|||||||||||||||| USOO5168677A United States Patent (19) 11 Patent Number: 5,168,677 Pronsato et al. (45) Date of Patent: Dec. 8, 1992 (54) METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING FILAT 3,965,626 6/1976 Johnson ........................ 52/DIG. 10 BUILDING BLOCK MODULES FROM THE 3,974,600 8/1976 Pearce ... ... 52/DIG. 10 UNION OF TWO FRUSTUMS BY THEIR 4,074,496 2/1978 Fischer ................................ 446/114 4,253,268 3/1981 Mayer ... ... 52/DIG. 10 CONGRUENT BASES AND SLOT 4,323,245 4/1982 Beaman .. ... 52/DIG. O CONNECTORS COMPLEMENT FOR A 4,496,155 1/1985 Goldfarb ... ... 52/DIG. 10 VARIETY OF CONSTRUCTIVE OR 4,593,908 6/1986 Ibrahim ...... ... 52/DIG. O AMUSINGAPPLICATIONS 4,682,450 7/1987 Diamond ... ... 52/DIG. 10 75 Inventors: Antonio C. Pronsato, Coral Spring, 4,723,382 2/1888 Lalvani ......................... 52/DIG. 10 Fla.; Ernesto D. Gyurec, 3400 Ave. of 4,789,370 12/1988 Ellefson .............................. 446/14 the Arts, Apt. No. E-420, Costa OTHER PUBLICATIONS Mesa, Calif. 92626 Playplax publication received in PTO Mar. 14, 1968. 73 Assignee: Ernesto Daniel Gyurec, Corona del Primary Examiner-David A. Scherbel Mar, Calif. Assistant Examiner-Creighton Smith (21) Appl. No.: 436,665 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Daniel L. Dawes 22) Filed: Nov. 15, 1989 57 ABSTRACT (51) Int. Cl. ................................................ E04B 1/32 A method to guide the creation of flat modular building (52) U.S. Cl. ................ ... 52/81; 52/DIG. 10 block units to be interconnected with others of like (58) Field of Search ........................... 52/DIG. 10, 81; shape by means of fasteners and magnetically, the mod 446/114 ules are created by the union of any two frustums by a congruent larger base, a series of holes truncations and 56 References Cited roundings made them fit in a variety of constructive and U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS amusing applications, also complementing the invention 3,461,574 8/1969 Larsen .......................... 52/DIG. 10 is a built-in slot connector for connecting two flat mem 3,564,758 2/1971 Willis .................................. 446/114 bers. 3,645.535 2/1972 Randolph. 52/DIG 10 3,698,124 10/1972 Reitzel ................................ 446/14 15 Claims, 21 Drawing Sheets U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 1 of 21 5,168,677 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 2 of 21 5,168,677 re-S727, VE2 FA2-3 FA2-3 VE3 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 3 of 21 5,168,677 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 4 of 21 5,168,677 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 5 of 21 5,168,677 CP2 CP2 A(2 -1 M-6 PE(2 ? X7 D44 A2 Aa F9.5 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 6 of 21 5,168,677 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 7 of 21 5,168,677 Dec. 8, 1992 5,168,677 Fig.? U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 10 of 21 5,168,677 Fig. 10 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 11 of 21 5,168,677 /02 ?/ 62 ?e: 22 32 /02 A "CAOSS SECTION "BCROSS SECTION U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 12 of 21 5,168,677 F9. 12 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 13 of 21 5,168,677 Fig. 13 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 14 of 21 5,168,677 "B" COWWECTOR F9. 14 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 15 of 21 5,168,677 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 16 of 21 5,168,677 F9. /6 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 17 of 21 5,168,677 Fig. 17 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 18 of 21 5,168,677 Fig. 16 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 19 of 21 5,168,677 Fig. /? U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 20 of 21 5,168,677 F19.20 U.S. Patent Dec. 8, 1992 Sheet 21 of 21 5,168,677 MWEMOWIC (HART AIyA/EDAPOWS COBE 7E/AA OC74 AAOMA/CC/AOC74 f 2 3 4 5 6 FACESraces a,AA/ asA2-3 asF42-3 TagFA4 TA3AA2-3 A4AA4 AO/WTSM l eCA/ TeleleCA2 CA3 CA4 TeleCA5 CP(2 PyRA/M/DS py) Py2 Ay3 Py4 py57 Py(2. FAUSTU/MS FRI AR2 AA3 AA4 AAPS 7 AA4 RORTIOMS 7A57 A/AAD/AA AW/ A/V2 AW3 AA/4 AW4 AWO AWGAAS A/VGAES AAS7 DA-5S DA57 PEAPMETRICAL PEI. AE2-3 PE2-3 AE4 ASS PE6 EDGES PEST AACES AA5T woulesMODULES aM/ wasAM2-3 wasM2-3 aM4 33;M5T weM6 S/DES AS 57 MODULES SM 5T Fj9.2/ 5,168,677 1. 