William W. Ross (1834-1906) was the superintendent of public schools in Fremont, Ohio from 1864 until 1906. He made and sold wooden mathematical models that used dissection to illustrate formulas for volume and area in plane and solid geometry. These are presented and discussed in `Mathematical Teaching Tools in the Department of Mathematics' at the University of Arizona.
Ross sold a hinged model that could be used to show how to construct a rhombic dodecahedron from two cubes, clearly predating the reference of Cundy and Rollett that I gave for Figure 20.2: See Ross Models, model 50: `exploded cube' and `explodable cube'.
Ross also sold a hinged model (5 hinged pieces) that converted a square prism to three identical square pyramids. See Ross Models, model 46: `explodable square prism'.
Copyright 2004-2007, Greg N. Frederickson.
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Hinged Dissections: Swinging & Twisting
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Last updated December 2, 2007.