region of a quarter of circle is missing, a quarter of an annular ring, a quarter of a circle, a rectangle, a half of a circle, a pair of symmetrical right-angled triangles, an isoceles triangle and an equilateral triangle; wherein the toy-set comprises at least eight of these twelve types of elements.

Description

The invention relates to a toy set of elements that can be fitted together so as to form a pattern or a picture, the elements are flat prisms and can be grouped to types of different form. Such types include e.g. right-angled, isosceles and equilateral triangles, a rectangle, a half-circle and a quarter of a circle.
A number of types ot toy sets are known from which figures can be set. In one of such toys, which corresponds to my earlier invention disclosed in WO 85/03453 and commercially available under the trade name 'Piky-toy' produced by Piky S.A. France, all of the elements are square elements of the same basic size wherein the square surface of the elements can be divided into several surfaces of different colours, including triangular, and rectangular surfaces and surfaces having shapes defined by circular boundary lines. Each of the rectangles corresponds to the half of said square, each of said triangles is a right-angled and has two of its edges on the ends of one side of said square and its third edge on the midpoint of one of the other sides of the square, and the circular boundary lines have its center of curvature at an edge of the square, at the midpoint of a side of the square or at the middle point of the square and have an radius of curvature corresponding to the side length of said square, a half thereof and a quarter thereof, respectively. Such toys can be used for fitting closed surface areas only which imposes limitations on the number of pictures that can be created thereby. One of these limitations lies e.g. in that any blank space required between motives in the picture to be created must be fitted by square elements which bear no pattern. The predetermined size of the square elements imposes a limitation primarily in case of creating curved contour lines.
Further known types of such toys are the various kinds of mosaic toys. A toy-set known from FR-A-906 288 comprise square element types, an element type being a quarter of a circle having a radius equal to the square side, and an element type being a rectangle having a long side equal to the square side and a short side half as long as the square side. Another toy set of the present kind, known from DE-A-1 478 652, additionally comprises an element type being a right-angled triangle with sides of a length equal to the square side and to the half thereof, respectively. Further, triangular element types are known from US-A-3 367 217, being an isoscecles triangle with sides forming an angle of 120° or an equilateral triangle with sides as long as that of the isoscecles triangel. The use of conventional rhomboidal or triangular elements has limited the forming of fine details. For obtaining a finer picture resolution very small elements should be used which require, however, long time for creating more complex figurative compositions, and the younger generation which has the largest interest to such toys have neither patience nor talent for such time-consuming activities. From quite young ages onwards children are nevertheless eager to create aesthetically pleasing, dynamic and expressive pictorial compositions. This eagerness for creating figures with appropriately fine details cannot be satisfied by any toy which would not allow the accomplishment of such creations in acceptable period of time.
The object of the invention is to provide a toy set of the kind defined which enables the formation of finely structured, open and closed compositions having both linear and curved contour lines within shorter periods of time and by using comparatively small number of elements.
The invention is based on the recognition that by choosing elements with suitable form and size related to a predetermined basic size, the number of combinations of such elements will increase and the different forms of the elements enable the multiple ways of their juxtaposition and the increasing fineness of details will not necessarily require the increase of the number of elements.
Acording to the invention as claimed in claim 1 a toy set of elements has been provided that can be fitted together so as to form a pattern or picture which comprises types of flat prismatic elements of different forms, in which the number of elements is greater than the number of types, wherein a first group of element types can be fitted in a square the side of which corresponds to a basic size, the first group comprises a first square element type formed by the square, a second square element type in the first group that comprises a circular opening in the middle of the square, the opening has a diameter corresponding to the half of the basic size, a third square element type in the first group with a corner region from which a quarter of a circle is missing, the center of the quarter circle is located on the corner of this region and the radius thereof is equal to the half of the basic size, a fourth element type of the first group is a quarter of an annular ring, wherein the radius of the smaller quarter circle is equal to the half of the basic size and the radius of the larger quarter circle is equal to the basic size and the center point of these quarter circles is located on a corner of the square in which the fourth element can be fitted, and a fifth element of the first group is a quarter of a circle having a radius equal to the basic size and the center of this quarter circle is located in a corner of the square in which the fifth element can be fitted, a second group of the elements can be fitted in a rectangle which has longer sides equal to the basic size and shorter size half as long as the longer sides, the second group comprises a sixth element type forming the rectangle, a seventh element type in the second group is a half of a circle having a radius equal to the half of the basic size and the center of this quarter circle is located in the midpoint of a longer side of the rectangle in which the seventh element can be fitted, eighth and ninth element types in the second group formed by a pair of symmetrical right-angled triangles and their sides form a longer and a shorter side of the rectangle, a tenth element type which can be fitted in a square with a size corresponding to one and a half times of the basic size and from a corner region of this tenth element type a quarter of a circle is missing, wherein the radius of this quarter circle is equal to the basic size and the center of the quarter circle is located in the corner of the region, an eleventh element type is an isosceles triangle with sides as long as the basic size and close an angle of 120°, a twelfth element type is an equilateral triangle with sides as long as the basic size, wherein the set comprises at least eight of these twelve types of elements.
