EP0558390A1 - Profile lamella for a curtain and corresponding curtain - Google Patents

Abstract

The cross-section of the profile lamella for a curtain has a large base (2) connected to a small base (3) via a first side (4) and a second side (5). The lamella (1) has a recess (6) and a snap ring (8) connected via a strip (7) of flexible material to the corner of the small base (3) and the second side (5). <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a profiled blade for curtain closing and the corresponding closing curtain.

There are curtain closures comprising profiled blades having on a longitudinal edge a male articulation element in closed cylinder and on the opposite edge a female articulation element in open cylinder. These two elements are adapted to cooperate with the corresponding elements of the adjacent blades. When the curtain is closed, its front face is substantially flat, and the front edges of two adjacent blades are only separated by a narrow slot.

The blades of these curtain closures are relatively thin and their section has low inertia. When the thickness of the slats is increased or the shape of their section is modified to increase the inertia, it is found that the winding radius of the curtain is significantly increased.

It is known from document EP 0 368 695 A1 to produce a curtain closure comprising blades joined by a flexible seal. The blades and the flexible seal of this curtain closure are coextruded and arranged so that the front face keeps substantially the same surface whatever the position of the blades.

Because the flexible seal is located on the side of the front face, this curtain closure is subject to break-in by cutting the flexible seal.

The closing curtain is formed by assembling blades rigidly linked together, the articulation making in the middle of each blade by means of a flexible joint. This rigid assembly is obtained by fixing grooves and ribs cooperating by insertion and rigid interlocking; these ribs and grooves of the tenon and mortise type having for example a T-shaped conformation.

This curtain with blades gives satisfaction, has a great flexibility of operation; in addition, the noise related to the operation of the curtain is very reduced. However, the assembly and the installation of the curtain present difficulties, due to the fact that the rigid connection between blades does not allow any longitudinal displacement of the blades between them nor any natural adaptation of the curtain to the geometry of the guide slides of the type known.

It is also known from document EP-A-0 428 844 to produce a curtain closure comprising coextruded blades with flexible articulation joints carrying at one end a mushroom-shaped rib and at the other end an opening forming rigid fixing groove by snap-fastening or sliding.

This document describes a profiled blade for curtain closure, produced by coextrusion of a strip of coextruded soup material with a substantially trapezoidal section of rigid material and a rod of rigid material, said strip of flexible material being located on the inaccessible side of the exterior of the curtain to be made.

A first object of the invention is to create a profiled blade for closing the curtain, the section of which has greater inertia than that of the blades of known type and which has better resistance to burglary.

A second object of the invention is to provide blades for curtain closure whose winding radius is reduced.

Another object of the invention is to provide blades for curtain closure capable of sliding longitudinally relative to one another, so as to assemble the curtain in an inclined position where its outline corresponds substantially to a parallelogram, then to straighten it in an installation position in the slides where its outline corresponds substantially to a rectangle.

The subject of the invention is a profiled blade for curtain closure, produced by coextrusion of a strip of flexible material coextruded with a substantially trapezoidal section of rigid material and a rod of rigid material, said strip of flexible material being located on the face inaccessible from the outside of the curtain to be produced, characterized in that the trapezoidal section has a housing situated substantially at the angle of the small base and on one side, the sections of the housing and of the rod having concordant shapes and predetermined dimensions with a clearance provided so that during assembly the rod slides freely in the housing, so as to assemble the closing curtain in an inclined position then straighten it to put it in place without risk of jamming.

• la section trapézoïdale est une section fermée comportant une grande base reliée à une petite base par un premier côté et un deuxième côté et en ce que chaque côté est conformé en ligne brisée, comportant un premier segment sensiblement perpendiculaire à la grande base et un deuxième segment formant un angle obtus avec la petite base;
• la lame présente au voisinage de la grande base une nervure sur un côté et une rainure de forme complémentaire sur l'autre côté, assurant le maintien en position relative des lames et empêchant l'insertion entre deux lames d'un outil susceptible de couper la bande en matériau souple ;
• la lame comporte au moins deux parties de section sensiblement trapézoïdale, assemblées du côté de la petite base par au moins une bande en matériau souple ;
• la lame comporte au moins une cloison intérieure de renforcement ;
• le logement présente une ouverture débouchant au moins partiellement du côté de la petite base et le jonc apte à coulisser dans un logement d'une lame adjacente comporte un appendice remplissant sensiblement ladite ouverture ;
• les sections du logement et du jonc sont de formes concordantes.

