How do tent stakes interact with soils to create holding power?
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To take up the point above about the British Delta pegs, their holding power in soft ground really is extraordinary.
Despite the weight, many of us Scots will carry a couple for any shelter that requires tension along a ridge. We often can’t avoid setting up in bog, and this is much the best way of ensuring your anchors won’t fail:
Unfortunately they are focused on the family camping market, which is why their products are over-specified for lightweight use. I used to live round the corner from their office, and tried to interest them in a lighter version, but they felt the market would be too marginal. They sell in volume – visit any UK campsite and many of the big tents will be using their anchors.
I’m no physicist and don’t pretend to fully understand the design, but moving the attachment point away from the shank of the peg itself does seem to improve holding power very substantially. Perhaps there’s an engineer here who can educate us?
I believe that their patents have now expired. So the way seems open for an enterprising fabricator to experiment with a lighter version in aluminium or titanium. They said that this wouldn’t concern them, as it’s not a market they will ever target.
I recently noticed a related idea on the Robens Starlight range. They triangulate the guy with a strap that extends out at ground level. The two straps meet on the ground in front of the peg. I suspect that the strap around the peg should be longer in the example below. Robens claim that this reduces the risk of the peg pulling. Again, are there any engineers here who can evaluate this claim?
Edit: found a clearer picture of the Robens setup – reviewers seem quite impressed:
Roger
Here is the US patent:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US6619307B2/en
The inventor was Robert Orr of Devon, who is sadly no longer with us.
It expired due to fee related issues, but it is also over the 20 year limit. This limit would likely apply to any other international patents.
The claim is quite narrow and relates to the channel profile of their original metal design. This feature isn’t actually present on their much more popular plastic design so far as I can judge.
I doubt that the fundamental concept of a delta ground anchor would be defensible, even if the patents were active. I found prior art in the first half-dozen search results – there are dozens more ground anchor patents that could be explored. I did ask Dorothy Orr at Delta Ground Anchors explicitly whether there were any features that they regard as still protected, because at that point I was in touch with someone who was interested in producing a lightweight peg and we didn’t want to infringe on their rights. Her reply was notably vague and non-committal.
Obviously any prospective manufacturer would have to do their own due diligence, but I suspect there’s no IP impediment.
Re-reading my correspondence with Dorothy I see that though she did at one point say they weren’t interested in a lightweight version as I said above, at a later point she seemed to change her mind and say that it was something they might do in the future.
Anyway – it’s an interesting concept. The main downside is that it’s tricky to carry. Any folding feature would likely add weight, cost and a potential point of failure, so I suspect it’s something that users would have to simply put up with.
As a little bonus, I spotted something else that might tickle your fancy:
I’d completely forgotten – there’s a very smart lightweight variant on the Delta, the aluminium Titan, by Mark Turnbull, another Devon inventor. He’s a small cottage producer so they’re not cheap. But they do seem to be effective.
One clever feature is the way they nest for easier carrying.
I was waiting for the promised Ti version to save a bit of weight, but it never appeared. What he has done, though, is produce a range of sizes. The final design was released literally a couple of days ago.
Like many inventors, it seems that he’s better at ideas than marketing, so hopefully folks here will consider giving him a bit of support and trying the product.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgU0iNTeC3w
https://www.facebook.com/titangroundanchor
https://bestoutdoor.co.uk/shop/ols/products/titan-ground-anchor-set-of-4-medium-27g-ttn-grn-nch-set5
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