tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82425475517276205392024-03-08T06:13:54.399-08:00SerendipityA collection of personal serendipitous experiences that have guided me along my path.bobhexahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142156466144847110noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242547551727620539.post-61795053016323986942009-04-17T01:07:00.000-07:002012-08-08T23:09:17.310-07:00Serendipity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Welcome travellers.</span></div>
Please rest a while on your journey. You arrive here at an opportune time. I have a treasure for you.<br />
Maybe you came here by chance or co-incidence. Get yourself comfortable for 5 minutes.<br />
How about a nice cuppa tea then ?<br />
I have been a Serendipitist for 35 years. All of my major life moves have been guided by the presence of Serendipity.<br />
Not only is the term applied to the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident, it is also used where a series of three, or a "hat trick", is similarly an outcome.<br />
<a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_serendipity_mean#ixzz1v6nivl00">Read more</a><br />
Serendipity occurs when three coincidences happen around a common theme.<br />
Remember that time when you were about to call this certain person on the phone when they called you first instead. Later perhaps you meet the person again by chance, finally another chance occurence happens and it involves that same person.........that my dear friend is "Serendipity".<br />
What to do about it??<br />
That person holds a key to your destiny and you must follow through the connection.<br />
He or she may offer you a position in some place you may not want to go.....my advice is to follow the direction that you are being told to move in. ....only then you will become a Serendipitist and quickly you will find your destiny.<br />
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We are led, sometimes unknowingly, along a path upon which we learn skills, knowledge and wisdom. We are guided to serve a-life-long apprenticeship toward achieving our destiny.<br />
By reviewing your past activities on this path maybe you can recognise how your seemingly aimless direction through life now can become meaningful to you.<br />
Ask yourself why you took that job. That job that seemed, at the time, so unrelated to your plans. Can you see now how it begins to make sense?<br />
Whether we recognise it or not, the magic of Serendipity has played, is playing and will continue to play, a major role in our lives.<br />
"The ocean refuses no river"<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Three coincidences that share a common theme qualifies as being serendipitous</i></b></span>.</span><br />
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A major proof of the secret of serendipity lies in the very word itself.<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">First coincidence.</span></b><br />
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If you apply a touch of lateral thinking to the word "Serendipity" you will find that it is an anagram of "pre-destiny''. Notice the hyphen please.<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagram">what is an anagram?</a><br />
Pause..........Check it out!<br />
Did you come up with an extra "i" ?If you didn't you should have :)<br />
Let's go lateral thinking on this ........the letter "i" is turned on its side and capitalised to "I". Hmmmm..... The ego appears to be flattened.(I'll come back to that later)<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Second coincidence.</span></b><br />
Consider the word 'dip'.....it means a brief immersion into and out of something. The letters of the word have an unusual ability to read the same upside down. Now take the word 'dip' out of the word 'serendipity' and what word are you left with? ......Serenity!! Serenity is defined as peace, tranquility, consciousness and God.<br />
One could interpret that in two very interesting ways:<br />
Serendipity is a brief immersion into God Consciousness.<br />
By immersing yourself into consciousness you will experience Serendipity which guides you to your pre-destiny.<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Third coincidence.</span></b><br />
An English diarist gentleman by the name of Horace Walpole coined the word....Serendip-ity In the late 17th century he had visited the Isle of Serendip. Reputed to be the Pearl of the Indian Ocean it was later to be renamed "Ceylon" and now is called "Sri Lanka".<br />
Whilst visiting there Horace came to hear of an old Indian folktale called "The Three Princes of Serendip<br />
Amazing coincidences and discoveries were always happening to these princes.<br />
Later upon returning to England Mr Walpole experienced a similar run of coincidences which inspired him to coin the word "Serendipity" by putting "ity" onto the end of 'Serendip'. By his placement of "ity" he caused the first and second coincidences.<br />
Which means, based on the rule of three co-incidences that the word 'Serendipity" is in fact serendipitious in action.<br />
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"Inspired yet?" (Another anagram!!)<br />
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To actively follow Serendipity one needs to pay attention to coincidences.<br />
When you experience Serendipity…….you do have a choice ……..follow it, follow the path that it offers you and then you will discover a lot of the "off the beaten path" treasures. The path you walk has potential in every single step.<br />
By following Serendipity you will walk the road that you were destined to travel................ If your ego is balanced you will be dipping into the sea of serenity.<br />
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On the other hand though,<br />
It is a free world after all,<br />
just shrug, put it all down to wild co-incidence<br />
and then forget it.<br />
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</div>bobhexahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142156466144847110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242547551727620539.post-16061139439180410952008-07-30T19:31:00.000-07:002015-10-18T02:33:38.048-07:00Encounters of the Serendipitous Kind<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This post details how under the influence of Serendipity I am discovering underlying connections between spheres, rhombic dodecahedrons, the Widget toy, the Nodlet truss and geometric matrices. This underlying silver thread of connectivity leads me on to yet further insights.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="color: #66ff99;">First Encounter.</span></span></strong></div>
