US2759535A - Combined pulling and tilting device for venetian blinds - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 21, 1956 G. BERGLIND COMBINED PULLING AND TIL-TING DEVICE FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Filed Jan. 29, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 621/900 Band/0D Aug. 21, 1956 2,759,535 COMBINED PULLING AND TILTING DEVICE f oR VENETIAN BLINDS Filed Jan. 29, 1955 BERGLlND- s Shets-Sheet 2 ummn BERGLI'ND G. BERGLIND Aug. 21, 1956 COMBINED PULLING AND TILTING DEVICE FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Filed Jan. 29, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 j H 0 l 4 5/ M M. w

Fig.6 Fig.7 Fig.8 Fig.9 Fig/0 Fig.1!

Fig. 12 If If g 5 (q /7 l0 EBB r Fig. 13

GwwMR Blanca/No United States Patent CUMBINED PULLllNG AND TlLTlN G DEVICE FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Gunnar Berglind, Goteborg, Sweden Application January 29, 1953, Serial No. 333,900

Claims priority, application Sweden February 1, 1952 Claims. (Cl. 160-168) The present invention relates to a pulling and tilting device for Venetian blinds, by which it is possible to pull up the blind and to lower it to a greater or lesser extent by one single pair of cords as well as by the same pair of cords to adjust the tilt of the ribs independent of the elevation of the blind.

The operation of a blind according to the invention is managed in the following way. To pull the blind up or to let it down at a certain tilt of the ribs two cords are simultaneously pulled or slackened. To adjust the tilt of the ribs only one or the other of the cords is pulled, according to the desired tilt.

The advantage of this device is evident. in previously known embodiments of Venetian blinds separate operating members were used, firstly for pulling up and lowering the blind and secondly for tilting the ribs. It is true that embodiments are known in which it is possible to efiect both operations with one cord or one pair of cords, but these embodiments are either very complicated or only permit of limited operating possibilities. A further advantage of the object of the invention is that the operator can correct the undesirable inclination of the ribs in the longitudinal direction which may be caused by the unequal stretching of the pulling members. If an inclination of the lower ribs in the longitudinal direction is desired, which may in many cases be desirable, this is easily obtainable.

According to the principle of the invention, this is obtained in that the members for pulling up and lowering the blind which generally consist of cords that may be secured to fasteners or run through pulleys or the like at the bottom rib of the blind, are arranged to actuate devices in the head rail of the blind for adjusting the tilt of the ribs in such a way, that when pulling two cords simultaneously the tilting device is not actuated, while the pulling of only one cord causes an adjustment of the tilt.

The invention can be seen from a couple of embodiments, shown in the accompanying drawings which comprise 13 figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the upper part of a Venetian blind with an operating device according to the invention in such a position that the ribs are horizontal.

Figure 2 corresponds to Figure 1 with the operating device adjusted so that the ribs are inclined from the left side upwards towards the right side.

Figure 3 shows the operating device adjusted for an inclination opposite to the one shown in Figure 2.

Figures 4 and 5 show a detail of the operating device.

Figures 68 show diagrammatically the adjustment of the tilt of the ribs when the blind is fully lowered.

Figures 9-11 show the corresponding adjustment when the blind is half pulled up or half lowered.

Figures 12 and 13 show diagrammatically some modified and partly generalized embodiments within the scope of the invention.

ice

The blind shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 consists of a head rail with a U-shaped cross section and a middle portion 1 and two parallel side flanges 2 and 3. The head rail may also have a different cross section. In the known way the blind may consist of a number of ribs 4 and 5 carried parallel in relation to each other and at equal distance, when the blind is lowered, by means of carrying members 68, for instance carrying bands. The ribs may rest on strips running transversely between the carrying bands, which is a common arrangement, or in some other suitable way they may be hinged to the carrying members. This detail is outside the scope of the invention and, therefore, has been only symbolically indicated in the Figures 13 by the reference numeral 9.

At the top rib 4 the carrying bands 6-8 may end in a ring, a joint or the like, from which operating members extend for the operation of the elevation of the carrying hands, by which the tilt of the ribs is adjusted. The carrying bands 68 on the left side are matched by similar members on the right side of the blind, visible in the Figure 3 and marked 6', 7' and 8'. At the adjustment the opposite carrying members 6 and 6 etc. move in opposite directions upwards or downwards. The carrying members 6-8, 68' need not be bands, they may consist of yarn, string or any other textile material, or of plastic, Phosphor bronze, light metal etc.