The elements of the toy set have preferably single-colored surfaces and the toy set comprises elements of identical form with different color and/or shade.
The number of possible variations is increased if the toy-set comprises predetermined number of elements from each type, but this number can be different for the respective types.
The toy-set according to the invention enables indeed the formation of pleasing pictorial compositions, improves children's sense to proportions, creativity and develops their taste to forms, and owing to the comparatively small number of elements the time required for creating the compositions is not too long.
The toy-set according to the invention will now be described in connection with preferable embodiments thereof, in which reference will be made to the accompanying drawings.
In the drawing:

Figs. 1a to 1k: show the elements used in the toy-set;
Fig. 2: shows stylized open motives formed by the elements;
Fig. 3: shows examples for the connection of triangular elements;
Fig. 4: shows a square with curved motives in the inner part;
Fig. 5: shows the connection of the elements in case of a lion compositon;
Fig. 6: shows elements of an exemplary toy-set;
Fig. 7: shows a clown face formed of the set of Fig. 6; and
Figs. 8 to 10: show various compositions that can be formed by the set of Fig. 6.

Fig. 1 shows the elements usable in the set according to the invention. Fig. 1a shows a square with side A which has a circular opening in the middle. The center point of the circle is located in the point of intersection of the diagonal lines of the square and the diameter thereof is equal to the half of the side length i. e. to A/2. The form of element shown in Fig. 1b is defined also by a square with side length A, but a quarter of a circle is missing from a corner region of the square and the center of this circular arc falls on the associated corner, and the radius of the arc is equal to the half of the side-length.
The third element shown in Fig. 1c can also be drawn in a similar square with sides A and it consists of a quarter of an annular ring. The center of the annular ring is in a corner of the square and the radius of the smaller quarter arc that forms the inner boundary of the ring is equal to the half of the side length, while that of the larger quarter arc is equal to the side length. The fourth element shown in Fig. 1d can be obtained from the third one by deleting the inner boundary thereof defined by the smaller circular arc section and by adding the remaining portion of the square that has a side length A to the annular ring. This fourth element can also be fitted in the square which has the side length A.
Figs. 1g and 1h show the seventh and eighth elements as a pair of symmetrical right-angled triangles which are congruent and their two acute angles are 30° and 60°, while the length of the longer side is A and that of the shorter one is A/2. Both of these elements can be fitted in a rectangle with side lengths of A and A/2, respectively. The fifth element shown in Fig. 1e is defined by such a rectangle. The sixth element shown in Fig. 1f can also be fitted in this rectangle and this element is defined by the longer side of the rectangle and by a half circle with a radius of A/2 which has a center located at the midpoint of the longer side.
The ninth element shown in Fig. 1i is similar to the second element of Fig. 1b and its form can be defined as a square with side length of 1.5A and from a corner region thereof a quarter of a circle with radius A as shown in Fig. 1d is missing. The tenth element shown in Fig. 1j is an isosceles triangle with side length A and the sides thereof close an angle of 120°. Finally, the eleventh element shown in Fig. 1k is an equilateral triangle with sides A. The set has a twelfth element not shown in the drawing which is a square with sides A.
The elements of the set according to the invention are preferably flat, since their basic feature is determined by the form of their surface. The elements can be implemented by painted wooden or plastic plates or by metal or cardboard plates, and it is preferable if respective magnet pieces are either fixed on or embedded in their rear surfaces to facilitate thereby the releasable but stable arrangement of the associated element on a playing board that can be made e.g. by a painted metal plate. The use of magnets can be replaced by any other means which is capable of providing releasable positioning e.g. a self-adhesive rear surface or a napped surface provided at a portion of the rear side which can be used like a tear-lock. The respective elements can be single-colored, however, the toy set might comprise elements with identical form but differing color or color-shade.
