US20060278345A1

US20060278345A1 - Curtain blind winding mechanism

Info

Publication number: US20060278345A1
Application number: US11/150,134
Authority: US
Inventors: Hsien-Te Huang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-06-13
Filing date: 2005-06-13
Publication date: 2006-12-14

Abstract

A curtain blind winding mechanism, applicable for use in a horizontal curtain blind that uses cords to operate horizontal roll-up and roll-down of the slats, including curtain blinds such as pleated blinds, roman blinds, cellular blinds, and so on. The present invention primarily uses a restoring drive device to act on a horizontally displaceable rolling tube, and further uses the dead weight of the slats to counteract the drive mechanism restoring force. The present invention enables single-handed operation to open up the slats by lifting a bottom edge of the slats or pulling down on the bottom edge to close the slats. Furthermore, the bottom edge of the slats can be effectively fixed at any height position.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a curtain blind winding mechanism, and more particularly to a winding mechanism applicable for use in a horizontal curtain blind that uses cords to operate horizontal roll-up and roll-down of the slats, including curtain blinds such as pleated blinds, roman blinds, cellular blinds, and so on. The present invention primarily uses a restoring drive device to act on a rolling tube, which is restrained and transversely displaced. Cords respectively wind round sections of the rolling tube, and lower ends of the cords joined together lower edges of the slats, thereby enabling a user to directly hold a bottom end of the curtain blind and vertically operate the curtain blind, thereby enabling the slats to spontaneously roll up or be let down, and thus eliminating the need for other roll-up and roll-down ancillary devices.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
With reference to a horizontal winding curtain blind such as a pleated blind, a roman blind, a cellular blind, and so on, or similar horizontal roll-up and roll-down curtain blind, a top rail configured at a top end of the curtain blind has a drive or cord device installed therein for taking up or letting down the slats. A cord method or electromechanical drive method provides the power source for the drive mechanism to achieve the aforementioned taking up or letting down of the slats. Apart from the electromechanical method further using a rocker method, which is manually operated with two hands, thereby providing a rotating motive power, conventionally, if the cord method is used to operate taking up and letting down of the slats, because the bottom edge of the cord often becomes coiled, and easily becomes wrapped round the body of a child playing nearby, thus endangering the child, thus, the cord was removed and a cordless roll-up and roll-down device installed to provide greater safety.
Furthermore, a winding shaft configuration was used in a winding curtain blind mechanism, two ends of which are made to roll by means of a helical spring, which rolls a cloth-form curtain blind round the circumferential surface of the rolling shaft. The user pulls directly down on a bottom edge of the curtain blind, thereby opening the slats, and, because of the resilient counteraction from the helical spring, the bottom edge must be secured by means of a binding or hook fastening method. However, during the course of taking up or letting down the slats, the user is unable to optionally fix the curtain blind at selective heights. If it is required to fix the curtain blind at a certain height, then a fixing end must additionally have a transmission mechanism providing transmission and a lock catch. However, such a configuration cannot be used in a device having cords.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention particularly provides a rolling tube for use in a horizontal curtain blind, which use cords to take up and let down the slats, including curtain blinds such as pleated blinds, roman blinds, cellular blinds, and so on, wherein the rolling tube is transversally displaced during the course of winding the slats, thereby enabling the cords to maintain in correct position. The present invention uses a restoring drive mechanism to assist an upward push from external forces, which enables the slats to be effectively rolled up. Furthermore, the dead weight of a bottom rail is used to counteract a restoring driving force of the drive mechanism, thereby enabling a bottom edge of the curtain blind to be effectively fixed at any height position. Thus, the present invention achieves objective of providing a curtain blind that can be operated without a pull cord.
To enable a further understanding of said objectives and the technological methods of the invention herein, brief description of the drawings is provided below followed by detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a side cutaway view of component members according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 shows a front view of an assembled embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows a front view of a plurality of cords joined to a rolling tube according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows a side cutaway view of a slide-shear portion of another embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 shows an end cutaway view of FIG. 4 according to the present invention.
FIG. 6 shows a side cutaway view of another embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 shows a side cutaway view depicting the rolling tube configured with a separating sleeve isolating a threaded rod according to the present invention.
FIG. 8 shows a side cutaway view of an interior of the rolling tube further configured with a fixing member according to the present invention.