The pulling up and lowering of the blind is, in the example, managed by a cord laid in a loop and one part 10 of which passes through all the ribs at one end and the other part of which passes in the same way through the ribs at the other end. At the bottom the parts 10 and 11 may be fastened to the bottom rib which is usually of a stronger construction or replaced by a thicker rail. Alternatively, they may pass over rollers or the like in said rail and thereafter run upwards, so that the bottom rail forms a kind of double pulley. The bottom rib is indicated by 5 in Figures 6ll. In the head rail 1 there are holes 12-19, through which pass both the cord parts 10 and 11 and the operating members which actuate the elevation and lowering of the carrying members. In the drawing these holes are shown with antifriction bushings. Of course, easily running guide pulleys may be used instead. At the farther end of the head rail 1 a larger pulley 20 is movably journalled around a pin 21 which may be fixed in the head rail or arranged like the shaft of a pulley. A force transmitting element in the form of a string is arranged around this pulley with the parts 22 and 23 running on either side of the pulley and along the head rail. They end in members 24 and 25, respectively, resembling pulleys and in the following called pulley members. Figures 4 and 5 show the pulley member 24 in approximately full size. The string part 22 is surrounded by a slotted clamping sleeve 26 clamping in the part 22 and another string besides, whereof more will be told in the following. The part 22 need not be ended by the clamping sleeve 26 but may continue past it, according to the drawing. From the clamping sleeve extends a lug 27 which forms the journalling point for a pulley with a holder 28-31, which can be clearly seen from Figure 5 and should need no explanation.

The pulley member 25 is constructed in the same way. For the sake of clarity it is in the drawing shown reversed, but it may be made approximately or exactly equal to the pulley member 24.

An operating string 33 extends from the clamping sleeve 26 and another operating string 38 from the clamping sleeve of the pulley member 25. Further, operating strings 35 and 37 extend from a clamping sleeve 42 mounted on the string part 22, and the operating strings 34 and 36 extend from clamping sleeves 41 and 42 mounted on the string part 23. The cord part 10 passes through the pulley member 24 and the cord part 11 through the may be provided with a ball button 44 or a comparable indicating member. In Figures 1-3 they are shown as cut off, to indicate a greater pendant length.

The device operates in the following manner. Starting from Figure l which is supposed to show a Venetian blind in an entirely lowered position, if the part 1'9 is pulled it will draw the pulley member 24- to the right. Thereby a pull arises in the string part 22 and over the pulley 20 also in the string part 23, which will be moved to the left together with the pulley member 25. The outer cord part 11 will thereby be shortened. Thus, the operating strings 33, 3S and 37 will be lowered tlu'ough the holes 12, and 17, respectively, while the operating strings 3d, 36 and 38 will be pulled up from the holes 14, i6 and 13, respectively. The carrying members 6-8 are lowered, while the carrying members 6-8 are elevated, and the ribs are tilted to the position shown in Figure 2, the ball 44 having been moved to the right side of the cord loopv If, on the other hand, the outer cord part 11 is pulled, the adjustment will be made to the position shown in Figure 3 by an effect in the opposite direction from that of the previous manoeuvre.

The cord parts 10 and 11 are thus allowed to run quite freely in relation to the positions of the pulley members 24 and 25. The latter are only dependent on the difference between the lengths of the parts 14} and ill outside the rail. If the two cord parts 10 and 11 are pulled simultaneously, equally great forces directed towards each other will affect the string 22-23, and the operat ing device remains unmoved.

Figures 6-11 show very diagrammatically a blind in difierent positions of elevation and tilting. it is placed in a window with the frame 45 and between the panes 46 and 47.

Figures 6-8 correspond to Figures 1-3.

Figures 9-11 show a blind half pulled up or lowered.

A special advantage of the object of the invention is that the tilt of the ribs may be adjusted in any state of elevation of the blind. The cord parts it and ill outside the blind are, of course, longer in Figmres 9-11 than the corresponding parts in Figures 6-8, but the tilt of the ribs is dependent exclusively on the relative lengths of the outer parts 10 and ill, which are shown by the indicating ball 44 in all of the Figures 6-11. For adjusting the tilt, when the blind is half-way pulled up, as in Figures 9-11, and the'cords It and 11 are tense, one cord should be slackened as much as the other one is pulled.

For belaying the cord parts lit) and 11 when the blind is partly pulled up or lowered, a fastener or rope-clip of a suitable construction'may be used, as indicated in Figures 6-11, detail 4-8. If the blind is fully lowered, no belaying is needed to keepthe ribs in the adjusted tilted position.

It is not necessary for the parts it? and 11 to be joined in a loop outside the blind. They may equally well have free ends finishing off with knots, buttons or the like, or they may be connected to or ended by some suitable adjustment member.

Figures 12 and 13 show some other embodiments within the scope of the invention. Figure 12 shows a double pulley arrangement between the pulling cords and the operating string 22, 23. According to Figure 12, this string is laid frictionally around a larger part of the pulley 29, while the operating strings 33 and 37, on 'one hand, and 34 and 38, 'on the other hand, extend from a smaller part of the pulley 20. Thereby an additional change of the speed ratio is obtained. The inner cord parts 10 and 11 run through slide rings 24 and Z5, which are fastened to the head rail by rivets "or the like,

i 49' and 50, and which run through slide rings 24 and 25 corresponding to the pulley members in Figures l-3.

