Sibley tent stove

[dpalyka]

I have the patent information for the sibley tent, however I am looking for info on the stove/pipe patent info if possible...
Any help would be appreciated.

[kent-tax]

Re: Sibley tent stove

Contact Scott Schotz of the 151st NYSV (hurrah_without_the_h@yahoo.com).

Either he or his unit has an original stove that we used this winter in the middle of a February snow storm. I can not tell you how well it worked!

[Arkansas Box Boy]

Re: Sibley tent stove

I have the patent information for the sibley tent, however I am looking for info on the stove/pipe patent info if possible...
Any help would be appreciated.

I have done EXTENSIVE research on this subject (to the point of contacting the U.S. Patent office) A patent appears to not exist for the 'Sibley Stove' as we know it.
I have a reproduction stove & pipe, built to QM specs and it works great!
My next 'upgrade' to my tent is to have the tripod constructed to the specs in the Patent I have and using an original I found sitting in storage at Praire Grove State Park.

If you need any info, contact me at: tolberd@polaroid.com

Thanks,
Don Tolbert
Holmes Brigade

[AzTrooper]

Re: Sibley tent stove

I went to Fort Bowie last week and they have a sibley stove on display in their museum, on the sign that accompanied it it said that Henry Sibley stood to make quite a lot of money(an estimated $250,000.00) for his designs of both the Sibley tent and stove. However as a result of his decision to side with the Confederacy (where he was served as a Brigadier General) he never recieved a dime for either. I am wondering if he ever got the stove patented.Just a thought....
That sure seems like a lot of money..... I wonder if what the sign said is true? I havent seen any other documantation that confirms it.
Respectfully,
John Rogers

I have the patent information for the sibley tent, however I am looking for info on the stove/pipe patent info if possible...
Any help would be appreciated.

[markj]

Re: Sibley tent stove

Hi,

Given that Sibley cast his lot with the Confederacy, you might also want to look through the surviving patents known to have been issued by the C. S. Patent Office:

http://www.myoutbox.net/popchapx.htm

I'm sure the stoves work reasonably well but I'd be curious to know how prevalent they were. If the following item is any indicator, the answer is "probably not nearly as much as they should have been...." This was extracted from a letter written by an enlisted man of Company A, 26th Indiana and published in a January 1862 number of the Rochester IN "Weekly Sentinel":

"Matters in and around camp will be my theme this time, for want of a better [subject]. The weather for the past week or ten days, has been quite severe. We have snow to the depth of six inches; and the thermometer indicates the cold to have been almost if not quite at zero. Our tents are made of heavy drilling that will not shed water; (but anything is good enough for a soldier—they go to give their lives, anyhow, and it seems that the powers that be, are determined they shall have every opportunity afforded them to accomplish that result,) these tents are heated imperfectly by filling a camp kettle with coals. This is extremely unhealthy. Ten or twelve pairs of lungs and a kettle of coals soon renders the atmosphere of a tent anything but pleasant or healthy. It is to[o] cold to stay long outside, and the soldiers huddle over the coals. The consequence is that colds and headaches prevail generally; with not a few cases of Pneumonia.— "

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Huck]

Re: Sibley tent stove

I have done EXTENSIVE research on this subject (to the point of contacting the U.S. Patent office) A patent appears to not exist for the 'Sibley Stove' as we know it.
I have a reproduction stove & pipe, built to QM specs and it works great!
My next 'upgrade' to my tent is to have the tripod constructed to the specs in the Patent I have and using an original I found sitting in storage at Praire Grove State Park.

If you need any info, contact me at: tolberd@polaroid.com

Thanks,
Don Tolbert
Holmes Brigade

Who made the pipe, I have a stove.

