AU2003204629A1 - Drawstring fastener for curtain - Google Patents

Description

I

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT (Original) APPLICATION

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COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

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RELATED ART: NAME OF APPLICANT: ACTUAL INVENTOR: ADDRESS FOR SERVICE: INVENTION TITLE: TSER-WEN CHOU TSER-WEN CHOU LORD COMPANY, Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, of 4 Douro Place, West Perth, Western Australia, 6005, AUSTRALIA.

DRAWSTRING FASTENER FOR CURTAIN DETAILS OF ASSOCIATED APPLICATION NO'S: NONE The following Statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to me/us: C--r DRAWSTRING FASTENER FOR CURTAIN FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a drawstring fastener for curtain, more particularly to a drawstring fastener for curtain that the structure of drawstring will not be damaged easily by forces; in addition to saving energy for the operation and having the tight fastening effect, the present invention also improves the life of use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Since a traditional drawstring fastener structure for curtains generally includes a fixed wheel and a latch wheel, and the fixing effect is accomplished by pressing the serrated thread of the latch wheel against the drawstring on the curved surface of the fixed wheel (refer to FIG. and the circular surface of the fixed wheel secures the drawstring and then the serrated surface of the latch wheel presses against the drawstring. Since the drawstring flatly attaches onto the circular curve and then is pressed by the latch wheel, the structure of the drawstring lies flat. When the drawstring is pulled by the weight of the curtain, it usually causes damages to the drawstring, and thus shortens the life of its use. Furthermore, since the fixed wheel is fixed and will not rotate, and has a circular curved surface, the pressing by the latch wheel will pull the string tighter and tighter, and thus makes the pulling very easy, but difficult for the loosening. The common way of the pulling is sideway, which makes the operation not very smooth.

Since the fixed wheel of the traditional drawstring fastener in circular pipe is fixed and does not rotate, such that the drawstring causes some kind of trouble in its operation or shortens its life.

f Furthermore, since the height and size of the traditional drawstring fastener is not standardized, and the curtain track design with different sizes in the market may cause insecure installation due to the difference of sizes, and thus is unable to attain the secured positioning effect.

In view of the issue and trouble caused by the. traditional drawstring fastener, the inventor of the present invention improved the traditional design to save energy and enhance the life of the drawstring fastener.

The main improvements of the present invention include a rotary polygonal wheel to replace the traditional fixed wheel structure, so that when the latch wheel is pressed, the drawstring is also pressed and bent by the corners and edges of the polygonal positioning wheel and then secured by the pressing of the latch wheel. Since the forces exerted on the drawstring are bent and fixed, the polygonal wheel totally shares and absorbs the force; after being pressed by the latch wheel, the drawstring will not be pressed into a flat form or damaged. Furthermore, since the positioning wheel structure is a rotary polygonal wheel, therefore when the latch wheel presses against the drawstring and then pulls the string to drive the positioning wheel to rotate and leave a planar space on the other side, such that the drawstring can be detached from the space and be separated quickly from the positioning wheel to make it easy to draw down the curtain.

The advantages of the present invention are described as follows: 1. The present invention makes use of the corners and edges of a polygonal structure of the positioning wheel to support and bend the drawstring, and works with a secured engagement of the latch wheel to let the corners and edges of the polygonal wheel share the pulling force instead of letting the serrations of the latch wheel engage the drawstring. Such arrangement prevents damages to the drawstring structure, and thus enhances the life of use.

2. Since the positioning wheel of the present invention is a rotary polygon wheel with a plurality of planes, therefore the pressing status can be converted into the loosening status quickly and makes the operation smoother and more energy saving.

3. The present invention having a movable supporting member to fit different curtain tracks. Besides securing the curtain on the track, the movable support member also allows users to change the height of the support to the curtain in order to fit different sizes of the curtain tracks.

4. The present invention comprises a movable roller disposed on top of a rivet within the string path to reduce friction of the drawstring in order to accomplish the effect of saving energy for the operation.

The structure of the positioning wheel plus the latch wheel of the present invention can be used to fasten the drawstring of other kinds of curtains such as cloth curtain or bamboo curtain.

