US1111735A - Friction device for holding window-curtains. - Google Patents

Description

W. L. GONWELL.

FRICTION DEVICE FOR HOLDING WINDOW CURTAINS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.9, 1912.

ED061321": I We ZzerL. Como e]! w Zia;

Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

iii?

THE AORRIS PETERS co.v PHOYO-LITNOU WASHINGYOfL D c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER L. CONWELL, OF MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO TRANSPORTATIGN UTILITIES COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

Application filed January 9, 1912. Serial No. 670,234.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it lmown that I, \VALTER L. CoNwnLL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Montclair, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Friction Devices for Holding Window-Curtains, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and eXact description, reference being had to the accompahying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

M invention relates to a friction device for lioldir'i Window curtains.

(fine of tdie dbjects of my invention is to provide a device for holding a curtain in any desired position by means of friction acting in opposition to the action of a spring which tends to move said curtain.

Another object is to provide friction holdin'g "means whidh 'is effective to resist movenieiit'of the curtain in one direction but not in the 0p osite direction.

knoth'r object is to provide means perihittin' a manual release of the friction when esired.

A further object is to provide a friction device of simple and economical construction.

The invention may be embodied in various forms. in the accompanying drawings I have illustrated two embodiments which I have worked'out in practice and which have certain practical advantages. I do not limit myfs'el'f,'of course, to these two forms.

- The views in the drawings are as fol- *lowsi' Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in sectidnof one form of friction device. Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a plan View (if the blank from which the main body portion ofthe device is formed. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of another form of friction device.

Referrin toat'h'e first form illustrated, a rod is shown which is applied to the lower end of a window curtain or shade in the usual manner. The rod is made in two sections 1, "1 'as is customary, "the sections being adapted to 'be drawn toward each other by means of the pinch handles 2, which are preferably arranged about the middle of l'the stops 9.

the lower edge of the curtain. Ihe handles 2 are normally held apart by s rings 3, but may be moved together again t 'the action of said springs to permit a ready raising or lowering of the curtain in the manner hereinafter described. Each end of one of the sections of rod 1 has secured thereto a shoe provided with a friction device. These shoes are made preferably in right and left hand forms. Inasmuch as the two slices and the parts associated therewith are sub stantially identical, I have illustrated and will describe only one of them from whidh the operation of the other will be clear l apparent. The end of the section of rod f is suitably secured to a shoe, comprising side plates 4. Said rod may be secured thereto in any suitable manner, as, for example, by rivets. The two side plates, together with a connecting strip or wall 5, are preferably integral, being stamped from a blank as shown in Fig. 3, and provide an iiiclosure within which the friction wheels 6 are located. These wheels are constructed of tiny suitable material and are ada ed to earn freely except when restrained I the small rollers 7 which are wedged or jammed between the peripheries of said wheels and the adjacent guides 8. These guides constitute in effect a continuation of the wall 5 and are struck up from the blank. Abutments 9, also preferably struck up from one metal of the blank, are provided to prevent the rollers 7 from riding overon to the hpposite side of the wheels.

Although the rollers 7 are illustrated its circular in outline, other configurations may, of course, be employed. For example, the rollers might be of polygonal outline, or small cams might be employed.

The wheels 6 are adapted to run in the usual groove provided in the side of the window where this type of curtain is ethployed and said wheels bear against the bottom walls 10 of said groove. It willbe apparent that the device as a whole may descend freely when the curtain is drawn down by hand, as during the descent the wheels as seen in Fig. 1, rotate clock-"wise, thereby tendin to movethe rollers '7 toward hen the shoe is moved "upwardly, however, the rollers 7, which are normally in the position shown in Fig. 1, at once are wedged or jammed into the V- shaped end in the inclosure in which they are confined and act as a brake on the wheels. These rollers may be constructed of steel or other suitable material. The parts are preferably so designed that the rollers exert suflicient friction to prevent the rod sections 1, 1 from being raised in response to the action of the usual tortional spring tending to hold the curtain, and hence the rod, in uppermost position. The friction between the wheels 6 and the stationary wall 10, however, is not so great but that the curtain rod may be forcibly moved upward by hand, if desired, without moving the handles 2 toward each other, the wheels slipping in the grooves. Of course, it is apparent that by 1 moving the handles toward each other the two sections of the rod and the various parts carried thereby, are moved toward each other, thereby releasing the friction between the wheels and the grooves. Of course, when the handles 2 are pinched the curtain may be moved either up or down freely. In addition, the curtain may be readily pulled down without pinching the handles and the curtain be forcibly raised, in spite of the friction of the parts, without moving said handles toward each other. It will be further apparent that the curtain may be lowered to any desired position and left in that position.

