Collapsible self-supporting structures
AssigneeNomadic Structures, Inc.
InventorTheodore R. Zeigler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Self-supporting structures and panels of diverse shapes are disclosed in which basic assemblies of crossed rod elements are employed to achieve the desired shape. Further, the crossing points of crossed rod elements in the structure involved may include limited sliding connections which effect transfer of collapsing force to other crossing points which are pivotally joined. An improved hub structure for pivotally joining ends of the rod elements at the outer and inner apical points is also disclosed.
Claims18
A plurality of assemblies of crossed rod elements for forming a self-supporting structure, said assembly comprising, in combination:
- a first series of at least three rod elements pivotally connected at their inner ends to define a central inner apical point and lying substantially in a common plane;
- a second series of at least three rod elements pivotally interconnected at their inner ends to define a central outer apical point which is in spaced registry with said central inner apical point;
- the outer ends of said first series of rod elements defining further outer apical points and the outer ends of said second series of rod elements defining further inner apical points, said further outer apical points defining the corners of a polygon having a pair of opposite, parallel sides;
- and
- said first and second series of rod elements being disposed in crossed relations such that the two inner further apical points on each one of said pair of opposite, parallel sides are more closely spaced than the corresponding outer further apical points but with the inner further apical points on the remaining sides being spaced the same as the corresponding outer further apical points arranged in interconnected relation with alternate rows of said central outer apical points lying on the same side of the structure while the remainder of the rows of the central outer apical points lie on the opposite side of the structure, and with said opposite, parallel sides in parallel relation whereby to define a flat structure.
A plurality of assemblies of pivotally connected rod elements capable of being manipulated from a bundled, collapsed condition to an expanded, self-locking erected condition forming a self-supporting flat structure, each assembly comprising a plurality of pairs of crossed rod elements pivotally joined in scissored fashion substantially midway between their ends, one rod element of each pair being pivotally joined at its opposite ends to two other rod elements of adjacent pairs of rod elements and the other rod element of said each pair being pivotally joined at its opposite ends to the remaining two rod elements of said adjacent pairs of rod elements, whereby the pivotally connected ends of said pairs of rod elements lie at the corners of first and second similar polygons situated in spaced, parallel planes such that as the pairs of rod elements are scissored, the assembly is moved between a collapsed condition in which the first and second polygons are of contracted size and their planes are maximally spaced and an erected condition in which the first and second polygons are of expanded size and their planes are spaced relatively close;
- and further rod means pivotally joined together and to corners of said polygons for self-locking said assembly in said erected condition, said further rod means comprising a first set of rod elements pivotally joined together at the plan view geometric center of said first polygon and extending therefrom to generally connect to corners of said first polygon, said rod elements of said first set being of lengths such that they lie essentially in a common plane containing said corners of said first polygon when said first polygon has expanded to a maximum size, said further rod means also including a second set of rod elements pivotally joined to corners of said second polygon and to intermediate portions of corresponding rod elements of said first set so that said rod elements of the second set cannot be essentially in a common plane containing the corners of said second polygon even when the assembly is in erected condition;
- said rod elements of said second set being of lengths between their corner-connected ends and their pivotal connections to the corresponding rod elements of said first set such that as said polygons are expanded, the rod elements of said first and second sets thereof interact to place all of the rod elements of said assembly under cumulative self-locking stress in said erected condition of the assembly;
- and
- said assemblies being connected together to form the flat srructure when erected.
