The Ribaucour families of discrete R-congruences (Q2230967)

Classically, a smooth 2-parameter family of spheres is called Ribaucour sphere congruence if its two enveloping surfaces have corresponding curvature lines. Since a smooth sphere congruence admits at most two envelopes, each such sphere congruence provides a Ribaucour pair of surfaces. A generic smooth Ribaucour sphere congruence admits exactly two envelopes, a discrete R-congruence gives rise to a 2-parameter family of discrete enveloping surfaces. The main purpose of this paper is to gain geometric insights into this ambiguity. In particular, discrete R-congruences that are enveloped by discrete channel surfaces and discrete Legendre maps with one family of spherical curvature lines are discussed.