US2131521A - Sliding window fixture - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 27, 1938. NYE 2,131,821

SLIDING WINDOW FIXTURE Filed March 19, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept 27, 1938.

A. F. NYE I SLIDING WINDOW FIXTURE Filed March 19, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 27, 1938 UNlTED STATES SLIDING WINDOW FIXTURE Alvin F. Nye, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to Fli-Bac Products Corporation, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 19, 1935, Serial No. 11,827

8 Claims.

My present invention relates to sliding fixtures for windows and similar openings, such as screens and curtains, involving the use of guides on the sides of the window frame and a cooperating element on the screen, curtain or other closure to maintain it in adjusted position, and it has for its general object to provide an improved structure of this character that will be simple and convenient in operation and economical in manufacture. The improvements are directed in part toward rendering the adaptation of the sliding element to the guides adjustable to take care of variations in the width of window frames and. toward a manually operable clamping means between the two.

To these and other ends, theinvention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in 20 the claims at the end of this specification.

, In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view from the inside of a window frame, shown in section, fitted with a sliding screen constructed in accordance with and illustrating one embodiment of my invention, part of the screen structure being broken away to reveal interior parts;

Fig. 2 is a central vertical section therethrough, enlarged, and with the window frame omitted and the central portion brokenaway;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view of one end of the sliding element and its guides with the clamp in operative position;

Fig. 4 is a similar view with the clamp in inoperative position;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 6 is a further enlarged section on the line 66 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged front view of one of the clamps, detached, and

Fig. 8 shows a fragment of the guide, partly in vertical section, to illustrate my method of splicing sections thereof together.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several views indicate the same parts.

As before indicated, my improvements are applicable to various kinds of sliding fixtures, but in the accompanying drawings I have illustrated the invention in connection with a roll fly screen for windows and I will describe it, specifically, so embodied.

This general type of screen is shown and de- 1937, resulting from my copending application, and therefore, a brief description of the struc-- ture extraneous to the present improvements will suffice here. Referring more particularly to the drawings, I indicates a window frame or casing and 2 the sill thereof. Closely fitting the top thereof and supported in end brackets 3 at the sides is a. tubular casing 4 containing a spring roller 5 to which is secured at 6, to be wound thereon into a roll by the spring I or forcibly unwound therefrom, a screen web or strip of wire fabric 8.

The outer or lower and free end of the screen is attached to a sliding cross rail 9 by being crimped under a flange at the top edge thereof, as best shown at In in Fig. 2, the rail being preferably of sheet metal, as appears. An intermediate portion of the rail is doubled inwardly longitudinally in a loop II that provides a ledge or flange constituting a grip for the fingers whereby the rail and screen may be raised and lowered. A clip l2 at the lower edge of the rail secures thereto a strip [3 of stiff felt or similar partially yielding buffer material that makes tight and silent contact with the sill 2. In passing in and out of the roll casing 4, the screen web travels through a felt lined longitudinal slot 14 at the inner edge of the bottom of the casing l.

Secured to opposite sides of the window frame are guides l5 embodying an inwardly projecting flange l6 terminating in an inwardly (with reference to the window opening) offset bead IT. The ends of the rail plate 9 or, rather, reenforcements l8 thereon engage against and slidably ride upon the outer sides of the flanges Iii, while a grooved portion I9 on each of 'two clamping plates 28 fits over and slides against the beads H in opposition thereto. As each of these clamping plates is identical with the other, except for being rights and lefts, a description of one will suffice for both.

Mounted on the inner side of the rail is a fixed post 21 which, incidentally, as shown in Fig. 6, is shouldered and riveted at 22 to hold the reenforcing base plate 18 in place in conjunction with the finger hold I I. The plate is provided with a slot 23 through which this post extends as a guide and the plate is also guided by a contact at its upper edge with the finger hold ll so that it is capable of moving slidably a limited distance longitudinally of the rail. superposed r upon the plate and swinging on the post as a pivot is a hand lever 24, the central portion of which is generally circular and has two segmental cams 25 rising therefrom around the post in spaced relationship in the form of a broken cylinder.

The cams at their high points are positioned to ride against fixed lateral abutments on the post in the present form of the ends of a transverse pin 26 extending therethrough. At their low points or while the intervening spaces are in register with the pin, a yielding tension is maintained between the abutments and the lever and, in turn, between the lever and the sliding plate 20 by a compression spring 21 coiled about the post and reacting between the latter and a washer 28 that lies against the abutments. The operation is as follows:

When the lever is depressed to a horizontal position, that is, swung inwardly toward the center of the rail, as in Figs. 1, 3, 5 and 6, the high points of the cams ride against the pin 26, and the shape of the plate 20 is such that it is both clamped against the rail and the grooved portion i9 thereof is clamped against the bead to hold the screen and rail rigidly and fixedly in either the closed positions of the several figures or in any intermediate position on the guides. When swung back to the vertical position of Fig. 4, or anything approximating it, the cams disengage from the pin but sufficient pressure or tension is still maintained between the parts by the spring 21 to hold the lever there and maintain them without apparent looseness, though the clamping portion l9 of the plate 20 has only a yielding frictional engagement with the bead II. It is also free to slide with some frictional resistance longitudinally of the rail 9 back and forth on its guides. The rail and screen can thus be moved freely up or down but without any rattle or lost motion.

