← Back to Patent Explorer
US4170355A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Educational puzzles

Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1977-10-06
•
Granted: 1979-10-09
•
Expires: 1997-10-06
📄 Original PDF 🌐 Google Patents 🔄 Sync Now

Abstract

Abstract An educational puzzle particularly adapted to teach children relationships between pairs of items of information is disclosed. The puzzle comprises a central planar portion which functions as the main body of the puzzle together with a plurality of arm members which extend from the main body portion. Each of the pairs of items forms a message pair and the parts of the message pairs, that is to say the parts of the items that make up each message pair are disposed in demarcated areas on the arms and are arranged in such a manner that the arms may be folded to solve the puzzle for the members of a message pair.

Inventors

  • 👤 Stephen E. Finkin

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-06 09:35
CPC Classifications
A; A63; A63F; A63F9/00; A63F9/06; A63F9/08; A63F9/088

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim 194 words
A puzzle, comprising: (a) a central planar member; (b) a plurality of planar arm members extending from said central planar member, the obverse and reverse of each of said arm members being divided into demarcated areas and adapted to be folded at the boundaries between said demarcated areas; and (c) a first group of items of information disposed on said arm members, one in each of said demarcated areas on the obverse and reverse of said arm members, the arrangement of said items in said first group being such that the arm members may be folded to form one of a plurality of message pairs, one of said messages of said pair appearing on the obverse of the folded puzzle and composed of some of said items and the other message of said pair appearing simultaneously on the reverse of the folded puzzle and composed of others of said items and said items in said first group being positioned, configured and dimensioned so that when one message of a message pair appears on one side of the folded puzzle, only the other message of the message pair can be formed on the other side.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 194 words
A puzzle, comprising: (a) a central planar member; (b) a plurality of planar arm members extending from said central planar member, the obverse and reverse of each of said arm members being divided into demarcated areas and adapted to be folded at the boundaries between said demarcated areas; and (c) a first group of items of information disposed on said arm members, one in each of said demarcated areas on the obverse and reverse of said arm members, the arrangement of said items in said first group being such that the arm members may be folded to form one of a plurality of message pairs, one of said messages of said pair appearing on the obverse of the folded puzzle and composed of some of said items and the other message of said pair appearing simultaneously on the reverse of the folded puzzle and composed of others of said items and said items in said first group being positioned, configured and dimensioned so that when one message of a message pair appears on one side of the folded puzzle, only the other message of the message pair can be formed on the other side.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 43 words
A puzzle as in claim 1, further comprising: (d) a second group of items of information disposed on the obverse of said central planar member; and (e) a third group of items of information disposed on the reverse of said central planar member.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 27 words
A puzzle as in claim 2, wherein said groups of items of information are printed and said central planar member and said arms are made of paper.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 29 words
A puzzle as in claim 2, wherein said first, second and third groups of items of information all contribute to form parts of at least one of said messages.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 16 words
A puzzle as in claim 4 wherein there are eight arm members and four message pairs.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 24 words
A puzzle as in claim 5, wherein the demarcated areas on said arm members and said central planar member are all triangular in shape.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 31 words
A puzzle as in claim 1, wherein there are eight arm members, each of said arm members carrying four items of information and wherein the number of message pairs is four.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 96 words
A puzzle as in claim 7, wherein the central planar member is square and each arm member may be divided into two square demarcated areas on each side and two arm members are attached to each of the four sides of the square central planar member, whereby two arm members are adjacent each corner of the square central planar member and wherein one of said adjacent arm members carries an item associated with one message of a message pair and the other arm member carries an item associated with the other message of said message pair.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 33 words
A puzzle as in claim 1, wherein said central planar member together with said arm members gives the puzzle an overall shape which is planar and concave when the puzzle is not folded.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 19 words
A puzzle as in claim 1, wherein said items of information are asymmetrical when the puzzle is not folded.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US502896A Cited
US566854A Cited
US847545A Cited
GB190720413A Cited
US1547967A Cited
US2327875A Cited
US2491164A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1982-10-08 1983-04-09 1983-10-09 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1986-10-08 1987-04-09 1987-10-09 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 1990-10-08 1991-04-09 1991-10-09 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

Assigned Categories & Tags

No categories assigned to this patent yet.

Assign Category Tag