EP0039632A1 - Awning with driven articulated arms - Google Patents

Abstract

1. A blind of the awning type, which on the one hand comprises a frame incorporating hinged arms (1 and 2), a load bar (3), possibly a so-called "motor" mechanism for the relative displacement of these elements and a cylinder (4) rotatable in bearings (5), and on the other hand a cloth (6) stretched between the load bar (3) and the cylinder (4) on which it may be wound, characterised in that each arm (1-2) is equipped with a locking mechanism (11-12) having two points of application (13-14 and 15-16) situated at either side of the joint (17-18) of the two half-arms (1a-1b and 2a-2b) which form each arm (1-2) in order permanently to immobilise them in both their possible directions of displacement when the locking mechanism (11-12) itself is at rest, whilst the cylinder (4) is of the king comprising a member such as a spring intended constantly to load the same in its direction of rotation corresponding to the winding-up of the cloth (6) and is associated with a stop element (19-20) of the rotation of the cylinder (4), this stop element (19-20) being able to occupy an active position and an inactive position in which it is neutralised.

Description

The present invention relates to a blind of the awning type, that is to say comprising a fabric stretched over a load bar and rolled up on a cylinder. Articulated arms are connected to the load bar so that by unwinding the canvas of the cylinder the load bar moves away from the cylinder and deploys the canvas. Likewise, by winding the canvas on the cylinder, the arms fold up because the canvas pulls on the load bar.

• - Les bras de par leur conception cinématique elle-même exercent une poussée sur la barre de charge. Des bras de ce type sont, par exemple, du type "ciseaux de Nuremberg".
• - Les bras sont munis d'un dispositif à ressorts qui tend en permanence, à ouvrir les bras, ce qui revient à exercer une pression sur la barre de charge.

To obtain the first maneuver above, it is necessary to be sure that the arms are deployed and, for this, two essential means are known:

• - The arms by their kinematic design itself exert a push on the load bar. Arms of this type are, for example, of the "Nuremberg scissors" type.
• - The arms are fitted with a spring device which constantly tends to open the arms, which amounts to exerting pressure on the load bar.

The first solution is relatively expensive to build and has drawbacks as to the size and aesthetics of the assembly.

The second solution is the one that has been most often adopted in recent years for its qualities of simplicity and cost price.

• Tout d'abord le montage des ressorts est délicat et dangereux car les bras doivent être livrés pliés pour diminuer leur encombrement et sont maintenus ainsi au moyen d'un lien solide. Lors du montage du store il faut, bien entendu, enlever ce lien et cela est fréquemment l'occasion d'accidents du fait que le ressort est nécessairement très puissant et tend à ouvrir les bras avec une force difficilement maîtrisable.

However, it has drawbacks:

• First of all the mounting of the springs is delicate and dangerous because the arms must be delivered folded to reduce their bulk and are thus held by means of a solid link. When mounting the awning, it is of course necessary to remove this link and this is frequently the occasion of accidents because the spring is necessarily very powerful and tends to open the arms with a force that is difficult to control.

However, another more significant drawback exists at the level of the function of the arms because if they act well in the direction of a louse load bar, that is to say in the direction of movement of the fabric, they have no action against reverse movement. However, it would be very important to immobilize the arms in the chosen position.

Indeed, a banner is, by nature, large since it must equip very large bays such as shop windows, restaurant terraces, etc ... and, in this way, it constitutes a real sensitive veil to the effects of the wind and it is very common to see fabrics inflate following eddies of wind and this has the result of stressing the arms and the load bar according to efforts sometimes significant enough to damage the entire frame of the store.

This accident could be avoided if the blind had members capable of resisting these forces elastically in order to yield without breaking, which supposes that all the mobile elements are made immobile when they are in the desired position and that there is a elastic force suitably calibrated.

• - le brevet allemand 1.683.477 qui décrit un store comprenant des bras et une toile tendue ainsi qu'un vérin.
  La présente invention concerne également un store de ce type mais, elle se caractérise par une organisation particulière des vérins dont l'action est synchronisée avec un frein placé sur le tambour d'enroulement de la toile et aucune de ces dispositions n'est décrite dans ce brevet allemand ci-dessus.
  Il faut noter que les vérins prévus par le brevet allemand agissent dans le sens de la poussée des bras pour ouvrir le store mais n'ont aucune action pour retenir les bras. C'est la toile elle-même qui retient les bras de sorte que les vérins ne sont que des "ressorts à gaz".
  La présente invention, au contraire, prévoit l'association de deux moyens qui sont, respectivement, les vérins situés à l'articulation des bras et un frein sur le tambour.
• - Le brevet US 3.074.474 qui/comprend ni vérin ni frein sur le tambour.
• - Le brevet US 3.870.096 qui décrit un dispositif qui ne comprend pas de bras articulés en leur milieu pas plus qu'il ne décrit la présence d'un vérin.

