Shelter having a protective layer

Abstract

A hard walled shelter has first and second substantially parallel corner posts. The hard walled shelter also has an upper frame support extending between first ends of the corner posts and a lower frame support extending between second ends of the corner posts. The hard walled shelter additionally has a moveable wall. The moveable wall has a lower portion hinged at the lower frame support and an upper portion that fits securely on the interior of the corner posts when the moveable wall is in a closed configuration. When the moveable wall is in an open configuration the moveable wall is disposed away from the hard walled shelter to form an opening in the shelter. The hard walled shelter also has a coupling that extends around the perimeter of the opening in the shelter.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A shelter system comprising:
 a hard walled shelter comprising first and second substantially parallel corner posts disposed at a first end of the shelter and a moveable wall displaced between the first and second corner posts, wherein when the moveable wall is in an open configuration, the moveable wall is disposed away from the hard walled shelter to form an opening in the shelter;   an expandable shelter configured to connect to the hard walled shelter and configured to expand when the moveable wall is in the open configuration;   a protective nuclear, biological and chemical barrier layer; and   a coupling configured to:
 extend around the perimeter of the opening in the shelter to connect the expandable shelter to the hard walled shelter; and 
 provide a contiguous nuclear, biological and chemical seal between the hard walled shelter and the expandable shelter. 
   
     
     
         2 . The shelter system of  claim 1 , wherein the second protective layer is an environmental layer. 
     
     
         3 . The shelter system of  claim 1 , further comprising a vestibule configured to attach to the hard walled shelter to provide the transition from the hard walled shelter to another shelter. 
     
     
         4 . The shelter system of  claim 3 , wherein the vestibule has a fabric clamp that is configured to interact with the coupling to connect the vestibule to the container. 
     
     
         5 . The shelter system of  claim 3 , wherein the vestibule is configured to provide a sealed connection between the hard walled shelter and another shelter. 
     
     
         6 . The shelter system of  claim 3 , wherein the vestibule comprises at least one protective layer that includes a nuclear, biological and chemical layer or an environmental layer. 
     
     
         7 . An expandable soft wall shelter having an expanded and a collapsed configuration, the expandable shelter being in a collapsed configuration when disposed within a hard walled shelter, comprising:
 a coupling configured to connect the expandable shelter to the hard walled shelter;   a beam structure configured to be inflated to expand the expandable shelter into the expanded configuration;   at least one fabric layer;   at least one protective layer; and   a vestibule configured to provide a transition from the hard walled shelter to the expandable shelter when the expandable shelter is in the expanded configuration.   
     
     
         8 . The expandable shelter of  claim 7 , wherein the at least one protective layer is a nuclear, biological and chemical layer. 
     
     
         9 . The expandable shelter of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one protective layer is an environmental layer. 
     
     
         10 . The shelter system of  claim 9 , wherein the second protective layer is attached to the container by the coupling. 
     
     
         11 . The shelter system of  claim 1 , wherein the protective layer is disposed on the interior of the expandable shelter. 
     
     
         12 . The shelter system of  claim 3 , wherein the coupling is a fabric clamp of the vestibule. 
     
     
         13 . The shelter system of  claim 1 , further comprising a second protective layer wherein the second protective layer is an environmental layer. 
     
     
         14 . The shelter system of  claim 1 , further comprising a beam structure configured to be inflated to expand the expandable shelter into the expanded configuration. 
     
     
         15 . The shelter system of  claim 1 , further comprising a beam structure configured to be inflated wherein the beam structure includes one or more air beams configured to be inflated and configured to guide the protective layer around the expandable shelter. 
     
     
         16 . The shelter system of  claim 1 , wherein the coupling is a selected one of the group of: zipper, Velcro, clamp and fabric. 
     
     
         17 . The shelter system of  claim 6 , wherein the protective layer covers at least part of both the vestibule and the expandable shelter.