Patent Grant
7290378
A second relationship bears mentioning: aspects of the present invention are related to a folding, expandable framework for a variety of structural purposes with a folding scheme in part distinct from that previously disclosed, but which will once erected provide almost identical structural form and functionality. Specifically, the first stages of unfolding of one embodiment of the present invention differ significantly from those previously taught, but the latter stages of unfolding and the resultant fully erected structures are essentially identical to those of the prior invention. To avoid confusion, aspects of this dual relationship are made very explicit wherever they occur in the following specifications and are amply illustrated in the figures as well.
The present invention is in the area of structures and enclosures, including passageways, ramps and protected portals, and pertains more particularly to a variety of easily stored, pre-positioned or transported foldable devices which can expand to provide a series of adjacent, communicating, controlled pass-through antechambers or covered corridors, that can be retrofitted to intact separate structures, and which in a variety of emergency situations may be rapidly deployed, attached and expanded to provide safe entry, offering additional protection from radiation, chemical agents, biological agents, harmful particles, pathogens during pandemic disease outbreaks, and other contingencies of particular concern to those responsible for civil and homeland defense, public health and welfare, or international humanitarian disaster relief.
It is common knowledge that porches, entry halls, foyers, and reception areas are useful as places to take off outdoor clothing, such as boots and overcoats, to wipe one's feet, and generally function to help preserve the relative cleanliness or temperature level of interior spaces. The architecture of many, and probably most, cultures perceived and accommodated the need for such a buffer, if you like, between the inside and the outside spaces. Or to express it another way, antechambers, porches, entry halls and the like help shelter the heart of the shelter itself. It addresses the primordial need to prevent tracking in or otherwise admitting into a shelter what the shelter itself is meant to keep out, be it cold, heat, insects, dust, muck, noise, or even unwelcome visitors. The harsher the climatic conditions generally the greater the need for antechambers. Even igloos have them as essential features.
The close association between antechambers proper and stoops, steps or ramps leading up to portals is highly noteworthy. Early in the history or even prehistory of humans it was realized that some of the most significant shelter structures can provide is from below: protecting against cold, damp, ground water, pests, muck, mud, fifth and contagion. The discovery of raised foundations, sub-floors, and flooring typically created a second pressing need at portals: compensating for the unequal level of ground and floored interior space through the use of steps or (increasingly important with the recognition of the importance of access for the physically challenged) ramps. The idea of combining antechambers with such entry steps or ramps occurred early on. Covered porches may serve as a simple example.
Long ago it was realized that creating a series of such chambers offered an excellent strategy for dealing with more potentially harmful elements. Hence clean rooms, isolation rooms for patients with contagious conditions, surgical theatres, and laboratories frequently are equipped with one or more antechambers used for scrub down, dressing areas, et cetera. In even more demanding environments—in space, under water, nuclear laboratories, for example—airlocks comprising a system of antechambers can be critical. In penal and medical settings, where there are high dangers of other kinds, multiple antechambers find frequent employment.
Considered in the abstract, antechamber systems may be described as a series of one or more enclosed spaces or rooms, each with two thresholds or apertures generally on opposite ends, which connect securely to the principal areas of buildings. Shutting devices, in the first instance, swinging or sliding doors or curtains, are usual features at the apertures or doorways, and this allows the selective shutting and opening for ingress and egress. It should be noted that there are times when it is highly advantageous to have both ports to the antechamber closed while some process is run inside a particular chamber before passing into the next. To take a very simple example, vacuuming of dust might be called for in the first antechamber, removal of clothing might be called for in the second antechamber, showering might be called for in a third antechamber, and an initial medical screening take place in the fourth. Notice also that antechamber systems lend themselves to branching. To continue the former example, depending on what the doctors found in the fourth chamber, a patient could be directed to one of several fifth chambers (for isolation, further observation, treatment, or entry to the main shelter), and thus serve very well for triage, for example, during an epidemic or following a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear release or attack.
