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US 9,857,026 B1Granted
Construction method for foldable units
OwnerCharles Hobermaninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A foldable unit comprised of linkages in the form of tubular prisms is provided. The unit may be additionally comprised of polygonal panels. Linkages and panels correspond to a central polyhedral design that may be specified from a wide variety of geometric arrangements.
Claims17
A reconfigurable foldable unit comprising:
- a plurality of linkages, said linkages arranged together in order to define a central polyhedral design having a plurality of faces;
- wherein each said linkage has a tubular geometric prism configuration and is formed by a plurality of planar links with opposed sides;
- wherein one side of one planar link of each said linkage is pivotally connected to the other side of an adjacent planar link in order to define a plurality of hinges, with each said linkage being in the form of a closed loop;
- wherein each said link of any of said linkages further has a first edge at one end that is not parallel to the opposed sides of said link, said link first edges of any one of said linkages lying in a common plane and together forming a linkage polygonal shape, said linkage polygonal shapes corresponding to and defining at least some of the faces of said polyhedral design;
- wherein at least one of said link first edges of any one of said linkages is pivotally connected to one of said link first edges of another of said linkages in order to define a link to link hinge.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.