Editing Rubik's Cube (section)

===Precursors===
[[File:Patent US3655201.png|thumb|Diagram from Nichols' patent showing a cube held together with magnets]]

In March 1970, [[Larry D. Nichols]] invented a [[Pocket Cube|2x2x2]] "Puzzle with Pieces Rotatable in Groups" and filed a Canadian patent application for it. Nichols's cube was held together by magnets. Nichols was granted {{US patent|3655201}} on 11 April 1972, two years before Rubik invented his Cube.

On 9 April 1970, Frank Fox applied to patent an "amusement device", a type of [[sliding puzzle]] on a spherical surface with "at least two 3×3 arrays" intended to be used for the game of [[noughts and crosses]]. He received his UK patent (1344259) on 16 January 1974.<ref name="frankfoxpatent">{{Cite web |title=Patent Specification 1344259 |url=http://www.jaapsch.net/puzzles/patents/gb1344259.pdf |access-date=15 June 2012}}</ref>