CA2505229A1 - Collapsible portable shelter - Google Patents
Collapsible portable shelter Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- CA2505229A1 CA2505229A1 CA 2505229 CA2505229A CA2505229A1 CA 2505229 A1 CA2505229 A1 CA 2505229A1 CA 2505229 CA2505229 CA 2505229 CA 2505229 A CA2505229 A CA 2505229A CA 2505229 A1 CA2505229 A1 CA 2505229A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- wall portion
- pivoting wall
- pivoting
- shelter
- horizontal position
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
- 239000004744 fabric Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 18
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 2
- 229910000831 Steel Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 230000004075 alteration Effects 0.000 description 1
- XAGFODPZIPBFFR-UHFFFAOYSA-N aluminium Chemical compound [Al] XAGFODPZIPBFFR-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 229910052782 aluminium Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000001788 irregular Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000014759 maintenance of location Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 1
- 229920000728 polyester Polymers 0.000 description 1
- 230000001737 promoting effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000007787 solid Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000003068 static effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000010959 steel Substances 0.000 description 1
- XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N water Substances O XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 239000002023 wood Substances 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
- B60P—VEHICLES ADAPTED FOR LOAD TRANSPORTATION OR TO TRANSPORT, TO CARRY, OR TO COMPRISE SPECIAL LOADS OR OBJECTS
- B60P3/00—Vehicles adapted to transport, to carry or to comprise special loads or objects
- B60P3/32—Vehicles adapted to transport, to carry or to comprise special loads or objects comprising living accommodation for people, e.g. caravans, camping, or like vehicles
- B60P3/34—Vehicles adapted to transport, to carry or to comprise special loads or objects comprising living accommodation for people, e.g. caravans, camping, or like vehicles the living accommodation being expansible, collapsible or capable of rearrangement
- B60P3/341—Vehicles adapted to transport, to carry or to comprise special loads or objects comprising living accommodation for people, e.g. caravans, camping, or like vehicles the living accommodation being expansible, collapsible or capable of rearrangement comprising flexible elements
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Public Health (AREA)
- Transportation (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Tents Or Canopies (AREA)
Abstract
A portable collapsible shelter trailer comprising of a container having four doors on each side that are hinged along the bottom, and which may be folded to a horizontal position to yield a portable shelter having rigid frame and flexible fabric sections. The deployment of the doors so as to impart tension to the fabric shelter is accomplished by air actuated cylinders which are mounted to each of the doors, and are controlled from a control panel by means of air valves that regulate the flow of compressed air into the cylinders.
Description
COLLAPSIBLE PORTABLE SHELTER
The invention relates to the field of portable shelters and more particularly collapsible portable shelters having both rigid frame and flexible fabric sections which collapse to a rigid trailer.
For a better understanding of the present invention and to show more clearly how it may be car-ried into effect, reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention in collapsed state of a trailer;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment of Fig. 1 in a deployed state in which all four walls or doors are folded down in a horizontal position, and the fabric shelter in place;
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the embodiment of Fig. 2 without the fabric shelter covering to expose the internal structures of the collapsible portable shelter;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a corner of the trailer showing two mounted air actuated cylinders when the trailer is in the collapsed state;
Fig. 5 is a side elevation view of one air cylinder in the configuration it would be in when the wall or door on which it is mounted is in the deployed state; and Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the air cylinder of Fig. 5 showing its attachment to the corresponding shelter support tube.
Detailed Description For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications of the in-ventive features illustrated herein, and any additional applications of the principles of the inven-lion as illustrated herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having posses-sion of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention.
With reference to Figures 1 to 6, an embodiment of the present invention in its collapsed state forms a trailer 200 comprising a box structure or container 204 mounted on a trailer frame 206 having two low profile axles with wheels 14, thereby eliminating wheel wells.
The container has a sub frame 208 with a solid floor of wood or aluminum 45 on which are provided two F tracks I 59 used to tie down on-board cargo.
