Patent ID: 8307588
Filing Date: 2012-11-13
Classification: B65G,E04B,E06B

Abstract:
1. An elongate flexible panel assembly for use at a loading dock that includes a building wall with an outside surface, the elongate flexible panel assembly having a length along a longitudinal axis and comprising: a first elongate rigid member adapted to be attached to the outside surface; a first flexible thin-walled member comprising a unitary sheet of material having an unconstrained cross-sectional shape; a second flexible thin-walled member comprising a unitary sheet of material, the first and the second flexible thin-walled members each having a first longitudinal edge and a second longitudinal edge, the first longitudinal edges being attached to the first elongate rigid member; and a connector to attach together the second longitudinal edges to constrain the first flexible thin-walled member in a cross-sectional shape that is different from the unconstrained cross-sectional shape, the first and second flexible members defining a first empty, self-supported cavity between respective inner surfaces of the first and second flexible thin-walled members, wherein the connector and the first rigid member enable the elongate flexible panel assembly to be cantilevered from the outside surface substantially without sagging, and wherein by constraining the first flexible thin-walled member in a cross-sectional shape that is different from the unconstrained shape, the connector enables the second longitudinal edges to move together for forces applied to the panel assembly along an axis that is transverse to the longitudinal axis.