GB2235005A - Screen - Google Patents

Abstract

A screen (5) for closing openings of buildings or equipments eg against flies comprises a bracket (11) in which a rail (10) is loosely mounted. The bracket (11) comprises an opposed pair of side plates (14) and a bottom plate (15), which are adapted 10 be coupled together at their edges opposing to each other so as not to slip off once they have been coupled. This arrangement makes it possible to firstly fix only the bottom plate (15) to the opposite stiles of an opening and then mount the rail (10) and cushioning materials stacked in that order on the bottom plate (15), and finally fit the side plates (12) into the bottom plate (15) so that no bracket fixing means which takes up undue space is required. <IMAGE>

Description

SCREENX ahe present invention relates to a screen sucb as a window screen for preventing the entry of e.g. mosquitos through an opening when a swinging or sliding door or a window pane is opened, or for closing opening for ventilation such as a skylight, openings of a food service wagon used in hospitals or openings of boxes or coverings for protecting data processing devices such as computers.

Swinging doors, sliding doors or metal shutters are generally used to shut such openings of buildings or equipments. A swinging door requires a space large enough to accommodate the opened door, and a sliding door or metal shutter requires a considerable mounting operation, thereby causing a higher cost.

In order to solve the abovesaid problems, an improved screen has been proposed, which comprises a roller rotatably mounted on a stile of a frame defining an opening of building or equipment, a sheet wound around the roller with one end thereof secured thereto and having a bar secured to the other end thereof for use in pulling out and retracting the sheet and having strips of a soft high polymer adhered to its opposite side edges over its entire length, a rail provided in each of the opposite inner sides of vertical stiles and formed with an inwardly diverging groove adapted to grip the side edges of the sheet and prevent the strips from slipping out, a bracket having a substantially C-shaped section in which the rail is loosely mounted, and cushioning materials stuffed in the space between the bracket and the rails to push the rails toward the stile (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-179989).

One of the problems with this type of screen for openings of buildings or equipments is that it is troublesome to fix the ' 'C' ' shaped brackets loosely accomodating the rails which are vertically slidably gripping both edges of the sheet to the stiles.

Another problem is that the strip attached to each edge of an insect screen is liable to get damaged.

As shown in Fig. 8, in a bracket 51 is loosely mounted a rail 50 formed with a groove 49 for gripping a strip 47 at each edge of a sheet or screen 45. The cushioning materials 52 are adapted to elastically push the rail 50 toward the bracket 51. Since it is impossible with this structure to fix only the bracket to a stile in advance, the bottom plate of the bracket 51 has to be extended to one side thereof to integrally form a mounting plate 53 so as to secure it to the stile. Since the stile does not provide a sufficient width, the mounting plate 53 is usually provided at only one side of the bracket to mount it to the stile in a cantilever way. With this arrangement it is difficult to mount the bracket rigidly.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a screen for openings of buildings or equipments which obviates the abovesaid shortcomings.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a screen for closing openings of buildings or equipments, wherein a bracket in which a rail is loosely mounted comprises opposite side plates and a bottom plate adapted to be coupled to the side plates. The opposite edges of the side plates and the bottom plates are adapted to undetachably engage one another.

The bracket loosely carrying the rail comprises an opposed pair of side plates and a bottom plate, which are adapted to be coupled together at their edges opposing to each other so as not to slip off once they have been coupled. This arrangement makes it possible to firstly fix only the bottom plate to the opposite stiles and then mount the rail and cushioning materials stacked in that order on the bottom plate, and finally fit the side plates into the bottom plate. Thus with the present invention, no bracket fixing means which takes up undue spaces is required unlike the prior art. And yet the bracket can be rigidly fixed to the stiles.

Other features and objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment according to the present invention with the screen of a winnow screen partially rolled up; Fig. 2 is a partially cutaway enlarged front view of the same; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional side view of the same; Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the screen; Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line V-V of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the bracket of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VII-VII of Fig. 5; and Fig. 8 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of a prior art rail assembly corresponding to the one shown in Fig. 5.

In the drawings, Figs. 1 to 3 show one embodiment of the screen for openings of a building. The screen shown herein is a window screen in which numeral 1 designates a frame, and numeral 2 does a roller rotatably mounted in a box 4 mounted on an upper stile 3. The roller 2 has a coil spring mounted on its shaft to cause the roller to rotate in a take-up direction. Since this arrangement is known, the coil spring is not shown.

street of insect screen 5 is wound around the roller 2 with one end fixed thereto, and has a bar 6 secured to its lover end for use in pulling the screen out of and retracting into the box 4.

