Patent Application
20200208468
The present disclosure relates generally to protecting an area, and more particularly to a protection mechanism having a flexible barrier sheet electromagnetically connectable to a frame of a window or a doorway.
Protection of areas within a school or other institution is an acute challenge in modern society. The occurrence of intruders in schools, buildings, or other settings has motivated manufacturers and security authorities to propose a variety of counter measures in an effort to protect the lives and safety of individuals, notably children. Schools, for instance, are now typically equipped with various electronic monitoring systems to detect the presence or entry of intruders. Safety officers are also often employed to monitor the safety status of institutions, and take action as warranted.
Security systems have also been proposed, and some commercially implemented, that enable personnel at a central control station to remotely lock doors or other access points to buildings, hallways, and rooms. One security device is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 9,702,664 to Rose, Jr. et al. and proposes a ballistic shade system for rolling up and down ballistic material and holding it in place during a ballistic event. Rose, Jr. et al. propose sidetracks forming channels designed to be mounted to the left and right of an opening in a wall. The sidetracks channel edges of ballistic material up and down and hold the edges in to ostensibly prevent their pushing out of the channel when a ballistic event hits the ballistic material. The design of Rose, Jr. et al. may have some applicability, but it is complex and appears relatively labor intensive to install.
In one aspect, a room protection mechanism includes a flexible barrier sheet having a first end, a second end, a first longitudinal edge, and a second longitudinal edge. The first longitudinal edge and the second longitudinal edge each extend between the first end and the second end, and the flexible barrier is adjustable between a collapsed, storage configuration, and a deployed configuration for positioning the first and the second longitudinal edges adjacent to a frame of a window or a doorway. The room protection mechanism further includes a housing structured to store the flexible barrier sheet in the collapsed configuration, and a retention element within the housing and attached to the first end of the flexible barrier sheet. The room protection mechanism further includes sheet magnetic elements attached to the flexible barrier sheet and distributed along each of the first longitudinal edge and the second longitudinal edge. The sheet magnetic elements are structured to magnetically couple to frame magnetic elements mounted to the frame. The room protection mechanism also includes an electrical switch structured to energize at least one of the sheet magnetic elements or the frame magnetic elements to magnetically attach the flexible barrier sheet to the frame.
In another aspect, a protection system includes a protection mechanism for a doorway or a window having a flexible barrier sheet with a first end, a second end, a first longitudinal edge and a second longitudinal edge. The protection mechanism further includes a housing structured to store the flexible barrier sheet in a collapsed configuration. The protection mechanism further includes sheet magnetic elements attached to the flexible barrier sheet and distributed along each of the first longitudinal edge and the second longitudinal edge, and frame magnetic elements structured for mounting upon or adjacent to a frame of a doorway or a window. The protection mechanism further includes an electrical switch structured to energize at least one of the sheet magnetic elements or the frame magnetic elements.
In still another aspect, a method of protecting access through a doorway or a window includes deploying a flexible barrier sheet to block a doorway or a window, energizing electromagnets resident on the flexible barrier sheet or a frame of the doorway or the window, and magnetically attaching the flexible barrier sheet to the frame based on the energizing of the electromagnets.
Referring to
In a practical implementation strategy each room 18 is equipped with at least one room protection mechanism, and as illustrated each room 18 may be equipped with multiple door or doorway protection mechanisms 24 and multiple window protection mechanisms 25. Window protection mechanisms 25 and doorway protection mechanisms 24 may be similar and/or substantially identical to one another in some embodiments, but potentially different with respect to dimensions and proportions suited to the slightly different applications of a doorway or a window. It will be recalled that display 17 presently indicates northwest window 2 is not secure. All of the other protection mechanisms 24 and 25 in the illustrated case are indicated as secure. This might mean that northwest window 1 is not fully, or not at all, secured, whereas the other windows and doors are secured. A secure state or not secure state could represent that a control switch has or has not, respectively, been actuated, or that an electrical energy state of the subject protection is or is not as expected. Position feedback of a barrier sheet in a protection mechanism could be used to indicate present state on display 17. Doorways are identified with reference numeral 22 in
Each protection mechanism 24 and 25 can be equipped with a transmitter 28 structured to communicate, for example, wirelessly with control station 14. Discussion herein of any one of protection mechanisms 24 or 25 should be understood by way of analogy to refer to any other of protection mechanisms 24 or 25, except where indicated otherwise or apparent from the context. Room protection mechanisms 24, hereinafter referred to in the singular, may include a housing 26 mounted to a building wall or the like, adjacent to the subject doorway or window to be protected such as about it. Transmitter 28 can be mounted to housing 26, or mounted separately from housing 26, and structured to transmit signals indicative of a present state of protection mechanism 24 to control station 14. Transmitter 28 could also be structured as a transceiver, to receive a control signal, data, or even a software upgrade, from control station 14. An electrical power connector switch 29 is shown mounted adjacent to protection mechanism 24, and can energize protection mechanism 24 for deployment and securing as further discussed herein.
Referring also now to
In a practical implementation strategy flexible barrier sheet 30 includes a non-metallic ballistic material. The non-metallic ballistic material may include a ballistic nylon fabric material in some embodiments. One example material is a woven nylon fabric, such as a woven nylon having a denier about 1000 d or greater. Also in a practical implementation strategy sheet magnetic elements 44 are formed of a ferromagnetic material, such as a magnetically soft iron, steel, a nickel-based material, mixtures or alloys of these, or still others. In still other embodiments, sheet magnetic elements 44 could themselves include electromagnets.
As depicted in
Referring also now to
Referring also now to
Referring to the drawings generally, protecting access through a doorway or a window according to the present disclosure can include deploying a flexible barrier sheet to block a doorway or a window, such as by manually manipulating the flexible barrier sheet, although the present disclosure is not thereby limited. Protecting access can further include energizing electromagnets resident on the flexible barrier sheet or a frame of the doorway or the window, and magnetically attaching the flexible barrier sheet to the frame based on the energizing of the electromagnets. In the embodiments discussed herein deploying of the flexible barrier sheet includes unrolling the flexible barrier sheet from a roller supported in a housing mounted above the doorway or window. In other embodiments, the flexible barrier sheet could be stored in a folded configuration, instead of a rolled up configuration, in a crumpled configuration, or still another. Moreover, the housing might be mounted to the side of a doorway or window, or even mounted at the bottom of the doorway or window and drawn upward to the deployed configuration. While using a wall switch mounted adjacent to the doorway or window provides a practical implementation strategy, in other embodiments, the energizing of the electromagnets could be performed from a remote control station, from a switch at a teachers desk, or still another way.
The present description is for illustrative purposes only, and should not be construed to narrow the breadth of the present disclosure in any way. Thus, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications might be made to the presently disclosed embodiments without departing from the full and fair scope and spirit of the present disclosure. Other aspects, features and advantages will be apparent upon an examination of the attached drawings and appended claims. As used herein, the articles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or more items, and may be used interchangeably with “one or more.” Where only one item is intended, the term “one” or similar language is used. Also, as used herein, the terms “has,” “have,” “having,” or the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62786724 | Dec 2018 | US |
