TENTS. 17 



nearest multiple is found to be 598.5 inches, or 49 feet and 10^ inches, 

 which is sufficiently close to the desired width for practical purposes. 

 The number of strips in a tent 598.5 inches wide is 21. The middle 

 section B (fig. 1) is approximately two-fifths the entire width, or 

 239.5 inches. Deducting this from 598.5 inches, the entire width, 

 the remainder, 359, equals the sum of the widths of sections A and C. 

 These sections being equal, the width of each is 179.5 inches. The 

 number of strips in each section can now be readily calculated. The 

 21 strips should be numbered on the diagram from left to right. 

 Section A ref[uires six strips and 8.5 inches of the seventh. Simi- 

 larly, section C requires six strips, beginning at the right (twenty-first 

 to sixteenth, inclusive), and 8.5 inches of the fifteenth. Section B 

 requires the remaining 20 inches of strip No. 7, 20 inches of strip 

 No. 15, and seven entire widths, thus making the total of 21 strips 

 refiuired. 



The cutting of the cloth can be done without waste if the details 

 of construction are well planned. In the above tent seven strips 50 

 feet long (49 feet 10^ inches) should first be cut for section B. Strips 

 Nos. 7 and 15 are next cut and the outside corners cut at an angle 

 of 45 degrees, as indicated in the diagram. Each strip for sections 

 A and C is cut shorter by its own width outside at each end than the 

 strip preceding it. Thus the required lengths of the side strips are 

 found by matcliing the inner edge of the new one to the outer edge 

 of the one before it. It is desirable to have the central section, B, 

 made up entirely of full-length strips so that the stress mil not be 

 across seams. The stress is so slight, comparatively, in the side 

 sections A and C, that this is not an important point. 



Shrinkage of the goods after being thoroughly wet is an impor- 

 tant consideration in the economical construction of fumigating 

 tents. In order that the tents approximate a regular octagon, after 

 having been used for fumigating purposes, it is necessary either to 

 have the goods thoroughly shrunk before cutting or to make allow- 

 ance for subsequent shrinkage by cutting the strips longer. A test 

 made with a brand of 8-ounce duck commonly used in California for 

 fumigating tents showed that the shrinkage lengthwise of the goods 

 amounted to 7.5 per cent, and, crosswise 0.9 per cent; this means 

 that in a 50-foot tent the shrinkage would result in the full-length 

 strips shortening 3 J feet, while the tent would shrink less than 6 inches 

 crosswise of the strips. Such irregularities might be remedied by a 

 skirt of 6i-ounce drill, but it is simpler to plan to have each strip 

 cut longer by a given amount for each 1 per cent of difference in the 

 lengthwise and crosswise shrinkage. In the case referred to above 

 this difference is 6.6 per cent, and each per cent represents an actual 

 difference of 6 inches. A 50-foot tent constructed in this manner 



