ARTICLE MOVEABLE BETWEEN TWO POSITIONS AND A METHOD OF COMBINING TWO OR MORE OF THE SAME

Abstract

There is provided an article, the article being moveable between a first position and a second position and biased to the second position. The article is retained in the first position until a predetermined condition is met, and wherein when said predetermined condition is met the article moves from the first position to the second position.

Claims

1. An article, said article being moveable between a first position and a second position and biased to the second position, said article being retained in the first position until a predetermined condition is met, wherein when said predetermined condition is met biasing means exert a biasing force to move the article from the first position to the second position.

2. An article according to claim 1, wherein the said predetermined condition is created by a second article being brought into contact with, or being positioned within a predetermined range of, the said first article.

3. An article according to claim 2, wherein the contact or positioning of the respective articles has to be in a predetermined relationship in order to cause the predetermined condition to be achieved.

4. An article according to claim 1, wherein the article is provided with retaining means provided to retain the article in the first position.

5. An article according to claim 4, wherein said retaining means are magnetically releasable.

6. An article according to claim 1, wherein said second position is an inverted form of the article with respect to said first position.

7. An article according to claim 1, wherein the article, in the second position, forms a polyhedron composed of four or more faces and/or panels.

8. An article according to claim 1, wherein a first magnet is provided on, or associated with, the article and activation of said first magnet releases retaining means provided to retain the article in the first position, and so allowing the article to move from the first position to the second position.

9. An article according to claim 8, wherein a second magnet is provided on, or associated with, the article said second magnet which is provided to activate a corresponding first magnet on a second article.

10. An article according to claim 1, wherein first and/or second magnets are removably attached to said article.

11. An article according to claim 10, wherein said first and/or second magnets are located on a body removably attachable to said article.

12. A group of articles including at least two articles moveable between first and second positions, each biased to their respective second positions, said articles retained in their respective first positions until a predetermined condition is met, wherein said predetermined condition is met for at least one of the articles when the articles are brought into contact or within a predefined distance, at which point said one of the at least two articles moves from the first position to the second position under the influence of biasing means.

13. A group of articles according to claim 12, wherein said second position is an inverted form of the first position.

14. A group of articles according to claim 12 wherein the movement of one of said articles to the second position causes the said article to at least partially engulf, enclose and/or entrap another of said articles.

15. A group of articles according to claim 14 wherein the said other article is that which caused the predetermined condition to be met.

16. A group of articles according to claim 12, wherein first and second magnets are located on, or associated with, at least two of the articles, and when a first magnet on, or associated with, a first article corresponds to a second magnet on, or associated with, a second article and contacts or is within a predefined distance of the second magnet on, or associated with, the second article, the predetermined condition is met for at least one of the said articles.

17. A group of articles according to claim 16, wherein the first magnet on, or associated with, the second article corresponds to a second magnet on, or associated with, a third article and wherein the second magnet on, or associated with, the first article corresponds to a first magnet on, or associated with, the third or a further article.

18. A group of articles according to claim 12, wherein first and/or second magnets are removably attached to each of said articles.

19. A group of articles according to claim 18, wherein said first and/or second magnets are located on a body removably attachable to each of said articles.

20. A group of articles according to claim 12, wherein retaining means are provided on each of the at least two articles to retain the at least two articles in their respective first positions.

21. A method of causing interaction between at least two articles, said method comprising the steps of: providing at least two articles in respective first positions and moveable between said first position and respective second positions; moving the at least two articles towards each other until a predetermined condition for either or both of the first and/or second articles is met and wherein once said predetermined condition is met in an article, that article moves from the first position to the second position; and as it does so, at least partially engulfing, enclosing and/or entrapping the other article.

22. A method according to claim 21, wherein first and second magnets are located on, or associated with, each of the first and second articles, the first magnet on, or associated with, the first article corresponding to the second magnet on, or associated with, a second article, and wherein bringing the first magnet on, or associated with, the first article into contact or within a predefined distance of the second magnet on, or associated with, the second article, meets the predetermined condition for at least one of the articles.

23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the magnetic effect made by the first magnet on, or associated with, the first article and the second magnet on, or associated with, the second article releases a retaining means provided on the first article to allow the first article to move to the second position.

24. A method according to claim 23, wherein upon release of the retaining means, biasing means, provided on the first article bias the same from the first position to the second position.

