Diagonal toy pieces and their connection

Abstract

A diagonal toy piece for a modular toy building set including an underlying support structure for supporting the diagonal toy piece and other toy pieces. The diagonal toy piece is a generally planar member having a top side and a bottom side, two outside edges having respective outer ends spaced from one another, and a diagonal edge joining the outer ends of the outside edges. For mounting the diagonal toy piece on the underlying support structure, the bottom side of the toy piece has an attachment fitting removably attachable to the support structure. The attachment fitting is preferably spaced from the diagonal edge of the toy piece. The diagonal toy piece can be joined with another, complementary diagonal toy piece via a connector on its diagonal edge which is releasably connectable to a cooperating connector on the complementary diagonal toy piece. The toy building set includes a plurality of generally planar toy pieces mountable on the support structure, including one or more of the diagonal toy pieces or composite toy pieces.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:  
     
         1 . A diagonal toy piece for a playing structure, the toy piece comprising: 
 a generally planar member having a top side and a bottom side, two outside edges having respective outer ends spaced from one another, and a diagonal edge joining the outer ends of the outside edges;    the bottom side having an attachment fitting spaced from the diagonal edge and removably attachable to an underlying support structure of the playing structure; and    the diagonal edge having a connector associated therewith detachably connectable to a cooperating connector on a complementary diagonal toy piece.    
     
     
         2 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second outside edges diverge from one another towards their outer ends.  
     
     
         3 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 2 , wherein the outside edges meet one another at respective inner ends, whereby the toy piece is generally triangular in shape.  
     
     
         4 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 3 , wherein the at least one attachment fitting on the bottom side of the generally planar member is located at the junction of the inner ends of the outside edges.  
     
     
         5 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 4 , comprising a further attachment fitting on the bottom side of the generally planar member, the further attachment fitting being removably attachable to the underlying support structure and being located at the junction of the outside end of one of the outside edges and the diagonal edge.  
     
     
         6 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 1 , comprising a further attachment fitting on the bottom side of the generally planar member removably attachable to the underlying support structure of the playing structure and being located adjacent the connector associated with the diagonal edge.  
     
     
         7 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 1 , comprising two connectors associated with the diagonal edge, each connector detachably connectable to a respective cooperating connector on a complementary diagonal toy piece, the two connectors being located one at either end of the diagonal edge.  
     
     
         8 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 7 , comprising a further attachment fitting on the bottom side of the generally planar member, the further attachment fitting being removably attachable to the underlying support structure of the playing structure, and being located at the junction of the outer end of one of the outside edges and the diagonal edge, adjacent one of the connectors.  
     
     
         9 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 1 , wherein the connector associated with the diagonal edge is one of a hook and a socket to connectably engage with the other of a hook and a socket on the complementary diagonal toy piece.  
     
     
         10 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 9 , comprising two connectors associated with the diagonal edge, each connector detachably connectable to a respective one of two cooperating connectors on a complementary diagonal toy piece, the connectors being located at respective opposite ends of the diagonal edge, one of the connectors being a hook and the other of the connectors being a socket to connectably engage respective cooperating socket and hook connectors on the complementary diagonal toy piece.  
     
     
         11 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 10 , comprising a further attachment fitting on the bottom side of the generally planar member removably attachable to the underlying support structure of the playing structure, the further attachment fitting being located adjacent the socket connector on the diagonal edge.  
     
     
         12 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 1 , wherein the shape of the generally planar member is based on a regular polygonal grid element, the first and second outside edges coinciding with two respective diverging sides of the grid element, and the diagonal edge extending across the grid element.  
     
     
         13 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 12 , wherein the grid element on which the shape of the generally planar member is based is a polyomino.  
     
     
         14 . The diagonal toy piece of  claim 13 , wherein the grid element is a square.  
     
     
         15 . A composite toy piece for a playing structure, comprising: 
 a first diagonal toy piece comprising a first generally planar member having a top side and a bottom side, the bottom side of the first planar member having an attachment fitting removably attachable to an underlying support structure of the playing structure;    a second, complementary diagonal toy piece comprising a second generally planar member having a top side and a bottom side, the bottom side of the second planar member having an attachment fitting removably attachable to the underlying support structure of the playing structure;    the first and second planar members having respective first and second complementary diagonal edges buttable against one another to form the composite toy piece; and    at least one connector on the diagonal face of each diagonal toy piece, respective connectors on the first and second diagonal toy pieces cooperating to releasably connect the first and second toy pieces together with their abutment edges butted against one another.    
     
     
         16 . The composite toy piece of  claim 15 , wherein the top side of the first diagonal toy piece and the top side of the second, complementary diagonal toy piece have different surface configurations.  
     
     
         17 . The composite toy piece of  claim 15 , wherein each diagonal toy piece has two outside edges which diverge from one another toward respective outer ends of the outside edges, the diagonal edge of each diagonal toy piece joining the outer ends of the outside edges.  
     
     
         18 . The composite toy piece of  claim 17 , wherein the outside edges of each diagonal toy piece meet one another at respective inner ends, whereby each diagonal toy piece is generally triangular in shape, the diagonal toy pieces being of the same dimensions, whereby the composite toy piece is square.  
     
