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, USA. Currently Michael Araten is the president of the organization. more...
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The name is, presumably, based around a spelling variation of connects, but keeping the phonetic term. The toys building system consists of interconnecting plastic rods and connectors, and new K'NEX bricks which were added into the K'NEX matrix last year as part of K'NEX's 15th Anniversary celebration. K'NEX is a construction toy in the same genre as LEGO and Meccano. Until 2001, K'NEX did not make sets containing brand constructions (as LEGO had with Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc.), but often based its sets around popular fads (such as mech warriors and RC cars). In 2001, K'NEX broke from this trend and introduced a line of toys using the BattleTech/MechWarrior label, and later launched the OCC (Orange County Chopper) line of toys in 2006 .
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.
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. They can be slid in the slot, but the heads on the rods stop from further sliding.;
Most connectors have an eye through which a rod may be threaded. The rod will slide out unless a connection is made using one or both of the previously mentioned methods.;
Special pieces, commonly called 3-D connectors, connect differently.
They connect using the first and second ways mentioned.;
Their hole has been removed and instead, a special locking system is put in.;
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This locking system allows two 3-D connectors to be directly attached and kept in place.;
The locking system is the basis for all 3-D creations;
Rods
The rods come in many sizes. Standard rods, from smallest to largest:
Dark Green
By far the shortest, with no room to snap anything in fashion perpendicular to the rod.;
Used only to connect two connectors end to end; It is too small to be connected in any other way.;
Alternate colors: black;
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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