Patent Publication Number: US-11661791-B2

Title: Retractable security barrier

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/360,022 filed Mar. 12, 2019, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates, in general, to protective barriers, and more particularly to door and window security technology. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Nowadays, the news is repeat with stories of mass murders occurring at schools, sporting events, entertainment venues, shopping centers and workplaces. Generally, these random, unprovoked acts of violence are performed with a gun or knife. While bulletproof glass windows and doors are well known, these are expensive to purchase and install. This is especially true for schools as they have a plethora of classroom and facility doors and windows making this option prohibitively expensive. Furthermore, bullet proof ratings require that the bulletproof window or door be able to withstand a hefty barrage of attempts—far more than by a criminal rushing about with a limited supply of bullets puts forth. 
     Also, these bulletproof windows and doors are heavy for a young child to have to secure and lock. What is needed is an inexpensive, lightweight, easy to close and lock barrier that can resist a reasonable number of bullets, slashing and blunt force applications, and that can be easily retrofitted onto existing doorways and windows. 
     Henceforth, a door and window barrier that provided heightened levels of protection against intrusion would fulfill a long felt need in the security industry. This new invention utilizes and combines known and new technologies in a unique and novel configuration to overcome the aforementioned problems and accomplish this. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     In accordance with various embodiments, a retractable, bulletproof, slash-proof, protective barrier that can withstand moderated blunt force strikes and that may be mounted over existing doorways, is provided. 
     In one aspect, an easy to close vertical security roller door screen barrier is provided. It rolls vertically into its door mounted housing. 
     In another aspect, an inexpensive, intrusion-proof retractable door screen barrier that easily mounts to a conventional door jam, is provided. 
     In a final aspect, a quick to establish protective barrier with reinforced construction and redundant locking. 
     Various modifications and additions can be made to the embodiments discussed without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, while the embodiments described above refer to particular features, the scope of this invention also includes embodiments having different combination of features and embodiments that do not include all of the above described features. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particular embodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals are used to refer to similar components. 
         FIG.  1    is a perspective front view of the retractable security barrier extended; 
         FIG.  2    is a perspective front view of the retractable security barrier partially extended; 
         FIG.  3    is a top view of the retractable security barrier drawn across a doorway and locked in place; 
         FIG.  4    is a perspective top view of the retractable security barrier extended; 
         FIG.  5    is a rear view of the screen mounting plate; 
         FIG.  6    is a front view of the screen capture plate; 
         FIG.  7    is an exploded perspective front view of the screen assembly; 
         FIG.  8    is a side perspective view of the screen assembly; 
         FIG.  9    is a side view of the screen assembly; 
         FIG.  10    is a front view of the screen assembly; 
         FIG.  11    is a front view of the spool tube; 
         FIG.  12    is a transverse cross sectional view of the spool tube; 
         FIG.  13    is a side view of the torsion assembly without the torsion spring; 
         FIG.  14    is a cross sectional view of the torsion assembly taken through section line A of  FIG.  13   ; 
         FIG.  15    is a perspective side assembly view of the torsion assembly; 
         FIG.  16    is a side view of the torsion assembly; 
         FIG.  17    is a perspective side assembly view of the stabilizer assembly; 
         FIG.  18    is a perspective side view of the lock cog assembly; 
         FIG.  19    is a cross sectional view of the lock cog assembly taken through section line A-A of  FIG.  18   ; 
         FIG.  20    is a perspective side assembly view of the screen locking assembly; 
         FIG.  21    is a side view of the lock guide without the two lock pins; 
         FIG.  22    is a front view of the lock guide without the two lock pins; 
         FIG.  23    is a side view of a lock pin; 
         FIG.  24    is a side perspective view of the screen capture assembly; 
         FIG.  25    is an enlarged view of the bump lock; 
         FIGS.  26     a - c  are top views of the bump lock operation in sequential steps; and 
         FIG.  27    is a top view of the security barrier in a fully extended and locked position. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     While various aspects and features of certain embodiments have been summarized above, the following detailed description illustrates a few exemplary embodiments in further detail to enable one skilled in the art to practice such embodiments. The described examples are provided for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The accompanying drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. 