     
         19 . The composite toy piece of  claim 18 , wherein the attachment fitting on the bottom side of each diagonal toy piece is located at the junction of the inner ends of the first and second outside edges.  
     
     
         20 . The composite toy piece of  claim 15 , comprising a further attachment fitting on the bottom side of each diagonal toy piece, each further attachment fitting being releasably attachable to the underlying support structure and being located at the junction of the outside end of one of the outside edges and the diagonal edge of the respective diagonal toy piece, the further attachment fitting on one diagonal toy piece being located at the opposite end of the abutted diagonal edges to the further attachment fitting on the other diagonal toy piece.  
     
     
         21 . The composite toy piece of  claim 15 , wherein each diagonal toy piece comprises two connectors associated with its diagonal edge, one at either end of the diagonal edge, the connectors of one diagonal toy piece being releasably connectable to the connectors of the other diagonal toy piece.  
     
     
         22 . The composite toy piece of  claim 21 , wherein respective pairs of engaged connectors on the diagonal edges comprise a hook on one of the diagonal toy pieces and a socket on the other diagonal toy piece, the hook and socket being engageable with one another to connect the two diagonal pieces.  
     
     
         23 . The composite toy piece of  claim 22 , wherein the connectors on the diagonal edge of each diagonal toy piece comprise a hook connector at one end of the diagonal edge and a socket connector at the other end of the diagonal edge.  
     
     
         24 . The composite toy piece of  claim 15 , wherein the shape of each diagonal toy piece is based on a regular polygonal grid element, the first and second outside edges of each diagonal toy piece coinciding with respective diverging sides of the grid element, and the diagonal edge of each diagonal toy piece extending across the grid element, when connected to form the composite toy piece, the two diagonal toy pieces together coinciding with a complete grid element.  
     
     
         25 . The composite toy piece of  claim 24 , wherein the grid element is a polyomino.  
     
     
         26 . The composite toy piece of  claim 24 , wherein the grid element is a square.  
     
     
         27 . A diagonal toy piece for a playing structure, the toy piece comprising: 
 a generally planar member having a top side and a bottom side, and generally triangular in shape with two orthogonal outside edges of substantially equal length which meet at respective inner ends and having respective outer ends spaced from one another, and a diagonal edge joining the outer ends of the outside edges;    the bottom side having two attachment fittings removably attachable to an underlying support structure of the playing structure, one of the attachment fittings located at the junction of the inner ends of the outside edges, and the other attachment fitting located at the junction of one of the outside edges and the diagonal edge; and    the diagonal edge having two connectors associated therewith, one of the connectors being a socket connector located adjacent the attachment fitting at the junction of said one of the outside edges and the diagonal edge, and the other connector being a hook connector located at the other end of the diagonal edge, the socket and hook connectors being releasably connectable to respective mating hook and socket connectors on a complementary diagonal toy piece.    
     
     
         28 . A composite toy piece comprising two diagonal toy pieces according to  claim 27  connected to one another with their respective diagonal edges butted against one another and respective hook a socket connectors engaged, one of the diagonal toy pieces having a surface on its top side with a configuration different from a configuration of a surface on the top side of the other diagonal toy piece.  
     
     
         29 . A playing structure comprising: 
 a support structure; and    a plurality of generally planar toy pieces, each toy piece having a top side and a bottom side, and at least one attachment fitting on the bottom side of each toy piece for attachment to the support structure;    at least one of the toy pieces being a composite toy piece comprising:    a first diagonal toy piece including a first generally planar member having a top side and a bottom side, the bottom side of the first planar member having at least one attachment fitting removably attachable to an underlying support structure of the playing structure;    a second, complementary diagonal toy piece including a second generally planar member having a top side and a bottom side, the bottom side of the second planar member having at least one attachment fitting removably attachable to the underlying support structure of the playing structure;    the first and second planar members having respective first and second complementary diagonal edges buttable against one another to form the composite toy piece; and    at least one connector on the abutment face of each diagonal toy piece, respective connectors on the first and second toy pieces cooperating to releasably connect the first and second toy pieces together with their abutment edges butted against one another.    
     
     
         30 . The playing structure of  claim 29 , wherein the generally planar toy pieces are polygonal in shape, each one corresponding in shape to a polygonal grid element of a regular polygonal grid, the outside edges of each diagonal toy piece coinciding with sides of a respective one of the polygonal grid elements of the regular polygonal grid, and the diagonal edge of each diagonal toy piece extending across the respective polygonal grid element.  
     
     
         31 . The playing structure of  claim 30 , wherein the support structure has a plurality of attachment nodes arranged to coincide with the nodes of the regular polygonal grid, each attachment node having at least one attachment fitting thereon for attachment to a corresponding attachment fitting on the bottom side of a toy piece.  
     
     
         32 . The playing structure of  claim 31 , wherein the grid element of the regular polygonal grid are polyominos.  
     
     
         33 . The playing structure of  claim 32 , wherein the grid elements are square.