Patent ID: 11946244
Assignee: nan
Field: Civil engineering (Other fields)
Classification: CPC E  A | IPC E

Claim 0:
1. An office environment germ protection device consisting essentially of:
a left terminal support, a right terminal support, and one or more individual barrier panels removably connected therebetween;
wherein the office environment germ protection device is configured to be erected vertically on a work surface between a person and one or more other people to isolate the person from exposure to airborne droplets;
wherein the office environment germ protection device is lengthened by adding respective panels to the one or more individual barrier panels or shortened by removing respective panels;
wherein the one or more individual barrier panels are transparent such that sightlines are not blocked by the office environment germ protection device;
wherein the left terminal support and the right terminal support define endpoints of the office environment germ protection device;
wherein an individual terminal support selected from the left terminal support and the right terminal support is a vertically-oriented column that rests on the work surface;
wherein the individual terminal support couples to one of the individual barrier panels and holds the individual barrier panel in a vertical orientation;
wherein the individual terminal support comprises a terminal support body, a terminal support top cap, and a terminal support foot;
wherein the terminal support body couples to the individual barrier panel and defines a height of the office environment germ protection device;
wherein the terminal support top cap covers top of the terminal support body to prevent objects from being dropped into the terminal support body and for decorative purposes;
wherein the terminal support foot couples to bottom of the terminal support body and projects horizontally in opposing directions from center of the terminal support foot;
wherein the terminal support foot widens footprint of the terminal support body thus increasing stability;
wherein the terminal support foot increases traction between the individual terminal support and the work surface;
wherein the one or more barrier panels are configured to block passage of the airborne droplets from the person to the one or more other people, or vice versa;
wherein the individual barrier panel selected from the one or more barrier panels comprises a transparent pane;
wherein the individual barrier panel further comprises a top brace;
wherein the top brace is a horizontal armature located at top of the transparent pane that supports top of the individual barrier panel and prevents flexing of the individual barrier panel;
wherein the office environment germ protection device further comprises one or more intermediate supports;
wherein the one or more intermediate supports are vertically-oriented columns that rest on the work surface at locations between the left terminal support and the right terminal support;
wherein the one or more intermediate supports are hingedly coupled to the one or more barrier panels;
wherein an individual intermediate support selected from the one or more intermediate supports comprises an intermediate support body and an intermediate support foot;
wherein the intermediate support body hingedly couples to two of the individual barrier panels;
wherein a height of the intermediate support body matches each height of the left terminal support and the right terminal support;
wherein the intermediate support foot couples to bottom of the intermediate support body and projects horizontally in opposing directions from center of the intermediate support foot;
wherein the intermediate support foot widens footprint of the intermediate support body thus increasing stability;
wherein the intermediate support foot increases traction between the individual intermediate support and the work surface;
wherein the individual intermediate support is configured to couple to two of the individual barrier panels and to enable pivoting of the two individual barrier panels relative to each other;
wherein the two individual barrier panels are configured to extend in opposite directions from each other to form a planar barrier surface with an angle between panels measuring 180 degrees;
wherein each of the individual barrier panels selected from the two individual barrier panels are configured to pivot until the angle therebetween reaches a predetermined angular limit of 90 degrees.