Screen enclosure for picnic tables

Claim 2

A demountable and foldable enclosure comprising: four attachment members, each consisting of a tubular portion and a releasable clamp adapted to secure the attachment member to a support with said tubular portion disposed substantially horizontally, said attachment members, in normal use, being secured to a support in pairs, with the tubular portions of the respective members in substantially horizontal positions, the locus of the attachment members in normal use being at the corners of a regular plane quadrilateral; a framework structure made up of eight elongate members interconnected with hinged joints to define, when erected for service, four corners and the planes of five contiguous faces of a rectangular parallelepiped, the faces corresponding to the top and four sides of the enclosure, four of said members which are in mutual parallelism each carrying adjacent its end remote from said corners, a perpendicularly projecting cantilever arm, each arm being slidably receivable in the tubular portion of a respective one of said attachment members; and a fabric covering loosely attached to said framework structure, said fabric being deployable in panels corresponding to and substantially coextensive with the five contiguous faces of the parallelepiped.

Claim 3

An enclosure according to claim 1 wherein each of the remaining four elongate members, constituting edges of the parallelepiped in one of said planes corresponding to the top of the enclosure, is hinged at its ends to two of said parallel elongate members and at its midpoint for pivotal movement about parallel axes in said one plane, the pivotal axes of each of said remaining elongate members being substantially aligned with the corresponding axes of the elongate member parallel and opposite thereto, and orthogonal to the axes of the elongate members adjacent and perpendicular thereto.

Claim 4

An enclosure according to claim 2 wherein at least two parallel and opposite ones of said remaining elongate members each includes a telescoping slip joint permitting adjustment of the length of said two members.

Claim 5

An enclosure according to claim 3 including a wheel mounted at the end of two adjoining ones of said parallel elongate members for rotation about co-linear axes.

Claim 6

An enclosure according to claim 4 wherein said elongate members are fabricated of hollow stock of substantially square or rectangular cross-section, said remaining four of said elongate members contain longitudinal slots on their undersides, and said enclosure includes a plurality of slide members with enlarged heads slidably disposed in the slotted members, said slide members having shank and hook portions extending through said slots and secured in supporting relation to respective panels of said fabric.

Claim 7

An enclosure according to claim 5 wherein at least some of the panels of said fabric are formed of an insect-proof mesh.

Claim 8

An enclosure according to claim 6 wherein each of the four corners of the parallelepiped is formed of an end of one of said parallel elongate members and the respective ends of two of said remaining elongate members in mutually orthogonal relation pivotally joined by a hinge joint assembly comprising: means defining at said one end of each of said two remaining elongate members a pair of spaced parallel gudgeons extending laterally beyond the longitudinal edges of said members and containing coaxially aligned bores; means defining at said one end of The parallel elongate member, a first gudgeon extending laterally beyond a longitudinal edge of said member and in the plane of the face of the parallelepiped defined by the vertical and one of said two remaining elongate members; means defining at said one end of the parallel elongate member, a second gudgeon extending laterally beyond a longitudinal edge of said parallel elongate member in the plane of the face of the parallelepiped defined by said vertical member and the other of said two remaining elongate members, said first and second gudgeons containing respective bores perpendicular to the said planes defined by the vertical member and the respective remaining elongate members, the axes of said bores lying in another plane perpendicular to the said planes, the bores in said one gudgeon and second gudgeon being coaxially aligned respectively with the bores in the parallel gudgeons on one and on the other of said two remaining elongate members; and a pintle member containing a right angle bend, said pintle member being disposed in said other plane with the portion on one side of the bend journaled in the bore of said one gudgeon and the bores of the parallel gudgeons aligned therewith and with the portion of the pintle member on the other side of the bend journaled in the bore of the second gudgeon and the bores in the parallel gudgeons aligned therewith.

Claim 9

An enclosure according to claim 7 including means defining a third gudgeon on said parallel elongate member parallel to, and on the opposite side of the member from, one of the other gudgeons thereon and having a bore coaxially aligned with the bore of said one other gudgeon and receive said pintle member.

Claim 10

An enclosure according to claim 8 wherein said parallel gudgeons consist of flat plates secured to respective parallel faces of the elongate members with respective end portions projecting beyond the corresponding longitudinal edges of the members.

Claim 11

An enclosure according to claim 9 wherein at least some of the flat plates are L-shaped and have one leg of the L parallel to and in surface abutment with the elongate member and the other leg constituting the projecting end portion of the plate.

Claim 12

An enclosure according to claim 9 wherein at least some of the flat plates are of substantially rectilinear configuration and extend at an acute angle to the longitudinal axes of the elongate members.