An awning for a caravan or trailer

Abstract

 An awning for a caravan or trailer (2) designed to be fitted on at least one of the sides of the caravan comprises a tent roof (4) in which a piece of material (5) is sewn, said piece of material (5) being light permeable and forming a skylight.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to an awning for a caravan or trailer, the awning being of the type described in the preamble of claim 1.

[0002] Such awnings are known in many different configurations, but they are primarily meant to be attached to one of the flat sides of the caravan, i.e. on that side of the caravan where the entrance door is. The awning increases the utility value of the caravan considerably.

[0003] Awnings are provided with an entrance door and one or more windows in the tent walls which are either vertical or slightly sloping. Doors and windows open and are usually operated by means of zip fasteners and the like.

[0004] An awning limits the influx of light into the caravan because it often covers the window or the windows situated in that side of the caravan to which the awning is attached. This is sought remedied by means of windows in the awning, or sometimes by means of skylights in the caravan.

[0005] The object of the invention is to improve the light permeation and light distribution in an awning for a caravan and at the same time to improve the light in the caravan.

[0006] This is obtained by designing the awning according to the invention as characterized in claim 1. The principle known from buildings with overhead light applies to an awning so that considerably more light is admitted into the awning, and by the positioning of the light permeable area the light can be distributed in certain areas or in certain directions in order to provide a light which is better than that which is obtained through for instance side windows in the tent sides.

[0007] By designing the awning according to the invention as characterized in claim 2, any desired materials with the desired properties can be used. Besides, it is a well known method to sew together tent roofs without impairing the watertightness of the roof.

[0008] The awning according to the invention can be designed as characterized in claim 3. Of course, the light permeable material may have other shapes without causing particular technical problems, but the square shape is advantageous for purposes of production and is material-saving because it involves little waste. The rectangular embodiment makes it possible to fit a light band in the tent roof which can be done without materially increasing the production costs.

[0009] If the awning according to the invention is designed as characterized in claim 4, the light will be distributed as a light band along the entire side of the caravan so that the caravan side will reflect the light out into the awning; consequently an indirect and very pleasant lighting is obtained in the entire awning.

[0010] It is also possible to design the light permeable material in accordance with the characteristics of claim 5 which is advantageous in connection with very large awnings. This embodiment produces an even and homogenous light in the entire awning.

[0011] Many different light permeable materials can be used, i.e. transparent as well as dyed materials. By using a material as characterized in claim 6, a pleasant and soft light is obtained without a direct influx of light, the reason being that the heating wavelengths of the sunlight are reflected to a much larger degree than the visible wave­lengths so that a too strong heating of the room of the awning is avoided.

[0012] In the following the invention will be described in closer detail with reference to the drawing, in which

Fig. 1 shows an awning according to a first embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 2 shows an awning according to a second embodiment of the invention.

[0013] In the drawing reference numeral 1 refers to an awning for a caravan or trailer 2, typically a caravan, which of course can be of any known type.

[0014] The awning comprises tent walls 3 which are usually vertical or sloping slightly inwards as shown, and can be made with doors, windows, peepholes and the like in a generally known manner, e.g. as shown. Pieces 5 of light permeable material are sewn into the tent roof 4, the one longitudinal side 6 of said pieces abutting on the caravan 2 in order to produce a light band in the tent roof parallel to the side of the caravan as shown in fig. 1, or the light band may be situated at right angles to the caravan side as shown in fig. 2.

[0015] It will be obvious to one ordinarly skilled in the art that skylights according to the above explanation can be used and provided in any type of awnings, and that the light permeable material can have any shape and any other position than the one shown.

Claims

1. An awning for a caravan or trailer (2) and designed to be fitted on at least one side of a caravan or trailer, said awning comprising a tent roof (4) and tent walls (3), characterized in that the tent roof is pro­vided with at least one area of a light permeable material (5).

2. An awning according to claim character­ized in that the light permeable material is a piece of material (5) sewn into the tent roof.

3. An awning according to claim 2, character­ized in that the piece of material (5) is square, preferably rectangular.

4. An awning according to claim 3, character­ized in that the rectangular piece of material is arranged so that one of its longitudinal sides (6) substantially abuts on that edge of the tent roof which is designed to be attached to the caravan (2).

5. An awning according to claim 3, character­ized in that the rectangular piece of material (5) is sewn into the tent roof having its longitudinal sides standing at right angles to that edge of the tent roof which is designed to be attached to the caravan (2), preferably in the centre of the tent roof (fig. 2).

6. An awning according to any of the claims 1-5, cha­racterized in that the light permeable material is white or whitish.

Drawing