Earthquake resistant bed

A structure for housing a bed, for protection of a sleeper against serious injury or death from damage or collapse of the surrounding residence in an earthquake. The bed protection structure has two kinds of for this purpose: various structural integrity preservation, including means to both enhance the structural strength of the bed protection structure and to also allow the bed protection structure to respond to severe mechanical shocks resulting from impact of parts of the residence structure, while maintaining structural integrity of the bed protection structure; and anti-ballistic penetration, to resist ballistic penetration of residence structure debris fragments into the interior of the bed. The structural integrity preservation include an overall geometry of the form of a modified tetragonal anti-prism or MTAP; triangular spacing of structural members in the MTAP geometry; axially reinforced structural members; and vertical support members containing shock absorbing. The anti-ballistic penetration means include triangular solid panels of composite material. The overall bed protection structure achieves triangulation in all three planes for efficient distribution and resolution of forces, while also providing protection against ballistic penetration of the bed protection structure.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The invention concerns structures for protection of a sleeper in a bed 
against serious injury or death which may be caused by the effects of 
damage to the surrounding residential structure during an earthquake. 
Since people spend roughly a third of their lives sleeping, and since 
severe earthquakes may occur at any time and without any reliable prior 
warning, there is a need for means to protect a sleeping person against 
the serious injury or death which may be caused by partial or total 
collapse of the surrounding residence in which the sleeper's bed is 
located. 
Though many means have been devised for strengthening an entire residential 
structure against earthquake damage, a bed is a much smaller structure. So 
it is possible to achieve a higher degree of protection for a sleeper 
through a protective structure which only surrounds the bed, than may be 
economically feasible for the entire residence structure, at least for 
many people of medium or moderate economic means. This is particularly so 
for persons living in older residences offering inadequate earthquake 
protection, which may be extremely expensive to retrofit with more 
adequate structural protective means, for the entire residence. In this 
connection, an earthquake resistant structure surrounding a bed can not 
only offer protection for its owner when an earthquake occurs during 
sleep, but can also provide a ready shelter for the owner to enter even 
when awake, if there is not sufficient time to exit the building after 
onset of an earthquake occurring during waking hours. 
There are two main kinds of protection which an earthquake resistant bed 
structure needs to offer, for protection of a sleeper within the 
structure. First, the protective structure must offer protection against 
the very large mechanical shocks which may be caused if large pieces of 
the residential structure fall upon the bed, by redistributing the crash 
forces in several directions, to dissipate the shock, so as to reduce the 
likelihood of serious blunt force trauma injury or death for the sleeper. 
Second, the protective structure must also offer protection against 
ballistic penetration of the bed structure by smaller fragments of the 
residence structure, which fragments may be moving at high velocities, due 
to the large energy release involved in serious earthquake damage of the 
residential structure. A single high velocity small structural fragment 
could cause serious injury or death of the sleeper, even if the protective 
structure adequately dealt with the large mechanical shocks caused by 
impact of larger structural debris pieces. 
Although prior earthquake bed patents, attached to applicant's Information 
Disclosure Statement, have disclosed a variety of specific features 
addressed to providing both of these forms of protection, as detailed in 
the Information Disclosure Statement, it is the intent of the present 
invention to provide advantageous combinations of features not afforded or 
suggested by the prior patents, including certain particular features not 
disclosed at all in the prior patents, as detailed below and in 
applicant's Information Disclosure Statement. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention is a structure for housing a bed, for protection of persons 
therein against injury from damage or collapse of the surrounding primary 
structure, e.g. a residence, due to an earthquake. The invention structure 
contains two groups of means for said purpose: various structural 
integrity preservation means, including means to both enhance the 
structural strength of the structure and to also allow the structure to 
respond to severe mechanical shocks and loading resulting from impacts of 
debris resulting from failure of the primary structure, for tending to 
preserve structural integrity of the invention structure; and 
anti-ballistic penetration means, to resist ballistic penetration of the 
invention structure by debris fragments being thrust against the 
structure. One structural integrity preservation means, is the use of an 
overall geometric form for the structure, which is a modified tetragonal 
anti-prism, hereafter MTAP, with an upper square roof panel surface, 
having a crowned or slightly elevated center point and sloping downward to 
the edges of the roof panel, said roof panel having an orientation rotated 
90 degrees with respect to a flat bottom square surface, with said roof 
panel having its vertices joined by slanting structural members to the 
tops of vertical corner support structural members extending upward from 
the vertices of the bottom square, at points approximately halfway up the 
overall structure, so as to form four slanted faces around the upper sides 
of the structure, which slanting faces are sites for a portion of the 
anti-ballistic penetration means, as further described below. The 
structural members have triangular spaces between them, in the top and 
bottom faces, and side sloping faces, of the overall MTAP structure. The 
MTAP geometry is believed advantageous for distribution of mechanical 
shocks and loads impinging upon the structure from varied directions. 