The longitudinal sliding movement of the plates 28 just described is important for this reason: Window casings both new and old,but particularly after installation, are sure to warp at least to a sufficient extent to render the guides l8ll on opposite sides thereof not exactly parallel. Rigid clamping connections on the rail, unless an undesirable allowance is made for lost motion, are apt to jam or be moved only with difiiculty. With the clamps of my invention mounted as they are, they are free to weave back and forth in such instances, accommodating themselves to these inequalities while at the same time gripping the guides firmly and noiselessly.

In Figs. 1 and 8, I have shown a convenient means for splicing abutting ends of the guide flanges is together when they are made in sections instead of one piece, as is sometimes convenient. This consists of a splice pin 29 that is swedged in the respective bead portions l1 and which accurately alines them.

The constant tension of the spring 21 on the clamps [9, as aforesaid, produces a minimum frictional resistance regardless of the release of the levers 24. The extent of such resistance should at least be such as to prevent the screen from gathering substantial momentum from the spring roll as it is raised. In fact, in most instances, the frictional adjustment should not be so weak as to characterize the device as one intended to be drawn down by hand and return mechanically. Rather, the spring roll is essentially a take-up roll to keep the screen taut at all times and to wind it in when the lower rail is raised by hand. At any rate, when free, it preferably raises very slowly by itself.

With this in mind, I form the guide beads I! with slightly enlarged or bulged portions 30 at their central portions so that the grooved portions IQ of the spring clamps have to yield to a greater extent and hence have more difficulty in passing it though they can still be forced by. This is to meet a desire to leave the screen half open or raised for any purpose. While not a positive stop, it is effective to accomplish this with the frictional adjustments described.

It will be observed that the wire mesh screen proper is wider than the mean distance between the guides I6 so that its edges ride only on the outside faces thereof, being held in insect-tight contact therewith by the spring take-up roll. This is a departure from the customary practice of confining the edges of the screen in grooves or between a pair of guides. The objection I have found to the latter arrangement is that if, through accident or ignorance, a force or blow is exerted outwardly against the bodyv of the screen it leaves its guides, is usually bent and distorted as a result thereof and difficulty is experienced in restoring the edges to the guides and working the screen smoothly thereafter. With the present construction, on the other hand, no such damage and difiiculty occurs. The exerted force simply bulges out the screen as a whole, it leaves the guiding face without restraint, the spring roller unwinds yieldingly and thereafter the latter takes up the slack and restores the edges fiat against the guides again.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a screen slide or the like, the combination with a pair of spaced lateral guides, of a transverse rail extending between them having portions slidably engaging one side of each guide, clamps respectively slidably engaging the other sides thereof and also slidable on the rail itself, and means on the rail for tightening the .clamps, each guide and clamp couplebeing provided with interlocking means resisting movement of the clamp transversely of the guide.

2. In a screen slide or the like, the combination with a pair of spaced lateral guides, of a transverse rail extending between them having portions slidably engaging one side of each guide, clamps respectively slidably engaging the other sides thereof, and means on the rail for tightening the clamps, the latter being adjustable on said means longitudinally of the rail, each guide and clamp couple being provided with interlocking means resisting movement of the clamp transversely of the guide.

3. In a screen slide or the like, the combination with a pair of spaced lateral guides, of a transverse rail extending between them having portions slidably engaging one side of each guide, clamps slidable longitudinally of the rail itself and respectively slidably engaging the other sides of the guides, and means on the rail for locking the clamps thereto and tightening them against the guides, each guide and clamp couple being provided with interlocking means resisting movement of the clamp transversely of the guide.

v 4. In a screen slide or the like, the combination with a pair of lateral guides adapted to be attached to the sides of a window casing and embodying flanges having offset beads thereon, of a transverse rail extending between the guides having portions engaging one side of the flanges, clamps having grooved portions slidably engaging the beads on the other side of each flange and themselves slidable longitudinally of the rail, and

therethrough and a hand lever pivoted on the post and having a cam connection therewith whereby, on turning, it is forced against and actuates the clamp.

6. A screen slide construction in accordance with claim 2 embodying the provision of a slot in each clamp, a fixed post on the rail extending therethrough, a hand lever pivoted on the post and provided with a cam, an abutment on the post with which the cam engages, and a .compression spring acting against the hand lever and reacting against the post.

'7. In a screen slide or the like, the combination with a pair of lateral guides adapted to be attached to the sides of a window casing and embodying flanges having offset beads thereon, of a transverse rail extending between the guides having portions engaging one side of the flanges, clamps having grooved portions slidably engaging the beads on the other side of each flange, and means for tightening the clamps against both the rail and the bead.

8. In a screen slide or the like, the combination with a pair of lateral guides adapted to be ate tached to the sides of a window casing and embodying flanges having offset beads thereon, of a transverse rail extending between the guides having portions engaging one side of the flanges, clamps having grooved portions slidably engaging the beads on the other side of each flange, and means on the rail exerting spring pressure against the clamps and holding them frictionally to the beads.

ALVIN F. NYE.

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