US1323439A - Automobile-curtain - Google Patents

Description

e. E. BIS-HOP.

AUTOMOBILE'CURTAIN.

APPLICATION FI'L ED OCT. 31,1917.

1 $%3 %39 Patented Dec. 2, 1919.

Z SHEETS SHEET I.

fkwezz for m aifarz? 5 G. E. BISHOP.

AUTOMOBILE CURTAIN.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 3|. 1917.

Patented Dec. 2, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

fnvezz for GEORGE-E. BISHOP, F CLEVELAND, OHIO.

AUTOMOBILE-CURTAIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 2, 1919.

Application filed October 31, 1917. Serial No. 199,444.

of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automobile-Curtains, of

which the following is 'a specification, the

principle of the invention being herein explained and the best mode in which I have contemplated applying that principle, so as to distinguish it from other inventions.

My invention relates to automobile curtains and particularly to that class of such devices which are designed to be carried upon the automobile doors, to open and shut with the doors, to be readily placed on or removed from the doors, and to be easily collapsed so that the same may be conveniently rolled or folded up. More particularly, my invention relates to a collapsible curtain of the class described which may be more conveniently stretched into its taut position or more easily collapsed than any other curtain of which I am aware.

The annexed drawings and the following description set forth in detail certain means embodying my invention, the disclosed 'means, however, constituting but one of various mechanical forms 1n which the principle of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawings:

Figure 1 represents-the body and top of an automobile of which the heading above the doors is covered by two of my improved curtains, the front door being shown open to disclose the inside of said curtain; Figs.

2 and 3 represent, upon an enlarged scale, integral and partly collapsed conditions, respectively, of one of the curtains shown 1n Fig. 1, the transparency in the lateral portion thereof being omitted; Fig. 4 represents a central vertical longitudinal section of a portion of the two-part stretching member forming one element of the collapsible carrier for supporting the fabric, and a longitudinally movable sleeve or ferrule mounted upon said element, for the purposes hereinafter fully described; and Fig. 5 represents a transverse section taken in the plane indicated by the lines V-V,F1g. 4.

An automobile body of standard design is indicated by the ordinal 1 provided with a canopy 2 and the usual doors 3. A foldmg frame for supporting the canopy and forming the subject-matter of another application for U. S. Letters Patent, Serial No. 247,295, is suggested by the ordinal 2 Fig. 1. Upon said doors 3 are supported my new and improved curtains 4 comprising the fabric 5 provided with transparencies 6, the curtain portion laterally of the door being formed with or without a transparency, as desired. Said fabric is carried upon a collapsible frame comprising strengthening members 7 and 8 which hold the fabric 5 tautfrom front to rear, said members 7 and 8 belng preferably incorporated within the fabric and near the upper and lower edges,

respectively, as plainly shown in the drawings. A stretching member is provided, comprlsing two parts 9 and 10, the same bemg suitable rod members adapted to abut at their outer ends when the curtain is taut, as plainly shown in Fig. 4. Said stretching rod parts are of different diameters and are respectively hinged to the upper and lower strengthening members 7 and 8. The lower rod member 10 is formed with a supporting member 12 adapted to fit within a suitable round socket formed in the automobile door, said supporting portion being formed with an angular grip portion 11, as plainly shown in the drawings. 4