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<strong style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #66ff99;">When?.........................</span></strong>In<span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span>January 1972<br />
I had left the the Royal Air Force (1965-1971) and had joined the family business of J.W.Moore, Printers and Bookbinders in North Shields, Tyne & Wear. North East England. (Geordie-land..." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geordie">Haway the Lads!!</a>")<br />
I fell in love, was engaged for a year and was happily married to Susan Russell in 1972 on December the 21st...Sue's birthday.<br />
Howard Christie was, and still is, our best man.<br />
I was at Newcastle University and was learning to be a Master Printer at the School of Print.<br />
Bill, my father had given me "carte blanche" on which conferences or seminars I wanted to attend in order to broaden my knowledge base.<br />
One of the major problems J.W.M. Ltd was having, was a shortage of work in the binding department. Hmmmmm.............................?????<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 21px;">Where?........................</span></strong></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SK_SmJ85t0I/AAAAAAAAA0E/_u8gjBO6aEE/s1600-h/Crown+hotel+Harrogate.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="291" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237636444603397954" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SK_SmJ85t0I/AAAAAAAAA0E/_u8gjBO6aEE/s400/Crown+hotel+Harrogate.jpg" width="400" /></a>Crown Hotel. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Harrogate</span> York,England.</div>
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<span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;"><strong>Who?...........................</strong></span><a href="http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1970_1975/fulltext/058c02.pdf">The metal Box Co.</a> Manchester.</div>
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<strong><span style="color: #66ff99;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">What?.......................</span>...</span></strong>Conference entitled “Printing and Packaging”</div>
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">My Intent.................</span></strong>Looking for a difficult product to specialize in<br />
<strong><span style="color: #99ff99;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Leading question.......</span>..</span></strong>What is the hardest thing to package? I nailed the speaker at the bar and asked him.<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #66ff99;">Answer........................</span>"</span></strong>Balls!", he answered.<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Question......................</span></strong>What is the perfect packing design for a sphere? I thought I knew the answer to this riddle. I thought it was the pentagonal dodecahedron (PD). In 1970 I had built a scale model building for my younger brother George's <a href="https://www.google.com/search?aq=1&oq=Scale+electrix&gcx=w&ix=c2&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=scale+electrics+track">"Scalextric"</a> racing car set incorporating a PD as a conning tower.<br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecahedron">What is a pentagonal dodecahedron</a><br />
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Boy, was I wrong! After this conference I spent nearly 6 months of late nights before I eventually found, through geometry and bubble baths, what the perfect packaging was for a sphere!<br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #99ff99;"><strong>Invention.....................</strong></span></span><span style="font-size: 100%;">..at last....I thought it was unique, I named it </span>the "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Parallella</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">pipoid</span> dodecahedron".<br />
The existence of this convex polyhedron with 12 parallelogram shaped faces, I was later to discover, was known as<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"> </span></span>the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">rhombic</span> dodecahedron.<br />
It was discovered, not as is generally thought, by Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), but by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes">Archimedes</a> the ancient Greek mathematician, physicist and engineer who died in 212BC.<br />
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Mother Nature actually beat us all to the punch .....<a href="http://www.keplersdiscovery.com/SixCornered.html">pomegranate</a> seeds for just a starter.<br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhombic_dodecahedron">What is a rhombic dodecahedron.</a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SJFZg2ChNpI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/yUXvP8J3JqE/s1600-h/RD+three+views.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229059063150622354" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SJFZg2ChNpI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/yUXvP8J3JqE/s320/RD+three+views.gif" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SK-Gdopw7YI/AAAAAAAAAyg/bcjNlZ5QMv8/s1600-h/rhombic.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237552735342095746" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SK-Gdopw7YI/AAAAAAAAAyg/bcjNlZ5QMv8/s320/rhombic.jpg" style="cursor: hand;" /></a><br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Result ..........................</span></strong>Provisionally patented as a “Space Saving Packaging Design for a Sphere”<br />
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Well, I proposed the idea to our family business of J.W.Moore Ltd.<br />
I figured that with maybe 50 girls in the bindery department making up RD's by assembling and gluing together, pre-punched & creased templates, they would become fully employed. We could then market them to companies who made balls and who were then packing the balls into cubic shaped boxes. You can store more balls in a given warehouse space if you pack them in RD's rather than in cubic boxes.<br />
