Patent ID: 6068008
Filing Date: 2000-05-30
Classification: A45B,E04H,Y10S

Abstract:
A shelter adapted to be stored, and to be deployed to dihedral configuration, said shelter comprising: a central pole having an upright axis; a pair of generally rectangular flexible canopy panels, each having an inner edge and an outer free edge; and a control for said canopy, said control comprising:reel means mounted to the top of said pole, extending transversely thereto, said inner edges of both of said panels being fixed to said reel means and being rotatably biased to retract said panels and wind them onto said reel means, said bias exerting a prevailing force on said panels in the direction of retraction;a rigid edge former attached to said outer edge of each of said panels:a strut which is rigid when the shelter is deployed connected to each of said edge formers, each of said edge formers extending as a straight body from both sides of its respective strut;a collar encircling said pole and freely slidable along it;a mount on said collar hingedly mounting said struts to said collar for free rotation relative to said struts relative to said collar;whereby with the struts adjacent to said pole, said reel means will have wound the panels on said reel means and thereby retracted the panels and brought the edge formers into near adjacency to the pole, and the collar will have slid down the pole, and when the panels are to be deployed the collar will be raised and the struts folded down to draw the panels under tension to a position which is established only by the location of the collar along the pole and by the distance between the mount and the respective edge former as established by the rigid strut.