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US 5,901,926 AGranted
Collapsible flying structures
AssigneePatent Category Corp.
InventorYu Zheng
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A collapsible flying structure includes an enclosed resilient frame member having a folded and an unfolded orientation, a panel covering the resilient frame member to form the flying structure when the frame member is in the unfolded orientation, and a control string coupled to the panel for controlling the flight of the flying structure. The frame member and panel may be twisted and folded to form a plurality of concentric loops and panels in the folded orientation of the frame member to substantially reduce the size of the flying structure.
Claims28
A flying structure, comprising:
- an enclosed resilient frame member having a folded and an unfolded orientation, the frame member being coilable and having a natural bias which biases it to the unfolded orientation;
- a panel covering a portion of the resilient frame member to form the flying structure when the frame member is in the unfolded orientation;
- and
- a control string coupled to the panel for controlling the flight of the flying structure;
- wherein the frame member and panel may be twisted and folded to form a plurality of concentric loops and panels in the folded orientation of the frame member to substantially reduce the size of the flying structure, with the natural bias operating to cause the frame member to spring open to the unfolded orientation when the frame member is unfolded from the folded orientation.
2 more elements
A flying structure, comprising:
- first and second structures, each of the first and second structures comprising:
- an enclosed resilient frame member having a folded and an unfolded orientation, the frame member being coilable and having a natural bias which biases it to the unfolded orientation;
- and
- a panel covering a portion of the resilient frame member when the frame member is in the unfolded orientation;
- a connector for connecting the first and second structures;
- and
- wherein the first structure may be placed on top of the second structure when their frame members are in the unfolded orientation to form a stack of first and second structures, and wherein frame members and panels of the stack of first and second structures may be twisted and folded to form a plurality of concentric loops and panels in the folded orientation of the frame members to substantially reduce the sizes of the first and second structures, with the natural bias operating to cause the frame members to spring open to the unfolded orientation when the frame members are unfolded from the folded orientation.
4 more elements
A method for folding and collapsing a flying structure, comprising:
- (a) providing a flying structure having:
- (i) first and second structures, each of the first and second structures comprising:
- an enclosed resilient frame member having a folded and an unfolded orientation, the frame member being coilable and having a natural bias which biases it to the unfolded orientation;
- and
- a panel covering a portion of the resilient frame member when the frame member is in the unfolded orientation;
- (ii) a connector for connecting the first and second structures;
- (b) forming a stack of first and second structures by placing the first structure on top of the second structure when their frame members are in the unfolded orientation;
- (c) reducing the sizes of the first and second structures by twisting and folding the frame members and panels of the stack of first and second structures to form a plurality of concentric loops and panels in the folded orientation of the frame members;
- and
- (d) causing the frame members to spring open to the unfolded orientation when the frame members are unfolded from the folded orientation.
7 more elements
A flying structure, comprising:
- at least first, second and third structures, each of the first, second and third structures comprising:
- an enclosed resilient frame member having a folded and an unfolded orientation;
- a panel covering the resilient frame member when the frame member is in the unfolded orientation;
- and
- a first side and a second side;
- wherein the first side of each of the structures is hingedly connected with the second side of another of the structures so that all the structures are connected together to form an enclosed space;
- and
- wherein each structure may be placed on top of another structure when their frame members are in the unfolded orientation to form a stack of structures, and wherein frame members and panels of the stack of structures may be twisted and folded to form a plurality of concentric loops and panels in the folded orientation of the frame members, to substantially reduce the sizes of the structures.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.