Patent Application
20050072074
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to doorway accessories, and particularly to accessories for covering openings below partially opened garage doors. More particularly, this invention relates to a net adapted to be stretched from one side of the doorway to the other beneath the garage door.
2. Description of Related Art
Sectioned garage doors typically employ several horizontal panels hinged together to allow the door to follow a curved track when raised overhead. Such doors are supported on the ends of each panel by rollers which follow an inverted-L shaped track mounted vertically on either side of the door opening. Especially when raised and lowered by an automatic door opener, such garage doors may be stopped at any level above the garage floor, leaving a horizontal opening the width of the doorway beneath the bottom door panel. Owners often use this technique to increase ventilation and light or to permit pets to enter and leave the garage. Unless covered, this opening also may allow unwanted intrusions by pests of various sizes. If the owner wishes to deter such intrusions or to confine small children or pets within the garage for their safety, while providing them with ventilation, light and visual access outdoors, the opening must be covered. Means for conveniently covering such openings while maintaining ventilation, light and visibility would assist such motives.
Numerous prior art devices exist which attempt, but fall short of, the achievements of the present invention. Most attach to the bottom panel of the door and comprise a screen-like extension thereof. Some include rigid frames which couple to the bottom edge of the bottom panel and either hingedly or slidingly retract when the door must be closed. These are heavy, complicated, usually expensive and prone to damage and malfunction. Others rely on the screen material itself for structural integrity and must attach to the garage floor for stability. Such attachments obstruct ingress and egress to the garage, can cause tire damage and can be damaged in turn, causing failure. A need exists for efficient means for covering garage door openings.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide means for covering a gap below the bottom of a garage door that allows ventilation and light into the garage.
It is another object of this invention to provide means for covering a gap below a garage door that prevents intrusion by pests.
It is another object of this invention to provide means for covering a gap below a garage door that can create a ventilated indoor play area for small children and pets while confining them and preventing them from wandering into danger outside the garage.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide means for covering a gap below a garage door that is inexpensive and easy to install.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide means for covering a gap below a garage door that does not attach to the movable garage door itself, nor to the floor below it.
The foregoing and other objects of this invention are achieved by providing a net adapted to stretch across the entire width of a garage doorway to cover a vertical portion of the doorway. The net comprises an open weave web portion having a closed weave border. Two brackets mounted one on each side of the doorway near the floor include lugs spaced above the garage floor. Straps extend from the bottom and top portions of the border toward the brackets and loop through the lugs and back onto themselves where hook-and-loop fasteners secure them in place. One or more intermediate straps may extend from each end between the top and bottom straps. The garage door freely passes in front of the net to close the doorway as normal.
The novel features believed characteristic of the present invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use and further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
With reference now to the figures, and in particular to
Some garage doors 3 may be operated by electric garage door openers (not shown) adapted automatically or manually to raise and lower door 3. Such door openers typically may be operated to stop the door manually at any point along its path of travel, leaving a gap beneath bottom edge 6 of bottom panel 5. The operator of the garage door opener can control the height of this opening by stopping the opener accordingly. Such openers often include sensors 11 mounted near floor 13 on either side of doorway 4 which detect obstructions and prevent door 3 from closing until the obstruction is removed.
As seen best in
Net 20 further comprises screen 21 surrounded by border 23 to form a rectangle having a longitudinal axis substantially parallel to and extending the length of opening 4. Thus, net 20 is sized at least to cover the horizontal width of opening 4 to a height H above floor 13.
Screen 21 comprises one of a variety of open web, woven materials having apertures, defined by strands of material, that are smaller that anticipated pests such as insects yet open enough to admit satisfactory amounts of air and/or light. A suitable screen 21 material is PetScreen, a strong fiberglass screen available from Phifer Wire Products, Inc., of Tuscaloosa, Ala. (www.phifer.com). Border 23 comprises one of a variety of closed web woven materials having sufficient tensile strength to withstand substantial tugging to tighten net 20 across opening 4. A suitable border 23 material is All Weather Indoor/Outdoor Canvas available from John Boyle & Co. of Grand Prairie, Tex. (www.johnboyle.com). Net 20 also may include one or more vertical braces 24, preferably comprising additional material from which border 23 is composed.
