US3499457A - Tent - Google Patents

Description

March 10, 1970 wARlNG I ET AL 3,499,457

TENT

Filed July 31, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG] I nventors Attornqyg March 10, 1970 WARING ET AL TENT Filed July 31, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 lnver lors March 10, 1970 I w N ET AL 3,499,457

TENT

Filed July 31, 1967 I 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Attorneys March 10, 1970. w N ET AL 3,499,457

I TENT Filed July 31, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 A llorneyS United States Patent 3,499,457 TENT Raymond Hugh Waring, 17 Kingfisher Court, Bridge Road, East Molesey, Surrey, England, and David Malcolm Brohn, Tunnel House, Saltford, Somerset, England Filed July 31, 1967, Ser. No. 657,340

Claims priority, application Great Britain, Aug. 5, 1966,

Int. Cl. A45f 1/16 US. Cl. 1353 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A frame for a tent has a plurality of upright members each of which consists of upper and lower struts, pivotally or detachably connected at or adjacent to a knee joint so that the upper strut can adopt an inclined position when the lower strut is substantially vertical. The knee joint limits any relative movement between the upper and lower struts. A crown unit connects the upper ends of the upper struts and a tension element interconnects the uprights at or adjacent the knee joints.

This invention relates to tents and especially to a tent having a self-supporting frame. It is an object of the invention to provide an improved tent which will be easy to erect, rigid, and light and economical to manufacture.

According to the present invention there is provided a tent comprising a tent frame and a tent canopy adapted to be suported internally of the tent frame, the tent frame having a plurality of upright members, each upright member comprising upper and lower struts, a knee joint for each upright member connecting together said upper and said lower struts to enable the upper strut to adopt an inclined position when the lower strut is substantially vertical, the knee joint limiting any relative movement between said upper and lower struts, a crown unit interconnecting the upper ends of the upper struts, a tension element incorporated into the tent canopy, the tension element being adapted to be connected to the upright members at the knee joints and to extend around the circumference of the whole frame so as to tension the latter and detachable tensioning means for giving the tension element a substantial positive predetermined tension.

The provision of the tension element incorporated into the tent canopy, the latter being supported within the tent frame, achieves the above stated objects of the present invention.

In the past it was necessary, especially with large family tents, to tie the tent canopy to the frame in a large number of places. This operation was, in fact, very time consuming. It will be appreciated that the tent of the present invention, by virtue of the tension element, not only stresses the tent frame to produce a rigid structure but, at the same time, can attach the tent fabric in a taut condition to the tent frame. Thus, the tent is erected more easily and faster than previous tents and additionally allows larger tents of this general form.

The feet of the frame are pegged down to locate them relative to each other and to prevent overturning. The structural interaction of the frame and the complete canopy with its tension elements eliminates the need for guy ropes.

The crown unit may positively limit relative movement of the respective upper struts towards one another,

3,499,457 Patented Mar. 10, 1970 and preferably has means for allowing the upper struts to move pivotally towards the horizontal.

Preferably, the knee joints allow the upper and lower struts to pivot relative to each other, abutments on the knee joints restraining downward vertical movement of the upper strut away from a predetermined position.

Preferably there is provided a second tension element which may be incorporated into the tent canopy and adapted to interconnect the lower ends of the lower struts.

The knee joints may be detachably connected to said upper and lower struts.

The tent canopy may be integral with a ground sheet.

The invention is illustrated, merely by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a tent according to one embodiment of the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a plan of the tent shown in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged view of the knee joint of the tent shown in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 4 is a part-view in section of the crown unit of the tent shown in FIGURE 2,

FIGURE 5 is a section along the line 5--5 of FIG- URE 4,

FIGURE 6 shows part of an exploded section of a further embodiment of the present invention,

FIGURE 7 shows a broken-away side view of the crown unit according to the embodiment shown in FIG- URE 6,

FIGURE 8 shows a plan view of the crown unit shown in FIGURE 7,

FIGURE 9 shows a tension adjustment device for use with this invention, and

FIGURE 10 shows a modification of the tension adjustment device shown in FIGURE 9.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2, the frame, generally shown at 9, for a tent canopy 10, consists of four uprights 11 meeting at the centre of the roof and forming a unit 23 which is generally square in plan, as shown in FIGURE 2. Each upright consists of upper 13 and lower struts 14 of approximately the same length and formed of steel tubes. Each strut may be telescopic, or formed in detachable lengths for ease of packing. These upper and lower struts are pivotally connected at a knee joint 15.

