[at-l] That Crazy Cot/Pack Again

[shellydhale at earthlink.net (Shelly Hale)]

Think along the lines of carrying a lawnchair on your back...ya know the kind...had all those little plastic ropes wrapped round and round the frame, the flat fake pillow, and the darn thing always closed up on you?  Well, my brother and I had made a backpack out of one one time.  There was a comfort issue with having the legs folded up against our backs...dang things hurt!  LOL

But, it's the same principle...only instead of having 3 sections...there would only be 2.  Same type hinges as the lawn chair...but made out of titanium...also extenders in the middle sections much like leki's so that it could telescope back and forth.  You would get a custom length as well as a custom width.  

-----Original Message-----
From: RoksnRoots@aol.com
Sent: Oct 28, 2004 1:29 PM
To: AT-L@Backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [at-l] That Crazy Cot/Pack Again

In a message dated 10/28/2004 8:40:56 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
s.landis@comcast.net writes:
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http://www.freepatentsonline.com/patents/us/488/4883206/4883206.pdf
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         Obviously somebody was thinking of this before myself. 

   
            I looked at the patent description included in Steve's link. This 
guy has the idea, but he's gone the "contraption" route. As Steve noted, it 
looks heavy.

        The first thing wrong with this guy's idea is it isn't a 
long-distance design. It's obviously overkill on the frame. The cot is unnecessarily high 
off the ground. 3-4 inches would be enough to allow for fabric sag and ground 
clearance. This guy is over a foot off the ground from the looks of it. 

        Next mistake is his trying to do too much with one invention. The 
tent portion is too much extra design and riggings. It's unnecessary. A tarp with 
some Lekis would cover that end without the extra weight and design of his 
model. 

        I found a serious flaw in this man's design which makes me think his 
patent is a theoretical one off the blueprints and not really thought out. If 
you go to the link and look at his diagram of the pack being carried you'll 
see it is so narrow that it fits within the width of his back. Then look at the 
cot mode diagram and there's no expansion joint for width. In other words, the 
cot is supposed to be as wide as the backpack. If you slept on this you would 
be hanging over the sides by 4 inches on each side like sleeping on a rail. 
Critical design flaw that makes me doubt this man's design competency. (Not to 
mention the "contraption " look). He also doesn't have enough back padding to 
carry that frame in his harness.

       My design would be better because it would eliminate all that extra, 
unnecessary frame. All you need is 3-4 inches clearance - not a foot or more 
clearance. And you don't need any flying tubes over the danged thing for tent 
poles. This guy is obviously a poindexter designer and way far from hiking 
trends.

            Imagine the same sort of thing except the pack frame is virtually 
flat to the back like a Jansport. The bottom would have an "L" extension of 
"U" bars jutting out like a freighter frame bottom rest. These would detach and 
become the legs for the cot. The difference being the frame (and therefore 
the pack fabric) would have to expand width-wise in order to be wide enough to 
sleep entirely inside the cot. Very simple. This man has way overcomplicated 
the design...


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Tenacious Tanasi