EP0764759B1

EP0764759B1 - Headrail for roller blinds

Info

Publication number: EP0764759B1
Application number: EP96114527A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Rino Cattaneo
Original assignee: Simbac SpA
Current assignee: Simbac SpA
Priority date: 1995-09-25
Filing date: 1996-09-11
Publication date: 2003-05-28
Anticipated expiration: 2016-09-11
Also published as: EP0764759A3; IT1279906B1; EP0764759A2; ITMI951971A0; ITMI951971A1; DE69628385D1

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the invention

This invention refers to a headrail for roller blinds.
More particularly, this invention refers to a headrail for roller blinds applied to windows or french windows, moved by hand or automatically.

Description of prior art

As is known, a traditional system for screening from the outside the windows of buildings is formed by blinds which unwrap from a roller located in a headrail and which slides, at the opposite ends, along guide profiles flush with the shoulders of the opening.
The headrail, located inside or outside the room in correspondence of the higher front of the opening, incorporates said roller as well as the manoeuvre devices of the same which allow the wrapping and unwrapping of the roller.
Said manoeuvre devices are constituted in general by a pulley connected to a small belt, or by a winch or an electric motor.
Said manoeuvre devices are housed near a side of the headrail, in a space circumscribed by the internal wall of said side and a flange connected to the same. The flange is provided in the middle with a through-seat for housing the roller, whose protruding pin engages with one of the aforementioned manoeuvre devices.
The connection of the flange with the side of the headrail, to create the housing seat for the manoeuvre device, is generally realized by means of a plurality of screws, generally at least three, located near the peripheral portion of said flange suitably holed: the stem of the screws fits into corresponding holes obtained on the body of the headrail side.
DE-U-93 02 394 discloses a device where some consoles are fixed onto endplates. A head rail with the features of the preamble of claim 1 is disclosed in FR 2 403 445 A.
It has been noticed that these forms of connection involves several remarkable drawbacks.
The tightening of the flange by side of the headrail is particularly difficult, as because of the insertion and locking of the plurality of screws in the respective seats, there is not sufficient space to operate easily.
In particular, the screws located along the peripheral upper portion of the flange create discomfort during the installation of the headrail and cause a relevant increase in the overall assembly times.
A further, still more remarkable drawback shows when interventions of maintenance or repair of the manoeuvre unit are necessary, as these interventions involve the removal of the aforementioned flange. In fact, in this case, the uncomfortable operation must be repeated twice in a short time, due to the fact that the removed flange has to be replaced in its seat afterwards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Object of this invention is to obviate the above drawbacks. More particularly, object of this invention is to provide a headrail for roller blinds suitable to allow the quick and easy installation or removal of the flange which circumscribes, together with a side of the headrail, the housing space for the manoeuvre devices.
A further object of the invention is to provide users with a headrail for roller blinds which, besides ensuring a high level of resistance and reliability in the time, can be realized easily and economically.
According to this invention, these and still other objects that will clearly result from the following description, are achieved by a headrail for roller blinds comprising a container, having preferably a substantially parallelepipedal form, closed at each of the opposite ends by a side constituted by a plate having a forn complementary to that of the same headrail and provided with a lower internal edge, and at least a flange having a configuration complementary relatively to the profile of said edge, connected to the same to circumscribe a housing space for the manoeuvre devices of the roller blinds, wherein at least one of said sides, on its surface looking towards the inside of the container-body in correspondence of at least one of the vertices, has a connecting means partly protruding and the flange is correspondingly provided, on one or more vertices, with an arched profile chamfer.
Said connecting means may be the stem of a screw, the stem of a pin having a head of a diameter greater than the diameter of the stem, obtained integrally with said side, or a protruding sector with a reverse-L profile.
The construction and functional characteristics of the headreail for roller blinds of this invention shall be better understood thanks to the following description, wherein reference is made to the attached drawings, which represent some preferred embodiments.