Each corner of the container has a steel tube that forms the corner of the sub frame and supports the roof 212. The roof 212 has its own sub frame mounted to the corner posts, that supports the roof joists and roof panels. The two sub frames and corner posts form the main frame for the fold down doors 51 that are mounted on each side of the trailer. This upper structure is designed to give maximum opening size. The size of the material used in the structure is determined by the overall length of the trailer. In the illustrated embodiment, the length of the corner posts are set by the size of the sub frames and must have 88" of clear opening.
The four doors 51 are hinged along the bottom sub frame 208 and, to allow one-person deploy-ment, there are provided torsion bars that reduce the weight to approximately 10 per cent of the total door weight.
The doors are held in the close position by door locks of the kind used in standard trailers. Each door has an angle 52 of 2 to 3 inches attached to the top and sides of the door 1 %2" from the in-side edge, except for the rear door where there is a 42" gap on the outside angle to accommodate loading of equipment. The doors have a rubber weather strip installed around the perimeter to eliminate air and water leaks. The rear fold down door 215 has a 42" man-door installed which allows users to load or unload ancillary equipment and supplies without lowering the main door and deploying the fabric structure.
On the outside of each door is provided with adjustable legs 157 that are mounted a maximum of five feet apart. These legs are locked in the closed position with a spring catch. The adjustable legs are released from the spring clips and the doors are now lowered and the adjustable legs are set to hold the doors in a horizontal position.
Wire rope cables 109,110 are mounted to stop the doors in the horizontal position. These cables are mounted at the top corner of the door frame and 3" from the top edge of the door and 1" from the side of door. 3/8" bolts with sleeves are used to mount the cables to the door and door frame. These cables prevent over-tensioning of the fabric, which occurs if the doors are not stopped at the horizontal position. All cables are mounted on the inside of the fabric shelter.
Each fold down door has two air actuated cylinders 1 mounted with the mounting bracket bolted to the door 2" from bottom inside edge of door to center of the blind end pin, and 3 7/16 " from side edge to the center of the cylinder. Cylinders are mounted to doors with a blind end pin and two cotter pins.
Control panel hinges are mounted to the front driver's side corner tube with the rear of the panel in its stowed position 2" from the front wall. Two hood catches are attached to hold the control panel 156 in its transport position. The control panel utilizes an air source from a static high-pressure storage tank mounted to the trailer frame or from a 120-volt air compressor. This air source is connected to the main control panel, equipped with four control valves, one for each door.
The control panel also has a shore power plug for remote power hookup and light switches to turn the lights off and on. From the control panel a large air line is deployed to a central location for each door, where a manifold then allows a smaller air line to be routed to each of the cylin-ders located at each door side. The manifold must be located at the center of the door on the main frame of the trailer, and the small lines must be of equal length. This is the only way that the cyl-finders will extend or contract at the same speed. It is important for this to happen otherwise jamming will occur.
The fabric shelter 220 is installed and made of a waterproof PVC coated polyester material or something similar, which can be insulated. The roof of the shelter and two sides are attached to the door frame using special rails and fasteners supplied with shelter. The awning tube is cut to length and a slot for the cylinder-tensioning device is cut into each end of tube. The shelter is at-tached to the tube by sliding the beaded edge, located where the roof meets the outside wall into the outside groove of the tube.
Referring to Fig. 5 & 6, the rod end mechanism is attached to the shelter support tube 21 along with two cables 109,110 utilizing adjusting screws 14 for final tensioning of fabric. These cables ensure that the cylinder extends into the correct position. The cables are mounted on the same 3/
8" bolts as the door stop cables and should be installed before installing the fabric shelter. The rod end is inserted into the cylinder rod and the shelter is then attached to the angles on the out-side edges of the doors using rails and fasteners supplied.
Each end, or long wall, of the fabric shelter has a 42" zippered door 224 in the center of the fab-ric wall. When positioning two trailers, side-by-side, a fabric tube may be used to join the two trailers together. Multiple trailers can be joined in this way using either front, rear or side doors.
All doors can have two-step staircases 150 or a 36" wide ramp 149 attached to allow ingress or egress to the trailer.
