Patent Application
20090019797
“Not Applicable”
“Not Applicable”
“Not Applicable”
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to windborne or propelled debris protection equipment such as hurricane shutters or storm shutters, which protects wall openings or window, for example, from violent storms.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Hurricanes, Cyclones, Tornados or other violent storms have caused enormous damage to homes, businesses, and structures due to the high winds and the subsequent windbome debris. In particular Hurricanes, have become more of a concern in recent years with the increased construction of homes in coastal areas of the United States of America. The coastal areas are the most susceptible to the hurricanes and to it's destructive forces. There are several types of protection on the market. The simplest form of hurricane protection for a building is metal hurricane shutters. They are basically corrugated metal that are attached over the window. The basic premise is to protect the building from over pressurization as well as keep the wind and rain from entering the building. Since the glazing, in the window, is the most fragile, it required to be protected from windborne debris associated with a violent storm such as a hurricane. If the windows are not protected, debris such as roofing tile, can penetrate the window and allow wind and rain to enter the building. The wind can be powerful enough to blow the roof off once the window has been broken. This causes enormous damage to the building and can cause deaths.
The problem with hurricane storm panels or shutters, is that they are heavy and difficult to install. They will take a homeowner a full day to install shutters on his/her home. Due to difficulty with the installation, the shutters are often left on the home during the entire hurricane season. The shutters, left on during the hurricane season, have caused deaths in the past. If a fire breaks out in the home, the residents can be trapped in the home, due to the shutters.
Storm Panels are either galvanized or aluminum steel corrugated steel panels that are installed over the window. The advantages of this system is that they are relatively inexpensive. The disadvantage of this system is that they are not easily installed due to heavy weight and size and are time consuming to install.
There are other types of protection on the market such as accordion shutters, rolldown, bahama shutters which are based on a metal material. They are inherently expensive to purchase as well as being difficult to install.
Accordian Shutters are generally made of Aluminum that form an accordion shape when opening and closing. The advantage of this system is the ease of operation and they are generally permanently attached for which requires no installation prior to the storm. The disadvantage of this system is that it often does not match the exterior design of the building and the cost is significantly more than Storm Panels.
An example of an accordion shutter is in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,185 by Robinson and Tillit, Sep. 28, 1999 with their deployable and stackable accordion shutter system. The merits of this invention are that it can be deployed quickly and easily and not take up much space within the window space. As stated above the cost of this type of shutter are expensive. In addition, the shutter is solid and does not allow light to enter the building. This is an depressing and irritating thing for the homeowners who live in a cave.
In recent years, there has been several hurricane products that utilize a fabric material and have been patented. U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,085, by Gower utilizes a fabric that is anchored above and below the window usually anchored to the ground and place at an incline to ground. The fabric is to the wall using straps or some other method. The fabric hurricane protection is installed when a hurricane is approaching and is removed after the hurricane has passed. The fabric system is not stretched nor is it tight in any way. The fabric forms the necessary barrier to protect the window opening from wind borne debris as intended.
Another invention, which is comparable to the present invention is U.S. Pat. No. 6,886,300, Hudoba, dated May 3, 2005 which utilized a frame and fabric which is stretched within a frame and is installed as storm panel would be installed. The panel is made of fabric and has several features such as being light weight and could be installed on tracks or directly to the wall. The fabric and frame would then be stored when not in use.
There are several differences between this patent and present invention in that the fabric is stretched using a rod and lever arm with a pin that will keep the fabric tight after being installed. The present invention will roll up and can be covered with covering if the home owner requests. The present invention will be rolled up and placed into a tube or box when not in use. The present invention involves installing the invention and then tightening the fabric while on the wall creating strong barrier. The prior art acts like a storm panel except it is a steel frame with fabric in the middle.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 6,341,455, by Gunn, introduces a new type of hurricane protection that rolls up and is stretched to form a strong barrier against wind borne debris. This device does meet some of the requirements. The invention has the ease of use since it rolls up into a nice covering over the window. The invention allows light into the home since the fabric is translucent.
There are no specific prior art that is similar to the present invention in the specific design and purpose. The closest prior art to is the invention done by Cameron Gunn, U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,085, which involves stretching a fabric over the window and rolling it up into the covering. The present invention has some similar features, however has been developed as lower cost alternative and more similar to the storm panels. The preferred embodiment is a simple approach to protecting the home and has many features that are considered desirable.
