K'NEX

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A bridge made from K'nex.

K'NEX is a brand name of a toy construction system invented by Joel Glickman, designed and produced by K'NEX Industries, Inc. of Hatfield, Pennsylvania. Currently Norman Walker is the president of the organization. The toy consists of interconnecting plastic rods and connectors. It improved upon, and was inspired by, an earlier construction toy made of colored wooden dowels and connecting nodes called Tinkertoys. It is a construction toy in the same genre as LEGO and Meccano, although it uses rods, not bricks or metal strips. Until recently, K'NEX had not introduced sets containing brand constructions (as LEGO does with Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc.), but often based its sets around popular fads (such as mech warriors and RC cars). However, in 2001, K'NEX broke from this trend and introduced a line of toys using the BattleTech/MechWarrior label. [3]

K'NEX connectors and rods are colour coded: K'NEX rods come in a range of lengths, each length being a distinct color. When the additional length of connections is taken into account, the ratio between successive lengths of rods is 1/√2. This makes the construction of right-angle isosceles triangles simple, and these triangles provide the structural strength in models. Most types of K'NEX rods are only very slightly flexible, but there are extra rigid and very flexible versions of some of the longer rods. K'NEX connectors connect rods at angles which are multiples of 45 degrees.

1 Connections
2 Rods
3 List of Connectors
4 Other
5 External links

[edit] Connections

There are three primary ways in which a rod may be joined to a connector:

Most commonly, the rod's head is inserted into a connector's slot.
A rod may also be "snapped in" perpendicular to a connector. It is harder to insert and remove rods this way, but they are for the most part immobile. There are four grooves on rods which allow for rods to be attached in this method in four different directions.
Most connectors have an eye through which a rod may be threaded.

[edit] Rods

The rods come in many sizes. From smallest to largest:

Dark Green

By far the shortest, with no room to snap anything in
Used only to connect two connectors end to end; It is too small to be used for anything else
"Metallic version" is black

White

Can form the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs made up of green rods
If nothing is attatched to the end, three connectors can be snapped on. If there is a piece on either end, only two can snap on
"Metallic version" is silver

Dark Blue

Can form the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs made up of white rods
Six connectors can be snapped on
"Metallic version" is metallic blue

Yellow

Can form the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs made up of dark blue rods
"Metallic version" is dark gray

Can form the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs made up of yellow rods
"Metallic version" is metallic light green
Also comes in a tan version which is more ridgid than its red counterpart
Also comes in a golden-orange version with two small separations on the ends so that connectors will not slide past.

Gray

Longest of the rods
Can form a the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs made up of red rods
Also comes in a black version which is more rigid than its gray counterpart

Also note that rods can be combined with connectors to take the place of longer rods. For example:

A connector with green rods on opposite ends is equal in length to a blue rod.
A connector with white rods on opposite ends is equal in length to a yellow rod.
A connector with blue rods on opposite ends is equal in length to a red rod.
A connector with yellow rods on opposite ends is equal in length to a gray rod.

[edit] List of Connectors

Dark Grey (no metallic version)

Only one slot for a rod.

Light Grey (metallic version: a lighter gray with dark spots)

Two slots. End slots form 45 degree angle.

Red (metallic version: dark gray with darker spots)

Three slots. End slots form 90 degree angle.

Green (metallic version: metallic grey-green)

Four slots. End slots form 135 degree angle.

Yellow (metallic version: light gray)

Five slots. End slots form 180 degree angle. There is a variant on this piece which is slightly more orange in color that has an extra tab on the back side which can connect to the rubber track found in the roller coaster set.

White (metallic version: black)

Full circle with eight slots.

Also known as tan locks, they have one slot for a rod but have no hole in the middle. They do have a small tab that sticks out and can hook onto wheels so that the wheel and axle move together. There is a metallic variant on this piece which is dark purple. However, it is different because it has no tab.

Orange (metallic version: dark brown)

Has two slots that are across from each other and not adjacent as in the light grey connector.

Dark Blue and Dark Purple (metallic versions: light gray and light metallic purple, respectively)

Similar to the white and yellow connecters respectively, however one slot (on the dark purple connector, one of the end slots) is replaced by a gap and are instead able to connect to another dark blue or dark purple connector directly. These connectors are necessary in the creation of three-dimensional models. Unique in that they are the only connectors not to have an eye.

An animation demonstrating how Dark Blue and Dark Purple (metallic versions) can lock together.

Hinge

Consists of two interlocked pieces similar to the dark grey piece, one light green and the other light blue. (metallic version: black and light blue) Similar to the orange connector except it can bend to 45°.

[edit] Other

Other parts include wheels, panels, track, chain links, balls, body parts, and Cyber K'nex pieces. The addition of battery and solar-powered motors, together with gears of various types and sizes, cranks and pulleys, allows K'NEX models to be motorized. Also included in some sets is a wind-up motor.

The company also offers a variant brand, Kid K'NEX, which is made of a softer injection-molded plastic and is twice the scale of the original K'NEX. It is intended for children ages 3 to 5. Kid K'NEX is incompatible with K'NEX. (Because of the small parts, both K'NEX and Kid K'NEX are not recommended for children under age 3).

K'NEX Industries also manufactures and distributes Lincoln Logs under license from Hasbro, Inc.

The tallest K'Nex roller coaster was called Colossus. It was 28 feet tall and modeled after Kingda Ka. Not only was it the tallest, but it was also the fastest, reaching speeds of up to 65 MPH. [1] [2]