To deploy the trailer, the adjustable legs on a door are released from their spring clips, and then the door locks are released to permit the door to be pulled open and lowered until it stops. This is repeated for the other doors. To erect the individual shelter portions, the desired air valve on the control panel is turned on to allow the flow of compressed air to actuate the corresponding air cylinders on that door to tension the corresponding fabric shelter portion.
With this air actuation system, each shelter portion will erect in a matter of seconds. This is repeated for the three other shelter portions to complete the deployment of the entire unit. From within the trailer, locking pins are inserted into each of the cylinders, and then all of the air valves are turned off to stop the flow of air to the cylinders. Enter enclosed area and remove the three bungee cords from each shelter and the retention-webbing strap.
To stow the trailer, attach the three bungee cords to the sides of the shelter for each unit. These cords are used to pull the fabric inside the trailer as the doors are raised and prevent the fabric from jamming between the door and the door frame. Next, attach the retention straps to the web-bing handle, located on the inside corner of each corner post b0" from the floor. These straps hold the shelters and cylinders in an upright position to allow stowage of equipment and supplies during transport.
If the surface the trailer is parked on is irregular, return the adjustable legs to the stowing posi-tion. Then, using two people, remove the locking pins from the cylinders by pushing on the awn-ing tube and lowering the cylinders at the same rate. Now lift the doors from outside and lock in-place with door locks. Stow the adjustable legs in spring clips. Return the ancillary equip-ment and supplies to the trailer using the stairs or the ramp through the man-door. Secure the equipment with tie-downs. Trailer is now ready for transport.
While the above description and illustrations constitute preferred or alternate embodiments of the present invention, it will be appreciated that numerous variations may be made without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined in the appended claims.
The invention relates to the field of portable shelters and more particularly collapsible portable shelters having both rigid frame and flexible fabric sections which collapse to a rigid trailer.
For a better understanding of the present invention and to show more clearly how it may be car-ried into effect, reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention in collapsed state of a trailer;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment of Fig. 1 in a deployed state in which all four walls or doors are folded down in a horizontal position, and the fabric shelter in place;
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the embodiment of Fig. 2 without the fabric shelter covering to expose the internal structures of the collapsible portable shelter;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a corner of the trailer showing two mounted air actuated cylinders when the trailer is in the collapsed state;
Fig. 5 is a side elevation view of one air cylinder in the configuration it would be in when the wall or door on which it is mounted is in the deployed state; and Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the air cylinder of Fig. 5 showing its attachment to the corresponding shelter support tube.
Detailed Description For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications of the in-ventive features illustrated herein, and any additional applications of the principles of the inven-lion as illustrated herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having posses-sion of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention.
With reference to Figures 1 to 6, an embodiment of the present invention in its collapsed state forms a trailer 200 comprising a box structure or container 204 mounted on a trailer frame 206 having two low profile axles with wheels 14, thereby eliminating wheel wells.
The container has a sub frame 208 with a solid floor of wood or aluminum 45 on which are provided two F tracks I 59 used to tie down on-board cargo.
Each corner of the container has a steel tube that forms the corner of the sub frame and supports the roof 212. The roof 212 has its own sub frame mounted to the corner posts, that supports the roof joists and roof panels. The two sub frames and corner posts form the main frame for the fold down doors 51 that are mounted on each side of the trailer. This upper structure is designed to give maximum opening size. The size of the material used in the structure is determined by the overall length of the trailer. In the illustrated embodiment, the length of the corner posts are set by the size of the sub frames and must have 88" of clear opening.
The four doors 51 are hinged along the bottom sub frame 208 and, to allow one-person deploy-ment, there are provided torsion bars that reduce the weight to approximately 10 per cent of the total door weight.