The invention further consists in convenient means for holding the abutting outer ends of the rod parts 9 and 10 together when it is desired to keep the curtain taut, and to conveniently release said rod parts from said holding means when it is desired to collapse the curtain in order that said parts 9 and 10 may be conveniently rolled or folded up within the respective edges of the curtain adjacent to the strengthening members 7 and 8. It will be noted that the outer end of the rod 9 is formed with a head 14, said head being of greater diameter than the rod portion 9 proper so that a shoulder 13 is formed thereon, as plainly shown in Fig. 4. It is the outer face of this head 14 which abuts the outer end of the rod part 10. Surrounding the rod part 9 and longitudinally movable thereon is a sleeve on ferrule 15 having a wall of greater thickness at its upper portion than at its lower portion, the difference in the thicknesses of said wall portions being equal to the difference in the diameters of the rods 9 and 10, so that the sleeve 15 rests upon the flange 13, thus depending from the rod member 9, as plainly shown in Fig. 1, and cannot be moved down farther upon the rod 9 than is allowed by the contact of said head 14 and the upper wall of said sleeve. The inner surface 16 of the lower part of the sleeve 15 is adaptedto receive the rod 10 and thus hold said rods against movement relative to each other or relative to the curtain fabric 5. When it is desired to collapse the curtain, the sleeve 15 is raised upon the rod 9 and off from the rod 10 so that the latter is released. When it is desired to assemble the curtain, the sleeve 15 is so disposed upon the rod part 9 as to receive at its freezend the outer end of the rod 10 disposed in any convenient position for assembling, as illustrated in Fig. 3, and the rod parts 9 and 10 straightened up into the position-shown in Fig. 4:, the sleeve 15 automatically traveling up the rod 9 as such straightening proceeds until the two rod parts 9 and 10 are in perfect alinement, or in other words, until the curtain is taut, when the sleeve will drop down over the rod part 10 to hold the rods in alinement and to maintain the integrity of the curtain.

My improved curtain comprises the valance portion shown, described and claimed by me in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,244,692, issued October 30, 1917 and consisting of the upper member portions 18 and 18, the former of which is free from the partof the curtain portion 5 proper disposed above the door and the latter of which is integral with the portion 17 of the curtain which is disposed laterally of the door so that the door may open, as plainly shown in Fig. 1, without disturbing the valance portion 18, the curtain as a whole being secured to the automobile body by the fasteners 19 and 19'. The edge of the curtain opposite the edge 17, i. e., the rear edge, in the exemplification of my invention shown in the accompany-.

ing drawings, is formed of a portion 20 adapted to overlap contiguous portions of the automobile side inclosures, as plainly shown. in Fig. 1.

Particular attention is called to the advantages of the above-described curtain carrier construction when the lines of the lateral edges of the top and the body of the automobile do not fall in the same vertical plane which is very often the case. Under this condition, the rod parts forming the stretching member of my improved construction turn in the depending sleeve, as the automobile door is opened and closed, and thus equalize the induced strains so the severity of the latter is'taken off of the carrier and fabric.

What I claim is:

1. In an automobile curtain, the combination with suitable curtain fabric; of a twopart rod for stretching the same, the two parts of said rod being absolutely independent of each other and respectively connected to said fabric, and means mounted upon one of said rod parts, longitudinally movable thereon, and adapted in certain positions to hold the ends of said parts in contact to maintain the integrity of the curtain and in other positions so positioned as not to restrain the free, independent movement of said rod parts, whereby the curtain can be collapsed;

2. In an automobile curtain, the combination with suitable curtain fabric; of strengthening means therefor, and a twopart rod for stretching the same, the two tion with suitable curtain fabric; of a col-1 lapsible frame for supporting the latter, said frame comprising strengthening members incorporated with said fabric, a twopart stretching member of which the parts are relatively unconnected and respectively pivoted at one end to two of said strengthening members, said parts being of such lengths and so constructed as to abut at their outer ends to effect the integrity of the curtain, and means mounted upon one of said stretching member parts, longitudinally movable thereon, and adapted in certain positions to hold the abutting ends of said parts in contact to maintain the integrity of the curtain and in other positions so positioned as not to restrain the free independent pivotal movement of said rod parts, whereby the curtain can be collapsed.

4. In an automobile curtain, the combination with suitable curtain fabric; of a collapsible frame for supporting the latter, said frame comprising strengthening members incorporated with said fabric, a twopart stretching member of which the parts are relatively unconnected and respectively pivoted at one end to two of said strengthric; a pair of oppositely disposed strengthening members incorporated therein adjacently the upper and lower edges thereof, respectively; a pair of independent rod members respectively hinged to said strengthening members, adapted to stretch the fabric, and abutting at their outer ends tudinally movable thereon to receive and 10 confine or to release the other rod member.

Signed by me,

this 27th day of October,

GEORGE E. BISHOP.

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