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Subject:	dimensions in patents (was Re: 8 millimeters or 5/16 inches?)
Newsgroups:	lugnet.general
Date:	Thu, 22 Jul 1999 17:31:29 GMT
Viewed:	1618 times

In lugnet.general, Eric Brok writes: > [...] Did you realize, the famousTLG brick patent concerned only *the tube > connectors* under the brick as an *improvement* to the existing brick, not > changing the brick idea, the studs or the dimensions. 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 States. The idea being, that the size is irrelevant. If an object is built by your design, it's still your patent regardless of how big the object is (more or less). For some examples, see: 2 x 8 Duplo brick with holes http://www.patents.ibm.com/cgi-bin/viewpat.cmd/USD0378838__ Ldraw part 30036, 8x6x2/3 wing http://www.patents.ibm.com/details?pn=USD0380020__ Ldraw part 32034, Technic #2 angle brick: http://www.patents.ibm.com/details?pn=USD0387399__ 2 x 6 conducting plate http://www.patents.ibm.com/details?pn10=US04552541 I don't know what in the world this one is: http://www.patents.ibm.com/cgi-bin/viewpat.cmd/USD0394473__ Related to the "original basic brick", I think the relevant US patents are 3005282 (Christiansen, October 1961) and 3638352 (Christiansen, February 1972) both of which are often referenced in the other patents' text, usually in the general description establishing precedent. They are not available on the web site because they're too old. - Robert Munafo

Message has 3 Replies:

		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)

		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)

Message is in Reply To:

		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)

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