The doors are held in the close position by door locks of the kind used in standard trailers. Each door has an angle 52 of 2 to 3 inches attached to the top and sides of the door 1 %2" from the in-side edge, except for the rear door where there is a 42" gap on the outside angle to accommodate loading of equipment. The doors have a rubber weather strip installed around the perimeter to eliminate air and water leaks. The rear fold down door 215 has a 42" man-door installed which allows users to load or unload ancillary equipment and supplies without lowering the main door and deploying the fabric structure.
On the outside of each door is provided with adjustable legs 157 that are mounted a maximum of five feet apart. These legs are locked in the closed position with a spring catch. The adjustable legs are released from the spring clips and the doors are now lowered and the adjustable legs are set to hold the doors in a horizontal position.
Wire rope cables 109,110 are mounted to stop the doors in the horizontal position. These cables are mounted at the top corner of the door frame and 3" from the top edge of the door and 1" from the side of door. 3/8" bolts with sleeves are used to mount the cables to the door and door frame. These cables prevent over-tensioning of the fabric, which occurs if the doors are not stopped at the horizontal position. All cables are mounted on the inside of the fabric shelter.
Each fold down door has two air actuated cylinders 1 mounted with the mounting bracket bolted to the door 2" from bottom inside edge of door to center of the blind end pin, and 3 7/16 " from side edge to the center of the cylinder. Cylinders are mounted to doors with a blind end pin and two cotter pins.
Control panel hinges are mounted to the front driver's side corner tube with the rear of the panel in its stowed position 2" from the front wall. Two hood catches are attached to hold the control panel 156 in its transport position. The control panel utilizes an air source from a static high-pressure storage tank mounted to the trailer frame or from a 120-volt air compressor. This air source is connected to the main control panel, equipped with four control valves, one for each door.
The control panel also has a shore power plug for remote power hookup and light switches to turn the lights off and on. From the control panel a large air line is deployed to a central location for each door, where a manifold then allows a smaller air line to be routed to each of the cylin-ders located at each door side. The manifold must be located at the center of the door on the main frame of the trailer, and the small lines must be of equal length. This is the only way that the cyl-finders will extend or contract at the same speed. It is important for this to happen otherwise jamming will occur.
The fabric shelter 220 is installed and made of a waterproof PVC coated polyester material or something similar, which can be insulated. The roof of the shelter and two sides are attached to the door frame using special rails and fasteners supplied with shelter. The awning tube is cut to length and a slot for the cylinder-tensioning device is cut into each end of tube. The shelter is at-tached to the tube by sliding the beaded edge, located where the roof meets the outside wall into the outside groove of the tube.
Referring to Fig. 5 & 6, the rod end mechanism is attached to the shelter support tube 21 along with two cables 109,110 utilizing adjusting screws 14 for final tensioning of fabric. These cables ensure that the cylinder extends into the correct position. The cables are mounted on the same 3/
8" bolts as the door stop cables and should be installed before installing the fabric shelter. The rod end is inserted into the cylinder rod and the shelter is then attached to the angles on the out-side edges of the doors using rails and fasteners supplied.
Each end, or long wall, of the fabric shelter has a 42" zippered door 224 in the center of the fab-ric wall. When positioning two trailers, side-by-side, a fabric tube may be used to join the two trailers together. Multiple trailers can be joined in this way using either front, rear or side doors.
All doors can have two-step staircases 150 or a 36" wide ramp 149 attached to allow ingress or egress to the trailer.
To deploy the trailer, the adjustable legs on a door are released from their spring clips, and then the door locks are released to permit the door to be pulled open and lowered until it stops. This is repeated for the other doors. To erect the individual shelter portions, the desired air valve on the control panel is turned on to allow the flow of compressed air to actuate the corresponding air cylinders on that door to tension the corresponding fabric shelter portion.
With this air actuation system, each shelter portion will erect in a matter of seconds. This is repeated for the three other shelter portions to complete the deployment of the entire unit. From within the trailer, locking pins are inserted into each of the cylinders, and then all of the air valves are turned off to stop the flow of air to the cylinders. Enter enclosed area and remove the three bungee cords from each shelter and the retention-webbing strap.
