GB2166479A

GB2166479A - Roller blind housing

Info

Publication number: GB2166479A
Application number: GB08427609A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gunter Pielmeier
Original assignee: Thyssen Plastik Anger KG
Current assignee: Thyssen Plastik Anger KG
Priority date: 1984-11-01
Filing date: 1984-11-01
Publication date: 1986-05-08
Also published as: GB8427609D0

Abstract

A roller blind housing comprises a plurality of chamber-defining members (1, 2a, 2b, 3) and is provided with heat-insulating and sound-insulating inserts (11, 12, 13) particularly on that side which, in the installed state of the housing, faces the interior of the building. The housing is so designed that three different sizes can be assembled from only five different members, the members being hollow, and only one additional member is required for each additional size of housings. The cross-sectional width of the housing is greater than its height. Seals (15, 16) are provided at junctions of the housing members. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Roller blind housing The present invention relates to a roller blind housing for mounting on top of another structure, particularly a window, door, lifting and sliding door or similar structure.

Roller blind housings of the kind mentioned above are known. They consist in most cases of wood, particle board, etc., but structures of plastics material have also been disclosed.

The known housings for slatted roller blinds are square in cross-section and involve a number of disadvantages. For instance, their sound-insulating and heat-insulating properties are most problematic and in most cases are much lower than those which are standard for windows, particularly for composite windows and composite doors. Another disadvantage is the fact that the installer must keep large quantities of housings in stock because different housings are required for windows of different sizes: It would thus be desirable to improve this situation and provide a roller blind housing which may have the same heat-insulating and sound-insulating properties as a composite window and which can be assembled in a plurality of standard sizes.

According to the present invention there is provided a roller blind housing for installation above an aperture in a building, the housing comprising a plurality of hollow housing members interconnected to form a housing structure which, with respect to its installed orientation, has a greater cross-sectional width than height, a layer of thermal insulating material arranged in the interior of the structure over at least part of one side thereof which, in the installed state of the housing, faces the building interior, a covering of sound insulating material arranged between the layer and a blind-receiving space within the structure and sealing means arranged at the junctions of at least some of the housing members.

In a preferred embodiment the width of the housing measured transversely of the window exceeds the height of the housing and the housing is composed of a plurality of chamber-defining extruded sections, the chambers of which have a width of about 5 to 16 millimetres. Those sides of the housing which face the interior of the building are covered at least in part by a layer of insulating material, which is shielded from the interior of the housing by one or more optionally overlapping lead plates, and peripheral annular seals are provided at the joints between the sections defining hollow chambers.

Preferably, housings of three different sizes can be assembled from five chamber-defining sections, which are connected by snap joints to form a stable composite structure. An additional chamber-defining section is desirably provided for each additional size of housing.

The inner cover of the roller blind housing is preferably provided on one side with a hingelike slide-in joint and on the other side with a snap joint.

The inner cover is desirably provided with peripheral annular seals.

A roller blind housing embodying the invention may afford the advantage that its soundinsulating and heat-insulating properties correspond to those of the associated window, door or the like and that housings in different sizes can be assembled from a few parts. For instance, only five different sections are required for three sizes of housings and only one additional section is required for each additional housing size. Owing to the snap joints, the connections between adjacent sections can be made in an extremely simple manner. A high degree of rationalization may be able to be achieved in manufacture and installation.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a sectional view of a first slatted roller blind housing embodying the invention; and Figure 2 is a sectional view of a second and larger size slatted roller blind housing embodying the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in Fig. 1 a plastics roller blind housing comprising a chamber-defining member 1, which is disposed at the top of~the housing, and two identical chamber-defining members 2a and 2b, which are connected to the member 1 by snap joints on the right and left, respectively. The members 2a and 2b are connected to the member 1 by a hinge S on the right and by a snap joint R on the left.

The two members 2a and 2b are angle sections and form a composite structure with a chamber-defining member 3, which constitutes an inner cover adjacent to a window structure 4 and is connected to the latter by any desired means, for example by the hook-like projections shown. The member 3 is provided with a hinge joint S on the left and with a snap joint R on the right. The members 2a and 2b, and end members 5, are inserted in those joints. A shaft 6 of a slatted roller blind 7 is mounted in the end members 5. The blind 7 is provided at its lower end with a strip 8 and with a stop member 9. Means for actuating the roller blind are designated by 10 and may consist of, for example, a tape for manual actuation or an electric device.