Up to now, the multiple antechamber systems of which we are all familiar have tended to be permanently designed structural features or ad hoc contrivances, such as curtains, screens, or temporary partitions. This is not to say that transportable structures such as tents or trailers serving as antechambers are unknown. The covered ramps extending to the plane doors found at airports may feature additional doors, for example. Decontamination tent systems have been both described and implemented, and there exists prior art in the specification of auxiliary equipment including blowers and materials. Of course, exploration of outer space, oceans, and the needs of mining, metallurgy, and chemical industries has led to many advancements of design in airlocks and decompression chambers of all types. Unfortunately, few or none of these have been conceived as retrofit units that could be stowed at or near sites where they might be required, but that would not interfere with the normal civilian usage of buildings and not take up excessive space. However, the enormously multiplied dangers posed by chemical, biological and radioactive industrial production toxins, pathogens, and carcinogens, and the burgeoning threat from weapons of mass destruction, have spurred the search for new standby apparatus and procedures in order to extend the inherent advantages of multiple antechamber systems to the general civilian population for its protection in the event of such dreadful scenarios.
Specifically, three key characteristics of systems disclosed herein will be vital to carrying out their intended mission: 1) extreme compacting; 2) capacity for rapid set-up; 3) configurable extensibility. Calling attention to just a few considerations should suffice to demonstrate the utility of structures so endowed. It is widely acknowledged in the scientific community and governing circles that there is high probability of disasters of the kinds mentioned occurring somewhere on earth and affecting large numbers of inhabitants; but there is a low probability of obtaining advanced knowledge that would permit pinpointing either the location or nature of threats before they materialize. This implies that meaningful emergency preparation concentrates on assets which are: a) effectively transportable and deployable in short order and in numbers commensurate with the probable scale of anticipated emergencies; b) of types practical to produce and store in a more widely distributed way; or c) both of the above. Given this context, the value of foldable, expandable devices presented here is compelling.
Planning and preparing to cope with such contingencies, horrible as they certainly are, in the inventor's view deserve the same kind of increased and well-reasoned mobilization as does the on-going effort to prevent their occurrence in the first place. The response to the unsolved anthrax attack after September 2001 suggests that something better than duct tape and vinyl sheeting is required if terror weapons find their way into hands ready or willing to use them. The need to safeguard, even while continuing to use, important but threatened parts of the infrastructure, such as postal centers, that were not originally designed to be protected from such threats, has become ever more apparent. It also points up the importance of developing innovative and effective ways to maintain access to uncontaminated parts of buildings near to where dangerous or lethal releases have occurred, as for examples, in releases from “dirty-bomb” devices or industrial accidents. This constitutes the principle background of the present invention, as well as the firm basis for the belief that it has potential to significantly advance the difficult work of those engaged in civil defense and humanitarian relief work around the world. The surviving stock of standing buildings should rightfully be considered an invaluable resource in the aftermath of many contingencies, but one the value of which is to a large extent dependent on control of contaminants through protection of portals through which the affected populations will need to pass.
