WO1996007007A1

WO1996007007A1 - Roller shade

Info

Publication number: WO1996007007A1
Application number: PCT/SE1995/000977
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hans Pettersson
Original assignee: Nyge Haglund Ab
Priority date: 1994-08-31
Filing date: 1995-08-30
Publication date: 1996-03-07
Also published as: SE9402895D0; AU3403195A; EP0777807A1; SE9402895L; SE504777C2

Abstract

Roller shade, comprising a roller (3) with a shade (4). The roller is rotatably mounted between a pair of supporting brackets (2), consisting of a holder portion (10) screwed securely into a wall (1) or window frame and a slide (17), which is inserted and fixed in a groove in the holder portion and has means for mounting the roller.

Description

Roller shade

The present invention relates to a roller shade comprising firstly a roller for rolling up and out a shade body and secondly support brackets arranged to carry the roller between them, the roller and the brackets having cooperating openings and pins extending into said opening for rotatable mounting of the roller between the brackets.

The most common type of roller shade comprises a roller, having a gudgeon or round pin fixed at one end and at its other end a built-in spring and ratchet mechanism, having a spear or flat pin rotatable relative to the roller. The brackets are often L-shaped sheet metal brackets, one of which has a circular opening for rotatable mounting of the gudgeon or round pin, while the other has a rectangular opening for non-rotatably fixing the spear or flat pin. When the roller shade is pulled down a tension force is applied directly to the shade, thus tensioning the spring mechanism. The shade is rolled up by the same mechanism when the bracket is released.

A roller shade of another type is previously known by Swedish lay-open print 455 803 for example. It differs primarily from the type described above in that it has no spring and bracket mechanism. The rolling up and down of the shade is accomplished in this case with the aid of a sprocket wheel and a chain engaging thereinto.

Characteristic for the roller shade described and shown in said lay-open print is that the support brackets or holders at both ends of the roller are identical and that the operating device is connected to the roller by means of a detachable coupling, so that the operating device can be mounted by installation at that end of the roller which is most suitable, without any special adjustment. In one embodiment the bracket or holder consists of a housing closed on one side by a cover or hood, said housing having on its side opposite the hood a tubular pin on which the roller is rotatably mounted. One of the holders surrounds the major portion of the sprocket wheel which, via the detachable coupling, is drivably connected to the roller and can be shifted from one end to the other of the roller as needed, by removing the cover and taking the chain off the sprocket wheel, whereafter the sprocket wheel is removed from the roller by pulling it out of one holder and connecting it to the other end of the roller by insertion into the other holder. When the chain has been engaged with the sprocket wheel, the covers are put on the respective holder. This known shade provides good flexibility in mounting, which is relatively simple to perform. By virtue of the fact that the holders are identical, the production cost can be kept low.

The purpose of the present invention is to achieve a roller shade of the type described by way of introduction, which has a support arrangement, which can be easily adapted to either of the two roller shade types described above and which, in addition, is even simpler to mount in place and adapt to right or left hand placement of the sprocket wheel and chain.

This is achieved according to the invention by virtue of the fact that each bracket comprises, firstly, a holder portion designed to be affixed to a surface at the mount¬ ing site for the roller shade and, secondly, a slide, in that the roller is rotatably carried by the slide and in that one of the slide and the holder portion has an under¬ cut groove and the other has a slide surface with a profile adapted to the cross- sectional profile of the groove to be insertable and fixable in the groove.

By separating, as according to the invention, the portion of the supporting bracket engaging the roller from the holder itself, which is screwed into the wall, and arranging a groove and slide connection with a simple snap lock for example bet- ween them, a number of advantages are attained. For example, a single type of holder portion can be used for both of the above described roller shade types. The holder portions on the right and left hand side of the roller can also be identical to each other. As regards the known roller shade type with sprocket wheels, the roller must be supported on the pin, when the other bracket is screwed into the wall, which makes mounting much more complicated than is the case when both holder portions are first screwed securely to the wall, whereafter the slides with the pins inserted in the roller can be inserted into the holder portions.

The invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples shown in the accompanying drawings, where Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a portion of one embodiment of a roller shade according to the invention, Fig. 2 is a front view of the holder portion of the support bracket, Fig. 3 is a section along the line III-III in Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a front view of the slide of the support bracket, Fig. 5 is a section along the line V-V in Fig. 4, Fig. 6 is a front view of a central portion of a second embodiment of a slide and Fig. 7 is a view corresponding to Fig. 6 of a third embodiment.

In Fig. 1, the reference numeral 1 designates a wall portion or a window frame, to which a pair of brackets (only one shown), generally designated 2, are screwed securely at a distance from each other. The brackets 2 carry between them a rotata¬ bly mounted shade roller 3, to which is fixed one edge of a shade 4 of cloth or plastics for example. At one end of the roller 3 a sprocket wheel 5 is fixed, said sprocket wheel engaging a ball chain 6. The cover or hood 7 non-rotatably fixed by the bracket 2 covers approximately half of the sprocket wheel 5 and prevents the chain 6 from jumping out of engagement with the sprocket wheel 5. Rolling the shade up or down is achieved by rotating the sprocket wheel 5 in one or the other direction by means of the chain 6. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the roller 3 has openings (not shown), and brackets 2 of the type shown in Figs. 2-5 are used, including a pin 8 which extends into the opening in the roller for rotatable mounting thereof. The bracket 2 comprises an L-shaped holder portion 10 (Figs. 2 and 3) with screw holes 11 for fastening screws in the short leg 12 and a central groove 13 in the long leg 14. The groove 13 extends from the distal end of the leg 14 to the leg 12 and has a reversed T-profile, i.e. the groove 13 is undercut. At the distal end of the groove 13 there is a snap lock tooth 15 with a lock surface 16.