Referring now also to
Referring now also to
Lugs 33 extending from bases 31 are spaced along its vertical length such that their number and mounting height substantially matches the number and height of straps 25. Lugs 33 comprise metal rods bent and attached by each end to base 31 to form a substantially U-shaped or rectangular opening oriented substantially vertically. Lugs 33 preferably comprise metal rods such as steel reinforcing bar or U-bolts one fourth (¼″-{fraction (3/16)}″) to three-sixteenths inch in diameter, coupled to bases 31 at both ends and disposed substantially perpendicular to bases 31. Though shown in the figures as such closed loops, lugs 33 could comprise alternate structures, such as loops that extend from bases 31 at an angle (not shown) or structures (e.g. hooks) which do not form a closed loop (not shown) between two points on base 31. One having ordinary skill in the art will recognize that all such alternatives are considered to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Net 20 mounts across opening 3 such that either straps 25 or a portion of net 20 itself partially wraps around the interior edge (disposed toward the interior of garage 1) of rail 7. This has at least two benefits. First, it causes straps 25 to approach lugs 33 at least partially in alignment with them, such that tension pulled into straps 25 does not pull on lugs 33 at an acute angle relative to perpendicular to base 31. This minimizes cantilever loading on lugs 33 and minimizes the chance they will bend toward opening 3 and relax the tension in net 20, thereby causing net 20 to sag after installation. Second, the tension pulls net 20 tight against rails 7, thereby securing it best in front of opening 4. Further, since net 20 thereby passes behind the interior edge of rail 7, it does obstruct door 3, which rides on rollers 9 within rails 7. Net 20 thus does not impeded closing of door 3, which may pass in front of net 20 until edge 6 of bottom panel 5 engages floor 13, eliminating the gap beneath edge 6. Net 20 can remain in place with door 2 closed in case the operator wishes to restore the gap. When the operator needs to pass vehicles through opening 4, net 20 may be removed as discussed below.
In operation, the operator lays net 20 across the floor of garage 1 substantially parallel wall 2, with fasteners 26 disposed toward the interior of garage 1. Straps 25 on one end of net 20 then are looped through corresponding lugs 33 of brackets 30 on one side of opening 4 and secured with fasteners 26, as depicted in
Uninstalling net 20 requires simply reversing the above steps. The operator releases fasteners 26 on straps 25 at one end of net 20 and pulls straps 25 through and out of lugs 33. He allows net 20 to sag to floor 13 while he removes in like manner straps 25 from bracket 30 on the other side of garage 1. He then may roll up or fold net 20 for storage. Alternately, he may leave straps 25 in place on bracket 30 at one side of garage 1 while rolling up net 20 and storing it beside opening 4 near rail 7. Or, he simply may pull net 20 out of the way, beside a side wall (not shown) adjacent wall 2. The foregoing steps of installing and uninstalling net 20 may be performed with door 3 either open or closed.
