EP0151827B1

EP0151827B1 - Support framework for any type of rolling curtains easily fitting any window opening with associated device for a quick and final stretching unrolling adjustment of said rolling curtains

Info

Publication number: EP0151827B1
Application number: EP84201860A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Nardo Bonini
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1983-12-20
Filing date: 1984-12-13
Publication date: 1989-04-26
Also published as: DE3477947D1; EP0151827A2; EP0151827A3

Description

This invention relates to a support framework for any type of rolling curtains and associated device for a quick and final stretching unrolling adjustment of said rolling curtains.
As known, these rolling curtains, which are generally used, for example, to protect a room from excessive light-as a screen or from insects getting in - as a mosquito-net -, are generally wound up around an upper roller which rotates on its axis and is supplied with an internal spring which, when loaded by the curtain unrolling, rolls the support roller whenever the bottom bar fixed to the curtain bottom - either along its full length or along most of it - is released upwards.
US-A-2769491 discloses a support framework for any type of rolling curtains easily fitting any window opening with associated device for a quick and final stretching unrolling adjustment of said rolling curtains, being of the type including a box, a hollow roller with longitudinal groove (4) with a screen-the actual curtain-wound around it, at the two box ends a first and a second head being fitted for the free support of said roller and of said curtain spring uprolling devices and vertical guides for said screen edges and hooking elements for keeping the curtain tight when in straight position, wherein the lateral guides are made of a continuous section of a substantially C shaped profile.
The said rolling curtains take too much time to be mounted, because the exact window opening dimensions must be known before ordering the product from the factory thus considerably raising its final cost. This invention aims to avoid the above inconvenience.
Another aim is to supply a framework with associated device for the curtain height unrolling adjustment overcoming the above mentioned disadvantage.
This invention also aims at providing adequate means to keep the curtain edges within the sliding guides, made to ensure proper protection, and, at the same time, to avoid unnecessary thickening of the edges in the guides duetothickening or similar other means generally adopted in this sector.
This invention also aims, once the apparatus is fitted on site, to ensure that the curtain unrolling and uprolling parts can work freely.
The invention is characterized by the fact:

- that the second one of said heads is provided with a device for the stretching adjustment of said screen including: a roller and supporting element, an element, which is to travel inside the said roller and rotate with it, devices to control the translation of the travelling element, a wheel having notches around its periphery and associated with the said translation control devices, appendices engaging with each other, one protruding from the said travelling element and one from the said wheel; a bolt-device, engaging in notches of the wheel and movable devices fitted at the ends of a bottom bar, with at least one wing which is to be inserted underneath a height-adjustable stop;
- that the lateral guides have along their full length, at least on one of the open edges, an elastic gasket formed preferably by a continuous brush, the free end of which gasket interfering with the screen edge inserted in the slot between its edges;
- that between the roller and one head a removable shimming used as distance piece is inserted;
- that the lower bar to which the screen is connected is formed by a profile having on its upper portion and along its full length a slot open upwardly and forming an undercut in which the end of the string for operating the curtain or screen is engaged or slidingly received, said slot being symmetric to the longitudinal vertical middle plane of the bar and moreover having on its front face and along its full length another dovetail slot to receive the operating handle which is a separate piece, the bar having also internal longitudinal and central holes: for housing the fitting elements of the two end pieces of the heads which are also to function as stop and lower blocking element of the curtain, or screen, when fully stretched.

The invention is illustrated in detail in the enclosed drawings which give an execution example.

In drawing table 1/2:
- Drawing No. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of the whole framework according to the invention;
- Drawing No. 2 shows the fitting of the distance piece in detail.
In drawing table 2/2/:
- Drawing No. 3 shows an enlarged exploded view of the upper part of the device for stretching the curtain in the working phase;
- Drawing No. 4 shows a section taken along line A.A;
- Drawing No. 5 shows how the bottom bar, together with the curtain, is hooked to the lower part of the stretching device, also showing an intermediate sliding position;
- Drawing No. 6 shows a cross section of the bottom bar, drawn near the manoeuvring string and showing the recommended position for the said string visavis the curtain;
- Drawing No. 7 shows a detail of the stop element acting as a pin for the curtain uprolling roller and as an anchor for the helical spring.