The knee joint (best shown in FIGURE 3) comprise two tubular brackets 16- and 17 connected by a horizontal pivot pin 18. The brackets have lugs 20, 21 which act as abutments to prevent the two brackets closing towards one another beyond a limiting position in which the included angle a is approximately One of these abutments 20 is provided with an adjustable screw-threaded stop 22 to allow adjustment of this limiting angular position. The pivot pins 18 of the knees preferably include butterfly-nut tightening means (not shown) to provide a degree of stiffness at the knee joints, and the joints may also include bushes of polytetrafluoroethylene (not shown) to prevent the joints locking.

The upper ends 13 of the upper struts are all pivotally connected to a crown unit 23, best shown in FIGURES 4 and 5. The crown unit 23 comprises a square plate 24 having pairs of spaced downwardly projecting ears 25 at its four corners. The upper end 13 of each strut is rigidly connected to a short flange 26 which extends between a pair of the ears 25 and is pivotally attached by a bolt 27 passing through the ears and through a hole in the flange. The inner end 28 of each flange 26 is limited in its upward movement by an adjustable screwthreaded stop 31 mounted in an adjacent part of the crown unit. The crown unit 23 has rigidly fixed to it a hook 29 to which is attached the apex of the tent canopy 10.

In the illustrated embodiment, a tension element 32 is incorporated into the fabric of the canopy so that the positioning of the tension element and the erection of the canopy may be performed in one operation. The tension element consists of a steel cable or cord or some other tensile material but may be rigid extending around the frame at the height of the knee joints and is conveniently attached by means of hooks 33 beneath lug 21 on the knee-joints 15. This cable may be formed as a complete loop of selected length, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, but preferably consists of a length of cable with end attachments (not shown). In any case the length of the tension element is such that when in its final condition it is susbtantially stressed in tension and thus tends to force each of the upper struts 13 downwardly about its upper pivotal connection 27 to the crown unit 23. Since the pivotal movement of each upper strut 13 in this direction is limited by the stops 31 on the crown unit 23, the four upper struts and the tension element 32 together form a stressed rigid roof truss. Another somewhat similar tension element 37 is provided for attachment to the lower end of each of the lower struts 14 and is also incorporated into the fabric of the canopy 10.

In order to collapse the frame of the tent according to this embodiment of the invention, the tension element 32 is released and the tent canopy removed so that the lower strut 14 of each upright 11 can be swung outwards and upwards about the knee joint until it lies alongside the upper strut 13. The four upper struts 13 can then be swung to a horizontal position about the crown unit 23 until upper and lower struts are parallel with each other, and all are in the same plane, all the struts can then be collapsed telescopically forming a neat compact unit.

A further embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGURES 6 to 8. The frame of this embodiment consists of a number of rigid tubular members which are detachably connected together so as to produce a frame that can be collapsed.

The frame consists of lower struts 40 in each of whose upper ends is rigidly fixed a spigot 41. Each spigot 41 fits into the end of a hollow knee joint '42 which consists of an arcuate piece of tube 43, the tangents at whose ends include the angle a which is approximately 125. Each knee joint 42 has a hook 44 at the centre thereof which receives a tension element 45. A recess 46 is provided at the upper end of each knee joint 42, the recess 46 being adapted to receive a lug 47 on a spigot 48 of an upper strut 51. This recess and lug connection prevents the knee and upper strut pivoting with respect to each other. The upper end of each upper strut 51 has a spigot 52 and a further lug '53 attached thereto for engagement with one of four recesses '54 in a crown unit 55 shown in FIGURE 8. The crown unit 55 is formed of tubes 56 which may be welded together or fixed together by any other suitable means. As shown in FIG- URE 7, the crown unit 55 has a hook 57 to which is attached the apex of the tent 58.

The erection of the tent in both embodiments of the present invention is similar. When the frame 9 has been erected a tent canopy 10 is hung within the frame 9 and the tension element attached to the frame and given a substantial positive predetermined tension. The tent canopy 10 is formed of a water-proof canvas or other fabric and is tailored to the shape of the frame. Hooks, eyes or other fastening members are provided to secure the canvas to the crown unit.

