This invention relates to temporary structures made of canvas stretched over foldable wire armatures such as tents, sun shades and a variety of toys.
The prior art contains a great number and variety of self-erecting, collapsible and portable structures made by the juxtaposition of panels of many shapes and dimensions where each panel is formed by a sheet of fabric stretched by a loop of steel wire or similar resiliently flexible filiform elements. Examples of this type of structure are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,960,161 Norman and 5,038,812 Norman, which patents are incorporated in this specification by his reference. In every instance, the wire loop is permanently attached to the periphery of the panel. While such fixedly defined panels can be joined in a variety of ways in order to change the shape, size or even nature of the structure, there is a definite advantage in providing ever improved versatility so that the same device can be put to variety of uses.
The principal and secondary objects of this invention are to provide wire and fabric structural panels whose shapes and dimensions can be quickly modified in order to provide structures that can be transfigured into others of different shapes, sizes and uses.
These and other valuable objects are achieved by using steel wire and fabric panels in which the wire is not confined to a fixed attachment to the fabric sheet, but, instead, is loosely inserted in a selection of several releasable pocket or recesses formed in various parts of the sheet""s periphery. Judicious positioning of sizing of the recesses and pockets allow for the reconfiguration of a particular panel from one shape to another. Combinations of those transfigurable panels can lead to the construction of diverse structures out of the same components.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds