A Tongue in Cheek Look at the History of Motorized Retractable Awnings

Early humans had an instinctive response to their environment. During lazy days of hot summer weather they withdrew from the harsh sun to shield themselves under overhanging rocks and in cool caves. Came winter, the extreme cold talked them unprepared and they had to retreat even deeper into caves to withstand the bitter cold. It seemed that the sun and the howling winds and rain were following them everywhere.

And then, one day, far back in the history of human innovation, something dawned on one of our early forefathers. "If", he thought to himself, "if we can extend the roof of this cave to the front, we can catch two flies with one swipe. go down to catch supper. Secondly, we can in doing so, stop the mind-numbing nagging of the womenfolk about our incredible laziness. "

It was one small step for man and one giant step for mankind. And with it, the concept of residential awnings was born. Sophistication and further conceptualization followed as these early Einsteins wave birth to this new concept. A concept that developed into perfecting the usage of these window covers and related awning material in due course.

Many suns and many moons later, we modern people are still improving on our first experiences with these exterior window coverings. We have not only changed the materials from crude sticks and broad leaves to acrylic fabrics, coated aluminum arms and beautiful patterns. We have also perfected a way to extend our prototype to become roll out awnings that covers huge areas against the same sun that still hunts the human race. And … we can roll those back in whenever we feel like it. Yes, we humans have created the retractable awning!

It was another paradigm shift and residential awnings were never the same again. Families started to compete against each other to come up with more and more colorful canvas fabrics. Some of these families even started to call themselves companies in order to promote their state of the art deck awnings and retractable patio models.

Some bright sparks discovered that the awnings added nicely to otherwise boring window treatments and window coverings. They also noticed that the devices were greatly enhancing the value of properties.

And then something even more substantial happened. One sunny afternoon, while the women were sunning themselves and the children were splashing in the pool, one of them ladies neatly ordered her husband to retract the covering. They were trying to catch the last of the sun's rays and the shivering kids needed some warm up.

Now, the men were lazing about under the now very modern canopy, as in the old days in the caves, and did not really feel like cranking the retractable patio awning in. Whilst they were discussing this ongoing nuisance, one of them stated that there should be a motor that could at the push of a button roll the retractable awning in all by itself. It was another of those paradigm shift moments and the men toasted their newfound freedom with huge social screams and some good tasting stuff.

Time passed. People still appreciate the fact that motorized retractable awnings with Somfy motors provide them with cool cover in summer. These days, when winter comes, the automated device allows the fabric to be roled in to provide additional heat to the inside of the home.

They are also happy that these retractable residential awnings bring friends and family to enjoy many hours of laid back entertainment. Lastly we humans are still amazed that these comfortable entertainment enhancers keep on operating year after year, thanks to sound manufacturing processes.

The men are still lazily discussing new ways to make these window shades even more enjoyable, but they have not come up with anything better yet. They do however expect the women to come out with blazing guns someday to ask for something unreasonable yet again. The world awaits that moment for a new paradigm shift in the advancement of retractable awnings.