The basic size A has outstanding significance in determining the form of the elements, since this basic size ensures the perfect and versatile engagement thereof. The harmoniously matching system of circular arcs and triangles enables the setting of a large number of patterns truly imitating natural forms even by using a toy set with very limited number of elements. In contrast to conventional mosaic-like toy sets the one designed according to the invention enables the setting of characteristic, lively and aesthetically pleasing configurations which can have closed or open shapes as well.
Fig. 2 shows a stylized flower configuration which has a middle part closed by a waving curved line constituted by the semicircular elements and an adjoining open ornamentation of a tulip pattern. The differently hatched lines in the interior of the configuration intends to imitate the effect of colors. It can thus be visualized that by appropriate use of colors very lively forms can be set even within a configuration. At the edges of the otherwise closed configuration the harmony of the mutually matching circular arcs will be apparent for the viewer. The outer half ring is constituted by two elements as shown in Fig. 1c in which the semi-circular element of Fig. 1f is nicely fitted. Fig. 2 shows examples for the connection of triangular elements to the arced ones.
Fig. 3 shows the variations of the mutual connection of the four types of triangular elements and this exemplifies how a planar surface can be wholly set by such elements. The angles closed by the elements at such connections vary according to discrete steps of 30° and we can find examples there for any of the angles 30°, 60°, 90°, 12o°, 150° and 180°.
Fig. 4 shows the role of circles and arcs in a framing rectangular form. Owing to the use of inner curves the otherwise dull square form turns to be lively and pleasing. If the elements filling the area designated by the hatched line have color different from the color in the remaining area, then the inner form gets accentuated from the background by which it turns to be interesting.
Fig. 5 shows a lion set with very fine details. In the left half of the lion the thin lines designate the contour lines of the respective elements. The different parts of the lion shape exemplifies the partial and the full covering of a surface area. The thin broken range of the tail is enabled by the connection of the triangular elements. The design of the head and mane gives examples for the use of the closed and open arcs. The interior of the body is a closed area. This area can be filled with single-colored elements, however, if the illustrated curved details are made by elements of suitable color and shade, then the colors can emphasize the liveliness and dynamic properties of the composition.
In addition to showing the various ways of filling a playing surface the examples of Figs. 2 to 5 have illustrated how highly structured and detailed forms can be set on a small area with a comparatively small number and type of elements. The height of the lion figure is not higher than 20th of the basic size A and the width thereof including the tail is only 12th of this size A either.
Fig. 6 shows a minimized configuration of the set according to the invention which consists of 36 elements, however the number of the elements belonging to the different types within this set is not uniform. In this embodiment the elements are single colored. The further part of the drawing shows certain characteristic and interesting figures which can be set from this set of minimized number of elements. For the sake of better illustration the boundaries of the respective elements in such figures have not been shown separately, since in case of single-colored elements the figures set thereby give the viewer a uniform visual impression. The difference compared to the drawing lies in that the color of the elements differs from that of the background.
Fig. 7 shows the head of a clown. The size of the elements corresponds to those shown in Fig. 6. Figs. 8 to 10 show configurations set from elements with half-size. The squares around the respective figures illustrate the playing board. In practical implementations of the set according to the invention the basic size A can preferably be between 15 and 25 mm. In these examples the side of the squares which represent the playing board is as small as only 9th of the size A. In Figs. 8 to 10 the rows are designated by letters while the columns by numbers.
Fig. 8 shows different animal figures. It can be observed that the set can be used not only for setting different animals (e.g a1 - horse, b1 - donkey, b3 - fox, etc.) but also for the adequate representation of several characteristic movement positions of the same animal. This is exemplified in Fig. 8 by the animal in squares a2-b2 or in c1 and c3. The configuration in square c2 shows e.g. a pine tree with the sun in the background.
