GB2455718A

GB2455718A - Window blind

Info

Publication number: GB2455718A
Application number: GB0724560A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Phillip John Stankus
Original assignee: Oceanair Marine Ltd
Current assignee: Oceanair Marine Ltd
Priority date: 2007-12-17
Filing date: 2007-12-17
Publication date: 2009-06-24
Also published as: GB0724560D0

Abstract

A window blind comprising a sheet of material to cover the window, having a plurality of elongate spaced parallel stiffening elements extending across the sheet with parallel webs of material between the stiffening elements to form hinge lines 21 which allow the sheet to collapse in a zig-zag or concertina fashion. A plurality of drawstrings 26, 27, 28 are suspended from the upper part of the frame and are connected to an upper part of the sheet to raise and lower the sheet in the frame and a plurality of vertical stays 22 are provided at spaced locations along the frame at alternative hinge lines so that when the blind is lowered the stays act to encourage the sheet to fold into said zig.zag or concertinaed bunch at the bottom of the frame. The blind is raised from the bottom of the frame into an open position in which it extends upwards covering the window. It can be used for irregular shaped windows such as those found in yachts or other boats.

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO BLINDS FOR WINDOWS

This invention relates to blinds for covering windows and is particularly although not exclusively applicable to blinds for windows of irregular shapes such as those found of side walls of yacht cabins or other super structure.

Window blinds conventionally are drawn upwardly to open (deployed) and downwardly to close (stowed) and a wide variety of forms of blind are operated in this way by a wide variety of raising and lowering arrangements or mechanisms.

Such blind arrangements are not always suitable for use with windows which are not of the standard profile, that is to say of rectangular or square format. For example, in the case of motor or sailing yachts, windows placed in the side walls of a cabin or in the super structure of the yacht may because of the constraints of the cabin design or for aesthetic reasons be given a non-uniform or irregular profile. It is not uncommon, for example, for a yacht window to have a generally horizontal base and a curved upper and/or side. COnventional blind arrangements are not readily adaptable to such forms of window.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a window blind which is of a more versatile form than hitherto available being capable of installation in both conventional rectangular profile windows and irregular profile windows.

This invention provides a blind for covering a window in a window opening, the blind comprising a sheet of material to cover the window, the sheet having a plurality of elongate spaced parallel stiffening elements extending across the sheet with parallel webs of material between the stiffening elements to form hinge lines which allow the sheet to collapse in a zig-zag fashion, means on an upper part of the frame connected to an upper part of the sheet to raise and lower the sheet in the frame and a plurality of stays at spaced locations across the sheet to which the sheet is connected at alternative hinge lines down the sheet so that when the blind is lowered the stays act to encourage the blind to fold into a compact zig-zag bunch at the bottom of the frame.

It will be appreciated that each slat provides support for the slat or slats below.

In one arrangement according to the invention the stays may comprise parallel wires or rods extending between the top and bottom of the window opening and alternate hinges in the sheet are slidably connected to the wires.

More specifically the attachment of the alternate hinges of the sheet for wire stays may be by loops attached to the sheet at said alternate hinges.

In the latter arrangement the means for raising and lowering the blind comprise a plurality of drawstrings connected to the upper part of the sheet at spaced locations across the sheet and guide means at spaced locations along the upper part of the window opening through which the drawstrings are fed for raising and lowering the sheet in the frame.

In any of the above arrangements, the sheet may be double walled having pockets formed in a sheet extending across the sheet by seams connecting the walls of the sheet together with stiffening members located in the pockets.

Also in any of the above arrangements, the window may taper vertically from end to end and the sheet is cut to match the profile of the window.

In the latter example the top wall of the window frame may be curved in profile towards the base of the frame.

In one specific arrangement the frame may comprise a straight bottom portion, an upright side portion and a top portion which curves from the upper end of the side portion to the remote end of the bottom portion, the sheet having a corresponding profile.

The following is a description of a specific embodiment of the invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a "moc]c-up" of a yacht window of irregular shape with a blind shown in its closed position; Figure 2 is a similar view to that of Figure 1 with the blind in the open position; Figure 3 is a similar view to Figures 1 and 2 with the blind partially opened; and Figure 4 is a detailed view showing the construction of the blind.

Referring firstly to Figure 2. of the drawings, there is shown a mock-up of a portion of a side wall of a motor yacht cabin indicated generally at 10 having a window aperture 11 which, in profile, consists of a generally horizontal base 12, an upright side 13 at one end of the base, and an upper side 14 which is of smoothly curved form extending from the top of the upper side 13 to the other end of the base 12. A curved header rail is mounted to the upper side of the window aperture. In the mock-up, the window glass is not present.

The window is covered by a blind 16 of corresponding profile to the shape of the window. In Figure 1 the blind is shown fully closed (or deployed), in Figure 2 the blind is shown fully opened (or stowed) with the blind "concertinaed" downwardly to the bottom of the window and in Figure 3, the blind is shown in a partially open (or deployed) condition.

Reference is now made to Figure 4 of the drawings which illustrates the construction of the blind in greater detail.

S The blind comprises a double walled sheet of suitable material having a profile corresponding to the shape of the window reveal, that is a straight bottom edge 17, an upright edge 18 at one end of the bottom edge and a curved upper edge 19 which extends from the top of the rear edge 18 in a smooth curve down to the other end of the bottom edge 17.

