Cluster Puzzle Patents in Chronological Order
The following is a listing of what can be described as cluster puzzle patents, in chronological order, despite these bearing at times a non-descriptive title, or of a generic nature, such as ‘jigsaws’ or ‘puzzles’, ‘toys’ or other such non-obvious terms. The order for each entry is as follows: designer, patent title, patent number (US unless stated otherwise) and date, followed by some commentary text. Of note here is the successive awarding of patents, of which I thought that for a patent, this was of a new nature each time, or it was refused.
13 patents are known, from 1923 onwards. Does anyone know of any others? A few open questions. Pre-Internet days, how were the examiners able to find earlier non-native instances, such as from France? Much remains unknown about the people here, and with the passage of time, some are obviously no longer with us. In particular, I would like to know more background details of Arnold G. Dana, Elspeth Eagle-Clarke, Mme. Trias and Angel Lescarboura, Jacobus Hendrik Schoonderbeek, Ann S. Trageser and Bruce Wayne Ellis. An open question is whether these patents were realised, i.e. went into commercial production. Where this is left open-ended in the text, I thus denote this with a *.
1923
Mark Dixon Dodd*. ‘Toy’. 1,443,217, January 23, 1923
The first known cluster puzzle patent. Human and animal-themed cluster puzzle, better than most. Of note historically, in that this is among the first instances of the genre, the second after Richardson, and the earliest patent. Subsequently to becoming aware of Dodd, in March 2017, upon a New York Times reference, I found considerably more details on him. In short, he was an artist and architect.
1931
Arnold G. Dana*. ‘Puzzle’. 1,787,473, January 6, 1931
The second known cluster puzzle patent. As such, intrinsically this is very poor indeed, with only a passing resemblance to recognisable motifs, with most little more than ‘shapes with eyes’, of which I rail against. Furthermore, some regions are left vacant. Nonetheless, for the diagrams and text, this is indeed a cluster puzzle in intent, and so being the second is thus of more interest than otherwise.
1934
Elspeth Eagle-Clarke. ‘Improvements in or relating to Jig Saw Puzzles’. UK patent 407,185, March 15, 1934
The third known cluster puzzle patent, and the first (and only) English patent. As an example of the patented genre (and indeed of the whole genre, whatever the medium), this stands far above all others here. I really like the definition of a ‘cluster puzzle' Eagle-Clarke gives.
1944
Mme. Trias and Angel Lescarboura*. ‘Nouveau jeu d’assemblage (puzzle) en boisou matières plastiques’. French patent, 893.550 February 7, 1944
Of note as the first non-US or UK instance, and the first known French patent.
1946
Jacobus Hendrik Schoonderbeek ‘?’. No title given 242367 October 1, 1946
The first Swiss patent, from, curiously a Dutch national! First seen, I think, in Kelvin Palmer’s book.
1959
Enzo Mari. ‘?’ No title given. Two numbers are given, 5573 and 79657
The apparent first Italian patent. As such, there is apparently little known about the background to this patent; all that is shown is a drawing, without text. Indeed, although of all appearances of a patent, I am not certain that this is indeed so, but for now at least I will presume so.
1973
Ann S. Trageser*. ‘Jigsaw Puzzle’. Des 228,357 September 11, 1973
Quotes the Dana and the 1944 French patent, which is how the latter came to my attention.
1988
Wayne P. Godinet*. ‘Bed And Mattress Formed By Animal Shaped Nesting Play Cushions’. 4,719,656. January 19, 1988
Bed and mattress premise, themed, with 13 animals. Articulations are poor.
1997
Soriano, Rene*. ‘Puzzle/Play Set Toy Product’. 5,628,513 May 13, 1997
Noah’s Ark theme cluster puzzle, but generally lacking articulations.
Denise M. Stevens*. ‘Figurine Puzzle with Display Apparatus’. 5,615,883, April 1, 1997
Nativity-themed cluster puzzle, based on Ashe’s work, but different. Quotes the Dodd patent, among others.
1998
Stanford A. Graham. ‘Educational Puzzle Toy Set’. 5,720,481 February 24, 1998
Circular cluster puzzles, of dinosaur and sea-themed. Of note is that this quotes a reference in Business Week that I have not seen: ‘Puzzles go Full Circle’, July 10, 1965, p. 68. Whether this is a cluster puzzle or a generic puzzle remains to be seen. Note that the Graham patent shows the animals used on the Anything’s Puzzable jigsaw puzzle.
2001
Daryl G Clerc and Pamela A. Clerc*. ‘Figural Puzzle’. 2001/0052670 A1, December 20, 2001
Rectangular frame, themed, with 78 animals. A claim is made for the animals being to scale in relation to one another.
2009
Bruce Wayne Ellis*. ‘Three Dimensional Animal Puzzle’. US D589,095 S, March 24, 2009
Oddly, this did not show up the first time around when I first searched for patents, in 2014, I believe. A pleasing, high-quality puzzle indeed, albeit what it is made from is unclear. Regrettably, there is little text here. This quotes the Dana and Trageser patents in the references cited, from which is how I first found those.
Page History
15 October 2025. No details were given as to the date! However, it appears 'recent'. Examining the Wayback Machine, all the dedicated studies on 26 January 2022 are on view, except for this one. Checked text in Grammarly, pending a more extensive review.
An obvious thought is to show pictures of each patent. Perhaps I had this in mind before Google stopped access, and so was abandoned? However, this is speculation. Certainly, it would make for a much better page.