My Uncle Bob (yes, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob's_your_uncle">Bob was my uncle</a>) who also happened to be the Vice President didn't quite grasp the concept at all.<br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-packing_of_spheres">Packing of spheres</a><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="color: #66ff99;">Second Encounter. </span></span></strong>(10 years later)<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">When?..................................</span></strong>1982<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Where?.................................</span></strong>Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Khobar</span>.<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Who?.....................................</span></strong>The Kuwait Bank Building Construction Project<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">What?....................................</span></strong>The bank was constructed of four corner piers, which supported a huge tetrahedral truss system from which the fabric of the building was suspended.<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Question............</span>....................</span></strong>Could a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">rhombic</span> dodecahedron be a stable structure when constructed from rods and nodes?<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Invention................................</span></strong>Build a skeletal <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">rhombic</span> dodecahedron (RD) model incorporating a common hexagonal node design with six bearing journals to which the rods ends are attached and free to pivot. My prototype was made from drinking straws and bent paper clips.<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Result.....................................</span></strong>The RD was not stable and could freely flex at the nodes.<br />
It did however display a disciplined geometrical folding movement, which was unique allowing the structure to assume a variety of different hexagonal shapes. I designed a toy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">proto</span>-type which was made by an engineering and modelling company in Newcastle upon Tyne and three months later forwarded to me in Saudi.<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><strong><span style="color: #66ff99;">Result...............................</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: 100%;">provisionally </span>patented<strong> </strong>later<strong> </strong>in 1985 as a “Framework of Changeable Shape”<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/116301488865807915087/TheWidgetToy?locked=true"><span style="background-color: yellow; font-size: x-large;">The Widget Toy</span></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/search/en/WO1992022102"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Toy Patent: framework of changeable shape</b></span></a><br />
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Circa November 7<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">th</span> 1984.<br />
Steve Jennings, my good friend whom I had met in Saudi, sent me a newspaper cutting from the Innovation page of the Daily Telegraph showing a system of rods and nodes which looked very much like the toy I had invented.<br />
It was for use in outer space as a reflector dish.<br />
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I contacted the co-inventors of this collapsible antenna dish. I was invited to visit them at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Guildford</span> University in Surrey England at the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Space Structures</span> Centre.<br />
I was introduced to Dr Nooshin and Dr R. Annandale. and four other associates.<br />
Their invention was shown to me which was in effect a tetrahedral truss incorporating midpoint foldable pin joints.<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SJfs8AInzzI/AAAAAAAAArY/NnTNcvXJjj8/s1600-h/DSCF0046-A.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230910007786590002" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SJfs8AInzzI/AAAAAAAAArY/NnTNcvXJjj8/s400/DSCF0046-A.JPG" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px;" width="400" /></a>I showed them my widget toy. After due consideration, they concluded that it would be impossible to make a viable expandable stable truss from it unless it incorporated mid point hinges.<br />
I had to agree as it seemed that the Widget toy was incapable of any configuration that would be able to support weight or span any distance.<br />
Disappointed, I thanked the Doctors for their time and patience.<br />
Upon my departure I gave each doctor one of my nodes to keep for posterity.<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SJfsAa0sfdI/AAAAAAAAArQ/GKWjPShccRQ/s1600-h/DSCF0046-CROP.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230908984158617042" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SJfsAa0sfdI/AAAAAAAAArQ/GKWjPShccRQ/s320/DSCF0046-CROP.JPG" style="cursor: hand; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 180%;">Third Encounter.</span></strong><br />
7 years later……………..<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">When?.........................................</span></strong>1990<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Where?........................</span>...............</span></strong>The Schoolhouse. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Escrick</span>, Yorkshire, England.<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Who?..........................................</span></strong>Jessica and I.<br />
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It was a somewhat delicate prototype. The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">model maker used too much talcum powder as a filler in the plastic to achieve the "click" as the rod end engages on the node's journals. The rod ends kept snapping off. Jessica was born in 1985. Here we were 5 years later and Jessica was now tall enough to reach the Widget.on the upper shelf where I had kept it. A pet lip from Jessica when I showed the fear of collateral damage</span><br />
