WO2001029359A1

WO2001029359A1 - Vertical blind systems

Info

Publication number: WO2001029359A1
Application number: PCT/IB1999/001705
Authority: WO
Inventors: Paul Edward Rogers
Original assignee: Exactocraft (Proprietary) Limited
Priority date: 1999-10-19
Filing date: 1999-10-19
Publication date: 2001-04-26
Also published as: AU6116699A

Abstract

A vertical blind system includes a support rail (12) and a control rod (26) rotatably mounted in the rail (12). The control rod (26) slidably carries a number of carriers (38) rotatably mounted relatively to the control rod (26), each carrier (38) being adapted to suspend a vertical slat (44). A control member (56) for selective rotation of the control rod (26) is slidably mounted on the control rod (26). The control member (56) includes a trolley frame (58), a first gear (60) having a passage (65) for receiving the control rod (26) and being slidable thereon and operatively joined to the control rod (26), the first gear (60) being rotatable relatively to the trolley frame (58). A second gear (62) is rotatable relative to the trolley frame (58), and is in operative engagement with the first gear (60), a handle (76) is connected to the second gear (62).

Description

TITLE OF INVENTION

Vertical blind systems.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to vertical blind systems.

More particularly, the invention relates to drawing and tilting means for the slats of vertical blind systems.

BACKGROUND TO INVENTION

Various vertical blind systems are known.

The conventional vertical blind systems include a support rail attached to a support structure such as a wall, an elongated control rod rotatably mounted in the support rail, a number of slat carriers slidably mounted on the rod and being capable of supporting a vertical slat and also being capable of rotating such a vertical slat; sliding means for sliding the carriers along the rod; and control means for causing rotation of the vertical slats as required.

Conventionally the slats are rotated by way of an arrangement involving rotation of the rod by way of cord or chain. Furthermore, the carriers are moved along the rail by another cord operatively joined to each carrier.

The cord or chain used for rotating the slats has in some instances been replaced by a rod in the form of a wand, which hangs down from the rail and is used to rotate the slats. The carrier moving cords generally hang down at one end of the rail for a short distance above the floor.

A disadvantage of the present system is that, where the carrier moving cord hangs down, this may be handled by small children who might become entangled in the cord, often with fatal results.

Furthermore, the present system of using cords and/or chains does not operate effectively and at times results in jamming of the individual carriers due to confusion which cord or chain has to be drawn.

Various wand arrangements for vertical blind systems are found in the prior art.

USA 4,257,470 (Woodle) discloses a rotary wand construction for use with vertical slat Venetian blinds, the vanes of which pivot about a vertical axis under the influence of a horizontally oriented ball chain which engages individual vane elements and passes about a vertically positioned rotating shaft at one end of the blind header. The shaft supports a pivotal joint supporting the upper end of the wand, and includes a slipping clutch preventing damage to the blind structure in the event an obstruction is met or the wand is rotated in either direction past the permissible limit of travel of the ball chain.

In USA 4,936,369 (Darner) there is shown a wand attached to a drive lever at one end of the channel and the wand is arranged to angularly oscillate the drive lever in response to raising and lowering of the wand and to rotate the operating shaft through an angular motion amplifying mechanism, to rotate the louvers through 180° in response to raising and lowering of the wand. The wand is preferably tubular and one of the cords in the operating loop is arranged to extend through the tubular wand to separate the cords.

USA 5,038,843 (Sommerfeld) shows a wand operated mechanism provided for rotating the louvers in response to raising and lowering a wand and includes a drive lever mounted for pivotal movement about an axis parallel to the axis of the operating shaft and a crank lever to rotate the shaft.

USA 5,699,846 (Ohanesian) shows a split-draw vertical blind system using a plurality of slat carriers, the slat orientation of which is controlled by a spline rod which passes through the carriers. A master carrier which a user may move by means of an attached wand is connected by hollow rivets to a stabilizer assembly which bears extra sets of wheels to contact the tracks and the inner surfaces of the headrail top to prevent binding of the master carrier.

