HOW TO MAKE A LIGHT SHELTER TENT By R. S. ROYCE Diagrams by the Author From Laying Out the Material to Setting Up the Tent DIRECTIONS FOR CUTTING AND SETTING UP Material: Light, closely-woven cambric or other close material, 36 inches wide. Dimensions: Seven 6 inches square on ground and 7 9 inches high to peak. Form: Half pyramid. Front "A," perpendicular; roof sloping three ways from pointed peak. Front flaps or wings are made to overlap considerably, and are longer than are necessary to reach the ground when closed perpendicularly. LAYOUT FOR SIDE WALLS Join two breadths 10' 4" long by edges, overlaid and double-stitched. Pin these out on floor smooth, and from point 1' 9" from end on one side to point some distance from other end of other side pin down a cord tight; close at either side of cord pin or haste a narrow tape, leaving tapes which cross the edges about two longer. Stitch these tapes down and divide goods in line between tapes. Sew to 1' 9" edge the selvage edge of a triangle 1' 9" by 1' 6" and sew tape to bias edge. These two triangles are the two side roofs. [345]
346 OUTING LAYOUT OF MATERIAL FOR BACK Pin out smooth one breadth 13' long, and between points 2' 2½" from each end on opposite side edges draw line or pin tight cord and sew tapes either side of line, leaving tapes which cross the edges two longer. Against these edges and to the tapes sew triangles 2' 2" by 9". Divide the goods between the tapes. These two triangles to be turned with selvage edges together and when joined form the back roof. This is to permit extending the front 2½ triangularly and still closing it tight; also allowing the wings to be extended 5 6 inches in plane with the side roofs, producing a pyramid 13 by 7½ open at one end to the peak. LAYOUT OF MATERIAL FOR WINGS Pin out one breadth 8' 7½" long. From one corner to point on opposite side, and 3' 10½" from the opposite end, draw line and sew tape on side of line toward larger piece, leaving tape about 4' 9" longer than reaching to the selvage edge. Against this 3' 10½" selvage edge sew triangle cut from other side of line, using right angled triangle 3' 10½" by 2' 6", binding bias edge with overhanging tape. This makes only one flap or wing. Duplicate.
HOW TO MAKE A LIGHT SHELTER TENT 347 HOW TO SET IT UP Join to each diagonal edge of the back one of the diagonal edges of each sidepiece ; and to the selvage edge of each side-piece a selvage edge of one of the wings. Close the peak around a ¾-inch metal ring. Leave front wings open clear to peak. Turn in ground edge a little all around and attach strong tape loops for pegs at corners and five between on each side and back and four on bottom of each wing; also on a line from lower attached corner of each wing to a point 2 up from bottom of free edge of each wing put four loops on outside and again on a line from corner to a point 4 inches still higher four more loops. These loops are for pegging down wings in the three positions of extension in plane with sides, in partial extension, and when closed with perpendicular front. If sod-cloth is desired, a breadth of cloth 7½ long split in three strips will make about a 10-inch sod cloth if attached to lower edge of sides and back before putting on a heavy tape which will finish the lower edge. No sod-cloth is needed at front as wings will turn in sufficient in all positions except when fully extended. For light tent, flap-ties are best of tape and should be spaced along the free edges of each wing and also at line where edges fall when overlapped so as to make front bottom line of tent measure 7½. Wings need hem or tape for free edges. A 1/8-inch braided cord 15 long is needed from peak where it can be attached to a metal ring just too large to pull through the peak ring. From this inside ring it is well to lead like cords down to the back corners of the tent and out through eyelet-holes through the sod-cloth just under the corner peg-loops. These two add to the trimness of tent, especially if of very light material, and can be run to front corners as well, if desired. MATERIAL: 36-inch wide stuff............................. ½-inch tap.................................. ¾-inch tape for bottom edge.................. 1 /8 cord, peak 15 1 /8 cord 2 back seams 25 }.................... 20½ 75 23 40 yards Several seasons ago, desiring a very light tent for side trips, or, in fact, anywhere that a comfortable shelter was needed under conditions which would not permit of using a wall tent, one was designed which so well met all requirements and aroused so much interest among the Outing Brotherhood as to warrant presenting a detailed description of it. Keeping away from the idea of a mere shelter to crawl under, and insisting on having something really comfortable in the event of several stormy days or nights, and with a spirit of comradeship that finds more fun in an outing shared by one or two friends, rather than alone, a tent was designed to afford room for two or three and high enough to sit, dress, or stand in. This sounds like something too big HOW IT IS USED for the ruck-sack or a minor corner of a pack-basket without crowding the other essentials of going light. However, it was accomplished at a weight of four pounds, making a package about 6 inches in diameter and 12 inches long for carrying; erected, it covers 56 square, as a closed half pyramid 7 9 inches high and 7½ square. But this is not all, for it is extensible to a pyramid 7½ x 13, still 7 9 inches high, but open at one end to the peak; or it may be extended at the front of the half pyramid in a triangle the width of the tent, 7½ x 2½, closing completely and increasing the length of the tent to 10. The objection is immediately presented that this is too large a tent for going even moderately light, but one may reasonably ask how much smaller package or lighter can you
