US 5,346,420 AGranted

Gearing and drive mechanism for construction toy system

AssigneeConnector Set Limited Partnership

InventorJoel I. Glickman

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A gearing and drive mechanism is provided for a construction toy system, in which a coherent structure can be assembled from a series of rod-like struts and hub-like connectors, wherein the struts have specially contoured ends engageable by lateral, snap-in assembly with pairs of contoured gripping arms on the connector elements. Upon snap-in assembly, the struts are effectively rigidly joined with the connectors. Spur gears and pinions can be rotatably supported in the structure using struts and connector elements providing a gear train for converting the output of the motor to driving an element of the construction toy system. The construction system has a graduated progression of strut lengths, such that a first length is of a size to form a base of an isosceles right triangle for which the next length of the progression is of a size to form a hypotenuse. Spur and pinion gears have a size ratio of approximately 2.4 at the pitch diameter to accommodate assembly of useful drive gear mechanisms of various speed ratios and mechanical advantages.

Claims6

Dependent claims

In a construction toy system of the type comprising a plurality of connector elements and a plurality of rod-like struts engageable with said connector elements to lateral, snap-in engagement to form a coherent skeletal structure, and wherein said struts and connector elements are engageable to form elemental structural units in the form of isosceles right triangles, and wherein said struts are provided in a graduated progression in which struts of one size are appropriate to form the hypotenuse side of an isosceles right triangle in which the base sides are formed by struts of the next smaller size, and wherein said connector elements have a center opening for rotatably receiving a strut and a plurality of pairs of gripping arms extending radially from said center opening and adapted for the lateral snap-in engagement of struts, a drive system which comprises

(a) one or more pinion gears of equal size and having a pinion gear pitch diameter,
(b) one or more spur gears of equal size and having a spur gear pitch diameter,
(c) said spur gears being adapted for meshing engagement with a pinion gear or with another spur gear,
(d) the respective pitch diameters of said pinion and spur gears being such that
(i) the center-to-center spacing between a meshing pinion and spur gear equals the center to center distance between a pair of connector elements joined by a strut element of a first predetermined length connected to radially oriented gripping means of each connector element of the pair, and
(ii) the center-to-center spacing between a pair of meshing spur gears equals the center-to-center distance between a pair of connector elements joined by a strut of a length next larger in progression than said first predetermined length connected to radially oriented gripping means of each connector element of the pair.

3 more elements

In a construction toy system of the type comprising a plurality of connector elements and a plurality of rod-like struts engageable with said connector elements to form a coherent skeletal structure, and wherein said struts and connector elements are engageable to form elemental structural units in the form of isosceles right triangles, and wherein said struts are provided in a graduated progression in which struts of one size are appropriate to form the hypotenuse side of an isosceles right triangle in which the base sides are formed by struts of the next smaller size, and wherein said connector elements have an opening, located at an apex of the triangle, for rotatably receiving a strut and gripping means oriented radially with respect to said opening and adapted for the engagement of radially oriented struts, a drive system which comprises

(a) said motor having a rotatable output shaft,
(b) a first drive gear mounted on said output shaft,
(c) a second drive gear positioned in meshing relation with said first drive gear,
(d) a support shaft for said second drive gear, comprising one of said rod-like struts,
(e) said second rive gear being rotatably mounted on said support shaft,
(f) a first drive element connecting said second drive gear to said support shaft for rotation therewith,
(g) a pinion gear rotatably mounted on said support shaft,
(h) a second drive element connecting said pinion gear to said support shaft for rotation with said support shaft and said second drive gear,
(i) a second support shaft supported for rotation in said coherent structure,
(j) a third drive gear rotatably mounted on said second support shaft,
(k) a third drive element connecting said third drive gear for rotation with said second support shaft,
(l) a drive output element rotatably mounted on said second support shaft, and
(m) a fourth drive element connecting said drive output element for rotation with said second support shaft and said third drive gear.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 08/072,271Filed 3 Jun 1993 · division
Priority: 11 Dec 1990
Granted: 13 Sep 1994
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification4 codes

A63H 33/062
To be assembled without the use of additional elements: with clip or snap mechanisms
A63H 33/042
Building blocks, strips, or similar building parts: mechanical, electrical, optical, pneumatic or hydraulic arrangements; Motors
A63H 33/101
To be assembled by means of additional non-adhesive elements: with clip or snap mechanism
A63H
Toys

Family

Serial625,809Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 11 Dec 1990
Serial687,386Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 18 Apr 1991
Serial717,639Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 19 Jun 1991
US 5,061,219 AParent of this continuation-in-part · filed 29 Oct 1991
US 5,137,486 AParent of this continuation-in-part · filed 11 Aug 1992
Serial25,183Parent of this division · filed 2 Mar 1993
US 5,199,919 AParent of this continuation-in-part · filed 6 Apr 1993
US 5,346,420 AThis patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

Citations

Open elsewhere

Building an agent or pulling many patents? Use the API or MCP server instead of scraping pages. Get an API key