     It will be understood that when an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “coupled to,” or “connected to” another element or layer, it can be directly on, directly coupled to or directly connected to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly coupled to,” or “directly connected to” another element or layer, there are no intervening elements or layers present. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. 
     The terminology used in the description of the inventive concept herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the inventive concept. As used in the description of the inventive concept and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the term “and/or” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. 
     In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should be appreciated that the features described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporated with other embodiments as well. By the same token, however, no single feature or features of any described embodiment should be considered essential to every embodiment of the invention, as other embodiments of the invention may omit such features. 
     As used herein, the term “bullet resistant” refers to the ability of the fabric security barrier to stop some lower power, lower caliber bullets but only slow or retard larger caliber, higher powered bullets. For each different bullet resistant fabric there will be a threshold amount of kinetic energy that must be exceeded to allow a bullet of a specific shape to pass through. Bullet resistant is not bullet proof. 
     As used herein the term “slash resistant” refers to the ability of the fabric security barrier to not separate upon the application of a single slashing force from an edged object. Repeated slashing forces applied to the same area may result in a separation/tear in the fabric depending on the amount of force, the number of applications of the force and the sharpness of the edged object. Slash resistant is not slash proof. 
     As used herein the term “blunt force resistant” refers to the ability of the fabric security barrier to not separate upon the application of a single blunt force as well as the ability of the fabric security barrier not to detach from the spool or screen capture assembly. Repeated blunt forces applied to the same area may result in a failure or breach depending on the magnitude of the blunt force application and the number of applications of the force. Blunt force resistant is not blunt force proof. 
     The present invention relates to a novel design for a retractable, coilable, security barrier screen easily mounted around a door, window or other building opening such as a hallway entrance. The barrier is designed to withstand considerable forces from blunt force strikes, bullets and edged weapon slashing. As such, it has a strengthened spool tube, novel security barrier attachment methods, and redundant operational features such as dual (top and bottom spool locks), quad spool locking pins and a dual attachment for the fabric security barrier to the screen lock strip that includes both gluing and plate riveting. 
     Looking at  FIGS.  1 - 3  and  27    the complete retractable security barrier (“barrier”)  2  can be seen installed about the sides of a conventional door  4 . Although depicted in all figures as mounted to the left and right sides of a door  4 , this is only for demonstrative purposes. It may be mounted vertically or horizontally about any building wall opening such as a window, hallway, doorway or the like. It is designed to withstand blunt force stretching, tearing or spool/locking assembly release, is slash resistant and bullet resistant. The barrier  2  is comprised of the following main three components: a screen assembly  6 , a locking assembly  8 , and a bump lock assembly  10 . Each of these components are assemblies make of their constituent components as outlined herein. 
     In simplest terms, the screen assembly  6  and the locking assembly  8  are secured to the framing studs  12  behind the opposing walls by mechanical fasteners such as screws, nails, nuts and bolts, anchors or their functional equivalent. (In the case of brick, block or cement or concrete walls anchors or nuts and bolts will be preferably utilized.) The screen  14  is stretched by a handle at its proximal end, from its coiled position in the screen assembly  6  to the locking assembly  8  and secured there in a taut fashion by the bump lock assembly  10  as well as a mating engagement between the screen hook strip  20  and the screen lock strip  18 . The screen  14  is fed out in a taut fashion by a torsion assembly within the spool tube  16 . The distal end edge of the screen  14  is permanently affixed by gluing into one of the four linear concave troughs  38  formed along the length of the spool tube  16  which is locked from rotating and allowing the screen  14  from leaving its taut locked position. The proximal end edge of the screen  14  is parallel to the distal end edge and is permanently affixed by gluing and sandwiching between two steel strips mechanically affixed together (preferably by rivets.) When extended as outlined, the barrier hampers, deters, slows or stops the intrusion of unwanted people or actions from their weapons. 
