GB2247486A

GB2247486A - Security screen

Info

Publication number: GB2247486A
Application number: GB9018634A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Clive Carrier; James Ronald Masarati
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-08-24
Filing date: 1990-08-24
Publication date: 1992-03-04
Anticipated expiration: 2010-08-24
Also published as: GB2247486B; GB9018634D0

Abstract

A security screen for mounting adjacent a window glass carried in a window opening of, for example, a vehicle or of buildings such as houses, offices and warehouses. The screen comprises a thin, mechanically strong sheet of a metal or plastics material, which sheet is (a) shaped to and arranged for internal fixing around the periphery of the window opening so as to be removable only from inside the vehicle, and (b) perforated with small apertures which are arranged in a regular pattern and are shaped, sized and spaced to prevent inward vision from outside the window glass, whilst permitting good outward vision from inside the security screen. The outwardly facing surface of the screen may be light in colour and/or reflective. The screen provides visual security against prying eyes, and physical security against break-in. Such a security screen may be used to divide the vehicle driver's compartment from the adjacent goods compartment. The security screen may be combined with the window glass to form a composite unit. <IMAGE>

Description

SECURITY SCREENS This invention relates to security screens, particularly but not exclusively, for use in closed motor vehicles, such as for example saloon and estate cars, vans and lorries.

Commercial goods and articles of real and sentimental value are carried in such vehicles for the purposes of trade and business, and for private purposes. All such goods and articles will be referred to compendiously as 'goods'.

Vehicle drivers are frequently warned by police and motoring organisations not to expose to public view goods left unattended in such vehicles, as such exposure tends to invite those with criminal intentions to break in and steal such goods.

The common responses to such warnings include: (a) the use of tinted or opaque glass for vehicle windows; (b) the use on, or in conjunction with, transparent window glass of: (i) adherent tinted or opaque plastics films; (ii) adherent reflective metal foils or plastics films; and (iii) metal grilles and meshes.

Those solutions have quite serious drawbacks (a) the obscuring of windows to render them dark, opaque or reflective invites curiosity, particularly from criminals; (b) the use of metal foils and plastics films applied to window glass offers no mechanical security, since such foils and films can be easily destroyed and/or damaged, and since the window glass is not mechanically strengthened by those foils and films; (c) metal grilles and meshes as currently used do not obscure in any substantial way the view of goods inside, so that such goods remain open to public view; moreover, they are relatively expensive to make and apply, and are normally applied externally of the window glass to merely protect it from breakage.

The present Inventor seeks to provide a security screen for use, for example, with vehicle windows, which screen combines visual security for the contents of the vehicle with mechanical security against break-in and theft of the vehicle contents.

According to the present invention, there is provided a security screen arranged for mounting adjacent a window glass carried in a window opening formed in a wall structure which defines an enclosed space, which screen comprises a thin, mechanically strong sheet of a metal or plastics material, which sheet is: (a) shaped to and arranged for internal fixing around the periphery of the window opening so as to be removable only from within the enclosed space; and (b) perforated with small apertures arranged in a substantially regular pattern, which apertures are shaped, sized and spaced so as to substantially prevent inward vision from outside the window glass, whilst permitting good outward vision from within the enclosed space.

Such a security screen may have any of the following optional features: (a) the perforated sheet may be light in colour and/or reflective on its outside surface; (b) the perforated sheet may be dark in colour and/or nonreflective on its inside surface; (c) the apertures are round and arranged in rows and columns; (d) the pitch of the apertures in the rows may be different from the pitch in the columns; (e) the screen may have a resilient edge material arranged for contacting parts defining the window opening; (f) the outside surface thereof may carry a decorative pattern or other decorative matter; and (g) the screen may be combined with a said window glass to form composite unit for application to parts defining a window opening.

The present invention also provides (a) such a security screen mounted adjacent a window glass carried in a window opening formed in a wall structure which defines an enclosed space, for example the wall of a vehicle, and (b) a vehicle having such a security screen secured adjacent a window glass carried in a window opening of the vehicle.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle having a driver's compartment and a goods compartment, and a security screen disposed as a partition separating the two compartments, which screen comprises a thin, mechanically strong sheet of a metal or plastics material, which sheet is: (a) shaped to and arranged for internal fixing peripherally to panels defining the walls, roof and floor of the vehicle so as to be removable only from within the goods compartment; and (b) perforated with small apertures arranged in a substantially regular pattern, which apertures are shaped, sized and spaced so as to substantially prevent inward vision from outside the window glass, whilst permitting good outward vision from within the enclosed space.

Such a security screen constituting such a partition may have any of the optional features referred to above.

Other features of the present invention will appear from a reading of the description that follows hereafter, and of the claims appended at the end of that description.

