Patent ID: 7757442

Claim:
An elongate flexible panel assembly for use at a loading dock that includes a building wall with an outside surface, the elongate flexible panel assembly having a length along a longitudinal axis and comprising: a first elongate rigid member adapted to be attached to the outside surface; a first flexible thin-walled member comprising a unitary sheet of material having an unconstrained cross-sectional shape; a second flexible thin-walled member comprising a unitary sheet of material having an unconstrained cross-sectional shape, the first and the second flexible thin-walled members each having a first longitudinal edge and a second longitudinal edge, the first longitudinal edges being attached to the first elongate rigid member and fixed in a spaced apart relation to define an empty cavity between respective inner surfaces of the first and second flexible thin-walled members, the first elongate rigid member and the second longitudinal edges of the flexible thin-walled members; means for coupling the second longitudinal edges to constrain each flexible thin-walled member in a cross-sectional shape that is different from the respective unconstrained cross-sectional shape, wherein the means for coupling and the first rigid member enable the elongate flexible panel assembly to be cantilevered from the outside surface substantially without sagging while the cavity is empty, and wherein by constraining each flexible thin-walled member in a cross-sectional shape that is different from the respective unconstrained shape, the means for coupling enables the second longitudinal edges to move together for forces applied to the panel assembly along an axis that is transverse to the longitudinal axis; and a third flexible thin-walled member operatively coupled to the second longitudinal edges to extend from the elongate panel assembly.