Patent ID: 8657521

Claim:
A joint assembly for a collapsible structure, the joint assembly comprising: a mating member, wherein the mating member includes a tip section having a first end, a second end and a raised wedge on an exterior surface thereof that is characterized by a longitudinal slope; a receiving member including a having a first end and a second end and defining a lumen having an internal surface, the socket section having a longitudinal slot through which the tip section of the mating member is received into the lumen, the socket section having a frustoconical exterior surface the diameter of which decreasing from the second end to the first end in accordance with the longitudinal slope, the frustoconical exterior surface being in circumferential alignment with the raised wedge on the tip section in an overlap region between the socket section and the tip section of the mating member when the tip section is positioned in the lumen of the receiving member; and a flexible member coupled to the receiving member and to the first end of the mating member.