AU3555402A - Roller shutter winch arrangement - Google Patents

Description

Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: Central Home Products Pty Ltd Actual Inventor: Graham Ralph Gilbert Address for Service: MADDERNS, 1st Floor, 64 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Invention title: ROLLER SHUTTER WINCH ARRANGEMENT Details of Associated Provisional Application No: PR 4647 dated 30 th April 2001.

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us.

(PatAU131 FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to roller shutter systems and in particular roller screens or roller shutter systems for domestic or commercial applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Roller shutter systems are used over windows to provide security and to give thermal and acoustic insulation and to cut out light from entering the window.

Manually operated roller screens or roller shutter systems mounted on the outside of a building use a winch or manual tape pulling system positioned within the building to open and close the roller screens or roller shutter systems. In such situations the tape or cable controlling the roller screens or roller shutter systems is passed through an aperture drilled into the wall of the building in the region of the roller screens or roller shutter system housing or casing at the top of the window. It is necessary, therefore, that the screen or shutter be disassembled from the housing or casing so that the housing or casing can be mounted onto the wall and then the roller screen or roller shutter is assembled in sections and then it is necessary to pass the tape or cable through the aperture before the casing is finally assembled.

It is an object of this invention to provide a roller screen or roller shutter system which is simpler and which has a simpler installation system and an alternative winch arrangement or hand pulling system for manually operated roller screens or roller shutters.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In one form, therefore, the invention is said to reside in roller screen or roller shutter drive system for a roller shutter of the type having a flexible roller screen or shutter supported on an axle in a casing, a pair of track assemblies adapted to receive the edges of the roller screen or shutter as the screen or shutter is unrolled from the casing and a drive arrangement, the drive arrangement including a flexible drive member wound on to the axle or a coaxial winding drum and extending to a winch box or hand pulling system, the drive system being characterised by the flexible drive member extending down within one of the track assemblies and through a rear portion of one of the track assemblies to the winch box or hand pulling system.

Preferably the flexible drive member is wound in a reverse direction onto the axle or coaxial winding drum.

The flexible drive member may be selected from a strap, cord, string, wire or nylon braided cord.

There may be further included a grommet in the casing and a pulley arrangement in one of the track assemblies wherein the flexible drive member is passed through the grommet from the casing and guided into the track arrangement and then over the pulley installed in the track arrangement at the level at the winch arrangement or hand pulling arrangement is desired to be within the building.

The track assembly may include a track and a cover plate and the cover plate may be fixed to the track by a clip arrangement.

Preferably the track comprises an extrusion having a first elongate recess adapted in use to receive the ends of the shutters and a second elongate recess to receive the flexible drive member and the pulley arrangement.

Preferably the casing has spigots adapted upon installation to be received in the second elongate recess of each track assembly.

It will be seen that by this means it is not necessary to drill a hole through a wall at the height of the roller casing and then mount the casing to the wall and then assemble the screen or shutter into the casing over the hole. In fact the screen or shutter and casing can be supplied in a fully assembled manner with the flexible drive member extending out through the region of the casing to which the tracks are fitted so that when the tracks are fitted to the casing the drive member can be passed down one of the tracks. This greatly reduces installation time and can make installation considerably easier because the installer does not need to know how to assemble the roller screen or shutter and its other internal components into the casing correctly. It also means that the roller shutter casing can be mounted at any convenient place on the wall above the window or other aperture because its placement is not dependant upon the ability to drill the aperture in the selected place. There may be for instance problems drilling through a window lintel for instance.

By this arrangement there may be considerable flexibility in the placement of the aperture.

Preferably the roller screen has spring assistance for re-rolling the spring. The spring can be wound up or tensioned during unrolling then assist with the rolling process when re-rolling. Such a spring may be positioned within the axle.

Preferably the flexible roller screen is of the type with a plurality of slats hinged together on longitudinal edges of the slates.

In an alternative embodiment the flexible roller screen may be a fabric or shade material to screen an aperture.

The term reverse winding of the flexible drive member is intended to mean that as the screen is unwound from the spool the flexible drive member is wound onto the spool or drive drum which is coaxial with the spool so that unwinding of the flexible drive member from the spool or drum by pulling with the winch or hand pulling system winds up the roller shutter screen onto the axle.