Referring to FIGURE 9 there is shown a tension adjustment device 61 which is hammer-shaped. The tension adjustment device has a head 62 and a handle 63, thehead having an impact portion 64 and a tang 65. To the impact portion 64 attached, bywelding, screwing .4 T or other means a stud 66 and to the tang 65 a fin 67. The head 64 is secured to the handle not only by means of a usual arrangement for fixing the handle to the head of a hammer, but also by means of a bracket 68, brazed or otherwise suitably fixed to the impact portion 64. The bracket 68 has a nut and bolt arrangement 71 passing through a flange 72 on the bracket and through the handle 63. The fin 67 has an arcuate surface 73 and is fitted into a slot 74 in the tube 43. The arcuate surface 73 facilitates movement of the handle 72 downwardly, the head '62 of the tension adjustment device following the path shown by the broken arrow.

In operation, the tension element 32 is wrapped around the imp-act portion 64 and stud 66 of the tension adjustment device when it is in the position as shown in FIG- URE 9. The handle 63 is moved downwardly tensioning the tension element 32 and thus the frame of the tent. The tensional element 32 is retained on the hooks 44 by means of end attachments, not shown, such as rings, loops or other suitable means provided on the tension element, thus transferring the strain from the tension adjustment device to the frame of the tent. The tension adjustment device may then be removed.

FIGURE 10 shows an alternative arrangement in which the impact portion 64 of a tension adjustment device has a hook 75 to which the tension element is affixed whilst tensioning the element.

The tension adjustment device has been shown in conjunction with the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGURES 6 to 8. It is obvious that it can be used with the embodiment of FIGURES 1 to 5 also and can be used to stress the tension element 37.

In accordance with standard practice the canopy may be provided with doors, windows, porches and the like and it preferably includes a sewn-in ground sheet 60. The canopy may also include a sewn-in or detachable inner tent compartment. It will be noted that since the tent canopy 10 is entirely within the frame it is extremely simple to attach and there is no need for the laborious process of placing the tent canopy over the frame. If the fabric has sufficient strength the canopy itself may afford one or both tension elements, if necessary with reinforcement of the fabric.

The lower ends of the lower struts are provided with anchorages to peg the complete unit to the ground.

It will be appreciated that the crown unit may be elongate so that the invention is not limited to a simple pyramidal structure but can also be applied to elongated frames with horizontal ridge struts or trusses forming part of the crown unit.

We claim:

1. A tent comprising a tent frame and a tent canopy adapted to be supported internally of the tent frame, the tent frame having a plurality of upright members, each upright member comprising upper and lower struts, a knee joint for each upright member connecting together said upper and said lower struts to enable the upper strut to adopt an inclined position when the lower strut is substantially vertical, the knee joint including means for limiting any relative movement between said upper and lower struts, a crown unit interconnecting the upper ends of the upper struts, said crown unit including means for positively limiting the relative pivotal movement of the respective inclined upper struts toward one another a tension element incorporated into the tent canopy, the tension element being adapted to be connected to the upright membersat the knee joint in a manner stressing said tension element and to extend around the circumference of the whole frame so as to tension the latter, said tension element and said upper struts forming a stressed rigid. roof truss, and detachable tensioning means for giving the tension element a substantial positive predetermined tension, and a continuous second tension ele ment incorporated into the tent canopy and adapted to interconnect the lower ends of the lower struts.

2. A tent as claimed in claim 1 in which the crown unit has means for allowing the upper struts to move pivotally towards the horizontal.

3. A tent as claimed in claim 1 in which the knee joints are detachably connected to said upper and lower struts.

4. A tent as claimed in claim 1 in which the knee joints allow the upper and lower struts to pivot relative to each other and the means for limiting relative movement of the struts comprises an abutment on each of the knee joints restraining downward vertical movement of the upper strut away from a predetermined position.

5. A tent as claimed in claim 1 in which said tent canopy is integral with a ground sheet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,820,002 8/1931 Forrester 1354 2,928,404 3/ 1960 Klages 135-4 3,059,658 10/1962 Finlayson 135-4 3,168,101 2/1965 Porter 135-3 X 3,181,542 5/1965 Bareis 135-4 3,351,078 11/1967 Kleiman 1351 3,374,797 3/1968 Neumark 1351 PETER M. CAUN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 135-4

Images