Actually, the present invention represents the culmination of a search to find suitable forms of ingress and egress for those who will use the previously referenced, recently patented invention by the same inventor of an all-terrain “FOLDABLE, EXPANDABLE FRAMEWORK FOR A VARIETY OF STRUCTURAL PURPOSES”; the disclosure of previously referenced U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,623 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Once it was realized that such frameworks opened the prospects for extensive humanitarian rescue and relief public facilities composed of modules each with its potentially separate filtered air supply that could be up and functioning in minutes rather than hours, and not days weeks, it became apparent that for this potential to be tapped in the worst cases involving the most harmful substances or pathogens, special attention would have to be given to discovering ways to properly protect portals of such complexes against lethal contamination. The need for discovering compatible ramps to cope with sick or wounded victims' physical limitations in an emergency likewise drove the inventor's efforts. The inventor fervently hopes and believes that, although the previously granted and presently applied for inventions both have very broad applications beyond their use in conjunction with one another, they will prove very complementary in the arena of preparations for some of the most serious emergencies that humanity must prepare itself to face, even as it strives to the utmost to prevent or deter them from ever occurring or recurring.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, thresholds at either end are provided, at least one of which is fit for attachment or coupling to a door or other aperture of an external building, along with one or more internal pass-through passage partitions between thresholds, all the forgoing connected by a covering material, such that all elements may be tightly compressed in the stored position to the extent that coupling thresholds and passage-partitions rest in close proximity, but providing in the open position an airtight passageway comprising one or more antechambers that may be sealed while the occupants or contents including the atmosphere inside are treated or processed in some way, and that can be opened at will to allow people or equipment to pass through in order to enter or leave a building or other structure through a portal to which the invention is either pre-attached or can rapidly be coupled. The Fully Enclosed Folding Expandable Multi-Antechamber For Emergencies, which the inventor abbreviates as 3-FE, is intended for use in retrofitting preexisting separate structures as well as for equipping new structures, including buildings, vehicles, mobile structures, or temporary or semi-permanent structures.
In some embodiments of the coupling device, one end of the multi-chamber itself includes the adaptive mechanism that permits it to form a seal with portals of various sizes and shapes. In other embodiments, the coupling device accepts a portal sealing adapter to permit this. It will be evident to those skilled in the art that there are many ways to accomplish such a seal. To mention but a few examples: skirts composed of a flexible material that attach to entranceways using adhesives, tapes, putties or sealants of various kinds; vacuum or suction coupling devices; sliding flaps familiar in, for example, in the installation of room air conditions in existing windows; wax seals as employed in plumbing applications; flanges with o-rings, weather stripping, or gaskets of various sorts meant to be bolted to another structure; magnetic or electromagnetic coupling plates; diaphragm-like expansion and compression mechanisms, myriad clamping, clasping, bolting, pressure fittings, and many others.
In this context, the term “coupling device” is intended to encompass embodiments in which two or more 3-FEs Mult-Antechambers units can be freely linked with one another, as well as to accept adapters of various kinds permitting their attachment to existing portals of other structures. In emergencies, a partially contaminated, but still partially functional segment could be displaced outward rather than completely replaced when a newer and cleaner segment was added nearest the inside. Indeed, some embodiments of this invention allow the lengthening of the passageway by insertion of newer segments from the inside, in other words, from the cleaner internal side, without stepping outside.
It cannot be over-emphasized that the invention can perform its intended function when deployed on the interior side of the portal of a building. In fact, many considerations may make interior stowing, preposition and set-up preferable in some cases. Some advantages worth mentioning are initial blast resistance, shelter from the elements by the permanent building itself, and aesthetic and other architectural desiderata. In its folded form, many embodiments of the invention could be carried through the very portal they would then be deployed to secure, so that interior set-up cannot be ruled out even in emergencies when time is of the utmost essence. Since the invention is inherently suitable for storage and/or use on either side of a portal, in practice the decision would revolve around the availability of interior versus exterior space for storage, set-up, and use. On the other hand, the importance of portability by first responders and other emergency workers setting up group shelters or food or water distribution centers should also be borne in mind.