Another structural integrity preservation means is the use of axially 
reinforced load bearing structural members, to stiffen said members 
against bending, each having square, round, or triangular cross section 
with axial prestressed "cables" fabricated from "tow" synthetics further 
discussed below. Another structural integrity preservation means, is 
provided by triangulated tensioned "tow" cables connecting adjacent 
structural members of the form just described, said "tow" being 
incorporated in the fill panels. Another structural integrity preservation 
means, is provided by vertical structural members extending up from the 
corners of the base of the structure, each containing shock absorber 
means, for allowing said structural members to shorten under compressive 
load resulting from primary structure collapse. 
One anti-ballistic penetration means is provided by a plurality of 
triangular, reinforced anti-ballistic panels inserted in the triangular 
spaces between, and rigidly affixed to, the structural members in the top 
and bottom and upper sloping faces, of the MTAP structure. Said panels may 
be composed of composite layers which may include kevlar, spectra, carbon 
fiber, and tow bundles of parallel strands of high-strength synthetic 
materials, and may have cores of aluminum, foam, balsa and/or honeycomb 
cores, which cores may be formed of aluminum, Spectra, or carbon fibers. 
In addition, open vertical triangular panels of composite material are 
placed around the sides of the base of the structure, beneath the mattress 
level. Another anti-ballistic penetration means is provided by the use of 
exterior sheathing formed of high strength composite materials, which may 
have a decorative design overlay, over the top, sloping upper sides, and 
base of the structure, while leaving an adequate opening for a person to 
enter the bed. 
Means are provided for interfacing and joining structural modules, which 
may be joined by suitable means, including high strength fasteners and/or 
adhesives. 
The preferred embodiment is formed of a plurality of repetitive structural 
modules for the roof, floor and side panels, to simplify manufacturing and 
erection of the structure, with each being fabricated as unitary 
structural modules. 
In the preferred embodiment, the structure is fabricated primarily of 
composite materials, i.e. assemblies of dissimilar non-metallic elements 
selected to achieve optimum structural strength with minimum weight, 
except for possible use of metal fastener elements, and possible use of 
aluminum cores for the anti-ballistic panels. Composite structural members 
composed of Kevlar, spectra, carbon fibers, and tow bundles may be used, 
to provide great structural strength while greatly reducing weight as 
compared to a structure formed, for example, of steel. 
The overall MTAP structure optimizes triangulation in all three planes for 
efficient distribution and resolution of induced forces, as a result of 
the combined effect of (a) the MTAP geometry; (b) the triangular spacing 
between structural members and (c) the triangular anti-ballistic panels 
inserted in the triangular spaces between load bearing structural members.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numbers denote like 
or corresponding elements, the overall structure of the invention is best 
shown in FIGS. 19 through 24; while the other drawing figures illustrate 
various structural elements and modules in more detail, as discussed 
below. The principal elements of the structure are those comprising the 
key functional means recited in the above summary: the structural 
integrity preservation means; and the anti-ballistic penetration means. 
The Structural Integrity Preservation Means 
One structural integrity preservation means is the MTAP geometry, best seen 
in FIGS. 19, 21 and 22. In this geometry, the roof 10 of the structure, 
formed of eight repeated triangular structural modules 12 and 14, is 
rotated 90 degrees with respect to the structure's floor 16, which floor 
16 is formed of eight repeated triangular structural modules 18 and 20; 
and four identical vertical linear structural members 22, having axial 
support members 23, said structural members 22 extending upward from 
within hollow vertical linear structural members 24 secured to the corners 
of the floor 16, support eight repeating slanting triangular structural 
modules 26 and 27, extending downward in a slanting orientation from the 
edges of roof 10. The size of the angle of slant, determined by the roof 
and base dimensions, is not believed to be critical to the efficacy of the 
MTAP geometry. The MTAP geometry is believed to enhance structural 
integrity of the invention by facilitating distribution of stress forces 
in different planes and directions. Another structural integrity 
preservation means is the use of the triangular form of structural modules 
as illustrated in the drawings, which promotes efficient distribution of 
stress forces in different directions. 
Another structural integrity preservation means is provided by load bearing 
structural members which are axially reinforced to stiffen said members 
against bending. The axially reinforced structural members may be of 
square, round or triangular cross sections, preferably triangular. See 
FIGS. 25 and 26, showing sections indicated by section lines in FIG. 23, 
of vertical structural members 22 and axial support members 23. 
Yet another structural integrity preservation means is provided by the use 
of triangulated tensioned cables 28 of "tow" material, connecting adjacent 
axially reinforced linear structural members of the form just described, 
and comprising a part of anti-ballistic panels inserted between said 
linear structural members, discussed in more detail below, as shown in 
FIG. 6, for structural modules 18 and 20. These tow cables are composed of 
standard tow material formed of parallel bundles of high-strength 
synthetic materials, such as, for example carbon fiber tow. 
Additional tow cables are used in other portions of the structure as a 
structural integrity preservation means, e.g. tow cables 30, shown in 
FIGS. 2 and 4; 32, shown in FIG. 10; 34 shown in FIG. 14; and 36, shown in 
FIG. 17. FIG. 4 also shows additional structure of structural module 14 in 
a sectional view, per the section line A--A of FIG. 3, FIG. 4 also showing 
a composite beam 38 constituting the perimeter of the module. 
