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Polydron
A construction set is a set of standardized pieces that allow for the construction of a variety of different models. The pieces avoid the lead-time of manufacturing custom pieces, and of requiring special training or design time to construct complex systems. This makes them suitable for temporary structures, or for use as children's toys. One very popular brand is Lego. Categories Construction sets can be categorized according to their connection method and geometry: * Struts of variable length that are connected to any point along another strut, and at nodes. ** Tesseract connection points are initially flexible but can be made rigid with the addition of clips. * Struts of fixed but multiple lengths that are connected by nodes are good for building space frames, and often have components that allow full rotational freedom. ** D8h (*228) nodes are used for K'Nex, Tinkertoys, Playskool Pipeworks, Cleversticks and interlocking disks in general. ** D6h nodes are used for i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polydron
A construction set is a set of standardized pieces that allow for the construction of a variety of different models. The pieces avoid the lead-time of manufacturing custom pieces, and of requiring special training or design time to construct complex systems. This makes them suitable for temporary structures, or for use as children's toys. One very popular brand is Lego. Categories Construction sets can be categorized according to their connection method and geometry: * Struts of variable length that are connected to any point along another strut, and at nodes. ** Tesseract connection points are initially flexible but can be made rigid with the addition of clips. * Struts of fixed but multiple lengths that are connected by nodes are good for building space frames, and often have components that allow full rotational freedom. ** D8h (*228) nodes are used for K'Nex, Tinkertoys, Playskool Pipeworks, Cleversticks and interlocking disks in general. ** D6h nodes are used for i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lego Color Bricks
Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking plastic bricks accompanying an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts. Lego pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways to construct objects, including vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Anything constructed can be taken apart again, and the pieces reused to make new things. The Lego Group began manufacturing the interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Movies, games, competitions and eight Legoland amusement parks have been developed under the brand. , 600 billion Lego parts had been produced. History The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891–1958), a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934, his company came to be called ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erector Set
Erector Set (trademark styled as "ERECTOR") was a brand of metal toy construction sets which were originally patented by Alfred Carlton Gilbert and first sold by his company, the Mysto Manufacturing Company of New Haven, Connecticut in 1913. In 1916, the company was reorganized as the A.C. Gilbert Company. The brand continued its independent existence under various corporate ownerships until 2000, when Meccano bought the Erector brand and consolidated its worldwide marketing with its own brand. The coverage here focuses on the historical legacy of the classic Erector Set; for current developments under the "Erector by Meccano" brand name, see the Meccano article. Basic Erector parts included various metal beams with regularly spaced holes for assembly using nuts and bolts. A frequently promoted patented feature was the ability to fabricate a strong but lightweight hollow structural girder from four long flat pieces of stamped sheet steel, held together by bolts and nuts (US Pate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geomag
Geomag is a magnetic construction toy. The original toy consisted of bars with a magnet on each end (neodymium alloy) all attached by a magnetic plug (coated with polypropylene) and nickel-coated metal spheres. Magnetic forces hold the bars and spheres together, creating the possibility for many constructions. Invented and patented by Claudio Vicentelli in May 1998, production is currently undertaken by Geomagworld SA at the production facilities in Novazzano, Switzerland. Product lines have been added to the original model (now called Geomag PRO), growing the Geomag range of construction toys. Since the introduction of the 2009/48/EC law on 20 July 2013 restricted the content of nickel in toys, Geomag has re-modelled the spheres with a bronze alloy coating, in order to comply with the new regulations. Invention In May 1998, Claudio Vicentelli, experienced in technical applications of permanent magnets and the creator of a product deposited for the magnetic circuit, and the brand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lego Clone
frame, Mega Bloks building block (above) and Lego building brick (below) Best-Lock and Lego bricks compared. From left, Best-Lock followed by Lego repeated. A Lego clone is a line or brand of children's construction blocks which is mechanically compatible with Lego brand blocks, but is produced by another manufacturer. The blocks were originally patented by The Lego Group in 1961 as "toy building bricks", and the company has since remained dominant in this market. Some competitors have moved to take advantage of Lego brand recognition by advertising their own products as compatible with Lego, with statements such as "compatible with leading building bricks". The last underlying patents of the brick design expired in 1978, opening the field to rivals. Legal challenges At least two of the largest clone manufacturers have been challenged in court by Lego. The lawsuits have been mostly unsuccessful, for courts have generally found the functional design of the basic brick to be a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Discovery Toys