In one embodiment, the invention comprises two coupling thresholds, one sealing adapter, and at least one passageway partition, with all other sides covered with a suitable material providing the essentially tubular sides and floor. In this most primitive form, or “P-Form”, the passageway is built up out of modules connected end-to-end. One module by itself provides a single antechamber only if (a) the existing building's door can be used to close off one end, or (b) the modules is equipped with two (or more) partitions. Thus, multiple chambers will normally be achieved using three partition-passageways spread among two or three modules. Those modules may, of course, be hinged so that their coupling ends swing into position for coupling, but in the P-form embodiment folding does not reduce the actual volume of the device in its folded position, though it may find usefulness for transportation or packing. However, it does demonstrate important aspects of the invention, for by coupling such P-Forms together and sealing one of them to the portal of another structure, an effective and truly multi-antechamber can indeed be rapidly constructed. Each unit becomes in essence a segment of the resulting passageway. While not folding or expanding in the ordinary sense, passageways composed of such P-Forms are certainly modular and extensible, and they could be effectively disassembled for stowing, pre-positioning, or emergency on-site deployment. Nor should their designation as primitives mislead one about their capabilities: if the thresholds of P-Forms are juxtaposed at certain angles, a highly functional 3-dimensional helix shaped ramp and multi-antechamber structure can be created, as detailed below.
In many emergency scenarios branching antechamber passageways are highly desirable. In the P-Form embodiment of the invention described in the previous paragraph, two-way and three-way splitting junctures are easily provided by including one or more modules with more than two coupling thresholds per module. T-shaped, X-shaped, Y-shaped, or ψ-shaped splitting modules can be easily understood simply by reference to their familiar, everyday electrical and plumbing analogs. Such splitter junction modules could perform the same function in conjunction with practically every embodiment of the present invention, provided of course common or compatible couplers are employed.
This last proviso brings up the crucial need for standardization protocols in terms coupling thresholds. As one can make a train from a huge variety of different types of railroad cars of common gauge in almost any order if, and only if, they have a common coupling capability, so it is also with the present invention, across its various embodiments, properly understood in its important aspect as a modular and extensible system of devices, rather than as a single device. The inventor trusts that this important point will not be lost on those implementing the invention in all its embodiments, but considers it so central that he wishes to further drive home the point: while there may be a thousand great forms effective couplers could take, the advantages on settling on one (or at least very few and inter-compatible types) are overwhelming and deserve the greatest forethought. Any adequate and mutually intelligible language would have facilitated construction of the Tower of Babel far better than using all at once.
This same coupling capability definitely does extend to the more sophisticated embodiments, the individual units of which fold up and expand to supply multiple antechambers out of a single unit. In other words, advanced embodiments utilize units that are compactable in their stowed form to a mere fraction of the volume of their expanded form, but such units may also be coupled together. Coupled and indeed daisy-chained together as well, it becomes feasible to set up a multitude of antechambers as rapidly as the emergency scenarios for which they are designed will require. Since contingencies involving the co-occurrence of several of different highly dangerous substances simultaneously may have to be addressed, for example in the case of WMD attacks, and those substances may call for different kinds of treatment requiring separate chambers, the theoretically unlimited extensibility of the 3-FE system gained through its modularity is clearly important to its life-saving mission.
The 3-FE Multi-antechambers' capacity to fold and unfold is attained variously among the different preferred embodiments. Several main forms of the invention follow from different strategies to accomplish this movement from the stored and compacted to the expanded, deployed state. The most important to distinguish initially are configurations in which the expansion or compression is achieved in the manner of an accordion, a bellows, or a telescopic spyglass, which are referred to herein as A-Form, B-Form, and T-Form respectively.
B-Form 3-FEs are configured like a bellows; the partitions move in relation to one another like pieces of an oriental fan. Their threshold ends move in respect to each other like hands of a clock in radial fashion. In horizontal cross-section the chambers of a B-Form would thus appear to be arranged like the wedge-shaped sections of a grapefruit cut in half.
A-Form 3-FEs are characterized by the fact that the passage-partitions move relatively freely in respect to one another. As opposed to B-Forms, where one side of the partitions is pinned and only the other side of the partitions are free to move, both sides of A-Form partitions can vary their distance from the corresponding sides of adjacent partitions. Many kinds of flexible duct piping could be used to illustrate A-Form, which takes its name from the accordion. A sinuously shaped passageway could be created using A-Form 3-FEs.
