Trellis hub for joining elongate spars
OwnerPeter William Scott, Jennifer Norton Grimwadeinventors
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a hub comprising i) a first hub member, comprising a first plurality of spar receiving zones; and ii) a second hub member, comprising a second plurality of spar receiving zones; wherein: a) the first and second hub members are located immediately adjacent to each other and share a common, substantially central axis; b) the first hub member is not identical to the second hub member; and c) each spar receiving zone of the first and second plurality of spar receiving zones is adapted to receive a spar, wherein the spar is adapted to link two hubs. The present invention further relates to methods of assembling three dimensional structures incorporating such hubs, including but not limited to trellis.
Claims9
A trellis hub, comprising:
- i) a first unitary hub member having a closed three-dimensional shape comprising multiple flat polygonal faces meeting at straight edges and vertices and comprising a first plurality of integral trellis spar receiving zones, each spar receiving zone being an enclosed aperture of closed shape;
- ii) a second unitary hub member having a closed three- dimensional shape comprising multiple flat polygonal faces meeting at straight edges and vertices and comprising a second plurality of integral trellis spar receiving zones, each spar receiving zone being an enclosed aperture of closed shape;
- and
- iii) a connector
- wherein:
- a) the first and second hub members are rotatable relative to each other about a common, substantially central axis;
- b) the first hub member is not identical to the second hub member;
- c) the connector passes through the first hub member and the second hub member;
- and
- d) each integral trellis spar receiving zone is adapted to receive an end of a trellis spar independently of the other hub member such that the end of the trellis spar terminates in only a single hub member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.