 | | 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches? (was Re: Scales (Was: New Lego page!)
|
|
I've been looking for the discussions you alluded to but haven't found any yet. The FAQ entry for this question is here: (URL) it doesn't actually answer the question asked (it gives ratios only, not actual dimensions). Neither do the message (...) (25 years ago, 21-Jul-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.faq)
|
| |
| | Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches? (was Re: Scales (Was: New Lego page!)
|
|
Are you trying to measure the size of the brick, or the pitch of the bricks when they are interconnected? Steve (...) (25 years ago, 21-Jul-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.faq)
|
| |
| | Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches? (was Re: Scales (Was: New Lego page!)
|
|
The basic issue I'm raising is determining the engineer's standard for the "horizontal spacing" from one stud to the next. I think this is what you're calling "the pitch". The most commonly quoted dimension standard among LEGO users is this (...) (25 years ago, 21-Jul-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.faq)
|
| |
| | Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches? (was Re: Scales (Was: New Lego page!)
|
|
A whilo ago it struck me that the base unit of LEGO probably was defined in inches not in mm. 1/16 inch is far more an obvious unit than 1.6 mm. This is an interesting fact, because it reveals the British heritage of the LEGO brick. So while TLG (...) (25 years ago, 22-Jul-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.faq)
|
| |
| | Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches? (was Re: Scales (Was: New Lego page!)
|
|
(...) Does this imply that someone else patented the _original_ brick design, without the tubes? If so, who did? Fredrik (25 years ago, 22-Jul-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.faq)
|
| |
| | Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches? (was Re: Scales (Was: New Lego page!)
|
|
(...) Some english company, which TLG bought the original patent from. Someone has a whole website about this, seemed to be fairly miffed about it, and would periodically post the URL to it on RTL... I stopped reading RTL much so can't say if that's (...) (25 years ago, 22-Jul-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.faq)
|
| |
| | Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches? (was Re: Scales (Was: New Lego page!)
|
|
(...) Thanks for the info. I don't care enough about this to look it up, though. What's important is that LEGO makes the best bricks. :-) I'm pretty much a pragmatist in this matter. Fredrik (25 years ago, 22-Jul-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.faq)
|
| |
| | dimensions in patents (was Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches?)
|
|
(...) Although this is primarily only of interest in the United States, I want to point out that the United States patents held by TLG do not seem to include any dimensions. In fact, I believe this is common for all mechanical patents in the United (...) (25 years ago, 22-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
|
| |
| | Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches? (was Re: Scales)
|
|
Okay, I've done the experiment. The interstud spacing is 7.986 millimeters +- 2 microns. I built a 1 x 100 x 2 "wall" out of long Technic beams, and it measures 798.5 +- 0.2 millimeters (to which I added 0.1 millimeters to account for the fact that (...) (25 years ago, 22-Jul-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.faq) !
|
| |
| | Re: dimensions in patents (was Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches?)
|
|
The last item appears to be a soda fountain or an ice cream dispenser. Any other guesses? -Nick Robert Munafo wrote in message ... <snip> (...) 1972) (...) the (...) web (...) (25 years ago, 22-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
|
| |
| | Re: dimensions in patents (was Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches?)
|
|
(...) Thanks for the info Robert. As a child, I remember looking at the old Lego sets that I got in the early 1960's and wondering what the heck "PATENT PENDING" (followed by a list of large numbers) was all about. I still have some early 1960's (...) (25 years ago, 22-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
|
| |
| | "PATENT PENDING" message (was Re: dimensions in patents)
|
|
(...) The message was present on parts in the US at least until around the mid 1970's. My best friend has some 4 x 4 black plates that he had in high school and purchased in the US (probably from a police station set like 354, 370/585, or 381/588). (...) (25 years ago, 22-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
|
| |
| | Re: dimensions in patents (was Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches?)
|
|
I know this thread died a month ago, but I just have to stick my two cents in (not that pennies are worth much these days!): If you ever go to Legoland Bilund coming from the east, you'll drive past the Lego plant. There is a huge lawn sculpture of (...) (25 years ago, 18-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
|