The toy had already been rejected by the toy industry there was really no reason to be so damn neurotic about keeping it away from Jess anymore.<br />
So we put it on the table and began to play with it.<br />
Oh oh!! It slid right off the table and with the action of both of us trying to catch it at the same time, it spun to the floor...... and then......and then..... it turned inside out and folded up into this really compact bundle of vertical rods, a shape that it had never assumed before.<br />
Ding ding! The lights went on in my head....I recognised that with the addition of tension wires I could make a stable <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">tensegrity</span> truss.<br />
I guess I had what Pasteur had called the <a href="http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadershop/0787976806excerpt.html">"prepared mind"</a><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Invention...................................</span></strong>the Nodular Octahedral Double-Layered Expandable Truss.<br />
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I built a prototype using threaded rods, hexagonal metal nodes and ripcloth acting as tensegrity skin membranes.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AmjyfdkDg-A/TLJZd__VI9I/AAAAAAAACVU/MsFTQXY3OX4/s1600/scan0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AmjyfdkDg-A/TLJZd__VI9I/AAAAAAAACVU/MsFTQXY3OX4/s320/scan0003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SL96ogd40LI/AAAAAAAAA5U/EeeZ_o-K4m4/s1600-h/Nodlet+folded2p.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242043327611195570" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SL96ogd40LI/AAAAAAAAA5U/EeeZ_o-K4m4/s320/Nodlet+folded2p.JPG" style="cursor: hand;" /></a><br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Result.......................................</span></strong><br />
I again set forth to the Space Structure Centre to see Dr <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Nooshin</span> of the Space Structures Centre at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Guildford</span> University in Surrey. He gathered a team of experts in the field of folding spaceframes and after an hour or so I was advised that I had indeed discovered a new <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">tensegrity</span> truss. They were amazed at its simplicity and elegance.<br />
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A short report was published in the International Journal of Space Structures. (Volume 6 No 1. 1991)<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SL966cK4ZEI/AAAAAAAAA5c/rHNzXigK80k/s1600-h/Nodlet+opened.pJPG.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242043635695379522" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SL966cK4ZEI/AAAAAAAAA5c/rHNzXigK80k/s320/Nodlet+opened.pJPG.jpg" style="cursor: hand;" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SL978Fs7prI/AAAAAAAAA5k/J-O8gqt3nrU/s1600-h/Nodlet+Node.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" height="227" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242044763535550130" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SL978Fs7prI/AAAAAAAAA5k/J-O8gqt3nrU/s320/Nodlet+Node.JPG" style="cursor: hand;" width="315" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #66ff99;"><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;"></span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #66ff99;"><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;"></span></strong></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://nodlet.blogspot.com/">View Nodlet blog</a>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #66ff99;"><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;"></span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/bobhexa/Nodlet?authuser=0&feat=directlink">More Nodlet Photos</a>.</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M0HBAOCUvc">See video of Nodlet</a>.</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #66ff99;"><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;">Fourth Encounter.</span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #66ff99;"></span></span>7 years later……………<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">When?......................................</span></strong>1997<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Where?....................................</span></strong><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Manoa</span>, Honolulu, Hawaii<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Who?.........................................</span></strong>Self<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">What?........................................</span></strong>Given that only three <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">nodlet</span> trusses had been hand modeled, my claim that a number of conjoined trusses would exhibit multiple surface curvature was questioned on the grounds that the apparent <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">formability</span> of the three conjoined trusses was due to "slop" at the nodal connections and formability was therefore not a true attribute of the “<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Nodlet</span>”.<br />
<strong><span style="color: #66ff99; font-size: 130%;">Question.....................................</span></strong>How can I build more economic trusses to enable me to verify my claim?<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SJkazTzaeHI/AAAAAAAAAro/f5yKErb9-6k/s1600-h/sense+of+unity.JPG"></a><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SJkazTzaeHI/AAAAAAAAAro/f5yKErb9-6k/s1600/sense+of+unity.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5231241910959110258" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SJkazTzaeHI/AAAAAAAAAro/f5yKErb9-6k/s400/sense+of+unity.JPG" style="margin-top: 0px;" /></a></div>
Whilst I was pondering upon this problem, my attention was drawn to the cover of a book that I had been reading that Tom Prince had gifted me a few days earlier, called 'The Sense of Unity'. There by golly gosh lay the answer! <span style="font-size: 130%;"><strong><span style="color: #66ff99;">Answer.......................................</span></strong></span>Using cardboard, I made the nodes as large hexagons and the rods as squares with the sides of the squares and hexagons being equal in length which were all then cut out of one sheet and then folded into the truss configuration.<br />