One security screen according to the present invention as applied to the rear window of a van will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

In those drawings: Figure 1 shows a view, as seen from inside the van, of the inside face of an upwardly-swinging rear door of the van, showing the security screen in place and with some parts broken away to reveal others normally obscured from view; Figure 2 shows a vertical section of the door and security screen as taken on the section line 'A-A' of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a horizontal section of the door and security screen as taken on the section line 'B-B' of Figure 1; Figure 4 shows a pictorial view of the relevant parts of the door and security screen, with some parts broken away to show constructional details; and Figure 5 shows a substantially full-size view of a part of a preferred security screen material showing the shape, sizing and spacing of apertures formed therein.

Referring now to the drawings, the rear door 10 of the van has a window opening 12 which is lined with a continuous rubber moulding 14, which carries in a conventional waterproof manner the transparent rear window glass 16. Since the manner of fixing the window glass in the opening is conventional and forms no part of the present invention, no further description of it will be given here.

A thin, perforated, metal security screen 18 shaped to suit the window framing portion 20 of the door 10 is secured to the inside surface thereof at closely spaced positions by screws 22 (which for the sake of emphasis are shown as not fully 'driven-home').

The security screen is of sheet steel, has a thickness of 1/16th of an inch (approximately 1.6mm), and has a lightcoloured outwardly-facing surface and a darker-coloured inwardly-facing surface.

The screen has perforations (or apertures) 24, as shown in Figure 5, which form a regular pattern. The perforations are round, of diameter 1/8th of an inch (approximately 3mm), and are spaced apart in orthogonal rows, which rows are spaced 3/16th of an inch (approx. 5mm) apart in one direction and 11/32nd of an inch (approx. 9mm) in the orthogonal direction. The perforations are thus in repeated and inter-lapping pentagonal patterns. Such sheet material is available commercially in the UK.

The design of the perforations (that is - the size, shape and spacing) may be of any suitable form provided that the desired poor inward vision is attained whilst ensuring good outward vision. This is, of course, achieved by suitably lowering the level of illumination inside the vehicle by means of the security screen. By way of example only, the apertures may be shaped as ovals, squares, triangles, other polygons, and/or stars.

Where the vehicle has other windows, e.g. side windows, similar security screens are fitted to each of such windows, to render them equally secure against inward vision and break-in.

Moreover, where the van has no partition separating the driver's compartment from the goods compartment, a similar security screen may be erected to complete the visual and mechanical security of the goods compartment. Such a screen would be shaped to the transverse cross section of the van and be secured within the goods compartment by closely spaced fixing screws engaging with the wall, floor and roof panels of the van, so as to be irremovable from the driver's compartment. Such a partition screen would also protect the driver against loads which become loose in the goods compartment. Where the context requires it, the screen may also be secured, in addition, by fixings disposed inside the driver's compartment so as to render the screen irremovable from within the goods compartment.

Security screens as described above have an aesthetically pleasing appearance, which if desired may be further enhanced by the addition of decorative pictures, pictorial and other designs and/or borders painted on the outwardly facing surfaces. Such decorative matter may be used for advertising purposes.

If desired, each such screen may be provided around its periphery with a resilient edging material 26 (e.g.

rubber), preferably in channel form, so as to cushion the contact of the screen with the adjacent parts of the van to which the screen is screwed. This would reduce vibration and abrasion of contacting parts of the screen and van, cover any rough or sharp cut-edges on the screen, and possibly reduce the tendancy of the cut-edges to rust.

From experiments carried out with various perforated sheet materials, it has been discovered that the preferred sheet material just described provides the most advantageous combination of characteristics, that is - (i) of obscuring inward vision from outside, whilst providing good outward vision from inside, (ii) providing good mechanical strength against break-in, and (iii) being manageable in weight.

Moreover, the screen perforations provide sufficient light inside the vehicle to enable the driver to identify and handle goods carried in the vehicle. Furthermore, the driver's rearward vision through the rear window is remarkably unobscured by the security screen, both in daylight and in night-time darkness, even where the inside surface of the screen is not of a dark, non-reflective colour. In fact, it has been found that a screen painted on both sides in an off-white colour provides very good results.

Whilst a screen thickness of 1/16" (approximately 1.6mm) has been found highly satisfactory in the particular application described above, other thicknesses greater or smaller than that may be used according to the requirements of the context in which a particular screen is to be used.

Whilst in the above description, the window glass and associated security screen have comprised mechanically separate items, each secured to respective parts forming the window opening, such items could be combined to form a single composite unit for closing a window opening. In such an composite unit, the glass may be heat-fused to the metal screen, or secured by an adhesive. With such a composite unit, the method of securing it in the window opening must be adapted so as to secure it to the inside of the van door.