T-Form 3-FEs slide the passage-partitions in or out telescopically, and usually in a straight line. (Please note, however, that arc-shaped tubular segments can be made to fit within one another, in spyglass fashion, such that they form a curved passageway when telescoped out.) T-Form 3-FEs thus are much like P-Form modules that have been made to fit within one another, passage-partitions included, and slide outwards to expand into a series of antechambers.
The coverings between partitions in T-Form 3-FEs will tend to be segmented and tubular in order to slide together, while outer coverings of A-Form and B-Form 3-FEs may often be flexible. Nevertheless, stiff hinged or continuous but foldable coverings are feasible with A- and B-Forms, just as flexible coverings stretched over telescoping frames are feasible with T-Form 3-FEs. The generalizations contained in the first sentence of this paragraph are thus offered for better understanding by way of contrasting the different embodiments in terms of anticipated tendencies, rather than requirements, for their respective implementation.
Also fundamental is to distinguish among types of 3-FEs in terms of their passage-partitions' make up, and mainly there are two: Panel or Framed. Panel Partitions refer to partitions with their associated door frames that are flat and stiff. In compacted position, they lie close together like playing cards in a deck. By contrast, framed partitions provide the partitions, doors and door frames using articulating frame elements; consequently, the materials stretched between such frames need not be stiff. Hybrids of these two types of course embody the invention as well, as when frames are used with stiff panel materials, or door frames are of one type but doors of another, to give only two of many possible permutations.
Tabulating with these two major classifications yields then eight main types of 3-FEs: panel P-Form, panel A-Form; panel B-Form; panel T-Form; Framed P-Form, Framed A-Form; Framed B-Form, and Framed T-Form, plus combinations or intermediates. To these two other categories must be added. Please note that 4-PASS Modular or Non-Attached Autonomous Devices as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,623 B1 by the same inventor [hereafter, abbreviated 4-PASS MONADs], may be set up as 3-FEs of the Framed B-Form or hybrid P&B-Form types. Conversely, versions of B-Form 3-FEs could be substituted for 4-PASS MONADs in many cases when building compounds and complexes of 4-PASS MONADs. In addition, those of skill in the art will appreciate that there are variants of P-Form, T-Form, and B-Form 3-FEs capable of forming ramped passages even when multi-chambered antechambers are unneeded or their apertures can safely be left open.
Because all these various bellows-type, accordion-type, telescoping-type and 4-PASS MONAD-type arrangements are very efficient in drawing in air as well as expelling it, ways to fit filtered air valves and in-takes are envisioned in almost all embodiments of 3-FE Multiple-Antechambers to help insure in the first instance that contaminants are not drawn into the passageway during set-up, and to allow users to mechanically pump or flush out passageways even when there is no electric power. Similarly, several embodiments of the invention provide mounts, hook-ups, nozzles, and vacuum tubing, suction drains, blowers, waste collection systems and the like to help cleanse air and users passing through the salubrious gauntlet of the emergency passageway. Additionally, mounting and hookup points for wiring, cameras, Geiger counters, irradiation equipment, ionic collectors, spraying and dusting systems, generators, and all sorts of detection equipment may also be provided in some embodiments in such a way that these auxiliary devices stow and fold away in the stored configuration. In Framed embodiments, conduits, plumbing, and ducting will tend to be integrated inside tubular framed elements, while in Panel versions these functions will tend to employ flexible, external tubing. Here again the last statement is meant to indicate tendencies rather than absolute requirements associated with the panel versus framed types.