Among the known devices, there may be mentioned:

• - German patent 1,683,477 which describes a blind comprising arms and a stretched fabric as well as a jack.
  The present invention also relates to a blind of this type but, it is characterized by a particular organization of the jacks whose action is synchronized with a brake placed on the canvas winding drum and none of these provisions is described in this German patent above.
  It should be noted that the jacks provided by the German patent act in the direction of the thrust of the arms to open the blind but have no action to retain the arms. It is the canvas itself which retains the arms so that the cylinders are only "gas springs".
  The present invention, on the contrary, provides for the association of two means which are, respectively, the jacks located at the articulation of the arms and a brake on the drum.
• - US patent 3,074,474 which / includes neither jack nor brake on the drum.
• - US Patent 3,870,096 which describes a device which does not include arms articulated in their middle any more than it describes the presence of a jack.

On the other hand, it describes, like many other known devices, the presence of a brake on the canvas winding drum but, since there is no cylinder in the complete installation, there is no at obviously no synchronization between the action of the jacks on the one hand and the action of the drum brake on the other.

The present invention provides a new solution to the problem of control and stability of a shutter, even very large and / or subjected to strong stresses of the wind. It also provides particular advantages with regard to the operation of awnings of the awning type.

• La figure 1 est une vue schématique en perspective d'un store conforme à l'invention dont la toile est en position de déploiement.
• La figure 2 est une vue schématique en perspective du même store mais dont la toile est en position d'enroulement.
• La figure 3 est une/schématique de profil correspondant à la position représentée sur la figure 1.

The invention will be better understood from the detailed description below made with reference to the accompanying drawing. Of course, the description and the drawing are given only by way of an indicative and nonlimiting example.

• Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a blind according to the invention whose fabric is in the deployed position.
• Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of the same blind but whose fabric is in the winding position.
• FIG. 3 is a profile schematic corresponding to the position represented in FIG. 1.

A blind according to the invention is of the type comprising on the one hand an armature composed of articulated arms, a load bar and a cylinder and, on the other hand a fabric stretched between the load bar and the cylinder on which it can be wound, and is characterized in that each arm is provided with a mechanism with two application points situated on either side of the articulation of the two half-arms which compose each arm in order to permanently immobilize in their two possible directions of movement when the mechanism is stopped, while the cylinder is associated on the one hand with a member such as a spring intended to permanently urge it in its direction of rotation corresponding to the winding of the canvas and on the other hand to a brake.

Alternatively, the brake is of the gradual friction type and comprises a rotating member such as a drum 19, a disc or the like as well as a bearing member such as a pad 20, a jaw and the like.

According to another variant, the brake is of the positive locking type and comprises a rotating member such as a toothed pinion, a notched wheel and the like, as well as a stop member such as a finger.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the mechanism of each arm is constituted by a double-acting cylinder whose cylinder on the one hand and the rod on the other hand are articulated by their ends, according to two points of application respectively on a half arm and on the other, this cylinder being placed in communication with a fluid under pres permanent and controlled by organs of any known type capable of varying the relative position of the displacement and the rod.

Referring to the drawing, it can be seen that a blind according to the invention comprises, on the one hand, a frame made up of articulated arms 1 and 2, a load bar 3, a cylinder 4 rotatably mounted in bearings 5 and on the other hand, a fabric 6 stretched between the load bar 3 and the cylinder 4 on which it can be wound.

Each arm is composed as is known per se, of two half-arms respectively la, lb and 2a, 2b articulated between them. The half-arms 1a and 2a are articulated on fixed supports 7 and 8 while the half-arms 1b and 2b are articulated on the load bar 3 by pivots 9 and 10.

Each arm 1 and 2 is provided with a mechanism, here a double-acting cylinder respectively 11 and 12, which has two points of application 13 and 14 on the one hand, 15 and 16 on the other hand located on the side and d other of the joints 17 for the arm 1 and 18 for the arm 2.

