Construction Set Using Plastic Magnets
AssigneeApex Technologies, Inc.
InventorCharles Rudisill
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A magnetic tile construction set is disclosed that may be used to construct extended 3-dimensional structures. In one embodiment, plastic magnets are attached to multiple edges of a lightweight core. The magnets have a width and length comparable to the thickness of the core and a length that is an order of magnitude longer than the thickness of the core. Tiles may be attached to one another at the tile edges through magnetic forces that do not vary by more than a factor of two over the range of angles from 45 degrees to 180 degrees.
Claims20
A toy construction apparatus comprising:
- a substantially planar core;
- one or more plastic magnets having their longest dimensions parallel to and affixed to two or more edges of the core;
- characterized by an apparatus areal density<0.2 g/cm2.
A toy construction set comprising:
- two or more substantially planar tiles;
- plastic magnets having their longest dimensions parallel to and affixed to two or more edges of the tiles, wherein the magnets are capable of attracting two tiles together at a relative angle at their edges;
- characterized by a magnetic attractive force between two tiles that does not change by more than a factor of 2 over the range of connection angles of 45 degrees to 180 degrees.
A kit comprising:
- one or more magnets having a length, width and thickness in which length is the largest dimension and in which the ratio of width to thickness is in the range of 0.6 to 3.0;
- a means for attaching the one or more magnets to a planar substrate in the vicinity of the edge of the planar substrate;
- wherein the kit is capable of further assembly with a planar substrate to form a set of at least two magnetic tiles;
- wherein the two or more magnetic tiles are capable of forming three-dimensional structures.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.