Universal covering system
OwnerMatthew WHITEinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A covering system includes a tarp made of an elastic membrane and a plurality of tarp fastening hooks. The fastening hooks allow the elastic membrane to be stretched over valuables and affixed to environmental anchors so that creases and puddle-enabling pockets in the membrane are eliminated. The fastening hooks clamp onto the elastic membrane and hook onto the environmental anchors to cause tension in the membrane. The clamping forces of the tarp fasteners are inherently increased in proportion to the tension in the clamped membrane.
Claims21
A tarp fastener comprising a hook portion connected to a clamp portion;
- the clamp portion comprising a base and pair of jaws;
- each jaw comprising a clamp face and a hinge axis parallel thereto;
- each jaw connected to the base at an associated one of the hinge axes and pivotal there-about between an open jaw mode wherein the clamp faces are separated and a closed jaw mode wherein the clamp faces abut on a clamping plane parallel to and equidistant from each hinge axis;
- wherein the jaws are both biased to the closed jaw mode;
- and
- wherein the hinge axes are more distant from the hook portion than the clamp faces.
A tarp comprising a first elastic panel having a first elastic waterproofing layer laminated to a first elastic base fabric;
- wherein the first elastic waterproofing layer comprises polyurethane rubber and has a minimum resilient elongation of two hundred percent;
- and
- the first elastic base fabric is from the group including polyester and nylon and has a minimum resilient elongation of sixty five percent in both warp and weft.
In combination, a tarp and a plurality of tarp fasteners:
- each tarp fastener comprising a hook portion connected to a clamp portion;
- the clamp portion comprising a base and pair of jaws;
- each jaw comprising a clamp face and a hinge axis parallel thereto;
- each jaw connected to the base at an associated one of the hinge axes and pivotal there-about between an open jaw mode wherein the clamp faces are separated and a closed jaw mode wherein the clamp faces abut on a clamping plane parallel to and equidistant from each hinge axis;
- wherein the jaws are both biased to the closed jaw mode;
- and
- wherein the hinge axes are more distant from the hook portion than the clamp faces;
- and
- the tarp comprising a first elastic panel having a first elastic waterproofing layer laminated to a first elastic base fabric;
- wherein the first elastic waterproofing layer comprises polyurethane rubber and has a minimum resilient elongation of two hundred percent;
- and
- the first elastic base fabric is from the group including polyester and nylon and has a minimum resilient elongation of sixty five percent in both warp and weft;
- and wherein
- the tarp fasteners are each clampable to any chosen location about the tarp to dispose the associated hook portion at the chosen location, and increased pulling tension applied to the hook portion of each fastener causes increased clamping pressure by the clamp portion thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.