Tent – canopy – umbrella – or cane – Portable shelter – Cover for shelter
Reexamination Certificate
2003-05-01
2004-08-17
Cuomo, Peter M. (Department: 3636)
Tent, canopy, umbrella, or cane
Portable shelter
Cover for shelter
C052S063000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06776178
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mechanized tent. In particular, it relates to a mechanized tent having a frame and a collectable tarp attached to the frame which can be raised and lowered over pallets of produce or the like, particularly useful for fumigation of produce, e.g. imported products. Furthermore, it relates to those tents, which have a plural crew system for elevating and lowering the tarp, as well as including a composite closing structure for sealing the tarp to a floor.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Once fumigated, produce has a shelf life of at most ten days to two weeks. It is therefore desirable to fumigate the produce close to the place where it will be ultimately sold. For imported produce, this place is typically inside a dock building or warehouse located at a port of entry. Pallets of the produce are unloaded from a ship and placed or staged on the floor of the dock building.
Known methods of fumigating produce involve covering the pallets of produce with a polyethylene or plastic impregnated tarpaulin and then introducing a gas, e.g., methyl bromide, or other gas(+) atmosphere under the tarp to kill live insect infestations. Workers climb on top of the pallets or use poles to pull the tarp over a group of pallets. Because it is necessary for the gas to circulate freely on all sides and the top of the pallets, the tarp cannot lay directly on the top of the pallets. The United States Department of Agriculture requires that a space of about two feet be provided on the top of the pallets, and at least two feet on their sides to allow room for the placement of fans to facilitate the circulation of the fumigation gas. The fans may be tied down with rope to prevent them from moving. Several hoses for introducing the gas is secured to the top of selected fans. The volume of space under the tarp, i.e., the total cubic feet, determines how many fans and points of introduction are required.
One method for maintaining the required space on the top of the pallets is to erect wood frames in the shape of a “T” or an “A” at each corner and attach rope between each “T” or an “A” to create a web of support for the tarp. The side space is maintained by draping the tarp outward as it contacts the floor of the dock building and securing it in that position by placing flexible vinyl tubes (approximately 6″ in diameter and 4′ long) filled with sand on top of the edge of the tarp. At least 2 feet of excess tarp remains beyond the sand tubes.
The steps involved in pulling the tarp over the pallets, setting up the fans, attaching the introduction hoses to the fans, handling hundreds of tubes of sand, and dismantling and storing all of the above equipment, and repeating the process upon completion, require many labor intensive hours.
Improvements to the conventional method of fumigating produce include permanently suspending the tarpaulin from an overhead frame and lowering the frame over the pallets as needed. Such a frame may be made from welded trusses to form a disassemble one piece unit of varying dimensions. The typical frame size may be 50 feet long by 250 feet wide, but may be larger or smaller depending upon the spacing between support columns in the dock building. To the underside of the frame a tarpaulin is attached which has been manufactured with grommets, i.e., tabs and eyelets, specific to the frame it hangs from.
The frame may be raised and lowered by a system of cables and pulleys located above the unit which are attached to exposed barjoists on the underside of the roof of the dock building. The cables are connected to hand-operated or motor-operated winces mounted on the support columns in the dock building. Workers simultaneously crank the winches to lower or raise the frame to a height above the pallets that allows the required 2 feet of space between the tarp and pallets of produce.
A typical tent can be lifted by twelve or more active pickup points. Between each of these points two counterweight sandbags are deployed to offset the self-weight of the frame and the polyethylene enclosure. Each truss section of the frame spans approximately fifty feet with two mid-point sandbags. These tend to become hung up from friction and pull at an angle to prevent the sandbag from lowering onto the polyethylene enclosure as it is elevated.
A difficult and time-consuming job associated with operating such a system is gathering up the tarp, which overhangs from the sides of the frame before the frame is raised. This is necessary because the typical dock building height of about twenty-two feet is limited to about eighteen feet by overhead piping, electrical conduits, etc. When the support frame is raised to the maximum height permitted by these obstructions the tarp hangs down low enough to catch the tops of forklift trucks as they move the pallets of produce in and out of the tent area.
One known way of gathering up the tarp on the sides is to run horizontal plastic pipes through double-thickness portions of the tent walls, which form pockets. These pockets can be located at approximately one-third and two-thirds of the wall height and are tied up to the top framing with rope every ten feet or so. Pulled ropes raise the pockets and thus gather the sides of the tent. This method is also time-consuming, however, because it requires numerous tie-up procedures in order to completely raise the tent, e.g., usually at ten to twenty foot intervals around the tent perimeter.
U.S. Pat. No. 645,890 to Conrad discloses a tree-protector having a suitable mast or pole, and a bracket with two supporting arms connected with the pole one arm above another arm. There is also a pulley or sheave in the extremity of each of the arms, and a collapsible or foldable tent. A plurality of distending hoops are attached to the tent and a halyard is connected to the top of the tent and leads around the sheave in extremity of the lower arm of the bracket for bodily raising and lowering the tent and for holding it in an elevated position. Elevating cords are attached to the lower hoop and a second halyard extends over the sheave in the upper arm of the bracket for independently raising and lowering the lower end of the tent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,367 to Johnston describes and illustrates a tent fumigation apparatus for placement over a building to allow fumigation of a building by introducing fumigation into the tent. The preferred tent includes pie-shaped sections, at least some of which have ties allowing sections to be tied off for reducing the size of the tent and conforming it to the shape of the building. Tube means is provided to be affixed to the bottom of the tent for sealing purposes. The tent may include a lifting structure a the top and a cover for closing an opening at the lifting structure. At least one slot is provided in the tent for entrance and egress.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,914 to Lucas provides a readily erectable and/or demountable building structure comprising a plurality of arch frames in vertical planes extending transversely of and spaced apart longitudinally of the building structure. Each frame has a retainer means for retaining the longitudinal beaded edges of flexible strip roofing material. The retainer means are of groove-like or channel-like form to receive the longitudinal beaded edges slidingly therein. Preferably two strips are provided between each pair of neighboring arch frames such that when in position they each extend across the space between the two arch frames of each pair with the strip's width and length dimensions directed respectively longitudinally and transversely of the building structure (and such that a gap is provided between the adjacent strip ends in the structure's roof), the strips being tensioned in the direction of their length dimension, i.e. transversely of the building structure). Preferably each strip has a shape in its unstressed state such that when tensioned in the direction of its length dimension, it adopts a configuration that is concave to the exteri
Glynn Kenneth P.
Langhart Christopher D.
Cuomo Peter M.
Glynn, Esq. Kenneth P
Harris Stephanie
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