Short description of the drawings

Fig. 1 shows the exploded schematic view of the headrail of this invention;
Fig. 2 shows the schematic view of an enlarged detail of the side of the headrail of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 shows the exploded schematic view of an alternative embodiment of the headrail of this invention;
Fig. 4 shows the schematic view of an enlarged detail of the side of the headrail of Fig. 3;

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the headreail for roller blinds of this invention comprises a container (10), from plastic material, wood or other suitable materials, constituted by a body of a substantially parallelepipedal form, closed at the opposite ends by a side (12) preferably from the same material as the container. The schematic views of Figs. 1, 3 and 5 show by way of example one only portion of the headrail and one only of the sides which close its ends. In particular, they show the side near which there is located and connected a flange (14) which circumscribes, with the internal wall of said side, the housing space for the manoeuvre devices of the roller blinds.
Said flange (14) is formed by a plate, preferably from metal, having a limited thickness and a configuration complementary to that of the lower edge (16) obtained on side (12). Flange (14) is provided in the middle with a through hole (18) suitable to house an end of a roller (not represented) on which the roller blinds wrap. Side (12) furtherly comprises a cylindrical extension (20), obtained in the middle of its internal wall (12') and integral with said internal wall (12'). The cylindrical extension (20) constitutes the anchoring means of the manoeuvre device, for instance a pulley, a winch or an electric motor, through which the roller blinds are moved and caused to wrap or unwrap from the roller.
Side (12) is provided, on the internal wall (12') looking towards container (10), with a lower edge (16). Said edge (16) forms a perimetral frame of limited height, developed orthogonally, suitable to pressure-fit into the head of said container.
The internal volume of container (10) is such as to house roller blinds for windows or french windows fully wrapped on the roller.
The lower end of the roller blinds, formed by a plurality of strips from wood, plastic material, iron, aluminium or other materials, articulatable connected to one another with known means, is fitted, on the assembly into a tang (12), fitted, in its turn, into conventional slide guides or vertical sections?obtained along the shoulders of the opening, independently on whether the latter is a window or a french window.
According to the invention, in correspondence of at least a vertix of edge (16), side (12) is provided, in correspondence of its surface looking towards the inside of the container, with a housing for a screw (24). The depth of said housing is advantageously smaller than the length of the stem of said screw, so that a part (26) of the stem and the head of both ends remain exposed after the full tightening, as represented, by way of example, in Fig. 1, and with more details in Fig. 2.
In said Fig. 1 there are showns, according to a preferred non limitative embodiment, two aligned seats for as many screws (24), obtained along the internal upper horizontal portion of edge (16), in correspondence of the respective apices.
Correspondingly, the upper vertices of flange (14) have a chamfer (28), preferably with an arched profile to correspond to the configuration of a part of the stem of screw (24). The length of the exposed portion (26) of said stem, after the full tightening of screw (24) in the relevant seat, is equal to or slightly greater than the thickness of flange (14). The lower part of said flange (14), opposed to the one provided with seats for screws (24), in the position indicated by way of non limitative example in Fig. 1, has a through hole (30) for the insertion of a conventional screw (32), for instance of the self-theading type.
The stem of said conventional screw (32) fits into a hole (34) obtained in correspondence of edge (16) of side (12). The depth of hole (34) is such as to house completely the stem of screw (12) which with its head counters flange (14).
During the installation of the headrail of this invention, container (10) is positioned in the part above the opening and the opposing ends of the container are closed by a couple of identical sides (12). Flange (14) is easily and quickly located in the seat and stably connected to one of sides (12) according to a procedure specified hereunder. Flange (14) in positioned in such a way that the couple of aligned chamfers (28) are under the head of screws (24), already screwed up to the end of stroke in the respective seats obtained along edge (16) of side (12), with a hand action orientated upwards, as shown schematically in Figs. 1 and 2 by arrows "A". During this operation, flange (14) is easily kept in a position substantially parallel to said side (12), in particular to its internal wall (12'). The protruding portion of stem (26) of screws (24) has a length equal to or slightly greater than the thickness of flange (14) which, following such positioning, counters with chamfers (28) said stems.
The presence of the head of screws (24) prevents flange (14) from shifting towards body (10). Flange (14) is therefore quickly connected to side (12) through screw (32) which, located in a position comfortable for the operator, constitute the only part to be moved with conventional tools to fit the stem into hole (34). The head of screw (32), which is entirely screwed into hole (34), counters flange (14), connecting it precisely to side (12).
The reverse operation allows obviously the quick unthreading of flange (14) from the assembled body (10), in case of need of repair or replacement interventions of the manoeuvre devices fitted onto the cylindrical extension (20) protruding onto the internal front (12') of side (12).
Figs. 3 and 4 for which the same reference numbers are used as in the preceding figures with regard to the common parts, represent as many alternative embodiments of the connecting system of the flange to the headrail side of this invention. Figs. 3 and 4 show a headrail formed by a container (10) having a side (12) provided with a lower peripheral edge (16) and a flange (14) having a central hole (18) which is connected to the same side to circumscribe the housing of the manoeuvre device of the roller blinds. According to this embodiment, each of the upper vertices of edge (16) is provided on its surface looking towards the inside of container (10) with a prtruding pin (36), obtained integrally with side (12). The free end of pin (36) is provided with a cylindrical core or head (38) whose diameter is greater that the diameter of pin (36). Flange (14), identical to the one described above, is provided on the upper front with chamfers (28) obtained in correspondence of the vertices for the fitting under head (38) of pins (36). The protruding part of pin (36) comprised between edge (16) and head (38) has a length equal to or slightly greater than the thickness of flange (14). The stable connection of said flange (14) with side (12), after the approachement of chamfers (28) to the protruding part of each pin (36), is obtained with the same means as the preceding embodiment, i.e. with one only conventional screw (32) which, fitted in a hole obtained in a comfortable position in the lower part of flange (14), counters with its stem a hole (34) obtained along edge (16) of side (12).
As can be inferred from the above, the advantages achieved by the invention are obvious.
In the headrail of this invention, the connection of the flange with the side of the headrail to circumscribe the space housing the manoeuvre devices of the headrail is obtained, in all the embodiments, in a very quick and easy way. Also in a very quick and easy way it is possible to carry out the temporary removal of the flange in case of need of interventions for the repair or the replacement of the manoeuvre devices or their components.
Even though the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments offered by way of example only, it is obvious that many changes or variants will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing description.
For instance, the screws or pins provided on the side of the headrail can be obtained in a number other that what has been described by way of example, or they can be located in other positions, with the related corresponding modification of the chamfers on the flange. With regard to the last embodiment, the protruding sector with the reverse-L section can be developed along several portions of the side edge, not necessarily aligned to one another or on a same front.
Accordingly, the invention is intended to embrace all of the alternatives and variants that fall within the spirit and the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