A collapsable, articulated structural section which is moveable between an erected configuration and a collapsed configuration, said structure comprising:
- a first plurality of pivot means disposed to be substantially in a first plane is said erected configuration and to be substantially adjacent each other in said collapsed configuration;
- a second plurality of pivot means disposed to be substantially in a second plane in said erected configuration and to be substantially adjacent each other in said collapsed configuration, said second plane being substantially parallel to said first plane;
- a plurality of pivotally interconnected side links for connecting said first plurality of pivot means with said second plurality of pivot means, each of said links being connected with one of said first plurality of pivot means and one of said second plurality of pivot means;
- a face pivot means;
- a plurality of face links, each of said face links connected with said face pivot means and with one of said first plurality of pivot means;
- and
- a locking link for locking the structural section in said erected configuration, said locking link being pivotally connected near one of its ends with a first one of said plurality of face links and operatively connected near the other of its ends with a first one of said second plurality of pivot means.
A collapsable, articulated rectangular parallelepiped structural section, the parallelpiped being defined by first, second third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth corners, the structural section being movable between a collapsed configuration and an erected configuration, in said collapsed configuration said first, second, third and fourth corners being disposed generally adjacent each other and said fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth corners being disposed generally adjacent each other, and in said erected configuration said first, second, third, and fourth corners being disposed to define substantially a first rectangle in substantially a first plane and said fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth corners being disposed to define substantially a second rectangle in substantially a second plane, said structural section comprising:
- first, second, third and fourth pivot means disposed respectively at said first, second, third and fourth corners;
- fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth pivot means disposed respectively at said fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth corners;
- a plurality of pivotally interconnected side links connecting said first, second, third, and fourth pivot means with said fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth pivot means;
- a face pivot means connected by a first face link with said first pivot means and by a second face link with said third pivot means, said first and second face links being dimensioned such that when the structure is in said erected configuration, said face pivot means is disposed generally adjacent or in said first plane;
- and
- a locking link for locking the structural section in the erected configuration, said locking link being pivotally connected with said first face link and with said fifth pivot means.
A collapsable, articulated wall-like structure having a substantially planar face, said wall-like structure comprising a plurality of interconnected structural sections, at least some of said structural sections comprising:
- a first plurality of pivot means disposed in a regular array substantially in a first plane, said first plurality of pivot means adapted to be moved substantially adjacent each other when the structure is collapsed;
- a second plurality of pivot means disposed in a regular array substantially in a second plane, said second plane being substantially parallel to said first plane, said second plurality of pivot means adapted to be moved substantially adjacent each other when the structure is collapsed;
- a plurality of pivotally interconnected links for connecting said first plurality of pivot means and said second plurality of pivot means, each of said links being connected with one of said first plurality of pivot means and one of said second plurality of pivot means, some of said plurality of pivotally interconnected links being common to more than one section, said plurality of interconnected links being adapted to be moved to a generally parallel relationship when the structure is collapsed;
- a face pivot means disposed in or closely adjacent to said first plane;
- a plurality of face links, each of said face links connected with said face pivot means and with one of said first plurality of pivot means, said plurality of face links being adapted to be moved to a generally parallel relationship with the pivotally interconnected links when the structure is collapsed;
- and
- at least one locking link for locking the structural section in said erected configuration, said locking link being pivotally connected with a first one of said plurality of face links and being operatively connected with a first one of said second plurality of pivot means, said locking link being adapted to be moved to a generally parallel relationship with the pivotally interconnected links when the structure is collapsed.
A collapsible, articulated structural section which is movable between an erected configuration and a collapsed configuration, said structure comprising:
- a first plurality of pivot means disposed to be substantially in a first plane in said erected configuration and to be substantially adjacent each other in said collapsed configuration;
- a second plurality of pivot means disposed to be substantially in a second plane in said erected configuration and to be substantially adjacent each other in said collapsed configuration, said second plane being substantially parallel to said first plane;
- a plurality of pivotally interconnected side links for connecting said first plurality of pivot means with said second plurality of pivot means, each of said links being connected with one of said first plurality of pivot means and one of said second plurality of pivot means;
- a face pivot means;
- a plurality of face links, each of said face links connected with said face pivot means and with one of said first plurality of pivot means;
- and
- a locking link pivotally connected with one of the face links and operatively connected to one of the second plurality of pivot means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.