This may be the mother of all free standing dome tents. It is a free standing tent, which uses arched poles attached to the floor of the tent, with the tent body attached to the poles along the length of the poles. At the top a line attaches the tip of the tent to the poles. The poles are made in sections for compact size when transporting the tent. The patent was filed in 1948.
Robert Blanchard worked for Eureka! but I'm not sure if he was with them in '48. This free-standing concept went on to inspire his DrawTite designs of the '60s. This would be the ancestor for the modern Eureka! Timberline. Now, several companies use tensioned pole segments joined by a hub to create a free-standing structure - see the MSR Hubba series.
Posted by: Chris N | February 02, 2006 at 11:39 AM
Free standing tents were manufactured and solded already in the early 1930s by Sopu company that was owned by Jarl Lonnqvist.
Here's a link to a catalogue of free-standing tents from the 1930's. Catalogue is digited by the Finnish national Library:
http://digi.lib.helsinki.fi/pienpainate/secure/showPage.html?conversationId=7&action=entryPage&id=342253
Posted by: J54-46 | July 26, 2007 at 12:31 AM