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Inventions: Twelve Around One A portfolio of original screenprints signed and numbered in an edition of 60 |
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| This catalogue reproduces a portfolio of thirteen screenprints and text by Buckminster Fuller published by the Carl Solway Gallery. The portfolio was produced under the supervision of Buckminster Fuller by Colophon, Cincinnati, Ohio. The edition is limited to 60 numbered portfolios (1-60) and 20 hors commerce (I-XX). Each of the thirteen prints consists of two 30" x 40" screenprinted sheets, one of which illustrates drawings for a patent invention by Fuller, and the second sheet illustrates the realization of the concept. These two sheets may be presented separately, in two frames; or together, as an overlay, in one frame. This catalogue reproduces both presentation options. The patent invention drawings are screenprinted in white ink on a clear polyester film. A plain blue backing sheet, provided with each print, may be placed under the clear film patent drawings to create the effect of a blueprint. The accompanying photo realization of each invention is a screenprint on Lenox 100 percent rag paper. The text pages and the blue backing sheets are Curtis Tweedweave 100 percent rag paper made especially for this portfolio. Each of the thirteen prints in the portfolio is hand signed and numbered by Buckminster Fuller on the clear film element. |
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| INVENTIONS IN THE PORTFOLIO
1928 - 4D House |
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| Buckminster Fuler signing the prints, March 24, 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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United States Patent Office file no. 1,793, submitted April 1, 1928, inventor: Buckminster Fuller
Basic to the development of all the Dymaxion and subsequent geodesic shelter designs is the mass production of air-deliverable housing, which necessitates maximum performance for minimum materials, or doing more with less. The 1927 4D House, later called the Dymaxion House, achieved this through the separation of the elements of tension and compression, the first major technological innovation in housing in thousands of years. Containing 1,600 square feet of floor space with an estimated weight of 6,000 pounds, the house was suspended from a central, prefabricated mast which had all the utilities factory-installed. Based on the price scale then current in the automobile industry, the estimated cost for such a dwelling, mass produced was twenty-five cents per pound, or 1,500 1927 dollars. Because it required many materials which were not available at that time, the 4D House was not considered a project ready for industrial production and distribution, but an anticipatory design which could not be fully actualized until these materials were developed. This process was assumed to require fifty years. An economic crisis in housing would discover the feasibility of the Dymaxion House. The accompanying screenprint image of the 4D House is derived from a photograph in the archives of Buckminster Fuller. |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a Curtis plain blue backing sheet, 30" x 40" |
Screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MOTOR VEHICLE—DYMAXION CAR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| United States Patent Office no. 2,101,057, filed October 18,1933, serial no. 694,068, granted December 7,1937, inventor: Buckminster Fuller Three Dymaxion Cars were constructed in 1933 and 1934, pioneering many significant automotive design innovations. These included front-wheel drive, rear engine and rear steering, and aerodynamic streamlining. Pictured is Dymaxion Car No. 3, owned at one time by Leopold Stokowski and housed today at Harrah's Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada. The accompanying screenprint image of the Dymaxion Car is derived from a photograph in the archives of Buckminster Fuller. |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a Curtis plain blue backing sheet, 30" x 40" |
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| PREFABRICATED DYMAXION BATHROOM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States Patent Office no. 2,220,482, filed May 12, 1938, serial no. 207,51 8, granted November 5, 1940, inventor: Buckminster Fuller The first mass-producible bathroom was designed for the 1927 Dymaxion House, and the first prototype produced in 1930, although it was never shown to the public. In 1936-38, in cooperation with Phelps Dodge, a dozen prototypes of this prefabricated, fully-equipped bathroom were manufactured. Half are still in use today. Weighing 420 pounds and bolted together from four die-stamped pieces of sheet metal, each of which is light enough to be lifted by two people, it was designed for ultimate production in plastics at such time when plastics were sufficiently developed. Now that this development has taken place, a bathroom very similar to this 1936 design, weighing 200 pounds and made of plastic, is currently being mass produced in Germany. The accompanying screenprint image of the Dymaxion Bathroom is derived from a photograph in the archives of Buckminster Fuller. |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a Curtis plain blue backing sheet, 30" x 40" | Screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DYMAXION DEPLOYMENT UNIT |