     The screen  14  is selected for its strength and is slash resistant to protect from knife or edged weapon assaults, bullet resistant and tear resistant from blunt force impacts. The fabric screen barrier may be made from a single sheet of material or from a multiple layers of differing materials. The materials for this barrier are selected from the set of strengthened fabrics including but not limited to Cordura® Balistic Fabric (woven with high tenacity nylon 6,6 filament yarns), HPPE (high performance polyethylene), Dyneema® Composite Fabric (a non-woven composite material constructed from a thin sheet of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE, “Dyneema®”) laminated between two sheets of polyethylene terephthalate (PET, generic) or BoPET (“Mylar®”), Tyvek (flashspun high-density polyethylene fibers), and/or Kevlar®/Kovenex® (Poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide). The actual fabric used is beyond the scope of this patent except it must exhibit extreme resistance to slashes, bullet penetration and blunt force tearing. 
     The actual fabric barrier (“screen”)  14  has its distal end glued and/or mechanically fastened to the spool  16  and its proximal end glued and/or mechanically fastened to the locking assembly  8 . Preferably the screen  14  will be glued (preferably with an acrylic or epoxy high strength UV cured resin) to these components. Gluing offers a superior holding strength with each of the openings and 360 degrees of the fibers of the screen  14  synergistically contributing to this strength. Additional plates and mechanical fasteners such as rivets, or sealing strips may be used as additional redundant holding strength. 
     Looking at  FIGS.  5  and  7 - 20    it can be seen that the screen assembly  6  is made of the screen mounting plate  22 , spool mounting brackets  24 , spool tube  16 , torque assembly  26 , stabilizer assembly  28 , spool lock assembly  30 , fabric screen barrier  14  and glue  100 . 
     The screen mounting plate  22  is a planar, linear steel plate ( FIG.  5   ) with to linear series of longitudinal orifices  32  formed therethrough to accommodate the passage of mechanical fasteners such as lag screws to affixed it to the studs  12  behind the wall. There is also an upper row  34  and lower row  36  of bolt orifices to accommodate the mechanical fasteners (bolts) that connect the parallel spool mounting brackets  24  perpendicularly to the front of the screen mounting plate  22  through the threaded bores in the body of the spool mounting brackets  24 . Between these spool mounting plates  24  is captured the rotational, lockable spool  16 . The spool  16  is right angled cylindrical tube with at a series of concave linear troughs  38  running along its length. These radially equidistant troughs  38  serve three purposes: as the groove to install and glue the distal end of the screen  14 , to stiffen and add strength to the spool to help prevent it from distorting under lateral and torsional forces, and to allow the locking of the ends of the torque assembly  26  and the stabilizer assembly  28  to the spool tube  16 . The spool tube  16  is constrained and allowed to rotate between the spool mounting brackets  24  at the top by the torque thrust bearing  40  and at the bottom by the identical stabilizer flanged sleeve thrust bearing  42 . 
     Within the top end of the spool tube  16  resides the torque assembly  26  and within the bottom end of the spool tube  16  resides the stabilizer assembly  28 . These are not connected directly to each other but are each connected to the spool tube  16  so as to form a single piece assembly. They use splined flanges  44  that matingly conform to the interior of the spool tube with its concave troughs  38  so as to lock any rotation of their ends having these splined flanges  44  to any rotation of the spool tube  16 . Both the top end and the bottom end of the stabilizer assembly  28  has these splined flanges  44  and are locked to the spool tube  16 , while only the bottom end of the torque assembly  26  has these splined flanges  44  and is locked to the spool tube  16 . 
     The stabilizer assembly  28  is a hexagonal walled stiffener tube  64  that runs along the center of the spool tube  28  and is used to stiffen the length of the spool tube  16  from bending, buckling or twisting upon the application of any force to the fabric screen barrier  14  when it is extend across the wall opening. The stabilizer assembly  28  at its top end has an upper stud  60  that engages the hexagonal bore  62  running down the center of the stiffener tube  64 . There is a circular flange  66  extending entirely around the approximate center of the upper stud  60  that rests on the top edge of the stiffener tube  64 . The top section  68  of the upper stud  60  beyond the circular flange  66  is circular in cross section while its bottom section is hexagonal in cross section. The interior void of the circular bushing  70  is fitted onto the top section  68  of the upper stud  60  and the internal central circular bore of a splined flange  44  is fitted onto the exterior of the top section  68  of the upper stud  60 . With the splined flange  44  conformed to the interior of the spool tube  16 , the top end of the stiffener tube  64  is mated to the spool tube  16 . (In the preferred embodiment this splined flange resides between the bottom one-third and the middle of the spool tube  16 .) 
