HOME PERSONAL SECURITY SYSTEM

Abstract

A home personal security system includes a bed and an anchoring assembly by means of which the bed is anchored to a floor. A human containment chamber is provided in the lower portion of the bed. The human containment chamber has a door with a lock for locking the door from inside, and ventilation openings to provide air to an occupant of the human containment chamber.

Description

FIELD

The present invention relates to a system that is intended to prevent a home owner from being harmed by unauthorized intruders.

BACKGROUND

For their personal security, home owners install intruder alarms. These alarms emit an audible warning should intruders force perimeter entry. For monitored alarms, a signal is also sent to a monitoring agency which, upon verifying that the alarm has not been accidentally triggered, will dispatch security personnel or alert police.

SUMMARY

There is provided a home personal security system which includes a bed and an anchoring assembly by means of which the bed is anchored to a floor. A human containment chamber is provided in the lower portion of the bed. The human containment chamber has a door with a lock for locking the door from inside, and ventilation openings to provide air to an occupant of the human containment chamber.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the scope of the invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a end elevation view in section of a home personal security system.

FIG. 2 is a partially transparent perspective view of a human containment chamber of the home personal security system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A home personal security system generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

Structure and Relationship of Parts:

Referring to FIG. 1, home personal security system 10 includes a bed 12, an anchoring assembly 14 by means of which bed 12 is anchored to a floor 161 and a human containment chamber 18 in a lower portion 20 of bed 12. Mattress 13 of bed 12 is held in place by a lip 19 around the outer edge of human containment chamber 18. Referring to FIG. 2, human containment chamber 18 has rounded corners. Referring to FIG. 1, chamber 18 has all fasteners 22 and hinges 25 required to maintain structural integrity positioned inside to discourage tampering. While human containment chamber 18 may be formed at a factory, where the various components may also be joined by welding, the present design allows chamber 18 to be more easily shipped and constructed by the user in the desired location. Chamber 18 is preferably made of a material light enough to transport, yet strong enough to withstand forces that may be applied to it by an intruder, such as a bullet from a gun, or a hammering force, such as up to 1000 lb of pressure. An example of such a material is an impact resistant fibreglass/Kevlar composite.

Human containment chamber 18 has a door 24 mounted on hinge 25 with a lock 26 for locking door 24 from inside. Lock 26 is shown to be a pi-latching mechanism, however it will be understood that a variety of lock or latch designs may be used. For example, lock 26 may also be a cross-bar that secures door 24 at both the top and the bottom to provide additional support to hinge 25. It is important to ensure that lock 26 can only be opened and closed from the inside, to ensure that any threatening person cannot gain access to chamber 18, and also to ensure that door 24 will not lock on its own, preventing the user from gaining access when desired. Chamber 18B is equipped with reinforcing ribs 28, shown as a corrugated insert within the walls of chamber 18, to strengthen chamber 18. While reinforcing ribs 28 are shown only on the top and bottom, they may also be included in the sides. Referring to FIG. 2, chamber 18 also has ventilation openings 30 to provide air to an occupant. To discourage tampering, the present design has the bottom 32 of human containment chamber 18 elevated above floor 16 by anchoring assembly 14 and ventilation openings 30 are located on bottom 32, which are then in communication with the outside environment by ventilation openings 31. The placement and design of ventilation openings 30 may vary according to the design and preferences of the user. In the depicted example, ventilation openings are located toward the headboard end of bed 12, but could be along either end or side, or combinations of such. Referring to FIG. 1, a communication link 34 is provided within human containment chamber 18 to enable the occupant to signal an alarm monitoring agency of an emergency situation, or to communicate with the alarm monitoring agency.

Operation:

Referring to FIG. 1, a user installs home personal security system 10 by fastening anchoring assembly 14 to the floor, and attaching the various parts of human containment chamber 18 together by attaching fasteners 22 and hinge 25 on the inside of chamber 18. Mattress 13 of bed 12 is then placed on top of chamber 18 such that lip 19 holds bed 12 in place. Once constructed, in the event of an emergency, such as an unauthorized intruder, or when the user feels threatened by another person, the user pushes door 24 inward, which swings on hinge 25, and crawls through the opening created into chamber 18. Door 24 is then closed, and locked in place by lock 26. The user may notify or communicate with an alarm monitoring agency using communication link 34 to inform them of the situation. Fresh air is obtained through ventilation openings 30 and 31. When not in use, home personal security system 10 is designed to form part of the users bed, and may be covered by bedding and/or a bedskirt to hide its presence.

In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements.

It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiments without departing from scope of the Claims.

Claims

1. A home personal security system, comprising:

a bed;

an anchoring assembly by means of which the bed is anchored to a floor;

a human containment chamber in the lower portion of the bed, the human containment chamber having a door with a lock for locking the door from inside, and ventilation openings to provide air to an occupant of the human containment chamber.

2. The home personal security system of claim 1, wherein a communication link, to enable the occupant to signal an alarm monitoring agency, is provided within the human containment chamber.

3. The home personal security system of claim 1, wherein a bottom of the human containment chamber is elevated above the floor by the anchoring assembly and the ventilation openings are located on a bottom of the human containment chamber to discourage tampering.

4. The home personal security system of claim 1, wherein the human containment chamber has reinforcing ribs.

5. The home personal security system of claim 1, wherein the human containment chamber has all fasteners and hinges required to maintain structural integrity positioned inside to discourage tampering.