25. A method according to claim 24, wherein the first and second magnets on, or associated with, each of the first and second articles are located on a single face and/or panel of the respective articles, and the said faces and/or panels of the first and second articles are moved towards each other until the predetermined condition is met in either the first or second article.

26. A method according to claim 21, wherein first and/or second magnets are removably attached to each of said articles by respective users.

27. A method according to claim 26, wherein said first and/or second magnets are located on a body removably attachable to each of said articles by respective users, and each user selects a particular body for attachment to their respective article.

28. An article according to claim 1 wherein the article is a toy or model figure.

29. A group of articles according to claim 12 wherein each of the articles in the group is a toy or model figure.

30. (canceled)

31. (canceled)

32. (canceled)

33. (canceled)

34. (canceled)

Description

[0054] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein:

[0055] FIGS. 1a-d illustrate the opening stages of an article in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0056] FIG. 2 illustrates a plan view of an opened-out article in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0057] FIG. 3 illustrates a view of a magnet and retaining means on an article in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0058] FIG. 4 illustrates a combination of a pair of articles in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0059] FIG. 5 illustrates various possible combinations of two or more articles in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0060] FIGS. 6a-b illustrate a separate body attachment for an article in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0061] Referring firstly to FIGS. 1a-d, there is provided an article in the form of a substantially cube-shaped playing collectable item or toy (1). The toy (1) can be moved from a first position, shown in FIG. 1a, and a second position, wherein the toy (1) is completely inverted with respect to its first position. FIGS. 1a-d illustrate the opening stages of the toy (1) from the first position in FIG. 1a to an intermediate position between the first and second positions in FIG. 1d, shown more clearly in FIG. 2. In this particular embodiment, the toy (1) is provided in a cube shape and is composed of six connected panels (3). The panels (3) are biased, via biasing means, to move to the second position but are retained in the first position until a predetermined condition is met. When the predetermined condition is met, the toy (1) moves from the first position to the second position. A release catch (5) is located on one of the panels (3) and, when the toy (1) is in the first position, the catch (5) engages an adjacent panel (3), retaining it and the remaining panels (3) in the first position. The panels (3, 3, 3) of the toy (1) are hinged and the release catch (5) retains adjacent free edges of two panels (3, 3) in position, thereby retaining the toy (1) in the first position. The toy (1) is retained in the first position by the release catch (5) against the action of a biasing force until such point that it is released.

[0062] Biasing means in the form of springs (7) are provided to bias the toy (1) to the second position. The springs (7) are best illustrated in FIG. 3. The springs (7) may be provided in various forms such as any or any combination of coil springs, leaf springs, torsion springs, hair springs and/or the like. In this particular embodiment, the springs (7) are provided as coiled torsion springs. The springs (7) are located at the edge of a panel (3), connecting the panel (3) on which it is located with an adjacent panel (3). The series of springs (7) that are provided on the panels (3) bias the toy (1) to the second, inverted position. This biasing movement is only allowed, however, upon release of the catch (5) from the adjacent panel (3) to which it connects. When the catch (5) is released from the adjacent panel (3), that panel (3) opens outwardly due to the biasing force of the springs (7), shown in FIG. 1b. The remaining panels (3), which had previously been held in place in the first position by panel (3) and a series of secondary catches (9), subsequently open outwardly, as shown in FIGS. 1c and d until the toy (1) is in an inverted, second position.