The cylinder 4 is equipped, as is known per se, with a spring mechanism (not visible in the drawing) by which it is permanently stressed in its direction of rotation corresponding to the winding of the fabric 6.

In addition, the cylinder 4 is integral with a drum 19 opposite which there is a movable shoe 20 capable of being applied more or less vigorously against this drum 19 to slow the rotation of the cylinder 4 and, conversely, d '' be away from the drum 19 to release the rotation of the cylinder 4.

The jacks 11 and 12 are connected to a source of pressurized fluid (not shown) by means of a control unit 21 to which leads, on the one hand, a fluid supply pipe 22 and, on the other hand, two lines 23 and 24 leading respectively to jacks 11 and 12.

These are of the conventional "double-acting" type, that is to say that the body 11a-12a of the jack contains a piston secured to the corresponding rod llb-12b and placed so that the pipes 23 and 24 open out in the body lla-12a on either side of this piston.

On the lines 23 and 24 are connected two branches 25 and 26 respectively leading to a box 27 in which a mechanism of any known type is provided connected to the movable shoe 20.

• La toile 6 étant supposée déployée, comme cela est représenté sur la figure 1, celle-ci est maintenue tendue, car le fluide sous pression a été établi par action sur l'un des boutons 2 8ou 29 du boitier 21 .-de telle sorte que les tiges llb et 12 b des vérins 11 et 12 soient en position d'extension et maintenues immobiles dans cette position du fait que le piston solidaire de chacune de ces tiges ne peut se déplacer dans le cylindre correspondant lla-12a à l'encontre de la pression du fluide. Les vérins 11 et 12 ont ainsi pour effet d'immobiliser les deux demi-bras la-lb d'une part et 2a-2b d'autre part, de sorte que la barre de charge 3 est elle-même immobilisée :

The operation of the awning which has just been described is as follows:

• The fabric 6 being assumed deployed, as shown in Figure 1, it is kept taut, because the pressurized fluid was established by action on one of the buttons 28 or 29 of the housing 21.-So that the rods llb and 12b of the jacks 11 and 12 are in the extended position and kept immobile in this position because the piston integral with each of these rods cannot move in the corresponding cylinder lla-12a against fluid pressure. The jacks 11 and 12 thus have the effect of immobilizing the two half-arms 1a-1b on the one hand and 2a-2b on the other hand, so that the load bar 3 is itself immobilized:

The mechanism placed in the housing 27 occupies, in synchronism with the jacks 11 and 12, a position corresponding to the more or less energetic action of the shoe 20 against the drum 19 so that the cylinder 4 tends to be immobilized.

As explained in the preamble above, this immobilization of all the movable elements of the blind ensures the stability of the fabric in all circumstances thanks to the combined action of the pad 20 against the drum 19 which creates an easily calibrated force during construction.

To wind the fabric 6, either in part or in whole (FIG. 2), one acts on one of the buttons 2 8 or 29 of the control unit 21 so that the pressurized fluid moves in the lines 23 and 24 according to arrows F1. In doing so, the pistons integral with the rods 11b and 12b move in the cylinders 11a and 12a so that the rods 11b and 12b sink and pull on the half-arms _. 1b and 2b by their points of application 14 and 16, the cylinders 11a and 12a being connected, them, to the half-arms 1a and 2a. The arms therefore fold up and raise the load bar 3.

Simultaneously, the moving fluid acts on the mechanism placed in the housing 27 to place the shoe 20 in a position away from the drum 19 so that the latter and the cylinder 4 of which it is integral can rotate freely, this that they do under the effect of the spring mechanism which permanently urges the cylinder 4, these arrangements having the result of automatically winding the fabric 6 on the cylinder 4 as the load bar 3 rises, c that is to say as long as the rods llb-12b are in motion.

When the canvas is sufficiently wound at the user's discretion, the user stops its action on the button of the control boot 21, which has the instantaneous effect of immobilizing the rods llb-12b of the cylinders 11-12, the arms 1 -2 and the load bar 3. The cylinder 4, for its part, undergoes braking, the value of which is established, for example, by providing a spring which acts permanently on the pad 20 and which is not neutralized by compression, temporarily, only by the fluid under pressure

When the fabric 6 is completely wound up (FIG. 2) the arms 1 and 2 are completely folded back like standard arms because the jacks 11 and 12 are placed in such a way that they do not prevent their complete folding back. Optionally, the jacks 11 and 12 can be housed in the profile of the arms when the lateral movement of the jacks and the rods relative to the arms is provided.