FIG. 9 shows a schematic view depicting an electromechanical method driving the rolling tube according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, which shows the present invention primarily structured to comprise a top rail 1, two ends of which are configured with a left stop end member 11 and a right stop end member 12 respectively. Interior of the top rail 1 provides for pivotal disposal of a hollow rolling tube 2, one end of which is driven by a drive device 3 to form a restoring reverse rotational motion. Another end of the rolling tube 2 is restrained by a displacement device 120, thereby enabling the rolling tube 2 to be transversely displaced during the course of taking up or letting down slats.
The displacement device 120 and a threaded rod 121 are coaxially configured. One end of the threaded rod 121 is joined to the right stop end member 12, and a working end of the threaded rod 121 is rotate connected to a screw hole 210 defined in a corresponding rotate connecting end 21 of the rolling tube 2 rotate connecting end 21. Because of the rotational motion of the rolling tube 2, thus, the rotate connecting end 21 is slide-shear displaced on the threaded rod 121 through a displacement distance of L2. Another end of the rolling tube 2 is movably disposed on a slide-shear portion 112, and the slide-shear portion 112 is directly formed on the stop end member 11 or directly configured on a corresponding position of the top rail 1. The slide-shear portion 112 provides for transversal displacement of the rolling tube 2 through a transversal displacement distance of L1, and primarily supports the rolling tube 2 to maintain displacement along an axle center line. The lengths L1 and L2 are identical.
The rolling tube 2 is subjected to a reverse rotational driving force from the drive device 3, and a helical spring 31 provides a restoring motive force for the rolling tube 2. One end of the helical spring 31 is joined to an interior of the rolling tube 2, and another end is joined to a fixing portion 111 of the left stop end member 11.
Referring to FIG. 2, which shows cords 41 respectively joined to fixing portions 410 of the rolling tube 2, and the cords 41 hang down therefrom and join together slats 40, at a bottom of which is configured a horizontal bottom rail 4, which provides for assembling the bottom slat 40 and bottom ends of the cords 41. According to requirements of the present invention, the horizontal bottom rail 4 must have a specific mass that can counteract a restoring rolling force of the rolling tube 2.
The cords 41 respectively penetrate through holes 13 defined in a lower portion of the top rail 1. When a user pulls down on the horizontal bottom rail 4, the slats 40 are let down, the rolling tube 2 then rotates in an opposite direction. During the course of the rolling tube 2 rotating, because the rotate connecting end 21 of the rolling tube 2 is slide-shear restrained by the threaded rod 121, thus, the rolling tube 2 is transversally rightward displaced. The objective of the displacement is to enable the cords 41 to correctly position in the through holes 13.
The horizontal bottom rail 4 can be fixed at any position through a dead weight effect of the horizontal bottom rail 4, which opposes the wind restoring force of the rolling tube 2 produced by the drive device 3. Furthermore, when the user raises the bottom horizontal rod 4 in an upward direction, then the rolling tube 2 avoids having to bear the mass of the horizontal bottom rail 4 and caters for countering the reverse rotational force, thereby indirectly rolling up the slats 40.
Referring to FIG. 1, which depicts the rotational force acquired by the rolling tube 2, and wherein one end of the helical spring 31 is fixed to the fixing portion 111 of the stop end member 11, and another end is joined to the interior of the rolling tube 2. Hence, even after a multiplicity of rotations of the rolling tube 2, the short pitch of the helical spring 31 enables the helical spring 31 to maintain its elastic stress, while also effectuating an extremely uniform degree of force within an effective range between top and bottom fatigue points of the helical spring 31. Referring to FIG. 2, the horizontal bottom rail 4 configured at the bottom of the slats 40 can be securely positioned at any height by means of the dead weight effect of the horizontal bottom rail 4, which effectively counteracts the restoring force of the rolling tube 2.
During the course of the aforementioned rolling up and letting down of the slats 40, a transversal displacement is produced in the rolling tube 2 whereby the slide-shear portion 112 supports one end of the rolling tube 2 to enable maintaining displacement along the axle center line.
Referring to FIG. 3, the rolling tube 2 assumes a long tubular form, upon which a plurality of the cords 41 can be distributed. Because the present invention uses a plurality of the cords 31, thus, the curtain blind of the present invention is relatively wide, and, correspondingly, the rolling tube 2 is relatively long. Hence, astriding support devices 14 can be appropriately configured at positions on the girth of the rolling tube 2 of the top rail 1, which are used to support the girth of the rolling tube 2 therewith. The astriding support device 14 can be a half-moon shaped bearing or any device able to lubricate and support the rolling tube 2 and that can be configured on an exterior of the rolling tube 2 to support the rolling tube 2.
Referring to FIG. 4, which shows one end of the rolling tube 2 supported by the slide-shear portion 112, which comprises a support device 5 with ball bearings 50, wherein principal design of the support device 5 is that of a bearing. A bearing groove 510 is defined on the support device 5, which provides for the ball bearings 50 to be movable disposed therein. The entire support device 5 is joined to the top rail 1 by means of bases 51. The ball bearings 50 roll on the surface of the rolling tube 2, thereby substantially reducing friction, and enabling the rolling tube 2 to roll more smoothly.
