US20130269889A1

US20130269889A1 - Movable Window Curtain On A Vertical And Curved Track

Info

Publication number: US20130269889A1
Application number: US13/445,093
Authority: US
Inventors: Ming K. LAN
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-04-12
Filing date: 2012-04-12
Publication date: 2013-10-17

Abstract

Present invention provides a cost-effective way to implement window curtain(s) movement control on a vertically-oriented and generally round track, where a bendable “I” track will be placed along the shape of a round or curved window frame, with a plurality of rollers moving along the a bendable track, either “I” track or “C” track, where some magnetic buttons on the mounting pieces may provide for the pre-set locations for the curtains to easily set and adjust to these locations when the curtains are moved about in a fan-like fashion around a pivot center.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a controllable and movable window curtain that can be implemented on a vertically curved window. The curved window, as discussed, need not be a full circle. Present invention's disclosure applies to a window having vertically-oriented frame that is curved in nature, whether it is a full circle, partial circle, or taking some elliptical shapes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A vertically-oriented round-shaped window is a popular and attractive feature in modern housing architecture. To provide proper light control, curtains are often added to such vertical round windows. Note, the “round” windows may be other “curved” window frames as stated in the previous section.
However, there is no good way to effectuate the moving control of the curtains installed to such vertical round windows, despite the closing and opening of curtains can be easily done on the top portion of a window when the moving track is in a generally straight and horizontal fashion.
For example, in the case of a bay window, the curtain movement can be done along a curved track that is in a horizontal fashion. However, there has been no cost-effective way to implement curtain movement control on a vertically-oriented round/curved track that is fitted to the window frame so shaped.
Present invention provides a technical breakthrough and cost-effective design to fill the need where the implementation of window curtain movement control suited for a vertically-oriented generally-round window and window frame.
By the use of an “I” track and the mounting pieces with magnetic buttons, present invention provides the easy location changing and setting to fulfill such a need.
An alternative “C” track implementation provides for a simple mounting piece in the form of a screw and also achieves the goals stated herein.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of present invention is to provide an effective movement control for window curtain(s) installed on a vertically-oriented and generally round track, where a bendable track A will be place along the shape of the window frame.
A first implement of the bendable track A will be an “I” track, where the cross-section of the bendable track looks like an “I”, and thus the name.
A plurality of correspondingly shaped rollers will remain slidably engaged on said bendable “I” track and can move along the length of said “I” track. Each roller has a snap button that can be fitted to another matching snap button that is on a snap button strip that is sewed/glued to curtain pieces.
The curtain pieces can be fan-shaped, or be in a wide-angle shape that covers at least 180-degree, depending on the window frame to be fitted, or user preferences.
A snap button strip fabric/textile, containing a plurality of snap buttons, will be sewed/glued to the arc side of the curtain pieces.
A plurality of mounting pieces provide the installation points for the “I” track when fitted to the window frame, as well as the set/change locations when moving the curtains.
A radius center joint, essentially the center of a circle, will provide the fixed point of circular motion for the fan-shaped curtain pieces.
Alternative implementations, based upon the same teachings herein, may include having the radius center joint located at the middle point on a thin rigid object that is set across the diameter line of a circle as defined by the window frame.
Also, in the case where the window frame is not a full circle, such as a half circle, the radius center joint will be the mid-point on the straight line edge of the half circle window frame.
A yet alternative implementation would be setting a pivoting swing center joint on one fixed point on the “I” track, while extending out symmetrical fan-shaped curtain pieces, and have their arc side moving, using the rollers on the “I” track, on the opposite side to the pivoting swing point.
A yet alternative implementation would be to use a “C” track, with corresponding rollers that can move along in the inside space of the “C” shape, with similar construction as described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates an overall view of the first embodiment of present invention.

FIG. 1B shows a fan-shaped curtain piece.

FIG. 1C shows a wide-angle curtain piece.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view, as indicated in FIG. 1A, showing the connection of a curtain piece to the roller on the bendable track, including a snap button strip, and the magnetic buttons.

FIG. 3 shows the preferred embodiments of various components.

FIG. 4A-FIG. 4C show the various embodiments of movable window curtains discussed in present application.

FIG. 4D shows a radius center joint formed by an elastic band to join the pointed ends of curtain pieces together.

FIG. 5 shows a thin rigid strip installed on a round window with round bendable track.

FIG. 6 shows the alternative implementation of a “C” track and the rollers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1A depicts the overall structure of present invention, where a vertically-oriented bendable curved track A is shown, with a plurality of fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 placed over the window space, as defined by a window frame 60.
The fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 can be made from any suitable fabric or textile materials that will fit the needed light-control or decorative purpose chosen by users.
In addition, different designs of folds can be added to said fan-shaped curtain pieces, when elastic band or other materials are used, to create any desired wavy effect, when the curtain pieces 20 are moved around and set to selected positions.
The bendable track A has a cross-section in the shape of the letter “I”, thus it is also sometimes referred to as an “I” track, as shown in FIG. 3, A.
The “I” track A is made from rigid but bendable material, serving as the metal core AX, with plastic or synthetic materials wrapping on the outside surface, allowing the “I” track A to be bendable into a circle, arc, or round shape as shown, and can also be in a straight line fashion, like a railroad track.
The bendable track can also take an alternative form of a “C” track, along with its correspondingly shaped rollers BB, and will be explained later.
Though window frame 60 is in a generally round shape, as shown in FIG. 1A, it can be in other curved shape, such as half-circle or oval, for alternative implementation. The bendable track A of present application will be able to be made to fit whatever shape of a window frame, due to its flexible and bendable characteristics.
Each of said fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 will have a pointed end 21 and an arc side 29, as shown in FIG. 1B.
The pointed end 21 will be the pivoting point for moving the arc side 29 along the bendable track A. The pivoting point, in the case of a fan-shaped curtain piece 20 will be a radius center joint 25, which is typically the radius center of a circle, as indicated in FIG. 1A.
The generally round shape of a bendable track A can be made by either one single track A, or a few segments of bendable tracks A that are joined end-to-end, depending on specific implementation needs, going the full length of a circle, or half circle, whatever the actual shape of the window frame 60 may be.
On the bendable “I” track A, there will be a plurality of correspondingly shaped rollers B, as shown in 3B of FIG. 3.
Each roller B has a built-in snap button, for easy snap-on/snap-off connection to matching snap button on a snap button strip E, as shown in 3E of FIG. 3.
Said snap button strip E will be made by any suitable fabric or textile. Since said snap button strip E is not intended to be seen by consumers, the criteria for choosing the material will be merely the sufficient strength to hold the fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 in place and easy of sewing/gluing to said curtain pieces.
Said snap button strip E, as shown in FIG. 2, is for sewing along the arc side 29 of a fan-shaped curtain piece 20, so that the matching snap buttons on rollers B and on snap button strip E will be easily attached/detached with each other, enabling the fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 to move along the “I” track A, as the rollers B are being slid along the “I” track A.
The actual spacing of snap buttons on said snap button strip E will vary, depending on the size (the radius, in a sense) of the window frame 60. However, generally, the spacing anywhere between one to eight inches will work.
Although snap button strip E can be sewed to the arc side 29 of the fan-shaped curtain pieces, it can also be glued on. As long as the attachment between snap button strip E and the fan-shaped curtain piece 20 is sufficiently secure, whether it's sewed, glued, or by any other fashion of providing the bonding, does not affect the claimed substance herein.
A plurality of mounting pieces C are used to secure said bendable track A to the window frame 60. A magnetic button D1 will be placed upon one end of said mounting piece C, so that a matching magnetic button D2, sewed/glued to an arc side 29 of a fan-shaped curtain piece 20, will be able to form easy magnetic connection when D1/D2 are placed together.
See the illustration in FIG. 2.
In actual implementation for said magnetic buttons D1 and D2, only one magnet is needed in one end, while the other end will just use a metal with good magnetic attraction. There is no need to use magnet pieces on both D1 and D2.
The locations of mounting pieces C will generally be set at, according to a normal clock face indication, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 7:30, 9:00, 10:30 and 12:00, allowing the fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 to be moved along the circular rail length defined by said “I” track A and be easily set on these clock locations as users may preferred.
If different clock locations are preferred, such as the selection of locations at [2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12] o'clock location, forming a six-sided shape as the mounting magnetic buttons' location, the same disclosure herein would equally apply.
If additional clock locations are preferred, such as a “2:15” position between the [1:30-3:00] interval, or a “3:45” position between the [3:00-4:30] interval, the same disclosure herein would also apply.
Mounting pieces C can have two types of structure: inside mount C1 and wall mount C2, depending on the actual implementation choices available.
If the “I” track A is to be mounted to the inside surface of window frame 60, inside mount C1 will be used; if the “I” track A is to be mounted to the wall adjacent to the window frame 60, the wall mount C2 will be used.
The exemplary structures of these inside mount C1 and the wall mount C2 are shown in FIG. 3.
As shown in FIG. 1A, the pointed end 21 of curtain piece 20 will be the radius center joint 25, in a round-shaped window frame 60, providing the pivoting point to move the rollers B on the “I” track A.