To stow the trailer, attach the three bungee cords to the sides of the shelter for each unit. These cords are used to pull the fabric inside the trailer as the doors are raised and prevent the fabric from jamming between the door and the door frame. Next, attach the retention straps to the web-bing handle, located on the inside corner of each corner post b0" from the floor. These straps hold the shelters and cylinders in an upright position to allow stowage of equipment and supplies during transport.
If the surface the trailer is parked on is irregular, return the adjustable legs to the stowing posi-tion. Then, using two people, remove the locking pins from the cylinders by pushing on the awn-ing tube and lowering the cylinders at the same rate. Now lift the doors from outside and lock in-place with door locks. Stow the adjustable legs in spring clips. Return the ancillary equip-ment and supplies to the trailer using the stairs or the ramp through the man-door. Secure the equipment with tie-downs. Trailer is now ready for transport.
While the above description and illustrations constitute preferred or alternate embodiments of the present invention, it will be appreciated that numerous variations may be made without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined in the appended claims.
Claims
1. A collapsible portable shelter comprising:
a trailer chassis;
a container mounted on the chassis and having opposed ends, opposed vertical sides, and a horizontal top and bottom;
at least one of said vertical sides comprising a pivoting wall portion hingedly connected to said vertical side along the lower edge of said pivoting wall portion to pivot between a closed vertical position and an open horizontal position, said pivoting wall portion hav-ing an outer edge, and whereby an opening is formed in said vertical side circumscribed by edges of said vertical side when said pivoting wall portion is in the horizontal posi-tion;
means associated with said container and with said pivoting wall portion for releasably securing said pivoting wall portion in said vertical position;
means adapted to support said pivoting wall portion for releasably maintaining said piv-oting wall portion in said horizontal position;
a flexible cover secured to said outer edge of said pivoting wall portion and secured to said container around said opening formed when said pivoting wall portion is in said lowered horizontal position, and adapted to be extended above said pivoting wall portion while said pivoting wall portion is in said lowered horizontal position; and pneumatically actuated means extending outwardly from said vertical side and above said pivoting wall portion when said pivoting wall portion is in said towered horizontal posi-tion for supporting said fabric cover above said pivoting wall portion while said pivoting wall portion is in said lowered horizontal position.
a trailer chassis;
a container mounted on the chassis and having opposed ends, opposed vertical sides, and a horizontal top and bottom;
at least one of said vertical sides comprising a pivoting wall portion hingedly connected to said vertical side along the lower edge of said pivoting wall portion to pivot between a closed vertical position and an open horizontal position, said pivoting wall portion hav-ing an outer edge, and whereby an opening is formed in said vertical side circumscribed by edges of said vertical side when said pivoting wall portion is in the horizontal posi-tion;
means associated with said container and with said pivoting wall portion for releasably securing said pivoting wall portion in said vertical position;
means adapted to support said pivoting wall portion for releasably maintaining said piv-oting wall portion in said horizontal position;
a flexible cover secured to said outer edge of said pivoting wall portion and secured to said container around said opening formed when said pivoting wall portion is in said lowered horizontal position, and adapted to be extended above said pivoting wall portion while said pivoting wall portion is in said lowered horizontal position; and pneumatically actuated means extending outwardly from said vertical side and above said pivoting wall portion when said pivoting wall portion is in said towered horizontal posi-tion for supporting said fabric cover above said pivoting wall portion while said pivoting wall portion is in said lowered horizontal position.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2505229 CA2505229A1 (en) | 2005-04-25 | 2005-04-25 | Collapsible portable shelter |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2505229 CA2505229A1 (en) | 2005-04-25 | 2005-04-25 | Collapsible portable shelter |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2505229A1 true CA2505229A1 (en) | 2006-10-25 |
Family
ID=37193883
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2505229 Abandoned CA2505229A1 (en) | 2005-04-25 | 2005-04-25 | Collapsible portable shelter |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2505229A1 (en) |
-
2005
- 2005-04-25 CA CA 2505229 patent/CA2505229A1/en not_active Abandoned
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FZDE | Dead |