Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
10453
2142057
VENETIAN BLIND WITH WAND OPERATOR
CRO88-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION8
This application is a continuation-in-part of the
application of Scott I. Biba and John R. Genova, Serial
No. 08/266,125, filed June 27, 1994, entitled "Window
Blind With Wand Operator".
BACKGROUND OF THE lNv~.~lON
U. S. Patents 2,116,357; 2,410,549 and 3,663,646
disclose venetian blinds having a wand operator for tilt-
ing the blind slats and in which the lift cords for rais-
ing the blinds extend through the wand. In Patent
2,116,357, the wand is connected to a lever attached to
the headrail of a venetian blind to tilt the headrail in
response to lengthwise movement of the wand, and the lift
cords extend downwardly through the wand and out the lower
end to enable the lower ends of the lift cords to be
manipulated by hand to raise and lower the blind. Patent
2,410,549 uses a cord and pulley arrangement for tilting
the slats in response to turning of the wand and the
operating ends of the lift cords are attached to the lower
end of the wand so that the lower portion of the wand must
be attached and moved to raise and lower the blind.
Patent 3,663,646 discloses a wand connected to a tilt
mechanism through a worm and worm gear drive so that the
slats can be tilted in response to rotation of the wand.
In this patent, the lift cords extend downwardly through
the wand and out the lower end to enable the lower ends of
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the lift cords to manipulated by hand for raising and
lowering of the blind, and a cord lock is provided at the
lower end of the wand to lock the cords to the lower end
of the wand. In each of these patents, the lift cords
must extend out from the lower end of the wand a distance
at least equal to the height of the blind when the blind
is raised, to enable hand control of the cords during
movement of the blind from a fully lowered to a fully
raised condition. The dangling ends of the lift cords are
not only aesthetically undesirable but also presents a
potential safety hazard to children that can reach and
play with such cords.
8UMMARY OF THE INVBNTION
It is the general object of the invention to overcome
the problems of the prior art window blinds having lift
cords for raising and lowering the blind, by providing an
improved lift cord operating mechanism in which the oper-
ating portions of the lift cords remain enclosed withinthe headrail and a wand that extends downwardly from the
headrail, the operating mechanism including manually
operable cord operating means movable along the wand to
raise the blind and cord lock means for locking the blind
in an adjusted positions.
Another object of this invention is to provide a
venetian blind having an improved cord operating mechanism
in accordance with the foregoing object for raising and
lowering the blind, and in which the wand is also rotat-
able about its lengthwise axis to change the tilt of theslats for light control. Accordingly, the present invention provides a window
blind comprising a headrail, bottom rail, an expandable
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and contractable shade between the headrail and bottom
rail, and an elongated wand having a lengthwise extending
wand passage opening along one side of the wand and wand
connecting means mounting an upper end of the wand on the
headrail. Flexible operating cords are formed into an
endless cord operating loop and loop guides in the head-
rail and in the wand guides the endless cord operating
loop in a closed loop path extending from the headrail
into the wand passage. Lift cord means are attached to
the bottom rail and extend from the bottom rail into the
headrail and the lift cord means are connected to the
endless operating loop. A handle member is mounted for
movement along an outer side of the wand and cord grip
means are provided on the handle member for gripping a
portion of the operating loop in the wand passage to move
the operating loop in a direction to raise the bottom rail
when the handle member is moved in one direction along the
wand, and a cord lock is provided for releasably retaining
the bottom rail in selected raised positions. The cord
lock is preferably mounted on the wand.
The invention is especially adapted for use in vene-
tian blinds in which the shade is formed of slats support-
ed on flexible ladders with slat tilt operating means con-
nected to the ladders for tilting the slats to effect
light control. The slat tilt operating means includes
mechanism responsive to turning of the wand for tilting
the slats.