As long as there are at least two fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 that provide coverage of the window space that encompass a straight diameter line, simply joining said two fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 on their pointed ends 21 will provide that fixed point of circular motion for the pivoting action, as shown in FIG. 1A.
An alternative way of maintaining a radius center joint 25 for the fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 would be to use an elastic band 75 to join the pointed end 21 of said fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 together.
Due to the inherent pulling nature of the elastic band 75, the rollers B can be positioned to any point on the bendable “I” track A even without the use of magnetic buttons D1 and D2 and can be “wedged” to any desired location on the track as appropriate, where the pulling force of said elastic band creates the needed friction between the rollers B and the surface of bendable track A.
Although FIG. 4D showed an elastic band 75 used on an eight-sided window frame, such use is applicable to the generally round and curved shape window frame.
Optionally, a thin rigid object 50 can be added to the generally round “I” track A, so that said thin rigid object 50 has its two ends mounted to the “I” track A across a diameter line of the circle formed by said “I” track, or the two ends mounted to the round window frame 60 to which said “I” track A is fitted to. The thin rigid object 50's middle point will serve as a faxed location, and certainly will coincide with the radius center of the round “I” track A, allowing the pointed end 21 of any curtain piece 20 to use this middle point of thin rigid object 50.
This optional implementation is shown in FIG. 5.
In actual commercial design, customers may choose to have window frame that is a partial circle. Present invention's disclosure can also be used in that partial circle window frame.
For example, some “round” window may be a partial circle, like a half circle. In this instance, the movable window curtain on a vertical round track of present invention would only have the “I” track A fit the “half a circle” shape of a half-circle window frame. The radius center joint 25, providing the pivoting point for the fan-shaped curtain pieces 20, will be located at the middle point of the straight line edge of the half-circle window frame.
In addition to the use of multiple fan-shaped curtain pieces 20, present invention also allows the use of a single wide-angle curtain piece 40, or a wide-angle curtain piece 40 plus some fan-shaped curtain pieces 20.
As shown in FIG. 1C, the wide angle curtain piece 40 is in a generally round shape, with an outside circular edge referred to as the arc side 49, and a pivot center 41.
Said pivot center 41 will be fixed to a radius center joint 25 of the round “I” track A, allowing the arc side 49 of said wide angle curtain piece 40 to move along the “I” track A.
Said snap button strip E will be sewed/glued along the circular fringe of arc side 49, so that wide angle curtain piece 40 can be moved along the “I” track A and be set at any preferred locations as chosen by users, similar to the depiction in FIG. 1A, in the case of fan-shaped curtain piece 20.
As shown in FIG. 1C, due to the flexible nature of fabric materials (and also depending on the thinness of fabrics chosen), one single wide angle curtain piece 40 may provide the needed curtain drawing/opening needed for the round window frame 60.
Also, depending on user preferences and design choices, one or more fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 may be used in conjunction with a wide angle curtain piece 40, so that they share the same pivoting point, which will be the pointed end 21 of fan-shaped curtain piece 20 and the pivot center of wide angle curtain piece 40.
The same disclosure related to the mounting piece C containing magnetic button D1 and the corresponding magnetic button D2 pertaining to fan-shaped curtain piece 20 equally applies to the wide-angle curtain piece 40.
The disclosure for a thin rigid object 50, used in the fan-shaped curtain pieces 20 construction is equally applicable to a wide-angle curtain piece 40 and requires no additional explanation.
A grab handle F can be made to the corner of a fan-shaped curtain piece 20 or wide angle curtain piece 40, providing for the mechanism for moving the arc sides 29/49 of curtain pieces 20/40 along said bendable track A. Said grab handle F can take the form of a ring, as shown in FIG. 3. It can also take other shapes or forms that will allow easy handling.
The mechanism can be either by human hand, or any motorized control, depending on preferred implementation and cost structure.
Present application also allows for the construction of a window curtain where the pivot point is not within the round space of a window, but located on some point of the “I” track A, as shown in FIG. 4C.
In such instance, a pivoting swing center joint 35 is sent on a chosen location on the “I” track A, to join the pointed end 21 of the fan-shaped curtain pieces 20, so that these curtain pieces 20 can move along the portion of the bendable track A that is generally opposite the window space from the pivoting swing center joint 35, as shown in FIG. 4C.
In addition to the bendable track A being an “I” track as described, said bendable track A can also take the form of a “C” track, as shown in FIG. 6. As can be seen in the illustration, the cross-section of such “C” bendable track takes the shape of the letter “C”, and is thus named accordingly.
In such “C” track implementation, the correspondingly shaped rollers BB would be generally a round-disk with protruding stub containing an end knob, to fit with the snap button strip E. The disk portion of said rollers BB will stay inside the rounded space of said “C” track.
To mount said “C” track A to a window frame 60, a simple screw S can be used to secure to the surface (such as the window frame inside surface or a wall surface), as shown in FIG. 6.
All the other disclosure re snap button strip E being sewed/glued/bonded to the fan-shaped curtain piece 20 or wide angle curtain piece 40, as well as other location/movement control, etc., would equally apply and require no more disclosure.
The use of elastic band 75 to serve as the pulling/friction location means for fan-shaped pieces 20, as described in the “I” track portion, equally applies to the “C” track description, so that the use of magnetic buttons D1/D2 may not be necessary.

