US2333731A - Puzzle - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 9, 1943. F. B. MONROE ET AL 2,333,731

PUZZLE Filed April 29, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 zag/Jr.

Eiga: 1929.6.

J qa qe '[38 6:5 qs 02 I l l -I f A (L -15 VVI 40W EKL@ lib Nov. 9, 1943.

PUZZLE Filed April 29, 1942 F. B. MONROE ETAL 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Nov. 9, 1943 VI' UNI-TED f eilairrrs.y (Iritzia-115s) This f invention: relatesfto' aiA puzzlefo the type' in which planar pieces fhavingvpliinted'pr Oth'ere'i wise appliedintlcia or:- designs -Lappeariirg there; on are assemblecrsc as -ifto produce ef-.desired pic; ture or arrangement cr'sdtfjecti-rfnetter 'whiciris the objectof"the-piizzlet-V j One of the' principal fobj-ects o"tl.ie-inventon is to provide a puzzle composeiilbf'a'plralitymi fiat, fiexible I strips whichjare assernfbld'iti'a'iccin' plete the 'puzzle fby overlppi'fngcand tinteweeving.v the strips; the ltctai.stri-feite arearofrttieccom: pleted Ypuzzle being-.naires vlarge-'aslttieitotai fsu-re faceareafo-f the individual' strips; haiffoffthe strips being laid sidebyfsidehcriziitaiiir and the 'other'l half of':` the strips: beingflaid'f sideff byfside vertically; thehcrizciital and' verticai'fstiitisobefing, respectively; 'interwoven to iproperlyvsol'vethe puzzle'. Y' 4 vr Arr-importent aavantagefefaipiigtieor this is that a series orfv pu'zriesmay 13e-promulgada an of wnieiiithepiecesereniteciitcgetner infie' similar Vi'nainer,` theisubjeetihratteif appearihgn the puzzle pieces; `fl'o'iiqever;''being i arranged-to produce a `variety1offdiili'enti'efrts "te lhol'd tlreA appeal and interest4 of'therusers1 and' fteprovide a range in the-tiine-reqixired tivork: clit-:the puzzle. y 'Vv l Since. the strips'which comprise' thepiizzl'e' are designed to beassernbledbyinterweaving or `riiifrs`1r`- lapping certain portions ofthe "puzzle-strips'tvith portions of 'the other puzzlei'stripscertarn areas or portions of the puzzlesti'ips .Willatoifered up when tnepuzzle is 4completed .and-itl isi areature of our inventionthat such concealedafeas orportions mayV havel designs orfportions of. de.- signs printed thereon in a mannertoccnstitiite false clues or decoy elements which, addftothe diculty of discovering the proper.soli'itin of the y puzzle. v,

Further objects. and advantages. of.` the. immovements ,in a puzzlewilllbemore ireadilif.. apparent Vfrom the followinadescription oiga .preferred embodiment thereofi. as illustrated lin the attached drawings. .inwhchz Fig. 1 is -a-plan View oi.A a picture showing an arrangement 4of sh designs..whichisvthevobject of one embodiment ofthe -improvedpuzzleg Fig. 2 is a plan vicwshowing.theses/eral pieces of the sh-.desien puzzle beiore'the:V piecessare put-together;

Fig.- S'is :anplan viewshowing tithe-puzzle. iii fan I incomplete' stage;

1 iishfdesignrlementsrcoriespcrrd tothatvofflilig. 1;

Fig. 5 is fa: planview 'showing 'ther'pieces of a puzzle in` Which'z lettersr aredisplayed: oni the faces-ofthe puzzle: piecesi; i

Fig; 6 isfa pla-n viewshowingsthepiecesscf VFig..` 5 assembled to` complete Ftheipuzzle;

Fig. 7 is a` plarrfvievv` of the :pieces-cf a puzzle in' which the- 1 pieces 1 haver4 design elements intended' 'to` appear in.` the completedv puzzle and other" design` `elernentsi different,- i-n character which arel intended to beconcea-led (in the' compieted puzzie;'

Fig. 8fis`a'lp1an'vicvw showing tha-piecesrof Fig- 7 f assembled -to icompletefthe puzzle;

Fig; 941s a plan view- -shcwingfpuzzle vpieces-of a--furtherfeinbcdimentfof thepuzzle; and' vFig: lOli's fa plan' Viewr 'of thefpuzziepieces of Fig. 9 assembledto ff'orm'vthe completed puzzle;

