Engineering and educational table and method of use
OwnerJimmie P. Atencioinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A table, having a removable transparent top with a box-shaped container directly below the top supported on legs which are removable and adjustable, is provided with a granular medium within the container and various measuring instruments associated there-with for creating or forming miniature simulated landscapes. The granular medium comprises a substance such as sawdust or a mixture of sawdust and soil or artificial soils lightly wetted by a substance such as oil so that the medium may be formed into shapes that retain their configuration until disturbed by outside forces. The measuring instruments associated with the table include both metric and English scales formed along the edge of the table, a miniature transit mountable on the table, compass, stadia and other surveying instruments.
Claims16
A landscape instruction and design table comprising in combination;
- a generally rectangular box-like container having a bottom and vertically extending sides terminating at an upper edge for supporting a removable top;
- a removable top plate providing a plane working surface adapted to rest on said upper edge;
- a quantity of non-fluid material disposed in said container for shaping into simulated landscapes;
- distance measuring means associated with said container for measuring distances of selected points within said container from each other and from a base reference point;
- and,
- angle measuring means comprising a transit associated with said container and sealed for functioning therewith for measuring vertical and horizontal angles betwen points within said container and between said points and a reference axis.
A method of creating and teaching spatial and angular relationships between simulated landscape formation and structures, the steps of:
- establishing a predetermined scale to which a miniature landscape is to be constructed;
- providing a granular non-fluid medium for shaping into a temporary simulated landscape formations;
- providing a generally rectangular box-like container for containing said granular non-fluid medium;
- providing distance measuring means for measuring distances between points within said container and with respect to a base reference point by establishing one corner of said container as a base reference point, and forming measuring scales extending from said reference point along the edges of said container;
- providing vertical and horizontal angular measuring means for measuring vertical and horizontal angles between points within said container and a base axis by providing a miniature transit scaled to function within the dimensions of said container, and providing a base for mounting said transit on the edge of said container;
- shaping said medium into a simulated landscape in proportion to said scale;
- establishing the location and distal relationship between structures of said formation by said distance measuring means;
- and,
- establishing the angular relationship of structures of said formation by said angular measuring means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.