Spherical enclosure suitable as a building structure, pressure vessel, vacuum vessel, or for storing liquids

Abstract

A spherical container having a shell formed by 6 bands, interwoven in such a way as to create 12 pentagonal openings spaced evenly around the sphere. 12 pentagonal covers, 20 disk shaped covers, and 30 struts. Building materials for the invention can be composite materials such as graphite or fiberglass fibers wherein; the parts are joined with stitching and then permanently bonded together with a suitable adhesive such as epoxy to form an airtight container. The invention can also be fashioned from sheets of weldable material, wherein all seams are welded together to form an airtight container. The 30 struts are placed inside the sphere with their end points located with reference to the vertexes of the pentagonal openings in such a way as to form a tensegrity dodecahedron. This structure may be used as a building, a pressure vessel, a vacuum vessel, or as a container.

I claim:  
     
         1 . A spherical dodecahedral enclosure comprised of: 
 A). 6 bands of airtight material, woven together to form a sphere with 12 pentagonal openings and 20 places where 3 bands intersect:    B). 12 covers suitably shaped to cover the 12 pentagonal openings, and attached in such a way as to form an airtight seal.    C). The 20 intersections of said enclosure to be covered and or sealed in such a way as to form an airtight seal.    D). All other seams of said enclosure to be sealed in such a way as to make the said enclosure, airtight.    
     
     
         2 . A spherical dodecahedral enclosure according to  claim 1  wherein there are 12 pentagonal covers (each having 5 slits) that will be twisted and locked into place over each of the 12 pentagonal openings in order to center the covers over the center of the pentagonal openings in the said spherical dodecahedral enclosure.  
     
     
         3 . A spherical dodecahedral enclosure according to  claim 1  wherein there are 20 disk shaped covers with 3 slits in each, that will be twisted into place over each of the 20 places on the enclosure where 3 of the bands intersect. They will be twisted in such a way as to facilitate the location of the covers directly over the said points of intersection on the said spherical dodecahedral enclosure.  
     
     
         4 . A spherical dodecahedral enclosure according to  claim 1  wherein each of the six bands have a spherical cross section defined by swing an arc who's length is equal to the radius of the band and has it's origin at the center of the band, in a plane which is parallel with the band's axis. The purpose of said curvature is to facilitate fitting the bands together in order to create an airtight seal while also imparting a perfectly spherical contour to the structure.  
     
     
         5 . A spherical dodecahedral enclosure according to  claim 1  wherein the outer portions of the bands are cut away and removed at places where two bands overlap. The bands are then welded or joined in some manner along the same cut lines in order to impart a perfectly spherical contour and uniform wall thickness to the structure.  
     
     
         6 . The novel combination of an internal or external dodecahedral frame work with any spherical or nearly spherical structure in such a way that the said framework is applied to the spherical structure so as to play the part of the compression elements of a tensegrity dodecahedron while allowing the surface of the sphere to play the part of the tension members, (formerly cables of some sort), of the same tensegrity dodecahedron.  
     
     
         7 . The novel combination of the spherical dodecahedron with the tensegrity dodecahedron in which the 60 vertexes of the pentagonal openings are used to quickly and easily locate the points of attachment for the 30 required struts.  
     
     
         8 . The novel use of towers spaced evenly around and running completely through a spherical or nearly spherical structure to support said structure at the point where a tower intersects said structure and for use as anchor points for suspension cables that will support the said spherical or nearly spherical structure to prevent collapse when evacuated.