The-puzzle rdisclosedriflg'ssl to 4 will 'first be described; In this type of puzzle; thepic-turefdes'- ignated'tl .in-Elige 1-.shows'a certainarrangemerrt of a^pluralityof design"e1ementssin this instance comprising fishesfl'fl; @therd-esigns.and-arrangements couldberu'sed Thefcbject of thepuzzie is to combine thepuzzlefpiecesfof Figi. 2 so that the sh elements appearing thereon 'vare displayed in thesame manneras ihFig: lr The-ten puzzle pieces-in Figf.-l 2 are -identied ias-.I fto'fl -iinclusivet Each 'of they puzzleivpieces isa iiexible fpapernstrip having alengthiive timesitsWidth.y It should be :understood thatchaif4 of the puzzle pieces 'will be laid.` horizontallywhile "ther other half of the puzzle pieces.` will be? laid "vertically te complete theA puzzle. Therpies:` |2.- to: I''inclus-ivery are'the verticallysdisp'csed pieces in Fig. 4-While fthe pieces I 1 -to -2i 1 inclusive are. thel vhorizcmtally.fdisposed pieces-in Fig. 4.- It-,Willfbenotedfthat each-of the pieces l 24;@ 2lk havez one or more sh elements appearing thereon .f and i thatv there fare. more. of thesef elements than-are resgtuired to makfethe picture of Fig.' 1. Some oifthe fish elements on thepieces will fbe. coveredv .up -or-Yconcealed in .the

of overlapping portions of a vertical and a horizontal strip. In some cases the horizontal strip is on the upper side While in other cases the vertical strip is on the upper side. The

puzzle pieces may therefore be described as having a total surface area which is twiceA as great as the surface area of the completed puzzle.

It will be understood that the pieces in Fig. 2 have been arranged in order for convenience of illustration but that when it is attempted to work out the puzzle the pieces are all mixed up making it diicult to determine the proper arrangement or order of the pieces requiring trial and error to solve the puzzle. The presence of the many decoy elements or false clues add to the diiiiculty of working out the puzzle. Apart from any guide that is obtained from the arrangement of the pieces or other subject-matter on the puzzle strips, each of the strips might be used as a horizontal or vertical strip making ten possible positions, and in each position the strip may be turned end for end making twenty possible arrangements for each piece. Finally each piece, even when the particular location is found. may be interwoven with the other strips in a variety of diierent ways. 'The number of possible arrangements of the pieces may therefore be considerable. For example, to illustrate the difficulty of starting the puzzle, if it is attempted to select a piece displaying the design element 22a in Fig. 4, any one of the pieces I2, I4, I'I or 2| could be tried as a horizontal strip. while none of the strips could be used vertically to display the lish elements 22a in the correct position. For the design element 22h, either strip I8 or 20 could be=triedihorizontally while only strip I9 could be tried vertically. For the design element 22C, strips I5, I'I, I8 or 20 could be tried horizontally while only strip I9 could be tried in a vertical position.

The puzzles may take a number of different forms in each of which the pieces may be similar in size and shape and assembled in much the same manner, but the theme or object of the puzzle may/be made different so as to maintain the interest and appeal in Working out the puzzles. Several different vvariations have been illustrated.

Figs. and 6 illustrate the puzzle in a form in which letters appear on the puzzle pieces and when the puzzle is put together the letters are combined to spell Words. For example, the puzzle pieces identiiied as 32 to 4I inclusive in Fig. 5 are assembled to complete the puzzle as shown in Fig. 6. In this case the object of the puzzle is to spell out the slogan Alls Well that Ends Well, and vit is not necessary to have a picture or guide such as in Fig. l of the iirst embodiment of the puzzle. The letters on the puzzle are displayed thereon ina variety of positions to increase the dilculty of determining the position of a particular piece. There are more letters than required to make the words appearing in Fig. 6.

Similarly, in Figs. '7 and 8 a different type of puzzle is illustrated in which the puzzle pieces 42 to 5I inclusive of Fig. '7 are combined to form the completed puzzle as in Fig. 8. In this case the puzzle pieces have certain figures, such as the girl iigures shown, which appear in the completed puzzle, whereas al1 the other figures, such as the circular ligures shown on the puzzle pieces, are concealed in the completed puzzle. The object of this puzzle is to arrange the pieces so that all of the circular guresare covered up whilevall of. the girl figures yare visible in the completed puzzle.

In Figs. 9 and 10 the puzzle pieces identified as 52 to 6I inclusive in Fig. 9 are assembled to complete the puzzle shown in Fig. 10. In this case a guide may be given showing that a cottage ligure is inqthe upper left hand corner of the Acompleted puzzle While the man ligure is in the lower right hand corner of the completed puzzle and it is stated that in the completed puzzle there will appear a continuous path from the cottage figure to the man ligure passing through eachofv the smaller square units of area of the entire puzzle. It will be understood lthat the paths appearing on-the individual vpuzzle pieces are more than suiiicient to form the path shown in Fig. 10 and therefore that certain portions of the puzzle. pieces must be covered up by overlapping portions ofother pieces. f

When the completed puzzle forms a square any even number of pieces could be used. Thus, sixteen pieces could be combined into a square having? eight horizontal .and eight vertical strips, each strip being eight timesas long as its width.