[0063] The panel (3) on which the catch (5) is located is also provided with a first magnet (11), which is linked to a magnetic catch (13). This magnetic catch (13) is, in turn connected to the release catch (5) on the panel (3). Such connection provides for the release catch (5) to be magnetically releasable. The first magnet (11) may be provided as attached directly to the panel (3), or in a preferred example, the magnet (11) is removably attachable to the panel (3). When the first magnet (11) comes into contact or close proximity with a corresponding attracted magnet, or within a predefined distance of a corresponding attracted magnet, the magnet (11) releases the magnetic catch (13), which in turn allows the release catch (5) to cease from retaining adjacent panel (3) in the first position. Upon this release, the toy (1) moves from the first position to the second position under the force provided by the springs (7). A second, attractive magnet (15) is also provided on the same panel (3) as the first magnet (11) and the release catch (5) and will serve to act in the manner described above when brought into contact or close proximity with, or within a predefined distance of, an equivalent article or toy. As with the first magnet (11), the second magnet (15) may be provided as attached directly to the panel (3), or in a preferred example, the second magnet (15) is also removably attachable to the panel (3). The two magnets (11, 15) located on the panel (3) may also be located in a plurality of positions on the panel (3). These positions may be predetermined by the manufacturer of the toy (1) or, in some embodiments, may be selected and changed by the user of the toy (1) itself. In a preferred embodiment, as exemplified in FIGS. 6a-b, the magnets (611, 615) are located on a separate body (617), which can be located on the toy (601). In particular, the body (617) can be located on the panel (603) or placed into a hole (619) formed in the panel (603). The magnets (611, 615) can be located on or within the body (617), which, once inserted into the article (601), enable the toy (601) to behave as described above. The body (617) may be removed from the toy (601) just as easily as it is attached, and may also be substituted/interchanged with other similar bodies, which may include first and second magnets in a different configuration from those in the first body (617).

[0064] Additional attachments may also be provided for the article in order to allow a user to customise the same. For example, a face (621), as shown in FIG. 6a may be provided as attachable either to the toy (601) directly or to the body (617) that is subsequently attached to the toy (601). This enables a user to customise their particular toy and, further, special characteristics and/or points may be associated with each face in the scenario where multiple faces are provided.

[0065] A second article or toy (201) with the same features as described above for the first toy (1, 601) may be provided. In this embodiment, the second toy (201) also has first and second magnets (211, 215) associated therewith, the second of which (215) is provided to act as an attractive magnet for the first magnet (11) on the first toy (1), in the manner described above. As with the first toy (1, 601), the magnets (211, 215) of the second toy (201) may also be removably attached directly or within a removably attachable body, as described above. Thus, as the first (1) and second (201) toys are moved together (represented by blocks A and B in FIG. 4) the attractive second magnet (215) on the second toy (201) activates the first magnet (11) on the first toy (1) when the two magnets contact each other or are brought within a predefined distance of one another. This enables the predetermined condition to be met in the first toy (1), wherein the magnet (11) releases the magnetic catch (13), which in turn allows the release catch (5) to cease from retaining adjacent panel (3) in the first position. The first toy (1) subsequently moves from the first position into the second, inverted position. In this instance, the second, inverted position involves the first toy (1) at least partially engulfing, enclosing and/or entrapping the second toy (201).

[0066] A third article or toy (301) may be introduced, which has the same features as the first and second toys (1, 201, 601) described above. In this instance, the second magnet (315) on the third toy (301) acts as an attractive magnet for the first magnet (211) on the second toy (201). Therefore, when the second and third toys (201, 301) are brought into contact or close proximity with, or moved within a predefined distance of each other, the predetermined condition for the second toy (201) is met and it subsequently moves from the first position to the second, inverted position at least partially engulfing, enclosing and/or entrapping the third toy (301). The first magnet (311) on the third toy (301) is therefore activated by the attractive second magnet (15) provided on the first toy (1). Therefore, when the first and third toys (1, 301) are brought into contact or close proximity with, or moved within a predefined distance of each other, the predetermined condition for the third toy (301) is met and it subsequently moves from the first position to the second, inverted position at least partially engulfing, enclosing and/or entrapping the first toy (1). This series of scenarios is depicted in FIG. 5, wherein each toy (1, 201, 301) is represented by blocks A, B and C. As will be appreciated, a rock, paper, scissors scenario is provided by the provision of the above toys (1, 201, 301, 601), although it will be appreciated that other such scenarios may also be provided for using arrangements such as this.

[0067] Each of the toys may be customised by their respective users who can choose not only which body (617) attaches to the toy, thereby defining the magnetic configuration of the toy and which other toys it will activate/be activated by, but also the user may choose which face is to be attached. This provides a means for additional scoring, rather than merely a paper beats rock etc. scenario; each face will have a certain number of points associated with it, positive or negative, and so a scoring system may be introduced for multiple users of the toys.

[0068] It will be appreciated that the above described toy (1) need not be restricted to a cube shape for the present invention to function as described. For example, such a mechanism may be provided for the movement of an article or toy from a first position to a second, substantially inverted position, wherein the article or toy is a pyramid, having either a three- (tetrahedron) or four-sided (pentahedron) base; octahedron; dodecahedron; icosahedron and/or the like.