Method for alleviating terrors and fears and lack of rest during short and prolong periods of warnings and dangerous winds; and a shelter located in a bedroom for practicing said method

Abstract

A wind protection shelter that may be installed over a bed in a home. The shelter includes side walls anchored at the bottom to an immovable object, such as a concrete slab, and one or more access doors hinged to the top of the shelter and covering a portion of the top and a portion of at least one side of the shelter. The access doors may be rotated from their horizontal closed position to a vertical open position enabling the bed in the shelter to be used in a regular manner during normal weather conditions. Side walls and side portions of access doors of the shelter are equipped with escape hatches.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[0002] Not Applicable

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISC APPENDIX

[0003] Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] This invention relates to shelters used to protect persons in their homes from dangerous winds and to alleviate terrors and fears and lack of rest during short and prolonged periods of warnings and dangerous winds, especially during nighttime.

[0005] This 89-year-old co-inventor never found any newspaper, radio or television reports over some fifty years that indicated special shelters located above ground level were used to protect residents during dangerous wind conditions. Apparently, none are used. Special dangerous wind shelters are needed in severe thunderstorm, hurricane and tornado areas where people's homes are located. There are millions of wood frame homes built with concrete slab floors. Many others have wood floors installed over concrete foundations. Most of such concrete structures and the soil below are immovable objects that may act as anchors to stabilize a shelter and prevent it from being blown away with the surrounding home structure, when shelter is properly secured to such anchors.

[0006] According to Readers Digest of April 2007, page 173, there were 39,666 tornadoes detected in the USA in the past five decades. The Denver's Rocky Mountain News reported on Mar. 30, 2007 that the annual average of tornadoes for Colorado was 22, Texas 139, Oklahoma 57 and Kansas 55. Other states and countries have considerable numbers of tornadoes and dangerous wind events as well.

[0007] The older co-inventor at his 8 years of age experienced about two hours of fatigue and confusing terrors and fear of death on his mind one night in summer of 1928. His father had come up the stairs and shouted to his seven children to immediately go downstairs to join their mother and infant in their bedroom. The entire house was shaking with every strong wind gust. Lightning was constant around the house along with thundering. Small pieces of the ceiling and wood lath and plaster were falling on the stair steps. Only our baby brother was crying. We older kids were too scared to cry. The limbs on nine trees in the lawn were snapping off. The wind roared with every gust. Some steel sheets of roofing on the nearby barn were loose and flapping with loud noises. Constant creaking in the house walls sounded like they would tear off and blow away with us along or fall on top of us. Every 5 or 10 minutes another thunder would be heard. In between these thunders, lightnings were lighting the neighborhood on all sides. The younger kids finally settled down as they had our parents' bed to rest and sleep on. We, four older ones, had to stand, sit or lie on the floor. We did not sleep until the lightnings and wind decreased. If a shelter like the one proposed in this invention was available, we would not have had to experience this terror on that memorable night.

[0008] The news media reports many cases of persons hiding in bathtubs, closets, under stairs and other places for protection. All persons killed in tornado winds seem to have been in the centers of tornados, but sometimes persons survive in slower fringe type winds some distances from the centers of tornados, as evidenced by concrete floor slabs not fully scoured off of debris. Most evidence of tornado damage seems to be when house concrete floor slabs are substantially scoured off where the center of the tornado has disastrous winds; while hurricane winds do not do as much scouring as do tornadoes.

[0009] Another reason why a solution is needed is to provide a cost-effective shelter that provides people protection from harm in all dangerous winds except the disastrous tornado center winds, where only solid concrete, metal and the like survive.

[0010] Shelters intended to protect people in homes from injuries and death during catastrophic natural events, such as tornadoes, hurricanes or earthquakes, have been proposed before. U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,543 to Epshetsky describes a protective bed comprising rigid movable members that can be positioned above the bed to protect occupants from debris falling from above. Such protective bed would protect occupants from injury by falling debris in an earthquake, but would not be particularly helpful in protecting occupants from debris driven horizontally by hurricane or tornado-force winds. U.S. Pat. No. 6,226,932 to Friedrich describes a wind-resistant room inside or outside of a building consisting of concrete wall panels, concrete ceiling panel and a wind-resistant door. Such room would require residents of the building to relocate into it in anticipation of dangerous wind conditions or even after the onset of such conditions, which relocation process could be dangerous in itself. In addition, such room would not allow residents to wait out the wind storm in the least stressful area of the house, that being their own bed.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] The present invention provides a wind protection shelter installed over a bed in a home. The shelter includes side walls anchored at the bottom to an immovable object, such as a concrete slab, and at least one access door hinged to the top of the shelter and covering a portion of the top and a portion of at least one side of the shelter. The access door is rotatable from a horizontal closed position to a vertical open position enabling the bed in the shelter to be used in a regular manner during normal weather conditions. Side walls and side portions of access doors of the shelter are equipped with escape hatches.