Flooring in some embodiments of this invention consists of overlapping plates that slide over one another to allow expansion of the floored surface. In B-Form 3-FEs the motion is radial from a central hub or pinion, and may be visualized as like the opening of the tail feathers of a peacock or spreading out a hand of cards. An important advantage of the floor system just described for B-Form 3-FEs is that it is eminently suitable for supplying the deck for 4-PASS MONADs, particularly since it is capable of generating the regular polygonal shapes suitable and this flooring or decking scheme may thus enjoy dual use both in the 4-PASS and 3-FE systems. In T-Form and B-Form embodiments the allowed-for motion of the sliding plate will be linear, but A-Form embodiments may employ a floored plate system which allows for some non-rectilinear, curved alignment. In addition, flexible or stretchable materials may be used in addition to, rather than in lieu of, sliding plate or other hard floors, in most embodiments, to seal out contamination from below. This follows from a major consideration: while there are few restrictions on materials used all around to create the air-tight passageway, stiffer or heavier weight flooring materials will be called for to bear foot and other traffic in most embodiments.
Since wheeled access through 3-FEs is critical to ensure access for the handicapped and wounded, hard flooring is deemed important in most embodiments of this invention. Some embodiments of the invention include solid, sheet-like material to be used for blast-resistance around the 3-FE Multi-antechamber in its stored position, but as a sub-flooring material in its expanded, deployed position, offering greater durability. In other words, the outer shielding would be removed from around the outside of the folded 3-FE, laid inside as sub-flooring during set up.
Leveling devices incorporated into some embodiments of the 3-FE are intended to permit the creation of fully enclosed ramps providing emergency handicapped access. Many embodiments incorporate folding and/or telescoping bottom supports that allow the floor of the 3-FE to ride above the ground, effectively creating a space between. The inventor believes it is important to recognize that much potential contamination from below can be sheltered against through implementation of embodiments of the invention that provide a raised floor. It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that such support mechanisms may readily be engineered to accomplish related functions of providing the desired leveling or inclination of the passageway. A degree of incline in individual chambers of the 3-FE, or in the entire passageway it creates, may be desired for particular purposes, for example the creation of ramps or proper drainage. Special variants of this invention provide for spiraling ramp passageways reminiscent in overall form to some seashells; that is to say, modular or telescoping segments that expand in the direction of a helix or gyre. These variants can require only a relatively small “footprint” to create a stable form capable of reaching portals situated at second, third, or even higher stories. In some emergency situations, ground level parts of buildings may be contaminated while floors above are still usable—as long as safe means of ingress and egress can be provided.
Most embodiments of the invention may include a guide mechanism controlling the direction and spacing of chambers as the 3-FE is expanded. It will be readily evident to those skilled in the art that there are a great number of well-known ways to control such motion, including, to mention but a few examples, tracks, wheels, pinions, tongue in grove, channeling, single-rail, dual rail, or multiple rail, and guide bars. The work of propelling folded components of the 3-FE along such guides also lies within the realm of well-established mechanical techniques that will be quite familiar to anyone skilled in the art: sprung, pneumatic, hydraulic, pulley-driven, crank, rack-and-gear, scissor-style crisscrossing pinioned struts, rack-and-pinion, and motor driven, and many other ways of accomplishing this mechanical work are all plainly feasible alternatives. However, given the emergency conditions under which deployment would occur in practice, it is desirable that 3-FEs be modular and of a size and design that will allow manual set-up, at least as a backup. Modularity confers a number of further advantages. It enables 3-FE passageways to conform to the shape of buildings to which they are attached. For example, two T-form units can be coupled to a B-Form unit to provide a multi-chambered passageway stretching around a corner. As has been previously explained, the system allows for the indefinite extension and branching of 3-FE passageways.
a) shows the same folded form illustrated in
a) shows the same folded form with all but one assemblages removed from line of sight.
b) further separates
The passage-partitions are depicted as they might appear if transparent materials like glass, Lexan or Plexiglass were employed and the doors to the apertures were sliding. This has the present advantage of allowing us better to peer inside, seeing the gauntlet of partitions with their respective apertures. However, it also will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that neither transparent materials nor sliding door are required forms: opaque or translucent materials, and swinging or suspended aperture doors, could be constructed to serve the same purposes, to give only two examples among many.