USA 5,894,877 (Sommerfeld) discloses a vertical blind apparatus having a wand operated control for transversing the slats along a headrail and for rotating the slats. The blind apparatus has an actuator shaft with its axis disposed in a central vertical plane equidistant from the sidewalls of the headrail; slat carriers are mounted on slat carriages for rotation about vertical axis disposed in the central vertical plane and a control shaft for the wand operated control is also mounted for rotation in the central vertical plane.

USA 4,316,493 (Arena) shows vertical blinds having commonly housed and transversely movable controls for controlling the traverse and rotation of the vanes are disclosed. A control assembly is mounted to slide along and also rotate the rotation rod. Sliding of the control assembly along the rotation rod slides the carrier members to thereby traverse the vanes and actuation of the control assembly rotates the rotation rod and the vanes. The control assembly includes meshing bevel gears, one of which is coupled to an actuating rod or wand and the other to the rotation rod whereby rotation of the wand causes rotation of the vanes. The control assembly is slid by means of the wand which is universally connected to the control assembly.

In USA 5,845,695 (Cadorette et al) there is shown a vertical blind control including a single control mechanism for opening or closing the blind, and for rotating the vanes. The control mechanism includes a wand, which is used to slide and rotate a shaft carrying opposed bevel gears. One bevel gear is engageable with a mating gear system connected to a tilt rod for rotating the vanes. The other bevel gear is engageable with a drum carrying a cord for traversing the vanes to open or close the blind.

All of the prior art cases reveal relatively complicated wand control systems, which are prone to twisting and jamming.

It is an object of the invention to suggest a vertical slat arrangement which will assist in overcoming the aforesaid problems.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

According to the invention, a vertical blind system, which includes a support rail adapted to be fitted to a support structure, such as a wall, and a control rod rotatably mounted in the rail, the control rod slidably carrying a number of carriers rotatably mounted relatively to the control rod, each carrier being adapted to suspend a vertical slat, is characterised thereby that a control member for selective rotation of the control rod is slidably mounted on the control rod, that the control member includes a trolley frame, a first gear having a passage for receiving the control rod and being slidable thereon and operatively joined to the contror rod, the first gear being rotatably mounted relatively to the trolley frame, and a second gear rotatably mounted relative to the trolley frame, and being in operative engagement with the first gear, and that a handling member is connected by way of a connecting shaft to the second gear.

The first gear may be a sprocket gear.

The second gear may be a sprocket pinion.

The handling member may be connected via connecting means to the control member.

The handling member may be a rod.

The handling member may be a wand rod.

The shaft may be located at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the support rail.

The control member may be located at one end of the control rod.

The control member may be located between opposite ends of the support rail with carriers located on either side of the control member. The carriers may be joined by a cord of which the ends are attached to the control member, and the cord further being attached to one of the carriers adjacent the control member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings.

In the drawings there is shown in:

Figure 1 : a general view of a first embodiment of a vertical blind system in accordance with the invention with the control wand located at one end of the support rail and being adapted to draw all slats towards one end;

Figure 2: a view corresponding to Figure 1 but with the control wand drawn some distance away from one end of the rail;

Figure 3: a general view of a second embodiment of a vertical blind system in accordance with the invention with the control wand located centrally and being adapted to draw two sets of the vertical blinds towards either end of the rail respectively;

Figure 4: on an enlarged scale, an end view of the lead or first carrier on the left side seen along arrow IV in Figure 3;

Figure 5: on an enlarged scale, an end view of a carrier seen along arrow V in Figure 3; Figure 6: a view corresponding to Figure 3 but with the control wand moved somewhat towards the right;

Figure 7: a plan view of the arrangement seen along arrow VII in Figure 6;

Figure 8: a front view of a first embodiment of a vertical blind slat attachment to a carrier;

Figure 9: a sectional side view of a carrier seen along arrows IX-IX in Figure 8 without showing the slat;

Figure 10: a partial sectional view from below of a carrier seen along arrows X-X in Figure 8 without showing the hook or slat;

