US1736134A - Toy building block - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 19, 1929.. J. RuTHERFoRb TOY BUILDING BLOCK FiledMarch 25, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I me/7 NV- 19, l929, J. RUTHERFORD 4 1,736,134

TOY BUILDINGBLOGK Filed Maren 25, 1927 K 4 sheets-sheet 3 f f JOHN EUTHEBFORD, OEsLINGEnLANns, NEW YORK, AssIGNOE` 'ro TEE,-EiiriaossINe.v

,. n-COMPA'NY, OE ALBANY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OE NEW Yom: l.

TOY. EUILDING ELOoK Applieation mee-March 25, 1927. serial No. 178,191. v

- This invention relates to toy building .,blocks for childrens use, and its chief-obj ect is to provide blocks which will afford a more realistic simulation of dwelling houses or i 6 other structures.v 'In building blocks as 'heretoforev made each block represented a single brick or stone, so that a considerable number had t`o.be assembled tomake a. structure even fairly resembling a real building,

Y10 and doors and windows could be representedl tures made'therefroin were exceedingly rai1. being subjectto demolition by a mere touch, l :Often with very "distressing grief to the' youth# `ful builder.

My present invention in its preferred form obviates these, drawbacks in a novel manner, providing blocks,j`tha,t is, three-'dimensional p v25 elements las distinguished from flat pieces ofj elghth,l One-,fif-ll, 011@-iWIlty-fifth,f@11C-5y the sheet'lneta'l or the-like,` which can be assembled "by youn er childrento form miniature i l. buildings which have pleasingly realistic resemblance to .actual'buildings and which are. not susceptible to collapse or demolition by any ordinarya'ccident such as would completely destroy a Structure built-Of blocks of y v prior types. I j I My improved blocks ofthe preferred type donot represent single bricks I or stones, but

are building-units or sections, representing complete parts of a dwelling house or other building, havin doors, windows, roofs, and other features O a building painted, printed.,

40 or otherwise'marked on appropriate surfaces' of the blocks, so that even a single block can serve as a complete building, ifdesireigras for example a small bungalow; While by? uttingblocks side by side and one on top o the pther an indefinite variety of buildings may l,be lifted and'. carried aboutvwit-hout coming A apart. One theother handthe units can be. readilyseparated without damage for refuse y Il' mentallyon'l a. cube," endl-'may comprise sing'le cubes; multiples of a cube, as two or more y cubes ina single block;` and proper andima. cube vof one size,

" tions, on, 4which the houses may be erected,

be constructed, as one-story, twofstory, or fr three-story dwellings, and multi-'storye artment houses, with various types of roo s, as for example fia-t, gabled, or hipped roofs, with porches, ells, fireplaces, and chimne s,` all matching or fitting together in arc 1- tecturally correct proportions. With .each set or outit of blocks I may also provide a i supply of permanently plastic modeling mai teria-l. Suchmaterial is tough and sticky, so that a smallpellet pressed between con tlguoussurfaces ofthe building-sections, v

ne's's'to permit quite elaborate structures to in otherbuildings,

proper fractions of cubes, asa cube anda half, three-fourths of a cube, one-half, one# basicl cube being-preferablyof lthe same Oria thirty-three millimeter cube being` of convenien't'and suitable size Referring now tothe accompanying-"draw- 75v` ings, in which one form of the invention is? illustrated Figsrl to 8 inclusive show various'v blocks v.

in the form of building-sections, all based on Figsf'9 ltoV 14 inclusive showi'onja smaller scale .variousaccessory -parts which may be supplied'with the blocks.. Of these figures,

Fig. 9 shows series of yard- 'Or lawn secr with a side walk and a' curbv Fig. 10 indi-" Qca'tes .how the yard or lawn sections'may be 7 hinged together so 'as to` fold `in'tocompact 'form when not in use; Fig, 11s`hovvsv a i seriesof park7 sections, which may be ar# 90 Thebuilding-sections fare based i.

lio

ranged inthe center ofthe streetto give a boulevard eect. Fig. 12 shows a sheet lof paper colored to re resent a section of a street with lawns and s'dewalks on each side. Figs. 13 and 1d show, respectively, a miniature tree and lamp post.

Fig. lishows in boulevardor avenue constructed of my building outfits. p

Fig. 16shows a complete outfit, say one of the rather elaborate type required to make perspective a section of a with one such an assemblage as shown in Fig. 15. The building- sections 10, 11,`shown in Figs.;

1 and 2 are whole cubes of unit size, as vindicated by the dimensional arrows, and it will be noted that they do not represent single bricks or stones. 0n the contrary each is a complete section or part of a house, bearing on its sides pictured representations of windows, doors, and side-boarding for a trame house orbricks tor a brick house. The top may be Y l tions. size vertical and horizontal surfaces 17 may be a solid color, as green or red; and the botftom (not shown) may show only bricks or side-boarding, so that when turned on its side betweenother blocks it will show a blank wall. The blocks may be made of light wood, and all the surfaces are preferably painted first in appropriate colors say red or green on top and white or bu| on the sides and bottom. rlhe doors, windows, etc., are then printed on,'with a contrastivecolor, as brown or greens,v The pictures may.include tlower boxes under the windows, and trellises and shrubs or small treesV at the doors.

