Hook seal for loading dock shelter

Abstract

A pair of vertically oriented hook seals positioned in facing relation on the lateral portions of a loading dock shelter engage the aft lateral portions of a truck or van positioned adjacent to a loading dock and seal the gap between the truck sides and its open doors. Each seal is coupled to a dock shelter side panel and extends inward toward an aperture in a wall about which the dock shelter is disposed. Each seal is comprised of a curtain having a plurality of spaced, resilient, flexible ribs or reinforcing strips disposed along the length thereof and securely coupled at their respective outer ends to a dock shelter side panel. The inner end of each of the reinforcing strips is coupled to an elongated foam strip extending substantially the full height of the dock shelter sides and having a generally triangular cross section. Each of the foam strips is adapted to engage in a sealed manner an aft lateral edge of the truck as well as the proximal edge of an adjacent open door of the truck and to fill the gap between the truck and its open door. The flexible reinforcing strips along the length of each of the curtains in combination with a collapsible support frame in each side frame allow the foam strips to fill the door/truck gap along the full height of the truck not only in the case of an inclined or declined loading dock, but also when the truck is misaligned relative to the loading dock shelter, i.e., in not 'square' relative to the wall upon which the dock shelter is mounted. The hook seal arrangement is also capable of accommodating trucks having a range of widths.