Bullet Resistant Desktop

Abstract

A bullet-resistant shield is described herein that attaches to existing student desks. The embodiment consists of a bullet-resistant repositionable desk top and height-adjustable bullet-resistant front shields.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application 61/848,300 filed 2012 Dec. 31 by the present inventor and provisional patent application 61/853/438 filed 2013 Apr. 5 filed by the present inventor.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable

SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to protection against personal assault for those in vulnerable environments such as classrooms.

BACKGROUND PRIOR ART

Recent tragic school shootings have led to greater needs to protect innocent children against such occurrences. The need exists for effective, tangible protection for students and others in classroom or group institutional settings. It is also desirable that protection against assailants be made personally available to individual students enabling immediate reactive response in the absence of safe rooms, security or law enforcement personnel.

The present invention provides an improvement in individual protection, and has for a first objective provision of a hinged horizontal desktop that may be rotated to a vertical position as a bullet-resistant shield that may be selectively used by an individual student against assault protecting the student's upper body vital organs, face and head.

Another objective is to provide a shield in an innocuous mode as an ordinary horizontal desk work surface that can be easily and quickly rotated to a vertical position as a bullet-resistant shield against projectiles including, but not limited to, bullets, knives, shrapnel, flying debris that might be encountered in naturally occurring events such as earthquakes, fires and storms.

Another objective is to provide adjustable-height, bullet-resistant vertical front shields that can be fitted to varying desk heights to protect the student's lower body from desktop to floor against projectiles including, but not limited to, bullets, knives, shrapnel, or flying debris that might be encountered in naturally occurring events such as earthquakes, fires and storms. These and yet further objects and advantages will be understood from the present specification and drawings which disclose the best mode presently known to the Applicant for carrying out this invention.

Numerous innovations for bullet resistant protection have been provided in prior art. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they differ from the present invention as herein after contrasted. The following is a summary of prior art most relevant to the invention at hand, as well as a description outlining the difference between the features of the present invention and those of the prior art.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,379 of James R. Taylor describes a removable bullet resistant desk top for releasable attachment to a desk frame. The desk top includes a sheet of transparent laminated polycarbonate plastic that can be lifted from the desk frame using attached handles and by releasing one or more buckle clips that secure the desk top to the desk frame.

This patent does not consider the physical size, strength and ability of small kindergarten and elementary students when it requires them to unlatch, lift and hold in a defensive position a large, heavy, bullet resistant desk top from the desk frame in a crisis situation. This patent does not consider the physical size, strength and inherent fear of small kindergarten, elementary and older students when it requires them to face the assailant who is attempting to kill them. This patent does not consider the courage, or absence thereof, of small kindergarten and elementary or older children when it requires them to continue holding in front of them a defensive shield that is being peppered with high powered automatic gunfire from assault weapons or handguns fired by an assailant that is trying to kill them. This patent does not consider that the transparent desktop may provide protection only for the upper body organs leaving the lower body totally exposed to the assailant.

Pub. No. 2012/0152096 of Fred E. Peters offers ideas of how bullet resistant materials can be used in various types of furniture and structures such as existing or new furniture for use where people gather such as in meeting rooms, classrooms, libraries, governmental chambers, council rooms, and school board chambers.

Further, the application states that the bullet resistant material being described requires an area of flexibility to achieve maximum performance, but offers no test data substantiating the claim rendering the statement unproven or substantiated in prior art.

The application's ideas focuses on student desks in the application's FIG. 22 wherein the top of a student desk and the back of a desk chair are shown to be bullet resistant, FIG. 23 wherein both the top and front of the student desk are shown to be bullet resistant, FIG. 24 wherein the top of the student desk and the seat of an attached stool are shown to be bullet resistant and FIG. 25 wherein both the top and front of the student desk and the seat of an attached stool are shown to be bullet resistant. In each figure the desktop and front shield are fixed in position requiring the student to seek refuge in a small area beneath the desktop. These designs may accommodate small children but may lack adequate room to protect larger jr. high and high school students.

The bullet-resistant panels shown in FIG. 23 depicts both panels attached in a fixed position providing no upper body protection. It is not clear in FIG. 22, FIG. 23, FIG. 24, FIG. 25 whether the bullet-resistant materials are enclosed in the furniture or attached to exterior surfaces. Those skilled in the art will know that the bullet-resistant materials described therein offer little aesthetic value and In order to achieve a decorative appearance should be enclosed in a decorative frame or shell.

LIST OF DRAWING NUMBERS
5  bullet-resistant desktop shield
6  bullet-resistant spacer shield
7  bullet-resistant front shield
8  mounting bracket
9  rotating shaft slot
10 spring assisted rotating shaft
   assembly
11 rotating shaft
12 torsion spring
13 rotating shaft retainer
14 existing desk

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of the embodiment attached to an existing desk showing the bullet-resistant spacer shield and the bullet-resistant front shields providing a protective bullet-resistant guard from floor to desktop, with the bullet-resistant desktop in the everyday horizontal position.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the embodiment attached to an existing desk showing the bullet-resistant spacer shield and the bullet-resistant front shields providing a protective bullet-resistant guard from floor to desktop, with the bullet-resistant desktop in the vertical assault defense position providing bullet-resistant protection for the upper body vital organs and head.