Referring to FIG. 5, which depicts the aforementioned top rail 1 joined to the bases 51, wherein structural configuration of the support device 5 comprises the ball bearings 50 movably disposed within the bearing groove 510 defined on the support device 5, and number of the ball bearings 50 does not have to be large, but sufficient to be distributed in the bearing groove 510 below the top rail 2 and provide adequate support thereof. Position confinement of the ball bearings 50 is achieved by using any defined bearing groove 510. Referring to FIG. 5, which depicts the ball bearings 50 disposed in the bearing groove 510 of the bases 51 so as to at least enable a lower half of the top rail 2 to come in contact with the ball bearings 50, thereby leaving hollow a top half of the bearing groove 510 above the upper half of the top rail 2. Moreover, the ball bearings 50 must be confined to stop them from rolling into the top half bearing groove 510 above the top rail 2. Design of the upper portion bearing groove 510 is depicted in FIG. 5, which shows one of the two bases 51 positioned in reverse to that of the other base 51, thereby enabling the two bases 51 to be assembled around the top rail 2. Hence, the ball bearings 50 are unable to pass beyond the bottom half bearing groove 510 below the top rail 2, and are effectively confined within the bottom portion of the base 51.
Referring to FIG. 6, which shows another embodiment of the rolling tube 2, wherein exterior screw teeth 221 are further defined on a left end of the rolling tube 2, and interior screw teeth 113 are defined on the slide-shear portion 112, which meshes with the exterior screw teeth 221. One end of the drive device 3 is similarly fixed to the stop end member 11, and another end is joined to the interior of the rolling tube 2. A through hole 220 is formed in a center of a right side of the rolling tube 2, which enables a smooth shaft 123 fixed to the right stop end member 12 to be disposed therein. When the rolling tube 2 is subjected to external forces and begins to roll, the exterior screw teeth 221 mesh with the interior screw teeth 113 of the slide-shear portion 112 and forms a shearing effect, which enables the rolling tube 2 to form a transversal displacement and rotational state.
The configuration of the rolling tube 2 as depicted in FIG. 6, and similar to that depicted in FIG. 1, causes transversal displacement of the rolling tube 2 when rotating, and is subjected to a restoring reverse rotation actuated by the drive device 3. During the course of reverse rotation, the exterior screw teeth 221 of the rolling tube 2 mesh with the interior screw teeth 113 of the slide-shear portion 112, thereby forming a slide-shear effect that produces a rightward backward displacement in the rolling tube 2.
Referring to FIG. 7, the rotate connecting end 21 has a threaded rod 121 penetrating the interior of the rolling tube 2 similar to that depicted in FIG. 1. A connecting end of the helical spring 31 is joined to the rotate connecting end 21, and in order to prevent interference between the threaded rod 121 and the helical spring 31, inner space of the rotate connecting end 21 is greater than that required of the threaded rod 121, and a separating sleeve 211 is used to realize a separating effect between the helical spring 31 and the threaded rod 121, thereby avoiding mutual interference therebetween. Size of the diameter of the separating sleeve 211 is based purely on the requirement that there is no mutual interference between the helical spring 31 and the threaded rod 121. If the diameter of the separating sleeve 211 is too large, then the diameter of the helical spring 31 will change when rotating, and result in needless interference. Thus, the diameter of the separating sleeve 211 needs only be larger than that of the threaded rod 121.
Referring to FIG. 8, if the configuration of FIG. 7 is excluded, then one end of the helical spring 31 can be fixed to a center position of the rolling tube 2 by means of a fixing member 23. Any method can be used to achieve fixing the fixing member 23 to the rolling tube 2. The interior of the rolling tube 2 provides for the other end of the helical spring 31 to be fixed thereto. A minimum consideration for the position of the fixing member 23 is that it does not obstruct the deepest penetrable position of the threaded rod 121, thereby preventing the threaded rod 121 from interfering with straight horizontal motion of the rolling tube 2.
Referring to FIG. 9, which shows an end of the rolling tube 2 controlled by the displacement device 120, wherein an outer surface of the rolling tube 2, close to the right rotate connecting end 21 is further defined with exterior screw teeth 212. The exterior screw teeth 212 rotate connect with an interior screw tube 122 joined to the right stop end member 12, thereby enabling transversal displacement of the rolling tube 2.
The rolling tube 2 is designed to be reverse driven by a drive device, which can be an electric motor 32 installed within the left stop end member 11, and power is transmitted to an angular-shaped transmission shaft 34 through a decelerator device 33. The angular-shaped transmission shaft 34 slide shears within a corresponding angular-shaped shear hole 22 defined in an end of the rolling tube 2 opposite thereof. The electromechanical motor 32 provides motor-driven control, which can be further controlled by other electronic operation equipment, thereby achieving complete automation control of degree of roll-up or roll-down of the slats 40 of a horizontal winding curtain blind. Wherein the slide-shear portion 112 is similarly joined to an interior of the top rail 1 or directly formed on the left stop end member 11, and the decelerator device 33 is used to produce a counterforce damping effect, which is able to effectively fix position of the bottom edge of the curtain blind at any height within an allowable weight range.
It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

