If you’ve ever visited LSC, you’ve probably walked underneath the Hoberman Sphere. The giant motorized sculpture has hung from our ceiling since 1992. It expands and contracts from 4.5 feet wide to 18 feet wide–and, by our calculations, it’s done that more than 1,800,000 times!

Ever wonder how it works? Well, you could always check the patent:

A loop-assembly is disclosed which is comprised of at least three scissors-pairs, at least two of the pairs comprising: two essentially identical rigid angulated strut elements each having a central and two terminal pivot points with centers which do not lie in a straight line, each strut being pivotally joined to the other of its pair by their central pivot points, each pair being pivotally joined by two terminal pivot points to two terminal pivot points of another pair…

Or you could let us translate that patent into a hands-on activity you can actually understand. We’ll be adding the activity, plus some rare video of Chuck Hoberman himself, to our second floor sometime next month!

See more images of the patent here.

Exhibition blog by Lauren Aaronson. Lauren is an Exhibit Developer here at the Science Center.