2 the edge of the polyhedrons and the connector is usu METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING FILAT BUILDING ally ball shaped, at a vertex of the polyhedrons. BLOCK MODULES FROM THE UNON OF TWO The space structure member in principle, can be eas FRUSTUMS BY THEIR CONGRUENT BASES AND ily mass produced by extrusion of simple molding, the SLOT CONNECTORS COMPLEMENT FOR A multiple connector the other hand has eluded and here VARETY OF CONSTRUCTIVE OR AMUSING tofore inexpensive solutions. For this problem classical APPLICATIONS space structures, regardless of their high strength to weight ratio and the immense variety of shapes they can BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION form, had been relegated in architectures usually to O trusses or to secondary functions such as canopies. An 1. Field of the Invention in the construction industry, space structures had been This invention broadly relates to modular building shadowed by the simple-face connected-square-pris construction, and specifically to a method to make dihe matic building blocks. drally connected building blocks and a built-in slot Another problem associated with the ingenious solu connector to erect or to make the structure of buildings, 15 tion invented since Bell's U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,800. billboards, towers, roads, runways, dams, bridges, shore and offshore structures, furniture and their respective OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION scale models for testing and design. It is a principal object of the present invention to These scale model building blocks modules also can unite advantages of the bricks with those of the space be profitable if used as teacher's aids and toys. 20 structures: low cost production (extrusion, simple mold 2. Prior Art ing), low cost test scale modeling, high strength over The construction of buildings by a plurality of similar weight ratio, maximum variety of polyhedral arrange simple polyhedral members, generally rectangular ment and low cost structural design and erection labor. prisms, is practice followed since ancient times for two SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION main reasons. The obvious advantage is the low cost 25 mass production of those members as is explained in These and other objects are derived from a new Bardot's U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,359, the less obvious ad method for creating modular building blocks units to vantage is the low cost construction of scale models for gether with a new dihedral slot connector for erecting testing and design. There are three main disadvantages geometrical structures. of the simple brick: 30 The design engineer interested in geometrical struc They are too massive, to heavy. tures will find the study of a method applicable to any They are assembled only into prismatic structures. polyhedron. That the individual description of a bunch They are weakly connected. of building blocks made with the said method. Heretofore those disadvantages had been alleviated, The method of present invention had evolved along generally only demeaning the main advantages. 35 two branches, pyramidal and conical. But, because The solution of the massiveness problem by making cones are a class of pyramids, to clarify and amplify the holes in the members creates, once assembled, con concept, the method will be presented in a single de duits which could be another advantage; however, scription. The method of manufacture is hypothetical those conduits are by means of simple molding not steps as a guide for the design of modular building block connected, they are parallel. units-modules, for short. The second disadvantage have been partially overcome Solid Pyramidal Modules (See FIGS. 1 to 6) by making complex polyhedrons, see Hervath, U.S. Pat. First, we choose a couple of concave face congruent No. 3,783,571. However, this second problem is not polyhedrons, preferably space-fillers. We shall call widely seen as such. Most designers are still exploring 45 them original polyhedrons. Second, by connecting any the mysteries of the cube structure; NASA space station internal point and the vertexes, we divide the original structure, for example, having an expensive and very polyhedrons into as may pyramids the polyhedrons sophisticated system designed to be assembled into forty have faces. We create pyramids having a polygonal six different polyhedral arrangements, it's timidly cubi base, which was face of the original polyhedrons. cal. The third problem, the weakness of the connection, 50 Third, we make frustums of the said pyramids; we perhaps the most elusive, had been attacked economi remove the top parts of the pyramids in a plane between cally by perfecting a tongue and groove holding and their base and the apex. Fourth, gluing the frustums by locking systems, see Silvius' U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,500, for their congruent larger bases, we created a solid pyrami a dihedral slot connection. dal module. The core of the new method is the creation The building blocks of the art known as space struc SS of a building block by the bonding of the two frustums tures are a different case. They are vertically connected by their congruent bases.