According to other features of the invention

• the trapezoidal section is a closed section comprising a large base connected to a small base by a first side and a second side and in that each side is shaped in a broken line, comprising a first segment substantially perpendicular to the large base and a second segment forming an obtuse angle with the small base;
• the blade has in the vicinity of the large base a rib on one side and a groove of complementary shape on the other side, ensuring the maintenance in relative position blades and preventing the insertion between two blades of a tool capable of cutting the strip of flexible material;
• the blade comprises at least two parts of substantially trapezoidal section, assembled on the side of the small base by at least one strip of flexible material;
• the blade comprises at least one internal reinforcing partition;
• the housing has an opening opening at least partially on the side of the small base and the rod capable of sliding in a housing of an adjacent blade comprises an appendage substantially filling said opening;
• the sections of the housing and of the rod are of concordant shapes.

The invention also relates to an articulated closing curtain, comprising an assembly of blades according to the invention.

• La figure 1 représente une vue schématique en coupe transversale d'un premier mode de réalisation d'une lame profilée pour fermeture à rideau selon l'invention.
• La figure 2 représente une vue schématique en coupe partielle d'un rideau de fermeture selon l'invention assemblé à partir de lames de la figure 1.
• La figure 3 représente une vue schématique en coupe transversale d'un deuxième mode de réalisation d'une lame profilée pour fermeture à rideau selon l'invention ;
• La figure 4 représente une vue schématique en coupe partielle d'un rideau de fermeture assemblé à partir de lames de la figure 2.
• La figure 5 représente une vue en coupe transversale d'un troisième mode de réalisation d'un rideau de fermeture selon l'invention.
• La figure 6 représente un rideau de fermeture selon l'invention assemblé à partir de lames de la figure 5.
• La figure 7 représente une vue schématique en coupe transversale d'un enroulement d'un rideau de fermeture selon l'invention.

The invention will be better understood from the description given by way of nonlimiting example with regard to the appended drawings in which:

• Figure 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of a profiled blade for curtain closure according to the invention.
• FIG. 2 represents a schematic view in partial section of a closing curtain according to the invention assembled from the blades of FIG. 1.
• Figure 3 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of a profiled blade for curtain closure according to the invention;
• FIG. 4 represents a schematic view in partial section of a closing curtain assembled from the blades of FIG. 2.
• Figure 5 shows a cross-sectional view of a third embodiment of a closure curtain according to the invention.
• FIG. 6 represents a closing curtain according to the invention assembled from blades of FIG. 5.
• FIG. 7 represents a schematic view in cross section of a winding of a closing curtain according to the invention.

Referring to Figure 1, a profiled blade 1 for curtain closure according to the invention has a substantially trapezoidal section of rigid material, for example plastic such as polyvinyl chloride. The trapezoidal section has a large base 2 connected to a small base 3 by a first side 4 and a second side 5. The trapezoidal section is fully closed on itself, so as to have good rigidity. The blade has a housing 6 adjacent to the small base 3 and to the first side 4.

A strip of flexible material 7 connects a rod of rigid material 8 to a location situated substantially at the angle of the small base 3 and of the second side 5.

The width of the strip of flexible material is substantially equal to the difference in width of the large base 2 and the small base 3.

The blade has in the vicinity of the large base 2 a rib 9 on one side, for example the second side 5. The blade 1 also has on the other side, in this example the first side 4, a groove 10 of shape complementary to that of the rib 9. During the assembly of the blades, the rib of a first blade cooperates with the groove of a second blade by ensuring the maintenance in relative position of the blades. The sides 4 and 5 are preferably broken lines comprising a first segment 4a, 5a substantially perpendicular to the large base 2 and a second segment 4b, 5b forming an obtuse angle with the small base 3.

Preferably, the flexible material of the strip 7 is compatible with the rigid material constituting the blade for the manufacture of the profile in a single operation, preferably by coextrusion.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, we see that the housing 6 has an opening 6a opening at least partially on the side of the small base 3 and that the rod 8 capable of sliding in a housing 6 of an adjacent blade has an appendage 8a substantially filling said opening 6a.