BRIEF DE8CRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGB
FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the blind embodying
the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the
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_ 4
plane 2-2 of Fig. 1 illustrating parts on a larger scale
than Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view
taken on the plane 3-3 of Fig. 2;
Fig. 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view
taken on the plane 4-4 of Fig. 2;
Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the lift
cord and operating cord arrangement of the present inven-
tion;
Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view through the
wand and lift cord operating handle for raising the blind;
Fig. 7 is a sectional view through a first embodiment
of a cord lock mounted on the wand;
Fig. 8 is a sectional view through the cord lock of
Fig. 7 taken on a plane transverse to the plane of Fig. 7;
Fig. 9 is a sectional view through a second embodi-
ment of a cord lock mounted on the wand; and
Fig. 10 is a sectional view through a third embodi-
ment of a wand mounted cord lock.
DBTAILED DE8CRIPTION
The invention relates to a window blind of the type
having a headrail generally indicated by the numeral 21j a
bottom rail 22, expandable and collapsible shade means 23
(Fig. 1) extending between the headrail and the bottom
rail, and lift cords 25 that are connected at their lower
ends to the bottom rail and which extend upwardly through
or alongside the slats into the headrail. In the pre-
ferred embodiment illustrated, the window blind is of thevenetian blind type having a plurality of slats 26 sup-
ported on flexible ladders 27. As is conventional, the
ladders 27 each includes spaced cords or tapes with slat
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supports extending between the tapes at spaced locations
therealong. A slat tilt device 28 is provided at the
upper end of each of the ladders for relatively moving the
spaced cords or tapes to tilt the slats for light control,
and the tilt devices 28 are interconnected as by a rod 29
for simultaneous movement by a slat tilt operating mechan-
ism 31.
A window blind control means is provided for control-
ling tilting of the slats and for raising and lowering the
bottom rail. In general, the control means includes an
elongated wand 36 having a lengthwise extending wand
passage that opens in a slot 36a along one side of the
wand, and wand connector means 37 for mounting the upper
end of the wand on the headrail 21. The wand is prefer-
ably of tubular configuration and is herein shown havingcircular cross-section, it being understood that the wand
could have other cross-sectional configuration, such as
oval or polygonal. The wand connector means is arranged
to swivelly support the wand on the headrail and to also
provide a cord passage that extends between the headrail
on the upper end of the internal wand passage. As best
shown in Fig. 2, the wand connector means includes a
tubular drive stem 41 mounted on a support base 42 in the
headrail for rotation about a downwardly and forwardly
inclined axis, and a universal joint of the type having a
first yoke 43 non-rotatably attached to the stem 41, a
second yoke 44 non-rotatably attached to the upper end of
the wand 36 and an intermediate joint member 46. The
intermediate joint member has first and second orthogonal-
ly disposed pivots 46a, 46b that are respectively connect-
ed to the first and second yokes 43 and 44. The yokes 43
and 44 and the intermediate joint member each have an
axial passage therethrough so that the lift cords can pass
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through the stem 41 and through the universal joint into
the wand.
The wand is operatively connected to the slat tilt
operating mechanism 31 to effect tilting of the slats in
response to the rotation of the wand about its lengthwise
axis. As described more fully hereinafter, the lift cords
are guided from the headrail into the upper end of the
wand connector means and the driving connection between
the wand connector means and the slat tilt operating
mechanism is advantageously arranged so that the lift
cords can enter and exit from the upper end of the wand
connector means at a location adjacent the bottom wall of
the headrail. The drive connection between the wand
connector and the slat tilt operating mechanism is best
shown in Figs. 2-4 and includes a beveled gear 51 formed
on the upper end of the tubular drive stem, and which
meshes with a beveled gear 52 rotatably supported on the
base 42 at a location adjacent the bottom wall of the
headrail. The beveled gear 52 is mounted on a pin 53 for
rotation about an upright axis transverse to the rod 29
and has an integral beveled gear 54 that meshes with a
bevel gear 55 on the rod 29. The size of the gears 51,
52, 53 and 54 is preferably selected so as to provide a
turn ratio of about 4 to 1 between wand turns and turns of
the shaft 29 to enable accurate adjustment of the tilt
angle and to hold the slats in adjusted position.
As best shown in Figs. 1 and 5, the lift cords 25
extend upwardly from the bottom rail through openings in
the slats and into the headrail 21 through openings in the
bottom thereof and then pass lengthwise to the headrail.