In the form illustrated in Fig. 4, the wheels 6 are provided with small cams 10, which I have illustrated in the form of small rollers, eccentrically pivoted at 11 and bearing against the peripheries of said wheels to resist rotation thereof in one direction but not in the other direction.

I do not desire to limit myself to the details described and illustrated, as I am aware that other forms may be devised which fall within the scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention 1. In a curtain fixture, the combination of a curtain stick, a friction shoe carried by each end of said stick, each friction shoe comprising a casing provided with curved ends, wheels pivoted to the walls of said casing eccentric with said curved ends, and rollers confined between the peripheries of said wheels and said curved casing ends, whereby rotation of said wheels in one direction will be opposed by the wedging of said rollers between the peripheries of said wheels and the eccentric ends of said casg In a friction shoe, a guide wheel, an inclosing casing, said casing being provided with a wall approaching the periphery of said wheel at an acute angle, and a roller confined in the space between said wall and the periphery of said wheel, whereby as said wheel is rotated in one direction, said roller will crowd into said acute angle and exert a braking action on said wheel, and whereby as said wheel is rotated in the opposite direction, said roller will be moved toward the open end of said angle to release said wheel.

3. In a friction device for curtains, a supporting member, a wheel carried thereby and freely rotatable, a guide also carried by said member and arranged adjacent the periphery of said wheel cooperating with said periphery to form a V-shaped inclosure, a roller located within said inclosure and normally tending toward the narrow end of said inclosure, whereby rotation of said wheel in one direction tends to wedge said roller farther into said narrow end, whereby said roller exerts a braking efiect on said wheel.

4. A friction device for a curtain comprising, in combination, two plates suitably spaced apart, a plurality of wheels arranged between said plates and having their peripheries projecting beyond said plates,

guide walls also arranged between said plates and adjacent each wheel, one guide wall and the periphery of each wheel cooperating to form a V-shaped recess, and a roller located in each V-shaped recess and adapted to cause friction against the periphery of the corresponding wheel when said wheel is turning in the proper direction.

A friction shoe for curtain sticks, comprising an integral inclosing casing, rotatable disks provided with uninterrupted peripheries and smooth, flat sides, pivoted between the side walls of said casing, said casing having end walls approaching the peripheries of said disks at acute angles, and friction rollers confined between the peripheries of said disks and said end walls to exert a braking action in one direction of r0- tation of said disks.

6. In a friction shoe, in combination, a plurality of guide wheels, an inclosure therefor, one wall of said inclosure approaching the periphery of one of said wheels whereby a V-shaped recess is formed, and a friction device located in said V-shaped recess and adapted to exert a braking effect on said wheel during rotation in one direction but not in the other direction.

7. In a friction shoe, in combination, a plurality of guide wheels, an inclosure therefor, said inclosure comprising an integral sheet metal structure having one of its walls arranged approximately tangentially to one of said wheels to form a. recess for a friction device and a friction device movably mounted in said recess.

8. A friction shoe comprising an inclosing casing formed from a blank, said casing In Witness whereof, I have hereunto subhaving a pair of side Walls, a connecting scribed my name 1n the presence of two cross Wall, and curved end Walls, the extremity of said curved end Walls terminat- Witnesses. ing near the open side of said casing, and WALTER L. CONWELL. guide wheels rotatably mounted in said side Witnesses:

Walls, the axis of said Wheels being held in T. M. CAMPBELL, fixed relation to said side walls. T. F. BROTHERS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O.

Images