The width of the opening 6a is small and close to the thickness of the profile, so that the opening 6a does not cause any reduction in rigidity of the trapezoidal section of the profile blade.

In addition, the fact of making this opening 6a at an angle makes it possible, when pulling on a curtain made up of blades assembled to one another, an angular stop (similar to a keying) of the appendage 8a in the opening 6a and a parallelism of the blades of the curtain in traction, while, in the released position of the curtain, the longitudinal sliding of one blade relative to the other facilitates the positioning of the curtain and its adaptation to the geometry slides.

Because the appendix 8a substantially fills the opening 6a, the curtain of Figure 2 formed by assembling the blades of Figure 1 thus behaves like a set of straight prisms with rigid trapezoidal bases hinged together by flexible bands 7.

According to the invention, the assembly function resulting from the insertion of the rod 8 into the housing 6 is thus completely independent of the articulation and winding function provided by the strip of flexible material 7.

The grooves 9 and ribs 10 maintain these prisms in relative position and the flatness of the accessible external face of the curtain located on the side of the large bases 2, and the slots between the segments 4a and 5a of two adjacent blades are very narrow. and perfectly hide the flexible strips 7 located on the inaccessible face from the outside.

These invisible flexible strips 7 could however be cut by a very thin tool, of thickness corresponding to the spacing of the slots limited by segments 4a, 5a. This is why the depth of the grooves 10 and the height of the ribs 9 of complementary shapes are determined, to prevent the insertion between two blades of a tool capable of cutting a strip of flexible material 7: this measure reinforces the safety of the curtain. closure according to the invention.

The sections of the housing 6 and of the rod 8 are of concordant shapes, for example in the form of an annular sector. The respective dimensions of these sections are predetermined so that during assembly the rod 8 slides freely in the housing 6, so that one can assemble the closing curtain in an inclined position and then straighten it to put it in place without risk jamming in guide rails of known type. The clearance provided between the concordant shapes of the sections of the housing and of the rod thus facilitates the mounting of the closing curtains according to the invention and increases the manufacturing productivity.

In the case of sections in the form of an annular sector, the above-mentioned clearance is advantageously produced (as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 by truncating the ends of the annular sector corresponding to the rod 8 or 18 on a portion corresponding to an opening sector greater than 90 ° and rounding off the ends of the truncations.

With reference to FIG. 3, a profiled strip 11 has two parts 12 and 13 connected by a strip of flexible material 14. The width of the strip of flexible material 14 is predetermined as a function of the size of the portions 12 and 13 so that the front face of the closing curtain consisting of blades 11 is substantially planar. In the example shown, the parts 12 and 13 have external shapes similar to the profile strip 1 in a single part in Figure 1 and also have a large base and a small base connected by a first side and a second side.

Parts 12 and 13 comprise, to the right of the strip of flexible material 14, a groove 15 and a rib 16 ensuring the maintenance in relative position of parts 12 and 13 and preventing the insertion between the two parts 12 and 13 of a tool capable of cutting the strip of flexible material 14.

The blade 11 also includes a strip of flexible material 17, disposed at one end of the portion 13 on the side of the small base and a rod 18 of rigid material compatible with the flexible material of the strip 17. The portion 13 also includes a partition internal reinforcement 19a, while the part 12 has another reinforcement partition 19b.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, we see that the end housing 20, provided on a part 12 cooperates with a rod 18 of a part 13 of an adjacent blade to form a continuous assembly of blades 11 and thus constitute the closing curtain of FIG. 4.

In this example, the housings 20 and the rod 18 have shapes similar to the forms of the housing 6 and the rod 8 of the blade of FIG. 1.

With reference to FIG. 5, a third embodiment of a blade 21 according to the invention also comprises two parts 22, 23 joined together by a strip of flexible material 24 compatible with the rigid material of parts 22 and 23 of the blade 21.

In this example, the sections of the parts 22 and 23 are also trapezoidal and have grooves and ribs similar to those shown in FIGS. 1 to 4.

On the side of the small base of the part 22 of the blade 21, and substantially towards the external angle adjacent to this small base, a housing 25 has a T shape. The housing 25 has an opening 26 opening out on the side of the small base of the part 22 capable of sliding with a branch 27 of a rod 28 of an adjacent blade.

The T-shaped ring 28 is connected by a strip of flexible material 29 to a part 23 of the blade 21 according to the invention.