348 OUTING HALF PYRAMID CLOSED (7½ X 7½ FT.). FRONT UPRIGHT take, and get room for standing, sitting, and sleeping? Considering this, first, as a half pyramid tent, 7½ x 7½ and 7¾ high; no form gives so much ground space with headroom from so little material as a pyramid; none sheds water better, nor resists wind so well, and none is simpler or quicker to erect. The objections to a pyramid, of scant headroom and lost space on ground by rapidly sloping roofs; of presence of WINGS ADVANCED 2½ FT. CLOSED pole in the center, and of possible rain leak anywhere on the entrance side from peak to ground, are largely overcome by carrying the peak to 7¾, giving more headroom and nearer perpendicular roofs; and by making the peak over the center of one side, instead of in the middle of the tent, giving a perpendicular entrance opening and no pole in the ground space. This gives better than a 45-degree pitch to the back roof and about 65-degree pitch to the side roofs; shedding rain well, without necessary recourse to waterproofing, and allows of erection not only over a single upright pole or suspension from overhanging branch, but also permits of setting up near any upright tree to which the peak-line may be extended diagonally upward in a general line with the slope of the back roof, thus generally eliminating the tent-pole problem. Now, some of the arguments for this half pyramid being given, another exists in the use of it with the front open (flaps turned away back on the side roofs), when it proves to be as truly a baker tent as the one usually described as such, and heats well with a fire in front. The peculiar feature of this design WINGS FULLY EXTENDED. PYRAMID 7½ FT. X 13 FT. OPEN END is in the extra size and the form of the flaps, which make possible the triangular extension of the front for 2½ and still closing completely; and the further extension of the flaps, in plane with the side roofs, leaving an open-ended true pyramid 7½ x 13, at an increase of only 2 1/100 yards of material and not over one-quarter pound weight, over that required for the simple half pyramid, 7½ square, barely closed. This is worth while for most of us, for it permits of considerable extra room at practically no expense of weight or material, and allows of use in a variety of ways otherwise impossible; viz., the flaps extended completely, in plane with the sides, leave an unroofed triangle, ONE WING CLOSED. ONE OPEN. CLOSED WING PERPENDICULAR
CHARGING BATTERIES A CHEMICAL PROCESS 349 within which a fire may be built, allowing the camper to sit under either flap and, protected, manipulate his frying pan, etc., or one may be so extended and the other closed, affording a wind and rain protection with good ventilation, or one may be closed and the other extended 2½ (as for triangular front), leaving an open doorway without disclosing to view the interior, on account of the extra wide flaps. Another peculiarity is that in the event of finding only a short tent-pole and no tree to tie to, the tent may be set up with any height pole, under 7½, and dress taut and trim, and, incidentally, cover a larger ground space, but, of course, at cost of less pitch to the roofs. The front being open clear to the peak, and all lines converging there, it is very easily cleared of insects by brush or smudge. Of course, any pyramid tent, without perpendicular side walls, is free from the need of stakes, as only short pegs ONE WING PARTLY EXTENDED ONE CLOSED are necessary; when a quick shelter is needed, the peak-line over a branch or to a tree and pegs at the four corners will serve until it is convenient to place the intermediate pegs. So many inquiries as to the details of this tent have been made, and so many requests for measurements and directions for making copies of it have occurred, that diagrams and measurements are here given. Any tent-maker can reproduce it, for amateurs have, and it lends itself easily to those who enjoy making their own equipment. The original is made of Lonsdale cambric and lightly waterproofed, and weighs only four pounds. It has had hard usage and has proved altogether satisfactory. Any thin material closely woven will serve, and that, too, without waterproofing, with roofs so steep. Sheeting is practical, but would give a weight in excess of that quoted here. I CHARGING BATTERIES A CHEMICAL PROCESS T is a mistake to suppose that storage batteries store electricity in the sense, for instance, in which it may be said that the electric condenser does. What really happens in a storage battery is this: The current which is passed through it to "charge" it a misleading expression, by the way sets up a chemical reaction between the electrodes, or plates, and the electrolytic fluid in which they are immersed (generally dilute sulphuric acid) which causes oxygen to be given off by the negative plates and taken on by the positive. Since both classes of plates would theoretically consist of monoxide of lead (Pb O) in a cell that was completely discharged, this reaction causes the negative plates to give up what little oxygen they possess and become simply the metal, lead, itself; whereas the positive plates by taking on more oxygen are altered from monoxide of lead to the dioxide of lead (Pb O 2 ). In other words, the action of charging the battery consists simply in forcing one set of these plates or electrodes to carry more oxygen than the other set. This creates a condition of chemical unbalance within each cell, and a tendency to reverse the action and restore chemical equilibrium takes place the moment the influence of the charging current is withdrawn. It is this reversal of the chemical action going on within the cell that causes a useful electric current to flow through the external circuit, opposite in direction but practically equal in working capacity to that employed in charging.