GB2359733A

GB2359733A - Safety curtain rail that pivots from mounting

Info

Publication number: GB2359733A
Application number: GB0105300A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hans Gruetzner
Original assignee: Silent Gliss International AG
Current assignee: Silent Gliss International AG
Priority date: 2000-03-02
Filing date: 2001-03-02
Publication date: 2001-09-05
Anticipated expiration: 2021-03-02
Also published as: GB0105300D0; DE20102256U1; GB2359733B

Description

2359733 1 Fixing device The invention relates to a fixing device for use

with a curtain rail. The fixing device can, for example, be used with a curtain rail secured to a building ceiling by means of a saf ety hanging device, and has a f ixing part which is mounted, for example, on the building wall and to which one end of the curtain rail is attached.

In wards of hospitals where several beds are located, known curtain systems, in which the curtain panel is slidably guided on rails, are used to partition the area. The rails are secured by means of a safety hanging device to and at a distance from the ceiling. The safety hanging device has a number of bearings disposed at a distance apart from one another, which are designed so as to be released when a predetermined load is exceeded and the curtain rail slides off or falls down. The intention is to prevent the curtain system from being used for suicide attempts.

In order to enable the curtain rail to fulfil its function, at least one end must be securely fixed, for example to a building wall, in order to absorb horizontal forces. The disadvantage of said safety hanging devices is that, on release, the rail damages the mounting on the wall. This makes the curtain rail more dif f icult to mount again and, as a rule, a new fixing device has to be procured..

2 It is an objective of at least the preferred embodiment of the present invention to provide a fixing device of the type outlined above which does not become damaged when the curtain rail slides off or falls down and which can be easily remounted. Furthermore, the device should be inexpensive to manufacture and functionally reliable.

In one aspect the present invention provides a fixing device comprising a retaining part and a wall-mountable fixing part, wherein the retaining part is placed on the end of the curtain rail, which is retained in the fix-ing part to absorb horizontal forces and, if the safety hanging device releases, is able to pivot to a restricted degree about a horizontal axis and move down out of the fixing part.

As a rule, if a rail comes out of the safety hanging device, the rail initially pivots about its fixing point on the building wall. Since the retaining part proposed by the invention is able to pivot to only a restricted degree, such a pivoting movement of the rail will not cause damage to the rail or the f ixing part. With further displacement of the rail, it will finally move down out of the f ixing part at the end close to the building wall. This movement does not cause any damage either. When the rail is re-mounted, the retaining part can be easily re-inserted in the f ixing part from underneath. This can be done quickly and simply without the need for tools., 3 If another embodiment of the invention is used, in which the fixing part is substantially U-shaped in horizontal cross section, and the retaining part is inserted between two walls disposed at a distance from one another, the rail will also be secured in the retaining part, preventing it from twisting about its longitudinal axis. The pivoting action and the sliding action will occur in a particularly advantageous manner if, by virtue of another embodiment of the invention, the retaining part has two laterally projecting shoulders, which locate respectively in a vertically extending guide groove of the retaining part. The shoulders are preferably of a stub-type design. These stubs form the horizontal axis about which the rail is pivotably restricted. These stubs simultaneously anchor the rail in the fixing part and guide the rail as it falls downwards. A retaining part having laterally projecting shoulders of this type can be made very inexpensively from a plastics material by an injection moulding process.

The retaining part can be fixed to the curtain rail in a particularly simple manner if, as in another embodiment of the invention, the retaining part has a shoulder which is pushed into the track of the curtain rail. The retaining part will then sit in the track of the curtain rail without any additional fixing means. The curtain rail is preferably an aluminium section.

4 Preferred features of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a curtain system with a fixing device as proposed by the invention, Figure 2 shows a vertical section through the fixing device, Figure 3 is a three-dimensional view of a retaining part, Figure 4 is a section through the retaining part along the line IV-IV of Figure 2, Figure 5 is a front view of the retaining part, Figure 6 schematically illustrates how the fixing device operates, Figure 7 is a vertical section through a safety hanging device.

Figure 1 illustrates a curtain system having at least one rail 2, which is secured to a building wall 5 at one end by means of a f ixing device 1 and suspended from a ceiling 6 by means of two bearings 3. The bearings 3 form a safety hanging device, which prevents the curtain rail 2 from being used for a suicide attempt. If a specific load is exceeded, the rail 2 is released from the two bearings 3, as schematically illustrated in Figures 6 and 7. The rail 2 is inserted in a clamping part 18 on each bearing 3 from underneath. The clamping force is set so that when a specific load is exceeded, the two clamping parts 18 will no longer be able to hold the rail 2. So that the rail 2 is retained even though it has been released, the rail 2 is f ixed in each bearing 3 by means of an elastic band 19 on a f ixing sleeve 4. A released rail can easily be re- mounted by pushing the rail 2 into the clamping part 18 from underneath. The embodiment of a releasable connection between the rail 2 and the bearings 3 illustrated here is merely one example of an embodiment. There are other structural solutions which could be used to produce a safety hanging device. For example, each of the bearings 3 may have a plug-in coupling, not illustrated here, which releases under a predetermined load.

