Kinetic Pine Cone

In considering the movement of organic opening and closing I decided to base my kinetic design on a pine cone. Below are some studies of the movement, and ways in which I could make a simple working prototype in less than 2 days. Initially I tried to use the structure of an umbrella as a basis for the motion of pushing upwards and outwards. I took 3 umbrellas and disassembled them in an attempt to extract the runner and stretchers to layer them atop one another. It turned out quite messy and just short of disastrous, and I realized it would be impossible to make it work in less than 24 hours.  In the end I employed a simpler method of using a cardboard tube with arm pulleys sticking out of the core and a centre core moving the pulleys when being pulled upwards.

{ Tags: ideas, kinetic, mechanism, nature, sketch }