Back to results
US 6,112,474 AGranted
Retractable web column
OwnerDavid L. Paineinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
OwnerDavid L. Paineinventor
Estimating the term…
A retractable column formed from a set of at least three flexible webs with each of the webs having a set of teeth located along opposite edges of the webs, each of the teeth having a first ear obliquely extending from a first side and a second ear obliquely extending from a second side, each of the teeth spaced from an adjacent tooth a base distance substantially equal to a root distance of a tooth on the web so that when a tooth on one of the webs is engaged in a neck to neck relationship with a pair of teeth on one of the other webs the teeth on each of the webs engage each other in an interlocking relationship to hold the webs proximate each other to form a rigid column. By flexing a portion of the teeth that are in engagement with each other one can disengage the interlocked teeth and roll the web onto a take up mechanism and similarly, by flexing a portion of the teeth as the teeth are brought into engagement with one another one can force the teeth into interlocking engagement with each other as the web is unrolled from the take up mechanism.
A retractable column comprising:
A retractable column comprising:
A retractable column having a set of at least three flexible webs, each of said webs having a set of teeth located along opposite edges of said webs, each of said teeth having a neck and a crown region with the crown region larger than the neck region, each of said teeth having a first ear extending in a first direction and a second ear extending in a second direction, at least two of said teeth on one of said flexible webs spaced from each other a distance substantially equal to a root distance of a tooth on another of said flexible webs so the at least two of said teeth on one of said flexible webs can form neck to neck relationship with the tooth on another of said flexible webs with the necks located in snug but non interfering fit while the ears thereon are in overlapping engagement to thereby hold said webs proximate each other to so as to form a rigid column from said three flexible webs and wherein each of said teeth has a trapezoidal shape and the ears of the teeth project in opposite directions at an angle of at least 20 degrees with respect to a plane through a center portion of the tooth.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.