Patent ID: 7584777

Claim:
A panel assembly comprising: at least two panels disposed substantially one on top of the other, each said panel having at least two pivot connections; at least two link elements, each link element having at least two pivots which are arranged in a step wise fashion; wherein one of said pivots of each of said link elements is pivotally attached to one of said pivot connections on one of said panels; wherein a second of said pivots of each of said link elements is pivotally attached to one of said pivot connections on a second of said panels; wherein said panels are moveable relative to one another between a first position and a second position in response to rotation of at least one of said link elements such that said panels are substantially aligned in said first position and are offset with one another in said second position; wherein each said panel has at least one opening such that, in said first position, said openings of said panels are substantially aligned for defining a passage and, in said second position, said openings of said panels are not substantially aligned, thereby covering at least a portion of said passage; and wherein a first pivot of one of said link elements, a second pivot of said one of said link elements, a first pivot of another of said link elements and a second pivot of said another of said link elements together define a shape in the form of a parallelogram.