EP0247750A2 - Système modulaire - Google Patents

Système modulaire Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0247750A2
EP0247750A2 EP87304090A EP87304090A EP0247750A2 EP 0247750 A2 EP0247750 A2 EP 0247750A2 EP 87304090 A EP87304090 A EP 87304090A EP 87304090 A EP87304090 A EP 87304090A EP 0247750 A2 EP0247750 A2 EP 0247750A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
frustums
modular system
base
frustum
square
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP87304090A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0247750A3 (fr
Inventor
Malcolm John Robinson
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Publication of EP0247750A2 publication Critical patent/EP0247750A2/fr
Publication of EP0247750A3 publication Critical patent/EP0247750A3/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47B—TABLES; DESKS; OFFICE FURNITURE; CABINETS; DRAWERS; GENERAL DETAILS OF FURNITURE
    • A47B87/00—Sectional furniture, i.e. combinations of complete furniture units, e.g. assemblies of furniture units of the same kind such as linkable cabinets, tables, racks or shelf units
    • A47B87/02—Sectional furniture, i.e. combinations of complete furniture units, e.g. assemblies of furniture units of the same kind such as linkable cabinets, tables, racks or shelf units stackable ; stackable and linkable
    • A47B87/0207—Stackable racks, trays or shelf units
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47C—CHAIRS; SOFAS; BEDS
    • A47C13/00—Convertible chairs, stools or benches
    • A47C13/005—Modular seating

