Patent ID: 7032352

Claim:
A multi-story building including a plurality of floors, a barrier that has upward- and downward-directed faces, and supports that support the floors and the barrier, the barrier being disposed above some of the floors and below others of the floors and being so constructed and supported that, when a single floor above it falls onto the barrier, the barrier prevents any substantial portion of that floor from falling onto a floor disposed below the barrier, the barrier being inclined downward from an upper end thereof to a lower end thereof at an inclination angle of at least 30° with the horizontal so as to shed from its lower end a floor that has thus fallen onto it, wherein the barrier includes: A) a barrier frame inclined at the inclination angle and forming at least one passage therethrough; and B) a set of at least one hinged floor extending horizontally from the upward-directed face and so supported and attached to the barrier frame that if the hinged floor is subjected to a predetermined downward failure load that the barrier frame can support, the hinged floor will hinge down and be supported by the barrier frame in such a position that the set of at least one hinged floor substantially covers the at least one passage though the barrier frame.