IE20030637A1 - Window blind - Google Patents

Abstract

A woven wood blind including a head rail, a bottom rail and arranged therebetween at least one fixed guide element. A sliding rail is slidably coupled to the at least one fixed guide element, the sliding rail being displaceable between the head rail and the bottom rail; and a woven wood substrate disposed between either the head rail and the sliding rail or the bottom rail and the sliding rail.

Description

The present invention relates to a wood weave blind and more particularly, to wood weave blinds for use with inclined openings.

Wood weave blinds are normally used as coverings for vertical windows and other architectural openings. Operated by a conventional ‘pulley and cleat1 system, they ore inappropriate for use with inclined openings as the woven wood substrate of the blind would sag or bow. Therefore it would be advantageous to provide a blind with the aesthetic properties of a woven wood substrate which may be used to cover inclined openings such as those found in sky-lights or conservatories.

In accordance with a first aspect of this invention there is provided a wood weave blind including a head rail, a sliding rail and a bottom rail, and a woven wood substrate disposed between either the head rail and the sliding rail or the bottom rail and the sliding rail. The sliding rail is maintained parallel to both the head rail and the bottom rail and is slidable between them, such that the blind may be opened and closed. Arranged between the head rail and the bottom rail are one or more fixed guide elements, to which is slidably attached the sliding rail.

The terms “wood weave” and “woven wood” refer to a substantially planar blind substrate comprising a plurality of parallel elongate wooden elements. The wooden elements are bound together by transverse bindings. The bindings may be flexible cords or tapes. 1’n use, the substrate is typically arranged such that the wooden elements are disposed substantially OPEN TO PUBL*C INSPECTION wra. S ί 1 UNMR SECTION 28 AND RULE 23 ___ IE 0 3 06 3 7 The blind preferably includes a tension cord, which is capable of resisting displacement of the sliding rail. Thus, once the sliding rail is disposed in the desired position, the tension cord resists any subsequent unwanted movement of the sliding rail, e.g. from the action of gravity or air movement. The tension cord is preferably arranged in a figure of eight configuration wherein the free ends of the cord are joined via a tension spring. This type of arrangement has been used for conventional fabric blinds, but not for blinds comprising a wood weave substrate. io The blind also preferably comprises a plurality of support members attached to the substrate, each of the support members including an engagement portion slidably engageable with the or a respective one of the fixed guide elements and a connecting portion for attaching the support member to the substrate whereby the substrate is supportable by the or each guide element via the support members.

The substrate may include one or more transverse (i.e. in use vertical) binding elements, such that the number of binding elements is equal to or greater than the number of guide elements, wherein the connecting portion of the support members is attached to the substrate via a respective binding element.

Alternatively, the substrate may include a plurality of rods arranged parallel to the wooden elements, wherein the connecting portion of the support members is attached to the substrate via a respective rod.

In certain embodiments the substrate may include one or more transverse tapes in addition to the binding elements. In these embodiments the support members are preferably a one piece construction and the connecting portion is preferably formed as a T-sbaped portion having a J 1 resiliently deformable cross bar which may be punched through the tape, yet resists the removal of the support member from the tape.

A skilled person will appreciate that a number of the transverse binding elements may be grouped together such that together they have properties similar to those of a tape. Thus, instead of a tape, the support member may be punched through a group of transverse binding elements to achieve a similar result.

In alternative embodiments where the substrate includes one or more rods parallel to the wooden elements, the rods are preferably also wood or a rigid polymeric material and the connecting portion comprises a screw thread, which may be screwed into the rod.

The provision of a wood weave blind including support members secured thereto facilitates the use of a woven wood substrate to cover apertures which could previously only be covered by fabrics offering different types of aesthetic appeal.

In a preferred embodiment, each support member is releasably secured to the substrate via a respective transverse binding element. The support members are preferably arranged in the form of transverse arrays wherein the support members of each transverse array are equidistantly spaced, such that when the blind is in an ‘open’ configuration (i.e. when light transmission through the aperture is maximised) the substrate forms regular folds between the sliding rail and the bottom rail or the head rail and the sliding rail.

The engagement portion of the support member may comprise a loop or eye through which a guide element may pass such that the eye or loop is slidably connectable to the guide element.

IE 03 06 3 7 The support member is secured to the substrate via the connection portion. The connection portion may be a loop or clip through which a binding element on the rear surface of the substrate is passed.

