Appeal No. 98-1243
Application No. 08/679,939
OPINION
The present invention is directed to the problem of
protecting the operating mechanisms of flexible roll-up doors
of the type allowing vehicles and pallet trucks to pass.
According to the appellant, a problem with these doors has
been the damage that can be perpetrated upon the sliding
operating mechanism by the effects of high winds or by
collisions by vehicles. The thrust of the appellant’s
invention is a mounting system which connects one or more
tension resisting bars extending from edge to edge in the door
curtain to the retaining and guiding carriages that support
them in vertical tracks by means of “a rupturable mechanical
coupling designed to intentionally release its connection
under the effect of a predetermined force acting in a
direction substantially parallel to said tension resisting
bar” (independent claim 10). Similar language is present in
independent claim 11. The improvement in this system,
according to the appellant, is that in case of high wind or
collision the door is separated from the carriages upon which
it is mounted and is free to move laterally, which minimizes
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