Curiosity revealing or animating a shaped cavity
OwnerJoel Allen Schulzinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention comprises two or more rotatable three-dimensional bodies and a linkage between the bodies. By means of the linkage, the rotation of a first body causes a second body to rotate. In at least one of the rotational positions of the two or more bodies, the shapes of the bodies are designed to create a shaped cavity between a first body and a second body. The shaped cavity may be a tunnel, or the shaped cavity may be a recess or niche. As the at least two bodies are rotated, the shaped cavity may appear or disappear or may change shape, position, or orientation as the bodies are rotated.
Claims31
An apparatus for revealing or animating a shaped cavity, said cavity revealing a symbol to a user of the apparatus, comprising:
- two or more bodies, each of which are three-dimensional and rotatable, wherein each body has a rotation axis, and each body can be rotated to a multiplicity of rotational positions;
- a physical linkage between at least two bodies of the two or more bodies that transfers a torque from a rotation of a first body to a second body, and the torque produces a rotation of the second body;
- a framework that confines the rotation axes of the two or more bodies in fixed relationship to each other;
- wherein at least the first body and the second body are adjacent, and the first body and second body are shaped to produce the shaped cavity and to reveal the symbol in a rotational position of the first body and second body;
- wherein the shaped cavity is a conjunction of a surface of the first body abutting with a surface of the second body;
- and wherein the symbol communicates a meaning to the user when the first body and the second body occupy the rotational position at which the shaped body reveals the symbol to the user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.