Elongate strip forming a toy building block base

Abstract

A toy building block base comprises a flexible elongate body strip having a first major surface along a length of the strip that includes either an array of projections extending from the first major surface or an array of recesses set into the first major surface. The projections or recesses form a mating arrangement for co-operant toy building blocks. An opposite, second major surface has a shallow flat-bottomed longitudinal recess with a longitudinal adhesive layer by which the body strip can be attached to a support surface. The body strip includes no more than four projections or recesses across its width and has a length of at least 200 mm. The entire body strip is made from a homogenous flexible plastics material with a durometer value of between 35 and 80 according to the ASTM D2240 standard's type A durometer scale.

1 . A toy building block base comprising a flexible elongate body strip having a first major surface along a length of the strip that includes either an array of projections extending from the first major surface or an array of recesses set into the first major surface, the projections or recesses forming a mating arrangement for co-operant toy building blocks, the body strip having an opposite, second major surface that is either flat or has at least one shallow flat-bottomed longitudinal recess in either case with a longitudinal adhesive layer by which the body strip can be attached to a support surface, wherein the body strip includes no more than four projections or recesses across its width and has a length of at least 200 mm, the entire body strip being made from a homogenous flexible material with a durometer value of between 35 and 80 according to the ASTM D2240 standard's type A durometer scale. 
     
     
         2 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which the body strip has a width of between 12 mm and 40 mm and has two, three or four projections or recesses across its width. 
     
     
         3 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which the body strip has a thickness defined between the first major surface and second major surface of between 1 mm and 6 mm. 
     
     
         4 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which the second major surface has a shallow flat-bottomed longitudinal recess and the adhesive layer is a pre-formed adhesive layer that is received in the shallow flat-bottomed longitudinal recess with a major portion of a thickness of the pre-formed adhesive layer being received in the flat-bottomed longitudinal recess. 
     
     
         5 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which the adhesive layer is a double sided adhesive polyurethane strip and is reusable to permit the toy building block base to be peeled off a surface to which it is stuck and then be stuck onto another surface in a reusable manner. 
     
     
         6 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  having a length of from 500 mm to 2,500 mm. 
     
     
         7 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which the durometer value of the flexible material is from 45 to 65 and the toy building block base is severable by cutting with a pair of household scissors. 
     
     
         8 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  which includes an array of projections extending from the first major surface, each projection having a diameter that is between 2 and 5 percent larger than a corresponding recess in a cooperating toy block such that the projection deforms upon being urged into a corresponding recess to create frictional interference between the projection and the cooperating toy block. 
     
     
         9 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  which includes an array of projections extending from the first major surface, each projection being cylindrical with a flat top and a rounded or chamfered edge between its cylindrical sidewall and its flat top to guide the projection into a corresponding recess in a cooperating toy block. 
     
     
         10 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which guide lines are provided in the first major surface of the body strip to assist a user in cutting the body strip with a cutting instrument. 
     
     
         11 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 10  in which the guide lines include a set of parallel transverse guide lines that extend at least partway across the width of the body strip at regular spaced intervals between adjacent sets of projections or recesses to assist a user in cutting across the width of the body strip at right angles to the length of the strip. 
     
     
         12 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 10  in which the guide lines include one or more longitudinal guide lines that extend between rows of projections or recesses along the length of the body strip to assist a user in cutting along the length of the body strip. 
     
     
         13 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 10  in which the guide lines are formed by grooves in the first major surface of the body strip. 
     
     
         14 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 13  in which each guide line includes a set of aligned grooves, with each individual groove in the set of grooves consistent with one projection or recess so that the ease of cutting with a cutting instrument changes each time a user cuts a distance associated with one projection or recess. 
     
     
         15 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the homogenous flexible material is thermoplastic rubber (TPR) or is a polymeric organic silicon compound. 
     