Furthermore, the bracket 2 comprises a slide 17, which has a slide surface 17a with a profile corresponding to the profile of the groove 13. Slightly above the middle, the slide 17 has a mounting pin 8 (Figs. 4 and 5), which, in the embodiment shown, has the shape of a cross with circular arcuate surfaces 18. The cover or hood 7 has a corresponding surface opening (not shown), so that the hood 7 in the mounted state shown in Fig. 1, is fixed against rotation by the pin 8.

The slide 17 is made of a resilient plastics material. In the slide 17, an upper and a lower tongue 19 and 20, respectively, are stamped out, and are thus resilient. There is a lock pin 21 and 22, respectively, at the end of each tongue 19 and 20, respec¬ tively. When the slide 17 is inserted into the groove 13, first the lower tooth 22 will snap over the lock tooth 15 at the distal end of the groove. The slide 17 is prevented in this position from being removed from the holder portion 10, but by virtue of the fact that it is resilient it can be deflected sufficiently for the roller to be inserted between the slides when the holder portions 10 are screwed into the wall, so that the pins 8 can be inserted into the openings in the roller 3 at its ends. The slides 17 are then pushed into their grooves until they reach the bottom, when the upper lock teeth 21 snap in behind the lock teeth 15 in the groove 13. Thus, mounting is very simple by virtue of the fact that the brackets 2 can be screwed securely into the wall before the roller with the shade is mounted. Since the slides 17 are identical to each other, the roller can be turned around so that the sprocket wheel is at the right or left as needed. If it will be necessary to switch the operating side, it is only necessary to deflect the upper spring tongue 19, so that the slide 17 can be pulled out to its outer mounting position, and the roller can then be turned around. Figs. 6 and 7 show the central portion of two slides 31 and 32 in a modified embodiment for supporting a roller shade (not shown) of the more common type, in which the roller at one end has a round pin and at the other end a built-in spring and ratchet mechanism with a rectangular spindle pin. The pin 8 on the slide 17 has been replaced in the slide 31 with a circular opening 33 for rotatably mounting the round pin of the roller and in the slide 32 by a cross-shaped opening 34 for non- rotatably fixing the spindle pin. The same handle portion 10 can thus be used for both the roller shade as shown in Fig. 1 and the more common type which is not shown here.

The invention has been described above with reference to an embodiment, in which the holder portion 10 has the groove 13 and the slide 17 has the slide surface 17a adapted to the groove, but it is of course possible if desired to arrange the groove in the slide, and provide the holder portion with a slide surface adapted to the groove.

Claims

1. Roller shade comprising, firstly, a roller for rolling up and rolling out a shade body and, secondly, support brackets arranged to carry the roller between them, the roller and the brackets having cooperating openings and pins extending into said openings for rotatable mounting of the roller between the brackets, characterized in that each bracket (2) comprises, firstly, a holder portion (10) designed to be affixed to a surface (1) at the mounting site for the roller shade and, secondly, a slide (17;31;32), in that the roller (3) is rotatably carried by the slide and in that one of the slide and the holder portion has an undercut groove (13) and the other has a slide surface (17a) with a profile adapted to the cross-sectional profile of the groove in order to be insertable and fixable in the groove.

2. Roller shade according to claim 1, characterized in that the holder portion (10) has the groove (13) and the slide (17;31;32) has the slide surface (17a) adapted to the profile of the groove.

3. Roller shade according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that one slide (31) is made with a circular opening (33) for rotatable mounting of a pin at one end of the roller, while the other slide (32) is made with a non-round opening (34) for fixing a spindle pin in a spring mechanism at the opposite end of the roller.

4. Roller shade according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the slides (17) are each made with a bearing pin (8), which is inserted into openings in the ends of the roller (2).

5. Roller shade according to claim 4, characterized in that a sprocket wheel (5) is fixed to the roller (3) at one end of the roller, and that at least one bearing pin (8) has a non-circular cross-section and is arranged relative to a cover (7), which at least partially encloses the sprocket wheel, so that the cover is blocked from rotation when the sprocket wheel is rotated by a chain (6) engaging said sprocket wheel.

6. Roller shade according to one of claims 2-5, characterized in that each holder portion (10) has an L-profile and that one of its legs (12) is intended to be fixed to said surface (1), whereas its other leg (14) has the groove (13) running in the longi¬ tudinal direction from the distal end of the leg.

7. Roller shade according to one of claims 2-6, characterized in that the slide (17;31;32) has a resilient tongue (19) with a lock tooth (21) which cooperates with a lock surface (16) on the holder portion (10) to lock the slide in its completely inserted position in the groove.

8. Roller shade according to claim 7, characterized in that the slide (17;31;32) has an additional resilient tongue (20) with a lock tooth (22) which cooperates with said lock surface (16) to lock the slide from being pushed out from a position in which only a minor portion of the slide is inserted in the groove.

9. Roller shade according to one of claims 1-8, characterized in that the holder portions (10) are identical to each other.

10. Roller shade according to one of claims 1-8, characterized in that the slides (17;31;32) consist of a resilient material.