Flexible hurricane window panel installable from inside a building
View Patent ↗A hurricane panel system on the outside of an opening that can be installed from inside a multiple story building, through an open window without requiring tools of any type or outside assistance. This panel system includes a pliable, fabric, polyester panel that has a pair of parallel, vertical hems each containing a hem cord that are sized in diameter to fit into a pair of parallel, vertical or horizontal tracks connected to the outside of the building adjacent a window. The pliable, fabric panel includes one or more fabric straps that can be used to manipulate the panel in and out of the tracks. One or more locking pins are used to secure the panel in place relative to the tracks.
1. A protective panel for storm, security, insect or solar purposes that can be mounted over a window, door, or wall opening from either the inside or outside of a building comprising:
a single pliable body panel, substantially rectangularly-shaped and sized to cover a building window; said pliable body panel having a pair of parallel sides, each parallel side having a separated upper and lower hem which affixes a respective separated upper and lower hem cord to each side of said body panel and each upper and lower hem and hem cord on each side separated by a respective pin-slot; and a pair of body panel mounting and securing hem tracks sized to engage each of upper and lower hems in a respective hem track's hem chamber, said hem tracks being mountable on the exterior of the building adjacent an a opening to be protected and spaced apart to receive and secure said body panel over the building opening; and
at least one locking pin engageable with at least one of said pair of body panel mounting and securing hem tracks within the pin-slot on each side of said body panel; each said pin-slot made to allow access to the at least one locking-pin from either one or both sides of the body panel; said locking pin once in its locked position, restricts at least one panel's upper and lower hem and hem cord sliding movement relative to said pair of body panel mounting and securing hem tracks.
2. A protective panel as in claim 1 , wherein: said body panel is made of a hurricane resistant polyester fabric.
3. A protective panel as in claim 1 including:
at least one elongated, hand-strap fastened to one side of said body panel either extending from one end of the body panel to an opposite end of the body panel or placed at intervals that can be used for manually sliding said body panel along a track hem chamber; said hand strap oriented in any direction that suits the opening body panel installation.
4. The protective panel in claim 1 including:
one or more hand-straps of a pliable material attached to one side of said body panel for manually carrying or assisting in the manipulating said body panel during installation or removal.
5. A protective panel as in claim 1 including: a tether for said at least one locking-pin for said body panel that is used to immobilize the storm panel at a pre-determined location within the said pair of body panel mounting and securing hem tracks once the at least one locking-pin is in its locked position.
6. A protective panel as in claim 1 including: each said pin-slot positioned at any location along said pair of body panel mounting and securing hem tracks.
7. A protective panel as in claim 1 including: said pliable body panel is installed into said pair of body panel mounting and securing tracks at any pre-determined location along said pair of body panel mounting and securing tracks.
8. A protective panel as in claim 1 including: said pair of body panel mounting and securing hem tracks with hem chambers are each configured as a single track with a respective screen loading point located at the end of each one of said pair of body panel mounting and securing hem tracks.
9. A protective panel as in claim 1 including: said pair of body panel mounting and securing hem tracks with hem chambers are each configured as two single tracks, separated by a space, that are aligned in such a way that each of the tracks load in points is facing the other separated track's load in point.
10. A protective panel as in claim 1 including: said pair of body panel mounting and securing tracks with hem chambers are each configured as a single track that has a segmented opening as to provide a gap with two opposing load in points.
11. A protective panel as in claim 1 including: locations of said at least one locking pin on said at least one of said pair of body panel mounting and securing hem tracks are each identified by a marker physically placed on said at least one of said pair of body panel mounting and securing hem tracks.
12. A protective panel as in claim 1 including: locations of said at least one locking pin are each identified by a marker physically placed on the pliable body panel and a relative location of the locking pin slot within said at least one of said pair of body panel mounting and securing hem tracks.