Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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12C14379
DESCRIPTION
TITLE: VENETIAN BLIND STRUCTURE
The present invention relates to a venetian blind
structure.
Venetian blind structures are known which
incorporate a plurality of slats which are supported for
example by a tape ladder which is suspended from a tilt
bar which in turn is rotatably mounted in a headrail,
see for example U.S. Patent 2,837,152. Such a structure
usually requires complicated mounting arrangements and
use an extra heavy bottom slat or rail which requires an
10 increase in the inventory of parts and consequently in
the cost.
A further known construction mounts the top slat of
the blind structure in a bearing, with the pivotal axis
of the bearing coinciding with that of the top slat.
15 The means supporting the remainder of the slats is
suspended from the top slat, which in order to support
the weight of the other slats, is of a heavier
construction, again increasing the inventory
requirements.
Further, in many prior art assemblies there may be
interference between the top slat and its hanger
assembly which tends to restrict the degree of slat
closure of the top slat and thus of the other slats
also. Many venetian blind structures to date are only
25 applicable for use where the blind is positioned in a
vertical plane, that is to say, they may not be used in
installations where the plane of the blind is inclined.
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There is now proposed, according to the present
invention, a venetian blind structure having a plurality
of tiltable slats and slat support means for supporting
the slats, in which a top hanger member is positioned
remote from and above the top slat in which the slat
support means are suspended, with said top hanger member
being adapted to pivot about a top pivot axis and being
adapted to be secured to a top frame member and a bottom
hanger member is positioned remote from and below the
10 bottom slat and to this slat support means are
connected, the bottom hanger member being adapted to
pivot about a bottom pivot axis and being adapted to be
secured to a bottom frame member.
Such a structure provides a greatly simplified
15 means for suspending the blind from a top frame member,
for example of a window opening, and does not require
specially designed slats. It is also readily adaptable
for use in window frames that may be inclined with
respect to a vertical plane.
Preferably the slat support means comprises a tape
ladder and the hanger member comprises a body portion
spaced from the end slat, the length of the body portion
being substantially equal to the width of the slats,
means being provided enabling the tape cables to be
25 fixedly connected to the body portion in such a manner
that, when the hanger member is pivoted with respect to
a frame member, the slats will be tilted by the cables.
Advantageously, a side of the body portion facing
outwardly of each hanger member on each end slat has a
30 plurality of slots therein, and through these slots the
tape cables may be threaded to fasten them to the hanger
member. The body portion preferably has a bearing
section on the side opposite thereof from the slots
which is adapted to engage a suspension bracket
35 connected to a frame member. In this case the bearing
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section may be spaced from an end slat by a distance
equal to substantially one half of the width of said end
slat.
In an alternative construction, a hanger member may
comprise a quadrant to which the slat suspension means
are connected, this having an annular guide surface
concentric with the pivot axis and a guide bracket
slidably engaging said guide surface, the guide bracket
being adapted to be secured to a frame member.
10 Preferably the radius of each of the annular guide
surfaces is substantially equal to one half the width of
the slats.
Instead of the tilting being effected on the tape
cables of the ladder tape, an additional tilt-operating
15 means, such as a cord, may be operatively connected to a
slat supporting means to move the same to cause each
hanger member to pivot about its associated pivot axis
and thus to cause all of the slats to tilt.
In order that the invention may more readily be
20 understood, the following description is given, merely
by way of example, reference being made to the
accompanying drawings, in which:-
Figure 1 is a broken perspective view of a doubleglazed window unit having a venetian blind structure
25 according to the present invention therein;
Figure 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the
window unit of Figure 1 illustrating a hanger member
constructed according to the invention;
Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a
30 modified form of a linear movable operating element
having a split housing;
Figure 4 is an enlarged broken cross-sectional view
taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 1 of a modified
construction; and
Figure 5 is a perspective view of a guide bracket
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and hanger member of the construction of Figure 4.
Refereing to Figures 1, 2 and 3, there is
illustrated a window unit having panes 2 and 3 fixed to
upper and lower frame members 4 and 5 and side frame
members 6 and 7 of the unit. A venetian blind assembly
8 is positioned in the unit between the panes, and, if
desired, the unit may be hermetically sealed to provide
good insulation properties.
The blind assembly 8 comprises a plurality of
10 adjacent slats 9 including end slats 10 and 11, all of
which are supported by support means in the form of tape
ladders 12, each comprising a front tape cable 13 and a
rear tape cable 14 joined by upper rung 15 and lower
rungs which cannot be seen in Figures 1, 2 and 3. The
15 assembly also includes hanger members 16 which are
pivotally mounted with respect to the frame members 4
and 5 by suspension brackets 17.
An actuating member 20 is linearly movable in a
slide 21 by means of a knob 22 which is threaded in the
20 member 20 in order that it may be tightened with respect
to the slide to lock the actuating member 20 in place.
The actuating member 20 is magnetically coupled
with a linearly movable operating element 30, which is
shown in Figure 3 and comprises a split housing 31
25 forming two housing sections 32 and 33, each of which
carries a magnet 34 to cooperate with magnets carried in
the actuating member 20, so as to form a magnetic
coupling between the two elements.
As shown in Figure 3, the slats 9' adjacent the
30 cooperating member 30, each have two cut-outs 35 and 36
therein in order to accommodate sections 32 and 33
containing the magnets 3~. A portion of the slats 19
between the cut-outs 35 and 36 extend into the space
between the two sections 32 and 33 forming the split
35 housing and this portion is connected to the cable 13 by
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way of upper and lower rungs as shown, or if no rungs
are provided, directly to the cable 13 by clamps or
other means. Thus, it is seen that by this arrangement,
the slats 9' are supported in the same manner as the
slats 9 and that any additional structure, such as
clamps clamping the upper and lower rungs to any reduced
portion of a slat at a cut-out or separate tape ladder
means connecting slats 9' and 9 are not necessary to
ensure vertical and longitudinal alignment of all the
10 slats.
