Safety barrier mount
AssigneeProtect- A- Child Pool Fence Systems, Inc.
InventorF. Russell Bohen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Lightweight, easily handled safety barriers are commonly erected around swimming pools to save small children from accidental drowning. Prior art barriers are made of a number of flexible panels attached to poles that are inserted into partially sleeved receptacles. The degree of protection offered by such a fence is improved by the provision of interlocking poles and receptacles. In a preferred embodiment, each pole has a key at its lower end and each sleeve has a keyway through which a corresponding pole's key can be inserted. When the barrier is erected each panel is drawn taut, which rotates all but one pole of a section into a locked orientation. The remaining pole, which is at an end of the section, is rotated into a locked orientation by latching it to an end pole of an adjacent section of the barrier.
Claims2
In a fence comprising two or more multi-panel sections, each of the sections extending intermediate two gate poles, each of the sections comprising a plurality of flexible panels, each of the panels attached intermediate a pair of poles removably inserted respectively into corresponding ones of a plurality of receptacles, an improvement comprising:
- a key element adjacent the bottom of each of the poles;
- a keyway formed in each of the receptacles,
- the keyway of the receptacle into which the first gate pole of the first section is inserted having a first rotational orientation relative to a line perpendicular to the fence at that receptacle,
- the keyway of each of the remaining receptacles into which the corresponding poles of the first section are inserted counter-oriented with respect to the keyway in which the first gate pole of the first section is inserted;
- and
- a latch connecting the first gate pole of the first section to one of the gate poles of the second section,
- whereby a uniform panel tension is maintained in the panels of the first section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.