6. The present invention can have different configurations by changing the number of corners, edges, or the planar structure of f the positioning wheel according to the thickness of the string.

To provide a further understanding of the present invention, the following detailed description illustrates embodiments and examples of the invention, this detailed description being provided only for illustration of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an illustrative diagram of the drawstring fastener pressing on the drawstring according to a prior-art drawstring fastener for curtain.

FIG. 2 is a perspective diagram of the disassembled parts of the drawstring fastener structure of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective diagram of the assembled drawstring fastener structure of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an illustrative diagram of the present invention when it is in use.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional diagram of the installed structure of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative diagram of the drawstring fastener pressing on the drawstring according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an illustrative diagram of the latch wheel securing the drawstring according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an illustrative diagram of the drawstring being loosened according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of the positioning wheel according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a front-view diagram of the positioning wheel according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a front-view diagram of the positioning wheel according to a further embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional diagram of the applied structure of the positioning wheel of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram of the applied structure according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional diagram of the applied structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an illustrative diagram of the fastener being installed onto the curtain track according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED

EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 which show the drawstring fastener of the present invention, comprising a front wall 1 and a rear wall 10 of a base structure; a drawstring hole 100 disposed at the bottom of the base; a latch member 101 protruded from the lower edge of the front wall 1; a restricting hole 11 and a positioning hole 12, 13, 14 for separately accommodating a serration 30 of a latch wheel 3 and a plurality of rivets 15, 16,17 passing through a restricting hole 18, and positioning hole 19, 190, 191 on the rear wall 10 to couple the front wall 1 and the rear wall 10; wherein the rivets 15, 16, 17 having a movable roller 150, 170 and a positioning wheel 2 with a planar surface 20 such that the positioning wheel 2 can have rotary movement, and a latch wheel 3 can shift in the restricting hole 11.

Furthermore, a latch member 102 (as shown in FIG. 5) protruded from the lower edge of the rear wall 10 has an embedding member 103, and a support member 104, 105 each extended from both sides of the latch member 102, which has a movable prop 4, and the prop 4 at is upper section has an auxiliary support member 400 disposed at the middle section on both sides to fit an accommodating structure 50 of a curtain track, and the prop 4 at its lower section has a latch groove 40 coupled directly to the embedding member 103 on the rear wall 10; after the height of the support member 104, 105 is adjusted by tools, the support member supports the prop 4, and the prop 4 is used to support the drawstring fastener into a curtain track 5, which attains a better positioning effect by means of the support of the accommodating structure 50 and the support of the auxiliary support member 400; the lower section uses the latch member 102 to anchor a through hole 51 on the curtain track Ssuch that the fastener can be fixed into the curtain track 5 to provide a positioning effect for the drawstring of a blind 6 as shown in FIGS.

4 and When the user desires to pull up the blind 6 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 by pulling down the drawstring 7, the movable roller 150 on the rivets is used to save energy for such movement, and the latch wheel 3 is guided and driven by the restricting hole 11 to approach the positioning wheel 2 accordingly as the restricting hole 11 rises.

Since the positioning wheel 2 is a polygonal wheel structure, therefore the drawstring is supported and held by the corner of the polygonal wheel and the drawstring is bent and fixed to produce a unidirectional positioning effect; and with the pressing by the serration 30 of the latch wheel 3, the purpose of positioning the drawstring is attained.

Refer to FIG. 8. When the user desires to pull down the blind 6, the drawstring 7 is pulled down, and a force is exerted to the positioning wheel 2 to rotate the positioning wheel 2 into a planar space on the other side, so that the drawstring 7 gains some room due to the pressing and is separated from the positioning wheel 2, and then the latch wheel 3 can shift downward to attain the purpose of pulling down the blind.

Please refer to Figs. 9, 10, and 11. The present invention forms a protruded particle 8 structure and a concave groove 80 structure on the surface of the positioning wheel 200, 201 structure to fit the different thickness of the drawstrings.

Furthermore, the drawstring fastener of the present invention can be applied to the fastener of a bamboo blind, and its structure is shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, comprising a movable fixing plate 9 at the top of the structure and a screw hole 90, and a rotary axle 91 movably coupled to the fastener. The fastener comprises a polygonal positioning wheel and a latch wheel 93, and the fastener at its inner edge forms serrations 94 to match with the engagement of the serration of the latch wheel 93 and press the positioning wheel 92 upward to attain the same positioning effect.