[0012] This invention provides a strong shield for persons anchored to immovable objects for stability and intended to facilitate their survival in tornado fringe-type winds. Tornado center winds are not included as survivable. Survivable winds include hurricane winds, however the media reports tornadoes have been seen by Doppler radar hiding in some hurricanes.

[0013] An object of the present invention is to provide a convenient wind protection shelter that may be installed and used in a home during dangerous wind conditions.

[0014] Another object of the present invention is to provide a wind protection shelter that may enclose a regular bed, so that persons taking refuge in the shelter may wait out a windstorm in the most convenient place in a home, their own bed.

[0015] A further object of the present invention is to provide a wind protection shelter with an access door that may be lifted out of the way, so that the bed inside the shelter may be conveniently used as a regular bed during normal weather conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Other advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of its embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

[0017] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wind protection shelter constructed in accordance with the present invention with its access doors in the closed position;

[0018] FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the wind protection shelter with its access door shown in the open position;

[0019] FIG. 3 is a side view of the wind protection shelter showing anchors used to secure the shelter to an immovable object;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] Referring to the drawings, in particular to FIG. 1, where a wind protection shelter constructed in accordance with the present invention is shown with its access doors closed, the shelter includes side walls 1, 2, 3 and 4, and a top 5 connected at its perimeter to the upper edges of all four walls. Access doors 6 are connected to the top 5 via hinges 61 and overlap access openings 7. Access doors 6 and side walls 3 and 4 are equipped with escape hatches 8 that overlap hatch openings 81.

[0021] FIG. 2 shows the shelter with its access door 6 lifted to its open position 69 to allow normal use of bed 18 during normal weather conditions. It would present no practical problem to manufacture the shelter and its access door in such dimensions that a person could stand fully upright next to the bed 18 with the access door in its open position 69, and sit up in bed without reaching the bottom surface of the top 5. The shelter is attached to a slab 55 by means of angles 9 and 10, bolts 11, anchor rods 13 and clamps 13A.

[0022] FIG. 3 shows a side view of the shelter with its access door 6 closed. The access door 6 is held in place by latches 62 similar to regular door latches. Angle 66 is used to strengthen the bend area of the access door 6, angle 67 is used to strengthen the area where the door 6 is connected to the top 5 via the hinge 61. The escape hatches 8 are attached to the side walls and access doors by means of bolts 82. FIG. 3 also shows an alternative anchor rod 12 that may be used to anchor the shelter in soil.

[0023] It will be understood that the invention is not restricted to the embodiment described and illustrated above. For example, the shelter may have one access door, rather than two access doors as illustrated, it may be anchored by means differing from the depicted anchors, escape hatches may have a different shape and may be made slidable and movable parallel to the shelter side walls, so that persons taking refuge in the shelter may come out after the storm is over even if the access door cannot be lifted due to debris. Access doors may be equipped with power multiplication means, such as cable and pulleys, allowing door operation by one person. Access doors may also be equipped with a pneumatic brake or similar device to slow the door when it is released to fall down into its horizontal closed position. Any such modifications will remain within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for alleviating occurrences of fatigue and confusing terrors and fears of death on the minds of persons during short and long periods of warnings of dangerous winds and during dangerous winds, comprising; the persons resting and sleeping in a familiar bed located in a familiar shelter sitting on a house floor during the periods of warnings and the dangerous winds; whereby the occurrences of fatigues, confusing terrors and fears of deaths on the minds of the persons are diminished and almost eliminated.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein; the shelter further comprises a shield of; at least one side of the shelter on the house floor, at least one access door in the at least one side, a top of the shield connected to the top portion of the at least one side, not including a bottom to the shield, and the at least one side further arranged around and protecting the at least one person from harm during the dangerous winds, not including disastrous tornado center winds.

3. The shelter recited in claim 2, further comprising; means for stabilizing the shield by anchoring the shield to immovable soils for stability during the dangerous winds; and the at least one side of the shield comprises four sides of the shield surrounding the at least one person.

4. The shield recited in claim 2, wherein; the at least one access door further comprises a door opening in the shield top and at least one of the sides is covered with a door overlapping the sides of the at least one access door opening.

5. The shield recited in claim 2 wherein; the shield sides are modified to comprise means for rotating the shield up from its normal horizontal posture to a vertical posture for increased freedom of use of bed, and means for proving adequate power multiplication advantage by one person using conventional arrangements of cable and pulleys.

6. A wind protection shelter, said shelter comprising: a plurality of side walls anchored at their bottoms to an immovable object and enclosing an area sufficient for placement of a regular bed; a top connected at its perimeter to upper edges of said side walls; at least one access door hinged to said top and covering a portion of said top and a portion of at least one side wall, whereby said access door may be rotated from its horizontal closed position to a vertical open position enabling said bed to be used in a regular manner during normal weather conditions.

7. A wind protection shelter of claim 1, wherein said side walls and access doors are equipped with a plurality of escape hatches covering their respective hatch openings.