Construction and Method for Models With Interlocking Tab/Slot Assembly

The present invention relates to toy or model structures assembled from printed blanks of foldable material such as cardboard, and particularly to a method and means for attaching the structure walls and other members together in a simple, neat, and secure fashion.

Many and various forms of interlocking tab and slot assembly systems are known for assembling toy and model structures from sheet materials such as cardboard and paper-board, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,984,666, 2,104,628, 2,112,474 and 2,204,264 to Warren, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 2,232,953 to Mallgraf and U.S. Pat. No. 2,556,323 to Feigelman. However, it will be seen that in most prior arrangements of this type portions of the attaching or connecting means protrude externally of the structure formed in a manner differing from the actual structure being modeled.

The present invention provides an improved tab and slot assembly arrangement with cooperating components that can be readily manipulated to produce a simple, neat, and secure construction.

The present invention embodies a construction set for building toy or model structures such as houses and other enclosures using components formed from printed blanks of foldable material, such as cardboard, and particularly involves means in the form of cooperating tabs, slots and tongues on the components and a method for connecting them together to produce neat, secure structures of any desired complexity of design. In particular, mating components, such as cooperating wall and floor members are provided with at least two fold-up tabs having slots therethrough at their roots and at least one slot adjacent one of the tabs on the floor member and with at least two foldable tongues and a projection near one of the tongues on the lower edge of the wall member. The tongue near the projection is insertable into the fold-up tab slot adjacent the one slot into which latter slot the projection is inserted so that the tongue is bent at a right angle with respect to the projection. The wall member is then folded into two or more wall portions and the other tongue on one of the wall portions is folded and inserted into the other fold-up tab slot, thus holding the folded wall member substantially perpendicularly on the floor member. Abutting wall components are held together by providing an extension tab on the abutting edge of one wall with a locking slot near its root, and providing a complimentary slot in the abutting wall for receiving the tongue extension tab, and then locking the abutting walls together by inserting a separate locking tongue in the locking slot, after the extension tab and complimentary slot have been brought into mutual engagement. A roof member may be attached to the top of a wall by providing a foldable tongue on the wall and two parallel slots in the roof member, and inserting the tongue through one of the slots folding it onto the roof member and passing its folded end into the other slot.

The various tab, slot, and tongue arrangements can be used cooperatively on different components to create neat and securely formed structures, containing myriad architectural features, from printed blanks of thin foldable cardboard.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the first step in assembling two construction components into accordance with the present invention into floor and wall members for a toy house.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view as in FIG. 1 illustrating a further step in the assembly of the components.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the first step in assembling abutting wall members in constructing a toy house in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view as in FIG. 3 illustrating a further step in assembling the abutting wall members.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the first step in assembling roof and wall members in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view as in FIG. 5 illustrating a further step in the wall and roof member assembly.

FIG. 1 shows cooperating parts of two structural components of thin foldable material such as cardboard, paper-board, plastic or other like sheet material which may be found suitable for the described purpose. The two components, which may be printed or otherwise marked with pictures or forms resembling or imitating known structures in miniature, are provided with cooperating elements thereon for connecting them together in accordance with the present invention. In particular, one component 1, which for convenience of description shall be referred to as the floor member, is a flat sheet having attached to its surface, or preferably cut in the material thereof, a fold-up tab 7 with a slot 5 passing through it near its root 6. The tab 7, as shown, has its root 6 arranged parallel and adjacent to the marginal edge 1' of member 1, but it may be provided at other locations, and in other orientations, on the surface of the member. At least one slot, and preferably two slots 8', are formed in the floor member 1 on either side, in alignment with and spaced somewhat from, the tab 7. The slots 8' preferably pass through the entire thickness of the member.

The other component 2, which for convenience of description shall be referred to as the wall member, is provided with a tongue 4 and projections 8 on one of its edges 2'. The projections 8 are spaced from the tongue 4 a distance corresponding to the spacing of slots 8' from tab 7 so that there is mating cooperation between the projections 8 and slots 8' when the tongue 4 is inserted into slot 5 in the tab 7, as illustrated in FIG. 2. The length of the projections 8 preferably corresponds approximately to the thickness of the member 1.

