US2818875A

US2818875A - Tent frame

Info

Publication number: US2818875A
Application number: US589323A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bernard L Denn
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1952-07-22
Filing date: 1956-06-04
Publication date: 1958-01-07
Anticipated expiration: 1975-01-07

Description

Jan. 7, 1958 B. L. DENN TENT FRAME Original Filed July 22, 1952 BERNARD L. oi-zuu INVENTOR.

BY %444M has TENT FRAME Bernard L. Denn, Portland, Oreg.

Original application July 22, 1952, Serial No. 300,190, now Patent No. 2,757,677, dated August 7, 1956.

Divided and this application June 4, 1956, Serial No. 589,323

2 Claims. (Cl. 135--3) This invention relates to improvements in tent frames of the type shown and described in my United States Patent 2,488,809, dated November 22, 1949, and this application is a division of the subject matter included in my United States Patent No. 2,757,677. As therein pointed out it is one of the objects of the invention to provide an umbrella frame of this character made of light weight tubing capable of being quickly and conveniently assembled or disassembled, and which when in disassembled form can be conveniently packed into a small bundle for storage or transporation. It is one of the principal objects of the present invention to provide an umbrella tent frame wherein its structural tubular elements are all of uniform length which eliminates the necessity of sorting out said elements when erecting the frame.

Another object is the provision of a maximum number of identical fittings for uniting said tubular elements to also minimize sorting out.

The foregoing and other objects will appear as my invention is more fully hereinafter described in the following specification, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and finally pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure l is a perspective view of an umbrella tent frame erected in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of a central fitting for the top of the umbrella tent frame.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a typical top corner fitting and Figure 4 is a side elevation of a typical bottom corner fitting.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of umbrella tent frame.

Figure 6 is a top plan view of a fitting for the apex of the form of frame shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of a modified form of fitting for the form of tent frame shown in Figure 5 when it is desired to include eave poles in assembling said frame.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary detail view of one form of means for uniting a dowel with the end of a tubular member.

Figure 9 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view of a locking mechanism for interconnecting certain of the tubes.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing:

The umbrella tent frame illustrated in Figure 1 and assembled in accordance with the invention comprises a square base frame generally indicated at 33 made up of a plurality of tubular sections 34 of equal length connected at their outer ends to corner fittings 35 which are shown in detail in Figure 4. Each bottom corner fitting 35 comprises three outwardly diverging arm portions indicated generally at 35A reinforced relative to each other by integrated webs 35B. The inner ends of the tubes are interconnected by the type of dowel shown States Patent 0 M 2,818,875 Patented Jan. 7, 1958 in Figure 9. The corner posts generally indicated at 36 are made up of tubular sections 37 of the same length as the sections 34 of the base frame. The top frame generally indicated at 38 is made up of four tubular sections 39 also equal in length to that of the

sections

34 and 37 and are interconnected at their inner ends by the central fitting 40 illustrated in Figure 2 and connected at their outer ends to the corner posts by means of the fittings 41 shown in detail in Figure 3. Each of said fittings 41 comprises two angularly related arm portions 41A reinforced by an integrated web 413. A mast 42 is also attached to the fitting 40 by insertion into a central vertical socket 40A formed therein. One of the upper sections 37 of one of the corner posts is provided with a sliding dowel 37A operable by a handle 37B extending through a vertical slot 37C formed in the post for forcing the bottom portion of the dowel into the aligned end of the adjacent tube as shown in dotted lines in Figure 9.

In this form of the invention eave poles are dispensed with and the umbrella tent, shown in broken lines, is supported at its top corners by the fittings 41, at its apex by the top of the mast 42, and its bottom edges may be attached to the bottom frame member 33 by any approved means or may be staked to the ground in the usual manner. If desired the bottom frame along with the bottom corner fittings 35 may be dispensed with and the bottom ends of the corner posts 37 may be driven into the ground for stability.

In the modified form of umbrella tent frame shown in Figure 5, the corner posts 43 are turned inwardly and upwardly to converge into attachment to a single fitting 44. The bottom ends of the corner posts may also be united with a bottom frame (not shown) as do the corner posts 36 in Figure 1 or they may be driven into the ground as aforesaid. If it is desired to include eave poles in this form of frame, a corner fitting 45 as illustrated in Figure 7 may be utilized, but in this case, the corner posts would be separate from their converging top portions and attached to the dowel 46 extending downwardly from the fitting, and the separate upwardly converging portions would engage with the upwardly and inwardly extending dowel 47, and the cave poles would engage with the horizontal dowels 48.

While I have shown particular forms of embodiment of my invention, I am aware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves to others skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

I claim:

1. A frame for a tent of the umbrella type, said frame comprising a base frame made up of a plurality of interconnected separable tubular sections of equal length and interconnected at the corners of the base frame by identical corner fittings, each of said corner fittings comprising three outwardly diverging arm portions reinforced relative to each other by integrated webs, a plurality of upwardly extending corner posts each made up of a plurality of interconnected separable tubular sections equal in length to those of the base frame and removably secured at their bottom ends to said corner fittings, a plurality of radiating tubular sections removably secured at their outer ends to the top ends of said corner posts by identical fittings and at their inner ends to a single fitting, each of said last mentioned identical fittings comprising two angularly related arm portions reinforced relative to each other by an integrated web, and a roof-supporting vertical pole removably secured to said single fitting.

2. A tent frame as in claim 1, including a dowel slidably 0, y a 4 mounted in one of said tubular sections of said upwardly 1,502,898 Berg July 29, 1924 extending corner posts and operable from the exterior 1,574,222 Wensel Feb. 23, 1926 thereof for projection into an aligned end of an adjacent 2,181,016 Gross Nov. 21, 1939 tubular section. 2,488,809 Denn Nov. 22, 1949 References Cited in the file of this patent 5 Anderson et June 1950 UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 1,347,808 Franklin July 27, 1920 4,077 Great Britain Mar. 23, 1886