Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to puzzles and, more particularly, to mechanical puzzles in which the objects to be manipulated, i.e., the indicators, are interrelated.
There is an interrelation of indicators in a mechanical puzzle when a deliberate movement of one indicator is attended by a simultaneous movement of at least one other indicator. The puzzle is solved when all or selected ones of the indicators have been manipulated to form a specified pattern.
A puzzle with interrelated indicators is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,128,100 issued Apr. 7, 1964. This patent teaches the employment of interrelated indicators in overlapping groups, with each group of indicators under the control of a common actuator. Illustratively, there are seven cylindrical indicators, with individual detent springs, disposed in three overlapping rhombic groups of four indicators each. The first group has an indicator at each of four corners of a rhombus; the second rhombic group includes two indicators of the first group and two additional ones; and the third rhombic group includes three indicators of the first two groups and an additional one. Rotational operation of the cylindrical indicators is by push-button actuators through intervening actuator rods. The indicia of the puzzle appear on the cylindrical surfaces of the indicators.
This puzzle has a simple mechanical structure with the indicators arranged in a cluster of three rhombic groups to achieve compactness, and is economical to manufacture. It provides considerable flexibility, being alternatively solvable by precise mathematical procedures, by intuitive logic or by trial and error manipulation.
The broad principles set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,128,100 are applicable to the realization of other unique improvements and versions of a mechanical puzzle with changeable indicators arranged in interrelated groups.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to realize a new and unique form of mechanical puzzle with interrelated indicators. A related object is to realize such a puzzle in which the indicators are in overlapping groups.
Another object of the invention is to achieve additional simplicity and economy in the manufacture of a mechanical puzzle which employs interrelated indicators in overlapping groups.
Still another object of the invention is to facilitate the manufacture of a mechanical puzzle with interrelated rotational indicators. A related object is to eliminate the need for individual detent springs for the various indicators. Another related object is to eliminate the need for intervening actuator rods.
A further object of the invention is to achieve simplicity in a mechanical puzzle with interrelated groups of rotational indicators without requiring any clustering of the indicators.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accomplishing the foregoing and related objects, the invention provides a mechanical puzzle with actuators and associated groups of indicators in which the indicators of each group are positioned along a direction of movement of an associated actuator.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention the indicators can overlap between groups and take the form of ratchet wheels. In accordance with a related aspect of the invention, the actuator for each group of indicators wheels is a slidable, multipawled ratchet bar.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the pawls of each slidable bar are disposed in accordance with the desired groupings of the indicators.
According to another aspect of the invention, the indicator wheels operate with respect to a common, floating detent bar that is spring loaded by a single spring.
According to still another aspect of the invention, the indicating ratchet wheels have pins in place of the teeth that are commonly found on ratchet mechanisms.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other aspects of the invention will become apparent after considering several illustrative embodiments, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is the perspective view of a mechanical puzzle with interrelated indicator wheels in accordance with the invention;
FIG. 2 is a view of FIG. 1 with cover portions and indicator wheels removed to reveal the internal construction of the puzzle;
FIG. 3A is a perspective view, from the bottom, of a representative indicator wheel for the puzzle of FIG. 1, together with a fragmentary portion of a ratchet bar and a detent bar;
FIGS. 3B and 3C are plan views, from the top, of the representative indicator wheel of FIG. 3A showing the rotation of the wheel in accordance with the invention; and
FIGS. 4A and 4B are plan views of alternative indicators for the puzzle of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT
Turning to the drawings, the puzzle 10 of FIG. 1 is formed by a frame 11 with actuators, such as the three actuators 21, 22 and 23, that are slidably operated to selectively engage various indicators, such as the seven indicator wheels 31 through 37. The indicators bear the indicia of the puzzle and are controllably moved, i.e., rotated, by the actuators acting in conjunction with a detent bar 40. In the particular embodiment of FIG. 1, an eighth indicator 38 is stationary.
The display portion of the puzzle 10, with the indicators 31 through 38, lies beneath a transparent cover 12, adjoining an apertured cover 13. Extensions 21-e, 22-e and 23-e of the actuator bars 21, 22 and 23 extend through the aperture of the cover 13 to permit operation of the actuator bars by a user.