Referring to the above mentioned drawings, the framework-which is generally referred to with 1 - mainly includes a parallelepiped box 2 containing a hollow roller 3 with a longitudinal groove 4 and having wound around it a screen 5 or a curtain, advantageously a mosquito-net, and which comes out of box 2 through a longitudinal slit 6, on the box 2 ends being fitted vertical guides 7 with a height corresponding to the one of the window opening where the framework is to be mounted.
The box 2, the roller 3 and the curtain 5 are directly assembled at the factory according to standard measures not necessarily corresponding to the ones of the window opening where the framework and relevant curtain are to be mounted in.
In one of the two roller 3 ends a support cylinder 8 will be placed which is fixed on the first head 9 of the box 2, the roller 3 being free to rotate on this cylinder. The said element 8 has threaded and frustum tapered end for housing, according to a well known technique, one end of a spring 10 able to give the roller 3 the energy needed to roll up the screen 5 again, the second end of the said spring engaging another element 44 which is contained inside the hollow roller 3 and is supplied with an appendix cooperating with the groove 4, thus enabling this element to run freely along the said roller, without however rotating having regard to the latter, thanks to the appendix interference with the said groove during spring 10 loading and, of course, unloading.
What just has been described is the state of art technique and is not part of this invention.
According to the invention, the device for a quick and final stretching unrolling adjustment of the screen 5 (Dwg. 1) includes a second head 11 which is to cooperate with the box 2 and opposite to head 9, at its centre a cylindrical bore is located having an off-centre radial groove 13.
At the centre of the bore 12 there is a hole 14 carrying a keyed end 15 of a threaded pin 16 is placed, near to this end 15 being a wheel 17 with a certain number of notches 18 around.
The wheel 17 has a hub 19, which is also a support of roller end, from the front of which 20 a peg 21 protrudes which in its turn, as described below, engages a similar peg 22 on the side of an internally threaded sleeve which is to engage pin 16 thread.
On the sleeve's 23 external surface there is an appendix 24 engaging the roller 3 groove 4.
The vertical groove 13 is off-centre with respect to round hollow 12 and will house a bolt 25 which can have a slotted hole 26 for an adjusting and locking screw 27.
The said bolt 25 forms a latch going in between the notches of the wheel 17 to stop roller rotation at a pre-determined position, chosen by the person installing the unit, of roller 3, thus achieving a proper stretching of the curtain once it is hooked via bar 29 to the height-adjustable lower stop 31 for example of the screw type.
As shown in drawing No. 3, the said bolt 25 has an asimmetric upside-down "V" shape.
In this way, when the curtain is being stretched and the stop element is engaged, on this side of the point the wheel 17 with notches 18 will exercise a pressure perpendicularto the axis of stop element, thereby insuring sure and continuous blocking, because no axial power is exerted which would make the bolt slide downwards along the guides 7, thus preventing it from disengaging from the notch.
With reference to Drawing No. 4, each vertical guide has a substantially C-shaped cross section engaging inside of it and along the whole guide length, a brush guide seal 28.
With reference to Drawing No. 1, the lower edge of the screen 5 is tied to a bottom bar 29 with constant section along its full length.
Number 34 indicates a head element to be inserted in the bottom bar 29, which functions both as sliding element inside the guides 7 and as stop- peg in the lower blocking-device element of the bar by engaging itself with the edge 35 underneath screw 31, as schematically shown in Drawing No. 5.
The said element 34 is inserted in the bores existing in the bar head profile, in particular the base 43 will engage itself in the bar upper groove 36 and the peg 37 will engage itself in the central opening 38.
Clearly enough, the use of element 34 at the two bar ends allows the said bar to be cut according to the required length without having to prolong the lock wing 35 beyond necessary.
Moreover, as this stop element 34 is a separate piece, it may be made of a material different from the bar 29, such as of synthetic material like plastic, being thus more suitable to stand wearing conditions caused by interference with the head 31, thereby making the whole unit much more effective and reliable.
Number 39 shows a short handle, made of any material suitable for the purpose, with a dovetail- shaped rear portion for fitting into the groove 40 of bar 29, so that whatever the length of the bar 29 is, the handle can be placed in the central portion of bar 29. This bar/handle engagement solution also reducing the overall weight of the whole unit, without affecting practical use.
Number 41 indicates a string for operating curtain 5, which is engaged or received in the slot 40 located on the upper side of bar 29, so string 41 can reach the curtain centre line.
When in this position the string is passed beyond through a corresponding hole 42, and pends downwards behind the curtain so that the movement of the bar 29 will be mainly along a vertical plane.
If the hole 42 is not desired, the string 41 may also be inserted in the groove 40 and, instead of a single centrally placed handle 39, there may be two or more of them - i.e. for much larger window openings, the string 41, however, being able to reach, always by sliding, the central part of bar 29, that is to say of the curtain 5, in the space between one handle and the next.
Number 33 indicates a shimming, used as a distance piece, supplied with a grip 30, such as an external ring, for example, to facilitate hooking and pulling.
Said shimming will be removed after completion installation of the whole unit, so a clearance between the unit movable parts and the fixed heads is automatically created, thereby insuring against the curtain being somehow blocked and against any kind of friction which would involve exaggerate efforts for proper curtain sliding, with all the negative consequences herein involved.
For installation of the unit, a framework 1 having about the same length and width as the respective widths of the window opening on which the rolling curtain has to be installed: no previous inspection is necessary before installation.
For the installation of the framework, the window opening width is carefully measured and the box 2, the roller 3 and the screen 5 are simultaneously cut according to the width of the window opening, as well as the bottom bar 29.
An end of the roller 3 is placed on the support cylinder 8 the head of which 9 has been previously mounted inside the window opening and on the opposite end of the roller itself the threaded pin 16 is inserted with appendix 24 on sleeve 23 engaging the groove 4; the end 15 of pin 16 is inserted in the hole 14 of the head 11 in order to place the wheel 17 inside the bore 12.
Head 11 is then placed inside window opening opposite to head 9; sleeve 23 works as support element opposite to support element 8.
Now when distance piece 33 is removed, the unit is ready for use.
The screens 5 final heiqht unrolling adjustment is performed against spring 10 contrasting action and peg 22, which follows a helicoidal trajectory according to pin 16 pitch, at a certain stage of unrolling, interferes with peg 21 making the wheel 17 turn.
When screen 5 reaches the required stretched position the wheel 17 stops turning due to bolt 25 engaging in notch 18 and the bolt is blocked by the screw 27.
With a force acting upon the bottom bar 29, the screen 5 will be stretched according to its vertical fibres and it will be maintained stretched by hooking the protruding element 35 underneath the hooking element 31.
The longitudinal edges of screen 5 are kept inside the guides 7 by the elastic pressure exerted by the brush lip seal 28, whereas the proper tightness between the bottom bar 29 and the lower edge of the window opening is obtained by means of an extension 32 of the screen 5 inserted into the lower bore of bar 29 and protruding from below.
In a variant, bore 13 can even be on axis with bore 12 of head 9 and stop element 25, on the point, even though in a less reliable manner, can even have a simmetric upside-down "V" shape.

