Tent Awning

Abstract

An awning for a tent has an awning fabric attached at a first end to a tent, and a member attaching a first portion of the awning fabric to a tent pole and causing a second portion of the awning fabric to extend away from the tent. The member is a hook attachable to the pole, an attachment connecting the first portion of the awning fabric to the hook, an attachment strip connecting the first end of the awning fabric to the hook, or an attachment loop which loops around the pole without using the hook.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims foreign priority to China Application No. 201320835971.9, filed on Dec. 17, 2013, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a tent awning, and in particular to an awning integrally formed on a tent, which is held in an extended configuration without additional components or assembly and collapsible for folding with the tent without additional disassembly.

2. Description of Prior Art

Camping tents have evolved over the years to be more user-friendly and new features have been developed to provide the camper with additional conveniences. One of those features is an awning which covers the window or door, or any other opening of the tent to provide the tent with additional protection from rain and also to provide additional shade.

As shown in FIG. 1, a tent 10 in the prior art includes an awning 12 in the prior art composed of awning fabric 13 having a channel or sleeve 14. After the tent 10 is erected, a rod 16 is inserted through the channel 14 and each end of the rod 16 is connected to a body portion 11 of the tent 10 to hold the awning 12 in a configuration in which the awning fabric 13 extends away from the tent body portion 11. The ends of the rod 16 are connected either to poles 15 of the tent 10 or a tent fabric 17. When collapsing the tent 10, the user must disassemble the awning 12 by detaching the rod ends and removing the rod 16 from the channel 14.

Instant tents—tents that are sold preassembled with the tent fabric connected to a foldable frame—have gained popularity because of the ease of folding and unfolding the tent. As described above, the awning 12 of the prior art is particularly inconvenient in instant tents because additional assembly and disassembly is required. Thus, the concept of an “instant” tent is defeated.

The tent awnings of the prior art make the assembly and disassembly process time consuming. Furthermore, with the requirement of a separate rod 16, the likelihood of misplacing the rod 16 during storage and transport is increased. Also, the additional parts required for the awning 12, including the hardware (not shown) required to mount the rod 16, increase the cost of production and the possibility of repair.

Therefore, it is desirable to provide an awning that requires no loose parts such as a rod and mounting hardware. It is also desirable to have an awning that is easily assembled and disassembled on a traditional tent. It is further desirable to have an awning that requires no assembly or disassembly on an instant tent.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of some embodiments of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some embodiments of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

The present invention provides an awning that requires no loose parts such as a mounting rod. The present invention also provides an awning that is easily assembled and disassembled on a traditional tent and an awning that requires no assembly or disassembly on an instant tent.

In one embodiment, an awning for a tent having a pole comprises an awning fabric attached at a first end to the tent; and a member attaching a first portion of the awning fabric to the pole and causing a second portion of the awning fabric to extend away from the tent. The member includes a hook attachable to the pole. In addition to the hook, the member includes a an attachment strip connecting the first portion of the awning fabric to the hook, or includes an attachment strip connecting the first end of the awning fabric to the hook, or includes a plurality of hooks and a plurality of attachment strips connecting each of the first end and the first portion of the awning fabric to a respective hook.

In another embodiment, instead of the hook, the member includes an attachment loop with one end of the loop attached to the first portion of the awning fabric, and with the loop extending around the pole, and the loop is slidable along a length of the pole.

In a further embodiment, the awning includes a seam within the awning; and a rod extending through a channel in the seam.

In alternative embodiments, the present invention comprises a tent having a pole, a tent fabric on the pole, and an awning with an awning fabric attached at a first end to the tent; and a member attaching a first portion of the awning fabric to the pole and causing a second portion of the awning fabric to extend away from the tent. The member includes a hook attachable to the pole. In addition to the hook, the member includes an attachment strip connecting the first portion of the awning fabric to the hook, or includes an attachment strip connecting the first end of the awning fabric to the hook, or includes a plurality of hooks and a plurality of attachment strips connecting each of the first end and the first portion of the awning fabric to a respective hook.

In another embodiment, instead of the hook, the member of the tent includes an attachment loop with one end of the loop attached to the first portion of the awning fabric, and with the loop of fabric extending around the pole, and the loop of fabric is slidable along a length of the pole.