Illustratively in FIG. 1, a user can place his index finger behind the extension 23-e of the third bar 23. When the bar is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow 23-a, there is rotation, for reasons explained below, of the second, third, sixth and seventh indicators 32, 33, 36 and 37 through 90°. Consequently, four successive operations of the bar 23 will result in 360° of rotation so that the indicator wheels 32, 33, 36 and 37 will return to their original positions. As a result, each indicator wheel has four settings or states. It will be apparent that the indicator wheels could have a different number of states. The particular orientations of the letter indicia shown on the indicator wheels in FIG. 1 is explained subsequently.
In the case of the second actuator bar 22, motion paralleling that of the third bar 23, will rotate the first four indicators 31 through 34 through 90°; while motion of the first bar 21 will rotate the third through sixth indicators 33 through 36 through 90°.
The result is that the letter indicia on the faces of the indicator wheels are rotatable through one quarter of a revolution in three overlapping groups of four wheels per group for each operation of the associated slide bars 21, 22 or 23. The first group includes the letters i, t, a and x (of the wheels 33 through 36); the second group includes the letters n, o, i and t (of the wheels 31 through 34) and the third group includes the letters o, i, x and e (of the wheels 32, 33, 36 and 37). It will be apparent that other groupings can be made.
In one mode of operation where the indicator wheels bear individual letters in the manner shown for FIG. 1 the user manipulates the actuator bars 21 through 23 selectively until the letters extending from the last indicator wheel 38 to the first indicator wheel 31 are arranged in a column that reads: "vexation."
To realize the particular orientation of the letters shown in FIG. 1, the letters of the word "vexation" are initially in their regular columnar orientation and the actuators 21 through 23 are operated once in succession. Since each operation of an actuator produces 90° rotation for the embodiment of FIG. 1, the puzzle 10 can be restored to its original setting by three successive operations for each of the actuator bars 21 through 23. Depending on the results desired, it may be advantageous to operate the actuator bars singly or severally.
Constructional details of the puzzle 10 are illustrated by FIG. 2 in which the covers 12 and 13 of FIG. 1 have been removed, along with the indicator wheels 31 through 38, in order to expose the internal workings of the puzzle 10.
The actuator bars 21 through 23 are stacked near one longitudinal side of the frame 11, with the detent bar 40 near the opposite longitudinal side. Between the actuator and the detent bars are mounting posts 51 through 58 for the respective indicator wheels 31 through 38 of FIG. 1. When the wheels are in place on the posts 51 through 58, they occupy the positions indicated by circular dashed lines in FIG. 2, and the detent bar 40 is closer to the near side of the frame 11. However, when the wheels are removed, as in FIG. 2, the detent bar 40 is urged against the mounting posts by the action of its detent spring 41.
The actuator bars 21 through 23 slidably overlie each other and are restricted to longitudinal movement by guide pins 26-a, 26-b, 26-c and 26-d.
The lowermost bar 31 extends to a loading spring 21-s near its perpendicular extension 21-e. The spring 21-e rides in a channel of the slide bar 21 near its control end and extends into contact with a lateral side of the frame 11.
The overlying bars 22 and 23 are also spring loaded by respective springs 22-s and 23-s. In addition there is a bend in the bars in the vicinity of the extensions 22-e and 23-e. This effects a transition from the stacked arrangement of the bars beneath the cover 12 of FIG. 1 to the planar distribution of the bars below the aperture of the cover 13.
Each of the bars 21 through 23 has integral ratchet teeth 21-x, 22-x and 23-x; where x is an identifying digit for each particular tooth. The ratchet teeth engage the various indicator wheels 31 through 37 (not shown in FIG. 2). Consequently, when any one of the bars 21 through 23 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow 27 various ones of the wheels are rotated, depending upon the particular bar that is being moved and the disposition of its associated ratchet teeth. In effect, the multiple teeth on each bar form multiple pawls for actuating a multiple number of ratchet wheels for each stroke of the bar.