The double walled sheet is formed with horizontally extending parallel spaced pockets of equal width from top to bottom of the sheet. The pockets are formed by parallel seams 21 connecting the walls of the blind together and the pockets contain wooden slats which extend the full length of the pockets and are appropriately curved at one end to correspond in shape to the curved profile of the blind. The curved edge of the blind and the upright rearward edge of the blind are stitched to close the open ends of the pockets and thereby retain the stiffening slats in the pockets.

The bottom edge of the sheet is formed into a square shaped pocket in which a square bar is located to hold the bottom edge of the blind along the bottom edge of the window to which the bar is secured.

The blind is located in the window frame adjacent the window glass (not shown). The blind is constrained laterally by three vertically extending wire stays or rods located at spaced locations along the length of the blind and extending between anchorages secured to the base of the and to anchorages 24 secured at spaced locations along the curved header rail.

Guide loops 25 for the wire stays 22 are sewn to the aide of the blind remote from the window on every other seam line 21 working up from the bottom of the blind through which the stays are threaded to encourage the blind to collapse into zig-zag or concertinaed form as the blind is opened. One guide wire is located adjacent the edge of the blind, one is located towards the tapered end of the blind and the other is located midway between.

The blind i8 opened and closed by a conventional drawstring arrangement comprising three strings 26, 27 and 28 which are attached to the upper edge 18 of the blind adjacent to the wire stays and which lead upwardly into the header rail over guides and then lead around the rail to the end adjacent the upright side of the window where the guide strings pass through a conventional locking/release mechanism and emerge from the frame through an aperture 29 and are connected to a cord pull 30. The drawstrings are then attached to the upper edge of the blind adjacent the edge 18, towards the other end of the blind and midway between. The end of the barrel beyond the drawstring is therefore supported in cantilever fashion by the rest of the panel.

The blind is shown in its closed (deployed) condition in Figure 4. When the cord pull is released, the blind material slides downwardly and the wire stays encourage the blind to collapse into zig-zag form on the base of the window frame as described above.

A panel 31 extends along the lower side of the window to provide a recess behind which the blind is received in its collapsed condition.

As indicated earlier, the blind operates in the opposite direction to a conventional blind in that it collapses downwardly onto the bottom of the window frame rather than upwardly into the top part of the frame. This enables the profile of the blind other than its flat bottom edge to be shaped in a wide variety of configurations as well as conventional rectangular or square profiles. An example described above, suitable for a cabin window of a yacht, the top/front edge of the window is provided by a smooth curve or arch leading from the top of the rear end of the window profile to the front edge of the base of the window. A wide variety of other configurations can also be catered for with the blind assembly although it is preferable that the longest side of the window is the bottom side. The arrangement is not of course constrained to collapsing downwardly, it could equally be applied to a window having a straight top side and curved or other irregular bottom face in which the blind is arranged to collapse upwardly to open. The blind could be arranged to collapse horizontally if the window profile demands. It will be appreciated that the blind arrangement described above provides a very versatile arrangement capable of application to a wide variety of window shapes and situations and is not only suitable to yacht windows mentioned above as being one application but to windows in other forms of transport and to windows of buildings where demands of shape require versatility in the blind arrangement.

It will be appreciated that many modifications may be made to the above embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention. For example the drawstrings for the blind for opening and closing the blind may be motorised.

The window may be inclined to the vertical or may be a horizontal skylight or hatch.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A blind for covering a window in a window opening, the blind comprising a sheet of material to cover the window, the sheet having a plurality of elongate spaced parallel stiffening elements extending across the sheet with parallel webs of material between the stiffening elements to form hinge lines which allow the sheet to collapse in a zig-zag fashion, means on an upper part of the frame connected to an upper part of the sheet to raise and lower the sheet in the frame and a plurality of stays at spaced locations across the sheet to which the sheet is connected at alternative hinge lines down the sheet so that when the blind is lowered the stays act to encourage the blind to fold into a compact "zig-zag" or "concertinaed" bunch at the bottom of the frame.
2. A blind as claimed in claim 1, where the stays comprise wires or rods extending between the top and bottom of the window opening with alternate hinges in the sheet are slidably connected to the wires.
3. A blind as claimed in claim 3. or claim 2, wherein the attachment of the alternate hinges of the sheet for the wire stays is by loops attached to the sheet at said alternate hinges.
4. A blind as claimed in any of claims 2. to 3, wherein the blind is located adjacent a glass in the window opening and the stays are located on the side of the blind adjacent the glass.
5. A blind as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the means for raising and lowering the blind comprise a plurality of drawstrings connected to the upper part of the sheet at spaced locations across the sheet and guide means at spaced locations along the upper part of the frames for which the drawstrings are fed for raising and lowering the sheet in the frame.
6. A blind as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the sheet is double walled having closed pockets formed in a sheet extending across the sheet for the full width of the sheet by seams connecting the walls of the sheet together with stiffening members located in the pockets extending the full length of the respective pockets in which they are located.
7. A blind as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the stiffening members comprise slats of shallow rectangular cross section lying in the plane of the sheet.
8. A blind as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the window is of irregular form tapering vertically from end to end and the sheet is cut to match the tapered profile of the window.
9. A blind as claimed in claim 8, wherein the top wall of the window frame is curved in profile towards the base of the frame.
10. A blind as claimed in claim 7, wherein the frame comprises a straight bottom portion, an upright side portion and a top portion which curves from the upper end of the side portion to the remote end of the bottom portion, the sheet having a corresponding profile.

1].. A blind for a window substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

110139: O: US