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| United States Patent Office no. 2,343,764, filed March 21, 1941, serial no. 384,509, granted March 7, 1944, inventor: Buckminster Fuller The first Dymaxion artifact to attain mass production, the Dymaxion Deployment Unit was developed in 1940-41 and produced in association with the Butler Manufacturing Company. Designed for war-time use, it was a conversion of Butler's standard corrugated steel grain storage bin to a dwelling unit and it was light enough to be air-deliverable and simple enough to be assembled very rapidly. Each fully furnished and equipped unit cost $1,250. Hundreds were used at the head of the Persian Gulf until the war-time shortage of steel curtailed further production. The accompanying screenprint image of the Dymaxion Deployment Unit is derived from a photograph by Arsene de Rosset in the archives of Buckminster Fuller. |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a Curtis plain blue backing sheet, 30" x 40" | Screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WICHITA HOUSE |
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| United States Patent Office, filed March 16, 1946, inventor: Buckminster Fuller The "Wichita House" was inspired in 1944 by the possibility of post-World War II conversion of the aircraft industry to the production of housing units. Work space at their Wichita, Kansas factory along with access to skilled engineering personnel and tools was contributed by Beech Aircraft. The completed prototypes produced there and weighing 6,000 pounds each agreed with the 1927 estimates of the weight of the Dymaxion House after the interim alloying research had been completed. Circular in form, the Wichita House was a structure tensionally suspended from a central mast and braced to the ground. No single part weighed more than ten pounds or needed more than one hand to be held in place, making assembly feasible for one person. Most of the parts nested for shipping, and all the parts fit into a cylindrical shipping container. Cost estimates suggested that once the mass production phase was activated, the completed house, installed, could be sold for $6,500. The accompanying screenprint image of the Wichita House is derived from a photograph by Buckminster Fuller. |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| United States Patent Office no. 2,682,235, filed December 12, 1951, serial no. 261,168, granted June 29, 1954, inventor: Buckminster Fuller In 1964 Buckminster Fuller was commissioned as architect to design the United States Pavillion at the Montreal World's Fair, Expo '67. The 250-foot diameter 3/4 geodesic sphere was constructed of steel and skinned with Plexiglas. Opened in April, 1967, this "skybreak bubble," called "Buckminster Cathedral" by Peter Ustinov, drew record-breaking crowds of more than fifty million in its first six months and in 1968 was awarded the first Architectural Design Award by the American Institute of Architects. The accompanying screenprint image of the Montreal Dome is derived from a photograph in the archives of Buckminster Fuller. |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a Curtis plain blue backing sheet, 30" x 40" | Screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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OCTETRUSS |
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| United States Patent Office no. 2,986,241, filed February 7, 1956, serial no. 563,931, granted May 30, 1961, inventor: Buckminster Fuller Throughout the year 1959 "Three Structures by Buckminster Fuller" were featured in a show held in the sculpture garden of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The structures, a tensegrity mast, an octetruss and a geodesic dome, embody the structural principles used by nature and are thus strong, light-weight, and very beautiful, although aesthetic considerations played no part in their design . The octetruss is all aluminum alloy, weighing 8,000 pounds, one hundred feet long, thirty-five feet wide and sixty feet high, composed of tetrahedrons and octahedrons. These geometric figures distribute load equally through four sets of parallel planes, giving the structure its great strength: sixty-five pounds of octetruss can support twelve thousand pounds. The accompanying screenprint image of the Octetruss is derived from an installation photograph by Alexandre Georges for the exhibition: Three Structures by Buckminster Fuller, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 22 September 1959 through the winter of 1959-60. |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a Curtis plain blue backing sheet, 30" x 40" | Screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TENSEGRITY |
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| United States Patent Office no. 3,063,521, filed August 31, 1959, serial no. 837,073, granted November 13, 1962, inventor: Buckminster Fuller