Guides 57 (Fig. 5), which may be of the static type or
pulley type, are provided for guiding the lift cords from
the vertical runs in the blind to the horizontal runs in
7 21~20S7
the headrail.
In accordance with the present invention, a flexible
cord is connected and arranged to form an endless cord
operating loop that extends through the headrail and
through the wand. As diagrammatically shown in Fig. 5,
the endless cord loop includes a run 61a that extends from
a cord guide 62a at one end of the headrail and over a
cord guide 62b adjacent the other end of the headra11, and
a run 6lb that extends downwardly in the wand and around a
cord guide 62c at a lower end of the wand, and a run 61c
that extends upwardly in the wand from the cord guide 62c
and around a cord guide 62d in the head rail, and a run
61d that extends from the cord guide 62d back to the cord
guide 62a. The ends of the lift cords 25 remote from the
bottom rail 22, are attached to one run of the endless
cord operating loop so that the lift cords operate to
raise the bottom rail when the operating loop is moved in
one direction and to lower the bottom rail when the oper-
ating loop is moved in an opposite direction. In the
embodiment illustrated, the lift cords 25 are connected to
the endless cord operating loop by a connector 63 at a
location that lies intermediate the cord guide 62c at the
lower end of the wand and the cord guide 62d in the head-
rail, when the bottom rail of the blind is in its lower-
most position as shown in Fig. 5. With this arrangement,
the lift cords 25 have a run that extends downwardly from
the cord guide 62b alongside the run 61b of the cord
operating loop and the lift cords extend around the guide
62c and then upwardly to the connector 63.
A cord lift handle member 71 is mounted for movement
along the outer side of the wand and cord grip means 72
are provided on the handle member for gripping a portion
of the operating loop in the wand passage to move the
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operating loop in one direction to raise the bottom railwhen the handle member is moved in one direction along the
wand. Cord lock means 74 are provided for releasably
retaining the bottom rail in the raised position. In the
preferred embodiment illustrated, the cord lock means are
mounted on the wand and arranged to releasably hold the
cord operating loop against movement in the direction
opposite said one direction.
The handle 71 and cord grip means 72 is best shown in
Fig. 6. The cord grip means is preferàbly normally posi-
tioned in a cord release condition and is operable by a
hand pressure for moving the grip means to a cord gripping
position. The cord grip means includes a cord grip member
75 mounted on the handle 71 for movement with the handle
along the wand and for limited movement relative to the
handle in a direction crosswise of the wand. The member
75 is disposed in complementary opening in one side of the
handle 71 and overlies a pad 76 that slidably engages the
outer side of the wand. One run 61b of the operating cord
loop and the lift cords 25 extend from the passage in the
wand through an opening 76a in the pad 76 and between the
pad and the member 75 and then back through an opening 76b
in the pad to the wand passage. With this arrangement,
the cord grip means is normally in a cord release condi-
tion and, when the cord grip member 75 is pressed towardthe wand as by finger pressure, the cords are gripped
between the member 75 and the pad 76 so the operating cord
will move in one direction when the handle 75 is moved
downwardly along the wand. The cord lock means 74 is
arranged to releasably retain the cord loop against retro-
grade movement so that the cord grip means 72 can be
released and the handle 71 raised on the wand for opera-
tion of one or more subsequent lift strokes.