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a modular system particularly, but not exclusively, to a modular system which can be arranged to form a variety of three-dimensional display structures.
  • a modular structure should satisfy a number of desirable criteria in addition to being relatively inexpensive and easy to construct.
  • the structure should be able to be transported in a "flat pack" to minimise transport and storage costs, it should be easily and rapidly assembled and should include a variety of different shaped modules which can be interconnected to provide a variety of different shaped structures to suit different environments.
  • the modular relevance should be easily interlocked and the interlocking should not require tools permitting on-site assembly.
  • the structure In the case of a display system the structure should permit a variety of display positions to facilitate viewing of objects to be displayed and, if desired, it should be able to provide the appearance of a solid three-dimensional structure.
  • the modular system should be capable of being used in a variety of different applications, for example, it could be used to construct modular furniture such as chairs, telephone booths and can be used as educational toys.
  • An object of the present invention is to provide an improved modular system which obviates or mitigates disadvantages associated with existing modular systems.
  • the polygonal pyramids are regular and have substantially identical unit base lengths which permits a variety of three-dimensional display structures to be used by combining different frustums of polygonal pyramids.
  • the frustums are hollow to permit a plurality of recesses in the three-dimensional structure for displaying objects and the base units can be held together by clips without the use of tools to permit rapid and easy assembly.
  • the units can be easily disassembled and stacked or packed flat to facilitate transport and storage.
  • a modular system comprising a plurality of frustums of regular polygonal pyramids adapted to be interlocked together to form a three-dimensional polyhedra, the length of the base of each frustum face being substantially identical.
  • '.frustums of the regular polygonal pyramids are interlocked by fastening abutting frustum sides in a three-dimensional polyhedral structure together.
  • the frustums are hollow so that in a three-dimensional polyhedra a plurality of recesses are provided which are adapted to. receive items to be displayed.
  • the fastening means includes recess cover means for covering said display recess.
  • said polyhedra are adapted to be interlocked using said fastening means to create complex three-dimensional polyhedra shapes.
  • said fastening means is a resilient clip and preferably also said fastening means includes an M-shaped clip adapted to couple adjacent frustum faces to adjacent frustums together.
  • said polygonal pyramids are frustums of a regular three-sided polygon which has an equilateral triangular base, a four-sided pyramid which has a square base and a six-sided pyramid which has a hexagonal base, the base length of the equilateral triangle, and the square and the hexagon being substantially identical.
  • angles between the faces of the side of the pyramid and the base plane are important and preferably the angle of the side of the frustum with the base and in the case of the triangle is,74° 12' and in the case of the square is 70° 32', and in the case of a hexagon for mating with the square is 54° 44', and in the case of the hexagon joining with the triangle 35° 16'.
  • the modular system has a variety of applications.
  • the polygonal shapes can be interconnected to provide a three-dimensional building such as booths, furniture such as chairs, loudspeaker cabinets, lampshades, educational toys and graphic displays, in addition to a modular display system.
  • Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawings illustrates respectively a hexagonal frustum 30, of a hexagonal pyramid, a square frustum 32 of the square pyramid and a triangular frustum 34 of a triangular pyramid.
  • the hexagonal, square and triangular frustums are regular and have a base unit length, a, which is the same for each structure for permitting the frustums to be interconnected to form three-dimensional structures as will be later described.
  • the face length, b, of each of the faces of the respective frustums is also the same to facilitate interconnection with the frustums in the three-dimensional structure.
  • FIG. 4 of the drawings illustrates a three-dimensional display structure made using the hexagonal and square frustums shown in Figs. 1 and 2 respectively. For clarity part of the structure is shown in a partly exploded view to provide a better perspective on the composition of the structure.
  • the hexagonal and square frustums are hollow to define respective recesses 38 and 40 before receiving items to be displayed and the adjacent hexagonal and square frustums are interlocked by exterior fastenings generally indicated by reference numeral 52 along an adjacent base line of the frustums and internal fasteners 44 engage with adjacent internal surfaces to permit the structure to be assembled as will be later described in detail.
  • Fig. 4a depicts a truncated tetrahedron made of triangular and hexagonal frustums shown in Figs. 1 and 3.
  • the hexagonal frustums have angles of 35° 16' as best seen in Fig. 7b.
  • the frustums are secured in the same manner as the polyhedron shown in Fig. 4 using clips.52 and 44 as will be described.
  • Figs. 5a,5b and 5c illustrate an enlarged,view of a hollow hexagonal frustum for use with the structure shown in Fig. 4.
  • the frustum has a unit base length of 15 inches and the angle between the frustum base and face of the hexagon is 54° 44'. This angle is very important in permitting the hexagonal frustum to be easily engaged with other hexagonal frustums or with square frustums.
  • the hexagonal frustum 30 has a cut-out 46 for permitting the fasteners to be inserted and slid along adjacent surfaces for interlocking adjacent frustums as will be described.
  • Fig. 6 of the drawings is an enlarged view taken on the line B-b of Fig. 5a. It will be seen that the face 48 is deformed near to the base to create a flared portion generally indicated by reference numeral 50.
  • the flared portion 50 begins about inch from the edge and subtends an angle substantially 15° from the plane of the face 48 and then returns along the base plane of the frustum to terminate when at the plane of the face 48.
  • This shape when mated with adjacent complimentary flared portion of another frustum, shown in cross-hatching outline, aloows a resilient fastener generally indicated by reference numeral 52, and shown in broken outline, to be slid in through recess 46 over portions to provide an interlock between adjacent frustums.
  • the surface 54 of the frustum 30 has a tubular portion 56 disposed therein.
  • the tubular portion 56 is adapted to receive a leg 58 (shown in cross-section) of an M-shaped clamp 60 as best seen in Fig. 11 for coupling surfaces of adjacent frustums together internally.
  • Figs. 7a - 7c correspond to Figs. 5a - 5c and Fig. 7d corresponds to Fig. 6 in which like numerals refer to like parts.
  • the angle between the frustum base and face of the hexagon is 35 16', and is combined with frustums of triangular pyramids to create polyhedral structures as shown in Fig. 4a.
  • Figs. 8a and 8b of the drawings illustrate enlarged plan and side views of the square frustum 32 shown in Fig. 2.
  • the unit length is 15 inches and in this case the angle between the base of each side face 62 is 70° 32'.