Claims

The invention claimed is:

1. A movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track, comprising:

a bendable track having a plurality of rollers each having a snap button, said rollers are shaped to remain slidably engaged along said track length;

a plurality of fan-shaped curtain pieces;

a snap button string for attaching to said fan-shaped curtain pieces;

a plurality of mounting pieces; and,

a radius center joint maintaining a fixed point of circular motion for the fan-shaped curtain pieces.

2. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 1, wherein said bendable track is in the shape of an “I” track.

3. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 1, wherein said bendable track is in the shape of a “C” track.

4. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 1, wherein the bendable track forms a round circle.

5. The movable window curtain on a vertical and generally round track of claim 1, wherein the bendable “I” track forms a partial circle.

6. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 1, wherein each of said mounting piece contains a magnetic button and each of said fan-shaped curtain pieces contains a plurality of corresponding magnetic button for attaching to said magnetic button on said mounting piece.

7. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 1, wherein the mounting piece may be a screw in the case of a “C” track.

8. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 1, wherein said radius center joint is made by joining the pointed ends of said fan-shaped curtain pieces together.

9. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 1, wherein said radius center joint is formed by an elastic band joining the pointed ends of said fan-shaped curtain pieces together.

10. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 1, wherein the bendable track is only half a circle to fit the shape of a half-circle window frame, the radius center joint will be located at the middle point of the straight line edge of the half-circle window frame.

11. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 1, wherein said radius center joint is made by a thin rigid object having two ends mounted to said track, with the middle point of said thin rigid object coincide with said radius center joint location of the vertical round track.

12. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 1, wherein a grab handle is made on a corner near the arc side of each said fan-shaped curtain pieces.

13. A movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track, comprising:

a wide angle curtain piece;

a snap button string for attaching to said wide angle curtain piece;

a plurality of mounting pieces; and,

a radius center joint maintaining a fixed point of generally circular motion for the wide angel curtain piece to move along said track.

14. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 13, wherein said bendable track is in the shape of an “I” track.

15. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 13, wherein said bendable track is in the shape of a “C” track.

16. The movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track of claim 13 further having one or more fan-shaped curtain pieces that will be fixed to the same radius center joint with the corresponding arc side moving along said track.

17. A movable window curtain on a vertical and curved track, comprising:

a bendable track forming the desired arc shape in a vertical fashion and having a plurality of rollers each having a snap button, said rollers are shaped to remain slidably engaged along said track length;

a plurality of fan-shaped curtain pieces;

a snap button string for attaching to said fan-shaped curtain pieces;

a plurality of mounting pieces; and,

a pivoting swing center for moving the arc side of said curtain pieces along the track while joining the pointed end of said curtain pieces together on the side of said track opposite to the moving arc side.