The chamber of the member 2b which faces the interior of the building has a width of between 5 and 16 millimetres so that it has good heat-insulating and sound-insulating properties. A heat-insulating insert 11 is applied to the member 2b and is shielded from the interior of the housing by a lead plate 12, which constitutes a sound-insulating insert. As a result, the housing can be designed to have the same sound-insulating and heat-insulating properties as the window structure 4.

A reinforcement 13 is provided above the member 3. Reinforcements 14 for the outer side of the housing are inserted into the member 2a. In order to prevent conduction of sound and heat through the rear joints S and R facing the interior of the building, peripheral annular seals 15 and 16 have been inserted into the joints.

Fig. 2 shows a larger roller blind housing, which differs from the housing of Fig. 1 only in that the members 2a and 2b have been replaced by two larger chamber-defining members 17a and 17b. These members, and a chamber-defining member having a size which is intermediate the sizes of the members 2 and 17, can be used to assemble large roller blind housings, which will obviously require appropriate end members. The housing shown in Fig. 2 comprises an end member 18 which is larger than the end member 5 shown in Fig.

1. A heat-insulating insert 19 and a soundinsulating insert 20 of correspondingly larger sizes are also required. Both the heat-insulating insert 19 and the sound-insulating insert 20 will obviously be adapted to the other dimensions of the interior of the housing. For instance, in a relatively large housing the heatinsulating insert 19 is no longer flat, like the heat-insulating insert 11 shown in Fig. 1, but is an angle section in order to provide optimum heat insulation at that part of the housing which protrudes by more than the normal extent toward the interior of the building. This also applies to the insert 20, which is also an angle section.

Materials which have proved suitable for the chamber-defining members include polyvinylchloride and similar materials. The heat-insulating inserts 11 and 19 may be made from foamed plastics materials or from mats of fibre, such as mineral or glass fibre. Particularly good results have been obtained with polystyrene, for example expanded polystyrene (such as STYROPOR (trade mark)). The sound-insulating insert 12 or 20 preferably consists of a lead plate. The other covers and the reinforcements 13 and 14 consist of, for example, sheet metal covers or sections of aluminium or iron.

Claims

1. A roller blind housing for installation above an aperture in a building, the housing comprising a plurality of hollow housing members interconnected to form a housing structure which, with respect to its installed orientation, has a greater cross-sectional width than height, a layer of thermal insulating material arranged in the interior of the structure over at least part of one side thereof which, in the installed state of the housing, faces the building interior, a covering of sound insulating material arranged between the layer and a blind-receiving space within the structure and sealing means arranged at the junctions of at least some of the housing members.

2. A housing as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing members are extruded members of plastics material.

3. A housing as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the thermal insulating material comprises expanded polystyrene.

4. A housing as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising a further covering of sound insulating material arranged in the housing structure over at least part of a further such side facing the building interior.

5. A housing as claimed in claim 4, wherein the coverings overlap one another.

6. A housing as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the covering or each covering, as the case may be, comprises a lead plate.

7. A housing as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each of the housing members encloses at least one internal chamber having a cross-sectional width of substantially 5 to 16 millimetres.

8. A housing as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the housing structure cross-sectional size is selected from a range of three predetermined sizes and the housing members comprise a predetermined combination-associated with the selected size -of members from a range of five different such members.

9. A housing as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the housing sturcture cross-sectional size is selected from a range of more than three predetermined sizes and the housing members comprise a predetermined combination-associated with the selected size-of members from a range, which is greater by two than said range of sizes, of different such members.

10. A housing as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least two of the housing members are interconnected by a snap joint.

11. A housing as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the housing member which, in the installed state of the housing, is at the base of the housing structure is provided at two opposite edge portions thereof respectively with snap joint means and slide-in hinge-like joint means.

12. A housing as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, the sealing means comprising a seal arranged at at least one edge portion of the housing member which, in the installed state of the housing, is at the base of the housing structure.

13. A roller blind housing substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings.

14. A roller blind housing substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Fig. 2 of the accompanying drawings.