US 5,662,132 AGranted

Structural protective shelter

OwnerHerbert A.F. Larseninventor

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Abstract

A structural protective shelter designed to be used around and above beds, office chairs, or anywhere an occupant may be sitting, standing, or reclining. It is ideally suited for protective use against structural building collapse resulting from disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, bomb blasts, etc. The shelter is ideally made of steel or like material and is comprised of a rectangular continuously framed base (18) from which rise four, vertical uprights (14), two pair becoming continuous to radiused corners and common overhead horizontal primary members (20). Between and perpendicular to said two overhead primary members is attached two horizontal overhead cross members (10). Between and perpendicular to said two overhead cross members is attached a handle bar grip (12) to be used to help an occupant to maintain position within the shelter during periods of violent movement. X-bracing is attached between one pair of verticals which share a common overhead primary member (22) and between the two sides of the shelter (16 and 24) as well as plate bracing (26) is attached over the rectangle shape formed by the two overhead primary members and the two overhead cross members. The four vertical uprights are designed to repel axial force of falling objects down the length of said uprights, while the bracing systems are designed to repel diagonal and lateral forces against side collapse of said shelter.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A structural protective shelter of adequate size to accommodate one or more human occupants, said shelter being of sufficient strength and rigidity to withstand falling debris and/or collapsing building structure with a structural integrity to repel both vertically downward force as well as diagonal and lateral forces, comprising:

(a) a base with adequate dimension to support;
(b) a plurality of vertically upright members, said vertical uprights being divided into pairs with each pair rising vertically upwards and perpendicular to the said base, and becoming continuous with corners and a common horizontal overhead member where said pairs of verticals are located parallel and in mirror to each other at a distance dependent on the dimension of the longitude of the said base;
(c) between and perpendicular to the said two horizontal overhead primary members is attached a plurality of horizontal overhead cross members, said cross members being located parallel to each other at predetermined distance apart;
(d) between one pair of related vertical uprights, said uprights which share a common horizontal overhead primary member, is attached a means of bracing whereby laterally forced, side collapse of the protective shelter is impeded;
(e) between either side of each two pairs of unrelated vertical uprights, said uprights which do not share a common horizontal overhead primary member, is attached a means of bracing whereby laterally forced, longitudinal collapse of the protective shelter is impeded;
(f) between the rectangular shape formed by the outermost horizontal overhead primary members and the two horizontal overhead cross members is attached a means of bracing whereby laterally forced, diagonal collapse of the protective shelter is impeded.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.