In embodiments where the substrate includes one or more transverse tapes, the securing of the support member to the substrate is desirably achieved by ‘punching’ or urging the connecting portion through the substrate such that a first part of the connection portion (e.g. the shaft of a T-shaped connecting portion) extends through the tape and a second part of the connecting portion (e.g. the cross bar of the T-shaped connecting portion) engages a front surface of the tape and thus resists removal of the support member from the tape. By front surface it is meant the surface of the tape which is furthest from the engagement portion of the support member.

The guide element is typically a cable under tension or a rod. That is to say, the guide element is preferably a substantially rigid member. Moreover more than one guide element may be used to support the fabric element of the blind.

Accordingly, the blind may include a plurality of sets or arrays of support members, such that each set or array has a linear configuration, whereby each set or array of support members may slidably engage a respective guide element. In a preferred embodiment the, or each guide element is fixed at one end thereof to the head rail of the blind and at the other end thereof to the bottom rail of the blind. The sliding rail of the blind may be provided with one or more apertures through which the or each guide element may pass such that it is slidably connected to the guide element(s). Alternatively, the sliding rail may include locating elements such that the sliding rail is slidably coupled to the or each guide elements via the locating elements.

IE 0 3 06 5 7 As mentioned above, the sliding rail may be positioned at any point between the head rail and the bottom rail by means of a tensioning cord. The tensioning cord preferably includes a loop of cord wherein the free ends are joined by a tension spring. More preferably, the loop of cord is arranged in a “figure of eight” configuration. The spring of the arrangement may be located inside any one of the three supporting rails in order that it is hidden from view. The spring exerts a force on the cord thereby placing it under tension. This results in a frictional force being exerted between the cord and the sliding rail, whereby the frictional force resists unwanted movement and allows the sliding rail to be positioned at the desired point between the other two rails. The sliding rail is moveable between the head rail and the bottom rail by the application of a force which exceeds the frictional force exerted by the tensioning cord.

The wood weave substrate may be natural, stained, toned or coloured as appropriate for the application.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic rear view of the embodiment of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is an enlarged view of a support member used in the embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2.

For avoidance of doubt it should be noted that in this specification reference to ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘upper’, ‘lower’, ‘vertical’, ‘horizontal’, ‘front’, ‘rear’ and related terms refers to the orientation that the components of the blind adopt when installed for normal use, as they are shown in the figures.

IE 03 06 3 7 Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the woven wood blind of the present invention, referred to generally by the reference numeral 1, the blind having a head rail 2, a sliding rail 3 and a bottom rail 4. The head, sliding and bottom rails 2, 3, and 4 are arranged in a parallel configuration, with the head rail 2 and the bottom rail 4 being spaced apart. The sliding rail 3 is arranged to be displaceable between the head rail 2 and the bottom rail 4.

The head, sliding and bottom rails 2, 3 and 4 comprise hollow elongate sections of extruded aluminium, each having a rectangular cross-section.

The sliding rail is maintained in the desired position by means of a tensioning cord 20 which is shown schematically in Figure 2. The tensioning cord 20 comprises a cord element 5 and a tension spring 6. A first end of the cord element 5 is attached to a first end of the spring 6, which is housed in the bottom rail 4, and arranged such that it threads from the spring 6 through the bottom rail 4 from right to left. It then passes through the sliding rail 3 from left to right and then through the head rail 2 from right to left. A figure of eight configuration is formed by further threading the cord element 5 back through the sliding rail 3, again from left to right, and then back to the bottom rail 4, entering from the right side wherein the second end of the cord element 5 is connected to the second end of the spring 6. This provides effectively a continuous loop of the cord which is under tension and provides the sliding rail with a frictional resistive force against its movement. The amount of resistance to movement can be varied by verifying the tensile force of the spring or by varying the length of the cord.

A woven wood substrate 7 is secured at one of its ends to the bottom rail 4 and at its other end to the sliding rail 3. In use, the sliding rail 3 is displaced away from or towards the bottom rail to close or open the blind.

IE 0 3 0 6 3 Ί The woven wood substrate 7 comprises a plurality of substantially parallel elongate wooden elements which are arranged to form a substantially planar substrate wherein each wooden element is adjacent to its neighbouring elements. In use, the wooden elements are arranged to be substantially horizontal. The wooden elements may be retained in the form of a substrate by the use of transverse bindings. The transverse bindings (which are substantially vertical in use) arc formed from a flexible fabric cord or other flexible cord-like element.

