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US 5,686,154 AGranted
Three-dimensional topographical model
OwnerJames Seay Brown, Jr.inventor
Life of this patent
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OwnerJames Seay Brown, Jr.inventor
Estimating the term…
An improved three-dimensional topographical model comprised of a plurality of layers having curvilinear apertures therethrough. The layers are stacked upon each other to form a three-dimensional hollow structure. The individual layers are cut from at least two motherboards and each layer is marked with a contour line to indicate the location on which the subsequent layer is stacked. During assembly, the outermost topographical layer of a first motherboard is removed and placed on a support member, thus constituting the first or bottom layer of the model. The outermost topographical layer of the second motherboard is removed and placed on top of the first layer, and subsequent layers are alternately removed from each of any remaining motherboards and stacked so that the margin of each layer overlaps the margin of the previous layer. This process is repeated until all layers are utilized and the model is fully formed. A model having steep inclines will require a greater number of motherboards. During disassembly of the model, the layers are placed back into the relative motherboards from whence they came. This results in relatively flattened motherboards which can be conveniently stored or transported.
An improved topographical model comprising a plurality of uniform layers wherein said layers represent elevational increments of a geographic structure, said layers having curvilinear apertures therethrough such that said layers may be stacked to form a self-supporting, hollow three-dimensional topographical model which can be subsequently disassembled and stored in a relatively planar form.
An improved topographical model comprising a plurality of color coded layers having curvilinear apertures therethrough, said layers having margins comprised of inner and outer edges, wherein said margins overlap when stacked to form a hollow three-dimensional structure which can be subsequently disassembled and stored in a relatively planar form.
A topographical model for use in teaching which can be assembled into a hollow three-dimensional structure and subsequently disassembled and stored in a substantially planar form, comprising in combination:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.