So after reading a bunch of UF stuff last night, I had a dream. In it, Corwin was camping with someone I couldn't remember, and he had had an unfolding cottage with him.

It was basically a sheet of metal that was powered by a crystal that expanded when heated, and various mechanical linkages caused durasteel panels to unfold at the proper time to form a tiny but sturdy cottage.

The person he was camping with expressed her surprise that it didn't use any kind of electronics. He, however, praised its primitive sophistication, and explained that while an electronic solution would be finicky at best, this thing you'd practically have to snap in half or rust to ruin to get it to not work.

>So after reading a bunch of UF stuff last night, I had a dream. In it,
>Corwin was camping with someone I couldn't remember, and he had had an
>unfolding cottage with him.
>
>It was basically a sheet of metal that was powered by a crystal that
>expanded when heated, and various mechanical linkages caused durasteel
>panels to unfold at the proper time to form a tiny but sturdy cottage.

Unlike many UF-themed dreams, including quite a number I have had myself, that... contains nothing that is even a little unlikely. I may have to use that.

I'm envisioning the structure as something akin to the lead balloon they built on Mythbusters one time, which was constructed as a series of flat square and triangular panels so arranged as to more or less spontaneously self-erect into a cube shape when inflated. The portable shelter version would be supported by tension in the shell, rather than internal gas pressure, but the geometry is similar...

Hmm. Yes. I may have to steal this. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

One of the other things I remember about it now is that it used the crystal instead of expanding gas because with gas, there's always the worry that it'll all leak out between the time you set the shelter aside and the time you need to use it. Making it all solid-state eliminates that worry.

He also showed her an animated diagram of how the expanding crystal worked, but that's beyond my power to convey. Sorry.