Arranged between the head rail 2 and the bottom rail 4 are two guide elements 10. The guide elements 10 are formed by nylon cords which are placed under tension to provide substantially rigid members. The sliding rail 3 includes two apertures 20 each having a respective guide element 10 arranged therethrough, whereby the sliding rail is slidably coupled to the guide elements 3 0.

The woven wood substrate 7 further includes two transverse linear arrays of support members 9, wherein each linear array is arranged to be adjacent to a respective guide element 10.

A support member 9 is shown in more detail in Figure 3 and includes a substantially annular engagement portion 11 and a looped connecting portion consisting of a shaft 12 extending from the engagement portion and forming a loop 13. The support member 9 is arranged such that the engagement portion 11 extends from one end of the shaft 12 and the loop 13 extends from the other end of the shaft 12.

The support member 9 is a one-piece brass construction.

The support members 9 are arranged whereby the loop 13 of each support member 9 is connected to a transverse binding element. The support ΙΕ ο 3 π ς j j members are arranged in vertical arrays and are equally spaced such that, in combination with the guide elements 10, they will support the substrate 7 in use.

The loop 13 is sized such that it extends a short distance from the fabric 7 thereby allowing for a small amount of play between the substrate 7 and the guide element 10 which permits the substrate 7 to move and fold more freely during opening or closing of the blind 1.

Each guide element 10 is arranged such that is passes through an engagement portion 11 of each of the support members 9 of a respective linear array thereof.

When the sliding rail 3 is positioned such that the window is partially covered, the substrate 7 will have a length greater than the distance between the sliding rail 3 and the bottom raj] 4. This produces a series of neat horizontal folds 8 in the substrate 7, substantially adjacent to the bottom rail 4. The folds result from the support members 9 connecting the substrate 7 to the guide elements 10 being vertically substantially equally spaced.

It is to be understood that the present invention has been described above with reference to a certain specific example only, which is to be construed as not limiting the scope of the invention in any way. In particular, various changes and modifications from that which has been specifically described and illustrated may be made within the scope of the invention as claimed, as will be readily apparent to persons skilled in the art.

IE 0 3 0 6 J Ί

Claims (14)

1. A woven wood blind including a head rail, a bottom rail and arranged therebetween at least one fixed guide element; a sliding rail slidably coupled to the at least one fixed guide element, the sliding rail being displaceable between the head rail and the bottom rail; and a woven wood substrate disposed between either the head rail and the sliding rail or the bottom rail and the sliding rail.

2. A woven wood blind according to Claim 1, wherein the blind further includes a means for resisting the displacement of the sliding rail.

3. A woven wood blind according to Claim 2, wherein the means comprises a tensioning cord including a cord element arranged in a loop wherein the two ends of the cord element are connected to respective ends of a tension spring.

4. A woven blind according to Claim 3, wherein the loop is a figure of eight such that the cord element passes through each of the head rail, the bottom rail and the sliding rail.

5. A woven wood blind according to any preceding claim, wherein the substrate comprises a plurality of elongate wooden strips, each arranged parallel and adjacent to the neighbouring strip, and at least two transverse binding elements.

6. A woven wood blind according to Claim 5, wherein the binding elements are woven with the elongate wooden strips such that the wooden strips form the warp strands and the binding elements form the weft strands of the substrate. IE 0 3 0 6 3 Ί Ί. A woven wood blind according to any preceding claim, wherein the woven wood substrate is slidably coupled to at least one fixed guide element via one or more support members.

7. 8. A woven wood blind according to Claim· 7, wherein the or each support member comprises an engagement portion slidably coupled to a respective guide element and a connecting portion which connects the support member to the woven wood substrate.

8. 9. A woven wood blind according to Claim 8, wherein the or each support member is releasably coupled to the woven wood substrate.

9. 10. A woven wood blind according to Claim 8 or Claim 9, wherein the engagement portion comprises a substantially annular element through which the guide element passes.

10. 11. A woven wood blind according to any one of Claims 7 to 10, wherein the or each support member is a one-piece construction.

11. 12. A woven wood blind according to any of Claims 7 to 11, wherein the blind comprises at least two guide elements and a plurality of support members, wherein the support members are arranged in linear arrays and each guide element has a corresponding linear array of support members slidably coupled thereto.

12. 13. A woven wood blind according to Claim 12, wherein the support members of each linear array are equidistantly spaced from each other.

13.

14. A woven wood blind substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. to F.R. KELLY & CO. Agents for the Applicants IE 0 3 06 3 7 1 Iz IE 0 5 06 5 Ί