The principle of discontinuous compression continuous tension, later called tensional integrity and contracted to tensegrity, was first utilized in the 4D House model of 1927. The first demonstration of this principle in a linear system was made in 1949, producing the first tensegrity mast. This mast was part of an exhibit of three structures held in the sculpture garden of New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1959 and was made with aluminum tubes as compression components and with stainless steel wires supplying the tension. |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a Curtis plain blue backing sheet, 30" x 40" | Screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| UnitedStates Patent Office no. 3,080,583, filed June 8, 1959, serial no.818,935, granted March 12, 1963, inventor: Buckminster Fuller In the early 1960's a design for a floating city for Tokoyo Bay was commissioned. After the death of the projects original Japanese patron in 1966, the project was taken over by the United States Office of Housing and Urban Development. Pictured is a single neighborhood module of this "Triton City" designed to house 6,500 people. Three to six of these neighborhoods combine to make a town, three to seven towns, with the addition of municipal modules of appropriate size, a city. Made from steel or concrete, these twenty-story stuctures are designed to be constructed in shipyards and towed to their destinations. Twenty to thirty feet of water is sufficient to float the modules. Studies conducted by H.U.D. and the U.S. Navy confirmed the engineering feasibility and the cost analyses of the project; Triton City could be occupied by tenants just above the poverty level. The city of Baltimore, Maryland expressed interest in such a floating city for Chesapeake Bay but plans were interrupted by the massive shift in political power that occurred after the 1968 presedential elections. Lyndon Johnson who had been very enthusiastic about the project took the model of Triton City with him when he returned to Texas, where it remains at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library of the University of Texas at Austin. The accompanying screenprint image of Triton City is derived from a photograph by Buckminster Fuller. |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a Curtis plain blue backing sheet, 30" x 40" | Screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| UnitedStates Patent Office no. 3,197,927, filed December 19, 1961, serial no. 160,450, granted August 3, 1965, inventor: Buckminster Fuller The most recent design for a semi-autonomous Dymaxion Dwelling Machine is called the Fly's Eye, which is constructed of nestable, mass-producible fiber glass components that when assembled form a 5/8 geodesic sphere. Three-quarters of the surface of the dome is constituted of seven-foot diameter circular openings which serve as doors, windows, mounts for solar collectors and wind-driven air turbines, etc. All rainwater feeds into the dome's watercourse cistern system. Both twenty-six foot and fifty-foot Fly's Eyes have been developed, the smaller using one type of fiber glass component, and the larger, two. The fifty-footer is large enough for three stories of 2,000 square feet, a garden, trees and a pool. One of the fifty-footers is now installed in Los Angeles' Pershing Square in celebration of that city's 200th anniversary. It is called the Bicentennial Dome. The accompanying screenprint image of the Fly's Eye Dome is derived from a photograph by Tom Vnetz. |
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| United States Patent Office no. 3,203,144, filed May 27, 1960, serial no. 32,268, granted August 31, 1965, inventor: Buckminster Fuller There are over 200,000 geodesic domes on Planet Earth, functioning in every environment from the Equator to the North and South Poles. One dome serves as a weather radar station and was helicopter-lifted fully assembled to the top of Japan's Mt. Fuji, over twelve thousand feet above sea level. It is Japan's highest weather station, and has been called "the pearl in the crown of Fuji-San." The accompanying screenprint image of the Mt. Fuji Dome is derived from a photograph in the archives of Buckminster Fuller. |
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| United States Patent Office no.3,524,422, filed March 28,1968, serial no. 716,957, granted August 18, 1970, inventor: Buckminster Fuller The latest in a series of watercraft designs, the first of which was developed and built in 1965, the "rowing needle" is actually designed for rowing and sailing. It is a catamaran with twin hulls surmounted by a sliding seat and it affords minimal water resistance. The accompanying screenprint image of the Rowing Needle is derived from a photograph by John Loengard, LIFE Magazine, Tme Inc. |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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INTEGRITY STRUCTURES |
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| United States Patent Office no.3,866,366, filed August 7,1973, serial no.386,302, granted February 18,1975, inventor: Buckminster Fuller In 1968 work began on the design of a theatre for Oxford University in England to be named after Samuel Beckett. The project, which was supported in part by Richard Burton, underwent several design phases, none of which has as yet been actualized. The current plan is for a mobile,tensegrity-shelled facility, utilizing the enormous structural strength accomplished with the minimal material input inherent in tensegrity structures. The accompanying screenprint image of the model for the Oxford Theater Project is derived from a photograph by Charles Byrne. |
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| Screenprint in white ink on clear polyester film overlaid on a screenprint on Lennox paper, 30" x 40" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Carl Solway Gallery 424 Findlay St.. Cincinnati, Ohio 45214 USA phone 513 621 0069 fax 513 621 6310 |
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| Other original artworks by Buckminster Fuller | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| About Buckminster Fuller | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dymaxion Rowing Shell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||