It Will'be understood that the puzzle need not be limited' to an embodiment in which the completed puzzle is square. The final form could be a rectangle, circle, triangle or other coniiguration'but in such'cases the strips would not all be of the same size and shape and the puzzle would be relatively more easy to'work out. Also it will be understood that in the square form of puzzle the strips need not run vertically and horizontally but couldl run diagonally of the square, being interweaved or interlapped in a similar manner. Here again the strips would not all be of the'same size and shape. Since the puzzle strips must be bent to interweave and intert, it is desirable that they be made of some flexible material, for example, stiff paper or cardboard.

In making the puzzle initially, a plurality of strips could be cut to the size and shape of the strips shown in Fig. 2. The strips could then be assembled in some haphazard interweaving and overlapping arrangement. The visible faces of the pieces are then marked to correspond to corresponding portions of the picture or arrangement which is the object of the puzzle. The pieces are then separated and the concealed portions marked to have false clues thereon. Reproductions of the puzzle strips are made in any suitable manner.

We claim:

1.A puzzle comprising a plurality of separate strips all of the same size and shape. each of said strips having indicia appearing thereon, only certain portions of saidindicia being required to work out the puzzle and the remaining portions of said indicia affording false clues, the indicia which affords false clues being exactly similar to indicia displayed on othery pieces but in diierent relative position, said strips being designed for assembly by laying part of said strips in side by side relationship and the remainder of said strips also in side by side relationship but crosswise with respect to the iirst mentioned strips,

said crosswise strips being interwoven at least in part with the first mentioned strips.

2. A puzzle comprising a plurality of separate strips all of the same size and shape, each of said strips having letters thereon, said letters being turned at variousangles with respect to any one side of the puzzle strip and only certain of said letters being required to work out the puzzle, said strips being designed for assembly by laying half of said strips in side by side relationship and the remaining half of said strips also in side by side relationship but crosswise with respect to said rst mentioned strips, said crosswise strips being interwoven at least in part with the first mentioned strips whereby the letters which are visible in the completed puzzle are arranged to form words.

B. A puzzle comprising a plurality of separate strips all of the same size and shape, each of said strips having paths or portions of paths appearing thereon, the paths being more than sufficient to properly work out the puzzle, certain portions of said paths being exactly duplicated on more than one strip to afford a false clue as to which strip should be used to display the duplicate portion of the pattern, said pieces being designed for assembly by laying half of said strips in side by side relationship and the remaining half of said strips also in side by side relationship but crosswise with respect to said first mentioned strips to form a square, said crosswise strips being interwoven at least in part with said first mentioned strips, the portions of the strips which remain visible in the completed puzzle displaying a continuous path between at least A two corners of the square.

4. A puzzle comprising an even number of pieces, each piece consisting of a flexible rectangular strip, al1 of the pieces being of the same size and shape, each strip having square units of area equal in number to half the number of pieces, each strip having indicia applied to at least one unit area thereof, the units of area to which said indicia is applied being more than half the total unit area of all the pieces, certain of said indicia being displayed on more than one piece, the completion of the puzzle being carried out by selecting half of the pieces to be arranged horizontally in side-by-side relationship and the remaining half of the pieces to be arranged vertically in similar side-by-side relationship and interweaving the horizontal and vertical pieces in a definite but irregular pattern whereby the assembled pieces form a square the exposed face of which makes a desired complete design in which each piece of the puzzle has at least one unit area thereof exposed and at least one unit area thereof concealed by an overlapping piece, certain of the indicia being applied to a piece in such a manner that the piece might be used in either a horizontal or vertical position although there is only one correct position therefor, the indicia which affords a false clue as to the relative position of the .piece being covered up in the complete puzzle.

5.y A puzzle comprising an even number of pieces, each piece consisting of a exible strip rectangular in shape, all of the pieces being of the same size and shape, the pieces being adapted to be assembled by laying half of the strips horizontally in side-by-side relationship and in a definite order and the remaining half of the strips vertically in similar side-by-side relationship and in a definite order and interweaving the respective horizontal and vertical strips in a definite but irregular pattern, whereby the exposed portions of the pieces in the completed puzzle form a square, each piece having indicia displayed thereon comprising fragmentary portions of the complete design appearing on the face of the completed puzzle, certain portions of said indicia being duplicated on more than one piece to aiord false clues as to whether a particular strip should be arranged horizontally or vertically, said indicia which constitutes a false clue being covered up by an overlapping strip in the completed puzzle.

6. A puzzle comprising a plurality of separate strips all of the same size and shape, each of said strips having one or more gures appearing thereon, all of said figures being similar in appearance but being arranged in a plurality of relative positions, only certain of said figures being required to work out the puzzle, said strips being designed for assembly by laying half of said strips in sideby-side relationship and the remaining half of said strips also in side-by-side relationship but f crosswise with respect to said rst mentioned strips, said crosswise strips being interwoven at least in part with the rst mentioned strips whereby the figures which appear on the face of the completed puzzle are displayed in the desired pattern and the figures which are not used are concealed by overlapping strips.

FORREST B. MONROE.

EDWIN C. WHITTEMORE.

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