The present invention has been developed as a low cost alternative to all other hurricane protection devices out on the market and competes with the lowest cost alternative to the galvanized panels. The primary problem of mitigation of disasters is the cost of the protection. The home owner or building owner will look at the risk and the frequency of the risk and determine what an acceptable cost to prevent the disaster is. The less the cost, the more likely the building owner will purchase the mitigation device. The important feature of the preferred embodiment is the low cost and the known performance of the high strength fabric.
The present invention also allows the user to store the product in housing so that it will not have to be stored. If the present invention is stored, it can be rolled up into a tight roll and stored easily. The present invention could also utilize a flexible high strength material such as a high strength fabric that is transulant so that during a severe storm and present invention is being used, the user will not have to be in the dark during the severe storm. In the case of a hurricane, the present invention could be installed several days before the hurricane can arrive and the user will not be in the dark.
The preferred embodiment of the invention is comprised of high strength fabric that is light weight. The current problem with the existing products, in particular, the storm panels is that they are heavy and bothersome to install. In addition, due to their weight, they are dangerous when product slips out the hands of the user. The light weight feature of the present invention provides an advantage to existing products in the market.
In order to produce a product for the hurricane protection industry, there are standardized testing requirements for the protective devices to meet for strength and integrity. The tests are designed to simulate the hurricane wind force winds and to simulate flying debris in a hurricane. The primary purpose of the standardized testing requirements or codes is to ensure that the hurricane protection on the home is suitable for the service and will protect the home and the occupants.
The invention relates to an original design for an exterior covering of wall openings for use in protecting all wall openings in buildings from severe wind and rain damage or from windbome debris objects during violent storms, such as hurricanes. The design involves using a flexible high strength material such as high strength fabric that is stretched over the wall opening utilizing various methods to stretch the fabric to provide a protective barrier. The invention also relates to similar design within the window frame to combine the protective barrier with window frame. This combined feature can also be used as an exterior window shade.
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a protective cover assembly which has many of the advantages of the existing shutters mentioned, heretofore and many novel features that result in a new protective cover assembly which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or implied by any of the prior art.
There has been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of the description and should not be regarded as limiting.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
A high strength flexible material, such as a high strength fabric is secured at the top of window using an anchoring system and at the bottom of the window there are brackets and a circular rigid member which is connected to the fabric and the rigid circular member is attached to the wall. The anchors and brackets connect the assembly to the wall in the preferred embodiment. In this application the entire assembly will be marginally larger than the window opening. Once all the components are installed, then the user will use a lever to turn the bottom tube a specified length thus tightening the fabric over the opening to form a strong barrier. The tube is then locked into the place with a pin in the preferred embodiment. There are alternative embodiments presented that will lock the tube in place after being turned. There are alternative embodiments that will also stretch the fabric.
Once the bottom tube is turned and locked into place, there is a strong barrier over the opening which will protect it from flying debris. The barrier will also resist wind in the case of a hurricane, tornado or severe storm.
There are alternative embodiments presented as it relates to the installation of the assembly, covering of the assembly, and integration into a window frame or opening. In addition, the preferred embodiment can be installed sideways and upside down according the to needs of the user and architectural preference.
There is one additional feature of the present invention is that it can be used as an awning when employing the awning option. There are users that may wish to utilize the hurricane protection as awning to add value to their structure. It is a relatively small investment to utilize both and the present invention offers this feature.
FIG. 1—is the three dimensional view of the installed preferred embodiment of the protective cover, over a window on a residential house in the protective mode or in the closed position.
FIG. 2—is an exploded three dimensional view of the preferred embodiment of the protective cover showing how the components go together on the side of a house.
FIG. 3—is a three dimension detail view of the preferred embodiment locking mechanism of the tube using a pin and eyebolt.
FIG. 4—is a three dimensional detail view of an alternate embodiment locking mechanism of the tube using the lever and a separate bracket with a pin.
FIG. 5—is an exploded three dimensional view of an alternate embodiment of the invention where there are brackets on the top and bottom to place out from the wall further.