The thickness of the upper branch of the T-shape of the rod 28 is less than the corresponding width of the T-shaped housing 25, so that the rod 28 slides in the housing 25 with a sliding clearance allowing the relative sliding of blades assembled to each other, and maintaining in position parallel to each other of assembled blades to which a tensile force is applied.

In this example also, the width of the opening 26 is small and close to the thickness of the profile, while the appendage 27 has a predetermined width for sliding with play in the opening 26.

The parts 22 and 23 also include in this example internal partitions 30, 31 for reinforcement.

With reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, the assembly of the blades 21 according to FIG. 5 constitutes a closing curtain which can be compared mechanically to a set of trapezoids connected by flexible hinge bands and positioned by respective grooves and ribs 32 and 33 preventing also the insertion of a tool capable of cutting strips 29 of flexible material.

According to the invention, the profiled blades are made of materials allowing the manufacture of the profile in a single operation: the internal partitions, the trapezoidal profiles comprising the ribs, grooves and housings, the rods and the strips of flexible material are, in the case of compatible plastics, produced by coextrusion of a single profile cut to length according to the dimensions of the closing curtain to be produced.

Referring to Figure 7, the blades of a closing curtain according to the invention similar to a series of trapezoidal prisms hinged together by flexible bands are shown schematically in the winding position. From the central blade 34 can be folded 180 ° a blade or elementary blade portion 35 on the blade 34 by applying their small bases against each other.

The blades or blade parts 36 to 41 are then successively wound.

It can thus be seen that, according to the invention, a closing curtain has been made allowing winding over a minimum radius corresponding only to the size of the rigid parts. It is in particular possible to fold two blades or parts of adjacent blades one over the other. The blades of the closing curtains according to the invention can also be rotated at a right angle, the minimum radius at the right angle being solely determined by the geometry of the slides.

The invention described with reference to particular embodiments is in no way limited thereto, but on the contrary includes all modifications of form and all variants of execution within the scope and in the spirit of the invention, in particular all variations in the number and shape of flexible bands, grooves, ribs, partitions, blade parts, housings and rods.

Claims (8)

Profiled blade for curtain closure, produced by coextrusion of a strip of flexible material coextruded with a substantially trapezoidal section of rigid material and a rod of rigid material, said strip of flexible material being located on the inaccessible side of the exterior of the curtain to be produced, characterized in that the trapezoidal section has a housing (6, 20, 26) situated substantially at the corner of the small base (3) and on a first side (4), the sections of the housing (6, 20, 26) and of the rod (8, 18, 28) having concordant shapes and predetermined dimensions with a clearance provided so that during assembly the rod (8, 18, 28) slides freely in the housing (6, 20, 26), so as to assemble the closing curtain in an inclined position and then straighten it to put it in place without risk of jamming. Profiled blade according to claim 1, characterized in that the trapezoidal section is a closed section comprising a large base (2) connected to a small base (3) by a first side (4) and a second side (5) and in that that each side (4 or 5) is shaped in a broken line, comprising a first segment (4a or 5a) substantially perpendicular to the large base (2) and a second segment (4b or 5b) forming an obtuse angle with the small base ( 3). Profiled blade according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the blade (1, 11, 21) has, in the vicinity of the large base (2), a rib (9, 33) on one side (5) and a groove (10 , 32) of complementary shape on the other side (4), ensuring the maintenance in relative position of the blades and preventing the insertion between two blades of a tool capable of cutting the strip (7, 17, 29) of flexible material . Profiled blade according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the blade (11, 21) comprises at at least two parts (12, 13, 22, 23) of substantially trapezoidal section, assembled on the side of the small base by at least one strip (14, 24) of flexible material. Profiled blade according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the blade (1, 11, 21) has at least one internal partition (19a, 19b, 30, 31) for reinforcement. Profiled blade according to any one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the housing (6, 20, 25) has an opening (6a, 26) opening at least partially on the side of the small base (3) and the rod (8, 18, 28) capable of sliding in a housing (6, 20, 25) of an adjacent blade comprises an appendage (8a, 27) substantially filling said opening (6a, 26). Profiled blade according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the sections of the housing (6, 20, 25) and of the rod (8, 18, 28) are of concordant shape. Hinged closing curtain, comprising an assembly of blades (1, 11, 21) according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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