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US 5,692,749 AGranted
Matching puzzle with multiple solutions
OwnerRoger Vogelerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tiling, pattern-matching puzzle having a large number of distinct, challenging solutions while maintaining in each solution an overall unity and perceptible wholeness. This is achieved by providing each puzzle piece with a surface design comprising a number of distinct regions separated by contour lines terminating at precisely spaced points along the edges of the piece.
Claims13
A puzzle comprising a multiplicity of pieces, each of said pieces having a polygonal face, said pieces being jointly assemblable into a tiling configuration, wherein said faces tile a connected polygonal area;
- each edge of each polygonal face being partitioned into a pattern of sub-intervals by a non-empty set of termination points, each pattern of sub-intervals being characterized by the associated distances occurring between each of said termination points and the nearest corner of its respective face, each of said distances being selected from a predetermined finite set of distances, and at least two different patterns of sub-intervals occurring within the entire puzzle;
- each edge of each face having a matching relationship with at least one edge of one other face wherein, when two such faces are correctly and adjacently positioned with two said edges coinciding, all termination points on one coinciding edge are respectively brought into pair-wise conjunction with all termination points on other coinciding edge;
- all termination points belonging to each respective face being connected pair-wise by a set of non-intersecting contour lines upon said face, said contour lines thereby partitioning said face into distinct regions;
- whereby said pieces can be assembled into said tiling configuration in which said matching relationship obtains at each coincidence of edges of adjacent faces.
1 more element
A puzzle comprising sixteen pieces, each of said pieces having a substantially planar square face, said faces being mutually congruent;
- each of said faces being partitioned into distinct regions by two to four non-intersecting contour lines, each of said contour lines having two termination points on the perimeter of its respective face and meeting perpendicularly said perimeter, each of said termination points being located at a specific distance from the nearest corner of said face, said distance being equal to one-fourth the length of an edge of said face, and each edge of each square face containing at least one of said termination points;
- each of said regions being marked with one of at least two alternate indices, in every instance two regions being marked differently if they are adjacent by virtue of having one of said contour lines as their common boundary;
- each edge of each face having a matching relationship with at least one edge of one other face, and with fewer than all edges of all other faces, wherein, when two such faces are correctly and adjacently positioned with two said edges coinciding, all termination points on one coinciding edge are respectively brought into pair-wise conjunction with all termination points on other coinciding edge, and each pair of said regions brought into adjacency by said coinciding edges are marked with like indices;
- whereby said pieces can be assembled into a four-by-four square configuration in which said matching relationship obtains at each coincidence of edges of adjacent faces.
1 more element
A method of designing surface markings for a set of polygons, together capable of covering at least one predetermined polygonal region in at least two different tiling arrangements, comprising the following steps for each of said polygons:
- (a) designation of a plurality of points of division along each edge of said polygon, thus dividing said edge into several segments, the two outermost segments of every edge having the same length, and the remaining, interior, segments each having a length twice that of said outermost segments;
- (b) selection of an even number 2k of said points of division, at least one of said points being selected from each edge of said polygon;
- (c) delineation or representation of a number k of non-intersecting paths or contour lines upon the interior of said polygon, each path having as endpoints, and thereby joining, two of said selected points of division, and no two paths having a common endpoint, said polygon being thereby partitioned into a plurality of regions, each contour line forming the common boundary of two adjacent regions;
- each edge of each face having a matching relationship with at least one edge of one other face wherein, when two such faces are correctly and adjacently positioned with two said edges coinciding, all selected points of division on one coinciding edge are respectively brought into pair-wise conjunction with all selected points of division on other coinciding edge;
- and at least two edges of different faces not having said matching relationship with each other;
- whereby said pieces can be assembled into at least one of said tiling arrangements in which said matching relationship obtains at each coincidence of edges of adjacent faces.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.