The present invention, described in its preferred embodiment, thus serves to cover part or all of a gap formed across opening 4 below door 3 when door 3 is partially closed. Net 20 is not intended to be insect proof, but one having ordinary skill in the art will recognize that it will discourage pests, especially flying ones such as birds or insects, from entering garage 1. Net 20 also can be employed to confine small children or pets within garage 1 while admitting substantial air and light. Net 20 likewise can prevent many larger animals, such as neighbors' pets or children, from entering garage 1 while door 3 is partly or entirely open. When the operator chooses to fully open door 2 while net 20 is in place, net 20 serves as a fence of height H across doorway 4.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to one or more embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, net 20 has been depicted and described as being substantially the vertical height of a single panel 5 of door 3, and that the gap contemplated would be of comparable size. Net 20 could, however, be any practical size, including substantially as large as door 3 so to cover the entire opening 4. This would require proportionately more straps 25 because of the increased height H of net 20, and certainly would require longer brackets 30 and more lugs 33 mounted correspondingly as high as straps 25. Also, brackets 30 have been depicted as a single unit of convenient size, but lugs 33 could be mounted directly to wall 2 or other stationary objects without first being attached to bases 31. Further, straps 25 have been depicted as comprising the same or similar web material as border 23, but they could comprise other strap means such as elastic, self-tensioning material (sometimes known as “bungie cords”) or twine or rope, either permanently attached to border 23 or adapted to be coupled to border 23 to grommets or other structures (not shown) within border 23. Likewise, fastener means 26 has been described as hook-and-loop fasteners, but could instead be other fasteners, such as buttons, snaps or metal hooks (not shown) adapted to cooperate with one of a plurality of appropriately corresponding fixtures (not shown) disposed along straps 25 and/or border 23.
Still further, net 20 has been depicted as spanning a single doorway 4 and door 3 which substantially fill wall 2 of garage 1. Such garage doors are considered “double car” doors, meaning that two standard-width automobiles may enter opening 4 side by side. It is not unusual, however, for wall 2 to include one or more (most typically two) such garage doors filling its width (not shown) in lieu of a single door, each such door capable of admitting a single car (hence, known as “single car” garage doors), whereby two or more automobiles still may enter garage 1 through wall 2, but through separate, side-by-side doors. A short, intermediate section (not shown) of wall 2 typically is disposed between said single car doors to provide anchorage for rails 7 on the sides of each single car doorway proximate the other doorway. Rails 7 on the opposite sides of each single car doorway, distal said intermediate section of wall 2, would be substantially as described above for double car garage door 3.
In such case, the owner/operator may employ the present invention in two alternate ways. First, net 20 may be sized (in horizontal length) to fit a single car doorway, thereby being approximately half the length of net 20 as described above. In all other ways, net 20 would be substantially as described above for double car doorway 4, including two brackets 30, one on either side of each single car doorway. For a two car garage, two nets 20, with corresponding brackets 30 mounted on either side of each single car doorway, each could serve one of the two single car doors independently. Alternately, net 20 as described above in the preferred embodiment, capable of spanning double car garage doorway 4, still could be employed to span both single car doorways without substantial modification. Net 20 would couple to brackets 30 and bear against rails 7 distal said intermediate section of wall 2 as described above. Net 20 also would pass behind rails 7 proximate said intermediate section of wall 2, optionally being attached thereto by support means between proximate rails 7 and upper border 23, thereby further controlling sag in net 20. Such intermediate support means could comprise a small patch of hook-and-loop fastener disposed on border 23 and rail 7 (not shown), or it could comprise clamps or other apparatus (not shown) independent of net 20 but adapted to grasp and hold it as needed. In either case, the presence of multiple single car garage doors would provide the flexibility to create a gap in wall 2 beneath only one door, the gap thereby being only a portion of the width of wall 2.
Further, though the present invention has been described in the context of garage doors having rails 7, it also could be used in any doorway context, such as Dutch doors which are split top-to-bottom and which bottom section may be opened independently of the top.
Finally, though the present invention has been described as being permeable to both light and air, it could be impermeable to one or the other or both. For example, screen 21 could comprise an air impermeable but light permeable material such as polyethylene film, making net 20 useful in wintertime for admitting light into garage 1 but not permitting air exchange. This option also could be useful for creating temporary greenhouses on patios for wintering of weather-sensitive plants. Alternately, screen 21 could comprise multiple layers of web material so overlapped that the strands block light sufficiently to prevent anyone from seeing through net 20 while admitting sufficient air to ventilate garage 1. This option also could be useful for creating a visual screen for a patio, hot tub, deck or other area without unnecessary stifling of desirable breezes.