In order to make a true copy of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Nodlet</span> it would be necessary to add additional hexagons to the folded flat sheet component.<br />
In the interests of proving the flexibility, it was unnecessary to go to that bother. The free-ended <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">un</span>-adjoined squares were removed from the flat sheet component, which resulted in………………<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #66ff99;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Invention.............................</span>.....</span></strong><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Hexaflex</span>…………An extremely flexible pseudo honeycomb matrix design.<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/bobhexa/HexaflexPatentNumber7541085IssuedJune2nd2009?authuser=0&feat=directlink">More Hexaflex images</a></span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://7541085-hexaflex.blogspot.com/">View Hexaflex blog</a></b></span><br />
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<b style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=RtFOey5oClA" style="font-size: x-large;">See video of Hexaflex.</a></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=FPrt7tWpJfw">More video</a></b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7541085.PN.&OS=PN/7541085&RS=PN/7541085">Hexaflex Patent.</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: lime; font-size: x-large;">Fifth Encounter.</span><br />
17th February 2012<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #009900; font-size: 29px;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />More pennies from Heaven</span></strong></div>
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Tonight I folded my large sheet of Hexaflex on top of itself in a similar fashion as if one were closing an open book. Amazingly the Nodlet Truss mechanism appea<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SmPn4QW_ZSI/AAAAAAAABXI/2LaKnolheLY/s1600-h/Nodlet+perspective.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360382935151109410" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SmPn4QW_ZSI/AAAAAAAABXI/2LaKnolheLY/s400/Nodlet+perspective.jpg" style="float: left; height: 134px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 193px;" /></a>rs.<br />
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<a href="http://nodlet.blogspot.com/2010/10/professor-nooshin-and-his-associates-at.html"><span style="background-color: yellow; font-size: x-large;">Nodlet</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SmQxC7UcyCI/AAAAAAAABXQ/Sae3T4GO0xI/s1600-h/Roboflex.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360463382830696482" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SmQxC7UcyCI/AAAAAAAABXQ/Sae3T4GO0xI/s400/Roboflex.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 155px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 231px;" /></a>This realisation is profound. The Nodlet is a truss mechanism I discovered in 1990 which can be opened and closed by manipulating two opposed nodes. By a stroke of coincidence I have found a mechanical system which can warp two-dimensional space into three dimensions and control the degree of warpage by remote control. Now there is a means to emulate the movement of a snake which can slither into all sorts of tight locations.....possibly to locate victims of building collapse.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SmQ41zZhjKI/AAAAAAAABXo/9SAiT4grn3Q/s1600-h/2009_0719ArtCarterNick0142.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360471953459219618" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SmQ41zZhjKI/AAAAAAAABXo/9SAiT4grn3Q/s400/2009_0719ArtCarterNick0142.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 205px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 281px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SmQxDflZldI/AAAAAAAABXg/YOWYgmUHclc/s1600-h/2009_0719ArtCarterNick0143.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360463392565466578" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oMPIVdI8RlU/SmQxDflZldI/AAAAAAAABXg/YOWYgmUHclc/s400/2009_0719ArtCarterNick0143.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 204px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 278px;" /></a><br />
By using Shape Metal Alloys (SMA's), servo motors or compressed air systems located in the voids created when two sheets of Hexaflex are overlaid upon themselves this geometry allows a means of morphing a planar surface of Hexaflex into any form of surface curvature by changing the distance between the many dual-opposed nodes.</div>
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In the above sequence of images, for illustrative purposes, the SMA's are depicted by the brown wooden blocks.</div>
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I have found the perfect material for the inner and outer skins of my snake cylinder concept.</div>
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It is called "Metal Rubber" made by Nanosonic.Inc</div>
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<a href="http://www.nanosonic.com/MR-01-sensors_productdatasheet.pdf">http://www.nanosonic.com/MR-01-sensors_productdatasheet.pdf</a><br />
This helps solve the power distribution to the SMA's By making one of the skins having a positive polarity and the other skin a negative polarity.<br />
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Who would have thought that ............</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rpABZsoS6js/UCNDFGhaPhI/AAAAAAAAFGU/spzo_kuLfnU/s1600/Hexaflex+Nodlet+Complete.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rpABZsoS6js/UCNDFGhaPhI/AAAAAAAAFGU/spzo_kuLfnU/s320/Hexaflex+Nodlet+Complete.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Designed this toy with Google SketchUp.</div>
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<a href="http://hexaflex-apps.blogspot.com/"><span style="background-color: yellow; font-size: x-large;">"The Matrix"</span></a><br />
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Stay tuned...! Getting closer.....</div>
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bobhexahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17142156466144847110noreply@blogger.com0