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Pretty much as the Title suggests... a garage door manufactured as a "horizontal window blind" using lightweight slats and appropriate thickness cordage would be lighter: slats need almost no structural strength; would be more compact: no need for the inside roof tracks to hold it up when open, you'd
just need (say) a foot of space at the top of the frame; very little to go wrong with it.
A track on each side of the doorframe holds in place the pins jutting from the individual slats; proof against wind, wildlife and casual break-in attempts. To "lock" the door, the 2 rails of each track are brought together; the pins fit into gaps created by cutouts in the rails: this holds the mechanism firmly so it doesn't rattle in the wind.
Just like window blinds, when the door is in the closed position the slats can be angled to let the sun in or keep the rain out. When the slats are in the closed position the edges do interlock enough that you can be assured of keeping your garage wind, rain and snowproofed in inclement weather.
Maintenance consists of replacing cordage occasionally. Unlike other designs there is nothing that will get bent out of shape from time or accidents: the only load-bearing elements are the main cordage lines and the spools they're wound on, and Individual slats are also easily replaceable.
A garage built from the ground up with this design in mind could be simply 4 pillars, one at each corner, supporting a roof, and have convertible Venetian walls as well as doors, for a grand-gazebo look during the summer.
Window Blinds
http://en.wikipedia...g/wiki/Window_blind
not sure if I want Venetian or Persian.... or what the difference is for that matter [FlyingToaster, Jan 13 2009]
prior art
Venetian_20Portal
smaller scale [WcW, Jan 13 2009]
[link]
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+ I like this (if I had a garage!) |
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Security blinds are something like this, but probably heavier than a standard garage door. The same companies also tend to make slatted garage doors. I like the idea of using them for walls too. |
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But Venetians don't have garage doors. Cars are unpopular in Venice beause it's full of water. |
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//Cars are unpopular in Venice//
Who said anything about cars ? |
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True - I suppose they might have Gondola garages |
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//the slats can be angled to let the sun in or keep the rain out// I doubt that they can be angled to keep the Grand Canal out. |
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// doubt that they can be angled to keep the Grand Canal out//
That's because you haven't seen our "007 Submarine Pen" version. |
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[WcW] noli contendere, but I think they're different enough to stand separately; I did (and do) enjoy the subtleties in your design. Apart from the great similar aesthetic values, mine stems from a healthy dissatisfaction with overhead-rail doors. |
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If it wasn't for curtains it'd be Venetian blinds for us all. |
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I think there's a safety issue with allowing the slats to move without opening the door. There'd be a rash of hand crush injuries. I like this better if you remove that, and have the slats swivel flat only as the door rises. |
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[tttdmln] Not sure how there'd be hand crush injuries... these aren't 1/2 inch thick steel slats moving on anchor chains: since no structural strength is required of the slats, they can be *very* light. I was going to mention that you wouldn't even need a circuit to abort a door closing that's blocked by something: the slats would just pile up harmlessly until somebody moved the blockage. |
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While I don't think having open slats on a closed door is terribly useful (if you're going to do that why not just open the door) it's staying. |
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I like this one. It would allow the garage to be cooler in summer and less likely to gas you to death in the event the car was left running. |
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I like the opening slats while closed idea. There are a lot of paranoid old coots out there that are also miserly about their AC bills. Allowing the garage to equalize it's temperature without leaving it fully exposed is probably a good idea. |
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Although I think the somewhat sturdier "security blinds" concept would be more suitable. After all, cars and garage tools are expensive things, and a lot of people have woefully unsecured doors from their garage into their homes. |
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Each slat is individually locked into the doorframe; not especially difficult to incorporate a very basic security system whereby if a slat is broken an alarm goes off. |
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