WO2002008559A1

WO2002008559A1 - Security roller shutter

Info

Publication number: WO2002008559A1
Application number: PCT/GB2001/003197
Authority: WO
Inventors: Man Hing Yip
Original assignee: Man Hing Yip
Priority date: 2000-07-25
Filing date: 2001-07-17
Publication date: 2002-01-31
Also published as: AU2001270843A1

Abstract

A roller shutter (100) for use at the entrance of a commercial premises, such as a bank, which shutter (100) comprises a pair of channels (10) to be fixed along opposite sides of the entrance, closure means (20/30/40) guided by the channels (10) for extending across the channels (10) to close the entrance, and a top roller mechanism (50) extending across the channels (10) to enable the closure means (20/30/40) to be rolled up for opening the entrance and down for closing the entrance. The closure means (20/30/40) comprises at least two closure layers (30/40) and includes an electrical light source (26) for illuminating the first layer (30). The first layer (30) bears advertising material (34) for display, and the second layer (40) is transparent for revealing the advertising material (34) and protecting the first layer (30) behind it. Security protection may be provided by the second layer (40) or, alternatively, by a third closure layer (20) provided behind the first layer (30).

Description

SECURITY ROLLER SHUTTER

The present invention relates to a roller shutter for use at the entrance of a commercial premises, such as a retail shop, restaurant, entertainment centre or bank.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Roller shutters are generally known, which have a typical construction comprised by a pair of vertical channels fixed along opposite sides of an entrance, a panel formed by horizontal slats guided by the channels for extending across the channels to close the entrance, and a top roller mechanism which enables the panel to be rolled up for opening the entrance and down for closing the entrance .

Most commercial premises, such as banks in particular, are closed at such a time not too late into the evening or at night that there are still people in the street and on the road, especially in the busy, shopping and dinning areas. The closed shutters of such commercial premises present a valuable advertising space which is usually wasted or only used for posters or the like.

The invention provides an improved roller shutter for security as well as advertising purposes. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, there is provided a security roller shutter for use at the door entrance of a commercial premises, which shutter comprises a pair of channeled uprights to be fixed along opposite left and right sides of said entrance, closure means guided by the uprights for extending across the uprights to close off said entrance, and a roller mechanism extending across the top ends of the uprights to enable the closure means to be rolled up for opening said entrance to permit passage of people and down for closing off said entrance, wherein the closure means comprises at least two closure layers, a first layer of said layers bearing advertising material for display and a second layer of said layers being transparent for revealing the advertising material and protecting the first layer, and includes an electrical light source for illuminating the first layer.

Preferably, the light source is located behind the first layer to provide back-light illumination.

More preferably, the light source comprises a multiplicity of electrical lights spread over substantially the entire rear side of the first layer.

In a preferred embodiment, the closure means comprises a middle layer bearing the advertising material, a transparent outermost layer for revealing the advertising material and protecting the middle layer, and an innermost layer supporting the light source.

More preferably, the innermost layer is formed by a series of horizontally extending slats connected together for security protection.

Further more preferably, at least some of the slats have front sides formed with recesses receiving and locating the light source.

Further more preferably, each recess is in the form of an integral groove extending along substantially the entire length of the associated slat.

Further more preferably, the light source is elongate and flexible and extends along the associated groove .

It is further preferred that the groove is formed at an upper or lower edge portion of the slat.

In a preferred embodiment, the layer bearing the advertising material is supported to extend across a pair of upper and lower shafts, said shafts being rotatable to scroll the layer.

More preferably, the lower shaft is located on a support connected to a bottom end of the transparent layer, such that the advertising layer and the transparent layer can be rolled up and down in tandem.

In a specific construction, the roller mechanism incorporates a roller connected to a top end of each of the first/middle and second/outermost layers for rolling up and unrolling the layer, said rollers being rotatable by means of an electric motor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front perspective view of an embodiment of a roller shutter in accordance with the invention, said shutter being in the form of a pair of vertical channels and three closure layers extending across the channels;

Figure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of the closure layers of Figure 1, including a top roller mechanism therefor;

Figure 3 is an enlarged front perspective view of a part of the innermost closure layer of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a cross-sectional side view of the innermost closure layer part of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a front perspective view of the middle closure layer of Figure 1;

Figure 6 is a front perspective view of the outermost closure layer of Figure 1; and

Figure 7 is a rear perspective view of a bar connected to the bottom ends of the outermost and middle closure layers of Figure 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a roller shutter 100 embodying the invention for use at the entrance of a commercial premises such as a shop, which shutter 100 comprises a pair of channelled uprights 10 to be fixed along opposite left and right sides of the entrance and three closure layers 20, 30 and 40 arranged to extend across the uprights 10 for closing the entrance. The uprights 10 are formed with three pairs of opposed channels 12 for guiding the closure layers 20 to 40 respectively to slide upwards to open the entrance and downwards to close the entrance .

