Tension cot

I was flipping through a Manufactum catalog yesterday and this cot, designed by Ole Gjerlov Knudsen in 1962 caught my eye. The use of natural material turnbuckles, as seen on a traditional bow saw, to form the tensioned tie beam in the structure is a clever use of traditional materials and technology. He designed a chair too, apparently.

Though the end results are quite different, a similar structural strategy is used in the LuxuryLite ultralight cot. This uses tensioned aluminum and carbon fiber poles instead of the traditional turnbuckle mechanism. The principle, using a tensioned tie beam, is the same.

It would be interesting to see further use of this principle in collapsing furniture. I've long been interested in the use of ratchet tie downs in other applications, and this would seem to be a natural use for them. Modern steel turnbuckles could also be used in this application.