A headrail for roller blinds, obtained from plastic material, wood or other suitable material, comprising a container-body (10) of a substantially parallelepipedal form, closed on each of the opposite ends by a side (12), constituted by a plate of a shape complementary to that of the same end and provided with a lower internal edge (16), said edge forming a perimetral frame of limited height, developed orthogonably, suitable to pressure-fit into the head of said container and at least a flange (14) having a configuration complementary relatively to the profile of the edge (16), connected to the latter to circumscribe a housing space for the manoeuvre gears of the roller blinds, characterized in that at least one of the sides (12) has on the surface looking towards the inside of the container (10), in correspondence of at least one or more vertices, a connecting means (24, 26, 36, 38, 40) partly protruding from the edge, and said flange (14) is correspondingly provided on one or more vertices with a chamfer (28) having an arched profile; the protruding part of said connecting means being equal to or slightly greater than the thickness of the flange.
The headrail according to claim 1, wherein the connection means is stem (24) of a screw (26) screwed in a seat having a depth smaller than the length of stem (24).
The headrail according to claim 1, wherein the connection means is a pin (36) integrally formed with side (12) and provided with a cylindrical core or head (38) having a diameter greater than the diameter of pin (36).
The headrail according to claim 2 or 3, wherein stem (34) or pin (36) protrudes in correspondence of each of the upper vertices of side (12).
The headrail of any of the preceding claims, wherein the flange is provided with a through-hole (30) for a screw (32) whose stem fits into a hole (34) obtained along edge (16) of side (12) in a position substantially opposite relatively to the connection means (24, 26, 36, 38, 40).
The headrail according to any of the preceding claims, wherein flange (14) is a metal plate having a configuration complementary to that of the lower edge (16) obtained on side (12).