     At the bottom of the stiffener tube  64  is a lower stud  74 . It has a top section  76  that is hexagonal in cross section, sized for mating engagement with the hexagonal bore  62  in the bottom end of the stiffener tube  64 . The bottom section  78  of the lower stud  74  has a thrust bearing flange  78  extending normally therefrom that has a circular cross section. This circular thrust bearing flange  78  acts as a thrust bearing for the spool tube  167  and stiffener tube  64 . It rests on the top face of the lower support plate  24  after it passes through the central bore  80  of a flanged sleeve bearing  42  that is fitted into the center bore  82  of the lower lock  84 . The lower lock  84  has a lower lock cog  86  mated to a splined  44  flange conformed for mating engagement with the hexagonal bore  62  in the bottom end of the stiffener tube  64 . The bottom face of the lower lock cog  86  has a circular recess for the flange of the flanged sleeve bearing  42  to reside. When assembled the lower stud  74  acts as a lower thrust bearing for the barrier  2  and the flanged sleeve bearing  42  acts as the spool tube&#39;s bottom rotational bearing. The lower lock cog  86  is used to lock the rotation of the spool tube  16 . 
     The bottom end of the torque spring  52  of the torque assembly  26  is rigidly affixed to the top spool mounting bracket  34  by a bolted connection with lock plate  46  which is indirectly, rigidly connected to the bottom end of the torque assembly  26  by a double hex ended stud  48  that fits into matingly conformed hex recesses in both the lock plate  46  and the torque rod  50 . The torque rod  50  passes through the longitudinal center of the torque spring  52  and is permanently affixed to the bottom end of the torque spring  52  by spring coupler  54  which is rigidly mounted onto the exterior of the torque rod  50 . The spool tube  16  is rotationally supported around the torque rod  50  by mitered splines  44  which conform to the inside of the spool tube  16  and are mounted on plain bearings rotatable about central stud  88 . This central stud  88  has a top section  90  that is hexagonal in cross section, sized for mating engagement with the hexagonal bore  92  running through the center of the torque rod  50 . The bottom section  92  of the central stud  88  has a circular cross section that is frictionally fit into a plain circular bearing  94  that the splined flange  44  is mounted onto. The splined flange  44  matingly engages the inside of the spool tube  16 . The spool tube  16  and its screen  14  freely rotate about the torque rod  50 . 
     The top end of the torque assembly  26  has an upper lock  100 . This has an upper lock cog  102  mated to a central mitered spline flange  44  which is coupled to a spring coupler  54 . The spring coupler  54  is attached to the torque spring  52 . The upper lock  100  has a plain bearing recess  104  formed therein to accommodate the frictional fit of flanged sleeve bearing  42  which acts as a thrust bearing and the spool tube&#39;s rotational bearing since it bears against the bottom face of the upper spool mounting bracket  24 . This upper lock connects the spool tube  16  to the upper end of the torque spring  52 . Thus, as the spool tube  16  is rotated the torques spring  52  winds from its top end. The upper lock cog  102  (as the lower lock cog  86 ) are locked to the spool tube  16  and rotate with it. However, the spool tube  16  rotates freely of the stiffener tube  84  and torque tube  50  by virtue of the bearings mounted between them and their splined flanges  4 . 
     The central orifice in the lock plate  46  is conformed for mating engagement with the hexagonal configuration of the double hex ended stud  48 . In this fashion the bottom end of the torque spring  52  cannot rotate. Only the top end of the torque spring  52  winds as the spool tube  16  is rotated. This design maintains the torque set between the spool tube  16  via the bottom end of the torque assembly  26  and the splined flanges  44 . The double hex ended stud  48  extends beyond the top of the lock plate  46 . The torque spring  52  is wound from the top end by turning the double hex ended stud  48  (and the lock plate  46  which it extends through), to a desired torque and then bolting the lock plate  46  to the top mounting flange  34  while the spool tube  16  is held stationary by engagement of the upper and lower locks. This torque force is minimal and is only needed to return the screen  14  into its cover  56 . The majority of the torque is developed when the screen  14  is extended and the torque spring  52  winds. 
