“Home is you park it,” says now-famous Instagram influencer Foster Huntington, a former New York-based designer at Ralph Lauren who In 2013, he left his fast-paced, high-stress life behind in a Volkswagen camper and spent several days on the road, naming his Kickstarter campaign after this. Vanlife on Instagram now has nearly 6 million people posting about their adventures in converted vans, converted school buses and other RVs.
It's part of glamorous or glamorous camping, staying in fancy places with ornately decorated rigs and trailers without awe-inspiring amenities. As stated in Grampin's ad, some of these vehicles can cost over $300 per night depending on location. These powerful RVs feature TVs, air conditioning, multiple queen beds, luxury slide-out add-ons for more space, mini kitchens, electricity and more. Although the trending topics on Instagram make it seem like downsizing and escaping outdoors is certainly nothing new. A browse through the archives of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows that inventors have been thinking of ways to put beds and kitchens on the road for a long time. In honor of this human pursuit, we've got some of the more outlandish patents from the last century that paved the way for today's campervans. One of 10 Folding Camping Cots and Tents (USPTO) in 1917, the "KDSP" was an early version of the pop-up camper that looked and opened more like a book, folding on a hinged pivot point rather than a book spine Hardcover novel. Inventor George Chapman of Fort Collins, Colorado, described the device in his 1917 patent: "My object in improving it has been to provide a simple, roomy combination of folding tent and bed which are of sturdy construction. , but relatively lightweight, he went on to explain that when the bed is opened, the bed automatically unfolds and the tent roof rises; the whole thing then automatically flips when closed. 1/10