The wall member 2 is a flat sheet which may be folded along weakened or scored lines on its surface to form a number of wall portions 2a, 2b, 2c, etc. To minimize the number of different pieces in the construction set and yet permit versatility in the forms of the structures that may be built from the set, wall member 2 is preferably foldable into three wall portions. Accordingly, during assembly after tongue 4 is inserted in slot 5 and wall 2a is moved upwardly folding tongue 4 within tab 7 to secure the wall member to the floor member, and the projections 8 are inserted in slots 8' to prevent tongue 4 from sliding out of slot 5, wall member 2 may be bent along the line 14 to form a wall portion 2b, as seen in FIG. 2. Another fold-up tab 7' and slot 5' are provided on the floor member 1 to cooperate with another tongue 4' provided on the common lower edge 2' of wall member 2. Tongue 4' is preferably of an arcuate shape so as to facilitate its engagement in slot 5' when wall 2b is pivoted through an arc about line 14 upon folding during assembly.

With walls 2a and 2b held in place on floor member 1 by the engagement of the described cooperating tabs, slots, tongues and projections, wall member 2 may again be folded or bent into one or more additional wall portions. These other wall portions may be variously provided with similar tongues and/or projections for respective cooperation with fold-up tabs and slots in the floor member 1 to secure the entire wall member 2 to floor member 1 and will particularly lock walls 2a and 2b in place. Various combinations may be used on any number of walls to form completed enclosures by abutting the last wall portion against the first wall portion 2a when the last wall portion is secured to the floor member 1, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the foregoing description. However, as previously mentioned, to permit versatility in the forms of the structures that may be built with the set, the first and last wall portions will preferably be spaced from each other when all the wall portions are secured to the floor member. In this instance, a further embodiment of the present invention is provided as will now be described in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4.

As seen in the figures, an extension in the form of a tab 9 is provided on the wall member 2 on one of the upright edges, such as the edge 2 of the first wall portion 2a. The extension tab 9 is sized so as to be capable of passing through a complementary slot formed in an abutting wall structure. The abutting wall structure may be the last wall portion 2d on wall member 2 in a closed wall configuration or a separate wall member 15 against which the wall portion containing the tongue extension tab 9 is to abut. Also, a connection can be made to more than one wall member by the combination of forming a number of complementary slots and extending the length of the extension tab 9. As seen in the figures, the last wall portion 2d of wall member 2 may be connected to the first wall portion 2a and a wall portion 2e of additional wall member 15 may be connected together by the provision of respective complementary slots 5" and 5'". To lock the abutting members together, a slot 10 is formed in the extension tab 9 and is spaced from edge 2' a distance equal to the thickness of the one or more wall members to be joined, so that slot 10 is uncovered when all of the wall members are abutting. A separate locking tab 11 is provided having an extension 11a thereon, which is accommodated in slot 10 to lock the abutting walls together. A versatile corner joint is thus formed that neatly secures all of the wall components together. It will be seen that this wall-joining arrangement in combination with the previously described floor attaching arrangement provides a simple system for neatly and securely constructing two perpendicularly disposed structural components that may be used as wall and floor members as described or that may be differently oriented to form other structures as desired.

A further feature of the present invention involves an arrangement for securely connecting structural components arranged at an angle with each other, such as a roof member abutting the upper edge of a wall member. As seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, the upper edge '" of the wall member 2 is provided with a tongue extension 12 that may be marked with fold lines 12a and 12b respectively at its root and near its outer end. Parallel slots 13a and 13b are formed in the roof member 16 to accommodate the tongue extension 12. During assembly, the tongue extension 12 is passed through slot 13a until roof member 16 abuts the upper edge 2'" of the wall member 2. Tongue extension 12 is then folded along lines 12a and 12b and its end inserted into slot 13b until its inner surface lies flat against the outer surface of the roof member 16. A neat and secure joining system is thus provided for members arranged at an angle that is simply assembled leaving no externally protruding tabs uncharacteristic of the actual structure after which the toy house is being modeled.

It will accordingly be seen by those skilled in the art that the present invention provides improved interlocking and connecting means of the tab/slot type, particularly suitable for use on components for the constructing of toy or model houses and similar structures, and creating neat and secure joints between the components while avoiding any external projections uncharacteristic of the structure being modeled. While the attaching and joining arrangements of the present invention have been particularly described in connection with components for constructing a simple house having a floor, walls and a roof, it will be within the purivew of those skilled in the art to utilize these arrangements in connection with various other structures with essentially unlimited versatility within the scope of the invention.