The pictures of Fig. 9 show domestic animals, birds, flowers, houses, all selected from children's world of phantasy, and many of the pictures comprise one or more ornament motives in addition to the dominant figure. The animals are illustrated again in characteristic positions and and reflect thereby the atmosphere of a world of tales. For instance every animal shown in column 3 of Fig. 9 is smiling and has a merry appearance. This gaiety is in contrast to the serious quiet pose of the animals in column 1. The cat shown in square d2 appears as it would be stealthily climbing somewhere.
Rows a. and b. of Fig. 10 reflect an oriental world. The figure of a1 shows a mosque , that of a2 a pyramid with a palm and the sun, while picture b1 shows the palm-tree from a shorter distance. The pictures of a3 and b2 show different camels. The camel of square a3 is shown in a position of a sudden frightened stop, while the dromedary in square b2 is cheerfully running.
The pictures in row c. show a stylized locomotive, a racing car and a small car, while those in squares d1 and d2 are different clown figures. The church of square d3 illustrate how fine details can be represented by this small set.
The toy set shown in Fig. 6 which has largely reduced number of elements can, of course, be used for setting much more figures than shown in the examples. Nevertheless these examples have been sufficient to demonstrate how versatile and finely shaded visual representation can be achieved even by using this minimized set. The examples show furthermore the possibility of using mutually closed and open formations as well as the visually harmonious juxtaposition of the elements constituting the toy set. For demonstrating this last mentioned feature, let us observe the dynamical character of the curved contour line of the two-humped camel in square a3 of Fig. 10 from the arc of the legs through the accurate fitting of the humps up to the range of the neck and the head. This line is finely continued at the lower portion of the legs by means of further elements which truly define the form of the front and rear legs. In existing prior art toy sets such a detailed and form-true representation can be realized by means of toy sets comprising very large number and types of elements and just due to the large number of elements the time required for setting such forms is long and a major part of playing children would find the task of setting such figures to be a dull job and would give it up before the aesthetic pleasure caused by the fine visual impression could emerge at all.
By using the toy set according to the invention the various figures can be set quickly and the presence of larger elements compared to the size of the figures assist in recognizing the essential features of a composition and in developing children's draughtsmanship.
The use of elements with different colors and shades as well as of a set with larger number of elements can further enhance the versatility of figurative representation.

Claims

Toy set of elements that can be fitted together so as to form a pattern or picture, comprising types of flat elements of different forms including right-angled triangle, isosceles triangle and equilateral triangle, rectangle, half-circle and quarter of a circle, in which the number of elements is greater than the number of types, wherein a first group of said element types can be fitted in a square the side of which corresponds to a basic size (A), said first group comprising a first square element type formed by said square, a further element type of said first group being a quarter of a circle having a radius equal to the basic size (A) and the center of this quarter circle is located in a corner of said square in which this element can be fitted, a second group of said elements can be fitted in a rectangle which has longer sides equal to said basic size (A) and shorter sizes half as long as said longer sides, said second group comprising an element type forming said rectangle and a first triangular element type formed by a right-angled triangle with sides forming a longer and a shorter side of said rectangle, characterized in that said first group comprises a further square element type having a circular opening in the middle of the square, said opening having a diameter corresponding to the half of said basic size (A), a further square element type with a corner region from which a quarter of a circle is missing, the center of said quarter circle being located on the corner of said region and the radius thereof being equal to the half of said basic size (A), a further element type being a quarter of an annular ring, wherein the radius of the smaller quarter circle is equal to the half of the basic size (A) and the radius of the larger quarter circle is equal to the basic size (A) and the center point of said quarter circles is located on a corner of said square in which this element can be fitted, said second group comprises a further element type being a half of a circle having a radius equal to the half of the basic size (A) and the center of this quarter circle being located in the midpoint of a longer side of said rectangle in which this element can be fitted, and a further triangular element type forming with said first triangular element type a pair of symmetrical right-angled triangles, a further element type can be fitted in a square with a size corresponding to one and a half times of said basic size (A) and from a corner region of this element type a quarter of a circle is missing, wherein the radius of this quarter circle is equal to the basic size and the center of said quarter circle is located in the corner of said region, a further element type is an isosceles triangle with sides as long as the basic size (A) and forming an angle of 120°, and a further element type is an equilateral triangle with sides as long as the basic size (A), wherein said set comprises at least eight of said types of elements.
The toy set as claimed in claim 1, wherein said flat elements have means arranged in their rear sides or in their body for releasably fixing the position of said element on a playing board.