The roller shutter 100 incorporates a roller mechanism 50 having a elongate horizontal casing 51, which extends across the upper ends of the uprights 10. Inside the casing 51, the roller mechanism 50 includes three horizontal motor-driven roller shafts 52, 53 and 54 for operating the closure layers 20 to 40 respectively. The upper end of each layer 20/30/40 is connected to the respective shaft 52/53/54, such that the layer 20/30/40 can be rolled up onto the respective shaft 52/53/54 and unrolled therefrom.

Because of the constructions of the innermost and outermost closure layers 20 and 40 as described below, their associated first and third shafts 52 and 54 are relatively thicker than the remaining shaft 53. The second shaft 53 is positioned directly below the third shaft 54 such that the middle and outermost layers 30 and 40 lie close together. The first shaft 52 is positioned behind the third shaft 54, and a guiding spindle 55 is used adjacent the second shaft 53 for bending the innermost layer 20 close to the middle layer 30. The first shaft 52 may not necessarily be driven by an electric motor, depending on the weight of the innermost layer 20. The second and third shaft 53 and 54 should preferably be driven by respective electric motors (not shown) for controlled operation.

The innermost closure layer 20 is for security protection, which is formed by a series of horizontally extending metal slats 21 connected together and includes a horizontal metal bar 29 extending along its bottom end for engaging the floor. Each slat 21 is provided by an oblong metal plate formed to have, in cross-section, a shallow C- shaped body 22 and include co-extensive upper and lower edge portions which are rolled in opposite directions into a much smaller open circle to form respective hooks 23 and 24. The upper hook 23 is open on the front side of the security layer 20, and the lower hook 24 on the rear side, for interlocking as between adjacent slats 21.

The portion between the body 22 and the lower hook 24 of each slat 21 is curved rearwards to form an integral groove 25 which extends along the entire length of the slat 21. The groove 25 has a part circular cross-section extending over 180°, and is open on the front side of the security layer 20.

The security layer 20 incorporates electrical lights 26 received and located within the grooves 25 for illumination over a substantial part of its front side. Co-extending within the grooves 25, the lights 26 may take the form of small fluorescent lamps, a string of light bulbs, a series of light emitting diodes or, as in the case of the described embodiment, a flexible light tube (a plastic tube containing a series of lights) . The light tube 26 has a diameter slightly larger that the width of the open side of the groove 25, such that it can be squeezed sideways into the groove 25 and be trapped therein. A multiplicity of lights 26 is thus spread over substantially the entire rear side of the middle closure layer 30.

The light tube 26 may be sufficiently long for running across two or more adjacent grooves 25 or all of the grooves 25 in a zigzag manner, thereby reducing the number of light tube terminals needed and hence simplifying the electrical connection. Several light tubes 26 may be used for different lighting colours. The terminals are hidden within either one or both of the uprights 10.

The middle closure layer 30 is provided by a sheet 32 of cloth, paper or plastics, which has a front (or rear) side printed with advertising material 34. The sheet 32 is preferably partially light transmitting to obscure the lights 26 on the security layer 20 behind and for illumination by the lights 26 as back-light. By reason of such back-lighting, the advertising material 34 is eyecatching to persons who pass or drive by the closed shop after dark.

The advertising sheet 32 includes, extending along its bottom end, a horizontal shaft 56 which co-operates with the upper shaft 53 to scroll the sheet 32 upwards and downwards across them, as further described below. The sheet 32 is considerably longer than the other two layers 20 and 40, such that it can carry a series of sections of the advertising material 34, the more the better.

The outermost closure layer 40 is formed by a transparent sheet 42 of polycarbonates or polyvinylchloride, which acts as a shatterproof cover for protecting the advertising layer 30 behind. The sheet 42 is formed by three shorter sheets 44 joined together along adjacent upper and lower ends. A series of T-shaped hooks 46 are provided at intervals along opposite left and right sides of the sheet 42, which are slidably anchored to within the respective upright channels 12 for preventing the sheet 42 from being torn off.

