US612991A - Longitudinal stretcher for hammocks - Google Patents

Description

No. s|2,99|. Patented oct. 25, |898. l. E. PALMER.

LONGITUDINAL STRETCHER FUR HAMMUCKS.

(Appumion med Nov. 19, 1897.)

(No Model.)

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ISAAC E. PALMER, OF I\;`IIDDLETOVN, CONNECTICUT.

LONGITUDINAL STRETCHER. FOR HANIVIOCKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 612,991, dated October 25,1898.

Application filed November 19, 1897. Serial No. 659,095. (No model.)

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC E. PALMER, of Middletown, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Longitudinal' Stretchers for Hammocks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in longitudinal stretchers for hammocks; and it consists in a device arranged to cooperate with the hammock-supports for holding the opposite ends of the hammock at such a distance apart as to give to the hammock the desired pitch with respect to a vertical line.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure l represents a hammock in side elevation provided with an extensible stretcher of rigid material. Fig. 2 is an enlarged crosssection through the stretcher, and Fig. 3 is a view in side elevation representing an extensible stretcher of flexible material.

The hammock-body is denoted by A, its supporting-cords at its opposite ends by caf, and the supporting ropes leading, respectively, from the head supporting-cords and foot of seat-frame to the point from which the hammock is primarily supported are denoted by a2 a3.

In the form shown in Fig. 1 the primary points of support (denoted by B B') are located a distance apart less than that which would be at all times desirable if the hammock Were to be allowed to take its natural curve when suspended therefrom, and in this instance I interpose the extensible stretcher of some suitable rigid material-such, for example, as wood-between the supportingropes c2 d3 and the supporting-cords at the head and foot of the body of the hammock.

The stretcher is here shown as formed of three sections C C C2, the sections C C2 being arranged to telescope Within or slide along a groove in the central section C. The central section consists ot' a pair of cheek-pieces c c', provided on their adjacent faces With grooves c2 for the reception of the ribs c3 on the opposite faces of the sliding sections C' C2.

A pair of clamps, each consisting of open U -shaped sections c4 c, having a tongue-andsocket interlocking engagement o6 at one end and a screw cv7 at the opposite end for drawing the sections together, serve to tightly hold the sections C C2 in their several adjustments.

The sections C' C2 are provided on their under sides With hooks c8 for the attachment thereto of the opposite ends of the hammock, and on their uppersides they are provided with hooks or eyes c9 for the attachment thereto of one end of the supporting-ropes d2 a3.

By means of this structure the ends of the hammock, when secured at or near the opposite ends of the stretcher and the latter extended, may be separated from one another a distance much greater than the distance between the points of primary support and the hammock thereby caused to assume a position nearer the horizontal, as is commonly preferred in case the occupant desired to sleep or rest Without occupation. If, on the other hand, the occupant desires to read While sitting in the hammock, the stretcher may be contracted in length and the ends of the' hammock thereby brought nearer together, causing the hammock to assume a position nearer the vertical, and if a position still nearer the upright be desired the ends of the hammock may be shifted from their connections with the stretcher at or near its ends to connections With it nearer its center.

When the primary points of support are located a distance apart equal to or greater than the distance which the hammock would assume when stretched in the position nearest the horizontal-as, for example, in the position shown at B2 B3, Fig. 3-the stretcher (denoted by C3) may be made of iieXible material-such, for example, ,as rope-and may be stretched between the hooks at the ends of the suspension-cords at the opposite ends of the hammock. By making this stretcher C adjustable in length-as, for example, by carrying one of its ends through the eye .of the hook at the foot end of the hammock and folding it back along the stretcher and connecting it therewith by a tilting eyepiece D, Which Will bind on the body of the stretcher When strain is applied to it and which will slide freely along the body of the stretcher When no strain is appliedthe opposite ends of the ICO hammock may be adjusted nearer to or farther away from each other to suit the pitch desired, the supporting-ropes a2 as in this instance assuming a position nearer the horizontal as the ends of the hammock are drawn nearer together by the stretcher and approach the perpendicular as the ends of the hammock are permitted to separate from one another.

This longitudinal stretcher serves to give the hammock the various pitches desired regardless of the distance between the points of primary support, and thus adds to its gen; eral utility, because of doing away with the necessity of tindin g points of primary support a distance apart sufficient to stretch it inits position nearer the horizontal, as has heretofore been common.

What I claim isl. The combination with a hammock, of an adjustable longitudinal stretcher for holding the hammock in the desired extended adjustment and swinging supporting devices attached to and extending upwardly from the stretcher for securing it to fixed supports at different distances apart, whereby the hammock may be maintained in the desired extended adjustment and in alinement Whatever be the distances apart of the fixed supports, substantially Vas set forth.

2. The combination with a hammock, of an eXtensible and contractible stretcher arranged lengthwise of the hammock for holding the hammock in the desired extended adj ustment and swinging supporting devices attached to and extending upwardly from the stretcher for securing it to fixed supports at dierent distances apart, substantially as set forth.

3. The longitudinally-extensible stretcherbar, comprising a central section formed of cheek-pieces and sliding sections interposed between the cheek-pieces, the sliding sections and the cheek-pieces being provided, the one with a tongue and the other with a groove to receive the tongue and clamps, consisting of separable interlocking sections, for holding the cheek-pieces in close engagement with the sliding sections to secure them in their various adjustments, substantially as set forth.

ISAAC E. PALMER.

Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNEs, C. S. SUNDGREN.

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