Claims

1. Support framework for any type of rolling curtains easily fitting any window opening with associated device for a quick and final stretching unrolling adjustment of said rolling curtains, being of the type including a box (2) a hollow roller (3) with longitudinal groove (4) with a screen 5 - the actual curtain - wound around it, at the two box ends a first (9) and a second (11) head being fitted for the free support of said roller and of said curtain spring uprolling devices (10) and vertical guides (7) for said screen edges and hooking elements (31) for keeping the curtain tight when in straight position, wherein the lateral guides (7) are made of a continuous section of a substantially C shaped profile, characterized by the fact:

- that the second one (11) of said heads is provided with a device for the stretching adjustment of said screen including: a roller and supporting element (19); an element (23) which is to travel inside the said roller and rotate with it, devices (16 and 24) to control the translation of the travelling element (23), a wheel (17) having notches (18) around its periphery and associated with the said translation control devices, appendices (21 and 22) engaging with each other, one protruding from the said travelling element (23) and one from the said wheel (17); a bolt-device (25) engaging in notches (18) of the wheel (17) and movable devices (34) fitted at the ends of a bottom bar (29) with at least one wing (35) which is to be inserted underneath a height-adjustable stop (31);

-that the lateral guides (7) have along their full length, at least on one of the open edges, an elastic gasket (28) formed preferably by a continuous brush, the free end of which gasket interfering with the screen (5) edge inserted in the slot between its edges;

a removable shimming used as distance piece is inserted;

that the lower bar (29) to which the screen is connected is formed by a profile having on its upper portion and along its full length a slot (36) open upwardly and forming an undercut in which the end of the string (41) for operating the curtain or screen is engaged or slidingly received, said slot being symmetric to the longitudinal vertical middle plane of the bar and moreover having on its front face and along its full length another dovetail slot (40) to receive the operating handle (39), which is a separate piece, the bar (29) having also internal longitudinal and central holes (31) for housing the fitting elements of the two end pieces of the heads which are also to function as stop and lower blocking element of the curtain, or screen, when fully stretched.

2. Framework, as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the said bolt devices (25) are fitted on the head (11) at the same level of the wheel (17) with notches (18) and are free to be moved from a normally disengaging position with notches (18) to an active engaging position with the said notches (18), this bolt device (25) forms a sliding latch, which in its upper part, that is to say the one engaging the notches, has a shape of an asymmetrical "V" turned upside-down, this latch being preferably in off-centre position visavis the wheel (17).

3. Framework, as claimed in claim 1 characterized by the fact that the shimming (33) used as a distancepiece is supplied with a grip (30), such as a ring or alike.

4. Framework, as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the two end heads (34) are provided with two rings (35) which are in a symmetric position vsavis the base (43).

5. Framework, as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the curtain manoeuvring string (41) may always be placed by insertion into the front dovetail shaped groove (40), or in a similar one, and the handle (39) may be divided into several parts to allow the string to be placed at the bar's (29) centre, that is to say the curtain's or screen's (5) centre.

6. Framework, as claimed in claim 2, characterized by the fact that the latch (25) in its upper part has the shape of a symmetric "V" turned upside-down.