1. A curtain blind winding mechanism, applicable for use in a horizontal curtain blind that uses cords to operate horizontal roll-up and roll-down of slats, including curtain blinds such as pleated blinds, roman blinds, cellular blinds, and so on; and comprises a top rail, two ends of which are configured with a left stop end member and a right stop end member respectively, through holes are defined in a lower portion of the top rail to provide cords to penetrate therethrough, top ends of the cords are joined to a rolling tube, and lower portions of the cords penetrate and join together slats, bottom ends of the cords are connected to a horizontal bottom rail; the curtain blind winding mechanism is characterized in that one end of the rolling tube is restrained by a coaxially configured displacement device, thereby causing transversal displacement of the rolling tube, and the entire rolling tube is subjected to a reverse rotational force from a coaxial disposed drive device, an outer circumferential surface of the rolling tube is movable disposed on a slide-shear portion to support the rolling tube thereon.

2. The curtain blind winding mechanism as described in claim 1, wherein the drive device is a helical spring, one end of which is fixed to a stop end member, and another end is joined to an interior of the rolling tube.

3. The curtain blind winding mechanism as described in claim 1, wherein the drive device drives the rolling tube by an electric motor.

4. The curtain blind winding mechanism as described in claim 1, wherein the displacement device comprises a threaded rod, one end of which is fixed to the right stop end member, and a working end is coaxially rotate connected to a screw hole defined in a rotate connecting end of the rolling tube.

5. The curtain blind winding mechanism as described in claim 1, wherein the displacement device comprises an interior teeth tube coaxially fixed to the right stop end member, and which rotate connect with exterior screw teeth configured on a corresponding end of the rolling tube.

6. The curtain blind winding mechanism as described in claim 1, wherein the rolling tube provides for a plurality of the cords to be wound thereon, and astriding support devices are configured on a girth position of the rolling tube.

7. A curtain blind winding mechanism, applicable for use in a horizontal roll-up and roll-down curtain blind such as a pleated blind, a roman blind, a cellular blind, and so on, comprising a top rail, two ends of which are respectively configured with stop end members, through holes are defined in a lower portion of the top rail to provide cords to penetrate therethrough, top ends of the cords are joined to a rolling tube, and lower portions of the cords penetrate and join together slats, bottom ends of the cords are connected to a horizontal bottom rail, the curtain blind winding mechanism is characterized in that one end of the rolling tube is penetrated by a coaxially configured smooth shaft, exterior screw teeth are configured on a left end outer circumference of the rolling tube, and the exterior screw teeth rotate connect to interior screw teeth configured on a slide-shear portion, a coaxially configured drive device reverse rotates the rolling tube.

8. The curtain blind winding mechanism as described in claim 7, wherein the drive device is a helical spring, one end of which is fixed to the left stop end member, and another end is joined to an interior of the rolling tube.

9. The curtain blind winding mechanism as described in claim 7, wherein the drive device drives the rolling tube by an electric motor.

10. The curtain blind winding mechanism as described in claim 7, wherein the displacement device comprises a motor driving an angular-shaped transmission shaft, which functions in conjunction with an angular-shaped slide-shear hole defined in an end of the rolling tube opposite to that of the angular-shaped transmission shaft.

11. The curtain blind winding mechanism as described in claim 7, wherein the rolling tube provides for a plurality of the cords to be wound thereon, and astriding support devices are configured on a girth position of the rolling tube.

12. The curtain blind winding mechanism as described in claim 1, wherein the horizontal bottom rail joined to a bottom end of the slats has sufficient weight to balance a counterforce of the drive device.

13. The curtain blind winding mechanism as described in claim 7, wherein the horizontal bottom rail joined to a bottom end of the slats has sufficient weight to balance a counterforce of the drive device.