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Last updated 19/8/2025

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This page is being used to collect information about the history of the cut paperfolding design known as The Fifth Construction of the Cube (Cut). Please contact me if you know any of this information is incorrect or if you have any other information that should be added. Thank you.

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1890

As far as I know this design first appears as '5eme construction de cube' in 'Exercises Methodiques de Travaux Manuels' by Jean Boogaerts, which was published in Belgium and France in 1890. However, I have not seen copies of the relevant pages from the original work and this statement is based on the entry in the Index reproduced below and its subsequent appearance in Smith (see entry for 1900).

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The same design appears:

1900

In 'Construction Work in Cardboard and Paper' by Robert M Smith, which was published by A Flanagan Co in Chicago in 1900. This work contains the same material relating to this design that had previously appeared in Boogaerts (see entry for 1890).

This cube is constructed from an irregular template cut from a square. Additional cuts allow the cube to be folded up with overlapping flaps inside the design. A stronger result can be obtained by nesting two cubes together, the inner one having its flaps on the outside. The missing face of the cube is supplied by making a lid using a similar method. One version of the design is made from a rectangle, another from a square divided into 5x5 grid. However, no method of achieving an accurate division into such a grid is given.

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1913

As 'Caja Cubica' (Cubic Box) in 'Trabajo Manual' by C Champy Alvear, which was published by Cabaut y Cia in Buenos Aires in 1913. These diagarms also supply an alternative way of providing the sixth side of the cube.

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