As shown in Fig. 4, the insect screen 5 is provided with strips 7 machine-sewed or welded by high-frequency welding to its opposide side edges over its entire length.

The strip 7 may be a half of a zipper having teeth of metal or plastics and strip of tape. It may be a half of a zipper having teeth only if the insect screen 5 is made of glass fiber. In each of the opposite inner sides of stiles 8 of the frame 1, as shown in Fig. 5, there is provided a rail 10 formed with an inwardly widening groove 9 adapted to grip both edges of the insect screen 5 and prevent the strips 7 from slipping off.

In a food service wagon (not shown), an opening through which foods are taken out is provided in a cover sheet made from a finely wooven fabric and adapted to cover the food service wagon. The screen of the present invention can be used to shut such an opening.

Data processors such as computers are usually accommodated in a non-ventilative box for dust-tightness or thermal control. If the screen is used with such a box, the sheet 5 should be made of a non-ventilative material.

In some cases, a screen other than the window screen may be arrange so that the roller is mounted in one of the vertical stiles whereas a cover sneet wound around the roller is pulled out in a horizontal direction, or otherwise may be arranged so that its opening will extend obliquely and its sheet can be pulled out in a-horizontal direction.

Referring to Fig. 5, the rails 10 are not secured to but loosely mounted within a bracket 11 which is of a substantially C-shaped section and adapted to be fixed to the stiles 8, with the groove 9 exposed. Cushioning materials 12 made from e.g. sponge rubber are stuffed in the space between the molded bracket 11 and the rails 10 to urge the rails 10 toward the stile 8, thereby keeping the insect screen 5 tight. This will cause a suitable frictional resistance in the space between the rails 10 and the strips 7 so that the screen 5 can be stopped even in a partly opened position.

The cushion materials 12 may be in the form of a metallic or plastic spring.

As shown in Fig. 6, the bracket 11 may be formed by three separate parts, that is, opposite side plates 14 and a bottom plate 15. The edge 16 of each side plate 1t opposite to the bottom plate 15 is bent inwardly. The bottom plate 15 has its both end portions forked into two plates 17a r 17b so as to receive the inturned edge 16 of each side plate 1t in the space between the two plates 17a, 17b. Locking serrations 19a, 19s are provided on the surfaces ending each other.

P5embers 20 (Fic. 5) adapted to be fitted into one end of the side plates 14 prevent the cushioning materials 12 stuffed in the end portion of the side plates 14 from slipping out.

In order to mount the assembly to the stiles, the bottom plate 15 of the bracket 11 is firstly mounted to the vertical opposite stiles 8. The opposite side plates 1t are then mounted to the bottom plate 15 so as not to slip off, and the rail 10 and the cushioning materials 12 are mounted in the recess of the bracket 11, followed by the mounting of the member 20 for preventing the cushioning materials 12 from slipping out. Numeral 21 (Fig. 6) designates a hole for a mounting screw formed in the bottom plate 15.

In Fig. 7, numeral 22 designates a leaf spring provided at the lower end of the opposite inner side surfaces of the members 20 for preventing the cushioning materials 12 from slipping out and adapted to urge the bar 6 secured to the lower end of the sheet when it is lowered to its lowermost position to completely screen the opening with the sheet 5.

Thus the bar 6 is held in the lowermost position

Claims (6)

1. CLAIMS 1. A screen for openings of a building or equipment, comprising a roller rotatably mounted to an upper stile of a frame defining an opening of the building or equipment, a sheet wound around said roller with one end thereof secured thereto and having a bar secured to the other end thereof and having a strip of a soft high polymer attached to the side edges thereof over its entire length, a rail provided in each of a pair of vertical stiles and formed with an inwardy widening groove adapted to grip said each side edge and prevent said each strip from slipping out, a bracket of a substantially C-shaped cross-section for loosely accommodating said rail, and cushioning members mounted between said bracket and said rail so as to press said rail toward said stile, characterized in that said bracket comprises a pair of side plates and a bottom plate having side edges thereof adapted to be coupled to said side plates, said bottom plate having an engaging portion adapted to engage one edge of said side plate.
2. 2. A screen as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sheet is ventilative.
3. 3. A screen as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said sheet is an insect screen,
4. 4. A screen as claimed in claim 1 or 3, wherein said sheet is non-ventilative.
5. 5. A screen as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein each of said engaging portions of said bottom plate is forked to removably receive said one edge of said side portion.
6. 6. A screen substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 7 of the accompanying drawings.