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 Michael Araten is the president of the organization. The toy consists of interconnecting plastic rods and connectors. more...

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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.

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.; Most connectors have an eye through which a rod may be threaded.;

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 attached 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;

Read more at Wikipedia.org