To deploy the fabric 6, it suffices to act on the button of the control unit 21 which causes the opposite effects of the other, so that the pressurized fluid moves in the lines 23 and 24 in the direction of the arrows F2, and actuates the pistons integral with the rods llb-12b in the direction of the extension of these rods, which push the half-arms 1b and 2b and, consequently, the bar, of load 3. The fabric 6 is unwound the fact that the load bar 3 pulls it and the fact that the shoe 20 is distant from the drum 19 thus become free with the cylinder 4.

It can be seen that the brake formed by the assembly 19-20 associated with the cylinder 4 comprises a mechanism synchronized with at least one of those which equip the arms 1 and 2.

Here, as described, these mechanisms are constituted by jacks 11 and 12. Synchronism can be obtained by hydraulic connection according to which the shoe 20 is constantly and automatically biased in the braking position of the drum 19 while it is placed in the inactive position as soon as the pressurized fluid is set in motion, whether this involves extending or folding the arms 1 and 2.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the pressurized fluid lines extend from a source to the jacks passing through the control unit comprising valves which control the flow of the pressurized fluid.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the mechanism of each arm consists of a single-acting cylinder, that is to say comprising only one fluid line, this cylinder comprising a spring permanently biasing the rod of the cylinder in the direction opposite to that given by the fluid, this spring advantageously being constituted by a compressed fluid such as air, nitrogen or the like.

This arrangement (not shown in the drawing) simplifies the construction of the blind and eliminates one of the pipes, either 23 or 24.

The pressurized fluid is preferably constituted by an incompressible liquid such as oil, so that the compressed fluid such as a gas can be elastic without causing the drawbacks of the known blinds and recalled in the preamble hereto. above, since here the set of fluids used is incompressible and makes the set inelastic only up to a certain threshold beyond which the arms become elastically deformable in the direction allowing the play of the canvas in the manner of 'a sail and its return to its previous tension.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments described and shown but on the contrary embraces all variants.

Claims (7)

1 - Blind of the type comprising on the one hand an armature composed of articulated arms (1 and 2), a load bar (3) and a cylinder (4) rotating in bearings (5) and on the other hand a fabric (6) stretched between the load bar (3) and the cylinder (4) on which it can be wound, characterized in that each arm (1-2) is provided with a mechanism (11-12) at two points of application (13-14 and 15-16) located on either side of the articulation (17-18) of the two half-arms (1a-1b and 2a-2b) which make up each arm ( 1-2) in order to permanently block them in their two possible directions of movement when the mechanism (11-12) is stationary while the cylinder (4) is associated on the one hand with a member such as a spring intended to permanently apply in its direction of rotation corresponding to the winding of the fabric (6) and, on the other hand to a brake (19-20). 2 - Blind according to claim 1, characterized in that the brake is of the gradual friction type and comprises a rotating member such as a drum (19), a disc or the like as well as a support member such as pad ( 20), a jaw and the like. 3 - Blind according to claim 1, characterized in that the brake is of the positive locking type and comprises a rotating member such as a toothed pinion, a notched wheel and the like as well as a stop member such as a finger. 4 - Blind according to claim 1, characterized in that the mechanism (11-12) of each arm consists of a double-acting cylinder whose cylinder (lla-12a) on the one hand and the rod (llb-12b) on the other hand are articulated by their ends', according to two points of application respectively (14-16) on a half-arm (la-2a) and (13-15) on the other (16-26), this cylinder (11-12) being placed in communication with a fluid under permanent pressure and controlled by members (21) of any known type capable of varying the relative position of the cylinder (lla-12a) and the rod (llb-12b ). 5 - Blind according to claim 1, characterized in that the brake (19-20) associated with the cylinder (4) comprises a mechanism synchronized nism _{2 with} at least one of those (11 - 12) which equip the arms (1 -. 2). 6 - Blind according to claims 4 and 5, characterized in that it comprises pipes for pressurized fluids (23 - 24) which extend from a source to the jacks (11 - 12) passing through a housing control (21) comprising valves which control the flow of fluid under pressure. 7 - Blind according to claims 4 and 5 characterized in that the mechanism of each arm is constituted by a single-acting cylinder that is to say comprising only a single fluid line, this cylinder comprising a spring biasing in permanently the cylinder rod in the direction opposite to that given by the fluid, this spring advantageously being constituted by a compressed fluid such as air, nitrogen or the like.

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