In a further embodiment, the tent has the awning with a seam therewith; and a rod extending through a channel in the seam.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of presently preferred embodiments of the invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawings embodiments which are presently preferred. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top front perspective view of a tent in the prior art with a prior art awning;

FIG. 2 is the top front perspective view of a tent having an awning of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of insert A of the awning of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an alternative embodiment of the awning of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is another alternative embodiment of the awning of FIG. 2 and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the tent of FIG. 2 in a partially folded state.

To facilitate an understanding of the invention, identical reference numerals have been used, when appropriate, to designate the same or similar elements that are common to the figures. Further, unless stated otherwise, the features shown in the figures are not drawn to scale, but are shown for illustrative purposes only.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Certain terminology is used in the following description for convenience only and is not limiting. The article “a” is intended to include one or more items, and where only one item is intended the term “one” or similar language is used. Additionally, to assist in the description of the present invention, words such as top, bottom, upper, lower, front, rear, inner, outer, right and left are used to describe the accompanying figures. The terminology includes the words above specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import.

As shown in FIGS. 2-5, the present invention is an awning 22 for a tent 20 having tent fabric 21 on poles 25, in which the awning 22 is held in an extended configuration away from the tent fabric 21 without using internal rods or poles to maintain the awning in the extended configuration.

Referring to FIGS. 2-3, in a first embodiment of the present invention, the awning 22 has awning fabric 23 which, when deployed in accordance with the present invention, is held by at least one hook 26 mounted on at least one of the poles 25 upon which the awning fabric 23 is maintained. In the present embodiment, the awning fabric 23 includes a top portion 23a and opposing side portions 23b but the awning fabric 23 could include more or less portions.

FIG. 3 illustrates an enlarged view of insert A of FIG. 2, in which a first attachment strip 24 is attached to a tent fabric 21 on one end and to a first hook 26a on an opposing end. In the present embodiment, the first attachment strip 24 is attached to a seam joining the tent fabric 21 and the awning fabric 23 but could be attached elsewhere depending on the particular design of the tent. A second attachment strip 28 is attached at one end to the awning 22 and to a second hook 26b at an opposing end. The respective hooks 26a, 26b are coupled to at least one pole 25. The attachment strips 24, 28 are, for example, strips of fabric, elongated woven nylon material, or a combination of both, attached at one end to the awning fabric 23 or a tent fabric 21 by any known attachment mechanism, such as seams, glue, fasteners, etc. For example, the first attachment strip 24 is a woven nylon strip which is attached to the tent fabric 21, and the second attachment strip 28 includes a fabric portion 29 and a nylon portion 31 and is attached to the awning fabric 23 using a seam 27.

Due to the position and orientation of the second hook 26b as well as the length of the attachment strips 28, the awning fabric 23 is pulled by the second hook 26b and attachment strip 28 to be in the configuration extending away from the tent fabric 21 to provide an awning 22 of the tent 20, as shown in FIG. 2. In this manner, the awning fabric 23 is substantially taut such that any rain water will flow downward instead of accumulating on top of the awning 22. The extended configuration of the awning 22 is adjustable in size and shape by the user who selects the location of the second hook 26b along a selected pole 25 of the tent 20. In addition, the awning 22 may be easily collapsed during folding of the tent 20 by detaching the second attachment strip 28 from the second hook 26b and/or by detaching the second hook 26b from the pole 25.

In addition, the hooks 26a, 26b may be a known mechanism which may be slidably mounted and/or detached and reattached from one position to another on the poles 25, allowing a selected hook 26a, 26b to be securely mounted in a selected position along a selected one of the poles 25.

Accordingly, the awning 22 of the present invention does not use or require additional rods or poles for deploying the awning 22 in the extended configuration.

As shown in FIG. 3, the seam 27 may optionally include a channel 40 in which a rod (not shown) may be placed for forming the awning fabric 23 to be substantially planar, while the second hook 26b and second attachment strip 28 hold the awning fabric 23 of the awning 22 in the extended configuration away from the tent fabric 21. Optionally, the seam 27 and rod could be shaped and sized to a desired configuration.