The protection layer 40 is provided, extending along its bottom end, with a horizontal metal bar 60 for engaging the floor. The bar 60 has a base plate 62 which extends rearwards and provides a support including a pair of bearings 64 and 66 at opposite ends for locating the lower shaft 56 of the advertising layer 30. The second bearing 66 incorporates an internal electric motor with gearbox for turning the shaft 56.

In operation, the security layer 20 may be opened and closed independently, but the advertising and protection layers 30 and 40 must be rolled up and down in tandem. While the two layers 30 and 40 are in the fully lowered or extended position, the upper and lower shafts 53 and 56 are rotated by their associated motors to scroll the advertising layer 30 in one direction and then the opposite direction, at predetermined time intervals, for sequentially displaying the various sections of the advertising material 34.

To re-open the shop for business in the morning, before the advertising and protection layers 30 and 40 are rolled up together, the advertising layer 30 should first be scrolled up as much as possible onto the upper shaft 53, such that the lower shaft 56 becomes empty.

As described above, the roller shutter 100 acts as an advertising tool and more specifically an advertising light box, in addition to being for security protection. By reason of the fact that a shop entrance, or the like, has a considerable size, the advertising area available is not small. Such a size, combined with lighting, renders the subject roller shutter a prominent advertising means, while the shop is closed and without taking up much extra space .

It is envisaged that the subject roller shutter may incorporate a transparent security shutter, that is becoming increasingly popular, as the aforesaid outermost layer 40, in which case the innermost metal layer 20 is no longer necessary. Also, depending on the size of the roller shutter, the roller mechanism 50 may omit the driving motors for manual operation.

In a slightly simplified embodiment, the lower end of the advertising layer 30 may not be scrollable, in which case the lower shaft 56 may be replaced by a metal bar and its associated bearings 64 and 66 including the motor and gearbox are omitted. Also, the advertising layer 30 is just sufficiently long to extend from the top roller mechanism 50 to near the ground, i.e. the height of the entrance, for displaying advertising material that is unchanging.

The roller shutter of the subject invention is useful at the door entrances of commercial premises for security protection as well as advertising purposes. The shutter fully utilises invaluable space for advertisement, which has been wasted or not been fully made use of in the past.

The invention has been given by way of example only, and various other modifications of and/or alterations to the described embodiments may be made by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as specified in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A security roller shutter for use at the door entrance of a commercial premises, which shutter comprises a pair of channeled uprights to be fixed along opposite left and right sides of said entrance, closure means guided by the uprights for extending across the uprights to close off said entrance, and a roller mechanism extending across the top ends of the uprights to enable the closure means to be rolled up for opening said entrance to permit passage of people and down for closing off said entrance, wherein the closure means comprises at least two closure layers, a first layer of said layers bearing advertising material for display and a ^• second layer of said layers being transparent for revealing the advertising material and protecting the first layer, and includes an electrical light source for illuminating the first layer.

2. The security roller shutter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light source is located behind the first layer to provide back-light illumination.

3. The security roller shutter as claimed in claim 2, wherein the light source comprises a multiplicity of electrical lights spread over substantially the entire rear side of the first layer.

4. The security roller shutter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the closure means comprises a middle layer bearing the advertising material, a transparent outermost layer for revealing the advertising material and protecting the middle layer, and an innermost layer supporting the light source.

5. The security roller shutter as claimed in claim 4, wherein the innermost layer is formed by a series of horizontally extending slats connected together for security protection.

6. The security roller shutter as claimed in claim 5, wherein at least some of the slats have front sides formed with recesses receiving and locating the light source.

7. The security roller shutter as claimed in claim 6, wherein each recess is in the form of an integral groove extending along substantially the entire length of the associated slat.

8. The security roller shutter as claimed in claim 7, wherein the light source is elongate and flexible and extends along the associated groove.

9. The security roller shutter as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the groove is formed at an upper or lower edge portion of the slat.

10. The security roller shutter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the layer bearing the advertising material is supported to extend across a pair of upper and lower shafts, said shafts being rotatable to scroll the layer.

11. The security roller shutter as claimed in claim 10, wherein the lower shaft is located on a support connected to a bottom end of the transparent layer, such that the advertising layer and the transparent layer can be rolled up and down in tandem.

12. The security roller shutter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the roller mechanism incorporates a roller connected to a top end of each of the first/middle and second/outermost layers for rolling up and unrolling the layer, said rollers being rotatable by means of an electric motor.