     The spool lock assembly  30  consists of an upper and lower locking tabs  110  that are pivotally mounted at the ends of upper and lower U shaped extension tubes  112  which are pivotally mounted on opposite sides of a rotatable lock disk  114 . This lock disk  114  is pivotally mounted about its center, to the screen mounting plate  22 . The other end of each extension tube  112  is pivotally mounted to opposing sides of the lock disk  114 . There is a frictional bearing mounted between the lock disk  114  and the screen mounting plate  22 . Extending from the screen mounting plate  22  adjacent the spool mounting brackets  24  are lock tab guides  118  that loosely constrain the upper and lower locking tabs  110  and hold them in perpendicular alignment with the lower lock cog  86  and the upper lock cog  102 . Inside each locking tab  110  are two lock pin recesses  120  which frictionally constrain two lock pins  122 . When the lock disk  114  is pivotally rotated via its lock lever  124 , the pivot connections to the ends of the U shaped extension tubes  112  either raise and lower vertically to push the locking tabs  110  closer to the lower lock cog  86  and the upper lock cog  102  such that the two lock pins  122  engage the external teeth  126  around the periphery of the lock cogs and lock the rotation of the spool tube  16 . 
     About the outside of the screen assembly  6  is a cover  56  that is removably mounted to a side cover plate  128  bolted to the upper and lower spool mounting brackets  24 . There is a slit between the side cover plate  128  and the cover  56  that the screen  14  is extended through yet the screen handle  130  cannot pass. If the screen handle were to pass beyond this point, the screen return torque would be lost. 
     Looking at  FIGS.  6  and  24 - 26    the locking assembly  8  and method of attachment of the screen  14  can best be explained. On the extendible side of the barrier is a screen locking assembly made of a locking screen edge strip  134 , a rivet plate  136  and a layer of glue  132  interspersed within the screen&#39;s openings and along both face edges of the screen  14 . The screen  14  is sandwiched between the locking screen edge strip  134 , and the rivet plate  136 , held in place with the glue  132  as well as the frictional forces generated when the rivet plate  136  is riveted firmly to the locking screen edge strip  134 . A pull handle  130  extends from the front face of the locking screen edge strip  134 . 
     The leading edge of the locking screen edge strip  134  has a U shaped configuration along its length that is engageable with a lock flange  138  on the locking assembly mounting plate  140 . The locking assembly mounting plate  140  is attached to the framing members (studs, concrete, etc.) at the side of the wall opening by suitable mechanical fasteners as described herein. The locking screen edge strip  134  is further constrained from removal off of the lock flange  138  by the bump lock  142 . 
     A bump lock  142  is attached to the front face of the locking assembly mounting plate  140 . Bump lock  142  is a section of steel channel  144  with an inwardly pivotable arm  146  spanning across its open concavity. A spring  148  connected between the rear edge of the pivotable arm  146  and the inside of the steel channel  144  serves to retract the arm  146 . The arm  146  has a pivot  150  that allows the arm  146  to swing inward into the channel&#39;s concavity, and a section of angle steel  150  that abuts a flange  152  that extends from one of the sides of the steel channel  144 . In operation, when the screen  14  is extended across the wall opening by the handle  130 , the leading edge of the locking screen edge strip  134  is “bumped” against the pivotable arm  146  which swings inward and allows the U shaped configuration of the locking screen edge strip  134  to engage the lock flange  138  and securely restrain the screen  14  across the wall opening. The spring  148  returns the pivotable arm  146  to rest behind the leading edge of the locking screen edge strip  134  such that it cannot be dislodged from around the lock flange  138  during a blunt force assault on the barrier. 
     As can be seen from the above disclosure the barrier  2  has a structurally reinforced spool tube and uses a novel dual pin, dual spool lock, a secondary bump lock and a dual glue and sandwiched steel plate screen attachment to ensure the retention of the screen across the door and maintain the structural integrity of the spool tube against the application of forces to the screen. 
     While certain features and aspects have been described with respect to exemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications are possible. Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are described above, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of the following claims.