TODAY’S PATENT – RETRACTABLE ROOF FOR STADIUM STRUCTURE

The RETRACTABLE ROOF FOR STADIUM STRUCTURE was invented by Brian Brisbin (Toronto), Felim McCaffrey (Toronto), Peter Sheffield (Toronto) on 26^th February 1991, bearing the patent number US4995203A.

The present invention relates to structures having a roof which may be opened and closed. In particular, the invention relates to a roof which is made of rigid panels which nest together when opened and which partially overlap when closed.

A structure is provided having two opposing nested pairs of outwardly convex roof arches mounted for rotation about a generally horizontal axis. Each pair of nested roof arches can be rotated about its axis from a lowered nested condition to a raised condition where the inner portion of one arch partially overlaps the other arch of the nested pair. In a preferred arrangement the arches extend between supports on diametrically opposing sides of a stadium building, which has an upper opening. A double acting hydraulic cylinder arrangement is connected to the arches at a distance from their horizontal axes to move them between their raised and lowered positions.