Similarly loosening on the drive member from the winch or hand pulling system causes the flexible drive member to wind onto the spool or drum enabling the roller shutter screen to unwind from the axle under the action of gravity.

The winch box may be operated by a winch handle and have a take up spool for the flexible drive member. As discussed above there may also be a hand pulling system by which the roller screen or roller shutter is operated.

It will be seen generally that a roller shutter system can be provided with a fully assembled casing with the flexible drive member extending from it. The spigots or other form of connector on the casing can be placed into the top of the track arrangements and then the entire assembly placed and fixed onto a wall around a window and the flexible member passed down along one of the track assemblies.

The lower pulley can be mounted into the track assembly at any convenient height along the length of the track assembly.

In a further form the invention is said to reside in a roller shutter drive system having a drive member extending down a track member, and passing over a pulley member in the track member to extend to a winch box.

In a still further form the invention is said to reside in a shutter and casing assembly including: an elongate casing with a longitudinal slot on its lower face, end plates for the elongate casing, mounting spigots extending down from the end plates at each end of the lower face, an axle extending longitudinally within the casing; a shutter assembly, rolled onto the axle and extending out through the longitudinal slot; a drive drum mounted onto the axle at one end thereof; and an aperture adjacent one of the mounting spigots; and a flexible drive member wound onto the drive drum and extending out through the aperture.

The flexible drive member may be a cord selected from string, wire or nylon braided cord.

The axle may include a rewind spring.

This then generally describes the invention but to assist with understanding reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which show a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a window with a roller shutter installed on it, Figure 2 shows the view shown in Figure 1 with the cover for the casing and tracks removed, Figure 3 shows an inside view of the window particularly showing the winch box for the shutter, Figure 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a winch drive arrangement according to one embodiment of the invention, Figure 5 shows a front schematic view of the embodiment shown in Figure 1, Figure 6 shows a cross sectional view of a roller shutter assembly and in particular some detail of the lower pulley assembly and flexible drive member passing into the winch box, and Figure 7 shows an assembled casing according to one embodiment of the invention.

Now looking more closely at the drawings, and in particular Figures 1 to 6, it will be seen that a wall 1 has a window aperture 2 which is to be covered by the roller shutter. The roller shutter is positioned in a casing 4 above the window lintel 5 and track assemblies 6 extend down each side of the window.

Within the casing is a shutter axle 8 and a cable drum 10 which are coaxial mounted onto axle 11.

The roller shutter is formed from a plurality of slats 12 joined along their longitudinal edges so that they can be wound onto the shutter axle 8.

The roller shutter slats are wound onto the axle 8 in a clockwise direction as shown in Figure 4 but the drive cable 14 is wound onto the cable drum in an anti-clockwise direction.

From the cable drum the flexible drive cable passes over a flanged grommet 16 in the casing and then extends down the track assembly 6 to a lower pulley 17 where is passes through an aperture in the rear of the track assembly 6 and an aperture 18 through the wall 1 to a winch box 20 inside the building. The winch box 20 is operated by means of a winch handle 22.

As can be seen in the detailed cross sectional view in Figure 6 the track assembly in this embodiment has two recesses in an extruded housing. The first recess 24 receives the ends of the longitudinal slats 12 and has weather strips 26 to support the ends of the longitudinal slats 12. The other recess 28 has the drive cable 14 passing down it. After installation of the pulley 17 and passing the drive member 14 through the wall a cover plate 30 is placed over the aperture 28 and received either by clips or by blind fastener 32.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 6 the track assembly 6 includes a flange 34 but this is not essential to the invention.

As can be particularly seen in Figure 5 the casing 4 is supported onto the track assembly 6 by means of a spigot 9 or connector which extends from the casing and is received in the recess 28 in the track assembly 6.

Figure 7 shows an alternate embodiment of the invention which is a fully assembled top box or casing for a roller shutter system.

The casing 30 comprises end plates 29 and 31 and a fabricated sheet metal housing 32 joined to the end plates 29 and 31 and extending between them. Spigots 33 extend down from the end plates 31 and these spigots are adapted to be received in tracks (not shown) which are mounted on each side of a window during installation.

There is a longitudinal slot 34 in the casing through which the shutter assembly extends. The ends 36 of the shutters are engaged into slots in the tracks when the tracks are fitted onto the spigots 33.