These units or sections are conveniently termed whole-story or 0ne-story sections. rl`he blocks of trapezoidal cross-section, Figs. 3 and 4, ar each three-fourths of a cube of the same siezas the onefstory cube of Fig. 1 or' 2, the-edges 15 being an aliquot part of the unit dimension, say one-half, as indicated.V These sections are painted and print-ed to represent half-stories,-and hence may be conveniently termed half-story sec-l The sloping surfaces 1,6v and the halfpainted green or red to represent parts of the roof. The blocks may also be used for making a porch.

The attic-section 18 shown in Fig. 5 is a`half-cube, formed by cutting on a diagonal plane, the resulting cross-section being 'a right-angled isosceles triangle..v The ends are printed as shown, with attic windows, and the' maniac Q l and may also be used as part of a chimney or fireplace on the outside of a house.

The dat square block 20 shown in Fi 7 is also an aliquot part of the basic cube, eing one-fifth'thereo, and is intended tobe used under other blocks, such as 10 and 11, to reprel sent the foundation of the house. For this purpose the block may be colored red orgreen or other solid color, and may, it desired, be printed on its edges to imitate masonry, as indicated.

Block 21, F ig..8, square in cross-section,

likewise an aliquot part of the basic cube, is

onetwenty-ifth of the latter, and is usefulv for chimneys, porch pilla-rs, doorsteps, etc., being painted an appropriate color, as red, green, bu', or-white.

W ith an assortment of the above blocks or building-sections a. great variety of miniature houses may be constructed, as illustrated in Fig. l5, for example, which-shows a number of such structures, employing the various units or sections in various ways. rlhus the house fat the extreme right on the far side of the street has a ground floor or first story composed ot' six whole-story sections on six foundation-sections, and a second story composed of two whole-story sections (in the center) and twok half-story sections on each side. rlihe peak of the roof is made of two roof-sections arranged end to end. `The porch is made of one foundation-section, four "pillars, and one attic-section as the roof.

On the near side of the street the third house from the right has two roof-section blocks set on end, one on the other,to represent the external portion of fireplace brickwork or masonry, with a pillar-block on top to represent the chimney proper. On the far side of the street is a live-story apartment house with chimneys and a porch.

Fig. 15 also shows, in use, a number'of 'accessory parts which may vbe employed to form the setting of the building or build-V ings and thus widen the scope of the outlit and heighten the interest and attractiveness of the scene. The lawns, on either side of the roadway may be made of rectangular or board or other suitable materiaL painted green with white, bu",.or light yellow stripes to represent the sidewalk 23. The adjacent edges may be similarly colored to represent the curb. These sections may be entirely unfV attached to each other; or they may bevhlnged at the upper and lower surfaces alternately, by means of cloth, for example, to permit folding in yzig-zag fashion as indicated m'Fig.

10, for compactness when not in use, preventing loss, etc. The parlring strips in the center of the roadway may also be made of sections 24, as indicated in Fig. 11, painted green with a curb 25. Holes, as 26, ma be provided in the parking and lawn sections,l

,to receive maniature bushes',' trees, and lamp square sections 22, Fig. 9, of strong pulp- A signature.

rions sections having on appropriate surfaces picture-representations lof Y uilding features, including ature buildings' of realistic a pearance and proportions can be constructe ,having doors, windows, porches, chimneys, and roofs, differing in ground-plan and number of stories. nature doors and windows; whereby mini! ln testimony whereoi ll hereto ax my l JOHN nurnnnroan be erected, or it may be used as a pattern on.

which the lawn and parking sections maybe laid. The outlit ma also include strips of suitably colored car board or paper, of various lengths, to be used as walks\ from the street to the buildings, as in Fig. 15. lf plastic modeling material is included, for use as an adhesive to secure the parts together, I prefer it to be of a non-staining or unp1gmented variety so that if the parts are disassembled' it may be scraped or wiped E without leaving a colored` mark.

The outts. put up for sale can include as many varieties of parts., and as many of each,

as desired. @nel such outfit is' illustrated in Fig. 16, comprising a stout box having a.

hinged lid 31 and containing removable trays, 32, for the various arts. For the elaborate g. assemblage of buildings shown in Fig. 15 the outfit vwould have, say, eight dozen wholestory units, three dozen half-story units, two

and a half or three dozen attic-units, twol dozen roof-units,.ve and a halt` dozen foundation-units, and two and a half dozen' pillar,

and chimney units; as well asl the necessary lawn-sections, parking-sections? trees, and

other accessory parts. The outltmay also include pers ective or other views ofvone or more. buildings, for instance buildings shown in Fig. v15, as examples to guide the child,to

gether with printed suggestions' helpful inv making the toy entertaining and instructive.

ico

lt is to lbe understood that' lthe invention is not limited to the specific'details herein described, since these may be varied without departure from the spirit of the invention'a defined by the appended claim. y `f I claimf- A building-block outfit for making toy buildings, comprising whole-story building-l 'I sections of uniform basic-cube size, half-story building-sections of trapezoidal cross-section,

each a proper fraction of the basic cubevand having a. surface inclined relative to the outer surfaces," attic-sections of right-angled triangular cross-section, each a proper fraction v of the basic cube, roof-sections of right-angled triangular cross-section, each a proper fraction of the basic cube but smaller than the attic-sections, foundation-sections square in plan land rectangular in cross-section, each a proper fraction of the basic cube, and chimney and pillar sections square in cross-section, each a proper fract1on of the basic cube, va-v

Images