The present invention is in the field of civilian security, aiming to provide protection against threats of war.
The fact that most of the population in small and especially in large cities live in apartments and are confined to indoor living quarters, impart some limitations as regards the issue of war time protection. A missile or a projectile or a fragment of a projectile or fragments of torn masonry elements may be the cause of direct physical damage to humans or to property. Additional mechanical threat can be created as explosive charges are activated, causing blasts and fear. The aim of the present invention is to address such issues by providing protection to some degree to apartment dwellers.
An erectable shelter for indoor use, providing protection against threats associated with missiles. The shelter includes: one metal frame attached to at least one of the internal walls of an apartment; six protective walls attached to the frame for forming a shelter, wherein one wall covers the opening of the frame, four other walls are hinged on the frame, and another wall is hinged on a free edge of one side wall; and at least one strut connecting at least a ceiling wall with the frame.
Other features and advantages of the instant invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.
In accordance with the present invention, an unfoldable shelter is made available for inhabitants of houses or flats (apartments) inside multi-storied building or any other multi apartment living house. The basic embodiment of the invention is a packaged metal cube, or a prism having all adjacent faces at right angles to each other. The shelter can be unfolded or deployed within a room inside an apartment or a building, to form a secluded space surrounded on all six faces by a mechanically fortified wall. In another embodiment, the foldable construction is also equipped internally, with a gas and aerosol proof enclosure.
In
The frame is either supported by the wall with which the opening aligns (such as wall 24 in
Generally, the walls of the shelter, including the roof and the floor, are pulled out of the frame, except for the one wall which remains covering the frame. Five walls are therefore pulled out. The shelter side walls (SSWs) are pulled from the frame each to each own side until they face each other, parallel. Then roof wall is pulled upwards and floor wall is pulled downwards. This order is exemplary and is summarized in flow chart at
Reference is now made to
To ease the unfolding of the top and bottom walls (ceiling and floor respectively), struts may inserted for one or both flanks of the wall. As can be seen in
In the side walls, and in the closing vertical wall, hatches or larger windows may be provided, typically with shielding shutter that can be closed or opened at will typically from the inside and possibly strengthened by latches or bolts or catches that must be openable. A door is typically provided in the closing vertical wall or/and in any of the vertical walls and is also equipped with one or more latches to secure it to the wall and/or floor and/or ceiling.
The walls are connected via hinges to the frame. As can be seen in
The walls are preferably equipped with one or more latches to secure to the floor and/or ceiling. Fastening latches may also provide a way by which the walls may be drawn closer and make contact with the ceiling/floor to decrease or prevent gap formation therebetween.
The shelter of the invention is to provide protection against indirect missile hits. It is to protect against the pressure shock or blast, shrapnel, projectiles such as masonry debris, falling objects and to some extent bullet and hard sharp projectiles in general.
As additional embodiment, a shelter for protecting against biological and chemical and even nuclear hazard or biological hazards (weapon or non weapon) is provided, to be installed with the shelter of the invention. This additional shelter is in the form of an erectable tent, air tight, with provisions for filtering air. The tent is connected mechanically to the shelter (from the inside) using hook and loop fasteners such as VELCRO® straps. Beth El Industries of 1 Avshalom Road Zikhron Yaakov, Israel provides filtration systems, such as purified air blower type LB 36 for providing purified air to such NBC shelters.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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224562 | Feb 2013 | IL | national |