Improvements in Tent Fixings.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Oct., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 25th July, 1893-Accepted, 26th Aug., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Tent Fixings.
I, ALFRED SAVILL TOMKINS of Holmwood Caterham, Surrey, Captain in
the Victoria Rifles do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The contraction to which the ropes and fabric of tents are subject is a source
of great inconvenience and discomfort as the tent pegs are liable to be loosened
and drawn out and the fabric being excessively stretched becomes pervious to
moisture and it, as well as the ropes thus subjected to great tension rapidly
wear out.
My invention relates to means of obviating much of these evils, which
effect
by enclosing in tubes, gores or seams, ropes which I stretch from the tops of the
tent poles in such manner as to carry the fabric, these ropes being thus protected
from wet which would cause them to shrink.
Instead of thus enclosing the ropes I may protect them by carrying them under
the canvas as far as it extends, the contraction then taking place only on the
short pieces of rope beyond the wall of the tent. In order to provide against
even this amount of contraction, pieces of wire rope or chain may be used to
connect the ropes from the wall of the tent to the pegs in the ground.
As a convenient method of allowing for expansion and contraction, I sometimes
connect the canvas or fabric by short ropes to double ended toggles by which
the ropes which extend from the top of the pole to and round the pegs are
tightened in such a manner that the contraction of the former ropes by canting
the toggles gives freedom for the contraction of the latter ropes.
The objects which I have in view can also be attained by substituting wire
ropes or chains altogether for the ropes as these are not altered in their length
by moisture.
In any case, whether ordinary ropes, chains or wire ropes are used in whole
or in part, I attach the fabric to them by loops or their equivalents in a loose
manner so as to give freedom for contraction without imposing strain on either
the fabric or its fixings.
Dated this 25th day of October 1892.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Tent Fixings.
1, ALFRED Savill Tomkins, of Holmwood, Caterham, Surrey, Captain in
the Victoria Rifles, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
The contraction to which the ropes and fabric of tents are subject is a source of
great inconvenience and discomfort as the tent pegs are liable to be loosened and
drawn out and the fabric, being excessively stretched, becomes pervious to
moisture, and it, as well as the ropes, thus subjected to great tension rapidly
wear out.
My invention relates to means of obviating much of these evils, which I effect
by enclosing in tubes, gores or seams, ropes which I stretch from the tops of the
tent poles in such manner as to carry the fabric, these ropes being thus protected
from wet which would cause them to shrink.

page_text: Instead of thus enclosing the ropes, I may protect them by carrying them under
the canvas as far as it extends, the contraction then taking place only on the short
pieces of rope beyond the wall of the tent. In order to provide against even this
amount of contraction, pieces of wire rope or chain may be used to connect the
ropes from the wall of the tent to the pegs in the ground.
As a convenient method of allowing for expansion and contraction, I sometimes
connect the canvas or fabric by short ropes to double ended toggles by which the
ropes which extend from the top of the pole to and round the pegs are tightened in
such a manner that the contraction of the former ropes by canting. the toggles
gives freedom for the contraction of the latter ropes.
The objects which I have in view can also be attained by substituting wire ropes
or chains altogether for the ropes, as these are not altered in their length by
moisture.
In any case, whether ordinary ropes, chains or wire ropes are used in whole or
in part, I attach the fabric to them by loops cr their equivalents in a loose manner
so as to give freedom for contraction without imposing strain on either the fabric
or its fixings.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings shews diagrammatically the application of
a pair of toggles, one of them double, to a tent fixing in such a manner to allow the
canvas or fabric C to shrink without shrinking of the rope A which extends up to
the pole, and which is protected from weather.
I pass the rope A through the eye at one end of a double toggle T, round the
peg P or through a ring attached to P, back through the middle eye of T, then
through an eye E formed in the canvas, through an eye of a toggle t, through the
third eye of T and to the second eye of t to which it is tied.
When the canvas shrinks, the toggle T cants to the position indicated by the
dotted lines T¹ giving out slack.
Instead of a pair of toggles as above described, a ring R may be employed, as
shewn diagrammatically by Fig. 2, in which case the rope A is passed through the
ring R, round the tent peg P or through a ring attached to the tent peg, back
through the ring R crossing the part already passed through R, then through an
eye E formed in the canvas or fabric C, and back to the ring R to which the end
is tied. When the canvas shrinks, the ring R is drawn towards the canvas, giving
out slack.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I, declare that what I
claim is :-
In combination with a tent peg and rope thereto attached, a pair of toggles or
their equivalent, a ring, arranged to give out slack when the canvas or fabric
shrinks, substantially as described.
Dated this 25th day of July 1893
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.