Moss Tents, Bill Moss . . .

What period is he talking about? My brother got a Frostline kit in the mid-late 70s which had shock-corded poles, though not flexible ones. I couldn’t say when domes came in. Maybe those things come under the headings of things they improved. I have to say that the phrasing sounds a bit arrogant.

I am not sure, I realize now that is from a guy who worked there from 1974 to 1981, he must be referring to something done before then.

The pop-tent using fiberglass rods applied for a patent in 1955 doesn't say if they were shock corded though, and his Parawing soon after. There is no index so I dont know if it will talk about shock cords again.

While he was not a good businessman, he knew and got investors from some large companies. He did paintings for Ford. One shows a cool tarp for a pickup truck in 1972,

another on TOP of a station wagon, pretty old car . He also made one that covered or connected to the tail-gate of an open station wagon! Displayed in Ford dealerships apparently and sold by Pop-UP tent, which I think he sold his designs to, and of course was the basis for that company.

Not all of his work was for camping,

One thing that guy remembered was working on the Polydome, a tent which folded flat for deliver by helicopters, had problems with making a door that worked both flat and erected. He realized the box of French fries design would work!

When he moved on he looked back saying (Paraphrasing), he said the vesica arch used in cathedrals and indigenous nomadic lodges and domes, we had employed in our work at moss tents, We did this without understanding the historical context of the forms, it was an intuitive response to what they triggered esthetically.

I cant find it now but I think it said the pop up was copied soon after by another company

He also designed a tent that could be dropped like a parachute but did not get funding to produce.

My first tent was canvas A frame in the 1970s, the boyscouts had fabric type tents probably domes in the late 60s, I think another troop had one go up like a Roman candle.

I finished the book, apparently he had to be talked into using metal poles, and some of their early models did not hold up that well, but they talked to climbers etc. and improved things. Moss Tents came about much later than I realized , they had been designing tents and selling the designs before than, Moss tents was when they started making them in Maine. The book has many testimontutals on how they stood to some incredible conditions. They had another division which made tents for exhibitions, I guess like dividers, but with their stylus tent / tarp like structures and could be put up and down much quicker and cheaper. She ran that after they were divorced (was president of the whole company anyway) and made some real money (for stockholders?)

REI bought and combine them with some other makers and sold them as MSR , I think, already forgot. Yes the reviews on many of there tents have pole problems where they connect.

And tents may have borrowed from them but certain things keep going, like lighter fabrics and tarp tents, though I have a Moss Bug Insert for the Vista Wing so the tarptetn is not that different, though much lighter. The Moss Tents were always too heavy for me, but I did not need something for K2, I was really surprised to find that people ski camped with even lighter shelters like the Beta Light, which was fairly light even with the bug insert , at least until I got a hammock and they and tarp tent.

I always liked the centenary cut, in their tarps and in their tents . . .

A guy who worked with him uses the same sort of shapes in shelters in AZ for like swimming pools, even though his are solid structures, really a beautiful book.