Discovery Toys is a multi-level marketing company specializing in educational toys. Its products are sold in the U.S. and Canada, and its headquarters are in Livermore, California. The company was purchased by Avon Products in 1997 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Eos International in 2001. History Discovery Toys was founded as a multi-level marketing company in 1978 by Lane Nemeth, a former daycare director, with a $5,000 family loan. Lane, a mother from the San Francisco bay area, started the company when she was unable to find educational toys for your own kids. According to Nemeth, the company had 2,500 sales "consultants" in 1982 and had reached $4.6 million in revenue the previous year. Ms. Nemeth grew the company to a $100 million in annual revenue by 1997 then sold the company to Avon who sold it in 2002 to a private equity group. Discovery Toys was acquired by and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Eos International, Inc. in July 2001. One of the company ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Girder And Panel Building Sets
Girder and Panel Building Sets were a series of plastic toy construction kits created by Kenner Toys in the mid-1950s. Since then, the building sets have gone in and out of production several times, under a succession of different owners of the designs. Overview The Girder and Panel Building Set construction kits enabled a child to build plastic models of mid-twentieth century style buildings. Vertical plastic columns were placed in the holes of a Masonite base board and horizontal girders were then locked into the vertical columns to create the skeletal structure of a model building. Brightly coloured plastic panels containing translucent "windows" could then be snapped onto the outer girders to create a curtain wall. Square navy-blue roof panels—some with translucent skylight domes molded into them—were laid on the topmost beams to complete the structure. Bridge and Turnpike sets were later introduced that also employed frameworks of girders but with roadway sections instead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zaks
Zaks is a construction toy originally produced in Canada by the company Irwin Toy in 1987 and released in the United States by Ohio Art Company in 1988. The toy is a system of multicolored flat plastic triangle and square pieces that interlock via snap lock hinges along their edges, creating moveable structures. The toy includes additional pieces such as columnar joint attachments, push-in eyes, clear bubbles, cones, and antennae. Overview Zaks consists primarily of equilateral triangles and squares with toothed, hinged, and interlocking edges. The basic triangle and square shapes are further modified by having a number of different face styles, including holes or extended sockets that allow them to connect face-to-face. The toys can be attached to one another to build three-dimensional creations, with the edges either remaining rigid or being allowed to swivel. It is quite easy to create Platonic solids using Zaks, and the toys are useful to demonstrate how simple planes like tri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FAC-System
FAC System is a mechanical construction set, invented by Swedish artist Mark Sylwan and launched in 1952. It uses metallic parts, and extensively uses steel rod. 100929 web.telia.com 100929 facsystem.se The company continued in business , supplying kits stated to give industry a basic construction system which gives the same freedom in 3D design as is available from the drawing board and CAD/CAM. Kits are suitable, and priced as, for laboratory work and teaching. Shafts have a diameter of 6 mm, and have a groove along the shaft. Gears or other wheels have a bevel on either side of the hub of the wheel. A special sheet metal angle fits into this chamfer, and when the wheel is mounted on an axle, this sheet metal angle will fit into the groove on the axle. The design allows the wheel to be fixed on the axle and the stop screws on the wheel only have the task of ensuring that the wheel does not move along the axle. See also * Meccano Meccano is a brand of model construction s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trix (construction Sets)
Trix model construction sets were originally produced in 1931 by a Nuremberg company, Andreas Förtner (Anfoe). The German patent for the basic Trix pieces had been granted the previous year, in 1930. The origin of the name Trix is uncertain; it has been suggested (by Adrie Wind]) that it could have referred to the triple-hole configuration of the basic pieces. A friendship between Bing (company), Stephan Bing, owner of Anfoe, and the English toy manufacturer W J Bassett-Lowke led to the founding of the London company Trix Ltd in 1932. In the United Kingdom, Trix sets challenged the British-invented Meccano model construction sets. (See Trix (company) Trix is a German company that originally made Trix metal construction sets. One of its co-founders was Stephan Bing, the son of the pioneer toy-maker industrialist Ignaz Bing. In 1935 the company began producing the electrically powered model ... for details of the model electric trains that the German company also began prod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lego Technic
Lego Technic is a line of Lego interconnecting plastic rods and parts. The purpose of this series is to create more advanced models with more complex technical functions, compared to the simpler brick-building properties of normal Lego. Overview The concept was introduced as the ''Expert Builder'' series and originally ''Technical Sets'' in 1977, and was renamed ''Technic'' in 1982. Technic sets are often characterized by the presence of special pieces, such as gears, axles, and pins. Other special pieces include beams and plates with holes in them, through which the axles could be installed. Some sets also come with pneumatic pieces or electric motors. In recent years, Technic pieces have begun filtering down into other Lego sets as well, including the BIONICLE sets (which were once sold as part of the Technic line), as well as a great many others. The style of Lego Technic sets has been changing over time. Technic sets produced since the year 2000 use a different construction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