In the illustrated embodiment the rail 2 is mounted by means of the fixing device 1. This fixing device 1 has a fixing part 7 with two orifices 8 by means of which it is secured to the building wall 5 as illustrated in Figure 2 and which receive f ixing screws, not illustrated here. As illustrated in Figure 1, the fixing part 7 is firmly screwed into the building wall 5 at a distance from the ceiling 6. The distance corresponds to the length of a bearing 3. As illustrated, the bearing 3 is spaced at a distance A from the building wall 5. This distance is approximately 50 cm, for example.

The bearing 7 is made from plastics in a single piece and is approximately U-shaped as illustrated in Figure 6 4. Two walls 10 extending parallel with one another have on their respective inner face approximately vertically extending grooves 11. As illustrated in Figure 2, these grooves 11 are open at the bottom and terminate at the top at a distance from a horizontally extending wall 23.

The rail 2 is an aluminium section section as illustrated in Figure Attached to one end of the rail 2 is 12 illustrated in Figures 3 to 5.

and has a cross 7, for example.

the retaining part In order to secure the retaining part 12 to the rail 2, the retaining part 12 has a hollow shoulder 15 with two laterally disposed ribs 16 which is pushed into the track 20 until it abuts against a plate 13. On the other side of the plate 13 is a land 17 with abutment surfaces 17a disposed at an angle to one another. Laterally projecting stubs 14 are mounted on opposing faces of this land 17. The land 17 with the two stubs 14 is designed so that it can be inserted from underneath in a recess 9 between the two walls 10, the stubs 14 respectively locating in a groove 11, in which they are slidable. At the top, this sliding action is restricted by means of the top end 11a of the grooves 11 illustrated in Figure 2. When the stubs 14 are located, the rail 2 is fixed in the position illustrated in figure 2 so as to withstand horizontal forces. The rail 2 is therefore not slidable in the directions indicated by the double arrow 22. A pivoting movement about the stub 14 is, however, possible. A broken line 7 in Figure 2 illustrates a rail 2, which is pivoted about the stubs 14. This pivoted position occurs if a rail 2 has come loose from the bearings 3. Apart from this pivoting movement, another downward movement is also possible, whereby the rail 2 moves downwards and is completely released from the fixing part 7. Reference 2" denotes a rail which has come completely loose from the fixing part 7. The way in which a rail 2 is released from a fixing part 7 varies from one case to another. However, the rail 2 is able to pivot without causing damage and can fall out and drop down.

In order to fix the rail 2 back onto the fixing part 7, the retaining part 12 is pushed into the recess 9 f rom underneath. This can be done without tools. The rail 2 is simultaneously pushed back into the clamping parts 18 or another releasable connection is added.

While the present invention has been described in its preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the words which have been used are words of description rather than limitation and that changes may be made to the invention without departing from its scope as defined by the appended claims.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (which term includes the claims) and/or shown in the drawings may be incorporated in the invention independently of other disclosed and/or illustrated features.

8 The text of the abstract filed herewith is repeated here as part of the specification.

The fixing device has a fixing part (7), which is mounted on a building wall, and is releasably fixed to a curtain rail (2) at one end. A retaining part (12) is placed on the end of the curtain rail (2), which is retained in the fixing part (7) in order to withstand horizontal forces (22), and, if the safety hanging device (3) comes loose, is able to pivot to a restricted degree about a horizontal axis and move down out from the fixing part (7). In the event of misuse of the safety hanging device, the device and the rail (2) are not damaged and can then be assembled again in a simple manner.

9

Claims

1. Fixing device for securing one end of a curtain rail to a generally vertical surface such as a wall, the fixing device comprising a fixing part which can be mounted to said surface, and a retaining part connectable to the curtain rail, the retaining part being configured to be releasably held by the fixing part such that the retaining part is pivotable relative to the fixing part and can be separated therefrom, in use, by downward movement relative thereto.

2. Fixing device for use with a curtain rail suspended by means of a safety hanging device on a building ceiling, having a fixing part which is mountable on a building wall and to which in operation one end of the curtain rail is secured, wherein a retaining part is connectable to the end of the curtain rail and is retained in the fixing part against horizontal forces and which, if the safety hanging device releases the rail, is able to pivot to a restricted degree about a horizontal axis and move downwards out from the fixing part.

3. Device according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the fixing part is generally U-shaped in horizontal cross section and the retaining part is inserted between two walls spaced from each other.

4. Device according to claim 3, wherein the two spaced walls each have on their respective inner face a vertically extending guide groove in which the retaining part is guidable as it moves out.

5. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the retaining part has a land which locates in a recess of the fixing part.

6. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the retaining part has two laterally projecting shoulders which locate respectively in a vertically extending guide groove of the fixing part.

7. Device according to claim 6, wherein the two shoulders are of a stubtype design and project in opposite directions.

8. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the retaining part is spaced from the safety hanging device.

9. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the retaining part has a plate abutting against the end face of the curtain rail, on which an engagement formation is provided which is frictionally engaged with a channel formed in the rail.

10. A curtain rail suspension system comprising a f ixing device according to one of the preceding claims and at least one safety hanging device for suspending a said curtain rail from a ceiling, the safety hanging device being adapted to release the curtain rail when subjected to an excessive downward load.

11. A curtain rail assembly comprising according to claim 10 and a said curtain rail.

a system

12. A fixing device, suspension system or curtain rail assembly, substantially as herein described with reference to, or as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.