[AzTrooper]

Re: Sibley tent stove

If Your going to use the stove , be carefull.I have only used the stove one time and I dont know if anyone else has had this happen but even with a small amount of wood the stove generated a lot of heat, I assume it is because of the shape or the stove being a inverted funnel,with the tapered end open to the outside, It was almost as if the air got superheated under pressure. The shell of the stove turned cherry red and I had to open the door to cool it off. From what I have read and seen, the pipes did not come with a damper, but if there was an acceptable way to fashion a damper it would help with this situation a great deal. I might have done something wrong that caused this to happen.Luckily it rarely gets cold enough here to need more than a blanket and maybe a poncho, so I just leave the stove at home.
Respectfully,
John Rogers

Who made the pipe, I have a stove.

[Arkansas Box Boy]

Re: Sibley tent stove

'Huck';
I had the same person make the Pipe that made the stove.
Send me an e-mail (holmesmember@cox-internet.com) and I will get you the number.
In response to the gentleman's note: Yes, the stove works great. No damper on the pipe, the stove glows cherry red. Gets really hot if you use the right size/type of wood.

Does anyone know haw to attach a picture?

Don Tolbert
Holmes Brigade

[RJSamp]

Sibley tent itself: Walls or No Walls

Happy 2007.

The original patent of 1856 stipulated a 12' high tent, 18' in diameter, with NO Walls. Correct? Were walls ever built into the Sibley and ordered as such? Or are these field modifications only. I'm not talking about ordinary Bell tents (of which a Sibley is a bigger Bell Tent).....but a full sized Sibley.

in other words, of 43,000+ Sibley's in use during the ACW....how many had walls built into them during the manufacturing process?

My guess is close to ZERO..... which makes the modern tent makers option to buy a Sibley with walls circumspect for our ACW use.....

Thanks! (and post Sibley with Wall pictures here!).

[Pvt Peck]

Re: Sibley tent stove

Funny this thread came back up, I am thinking of buying a full size Sibley and would love to get the stove & tripod data to have them made up. While searching online I found a neat 1867 book called "At Home in The Wilderness" by John Keast Lord in Google Books. Lord was on the English side of the US/UK border survey and was impressed with the sibley tent. He talks about it quite a bit in his book, goes into some detail. Neat book any way you slice it and has some neat Sibley info in it.


Edward Parrott

[federal_musician]

Re: Sibley tent stove

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if there is someone who is making the Sibley stove now? A reproduction we could us in the Sibley tents?


Thank you,
Frank Long

[Pvt Peck]

Re: Sibley tent stove

Here is one for sale, or use it as reference to get one made. Its a pretty simple device, any decent metal fab shop should be able to make one up.

http://www.antique-cast-iron-stoves.com/3/3-14_sibley_civil_war_tent_heater.php

You may wish to look at this link as well. Check pages 827, 829 & 830 for an illustration with dimensions & a written description of a Sibley stove. The manual is from around 1900 but I do not think the Sibley stove changed in dimensions. Hope this helps.

http://books.google.com/books?id=3SEJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA830&lpg=PA830&dq=how+to+build+a+sibley+stove&source=web&ots=VqzrXsPgbc&sig=ym45FJAmC2rMhZLHIitXgOtvF-U#PPA827,M1

Edward Parrott

[RJSamp]

Re: Sibley tent stove

Funny this thread came back up, I am thinking of buying a full size Sibley and would love to get the stove & tripod data to have them made up. While searching online I found a neat 1867 book called "At Home in The Wilderness" by John Keast Lord in Google Books. Lord was on the English side of the US/UK border survey and was impressed with the sibley tent. He talks about it quite a bit in his book, goes into some detail. Neat book any way you slice it and has some neat Sibley info in it.


Edward Parrott

Here's the Patent: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavvu

[Pvt Peck]

Re: Sibley tent stove

You can access the entire patent including Sibley's written description by searching "WW Sibley" on Google Patents as well.

Edward "conical tent" Parrott

[Arkansas Box Boy]

Re: Sibley tent stove

New E-Mail is donald.tolbert@cliffstar.com

Thanks!
Don Tolbert