Spherical Infinity Display
Norman Wootan ( normw@fastlane.net )
Sat, 21 Mar 1998 18:33:58 -0600
Since Dave brought up the idea of climbing into a large sphere that was
mirrored on the inside I will share this with all: About five years ago
a friend of mine purchased some NASA surplus property. In the lot was
seven huge wood crates marked as "Infinity Display" with the NASA
project numbers. When we opened the crates we found these large
spherical mirror sections that were pentagon sphere sections that fit
together to form a large ball which was mirrored on the inside. The
sections were made by Bausch&Laumb out of fused quartz and ground to
high precision and each mounted in a thin titanium frame so as to have a
very small seam where they were joined. I would estimate that this
entire project material cost easily several million in tax payer
dollars. My friend would not sell the mirrors to me for he wanted to
find out what they were worth. He held them in storage until last summer
then decided to scrap them down for the titanium frame material. He
called me after he had sold the titanium and said "if you want the
mirrors, come and get them". Well, I went to San Antonio and picked
them up and have them in storage here in Dallas. With no mounting
frames, I will have to make a plywood form on which to assemble the
mirror sections then remove the form material. I too would like to put
this thing together to see the effects of this "Infinity Display". Each
mirror section weighs 250# and are mirrored on the inside. Light will
go into the sphere but cannot get out. Just thought you guys out there
would like to know that such a "critter" did exist. Norm PS: I have
had no luck finding any info on this project. If anyone is familiar
with it please leave me a message.