Further, refer to FIG. 13. In the figure, the fastener at its upper end has two protruded ears 95, 96 each disposed on both sides, and has a screw hole 950, 960, and the fastener has a guiding hole 980 and an axle center 97 has a latch wheel 98, so that the pulling force by the drawstring presses the positioning wheel upward to attain the purpose of positioning as shown in FIG. 14.

Further, refer to FIG. 15. In the figure, the latch member 101', 102' protruded from the lower edge of the front wall 1' and the rear wall 10' embeds and latches respectively into the embedding hole 500' of a protruded wall 50' extended from the bottom of the curtain track 5' such that the main body of the fastener can be mounted onto the middle position of the curtain track 5' to provide the function of fixing the drawstring for the up and down movement of a blind.

Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that these and various other modifications and changes may be made to the present invention without strictly following the exemplary application illustrated and described herein and without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

Claims (9)

1. A drawstring fastener for curtain, having a base structure with a front wall and a rear wall, and a restricting hole and a positioning hole corresponding to the front wall and the rear wall of the base structure; wherein the restricting hole accommodating a latch wheel to pass through and couple to the front and rear walls and the positioning hole having a movable roller each disposed on both ends of the positioning hole, and at its middle section having a rivet disposed on the positioning wheel and being in a rotary status; a latch member protruded from the lower edge of the rear wall having an embedded member; a support member disposed on each of the both sides of the embedded member for coupling and supporting a prop.

2. The drawstring fastener for curtain as claimed in claim 1, wherein said prop at its upper section having an auxiliary support member at the middle section of both sides of the prop to work together with an accommodating structure of a curtain track, and at the lower section of the prop having a latch groove, and the latch groove and the embedded member of the rear wall being coupled with each other.

3. The drawstring fastener for curtain as claimed in claim 1, wherein said front wall and rear wall at its bottom having a drawstring hole in between, and the front wall and the rear wall having a latch member each protruded from the lower edges of the front wall and the rear wall for anchoring into a through hole at the lower edge of the curtain track and fixing the drawstring fastener onto a side of the curtain track.

4. The drawstring fastener for curtain as claimed in claim 1, wherein said latch member protruded from the lower edge of the front and rear walls anchoring into an embedded hole of a protruded wall extended from the bottom of the curtain track such that the main body of said fastener being mounted onto said curtain track. The drawstring fastener for curtain as claimed in claim 1, wherein said positioning wheel at its periphery having a polygonal wheel structure with a plurality of different planes, such that the corner and edge of the plane supporting and bending the drawstring for the positioning.

6. The drawstring fastener for curtain as claimed in claim 1, wherein said latch wheel having a serrated thread on its rod surface, and the rod surface serrated thread passing through the restricting hole and rising to drive the positioning wheel and pressing the drawstring on the plane for the positioning.

7. The drawstring fastener for curtain as claimed in claim 1, wherein said positioning wheel on its plane forming a protruded particle structure.

8. The drawstring fastener for curtain as claimed in claim 1, wherein said positioning wheel on its plane forming a concave groove structure.

9. The drawstring fastener for curtain as claimed in claim 1, wherein said base structure at its upper end having a movable fixing plate and a screw hole, and an axle coupling to the drawstring fastener which is a tapered structure and has a polygonal positioning wheel and a latch wheel with serrated threads, and a serration being disposed on the inner side of a shifting engaging wheel to work together with the engagement and guiding of the serrated thread to move the drawstring up and down. drawstring fastener for curtain as claimed in claim 1, wherein said drawstring fastener at its upper end having two protruded ears disposed on each side, and the protruded ear having a screw hole; the drawstring fastener having a guiding hole being passed through with an axle center to set the position of the latch wheel into the guiding hole for the movement and approaching the upper end of the positioning wheel to press the drawstring.

11.A drawstring fastener for curtain substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of Figures 2 to 15 of the accompanying drawings. Dated this llth day of June 2003 TSER-WEN CHOU By his Patent Attorneys LORD COMPANY PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA