Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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IMPROVED RO~E HAMMOCR
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to rope hammocks, and in
particular it relates to an improved woven rope hammock
and a method of making it.
Rope hammocks of the "Carolina style" have been
known since about 1889. Very generally these hammocks
have a woven bed attached to a spray of ropes at each
end, and the spray of ropes each converge to a respective
mounting ring. The mounting rings are intended to be
placed on a hook or other supporting means in a tree or
other structure so that the hammock is suspended
therebetween. The spray of ropes may be referred to as a
harness. At each end of the bed, where the bed joins or
is connected to the harness, is a member called a
stretcher stick, or more simply a stretcher, which
extends substantially from one side of the bed to the
other. The stretcher is often a hardwood stick and
normally has a plurality of spaced holes. Each rope of
the harness passes through a respective hole in the
stretcher and is fastened to the hammock bed, usually by
a knot. The knot is on the bed side of the stretcher.
This arrangement permits the harness ropes in the
center portion of the harness to elongate or stretch more
than the ropes closer to the sides of the bed when in use
because the greatest weight is on those ropes which
extend along the middle portion of the bed. With use the
stretcher may slide up and down the harness ropes and the
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resulting frictional forces will cause wear.
SUMMARY OF T~E INVENTION
The present invention provides for a woven rope
hammock where each harness rope extends through a
respective hole in the stretcher, loops around at least a
pair of adjacent ropes in the bed, passes back through
the same hole and is pulled tight to force the loop and
the bed ropes around which it is looped against the
stretcher. The harness rope is then secured with a knot
on the harness side of the stretcher. The stretcher is
thus held between the loops and bed ropes contained in
the loops on the bed side, and the knots on the harness
side. The stretcher is prevented from sliding on the
harness ropes.
The invention is also for a method of making a
woven rope hammock where the bed is fastened to the
harness through holes in a stretcher by passing each
harness rope through a respective hole in the stretcher,
looping the harness rope around at least one rope in the
woven bed, inserting a wire hook through the hole in the
stretcher from the harness side and bringing the harness
rope back through the same hole, pulling the harness rope
tight to bring the harness rope on the bed side and the
bed ropes around which it is looped against the
stretcher, and knotting the harness rope to itself
adjacent the stretcher on the harness side. Again, this
prevents the stretcher from sliding on the harness ropes
when in use.
While "Carolina style" hammocks have been available
for a considerable number of years, the problem of a
stretcher that may slide on the harness ropes does not
appear to have been addressed. Perhaps this is because
hammocks are not generally in daily use throughout the
year, and consequently the wear on the ropes is
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relatively slow. Perhaps this is because the market in
the past was not extensive and there was relatively
little competition and, with the impetus of competition
absent, the motivation to improve the product was
lacking.
It is therefore an object of the invention to
provide an improved woven rope hammock.
It is another object of the invention to provide an
improved method of making an improved woven rope hammock.
It is yet another object of the invention to
provide a woven rope hammock in which the stretcher is
mounted in a manner which prevents the stretcher from
sliding on the harness ropes.
It is still another object of the invention to
provide a woven rope hammock in which the harness rope
passes through a hole in the stretcher and loops over at
least one rope in the bed, then returns through the same
hole and is knotted to itself on the harness side.
Accordingly there is priovided a woven rope hammock
comprising a bed of woven ropes having at each end a
plurality of end loops arranged as a group of sets, each
set comprising one of a single end loop, a pair of end
loops and three end loops, a harness for each end of the
bed, each harness having a harness rope for each set in
the group of sets at the respective end of the bed, and a
stretcher for each said harness, each stretcher having a
plurality of spaced holes therethrough, there being one
hole for each harness rope in the respective harness,
each harness rope passing through a respective hole in
the respective stretcher, passing through a respective
set of end loops, returning through the same respective
hole, and being knotted to itself.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be described with reference to
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the accompanying drawings, in which
Figures 1 and 2 are partial plan views showing one end
of a hammock bed and harness of a prior art type of
hammock, and useful in illustrating problems that might
occur in these hammocks,
Figure 3 is an enlarged view of a prior art type of
hammock showing a part of a stretcher with a single hole
and a single harness rope fastened to ropes in the bed,
Figures 4A and 4B are enlarged views of a part of a
hammock according to the invention showing a stretcher
with a single hole and a single harness rope fastened to
ropes in the bed when the harness rope has not been
pulled tight and when it has been pulled tight,
Figure 5 is a partial plan view showing one end a
hammock bed and harness according to the invention,
Figure 6 is a partial plan view of one end of a
hammock bed and harness according to the invention in
another form, and
Figure 7 is a drawing showing a part of a stretcher,
useful in describing the making of the hammock.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Refereing to Figure 1, there is shown a partial
view of a type of prior art hammock having a bed 10
comprising ropes 11 which are woven to form the bed 10.
A harness 12 is at each end of the bed 10 and extends
from a harness ring 14, which is used to mount or fasten
the hammock to a hook (not shown) in a tree or other
support. The harness 12 comprises ropes 15 which spray
or fan out from the ring 14 to a stretcher 17 having
holes 16 therethrough spaced apart along its length.
Each rope 15 passes through a respective hole 16, then
passes through a loop in at least one rope at the end of
the bed 10 and usually two loops, turns back and is
knotted to itself on the bed side of the stretcher 17 by
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a knot 18. The knot used is frequently a bowline,
although other knots could be used. For ease of
description, the rope 11 in the bed which forms a loop at
the end of the bed for being secured to a harness rope
15, could be referred to as a pair of ropes, that is, one
rope of the pair going towards the stretcher and one
going away.
Referring for the moment to Figure 3, there is
shown an enlarged cross-sectional view of part of a
stretcher 17 showing a hole 16 through which passes a
harness rope 15A. The rope 15A passed through a loop
formed by rope llA and a loop formed by rope llB (that
is, in other words, by a pair of ropes llA and a pair of
ropes llB). The rope 15A is then knotted to itself with
knot 18. To secure the end of the rope 15A, and prevent
the knot 18 from becoming loose, the end of rope 15A as
it exits from knot 18 is often melted to an adjacent part
of knot 18 as shown at 25. Of course, this can only be
done when a suitable synthetic rope is used, for example
nylon, propylene or the like.
Returning now to Figure 1, the knots 18 are shown
at differing distances from the stretcher 17. When a
hammock is in use, the greater load is generally on the
ropes at and near the center of the bed. This load is
transmitted to the harness ropes 15. The harness ropes
15 which are near the center of the harness 12, tend to
stretch more than the harness ropes near the sides, and
this uneven stretching results in the knots 18 which are
in the center region being displaced farther from the
stretcher 17 than the knots towards the edge, as shown.
The uneven stretching of the ropes 15 causes wear where
the ropes 15 pass through holes 16. In addition, the
uneven displacement of knots 18 from the stretcher 17 is
unsightly.
Referring to Figure 2, there is shown the end of a
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prior art hammock where the stretcher 17 has shifted on
the harness 12 so that it is at an angle. That is, the
stretcher 17 is adjacent knot 18A at one side and is
displaced from knot 18B at the other side. As the
stretcher 17 is not restrained by knots or clamps on the
harness side remote from knots 18, the stretcher 17 is
able to move as indicated in Figure 2. Again, this
increases wear on ropes 15 and is unsightly.
Referring now to Figure 4A, there is shown an
enlarged view of part of a stretcher 17 with a hole 16
and a harness rope 15C. The clearances are exaggerated
for ease of illustration. In making a hammock according
to this invention, the harness rope 15C is passed through
hole 16 and is then passed through loops formed by ropes
llC and llD. A wire hook (to be described with reference
to Figure 7) is used to draw the free end of rope 15C
back through the same hole 16. The rope 15C is then
pulled tight to bring the loop portions of ropes llC and
llD snugly against stretcher 17. The rope 15C with loops
formed by ropes llC and llD on the bed side of stretcher
17 may be referred to as a bed side knot 21, although it
is not a knot in the accepted sense. Once the knot 21 is
snug against stretcher 17, the end of rope 15C is tied to
itself with a knot 26. Figure 4A shows the knots 21 and
26 loosely positioned with respect to stretcher 17.
Figure 4B shows knots 21 and 26 more snugly positioned
against stretcher 17.
Referring now to Figure 5, there is shown a partial
plan view of a hammock according to the invention. A bed
10 is made up of ropes 11. A harness 12 has ropes 15
which fan out from a harness ring 14. As described in
connection with Figures 4A and 4B, each harness rope 15
passes through a respective hole 16, then passes through
loops in the ropes 11 at an end of bed 10. Each harness
rope may pass through two adjacent loops as shown in
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Figure 5, however each harness rope may pass through
three adjacent loops (each harness rope is said to pass
through a set of loops), or alternately each harness rope
may pass through only a single loop. After passing
through a set of loops, (whether the set is a single loop
or whether the set is two adjacent loops or whether the
set is three adjacent loops), the end of the harness rope
is drawn by a hook back through the same hole 16 where it
is pulled taut and knotted to itself. The stretcher 17
is thus secured along its length against movement towards
the bed 10 by knots 21 and against movement towards the
harness by knots 26.
It is normally not necessary to secure the free end
of ropes 15, after knots 26 are tied, by melting the end
to a portion of the knot as in the prior art. The knots
26 are pressed so tightly against stretcher 17 that it
tends to hold each knot from loosening. Thus, while the
manufacture of a hammock according to the invention
requires the added step of bringing the rope 15 back
through the the same hole 16 in stretcher 17 to knot it
on the harness side, it does not necessarily require the
prior art step of melting the end of the harness rope to
the knot to prevent the knot loosening (as shown in
Figure 3).
The hammock of the invention secures the stretcher
17 against movement and thus reduces wear on the harness
ropes caused in the prior art by movement of the
stretcher. In addition, the hammock of the present
invention may present a more pleasing appearance, after
much use, because the stretcher is restrained.
Referring now to Figure 6, there is shown an
alternate form of the invention. It was previously
mentioned that each harness rope passed through a set of
loops at the end of the hammock bed and that the set
included one loop. The harness 12 has a plurality of
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ropes 15D which extend from a harness ring 14. The
stretcher 17A has one hole 16 for each rope 15D. Each
rope 15D passes through a respective hole 16, passes
through one loop in a respective rope llE, then is drawn
back through the same hole 16, pulled taut and knotted to
itself with knot 26A.
Referring to Figure 7, a wirehook 27 is shown with
a portion of the stretcher 17 having a hole 16. The hook
27 is shown in position to draw the rope 15E back through
hole 16.
It is believed the preceding description will
provide a complete understanding of the invention to
those skilled in the art.