And another structural integrity preservation means, shown in FIG. 18, is 
provided by shock absorbers 40, contained within the vertical hollow 
structural members 24, which shock absorbers 40 support the vertical 
linear structural members 22, and thus allow vertical compressive forces 
to move structural members 22 downward within structural members 24, 
compressing and shortening the height of the overall invention structure. 
The shock absorbers 40 are not limited to any particular kind of shock 
absorbers; they may be selected as deemed appropriate from varied 
available forms, offering a wide variety of load capacities and stroke, 
and may, for example, be air filled, oil filled, or both combined. 
An additional structural integrity preservation means is provided by 
repeating trusses 42 and 44 surrounding and protecting the mattress well 
46, shown in FIG. 19. 
Another structural integrity preservation means consists of four high 
strength steel cables 48, shown in FIG. 20, which connect the tops of 
uprights 22 with the apex 50 of the roof 10. 
The Anti-Ballistic Penetration Means 
The anti-ballistic penetration means comprises triangular anti-ballistic 
panels, principally composed of composite materials, said panels 
comprising the panels formed by repeating modules 12 and 14 which form the 
roof 10 of the invention's structure, shown in FIG. 1; the sloping side 
panels comprised of repeating modules 26 and 27, shown e.g. in FIG. 19; 
and floor panels comprised of repeating floor modules 18 and 20, shown 
e.g. in FIG. 5. The composites may be layers including one or more members 
of the group: kevlar, spectra, carbon fiber, and tow bundles of parallel 
strands of high strength synthetic materials. 
Another anti-ballistic penetration means is provided by an external 
sheathing of composite material, covering at least a major portion of the 
exterior surface of the structure, said sheathing having sections 52 shown 
in FIGS. 2 and 4; section 54 shown in FIG. 6; section 56 shown in FIG. 10; 
section 58 shown in FIG. 14; and section 60 shown in FIG. 17. The 
composite sheathing material is formed of a laminated combination of 
material such as carbon fiber, spectra and kevlar, and serves to provide 
extremely high strength barriers to debris penetration on the top, sides 
and bottom of the invention structure. 
Additional anti-ballistic protection is afforded by use of composite 
honeycomb structural cores of repeating hexagonal structure throughout the 
structural modules, e.g. cores 62, shown in FIGS. 2 and 4; 64, shown in 
FIG. 6; 66, shown in FIG. 10; and 68, shown in FIGS. 14 and 15. 
Other Structural Details 
As means for interfacing and joining structural modules, any of various 
suitable means may be used, including high strength fasteners, such as 
bolts which are passed through matching bolt holes in adjacent structural 
modules, e.g. the bolt holes 70 for bolts (not shown) for joining roof 
structural modules 12 and 14, shown in FIG. 3; bolt holes 72 for bolts 
(not shown) for joining floor structural modules 18 and 20, shown in FIG. 
8; and bolt holes 74 for bolts (not shown) for joining adjacent sloping 
side panels 26 and 27, shown in FIG. 12 for structural module 27. 
As a means of ingress and egress for allowing a person to enter and exit 
the structure, a sufficient open space is provided, in the side wall, 
which must be of adequate size to allow a person to pass through it, but 
should have an area which is only a small portion of the total surface 
area of the structure, to minimize the opportunity for debris penetration. 
Additional details of structure are added to the preferred embodiment for 
aesthetic and other purposes outside the scope of the earthquake resistant 
functions of the invention. These include a dust cover 78 of decorative 
design, covering the interior face of roof module 14, shown in FIG. 3; 
decorative dust covers 80 on the interior faces of truss modules 42 and 
44, as indicated in FIG. 15 for module 42; and use of a decorative design 
(not shown) printed or overlaid on the exterior surface of the exterior 
sheathing, to enhance the aesthetic appearance of the structure. 
Some Possible Variations From the Preferred Embodiment 
Those familiar with the art will appreciate that the invention may be 
employed in configurations other than the specific form disclosed above, 
without departing from the essential substance thereof. Without attempting 
to set out every possible variation from the preferred embodiment, some 
possible variations may usefully be indicated. 
For example, and not by way of limitation, the roof 10 might be formed of 
different numbers of structural modules than the eight repeating 
structural modules 12 and 14 of the preferred embodiment, e.g. four larger 
modules instead of eight modules; the same variation could of course also 
be made for the floor 16. 
Similarly different means could be used to attach the edges of adjacent 
structural modules together for assembling the overall structure, e.g. the 
use of adhesives of suitable strength. 
The structural integrity preservation means and the anti-ballistic 
penetration means are each to be understood as means which act toward 
carrying out the stated functions, i.e. tending to preserve the structural 
integrity of the structure, and resisting ballistic penetration of the 
structure. But said means are not to be understood as being limited to 
means which can be completely successful in carrying out said functions, 
for a simple practical reason: Even if said functions are only partly 
served, this will at least reduce the risk of death or serious injury to a 
person within the structure. 
The scope of the invention is defined by the following claims, including 
also all subject matter encompassed by the doctrine of equivalents as 
applicable to the claims.