From the above decription, it will be appreciated that: (a) such security screens are mechanically strong and will resist attempts to break-in; (b) such screens are secured to the van structure on the inside of the goods compartment, so that they cannot be readily removed, even if the associated window glass is broken; (c) the contents of the van cannot be seen from outside the van; (d) the van driver's rearward view through the rear security screen is not impaired in any substantial way; (e) even if the security screen is attacked and dented or scratched, the visual security is not impaired; (f) such screens limit the amount of sunlight that can penetrate the goods compartment and so provide some protection against degradation of goods by exposure to sunlight;; (g) such screens can be decorative and pleasant to look at, so that evil eyes are not attracted as in the case of prior art attempts to obscure goods from vision; and (h) such screens may be used for advertising purposes.

A security screen in accordance with the principles of the present invention could be applied to the front windscreen of a vehicle, since outward vision is substantially unimpaired by such a screen. This finds application in relation to security vans which transport valuables.

Since the security screens described above have a neat and pleasing appearance, they have application in other vehicles whose prime purpose is not to carry commercial goods. For example, they may be used in camper vans, and personnel carriers.

Whilst the security screens described above have been disclosed in the context of securing the contents of vehicles, such screens may be used in other contexts to protect goods disposed within an enclosed space in a building; for example, in the home, in offices, and in warehouses.

Claims

1. A security screen arranged for mounting adjacent a window glass carried in a window opening formed in a wall structure which defines an enclosed space, which screen comprises a thin, mechanically strong sheet of a metal or plastics material, which sheet is: (a) shaped to and arranged for internal fixing around the periphery of the window opening so as to be removable only from within the enclosed space; and (b) perforated with small apertures arranged in a substantially regular pattern, which apertures are shaped, sized and spaced so as to substantially prevent inward vision from outside the window glass, whilst permitting good outward vision from within the enclosed space.

2. A security screen according to claim 1, wherein the perforated sheet is light coloured and/or reflective on its outside surface.

3. A security screen according to claim 2, wherein the perforated sheet is dark coloured and/or non-reflective on its inside surface.

4. A security screen according to any preceding claim, wherein the apertures are round and are arranged in rows and columns.

5. A security screen according to claim 4, wherein the pitch of the apertures in the rows is different from the pitch in the columns.

6. A security screen according to any preceding claim, having a resilient edge material arranged for contacting parts defining the window opening.

7. A security screen according to any preceding claim, wherein the outside surface thereof carries a decorative pattern or other decorative matter.

8. A security screen according to any preceding claim, which screen is combined with a said window glass to form a composite unit for application to parts defining a window opening.

9. A security screen according to any preceding claim, mounted adjacent a window glass carried in a window opening formed in a wall structure which defines an enclosed space.

10. A vehicle having a security screen according to any preceding claim secured adjacent a window glass carried in a window opening of the vehicle.

11. A vehicle according to claim 10, wherein the window glass comprises a rear window glass of the vehicle.

12. A vehicle according to claim 10, wherein the window glass comprises a side window glass of the vehicle.

13. A vehicle according to claim 10, wherein the window glass comprises a front window glass of the vehicle.

14. A vehicle having a driver's compartment and a goods compartment, and a security screen disposed as a partition separating the two compartments, which screen comprises a thin, mechanically strong sheet of a metal or plastics material, which sheet is: (a) shaped to and arranged for internal fixing peripherally to panels defining the walls, roof and floor of the vehicle so as to be removable only from within the goods compartment; and (b) perforated with small apertures arranged in a substantially regular pattern, which apertures are shaped, sized and spaced so as to substantially prevent inward vision from outside the window glass, whilst permitting good outward vision from within the enclosed space.

15. A vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the perforated sheet is light coloured and/or reflective on its outside surface.

16. A vehicle according to claim 15, wherein the perforated sheet is dark coloured and/or non-reflective on its inside surface.

17. A vehicle according to any one of the claim 14 to 16, wherein the apertures are round and are arranged in rows and columns.

18. A vehicle according to claim 17, wherein the pitch of the apertures in the rows is different from the pitch in the columns.

19. A vehicle according to any one of the claims 14 to 18, having a resilient edge material arranged for contacting said panels defining the walls, roof and floor of the vehicle.

20. A vehicle according to any one of the claims 14 to 19, wherein the outside surface thereof carries a decorative pattern or other decorative matter.

21. A security screen according to any one of the claims 1 to 9, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

22. A vehicle having a security screen according to claim 21.

23. A vehicle according to any one of the claims 14 to 20, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

24. A security screen or a vehicle having a security screen, which screen or vehicle comprises any other novel combination of features disclosed herein, not already covered by an earlier claim.