A PORTABLE COVERED HAMMOCK
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thorsten Wilhelm Nordenfelt, residing at No. 8,
Montague Street, Portman Square, London, in the County of Middlesex,
for the Invention of "A PORTABLE COVERED HAMMOCK."-A communication
from abroad by Sigge Flach, of Gothenburg, in Sweden.
Sealed the 19th September 1865, and dated the 30th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thorsten Wilhelm Nordenfelt
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th March 1865.
I, THORSTEN WILHELM NORDENFELT, residing at 8, Montague Street, Port-
man Square, London, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "A PORTABLE COVERED HAMMOCK," to be as
follows:-
The hammock may be hung between two trees or other available supports,
or in substitution for each by a rifle or other rigid upright, kept in position by
cords to fixed points or to the ground. A light cord from end to end of the
top of the hammock can be tightened by the occupant, and on this a sheet, a

page_text: coat, or other light cover can be supported, and so adjusted by buttons or
fastenings by the occupant as to be more or less open as may be desired.
Three such hammocks in a triangle can be supported by only three uprights
or fixed points. The hammock or the cover, or both, may be of watertight
material, and either may have such a shape and fastenings as to be con-
veniently used or worn also as a great coat, cloak, or shelter against
weather.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thorsten Wilhelm Nordenfelt in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THORSTEN
WILHELM NORDENFELT, residing at 8, Montague Street, Portman Square,
London, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thorsten Wilhelm Nordenfelt, Her special licence that I, the said Thorsten
Wilhelm Nordenfelt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thorsten Wilhelm Nordenfelt, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"A PORTABLE COVERED HAMMOCK," a communication to me from abroad by Sigge
Flach, of Gothenburg, in Sweden, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thorsten Wilhelm Nordenfelt, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thorsten Wilhelm Nordenfelt, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is to provide a covered hammock to shelter
soldiers, travellers, sportsmen, and others, against rain and wind, as well as
against the unhealthy exhalations from the damp ground at night, and which
is small and light enough to be carried by each man without increasing to any
considerable extent the size and weight of his baggage; and my Invention
consists essentially of a covered hammock constructed in the following
manner:-
Fig. I. of the Drawings hereunto annexed is a side view, and Fig. II. is a
plan of the said covered hammock, hung between two supports at e, e', by
means of two strong cords or lines a, e, c, e, and b, e¹, d, e, at each end, which
are held apart by a stick, rod, or pole a, c, and b, d, at each end. Another
single rope, cord, or line at each end e, h, g, and e', h¹, g¹, is joined to the above
double lines at e and e¹, and is fixed to the ground at g and g', by a tent peg
or other means; this rope, cord, or line being made tight by means of a usual
tent rope stretcher at h and h¹. A light string, cord, or line, is then fixed
above and along the hammock, between the two supports, ate and e¹ by
hooks, and can be tightened by a tent rope stretcher at f, for which purpose
the said light string, cord, or rope at the one end e runs through a pulley or
slip. Over this light string, cord, or line that runs over and along the
hammock is thrown a sheet or cover, made of waterproof or other material,
which reaches down on all sides a little below the hammock, so as thus to
shelter the occupant, who can from the inside tighten the string, cord, or
line e, f, e', by the stretcher f, and close the cover over himself by means of straps
and buttons on the inside of the cover and hammock at i, 2, 2. The hammock
can be pitched either between two firm supports, such as trees, etc., or between
moveable uprights, such as rifles, poles, or stones, etc. And in Fig. III. of
the Drawings hereunto annexed I have represented the kinds of supports that
are most suitable and generally available. In case moveable supports, such
as poles, etc. are used, two of them must be used at each end if only one
hammock is pitched; but if three hammocks are pitched in a combination of
a triangular form, one upright only may be used at each corner, and thus only
three moveable supports are wanted for the three hammocks. By adjusting
the straps and buttons i, i, 1, for the purpose, the cover can be used as a
cloak when it is not wanted to cover the hammock.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention of "A Portable
Covered Hammock," and in what manner the same is to be used, I declare that

page_text: I do not confine myself to the precise details herein set forth, as they may be
varied without departing from the essential features of this Invention; but
that I claim the construction of a portable covered hammock, essentially as
herein-before described and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thorsten Wilhelm Nordenfelt, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
TH. W. NORDENFELT. (L.S.)