Patent ID: 7516770

Claim:
A roll-up door assembly comprising: a flexible curtain made of rubber, synthetic rubber or fabric material and capable of closing a doorway, said curtain having upper and lower ends, two opposite side edges, a length, and a width; a curtain winding mechanism having said upper end of said curtain attached thereto for raising said curtain by rolling said curtain up; two straight, extruded flexible guide members which are mounted so as to extend vertically on opposite, vertical sides of said doorway during use of said door assembly, two side edge sections of said curtain each being movable in a respective one of said guide members when said curtain is raised or lowered during use thereof; each guide member formed with two wall sections comprising integrally connected, inner and outer, longitudinally extending, resilient wall sections, each wall section having an integral, inwardly projecting, longitudinally extending rib, the two ribs of each guide member forming an elongate slot which has a width and through which a respective one of said side edge sections can extend during use of the door assembly, each rib forming a longitudinally extending concave surface which is concave as seen in a transverse cross-section of the respective guide member, the two concave surfaces of the two ribs of each guide member forming an elongate split socket arrangement; and pairs of curtain lock members mounted on and distributed along each side edge section of said curtain with each pair of the curtain lock members on its respective side edge section being spaced apart from adjacent pairs on the same side edge section, the lock members of each pair being positioned directly opposite one another on front and rear surfaces of said curtain respectively, a combined thickness of each pair of said lock members and said curtain material exceeding the width of said elongate slot so that the pairs of lock members prevent said side edge sections of the curtain from escaping out of the guide members under normal windload or pressure conditions, said split socket arrangement engaging pairs of said lock members located in their respective guide member during use of said door assembly, wherein at least some curtain lock members engage with the ribs of their respective guide members when an excessive windload or impact is put upon the curtain and this engagement causes the wall sections of at least one guide member to separate from each other and thereby release the respective side edge section from the at least one guide member with little if any damage to the curtain or the guide members.