Patent ID: 8251118

Claim:
A window shade or shutter hung adjacent to a window of a building, comprising: a retractable shade sufficiently wide to essentially cover the window and capable of being stored in a roll, a roll-up drum to which an upper end of the retractable shade is secured, and including drum support connected to the building and supporting the drum for rotation on a horizontal axis, the shade having openings of limited size allowing some light to enter through the window from outside the building, the shade being of fireproof or fire resistant material, a user-accessible mechanism for raising the shade in normal use of the window shade to reduce light entering through the window, by rotating the drum to roll the shade up on the drum, and for lowering the shade, retaining means associated with the mechanism for normally retaining the shade in a position as set by the mechanism, and the retaining means including a fusible link such that when the fusible link breaks by reaching a preselected temperature from proximity of a fire the retaining means will be released so as to allow the window shutter when in a raised position to drop in free-fall from gravity unrestrained by the mechanism or the retaining means, to a lowered position protecting the window.