The Venti reference was developed as a pet barrier, to keep a pet out of selected areas of ones home. The Sandsburg reference was developed as a child safety barrier, to keep a child away from stairs and other hazardous areas of ones home. Both the Venti and Sandsburg references are only capable of being deployed in a short span linear application, such as across a doorway.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION What is required is a retractable barrier which is capable of being deployed in non-linear applications.

According to the present invention there is provided a retractable barrier which includes an elongate housing having a first end, a second end, and a slotted opening extending between the first end and the second end. A substrate support is rotatably mounted within the housing. A barrier substrate is provided of a height substantially equal to a length of the slotted opening. The barrier substrate has an attachment end and a free end. The barrier substrate is rolled onto the substrate support with the attachment end being attached to the substrate support and the free end extending through the slotted opening of the housing to permit a selected quantity of the barrier substrate to be extended from the housing. Several poles are provided along

with means to attach the poles at spaced intervals along the barrier substrate in a supporting position. The barrier substrate is configurable into non-linear configurations by the selectively attaching the poles where a change of direction occurs. Means is provided for rotating the substrate support, thereby retracting the barrier substrate back into the housing.

The retractable barrier, as described above, can be configured to suit virtually any shape, merely by a selective positioning, of the poles.

Although there are various ways of attaching the poles in a supporting position to the barrier substrate, such as by means of clamps and other hardware. It is preferred that the barrier substrate be provided with a plurality of openings (preferably slots) arranged in parallel rows and columns.

The poles are attached to the barrier substrate by weaving each of the poles through the openings of one of the columns.

The use of columns is less expensive and there is no danger of the loss of necessary attachment hardware.

It is envisaged that the retractable barrier will always be used with poles. Even more beneficial results may, therefore, be obtained when the housing has a plurality of receptacles adapted for storing the poles. One way of configuring the receptacles is to have a first flange positioned at the first end and a second flange positioned at the second end of the housing, with the receptacles being positioned in the first flange and the second flange.

Although other means may be used to rotate the substrate support, such as a biasing spring, it is preferred that the means for rotating the substrate support be a crank. A crank

is viewed as being more durable and reliable in this application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other features of the invention 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: FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of a retractable barrier constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a detailed front elevation view of a housing for the retractable barrier illustrated in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a detailed front elevation view of a substrate support for the retractable barrier illustrated in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of a housing for the retractable barrier illustrated in FIGURE 1, having receptacles for pole storage.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the retractable barrier illustrated in FIGURE 1, showing use as a police barricade.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the retractable barrier illustrated in FIGURE 1, showing use as a fire department barricade.

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of the retractable barrier illustrated in FIGURE 1, showing use as a maintenance barricade.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The preferred embodiment, a retractable barrier generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be

described with reference to FIGURES 1 through 7.

Structure and Relationship of Parts: Referring to FIGURE 1, retractable barrier 10 has an elongate housing 12. Referring to FIGURE 2, elongate housing 12 has a first end 14, a second end 16 and a slotted opening 18 extending between first end 14 and second end 16.

Referring to FIGURE 3, substrate support 20 is rotatably mounted within housing 12. Referring to FIGURE 4, a barrier substrate 22 is provided which has a height that is substantially equal to slotted opening 18 and has a free end 24 that extends through slotted opening 18. Referring to FIGURE 3, barrier substrate 22 has an attachment end 26 that is attached and rolled onto to substrate support 20.

Substrate support 20 with barrier substrate 22 is housed within elongate housing 12 such that a selected quantity of barrier substrate 22 may extend from elongate housing 12 as shown in FIGURE 4. Referring to FIGURE 1, retractable barrier 10 includes poles 28. In the illustrated embodiment, three poles 28 are shown. It will be appreciated that other combinations of poles 28 and elongate bodies 12 may be used as illustrated in FIGURES 5 through 7. Referring to FIGURE 1, barrier substrate 22 is adapted with a plurality of openings 30 arranged in parallel horizontal rows and vertical columns. Each pole 28 is oriented within select openings 30 at a select position along barrier substrate 22. This is done by weaving each of poles 28 through openings 30 of one of the columns. Referring to FIGURE 3, a crank 32 is secured to substrate support 20. Referring to FIGURE 4, actuation of crank 32 rotates substrate support 20 and, in turn, retracts barrier substrate 22 within elongate housing 12. Referring further to FIGURE 4, elongate housing 12 is also adapted with a first flange 34 at first end 14 and a second flange 36 at second end 16. First flange 34 and second flange 36 have

several receptacles 38 adapted to receive a pole 28 that is oriented in a stored position between a selected receptacle 38 at first flange 34 and a corresponding receptacle 38 at second flange 36.

Operation: The use and operation of retractable barrier 10 will now be described with reference to FIGURES 1 through 7.

Referring to FIGURE 1, where a user desires to define or restrict access and egress, elongate housing 12 of retractable barrier 10 is positioned at one point along a chosen perimeter 40. Referring to FIGURES 5 through 7, upon determining the configuration and needs of a site 42, a user selects the number of poles 28 that at are required.

Referring to FIGURE 4, each pole 28 that is required is removed from first flange 34 and second flange 36. Free end 24 of barrier substrate 22 is extended from elongate body 12 through slotted opening 18 until the required length of barrier substrate 22 is extended off of substrate support 20.

Referring to FIGURE 1, each pole 28 is woven within any given vertical column of openings 30 at a select point in perimeter 40 such that barrier substrate 22 is fully supported at that point and defines the desired configuration of site 42 as shown in FIGURES 5 through 7. Three possible sites: a police investigation site, a fire site and a work site are illustrated respectively. It will be appreciated that other sites may be defined or configured. Poles 28 and housing 12 may rest upon bases which make them stable and self supporting or may have a lower ground anchor which penetrates the ground and anchors them.

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 embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined in the Claims.