In an alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a single hook 26 is attached to the attachment strips 24, 28, with the first attachment strip 24 connected to an end or corner of the tent fabric 21, and with the second attachment strip 28 connected to a portion or side of the awning 22. In this configuration, materials cost is reduced during manufacture while still providing the proper support for the awning 22.

In a further embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a single hook 26 is attached to the tent fabric 21 and an attachment loop 30 is attached to a portion of the awning 22. The attachment loop 30 loops around one of the poles 25, and the attachment loop 30 may slide along the selected pole 25 when the tent is folded. In addition, the attachment loop 30 may be repositioned by sliding the attachment loop 30 along the pole 25, allowing a user to further adjust the configuration of the awning 22 relative to the tent fabric 21. The attachment loop 30 could be constructed of materials such as tent fabric, woven nylon or the like and could be elastic.

Accordingly, using combination of the hooks 26 and attachment strips 24, 28 as well as the attachment loop 30 shown in FIGS. 2-5, the awning 22 may be configured and deployed in a selected shape and configuration relative to the tent 21 and poles 25 of the tent 20. In addition, by using such hooks 26 and the slidable attachment loop 30 located on at least one pole 25, the awning 22 can be easily folded when the tent 20 is folded.

In operation, the awning 22 could be disassembled by removing the second hook 26b from the pole 25. Alternatively, if the awning 22 is used on an instant tent, as shown in FIG. 2, the second hook 26b is maintained on the pole 25 as the tent 20 is folded, as shown in FIG. 6. As the tent 20 is folded, the awning 22 is collapsed and the hooks 26a, 26b slide on the pole 25 to facilitate the folding process.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

Claims

1. An awning for a tent having a pole, with the awning comprising:

an awning fabric attached at a first end to the tent; and

a member attaching a first portion of the awning fabric to the pole and causing a second portion of the awning fabric to extend away from the tent.

2. The awning of claim 1, wherein the member includes a hook attachable to the pole.

3. The awning of claim 2, wherein the member includes an attachment strip connecting the first portion of the awning fabric to the hook.

4. The awning of claim 2, wherein the member includes an attachment strip connecting the first end of the awning fabric to the hook.

5. The awning of claim 2, wherein the member includes a plurality of hooks and a plurality of attachment strips connecting each of the first end and the first portion of the awning fabric to a respective hook.

6. The awning of claim 1, wherein the member includes an attachment loop with one end of the loop attached to the first portion of the awning fabric, and with the attachment loop extending around the pole.

7. The awning of claim 6, wherein the attachment loop is slidable along a length of the pole.

8. The awning of claim 1, further comprising:

a seam within the awning fabric; and

a rod extending through a channel in the seam.

9. An awning for a tent having a pole, with the awning comprising:

an awning fabric attached at a first end to the tent; and

a member having a first hook attachable to the pole with the first hook attaching a first portion of the awning fabric to the pole and causing a second portion of the awning fabric to extend away from the tent.

10. The awning of claim 9, wherein the member includes an attachment strip connecting the first portion of the awning fabric to the first hook.

11. The awning of claim 9, wherein the member includes an attachment strip connecting the first end of the awning fabric to the first hook.

12. The awning of claim 9, wherein the member includes a plurality of hooks and a plurality of attachment strips connecting each of the first end and the first portion of the awning fabric to a respective hook.

13. The awning of claim 9, further comprising:

an attachment loop with one end of the attachment loop attached to the first portion of the awning fabric, and with the attachment loop extending around the pole.

14. The awning of claim 13, wherein the attachment loop is slidable along a length of the pole.

15. The awning of claim 9, further comprising:

a seam within the awning fabric; and

a rod extending through a channel in the seam.

16. A tent comprising:

a pole;

a tent fabric on the pole; and

an awning including: an awning fabric attached at a first end to the tent fabric; and a member attaching a first portion of the awning fabric to the pole and causing a second portion of the awning fabric to extend away from the tent fabric.

17. The awning of claim 16, wherein the member includes a hook attachable to the pole.

18. The tent of claim 16, wherein the member includes an attachment loop with one end of the attachment loop attached to the first portion of the awning fabric, and with the attachment loop extending around the pole.

19. The tent of claim 18, wherein the attachment loop is slidable along a length of the pole.

20. The tent of claim 16, further comprising:

a seam within the awning fabric; and

a rod extending through a channel in the seam.