  • This square 32 also includes a cut-out 64 for permitting an edge clip to be slid on in the same manner as fastener 50 described in Fig. 6, and similarly the edge face 62 of the square is also deformed at the base in a similar manner to the flare 50 for receiving the fastener as seen in Fig. 8c.
  • the surface 66 also contains a tubular element at the mid-point of end side for receiving a leg of an M-shaped clamp for coupling to adjacent frustums.
  • the triangular frustum 34 is shown in more detail.
  • the triangular frustum is an equilateral triangle in plan view and has a side of unit length 15 inches which is identical to that unit length of the square and the hexagon.
  • the angle between the base of the frustum 34 and each face 70 is 74° 12'.
  • Fig. 9c illustrates a section taken on the line A-a and it will be seen that each face 70 is deformed near the base portion to create a flared portion 72 in a manner similar to portion 50-for receiving a fastener in the manner already described. To this end a recess 74 is created at each apex 76 at each pair of side faces 70 of the triangular frustum 34.
  • Figs. 10 and 11 of the drawings illustrates a side view of hexagonal frustums 30 and square frustums 32 coupled together using M clips 60. It will be seen that tubular portions are arranged to define the distance 78 to which can be inserted clamps to interconnect adjacent surface 54 of respective hexagonal frustums together and hexagonal and square surfaces 56 together.
  • the hollow polygonal frustums can be formed by vaccum moulding and the tubular portion created by grinding off the ends to allow the insertions of M clips.
  • the polygonal elements may be made of suitable plastic material such as styrene, polycarbonate, or metal such as aluminium or steel.
  • Figs. 12,13,14 and 15 are similar to Fig. 6. These figures illustrate sections through adjacent polygonal pyramids showing how the faces of the pyramids abut together.
  • Fig. 12 depicts a section through adjacent faces of a square and hexognal pyramid.
  • Fig. 13 depicts a section through adjacent faces of two hexagonal pyramids,
  • Fig. '14 is a section through adjacent faces of a triangle and hexagon and
  • Fig. 15 illustrates a section through an adjacent edge of two hexagonal pyramids for use.with a tetron. It will be appreciated that with each of Figs. 12 to 15 the angle formed by the leg portions is approximately 30 0 in each case and the leg portions are about b inch in length.
  • the polygonal pyramids are hollow to define recesses in which items to be displayed can be placed.
  • Figs. 16a and 16b of the drawings illustrate a edge fixing clip 52 shown in use in Fig. 6.
  • the edge fixing clip 52 is elongate and is generally U-shape in cross-section.
  • Either end 53 of the clip has a 32mm depth hole 55 to receive an L-shaped key 84 as best seen in Fig. 19.
  • the clip has two legs 57 and 59 which define divergent recess 61 for receiving the flared portions of respective face edges as shown in Figs. 12 through 15.
  • the clip is made of a suitable plastic material and is designed to secure all combinations of adjacent frustums shown in Figs. 1 through 3.
  • FIG. 17 of the drawings illustrates how a recess can be covered by a transparent panel of hexagonal shape.
  • a hexagonal panel 80 is proportioned to be fitted into the recess 38 or hexagonal frustum 30. With this arrangement a valuable display item can be displayed and protected by the panel 80.
  • the transparent panel can also be used to give further depth to graphics for instance by placing lettering on the display panel 80 which tends to quote "float" above any pictorial matter displayed within the recess 38.
  • Fig. 18. is a side view through a structure having a hexagonal frustum when a display panel is secured therein by fixing clip 52. It will be seen that adjacent edges 48 flare to define a flared portion 50 which is received in recess 61 of the fixing clip 52. The end face 63 of the leg 59 abuts the edge 81 of the panel 80 to securely retain it in the recess.
  • Fig. 19 of the drawings illustrates two modified edge clips 82 arranged to form a hinge clip.
  • the hinge clips are inverted and castellated to slot together as shown and are secured by an L-shaped key 84 which engages with aligned apertures 55 to produce the hinge.
  • Fig. 20 shows a section taken on line 20-20 of Fig. 19 and illustrates the degree of flexibility required to join adjacent polyhedra.
  • Fig. 21 is a perspective diagrammatic view of two polyhedra which are adapted to be joined by hinges 82 along the edges as shown.
  • a hexagonal face of a truncated tetrahedron is adapted to be coupled to a hexagonal face of a truncated octahedran.
  • Figs. 22 and 23 of the drawings illustrates a structure used for modifying the system to add various flat panels 88 to a variety of materials. This can be acheived by provided a hinged bar 86 on top of fixing edge ' 52 and the bar screwed to the panel 88. Am example of a finished structure is best seen in Fig. 24 where such flat panels are indicated by cross-hatching. Such flat panels can provide the flexibility for the display in that large items of graphic material such as posters can be displayed which may not fit into the recesses defined by the various frustums.
  • Fig. 25 illustrates a further example of half of a truncated octahedran adapted to receive a flat panel 90 to provide a table like structure.
  • Such a configuration provides added strength when inverted as indicated by reference numeral 92 and can be used in a complex construction of polyhedra as seen in Fig. 24 to provide articles such as furniture as well as the display.
  • Fig. 26 illustrates a chair made using the frustums of the hexagon and square as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. Cushions can be located in the interior and attached to be secured therein by the M-shaped clips.
  • the frustums hereinbefore described have been made by vaccum forming they can be made by any other suitable procedure such as extruding or by pressing and can be made of any other suitable material such as wood, fiberglass and metal that can be pressed into shape or assembled as desired. Furthermore, the frustums can be fastened by any other suitable means consistent with the objective of providing a rapidly and easily assembled structure.
  • the panels can be made in any suitable size depending on design requirements and a variety of different elements can be used as desired to create any suitable shape for aesthetic purposes or for functional requirements, such as a chair or a telephone booth.
  • All of the frustums need not necessarily be recessed but only those requiring to display elements and in the case of other applications the frustums can be recessed or made solid as desired. It will also be appreciated that devices can be used for back or internal projection of slides, incorporation of computer and visual display units. Furthermore the use of certain units as covering canopies over displays, or elongation of individual units by vertical and horizontal columns made up of flat panels of some rigid material can readily be provided.
  • the structure can be stored in a flat pack because similar frustums can nest to minimise volume and hence transport and storage costs.
  • the structure can be easily and rapidly assembled without the use of any tools except when suspended from above or similarly raised from the floor or fixed walls and the elements permit a variety of structures to be readily made on site,such as display items, furniture and occasional toys and the like. Materials may be made relatively inexpensively using vaccum forming techniques and a variety of sizes can be accommodated depending on the application.