FIG. 6—is detailed three dimensional view of the alternative embodiment locking mechanism of the tube using a ratcheting system which does not allow the rotation of the tube.
FIG. 7—is 2 dimension front and side view of the ratchet and pawl assembly.
FIG. 8—is a three dimensional view of the preferred embodiment with the brackets located on the top and with additional supports to form an awning for the window while utilizing the protective features of the invention
FIG. 9—is a three dimensional view of the preferred embodiment of the invention when utilizing the alternative feature of the awning.
FIG. 10—is an exploded three dimensional view of the alternate embodiment locking mechanism using a ratcheting system.
FIG. 11—is 3 dimensional view of an alternative method of stretching the fabric using a ratcheting tool that clamps on the bottom and pulls down allowing the bottom member to be attached to the wall at the correct location.
FIG. 12—is a 2 dimensional view of the fabric showing how the preferred embodiment of the fabric is being sewn to have pouches for the components.
FIG. 13—is a 3 dimensional view of the assembly with a cover used to contain the assembly when not in use.
FIG. 14—is a 3 dimensional view of the assembly cover of the preferred embodiment showing a hinged section.
FIG. 15—is a 3 dimensional view of the fabric tube of the preferred embodiment and attachedment of the fabric to tube using a slot in the fabric tube and using a fabric rod.
FIG. 16—is a 3 dimensional view of the high strength fabric and the awning material showing how the awning would go over the high strength fabric when the option for the awning is utilized.
FIG. 17—is a 3 dimensional view of the assembly on the house where there are grommets on the top of the fabric which is attached to the wall and there is not rigid member at the top.
FIG. 18—is a 3 dimensional view of the assembly on the house where there is a heavy bar on the bottom to stretch the fabric into place as an alternative embodiment.
FIG. 19—is a 3 dimensional view of the assembly that is integrated into a window frame utilizing the same components.
FIG. 20—is a 3 dimensional view of a standard window.
FIG. 21—is a 3 dimensional exploded view of the simplified protective cover assembly integrated into the window frame in the open position or not in use position.
FIG. 22—is a 3 dimensional view of the simplified protective cover assembly integrated into the window frame in the closed position or operational position.
FIG. 23—is a 3 dimensional exploded view of the simplified protective cover assembly integrated into the window frame with a motor drive to lower and raise the fabric.
A simplified protective cover assembly for wall openings which embodies the concepts of the preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. I representing a single protective covering over a window at a house. The protective cover can be various sizes to cover the various sizes such as sliding glass doors, doors or windows, and is shown on one type of window in the drawing for illustration purposes and one form of the present invention. The simplified protective cover assembly of the preferred embodiment of the invention includes a high strength fabric 8, a fabric rod 3, near wall brackets 1, rectangular bar 4, fabric tube 10, wing nuts 6, bar anchors 5, anchors 11, anchor screws 12, eyebolt 13, and pin 7. The materials to be used for the simplified protective cover assembly are only limited by their strength, weather resistance, weight and costs. The new wall brackets 1, fabric rod 3, rectangular bar 4, wing nuts 6, lever 9, eyebolt 13, pin 7, anchors 11 and bar anchors 5 can be plastic, composite, or metal. The preferred materials for these items is metal and for most parts aluminum is preferred due the corrosion resistance and light weight. The high strength fabric 8 can come a variety of materials such polypropylene, Kevlar, geomembranes, permalon, polyester, spectra and other high strength fabrics. The simplified protective assembly is typically placed on the exterior of the building but first installing the bar anchors 5 on the top of the opening in measure locations and installing the anchors 6 at the bottom of the wall opening. The anchors 5 are installed by drilling a hole into the wall 16 and insert anchor 5 into the hole. The bar anchors 5 are installed by drilling a hole in the wall 16 and then drilling the bar anchors 5 into the drilled hole. The high strength fabric 8 is slide into the slot with the fabric rod 3 that is located in fabric tube 10 which is illustrated in
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The reader can see that the simplified protective cover assembly of the preferred embodiment of the invention provides a easy to use and easy to install protective cover for wall openings that is of high strength to protect against high wind and wind borne debris.
The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described for the purposes of presentation. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the preferred embodiment disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto.
