US2258156A - Toy building structure - Google Patents

Description

Oct.- 7, 1941. A. M. CAVALIER] TOY BUILDING STRUCTURE Filed Sept. 5, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 b v? M ,/W/ 5 pa Oct. 7, 1941.

A. M. CAVALIER] 2,258,156

TOY BUILDING STRUCTURE I Filed Sept. 5; 1936 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Innkevriaf Oct. 7, 1941.

A. M. CAVALIER! TOY BUILDING STRUCTURXE s Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 5, 1936 Patented Oct. 7, 1941 UNITED ;sTA

'T0Y BUILDING STRUCTURE. Anthcn'y M. Cavalieri, Buffalo, N. Y. Application September 5, 193 Serial No. 99,607

3 Claims. o1. ls -2s) to be entertaining and fascinating as well as educational to both children and adults, and which is further so designed as to permit the building of several different types of homes and like structures having a plurality of different and optional exteriors or facial effects with one set of the building blocks.

Another object of theinventi'on is the provision of a set of building blocks or units which are self-locking to make for a completed rigid structure, which require no separate or detachable fasteners for holding them'in place and which can be readily set-up and knocked down when desired. n r

A further object is to providea set of building blocks or units whose individual parts are so proportioned-and designed as to eifect a continuity of the structural parts during assembly, irrespective of the style or typeof house being built.

A still further object is the provision of a set of building blocks-embodying bothpside wall and roof parts or elements as well as window sash and door frames, and wherein such parts are sodimensioned as to afford their uniform assembly. v 7 Other features of construction reside in the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims. I 1

In the accompanyingv drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a house assembled from the building units of my invention, and showing the exterior face thereof representative of a combination of brick and stone. Figures 2 and 3 are fragmentary perspective views of a house showing the exterior faces thereof representative of stone and brick, respectively. Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the house'shown in Figure l showing the structural interlocking of the side walls, roof and sash frames. Figures 5, 6 and 7 are perspective mentary perspective view of the molding or beading strip for the roof." Figure 13 is a fragmentary perspective View of one of the stay-bars orrafters forsupporting the roof pieces.

' Similar characters of reference indicat corresponding parts throughout the several views.

Referring now to the drawings, 15 indicates a plurality ofbuilding blocks which are preferably made of woodor like material and which are rectangular in shape and twice'as long as they are wide. These blocks are provided at their sides and ends with painted or otherwise produced facial characteristics or representations .to imitate the. structural appearance of brick, stone, concrete-and like building materials, whereby a house may be built to simulate either all brick or all stone or a combination of the two, Figure '1 indicating a house made of a combination of brick and'stone, Figure 2 indicating a house made of .stone,and Figure 3'indicating a house made Of' bIiCk; For-this; purpose and toiinsure, the proper side and end exposures of the blocks when building'houses of different structuralappe'arances, 1- preferably provide in the building set constitutingmy invention two groups of blocks, the blocks-of one group being called the 3 and 1 blockand some corresponding to the one shown in Figure 5, wherein one side and two ends of the block represent, as indicated at It, one form of building structure, such as brick, and the opposite side represents, as indicated at IT, a different form of building structure, say stone, Whl1e OtheIfib10CkS of this group are reversed from that shown in Figure 5, havingoneside and two ends of stone and the opposite side of brick. The blocks of the other group are called the 2 and2 blocks and are shown in Figures 6 and '7, the block shown in Figure 6 being a right hand block and having its opposite sides and opposite ends of different structural appearances with the front side [8 thereof being the same in appearance as the right hand end IQ of the block and with itsrear side 20 and opposite endZl-being of the same facialappearance but different from the firstnamed side and end; the block shown in Figure 7 is a; left hand block wherein its front side 22 views of the side wall blocks. Figure 3 is a frag mentary perspective view of' ,.t heisash frame,

showing the manner of its interlocking with the ridge piece of the roof!" Figure-121s a fragand its left hand end 23 are of the same facial appearance, as, brick, while its rear, side 24 and right hand end 25 are of Ja-different facial appearancaas shown. By this group block structurejit is possible to properly match the blocks to meet all; conditionswhich may arise during theibuilding of a. house sothat a uniformity and at all sides and corners of the house. The real purpose and necessity of this group structure can be observed from Figures 1, 2 and 3 and particularly by observing the building-corners, as when a course of blocks along one wall is connected with an adjoining wall at right angles in the same figure, and a few may. .bebeveled at both ends, as indicated at 28, to serve as peak or roof-engaging corner blocks. may also be in sets to provide right and left, hand blocks corresponding to those shown in Figures 6 and 7.

The blocks are preferably detachably interlocked with one another in break-joint fashion to provide a rigid wall structure through the medium of dowel-pins 29; and mating holes 30,0r like means. As shown in Figure 5, each of the blocks l may have two dowel-pins projecting from its top side and alining holes in its bottom side, and in, practice the blocks are drilled with two holes and the dowel-pins may be glued or otherwise secured, in the upper portions of such holes, or they may be detachably fitted in the holes by friction and inserted during'the building operation. Each half block is provided with one dowel-pin and a companion hole. In addition to interlocking the blocks in. courses, the dowel-pins serve in some instances as anchoring pins for the roof-beams or stay-bars and also as a means for interlocking the window and door-frames in place as will hereinafter appear.

