Optical: systems and elements – Kaleidoscope
Patent
1992-07-20
1993-08-31
Wintercorn, Richard A.
Optical: systems and elements
Kaleidoscope
G02B 2300
Patent
active
052414183
ABSTRACT:
A kaleidospherical device (10) made of a plurality of elongate, tapered tubes (12) and (14) bundled into a geodesically ordered arrangement, is described. The tubes are preferably comprised of three planar mirrors (22, 24 and 26) mounted together to form a triangular cross-section that is approximately, but not quite equilateral. The tubes taper along their length from a small end to a large end where the bundle of tubes forms a geodesic shape. The reflective surfaces of the three mirrors forming the tube face each other. That way, when an object to be viewed is placed adjacent the small end of the bundle, the tapered tubes form a reflection of the object as a spherical image positioned inside the kaleidosphere. The kaleidosphere (60) can be made as a hemispherically shaped member that mounts on a cabinet (62) for projecting a movie image or an image created by an object wheel (82) into the kaleidosphere. The kaleidosphere (96) can also serve as a lamp (90) or a chandelier.
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McLeod Ian C.
Wintercorn Richard A.
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