SEQUENCING TOY KIT

Description

(b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

(c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

(d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

Not Applicable

(e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM

Not Applicable

(f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

Not Applicable

g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

The disclosure relates to tile toy kits and more particularly pertains to a new tile toy kit for teaching a user of the toy a sequence such as the order of the alphabet.

(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.

The prior art relates to toy kits which teach the order of the alphabet and numerical order such as by providing a game board with tiles that fit into designated slots to exhibit such sequences. The prior art also describes toys in which tiles are connected together to form words via indicia on the tiles and other toys in which magnetic tiles are joined together via magnetic connectors on their edges. However, the prior art fails to describe a toy kit in which tiles having letters, numbers, or other indicia may be arranged to exhibit an ordered sequence concurrently with forming a predefined shape which goes to confirm that the tiles were placed in a correct order.

(h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a plurality of tiles, each of which comprises a body, an indicia, and a connector. The body has a front face and a rear face. A top edge and a bottom edge of the body extend between the front face and the rear face. A first lateral edge and a second lateral edge of the body extend between the front face and the rear face and between the top edge and the bottom edge. The indicia is coupled to the front face of the body. The connector is coupled to the body and configured to couple the tile to another tile of the plurality of tiles. The tiles are positionable in a sequenced arrangement in which the indicia of the plurality of tiles are arranged in an ordered sequence between a first end of the sequenced arrangement and a second end of the sequenced arrangement. The tiles form a predefined shape when positioned in the sequenced arrangement. Each pair of adjacent tiles of the plurality of tiles is coupled by their connectors when positioned in the sequenced arrangement.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

(i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective kit view of a sequencing toy kit according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of a pair of tiles of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of a pair of tiles of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure in which tiles of the embodiment are positioned in a sequenced arrangement having a sinusoidal shape.

FIG. 5 is a front in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure in which tiles of the embodiment are positioned in a sequenced arrangement having a sinusoidal shape and mounted to a refrigerator.

FIG. 6 is a front perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the disclosure in which tiles of the embodiment are positioned in a sequenced arrangement having a sinusoidal shape.

(J) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 6 thereof, a new tile toy kit embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 6, the sequencing toy kit 10 generally comprises a plurality of tiles 12, each of which has a body 14, an indicia 28, and a pair of connectors 30. The body 14 has a front face 16 and a rear face 18. A top edge 20 and a bottom edge 22 of the body 14 extend between the front face 16 and the rear face 18. A first lateral edge 24 and a second lateral edge 26 of the body 14 extend between the front face 16 and the rear face 18 and between the top edge 20 and the bottom edge 22. The indicia 28 is coupled the front face 16 of the body 14 and has an upright orientation with respect to the body 14. In other words, when the body 14 is oriented in an upright position in which the top edge 20 is positioned above the bottom edge 22, the indicia 28 is upright with a top end of the indicia positioned above a bottom end of the indicia. The indicia 28 of each tile 12 is an associated letter of the alphabet in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through 5. With reference to FIG. 6, the indicia 28 of each tile 12 of another embodiment of the disclosure is an associated number. The indicia 28 may be printed, engraved, embossed, or otherwise formed.

Each connector 30 is configured to couple the tile 12 to another tile 12 of the plurality of tiles 12. Each connector 30 comprises a magnet 32 which is embedded in the body 14 adjacent to an associated one of the top edge 20 and the bottom edge 22 of the body 14. In this manner, two of the tiles 12 may be connected by placing the top edge 20 of a first tile 12 adjacent to the bottom edge 22 of a second tile 12, the associated magnets 32 being attracted to each other. The magnets 32 may be arranged such that the magnetic poles align to enable such attraction. For example, the positive pole of each magnet 32 adjacent to the top edge 20 of each tile 12 may be directed upwardly with respect to the associated tile 12, and the negative pole of each magnet 32 adjacent to the bottom edge 22 of each tile 12 may be directed downwardly with respect to the associated tile 12. In this manner, the top edge 20 of a selected one of the tiles 12 may magnetically attach the selected tile 12 to the bottom edge 22 of any of the other tiles 12. In other embodiments, the connectors 30 may comprise hook-and-loop fasteners, snap fit members, interlocking members, or any other suitable connection means.

The tiles 12 are positionable in a sequenced arrangement 34 in which the indicia 28 of the plurality of tiles 12 are arranged in an ordered sequence between a first end 36 of the sequenced arrangement 34 and a second end 38 of the sequenced arrangement 34. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through 5, the ordered sequence is alphabetical order. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the ordered sequence is numerical order. The indicia 28 may include other symbols, graphical images, colors, alphanumeric characters, or the like, and the ordered sequence may be any suitable sequence related to the sort of indicia 28 used.

Each pair of adjacent tiles 12 of the plurality of tiles 12 is coupled by their connectors 30 when positioned in the sequenced arrangement 34, the top edge 20 of one tile 12 of each pair of adjacent tiles 12 abutting the bottom edge 22 of another tile 12 of the pair of adjacent tiles 12. The plurality of tiles 12 form a predefined shape when positioned in the sequenced arrangement 34. For example, in the embodiments shown in the drawings, the predefined shape is a sinusoidal curve that extends from the first end 36 to the second end 38 of the sequenced arrangement 34. The predefined shape may follow any suitable path such as a zig-zag path, a spiral, a perimeter of a polygon, or the like. In some embodiments, the indicia 28 of each tile 12 may have an upright orientation in relation to the predefined shape of the sequenced arrangement rather than necessarily being upright in relation to the associated tile 12. The plurality of tiles 12 is configured to mount to a ferromagnetic surface via their connectors 30 while in the sequenced arrangement 34. FIG. 5 depicts a refrigerator 40 having a ferromagnetic surface 42 upon which the tiles 12 are mounted. Additional magnets 32 may also be used.

In use, a user positions the tiles 12 in an effort to form the sequenced arrangement 34. The user may typically be a child or other individual who is learning the ordered sequence, though the user may be any person. The user may have foreknowledge such as from an instructional booklet of what the predefined shape is. Thus, when the user succeeds in ordering the tiles 12 in the sequenced arrangement 34, the predefined shape will provide confirmation of the success.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.