US Patent: 4,378,116
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Spatial logical toy
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Patentee:
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Ernö Rubik (exact or similar names) - Budapest, Hungary |
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Patent Dates:
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Applied: |
Aug. 03, 1981 |
Granted: |
Mar. 29, 1983 |
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Jeff Joslin
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Description: |
The patent drawing shows a 3x3x2 cube but the specification allows allows for a 3x3x3 cube, which is what we now know as a Rubik's cube. The inventor was trained as a sculptor and architect, and became a professor of design at Technical University of Budapest. In the 1970s he developed a 3x3x3 wood-block cube with faces that could rotate and used it to teach algebraic group theory. Hungarian state-owned manufacturer Konsumex began selling them in 1977, and by 1980 the Rubik's cube had become a phenomenon, ultimately selling in the hundreds of millions. |
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