Figure 1 1 : a plan view of the drive gear with a snapper type hook seen along arrow XI in Figure 12;

Figure 12: a side view of the drive gear with a snapper type hook seen along arrow XII in Figure 1 1 ;

Figure 13: a view corresponding to Figure 8 but with the carrier located in a support rail and without showing the slat;

Figure 14: a front view of a second embodiment of a vertical blind slat attachment to a carrier showing the slat supported by a universal type hook and showing a partial sectional view of the universal type hook;

Figure 15: a sectional side view seen along arrows XV-XV in Figure 14; Figure 16: on an enlarged scale, an end view of the tilt shaft or drive rod seen along arrow XVI in Figure 15;

Figure 17: a plan view of a drive gear disc with a universal type hook seen along arrow XVII in Figure 18;

Figure 18: a side view of the drive gear with a universal type hook seen along arrow XVIII in Figure 17;

Figure 19: a view similar to Figure 14 but showing a universal type hook in a carrier located in a support rail;

Figure 20: a view from below of a trolley frame;

Figure 21 : a side view of the trolley frame seen along arrow XXI in Figure 20;

Figure 22: a plan view of the trolley frame shown in Figure 20;

Figure 23: an end view of the trolley frame seen along arrow XXIII in Figure 21 ;

Figure 24: an end view of the trolley frame seen along arrow XXIV in Figure 21 ;

Figure 25: a side view of a trolley assembly for slats having a width of about 63mm;

Figure 26: a side view of a trolley assembly for slats having a width of about 89mm and also showing a side view and an end view of the sprocket wheel; Figure 27: a side view of a trolley assembly for slats having a width of about 127mm and also showing a side view, a front view and an end view of the shaft;

Figure 28: an end view, a sectional side view and a front view of an idle end cap; and

Figure 29: an end view, a sectional side view and a front view of an end cap of the control end.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Referring to Figures 1 and 13, a vertical blind arrangement in accordance with the invention, generally indicated by reference numeral 10, includes an elongated metal (e.g. extruded aluminium) support or head rail 12 attachable to a support structure, the rail 12 having an elongated upper plate 14, elongated side plates 16, 18 (castellated on the inside to strengthen the rail against bending) and elongated bottom opposing flanges 20, 22 spaced apart with a gap 24 defined inbetween them.

The head rail 12 is attachable to a support structure such as a wall.

In the head rail 12 a tilt shaft or control rod 26, having elongated circumferentially arranged grooves 28 (see Figure 16), is rotatably located at one end in an idle end cap 30 and at the opposite end in a control end cap 32. The control rod 26 is held in position at either end by way of retainer discs 34, 36 housed in the end caps 30, 32 respectively (and shown in end view on opposite sides in Figure 1 ). A number of vertical vane or slat carriers 38 are slidably mounted on the control rod 26.

Each carrier 38 has an attachment 40 for joining to a hook 42 for supporting a vertical blind slat 44. The hook 42 is joined to a gear drive disc 46 which operatively engages with the grooves 28 of the rod 26.

The carriers 38 are joined together by way of joining links 48 attached at one end 50 to a carrier 38 and at the opposite end 52 engaging slidably with an adjacent carrier 38. As shown in Figure 7 these links 48 have a head 54 to prevent a carrier 38 from slipping out of a link 48 and to become disengaged therefrom. The links 48 regulate the distance of spacing apart of adjacent carriers 38.

A control arrangement 56 is provided and includes a trolley frame 58 (Figures 2 and Figures 20 to 24) in which a sprocket wheel 60 is rotatably mounted. The sprocket wheel 60 is in engagement with a bevel sprocket pinion 62 connected to a shaft 64 and rotatably mounted in the frame 58. As is shown in Figure 2 the shaft 64 is at an angle to the rail 12 to clear the last slat 44 and reduce the light gap.

