Patent ID: 8490670

Claim:
A rolling shutter assembly for covering an opening in a wall of a structure having an external protective surface, an underlying support structure and a subsurface disposed therebetween, the assembly comprising: a shutter housing; a shutter support member rotatably disposed within the shutter housing; a shutter coupled to the shutter support member; a pair of side tracks, wherein lateral edges of the shutter are disposed within the side tracks when the shutter is unrolled to cover the opening, and wherein the side tracks engage the corresponding lateral edges of the shutter to retain the lateral edges within the side tracks; a plurality of dowels each having a first end, and second end, a length, a diameter and a longitudinal opening extending therethrough, wherein the wall has a plurality of holes through the external protective surface on either side of opening configured to receive the first ends of the dowels so that the first ends of the dowels may be inserted into corresponding holes of the external protective surface, and wherein the side tracks each have holes therethrough corresponding to holes through the external protective surface such that the dowels and the corresponding holes through the side tracks and the external protective surface may be aligned when the first ends of the dowels are inserted into the holes through the external protective surface and the side tracks are disposed on either side of the opening at the second ends of the dowels; and a plurality of fasteners, wherein each fastener is inserted through one of the holes through the side tracks and through the longitudinal opening of the corresponding one of the dowels disposed in a corresponding one of the holes through the external protective surface, and the plurality of fasteners directly engage at least one of the subsurface and the underlying support structure to secure the rolling shutter assembly around the opening of the wall.