The pattern of rotation depends upon the disposition of the teeth, i.e., pawls, on the various bars 21 through 23. In the illustrative embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, each bar has four teeth and thus moves four indicator wheels at a time.
The third (uppermost) bar 23 has teeth 23-2, 23-3, 23-6 and 23-7 for moving the second, third, sixth and seventh indicator wheels 32, 33, 36 and 37. The second (intermediate) bar 22 has teeth 22-1, 22-2, 22-3 and 22-4 for moving the first through fourth indicator wheels 31 through 34. The first (lowermost) bar 21 has teeth 21-3, 21-4, 21-5 and 21-6 for moving the third through sixth indicator wheels 33 through 36.
The logic of this arrangement in binary terms is summarized in TABLE I, where a "0" represents the absence of a tooth from the bar and a "1" represents the presence of a tooth.
TABLE I
Indicator Actuator Actuator Actuator Wheel Bar 21 Bar 22 Bar 23 31 0 1 0 32 0 1 1 33 1 1 1 34 1 1 0 35 1 0 0 36 1 0 1 37 0 0 1 38 0 0 0
Each of the eight possible combinations of 1's and 0's occurs exactly once, and they are arranged so that the set of 1's in each column is as compact and symmetric as possible. This arrangement facilitates an understanding of the logic of the puzzle.
In mathematical terms the puzzle 10 has n actuators, where n is 3, and 2n indicators of which 2n -1 of the indicators are settable in groups of 2n-1 each. Each operation of an actuator sets an associated group of the indicators in one of m states, where m is 4.
It will be appreciated that other groupings of the indicators, and other numbers of actuators, indicators and states may be employed.
When placed in position on the supporting posts 51 through 58 of FIG. 2, the various indicator wheels are held in position by a floating detent 40. The latter has a central pin 42 that moves in a channel 43 which is a part of the base of the frame 11. In addition, the detent bar 40 is spring loaded by the spring 41 which is centered on a mounting pin 44 in the base of the frame 11 ane with free ends that are able to contact outlying pins 45-a and 45-b that are a part of the detent bar. The extremeties of the bar have runners, e.g., runner 46-b, to maintain the lateral position of the detent bar 40 with respect to the base of the frame and the transparent cover of the display portion of the puzzle.
The construction of an illustrative indicator wheel 30, from beneath, is shown in FIG. 3A. The wheel 30 has four ratchet pins 30-a through 30-d and a hollow hub 30-h that fits upon one of the posts 51 through 58 of FIG. 2. The tooth 20-x of a representative bar 20 is shown in the vicinity of the wheel 30. The detent bar 40 has one of its teeth 40-t between two of the ratchet pins and is used to hold the wheel 30 in its equilibrium position. As the slider bar 20 is moved in the direction indicated by the linear arrow, the ratchet wheel executes a clockwise rotation and since there are four ratchet pins, each movement of the wheel is one quarter of a revolution or 90°.
A partial revolution of the ratchet wheel 30, viewed from above in regular operating position, is illustrated in FIGS. 3B and 3C. As shown in FIG. 3B, the initial movement of the bar 20 brings the tooth into engagement with the ratchet pin 30-a of the wheel 30 and initiates the counter-clockwise rotation indicated by the arrow. As the movement of the slide bar 20 continues the wheel rotates through 45° until, as indicated in FIG. 3C, the pin 30-c has depressed the detent bar 40 and is at the apex of the detent tooth 40-t. Further translational motion of the slide bar 20 causes the pin 30-c to pass the apex of the detent bar and consequently complete the rotation of the ratchet wheel through 90° to the position of the next state.
An alternative form of indicator wheel 60 is shown in FIG. 4A in triangular form with rounded corners. The dashed-line axis 61 is the axis of principal orientation. The indicator wheel 60 of FIG. 4A is particularly suitable for use with symmetric letter indicia.
Still another modification of the indicators of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 4B by the wheel 70 which is divided into four areas 71 through 74. Each area may be of a different color or may contain a letter or numeral to increase the number of possible solutions of the puzzle.
The foregoing detailed description is illustrative only and various changes in parts, shapes and proportions, and the substitution of equivalents for the elements and constituents shown and described, can be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.