The tape cable 13 is connected at one point to the
split housing between the sections 32 and 33 by an
adhesive or any other means. Because of the extreme
thinness of the split housing at the web 38 adjoining
15 the two sections, the cable 13 is not depressed or
displaced laterally with respect to the slats for any
substantial extent, so that no undue interference would
occur between the cable and the edges of the slats 9 not
having cut-outs resulting in possible deformation of the
20 slats or increase in force necessary to tilt the slats.
The hanger member 16 as shown in Figure 2 comprises
a body portion 40 having a length substantially equal to
the width of the slats 9 and over the ends of which the
tape cable 13 and 14 extend. Further, the hanger member
25 is spaced from the end slat 10. The result of this
construction is that no undue lateral force is exerted
on the end slat which would result in deformation of the
slat, nor does the end slat have to be shaped to make a
connection with the hanger member. Thus the end slat
30 may be identical with the slats 9, thus reducing the
inventory requirements.
The body portion 40 has a plurality of slots 41 on
a side thereof opposite an end slat through which the
ends of the tape cables may be threaded in order to
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fasten the cables to the hanger member. The cables
could also be fastened to the hanger member by an
adhesive or other means.
The opposite side of the body portion 40 from the
slots 41 has a bearing section 43 which engages with the
suspension bracket 17, so as to form a pivotal
connection with respect to a frame member. As shown,
the bottom of the bearing section 43 is spaced above the
end slat 19 at a distance equal to approximately one
10 half the width of the slat. This construction ensures
that the pivot axis of the end slat, as well as the
remainder of the slats, will remain in alignment with
the pivot axis of the hanger member throughout the range
of the tilting of the slats.
As shown in Figure 1, the window unit has two
hanger members spaced from one end slat 10 and two
members spaced from an opposite end slat 11. It is to
be understood, however, that more hanger pivot members
could be added if needed. In this manner, the
20 supporting means comprising the tape cables may support
the slats in any orientation of the unit. Thus the unit
could be inverted, tipped or inclined with respect to a
vertical plane and the slats will still be maintained in
proper alignment by the cable. While the construction
25 illustrated employs a magnetic actuating mechanism and
hanger members as used with a double glazed wlndow unit,
the mechanism and pivot member will be equally
applicable for use with unglazed, single glazed or even
triple glazed units. Again, while the hanger member
30 arrangement is particularly suitable for magnetic
operation, e.g. in a hermetically sealed double glazed
unit, it could equally be employed with a mechanical
operating mechanism.
Referring now to Figures 4 and 5, the general
35 construction is similar to that of Figures 1, 2 and 3
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and like parts have been indicated by like reference
numerals. However, the hanger members 40 of Figures 1,
2 and 3 are replaced by hanger members 50 of a different
type. These each consist of a rotatable quadrant 51 and
a guide bracket 52. The guide brackets 52 are secured
to the upper and lower frame members 4 and 5 of the
window opening. The top and bottom guide bracket 52 and
quadrant 51 are identical, thus reducing inventory
requirements. Each quadrant has an annular axially
10 extending rim 53 which is slidably engaged with the
inturned arms 54 on the guide brackets 52.
The cables 13 and 14 are connected at each end of
the quadrants 51 by threading through slots 56, 57
formed in the rims 53 of the quadrants.
The top and bottom guide brackets 52 are formed so
that the arms 54 which are spaced apart at their ends
can be snapped over the rim 53 of the quadrants, whereby
the ends of the arms slidably engage the guide surface
of the quadrants. Instead of the arms engaging the
20 guide surfaces, they could instead engage curved grooves
contained within the quadrant, the only requirement
being that the quadrant be rotatable about a pivot axis
58 extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the
slats and that the pivot axis be remote from the planes
25 of the top and bottom slats.
In order to accommodate the width of the slats, it
is necessary that the radius of the guide surfaces be
approximately one half of the width of the slats to
ensure that there is no interference when the slats are
30 pivoted to a closed position.
It is seen by the constructions of the invention
that it is not necessary to have heavy top and bottom
slats to provide the support necessary for slat support
means and the top and bottom slats may be identical with
35 the remainder of the slats making up the venetian blind
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structure. This reduces the need foe maintaining an
inventory of different slats and thus reduces expense of
manufacture and installation.
The slats may be tilted by moving cables 13 and 14
up or down by applying a force directly to the cables
or, as shown in Figure 1, by the use of an operating
element and an actuating member which may be
magnetically coupled.
Since the invention provides for the bottom hanger
10 member to be secured to the bottom frame of the window
opening, and because the cables 13 and 14 extend between
and are connected to both the upper and lower hanger
members, it is apparent that the configuration shown in
Figures 4 and 5 could be inclined with respect to a
15 vertical plane and still completely cover and close a
window opening inclined with respect to a vertical
plane.
It is thus seen that a venetian blind structure as
described comprises a minimum of easily fabricated parts
20 and which will provide an efficient tiltable blind
assembly free from slat interference upon complete
closure.
In the specification the expression "hanger member"
has been used to describe the member 16 or 51. It is to
25 be understood that this should have no limiting effect
on the meaning of the expression which applies equally
to the hanger member at the top of the blind from which
the slats truly hang and the member at the bottom where
no actual hanging takes place.
