Tent ventilator

Application filed September 1,1921. Serial No. 497,468.

To (dl whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, William T. Rtjncie, a citizen of the United.States, and a resident of Maplewood, Essex County, New Jersey.

have invented a new and useful Improvement in Tent Ventilators, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, My invention relates to improvements in ventilators for. tents. Tents as usually made 10 have a very unsatisfactory means of ventilation. Generally they are provided with a top opening through the peak, and a cover strip which can be made to cover the opening in any weather, and which generally has 15 to be manipulated from outside the tent.

This is unsatisfactory because a person will often get wet in trying to cover the opening, and if rain comes up suddenly, water will enter through the top. My invention is in20 tended to produce an exceedingly simple and convenient ventilating attachment which can be applied to many forms of tents, and which can be operated conveniently from inside the tent, so as to open the ven25 tilator to any desired extent for the circulation of air, and which when open will shield the tent opening so as to exclude water. My invention is also intended to provide a structure of this kind which, because of its sim30 plicity, is inexpensive, and which can he readily applied to tents of ordinary structure without changing the tent formation. In the accompanying drawings I have shown the ventilator attachment sliding on a tent 35 pole of an ordinary peak-top tent, but it will be understood that the form, of the device can be changed to suit tents of different kinds. This will be better understood from the description which follows.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a broken plan view of a tent 45 provided with my improved ventilator.

Figure 2 is a vertical section on the line 2—2 of Figure 1, showing the ventilator slightly open.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, but 50 with the ventilator open to a greater extent, and

Figure 4 shows the application of the ventilator to another form of tent.

The drawings are shown by way of ex55 ample to illustrate the structure and application of my improved ventilator, but with out the idea of limiting the invention to the particular structure shown, as it will be understood from the following description that many of the details can be changed 60 without affecting the invention.

As illustrated, the tent top 10 is supportecl as usual on a central pole 11, which can be of any preferred kind, and which has a rod 12 extending, from the top, this being precisely 65 as usual except.,that where my ventilator is used, the rod may be a little longer than is customary.

The tent top is provided with an opening 13 at its apex, ancl the top edges around ths 70 opening can be connected with the pole by a chain 14 extending to the disk 14^a on the pole top, or any convenient means of attachment, this particular feature not entering into my invention, at least as to its detail· 75 As a means of operating the ventilator, I employ a sliding bracket which can be of many forms, but which as illustrated has a vertical rod 15 connecting at the lower end with a ring 16 which slides on the pole 11, 80 ancl at the top end with the ring 17 of smaller diameter which slides on the rod 12, these-rings'16 and 17 being, at right angles to.the rod 15, and the parts 15,16 ancl 17 constituting the sliding bracket. The upper 85 encl of the bracket supports the ventilator cap 18, which is preferably reinforced around , the lower edge as shown at 18^a to give it the desired shape and weight, and which has a central opening extending 90 through the cap and through the reinforcement 19 around the centre thereof. If reinforcing rod is of other shape than circular it can be jointed at the corners to enable it to fold nicely. 95

The cap 18 is of a generally conical or pyramidal shape so as to fit over the top of the tent ancl close the opening 13, and obviously the cross sectional shape of the cap will conform to the cross sectional shape of 100 the tent top. The cap 18 has a flexible con- . nection at its lower edge as shown at 20, with the top of the pole or with the. tent top, this connection being at any convenient place, ancl as shown the drawing illustrates small 105 chains 20 connecting with the disc 14^a. Obviously any flexible connection suitable for the purpose can be made between the lower edge of the cap 18 and an adjacent part of the tent or pole to keep the cap from swing- 110 ing around or being displaced.

By reference to Figures 2 and 3 it will be

1,428,343 seen that the bracket carrying the cap 18 can be moved up or down to any desired extent within reasonable limits, so as to leave an air outlet through the opening 13, and be5 tween the cap 18 and the tent top, and it will also be noticed that when the cap . is raised to provide for ventilation, it permits I a free circulation of air, but also excludes ' water. At the same time the cap is stayed so that it is not liable to.be disarranged or blown away.

The bracket carrying the ventilator cap can be manipulated in various ways, and. 1 have shown a simple means in which a cord 15 21 connects with the ring 1'6 and runs over a pulley 23 on the upper part of the pole. Thus by pulling down on the cord, the bracket 15, 16, 17, is raised, and the cap 18 with it, thus providing for ventilation, and 20 if the cord is released, the cap 18 drops by. gravity.

It will be seen that the device which I have illustrated can be applied to ordinary tents having openings in the top, and that the 25 means for holding the cap in place, for raising and lowering it, and the form of the bracket which carries it, can be changed without affecting the invention in any way. The application of the device does not in30 terfere with the erection of the tent, as the bracket carrying the cap 18 is slipped onto the pole encl, the pole thrust through the opening 13 and disk 14^a and connected with the edge of the tent opening, and the ring 35 17, cap 18, and reinforcement 19 slipped over the rod 12, when the pole can be pushed up us usual carrying the tent top and ventilator cap with it.

In Figures 1 to 3 I have shown the appli40 cation of the ventilator to an ordinary canvas tent, but obviously it can be adapted to tents of various kinds. For instance, in Figure 4 I have shown a framework 25 for the roof which can be covered in any usual 45 way, which has the opening 13^a in the top, and has a cross piece 26 supporting a short pole ll^a with an extension 12^a, and the cap 18 can be operated on this as already described.

It will be further observed that this attachment provides for a very simple and perfect ventilation of the tent, and permits the escape of the dead air, heat, smoke, etc., which are very apt to accumulate therein.