It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the modules or sections of embodiments of the invention are not at all required to assume the square tubular shape shown in the foregoing and several of the following figures merely as a drafting expediency. Rectangular rather than square thresholds and arched or peeked topsides well might be preferred for structural, aesthetic, storage or other reasons, or to better shed elements like rain or snow, and are entirely within the purview of the general form taught herein, to give only a few of many possible shapes. (In addition, domed topsides are a natural possibility with B-Form embodiments.) As previously noted, T-Form is not limited to straight-line expansion on the horizontal plane: arc shaped segments may be employed. In this case, as seen from above in
A similar helix shape can be attained using Bellows (B-form) types.
guide-support mechanism is provided to bring all the elements of the invention back and forth between the compact (folded up) to the expanded positions and hold them in place. Guiding motion in this direction can be provided by the entire covering material sliding as tube within a tube when stiff covering materials are used. Otherwise, or additionally, telescopic framed elements are employed. Two such telescopic framed elements 108 are illustrated in
Leveling and elevating functionality will be desired to support the passageway from below. Telescoping or jacking supports may be incorporated in the guide-support mechanism. These are represented in
It will be appreciated that other framed embodiments of T-Form exist, in which non-telescoping frame elements are used, but the frame as a whole telescopes from its compacted state to its expanded state. For example, straight telescoping of the whole framework can be achieved utilizing crisscrossed frame elements of a fixed length pinioned scissors-wise, for example, or hinged. Similar techniques particularly suited to the accordion A-Frame embodiments will be explained below.
Returning to
Universal mounts (not shown in Figures) are recommended to maximize the adaptability of 3-FEs to be optimally equipped to handle threats of various kinds, and which may not be known in advance. Generally, flush, flange like mounts may be preferable for columnar mounting, to facilitate the airtight containment of the antechambers' sides nearest the central axis. Universal mounts might be placed anywhere on the covering and framework provided 1) that the motions required for expansion and compacting are not obstructed, and 2) that they are strong enough to support the weight of affixed devices. In embodiments employing panel coverings, flush mounts are least likely to constitute obstructions.
Although the embodiments of
In all of the Figures so far discussed, the folding has occurred on the horizontal [XZ] plane, but never vertically. Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize readily that there is no vertical compacting restriction intrinsic to the invention disclosed herein. If telescoping vertical elements are substituted, soft-covered (but still hard floored and/or hard roofed) versions of A-Form, B-Form, and T-Form can be compacted in the Y dimension (or vertical direction), as well as on the XZ plane. If drawings of flattened versions of these embodiments have not been included here, it is for brevity's sake. However, since compacting is an important characteristic of 3-FEs, additional embodiments that do compact vertically are discussed below.
We will call the embodiment in
It is noted that the B-Form MONAD in
Now let us unfold
Erection from the position reached in
Each of the respective folded positions has its advantages and drawbacks. The prior, more symmetrical form in
With only slight modification, a hub like that depicted in
In the alternative, if the blades are left locked in the position shown in
This dual modality in terms of the ultimate folded position of MONADs so equipped may be deemed highly significant. For one thing, it extends the range of usefulness of the structures defined in U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,623 issued Jul. 27, 2004 by providing an alternative for storing, shipping, setup and deployment in general. For another thing, it means that one main embodiment of 3-FE Multi-Antechambers among several, namely the B-Form MONADs, can lead a double life, moon-lighting or enjoying an honorable retirement as highly multifunctional frameworks for a great variety of structural purposes. Therefore the invention should be accorded the scope of the claims that follow.
The present application is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 10/861,746, filed Jun. 3, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,152,614 which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/392,148, filed Mar. 18, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,623 patent issued Jul. 27, 2004. All are by the same sole inventor. One main embodiment of the present invention utilizes the structure of the prior invention. U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,623 broadly describes structural applications that are cognate with those of the present invention.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Child | 10861746 | US |
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| Parent | 10861746 | Jun 2004 | US |
| Child | 11032392 | US |