In the embodiment according to Figure 12 the relative movements of the parts 10 and lit for a certain tilting adjustment must, of course, be greater than when using the device according to Figures 1-3. The cord part 10 is guided around a guide pulley 51.

The embodiment according to Figure 13 differs from that in Figures l-3 by this that slide rings 24 and 25 replace the pulley members and that the operating strings 33, 34, 37, 33 extend from the pulley 2B. The middle operating strings 35 and 36 in Figures l-3 are not recurring in Figure 12. They are not always necessary.

In narrow blinds, i. e. blinds with short ribs and a short anchor list, it may meet with difficulties to find room for the arrangements shown in the drawings. In such blinds, the holes 12-14 and 17-19 must be placed near the respective ends of the head rail. As regards the left part of the arrangements described and shown in the drawings, there must be a certain minimum space between the pulley 2t and the holes llZ-ftl, which may be impossible to obtain in narrow blinds.

However, even for such blinds a device according to the invention may be used with only a slight deviation from the embodiments shown in the drawing. In narrow blinds, the middle carrying members 7 and 7 as well as the operating strings 35 and 36 pertaining thereto are not necessary. The pulley 24) may then be placed near the middle of the head rail. No change is needed in the cord part 11 and the pulley member 25. But the cord part 10 must be directed to the left towards the bushing 13 by means of a guide pulley, after having passed the pulley member 24. The operating strings 33 and 3-4 will extend to the left from the parts23 and 22 respectively.

Another modification for the same purpose consists therein that the string 2223 is laid in an S-loop over a further pulley. The pulley members 24 and 25 will then move in the same direction and not in opposite directions, as in the embodiments shown in the drawings. Then an extra guide pulley in the head rail is needed for one of the pulling cord parts 10 and 11.

For fastening the cords it) and 11 when the blind is wholly or partly pulled up any suitable rope-clip or fastener may be used. Such a member, detail 48, is diagrammatically shown in Figures 12 and 13.

The embodiments shown in the drawings and described above may be multiplied within the scope of theinvention.

It is not necessary that the blind according to the invention is suspended vertically. it may very well be inclined inwards or outwards in its entirety or partly. What 1 claim is:

1. A Venetian blind comprising a supporting head rail,..carrying members suspended below said head rail, each one consisting of two side members and cross supports .th'erebetween, a plurality oi parallel slats carried on said cross supports, a fixed aids rotatable element mounted on said head rail, a force transmitting element encircling said rotatable element. a plurality of displaceabledirection translating elements connectedto said force transmitting element, flexible members On opposite sides of said head rail movable by said torce transmitting element and extending downwardly through .said head rail connecting to and. carrying the side members, means to raise and lower the slats and to change the angularity of'the slats comprising a pair rot cords, having their free ends hanging at the side of said. slats and extending upwardly through said head rail-and horizontally thereon and encircling said direction translating elements each cord thereby having its direction reversed, and :then extending downwardly through saidheadrailand slats connecting to the lowermost slat.

2. A Venetian blind comprising .a supporting head rail,..carrying members suspended below said head rail,

each one consisting of two side members and cross supports therebetween, a plurality of parallel slats carried on said cross supports, a fixed axis rotatable element carried by said head rail, a force transmitting element encircling saidrotatable element, a plurality of displaceable pulleys connected to said force transmitting element, flexible members on opposite sides of said head rail connected to said force transmitting element and extending downwardly through said head rail connecting to and carrying the side members of said carrying members, means to raise and lower the slats and change the angularity of the slats comprising a pair of cords having their free ends hanging at the side of said slats and extending upwardly through said head rail and horizontally thereon and encircling said displaceable pulleys, each cord thereby having its direction reversed and then extending downwardly through said head rail and slats and connecting to the lowermost slat.

3. A Venetian blind as claimed in claim 2 in which said force transmitting element comprises a flexible cord.

4. A Venetain blind comprising a supporting head rail, carrying members suspended below said head rail, each one consisting of two side members and cross supports therebetween, a plurality of parallel slats carried on said cross supports, a fixed axis rotatable element carried by said head rail, a force transmitting element encircling said rotatable element, a plurality of displaceable pulleys connected to said force transmitting element, flexible members on opposite sides of said head rail encircling said rotatable element and extending downwardly through said head rail connecting to and carrying the side members of said carrying members, means to raise and lower the slats and change the angularity of the slats comprising a pair of cords having their free ends hanging at the side of said slats and extending upwardly through said head rail and horizontally thereon and encircling said displaceable pulleys, each cord thereby having its direction reversed and then extending downwardly through said head rail and slats and connecting to the lowermost slat.

5. A Venetian blind as claimed in claim 4 in which said rotatable element is a two-stage pulley, each stage having a different diameter, said force transmitting element encircling that part of said two-stage pulley having the greater diameter and said flexible members encircling that part of said two-stage pulley having the smaller diameter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

Images