Protective shelter

A kit for building a protective shelter having four walls and a roof, said protective shelter comprising:

• a plurality of first fasteners;
• a plurality of second fasteners;
• a plurality of third fasteners;
• a first plurality of vertical C-shaped panels of equal length for building the four walls, each panel comprised of
• a flexible front web portion, and
• two inwardly extending side portions integral with said web portion and at least substantially perpendicular to said front web portion,
• said side portions having an inwardly facing edge and an opposite outer edge integral with said web portion,
• wherein at least some of said panels further comprise return portions integrally connected to corresponding inwardly facing edges of said side portions, said return portions extending at least substantially parallel to said web portion, and
• a plurality of vertically spaced holes in said side portions, said holes each being located closer to said inwardly facing edge than said outer edge, and each said hole for receiving a first fastener at least substantially parallel to said front web portion so that two panels can be connected together in a butt joint;
• a first plurality of elongate angle irons for building a bottom frame, each angle iron having
• a horizontal member that can be connected to a supporting surface for said shelter with said second fasteners, and
• a vertical member that can be connected to one end of said panels with said third fasteners;
• and
• four L-shaped connectors that can be connected to adjacent ends of said vertical members of adjacent ones of said angle irons, each said connector to be located on an outside surface of said angle iron;
• whereby adjacent ones of said panels form a diaphragm pair such that energy from a striking projectile can dissipate over said diaphragm pair, a wall panel of said diaphragm pair can flexibly deform in response to being struck by the projectile and a joint between adjacent ones of said panels of said diaphragm pair can partially pivotally separate relative to each other and said connecting cap portions can partially separate from each other so as to provide a yielding surface, said diaphragm pair thereby being able to resist penetration of the projectile therethrough.

A prefabricated protective shelter which encloses an inner space, said shelter comprising

• a front wall;
• a rear wall;
• two side walls;
• wherein said walls are each comprised of a plurality of elongate vertical C-shaped end panels and a plurality of elongate vertical C-shaped middle panels,
• each middle panel being symmetrical about a longitudinal axis and comprised of
• a flexible front web portion, and
• two side portions integral with said web portion extending inwardly and being at least substantially perpendicular to said web portion,
• said side portions having an inwardly facing edge and an opposite outer edge integral with said web portion,
• a first plurality of vertically spaced holes in said side portions, and
• return portions integrally connected to corresponding inwardly facing edges of said side portions, said return portions extending at least substantially parallel to said web portion;
• a connecting cap mounted over adjacent panel returns and only an inward section of adjacent side portions of said middle panels, said connecting cap comprised of a first cap portion and a second cap portion, each cap portion having a first section that overlaps a part of said panel side portion, an end section that overlaps said return, and a second section at least substantially perpendicular to said first section that extends beyond said side portion inwardly facing edge, said second section of said first cap portions overlapping said second section of said second cap portion, each cap first section having a second plurality of vertically spaced holes that correspond to said first plurality of vertically spaced holes;
• and
• fasteners that securely connect adjacent ones of said panels and said connecting cap by extending through corresponding ones of said first and second plurality of vertically spaced holes such that adjacent ones of said panels form a diaphragm pair such that energy from a striking projectile can dissipate over said diaphragm pair, a wall panel of said diaphragm pair can flexibly deform in response to being struck by the projectile and a joint between adjacent ones of said panels of said diaphragm pair can partially pivotally separate relative to each other and said connecting cap portions can partially separate from each other so as to provide a yielding surface, said diaphragm pair thereby being able to resist penetration of the projectile therethrough.

A section of a wall for a structure comprised of a plurality of vertical C-shaped panels, each panel comprising a flexible front web sheet portion having an outside surface and an inside surface facing an inward direction, and

• two side sheet portions integral with said web portion and extending inwardly at least substantially perpendicular to said front web portion,
• said side portions having an inwardly facing edge and an opposite outer edge integral with said web portion,
• return portions integrally connected to corresponding inwardly facing edges of said side portions, said return portions extending at least substantially parallel to said web portion, and
• a plurality of vertically spaced holes in said side portions, said holes each being located closer to said inwardly facing edge than said outer edge;
• and
• a plurality of first fasteners each of which securely connect adjacent ones of said panels by extending at least substantially parallel to said front web portion through corresponding ones of said vertically spaced holes such that adjacent ones of said panels form a diaphragm pair so that energy from a striking projectile can dissipate over said diaphragm pair, a wall panel of said diaphragm pair can flexibly deform in response to being struck by the projectile and a joint between adjacent panels of said diaphragm pair can partially pivotally separate relative to each other so as to provide a yielding surface, said diaphragm pair thereby being able to resist penetration of the projectile therethrough.