     
         16 . A toy building block set comprising multiple toy building blocks and at least one toy building block base, the toy building blocks each having a first major flat surface with an array of projections forming a male mating surface and an array of recesses forming a female mating surface, with the recesses extending inwards from a second opposite major surface plane spaced from the first major flat surface by a distance defining a height of the toy building block, wherein one toy building block can be frictionally engaged together by at least some of the projections of a male mating surface engaging in recesses in a female mating surface of a compatible building block to form composite structures of a chosen size and shape, wherein the toy building block base includes a flexible elongate body strip having a first major surface along a length of the strip that includes either an array of projections extending from the first major surface or an array of recesses set into the first major surface, the projections or recesses of the toy building block base forming a mating arrangement for the toy building blocks, the body strip having an opposite, second major surface that is either flat or has at least one shallow flat-bottomed longitudinal recess in either case with a longitudinal adhesive layer by which the body strip can be attached to a support surface, wherein the body strip includes no more than four projections or recesses across its width and has a length of at least 200 mm, the entire body strip being made from a homogenous flexible material with a durometer value of between 35 and 80 according to the ASTM D2240 standard's type A durometer scale. 
     
     
         17 . A toy building block set as claimed in  claim 16  in which at least some of the toy building blocks have a standard width and the width of the toy building block base is the same as the standard width of the toy building blocks. 
     
     
         18 . A toy building block set as claimed in  claim 16  in which toy building blocks that are of the thinnest building block of the set thereof have a standard height and a thickness of the toy building block base is the same as that standard height. 
     
     
         19 . A method of manufacturing a toy building block base, the method comprising extruding a plastics material into an elongate body strip using an extrusion die, the plastics material being selected to be flexible and having a durometer value once set of between 35 and 80 according to the ASTM D2240 standard's type A durometer scale, roll forming the elongate body strip by means of a roller mould that presses the elongate body strip to include either an array of projections or an array of recesses in a first major surface along the length of the body strip, continuously applying an adhesive layer to an opposite, second major surface along the length of the body strip, and severing the elongate body strip into selected lengths. 
     
     
         20 . A method of manufacturing a toy building block base as claimed in  claim 19  in which the extrusion die forms a shallow flat-bottomed longitudinal recess in the elongate body strip and the adhesive layer is applied so that it is located in the shallow flat-bottomed longitudinal recess, the shallow flat-bottomed longitudinal recess being of a depth that it receives a major portion of a thickness of the adhesive layer. 
     
     
         21 . A method of constructing a toy structure using a toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1 , the method comprising attaching the toy building block base to a support surface at two or more zones along the length thereof by contacting the adhesive layer of the toy building block base to the support surface, the toy building block base being unsupported between the two or more zones, and attaching a plurality of co-operant toy building blocks to the toy building block base between the zones in the unsupported areas so as to create a toy structure supported by the toy building block base. 
     
     
         22 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1 , in which the body strip has only two projections or recesses across its width. 
     
     
         23 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which the body strip has a thickness defined between the first major surface and second major surface of between 2.5 mm and 4.4 mm. 
     
     
         24 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which the adhesive layer is a pre-formed adhesive layer applied to the toy building block base and the adhesive layer has a thickness of between 0.4 mm and 0.8 mm. 
     
     
         25 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which the width of the toy building block base is selected to be the same as that of at least some of the co-operant toy building blocks in association with which it is intended to be used. 
     
     
         26 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which the durometer value of the flexible material is from 45 to 65. 
     
     
         27 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claims 9  in which the projections have an effective outer diameter of 4.95 mm (+/−0.5 mm), a 0.5 mm radius on the chamfered or rounded edge, and a height of 1.8 mm, and are configured to cooperate with toy building blocks that have recesses with a diameter of 4.8 mm. 
     
     
         28 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which the homogenous flexible material has substantially no plastic memory. 
     
     
         29 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 5  in which the double sided adhesive polyurethane strip includes a removable cover strip on an exposed face pending initial use. 
     
     
         30 . A toy building block base as claimed in  claim 1  in which the body strip has a thickness defined between the first major surface and second major surface that is selected to be the same as a corresponding thickness of a plate building block so that the first major surface is at the same height as that of a plate building block placed next to it on a common base or on another toy building block.