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g
A preferred embodiment of the cord lock means is
shown in Figs. 7 and 8. A cord lock body 81 is fixedly
mounted on the lower end of the wand and provides a cavity
82 that communicates with the wand passage. The cord lock
75 includes a generally drum shaped member 84 preferably
non-rotatably mounted in the cavity 82, and a cord lock
roller 85 having ends mounted in opposed slots 86 in the
body 81. In the embodiment illustrated, drum member 84
also functions as the cord guide 62c at lower end of the
wand. As shown in Fig. 7 the slots 86 having one end
portion 86a shaped so as to guide the roller 85 toward the
periphery of the drum member 84 and a second portion 86b
that extends outwardly of the periphery of the drum mem-
ber. The run 61b of the endless cord loop extends down-
wardly around the drum 84 and then under the cord lockroller 85 to the run 61c. When the cord lift operating
handle 71 and cord grip 72 are operated to pull the run
61b of the cord operating loop downwardly, the tension on
the run 61c of the operating loop is relieved and roller
85 shifts to the left to allow the cords to pass around
the drum. When the cord grip on the handle is released,
the run 61c of the cord loop is tensioned by the weight of
the blind and shifts the roller 85 to the right as viewed
in Fig. 7 to clamp the cord against the drum 84 and lock
the cords against retrograde movement. A manually oper-
able cord lock release is provided and includes a lock
handle 87 that is slidable in a direction paralleling the
length of the wand relative to the body 81. The lock
handle 87 has inclined grooves 88 that receive outer ends
of the roller 85. The grooves are inclined at an angle to
the path of movement of the handle relative to the body 81
so as to cam the roller 85 to a cord release position when
the lock handle is moved upwardly relative to the body
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from the position shown in Fig. 7. The lock handle is
yieldably urged downwardly relative to the body 81 by a
spring 89 and stops 90 are provided for limiting downward
movement of the lock handle to the position shown in Fig.
5 7. Thus, the cord lock can be manually actuated to a cord
release position by manually moving the lock handle 87
upwardly.
A modified form of cord lock is illustrated in Fig.
9. This embodiment is the same as Figs. 7 and 8 and like
lO numerals are used to designate the same parts, with like
numerals followed by the postscript ' used to designate
modified parts. In this embodiment, the spring 89' is ar-
ranged to yieldably urge the lock handle 87' to a raised
position relative to the lock body 81 and the cam slot 88'
15 in the handle 87' is inclined at an angle so as to move
the roller 85 to a cord release condition when the lock
handle 87' is moved downwardly. With this arrangement,
the cord lift operating handle 71 can be moved downwardly
without actuating the cord grip means 72, until the oper-
20 ating handle 71 engages the lock handle 87' to release thecord lock and allow the blind to lower under the control
of the manually operable cord grip means 72.
A further modified form of cord lock is illustrated
in Fig. 10 and in this embodiment, a drum shape member 84"
25 is mounted in a cord lock body 81" and a cord lock roller
85" has ends guided in opposed slots 86" for movement
between a locked condition as shown in Fig. 10 and a re-
lease condition. As in the preceding embodiments, the run
61b cord operating loop extends around the drum 85" and
30 under the cord lock roller 85" to the run 61c and the
grooves 86" in the cord lock body are shaped to guide the
cord lock roller to a locked condition when the run 61b is
tensioned. A means such as a push button 91" is mounted
11 2112057
on the cord lock body for operation by a finger pressure
to move the roller 85" to a release condition.
From the foregoing it is believed the construction
and operation of the window blind with wand operator will
be readily understood. The lift cords 25 are advan-
tageously connected by the connector 63 to the endless
cord operating loop 61a-61d at a location such that the
connector is located in the run 61c when the bottom rail
is in its fully lowered position, so that the connector
does not pass through either the cord grip means on the
operating handle 71 or the cord lock means 74 on the lower
end of the wand. The cord grip means 72 on the operating
handle 71 can be selectively operated by finger pressure
on the member 75 to grip the cord loop and the lift cords
25 to raise the bottom rail 22 when the operating handle
71 is moved downwardly along the wand. The cord lock
locks the lift cords against retrograde movement when the
run 61b is tensioned upwardly by the weight of the blind,
as occurs when the cord grip means 72 is released, to
thereby hold the blind in a raised position. The cord
lift operating handle and cord grip means 72 can be oper-
ated in a series of downward strokes to raise the blind in
step fashion. Thus, the wand can be substantially shorter
than the full height of the blind and of a length such as
to position the cord lift handle member 71 and cord lock
release mechanism at a convenient location. Since the
ends of the lift cords are attached to the endless cord
operating means, the lift cords are retained within the
wand and headrail in all positions of the blind. Further,
in venetian blind type window shades, the wand is connect-
ed to the shade operating mechanism for the venetian blind
to effect tilting of the slats in response to rotation of
the wand.
