Types of bed equipment. At the top the Yankee cot which folds into 32 × 4 × 6 inches; beneath it the Kenwood sleeping bag with tent covering for head. The two lower illustrations have pneumatic mattress, the upper of the two being the Perfection sleeping bag and the lower the Airtube camp mattress combined with a shelter tent.
Camp Mattresses
Another combination camp and bed is the “Airtube Camp Mattress.” This is a mattress with a shelter tent attached. It is impervious to moisture, and the camper can sleep on the wet ground. The mattress is formed of 3½-inch Rubber Pneumatic Tubes, incased in separate cells, in a light, serviceable cover. It is easily filled by lung power, and requires only about fifteen pounds air pressure. It conforms to the body and to uneven ground. The tent is made of army khaki cloth and completely covers and incloses the bed at both the head and foot, the peak being at the head, with a triangular [[147]]screened window in the face of the tent-head for ventilation.
There is a combination sleeping air bed and sleeping bag called the “Perfection.” When the air bed is deflated it rolls up into a small compact bundle. The distinct feature of this combination is that mattress, blankets and bag are three separate articles that make one complete outfit and still can be used independently. Thus the mattress with its separate cover can be removed from the bag and used in the home or otherwise when not wanted in the open. The lining, also being removable, can be taken out for cleaning and drying, which is an advantage not to be overlooked, as where the lining is fastened to the bag it is nearly impossible to get it thoroughly dry when once wet. This sleeping bag is made of the best quality eight-ounce waterproof Densol Cloth in a dark brown color, and is closed with a row of braided loops which insures a tight and strong bag when laced, yet one that can be instantly opened and spread to the air. The lacing can be ended anywhere desired. Thus in cold and rainy weather it can be laced all the way up, leaving only a small opening for the head, and in warm weather can be left partly open. At the top of the cover is an extra flap, which can be drawn over the head when used in the open.
There are a number of very good air beds and air pillows on the market which need not be described, as they are familiar to the public. In inflating an air mattress a tire pump may be used, but [[148]]most of them can easily be inflated by lung power, and the exercise involved will be good for the camper’s lungs.
Another portable bed is the “Army Bed Roll.” As the name suggests, it is a bed that rolls up. The outside is of heavy waterproof khaki duck. The mattress is filled with curled hair. When spread out on a tent floor it makes a very comfortable bed.
There are mattresses made of Kapok which are in favor with some campers because of the extreme lightness of the material which gives these mattresses their name. Kapok is a product of the East Indies. It is a silky fiber similar to the silk found in the pods of the ordinary milk weed of our fields. It is about the lightest substance known, at least of the fiber sort. It is many times lighter than cork, and so is used in the best grade of life preservers. Kapok beds are very light and soft and so are attractive to the motor tourist both on the score of convenience and comfort because so easily portable and restful. Kapok mattresses when used in sleeping bags serve to make them exceptionally warm.
Cots if made without a mattress, as most of them are, will need as much covering beneath the sleeper as above him if the weather be cold. Newspapers laid on the canvas of a cot will make it much warmer when warmth is an object. The same is true when newspapers are spread between blankets, or upon a rubber sheet laid on the ground. If the ground is not perfectly dry a rubber sheet or rubberized [[149]]canvas will be needed if the sleeper wishes to sleep on the floor of his tent.
In the West they have an arrangement that they call a “Slab,” which is a bag the exact length and width of the cot and is laid upon it as a mattress and serves fairly well to keep the cold from striking up. This bag is made of what is called ticking and is similar to the mattresses still used in some sections, which are bags the size of the bed filled with straw or corn husks. In fact, except for the bulkiness, such a home-made mattress serves many very satisfactorily. In almost any part of this country east of the Missouri River the camping tourist can readily get some straw from a near-by farmer and fill his bed tick with it. Where the stay is to be for some days this will involve very little trouble. To get straw each evening would be rather bothersome.