As shown in Figures 25 to 27 the sprocket wheel 60 has an elongated body with sprocket gear teeth 61 provided at one end. It further has an internal passage 65 with internally directed ridges engaging in some of the grooves 28 of the rod 26. The sprocket wheel 60 thus extends circumferentially around the rod 26 thereby avoiding any tilting, twisting or bending on operation and thus jamming on the rod 26 is substantially avoided. Rotation of the shaft 64 causes rotation of the pinion 62, thereby rotating the sprocket wheel 60 and the rod 26 to cause rotation of the vertical blind slats 44 as required. At the end cap 32 a striker plate 66 is provided (see Figure 1 ).

The trolley frame 58 has a magnet 68 which, when brought in the vicinity of the striker plate 66, causes the two parts to be drawn together into abutment.

As shown in Figure 2, the shaft 64 has a head 70 with a hole 72 into which the hook 74 of a wand 76 engages. The wand rod 76 can be held at rest against a wall by way of a wall clip 77 (also shown in plan view at the bottom of Figure 1 ).

By rotating the wand rod 76 as indicated by arrow 78 in Figure 1 , the rod 26 is rotated and thereby the vertical blind slats 44 are rotated into any angular position as desired so as to darken a room, for sun control or to obscure viewing into a room, or to be returned into any position as required.

By moving the wand 76 in the direction indicated by arrow 80 the trolley frame 58 is moved along the rod 26 and simultaneously the carriers 38 are moved together in that each link 48 slides through an adjacent carrier 38. Thereby the carriers 38 can be moved close together and simultaneously the slats 44 are brought close together.

The arrangement 10 in accordance with the invention thereby does away with conventional cords and therefore the danger that children may get entangled with such cords falls away.

In the further drawings hereinafter the same reference numerals will be used to described similar parts. Referring to Figures 3 to 7, a further embodiment 82 of a draw and tilt vertical blind arrangement in accordance with the invention is illustrated.

In this case the wand 76 is located centrally so as to move the slats on the left towards the left and the slats on the right towards the right for opening (and vice versa).

The same components are used as for the arrangement 10 and a cord 84 joins the carriers 38 as is shown in particular in Figure 7.

The cord 84 is attached at one end to the frame 58 by way of two beads 86, 88. It further is attached to the first left hand carrier 38 by way of a clamp screw 90 (see Figure 4). Therefore, if the wand 76 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow 92, the carriers 38 on the right are moved together to the right and the carriers 38, etc on the left are moved to the left in the direction of arrow 94 (see Figure 7).

In this case the first carrier 38 on the left hand side is provided with the striker plate 96 to engage the magnet 66 on the frame 58.

In Figures 8 to 13 the details of a first type of carrier 38 with a snapper type hook 42 are given.

The hook 42 is adapted to receive a vertical slat 44, which has an aperture 98 for engagement into the hook arm 100.

Figures 14 to 19 illustrate a second embodiment where the carrier 38 has a universal type hook 102 with a head 104 engaging into a hook formation 106 of a slat 44. Referring to Figure 20, the trolley frame 58 has two side parts 108, 110 with extension arms 112, 114, which have notches for breaking off to cater for different slat widths. Glide points or knobs 116, 118 are provided as indicated.

The trolley frame 58 has a pocket 120 for receiving the magnet 68 and has eyes 122 for the cord 84 used for split draw arrangement as shown in Figures 3 to 5.

Figures 25, 26, 27 show different lengths of extension arms 112, 114 to cater for different widths of slats 44. Figure 25 shows a side view of a trolley assembly 124 for louvers having a width of about 63mm each, Figure 26 a side view of a trolley assembly 126 for louvers having a width of about 89mm each and Figure 27 a side view of a trolley assembly 128 for louvers having a width of about 127mm each.

In Figures 28 a front view, sectional side view and an end view of the idle end cap 30 is shown. The end cap 30 has a spacer 130 which can be reduced in length to cater for different widths of slats 44.