FIG. 3 is a perspective drawing showing a student taking a defensive position behind the bullet-resistant front shields, and the bullet-resistant desktop shield lifted by the student to the vertical defensive position resulting in full body bullet-resistant protection.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view drawing showing the bullet-resistant and mechanical components of the invention illustrating the method of assembly, and installation on an existing desk.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Looking now in greater detail to the drawings, retro-fit bullet-resistant desktop 5, front spacer shield 6 and front shield 7 that attach to an existing desk 14. The present embodiment may be provided in different sizes and configurations.

The embodiment of my invention is represented in FIG. 4 and is configured for mounting as a retro-fit or to be supplied in combination with desk frames. It should be understood that the existing student desk 14 configuration illustrated here is simply an example of many desk configurations that may be used, including those desks that are adjustable in height by use of telescoping legs, without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiment. In general, the desk 14 will include a desk frame that may be formed of various materials and are conventional in desk making practices.

In the present embodiment the desktop 5, spacer shield 6, and the front shield 7 are formed of bullet-resistant material such as KEVLAR® from DuPont and GOLD SHIELD® and SPECTRASHIELD® from Honeywell that have been tested and proven to absorb the shock of being hit by a bullet or other projectile. It must be understood that a variety of other materials such as some metals and plastics can offer a means of providing ballistic defense when they are proven to absorb the shock of being hit by a bullet or other projectiles. The thickness, and therefore the weight, of the bullet-resistant products from the above distributors vary according to the level of bullet resistance desired by the user. The thinner and ,therefore, lighter weight the bullet-resistant product the smaller caliber and less powerful the projectile it can absorb.

It is preferred that the thicker, higher level bullet-resistant material be used in the desktop 5, the spacer shield 6 and the front shield 7 enabling the absorption of higher caliber, more powerful bullets commonplace in today's world, in particular those fired from assault rifles, and in doing so the additional physical strength required to lift the desktop 5 because of the additional thickness and weight of the higher bullet-resistant-level shield is offset by use of a torsion spring 12 to aid young students in lifting the bullet-resistant desktop easily and safely to the vertical defense position shown in FIG. 2. Regardless of the bullet-resistant-shield-level used, a torsion spring 12 calibrated to match the necessary lift required is installed on the rotating shaft 11. It is possible that other configurations providing lift assist may also be used. For example, air or gas-filled cylinders similar to those used to lift automobile trunk lids and tailgates.

Bullet-resistant spacer 6 is attached to mounting bracket 8. Mounting bracket 8 attaches to the existing desk 14. The front shield 7 is set to the floor and attached to the spacer shield 6 covering any remaining open space between the floor and the spacer shield 6 which varies with the manufacturers desk heights or height changes resulting from telescoping leg adjustments made in the classroom.

The spring assisted rotating shaft assembly 10 is attached to the underside of the desktop 5. The rotating shaft assembly 10 with the desktop 5 attached is partnered to mounting bracket 8 by positioning both ends of the rotating shaft 11 into the rotating shaft slot 9 and secured in place at both ends with the rotating shaft retainers 13. The desktop 5 can now be easily lifted into the vertical defensive position, FIG. 4, easily regardless of size and weight with assistance from the calibrated torsion springs 12.

When the desktop 5 is lifted it moves to a vertical position when the rotating shaft assembly 10 to which it is attached pivots around the rotating shaft 11. When moved to the vertical defensive position the desktop 5 places a bullet-resistant defensive shield in a position to protect classmates sitting at the desk 14. When activated, the desktop 5, spacer shield 6, and front shield 7 provide full body cover for one or more students or adults in the classroom. Depending on existing desk 14 design, students can take refuge under the desk, sitting at the desk, aligned behind another student sitting at the desk, or armed adults can stand behind the vertically-positioned bullet-resistant desk for protection when returning fire at an intruder. In any of the above options the student is never required to remove the desktop 5 from the desk 14 as required in prior art, is not required to face the assailant as required in prior art, and is not required to tip over a desk in order to seek refuge from a frontal assault.

When several rows of the embodiment e activated into the defensive position students in front rows may vacate their position to take refuge behind activated shields in the back of the classroom creating a line of protection that would require a projectile to pass through several rows of bullet-resistant protection before ever reaching the safe haven the students have taken in the back of the classroom. Organized safety training and instructions for should be periodically instructed in the proper use of the invention.

The embodiment offers an equal opportunity for protection to all users regardless of age, size or physical ability.

In compliance with the statute, the invention has been described in language more or less specific as to structural and mechanical features. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown and described, since the means herein disclosed comprise preferred forms of putting the invention into effect. The invention is, therefore, claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the proper scope of the appended claims appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents.

Claims

1. A desk with an adjustable bullet resistant front and a pivotal bullet resistant desktop, comprising:

a A desk including upright legs and a substantially horizontal top frame section.

b A minimum of two bullet resistant front panels and bullet resistant desktop panel.

c A hinge.

d Lift springs.

2. A desk as claimed in claim 1 wherein a hinge is attached to the top frame.

3. A desk as claimed in claim 1 wherein one front panel is attached to the desk.

4. A desk as claimed in claim 1 wherein the second front panel is attached to the previously attached front panel.

5. A desk as claimed in claim 1 wherein lift springs are attached to the hinge.

6. A desk as claimed in claim 1 wherein the desktop is attached to the hinge.