Tent shelter for automotive vehicles and the like

Claim 1

A tent camper in combination with a vehicle having a roof and comprising: a rigid shelter roof adapted to be stored immediately above and against the roof of the vehicle and having a generally horizontal top contoured like the vehicle roof, longitudinally downwardly extending side walls with lower edges contoured to fit tightly against the vehicle roof, and transversely downwardly extending front and rear walls with lower edges contoured to also fit tightly against the vehicle roof; a mounting bar assembly adapted to be releasably mounted on the roof of the vehicle near the rear thereof; a pair of parallel rigid links of equal length pivotally attached at an upper end to a forward portion of the shelter roof top and pivotally attached at a lower end to the removable mounting bar whereby the Shelter roof may be raised above and extended rearwardly of the rear edge of the vehicle roof along an arcuate path by pivoting the links to the desired extended position; four wall curtains respectively attached to each of the side walls, the front wall, and rear wall of the tent roof adapted to be rolled up and stored under the shelter roof when the latter is stored under the shelter roof when the latter is stored on the vehicle roof and adapted to be rolled down when the shelter roof is in an extended position to form the tent enclosure with the vehicle as a portion of one wall and the ground adjacent the rear of the vehicle as a floor of the tent enclosures; securing straps attached near the upper edge of each curtain and adpated to hold the curtains in the rolled up position; ground tie down loops on the lower edge of each curtain for staking the lower edge of the curtains against the ground; a separable fastener in the rear curtain extending from the tent roof to the lower edge of the rear curtain to provide access to the tent camper and thereby the rear of vehicle; separable fasteners on the curtains along vertical edges thereof to permit joining the curtains with the separable fasteners to form the tent enclosure; a pair of pole brackets attached to the rear of the inner surface of the shelter roof top; and a pair of telescoping ground engaging poles adapted to be secured to the pole brackets to provide support for the tent roof; and the front curtain has an upper portion with a lower edge contoured to fit the roof of the vehicle, said contoured lower edge having straps attached thereto for attachment to the vehicle and the lower portion of the front curtain being contoured to fit the bumper of the vehicle and having attachment means to permit a sealing engagement between said bumper and said lower portion of the front curtain.