Landscapes

  • Packages (AREA)
  • Packaging Of Annular Or Rod-Shaped Articles, Wearing Apparel, Cassettes, Or The Like (AREA)
  • Mirrors, Picture Frames, Photograph Stands, And Related Fastening Devices (AREA)
EP87304090A 1986-05-07 1987-05-07 Système modulaire Withdrawn EP0247750A3 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB8611096 1986-05-07
GB868611096A GB8611096D0 (en) 1986-05-07 1986-05-07 Modular system

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0247750A2 true EP0247750A2 (fr) 1987-12-02
EP0247750A3 EP0247750A3 (fr) 1989-05-10

Family

ID=10597437

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP87304090A Withdrawn EP0247750A3 (fr) 1986-05-07 1987-05-07 Système modulaire

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0247750A3 (fr)
GB (1) GB8611096D0 (fr)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2214977A (en) * 1988-02-10 1989-09-13 Malcolm Robinson Hinge device for modular system
EP1316441A4 (fr) * 2001-06-07 2004-03-31 Dentsu Tec Inc Support de renseignements

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2136897B1 (fr) * 1971-05-07 1973-05-11 Berg Julia
DE2203920A1 (de) * 1972-01-28 1973-08-02 Delkeskamp Kg Faltbarer verkaufsstaender
IT1059313B (it) * 1976-01-28 1982-05-31 Tecnogiocattoli Spa Sistema di composizione di un giocattolo di forma sferica mediante elementi modulari e giocattolo risultante
US4454678A (en) * 1981-12-07 1984-06-19 Duvivier John E Slotted panels with slotted connectors

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2214977A (en) * 1988-02-10 1989-09-13 Malcolm Robinson Hinge device for modular system
EP1316441A4 (fr) * 2001-06-07 2004-03-31 Dentsu Tec Inc Support de renseignements
US7155851B2 (en) 2001-06-07 2007-01-02 Dantsu Tec Inc. Collection holder

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB8611096D0 (en) 1986-06-11
EP0247750A3 (fr) 1989-05-10

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