Referring more particularly to Figure 4, the numeral 3| indicates adjustable, telescopic staybars or beams which are used to reinforce the upper ends of the building-walls and serve as supports or rafters for the roof-pieces or boards indicated at 32, 33 and 34 These stay-bars may be made of sheet metal and are substantially U- shaped in cross-section with their sides sloping inwardly to conform to the usual pitch of the roof. as seen in Figure 13, which are adapted to detachably engage the adjoining dowel-pin 29 in a companion block l5, positioned for that purpose, such block being disposed crosswise of the building-Wall so that its inner end overhangs such wall and exposes one of its dowels for engagementwith a stay-bar, as shown in Figure 4.

The roof-boards are reversible and may be painted or otherwise facially treated on both sides to represent difierent roof-structures, as shingle, tile, etc., and they are so proportioned in width and length as to conform to the dimensions of the blocks I5 so that the roof-boards when laid will properly match the side wall dimensions of the building. For example, I have shown three widths of roof-boards, the roofboard 32 being the same in width as the length of the standard blocks I5, the roof-board 33 being the same in width as the half blocks 26, and the roof-board 34 being once and half as long as said blocks l5. As shown in Figures i, 9 and 10, these roof-boards. are adapted to-detachably interlock with one another at. their sides and ends and for this purpose each board 32,33, 34. is

These block At their ends these bars have holes 35,

provided at one of its longitudinal edges with a tenon 36 and at its opposite edge with a companion groove 31. Each end of the board is provided with a transverse groove 38 and tenon 39 to provide a scarf -like joint to hold the adjoining boards against endwise displacement, the joint elements at the ends being disposed reversely to each other. At its peak the roof may be provided with a ridge or finishing strip 40 having tenons M and. grooves 42 which slidingly interlock with the alining mating grooves 38 and tenons 39, respectively, of the roof-boards, this strip serving to jointly engage the abutting, intersecting roof-boards at the opposite sides of the roof and securely coupling them against separation. At its edges the roof may be provided with molding strips 43 which are grooved to either; inter-lock with the exposed tenons 35 of the endmost roof-boards, or to receive a tenon 4-4 to mate with the exposed groove 31 of a roofboard; As shown in Figure 4, the roof-boards are of; different proportionate lengths to result in; straight, uniform edges at the top and bottom edges of: theroof, and some of the boards are of such length asto provide for the overhangof the roof.

The window and door openings are indicated at 45 and 46, respectively, and fitted in these openings are detachable frames which preferabl consist of' jointed strips 41 disposed along the side andtop and bottom edges of the openings, and which are grooved, as indicated at 48 to interlock with the dowel-pins 29 on those blocks 15 constituting the lower edge of the openings 45 and 46, as shown in Figures i and 8, and if desired the top of; the frame may interlock with dowelpins fitted in;the:b0tt0ms of thecontiguous blocks l5. At one end, each of these frame-strips may be provided with side extensions 49, which embrace the opposing end of an adjoining strip when assembling the frame, as seen in Figure 8. At its opposite end, each frame strip may have a endwise opening notch 50, to register with any interfering dowel-pin. These strips likewisemay be made in varying lengths proportionate to the blocks l5 for making window and door openings of different sizes. Furthermorethe frame-strips 4-! may bepainted in different colors. along their inner and outer edges to carry out any color scheme desired and for this purpose said strips are readily reversible in the frame-openings. The window panes. 51 may be made of paper suitably fitted in the frame-strips 41 and they may be printed or colored on their opposite sides to indicate clear or leaded glass or the like.

I claim as my invention:

1. A toy building block structure, comprising a plurality of blocks having dowel-pins and holes adjacent their ends and in the top and bottom thereof, respectively, for locking them in courses to form side walls, certain, of said blocks being adapted for disposition crosswise of a wall to project inwardly beyond such wall and expose a dowel-pin, and rafter members adapted for supporting engagement at their ends with said crosswise-positioned blocks and having openings therein engageable with the dowel-pins of such blocks.

2. A toy building block structure, comprising a plurality of blocks having dowel-pins and holes adjacent their ends and in the top and bottom thereof, respectively, for locking them in courses to. form side walls, certain of said blocks being adapted for disposition crosswise of a Wall to project inwardly beyond such wall and expose their edges for interlocking them with one another.

3. A toy building block structure, comprising a plurality of blocks having dowel-pins and holes adjacent their ends and in the top and bottom thereof, respectively, for locking them in courses to form side walls, and intervening window openings, the dowel-pins-of the course of blocks constituting the bottom edge of such an opening being exposed, and a window frame adapted to be detachably fitted in said opening and including separable side and top and bottom sections having means for interlocking them to one another, the outer edges of such sections being longitudinally grooved and one or another of such grooved sections being adapted to interlock with those dowel pins rising from the row of blocks constituting the bottom edge of the windowopening.

ANTHONY M. CAVALIERI.

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