Figure 29 shows a front view, sectional side view and an end view of the end cap 32 for the control end. The end cap 32 has a pocket 132 for the striker plate 66.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

10 vertical blind arrangement

12 head rail

14 upper plate 16 side plate

18 side plate

20 flange

22 flange

24 gap 26 tilt shaft or control rod

28 grooves

30 idle end cap

32 control end cap

34 retainer disc 36 retainer disc

38 carrier

40 attachment

42 snapper type hook

44 slat 46 gear drive disc

48 links

50 end

52 end

54 head 56 control arrangement

58 trolley frame sprocket wheel sprocket gear teeth sprocket pinion shaft internal passage with ridges striker plate magnet head hole hook wand wall clip arrow arrow vertical blind arrangement cord bead bead clamp screw arrow arrow striker plate aperture arm universal type hook head hook formation 108 side part

110 side part

112 extension arm

114 extension arm 116 knob

118 knob

120 pocket

122 eye

124 trolley assembly 126 trolley assembly

128 trolley assembly

130 spacer

132 pocket

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1. A vertical blind system, which includes a support rail (12) adapted to be fitted to a support structure, such as a wall, and a control rod (26) rotatably mounted in the rail (12), the control rod (26) slidably carrying a number of carriers (38) rotatably mounted relatively to the control rod (26), each carrier (38) being adapted to suspend a vertical slat (44), characterised thereby that a control member (56) for selective rotation of the control rod (26) is slidably mounted on the control rod (26), that the control member (56) includes a trolley frame (58), a first gear (60) having a passage (65) for receiving the control rod (26) and being slidable thereon and operatively joined to the control rod (26), the first gear (60) being rotatably mounted relatively to the trolley frame (58), and a second gear (62) rotatably mounted relative to the trolley frame (58), and being in operative engagement with the first gear (60), and that a handling member (76) is connected by way of a connecting shaft (64) to the second gear (62).

2. A system as claimed in claim 1 , characterised thereby that the first gear (60) is a sprocket gear.

3. A system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, characterised thereby that the second gear (62) is a sprocket pinion.

4. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised thereby that the handling member (76) is connected via connecting means (64) to the control member (56).

5. A system as claimed in claim 4, characterised thereby that the handling member (76) is a rod.

6. A system as claimed in claim 4, characterised thereby that the handling member (76) is a wand rod.

7. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised thereby that the shaft (64) is located at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the support rail (12).

8. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised thereby that the control member (56) is located at one end of the control rod (26).

9. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised thereby that the control member (56) is located between opposite ends of the support rail (12) with carriers (38) located on either side of the control member (56).

10. A system as claimed in claim 9, characterised thereby that the carriers (38) are joined by a cord (84) of which the ends are attached to the control member (56), and the cord (84) further being attached to one of the carriers (38) adjacent the control member (56).

25 [received by the International Bureau on 19 February 2001 (19.02.01); original claim 10 cancelled; original claims 1, 6 and 9 amended; remaining claims unchanged (2 pages)]

1. A vertical blind system, which includes a support rail (12) adapted to be fitted to a support structure, such as a wall, and a control rod (26) rotatably mounted in the rail (12), the control rod (26) slidably carrying a number of carriers (38) rotatably mounted relatively to the control rod (26), each carrier (38) being adapted to suspend a vertical slat (44), characterised thereby that a control member (56) for selective rotation of the control rod (26) is slidably mounted on the control rod (26); that the control member (56) includes a trolley frame (58), a first gear (60) having a passage (65) for receiving the control rod (26) and being slidable thereon and operatively joined to the control rod (26), the first gear (60) being rotatably mounted relatively to the trolley frame (58), and a second gear (62) rotatably mounted relative to the trolley frame (58), and being in operative engagement with the first gear (60); that a handling member (76) is connected by way of a connecting shaft (64) to the second gear (62); and that the carriers (38) are joined by a cord (84), which is also joined to the control member (56), and the cord (84) further being attached to one of the carriers (38) adjacent the control member (56).

5. A system as claimed in claim 4, characterised thereby that the handling member (76) is a rod,

6. A system as claimed in claim 5, characterised thereby that the handling member (76) is a wand rod.

9. A system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, characterised thereby that the control member (56) is located between opposite ends of the support rail (12) with carriers (38) located on either side of the control member (56).

925nβw claims