Within the casing and shown dotted is the rolled shutter assembly 35 on axle 36 and also a drive drum 37 coaxial with the rolled shutter assembly A drive cable 38 is wound onto the drive drum 37 and extends out through grommet 39 in the end plate 29 and is coiled for delivery outside the casing.

To install the roller shutter assembly an installer need only fit the tracks onto the spigots 33 and offer the assembly up to a window. The assembly can then be mounted using fastenings each side of the window through the tracks and from the track into the spigots 33 to retain the casing 30 to the tracks.

The installer can then drill a hole through the wall through the back of one of the tracks at a desired height for the winch box inside the wall and the pulley 17 (see Figure 2) can be installed in the track. The drive cable can then be passed over the pulley and through the hole and connected into the winch box.

The tracks can be supplied with preformed holes in its rear surface for the fastenings, the pulley and the aperture to pass the cord through the wall to the winch box so that installation is facilitated. The respective apertures can be provided in both tracks even though the apertures for the cord and pulley are only required on one side.

By this arrangement the installation of a roller shutter system is somewhat more simpler that at present where the casing must be disassembled to mount the end plates to the wall above the window and the various components installed into the casing.

The roller shutter assembly according to this embodiment of the invention may be manufactured to standard sizes or it may be custom made as required for installers.

The roller shutter assembly can be provided with either left or right hand side cord so that an installer can choose which side the winch box is to go on.

Throughout this specification various indications have been given as to the scope of the invention but the invention is not limited to any one of these but may reside in two or more of these combined together. The examples are given for illustration only and not for limitation.

Claims (11)

1. A roller screen or roller shutter drive system for a roller shutter of the type having a flexible roller screen or shutter supported on an axle in a casing, a pair of track assemblies adapted to receive the edges of the roller screen or shutter as the screen or shutter is unrolled from the casing and a drive arrangement, the drive arrangement including a flexible drive member wound on to the axle or a coaxial winding drum and extending to a winch box or hand pulling system, the drive system being characterised by the flexible drive member extending down within one of the track assemblies and through a rear portion of one of the track assemblies to the winch box or hand pulling system.

2. A roller screen or roller shutter drive system for a roller shutter as in Claim 1 wherein the flexible drive member is wound in a reverse direction onto the axle or coaxial winding drum.

3. A roller screen or roller shutter drive system for a roller shutter as in Claim 1 wherein the flexible drive member is selected from a strap, cord, string, wire or nylon braided cord.

4. A roller screen or roller shutter drive system for a roller shutter as in Claim 1 further including a grommet in the casing and a pulley arrangement in one of the track assemblies wherein the flexible drive member is passed through the grommet from the casing and guided into the track arrangement and then over the pulley installed in the track arrangement at the level at the winch arrangement or hand pulling arrangement is desired to be within the building.

A roller screen or roller shutter drive system for a roller shutter as in Claim 1 wherein the track assembly includes a track and a cover plate.

6. A roller screen or roller shutter drive system for a roller shutter as in Claim 1 wherein the cover plate is fixed to the track by a clip arrangement.

7. A roller screen or roller shutter drive system for a roller shutter as in Claim 1 wherein the track comprises an extrusion having a first elongate recess adapted in use to receive the ends of the shutters and a second elongate recess to receive the flexible drive member and the pulley arrangement.

8. A roller screen or roller shutter drive system for a roller shutter as in Claim 1 wherein the casing has spigots adapted upon installation to be received in the second elongate recess of each track assembly.

9. A roller shutter drive system having a drive member extending down a track member, and passing over a pulley member in the track member to extend to a winch box.

A shutter and casing assembly including: an elongate casing with a longitudinal slot on its lower face, end plates for the elongate casing, mounting spigots extending down from the end plates at each end of the lower face, an axle extending longitudinally within the casing; a shutter assembly, rolled onto the axle and extending out through the longitudinal slot; a drive drum mounted onto the axle at one end thereof; and an aperture adjacent one of the mounting spigots; and a flexible drive member wound onto the drive drum and extending out through the aperture.

11. A shutter and casing assembly as in Claim 10 wherein the flexible drive member is a cord selected from string, wire or nylon braided cord. Dated this 22 n d day of April, 2002. CENTRAL HOME PRODUCTS PTY LTD By its Patent Attorneys MADDERNS a/\