Venetian Blind Construction

Abstract

A combined venetian and roller blind having a header housing, a curtainlike spring actuated roller in the housing, tiltable slats and a bottom bar. Opposed tapes are disposed on both sides of the slats, with seats between the tapes for said slats, one end of the tapes fixed to the tilting bar and the other end to the bottom bar. A single hand loop strap is secured to both long edges of the bottom bar serving as a handle for actuating the tilting bar and slats and for raising and lowering the blind. Plastic or magnetic means is provided in the header housing for moving the tilting bar with braking action until the bar comes to rest against stops limiting the slats between open and closed positions.

Description

This invention relates generally to venetian blinds and more particularly to a venetian having roller blind actuation.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a venetian blind that eliminates the necessity for cords for tilting the slats and for raising and lowering the blind.

Another object of the invention is to provide a venetian blind construction with a spring-pressed roller with common pull tape loop means for raising and for closing the blind.

Still another object is to provide a venetian blind with a tilting bar for opening and closing the slats and with plastic or magnetic means for braking the tilting movement of the bar and stop means for limiting the tilting movement of the bar and slats between their open and closed positions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a venetian blind constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention which is shown in open position in a window frame, the parts being shown broken away.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view as seen from the line 2-2 of FIG. 4, the parts being shown broken away.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the plane of the line 3-3 of FIG. 4, the parts being shown broken away.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on the plane of the line 4-4 of FIG. 1, the blind being shown partly collapsed in dash lines, with parts being missing.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of one side of the blind showing the mounting of the end of the tilting bar, the parts being shown broken away and parts being omitted, the blind roller being shown in dot-and-dash lines.

FIG. 6 is a similar view showing the mounting of the end of the roller and the arrangement of the ropes, parts being omitted, the tilting bar being shown in dot-and-dash lines, and

FIG. 7 is a further similar view of one side of the blind showing the end of the tilting bar with bar tilted against stops to close the slats.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now in detail to the various views of the drawings, and particularly in FIG. 1, a window frame A of conventional construction is shown with a venetian blind of the present invention installed therein. This blind comprises a header or housing designated generally at B, a tilting bar at C, a bottom bar at D and a plurality of slats E fashioned from flat sheet plastic or metal material.

Referring now to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the header B is constructed in the form of a channel-shaped sheet metal box 10 having a bottom wall 12, rear sidewall 14 and front sidewall 16. The ends and top are open. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the open ends of the box are closed by square-shaped caplike closure members 18 with three edge flanges 20 therearound. A framed flange 22 is hinged to the top flange 20 of the end closure member and is swung up out of the way to permit the adjacent end of the metal box 10 to be received or removed from between the fixed flanges of the end closure member. The end closure members are fastened to the top of window frame A and thus serve to support the blind header B therefrom.

Within the header B, a spring curtain-style roller 19 is supported for rotative movement in both directions. At the left-hand end as viewed in FIG. 3, the roller 19 is provided with a metal cap 34 and projecting centrally from the cap is a pin 36 which enters a circular opening 38 in a bracket 40 which is fastened to the bottom wall 12 of the metal box 10. The other end of the roller is provided with a metal collar 42 which is centrally apertured to receive a flattened pin 44 extending centrally outward from the collar. The inner surface of the apertured collar serves as an abutment for one end of a coiled spring 46, which spring is wound about the pin 44 and somewhere within the length of the roller 19 is fastened thereto, the pin being flattened to provide a rectangular end which enters a slot 48 formed in a platelike bracket 50 suitably secured to the bottom wall 12 of the metal box 10 adjacent the right-hand end of the roller 19 as viewed in FIG. 3. The engagement of the flattened end of the pin 44 prevents relative movement of the pin so that whenever the roller 19 is rotated in operation the spring 46 is tightened or loosened depending upon the direction of rotation. The spring 46 is so coiled as to cause rotation of the roller 19 in a direction normally to raise the blind to open position and stressed as the blind is lowered. The usual catch means within the roller keeps the blind lowered.

Wound around the roller 19, in axially spaced relation are two coiled cords 52 and 54, one end of each coiled cord being fastened to the roller 19, the other end passing out through plastic grommets 30, 30 in holes in the bottom wall 12 of the metal box 10 and thence downwardly through elongated closed slots 62 in the slats in line with the holes 30, 30. The lower ends of the cords pass through keyhole-shaped holes 64 in the bottom bar D and are suitably fastened to the bottom surface thereof. The plastic grommets 30 are oversize for the cords and at the same time keep the cord from being cut by and wear from the metal edge of the hole.

The tilting bar C has an elongated flat narrow rectangular-shaped metal top body 66 which has at each end an upwardly extending magnet 68 with an arcuate top face 68' and a downwardly extending plate 70 that carries a plastic silent bearing 71. An upstanding bracket device 72 in the form of an elongated platelike body 74 with a laterally extending foot 76 is fastened to the bottom wall 12. The bracket device has flanges 78, 78 along the long edges thereof. One device 72 is secured at each end of the box 10 and the two devices 72 oppose one another. Extending from each upstanding bracket device 72 and into said plastic bearing is a metal pivot pin 82 for pivotally mounting the tilting bar C. This pin 82 has a tight fit with the plastic bearing 71 so that there is friction therebetween to limit also the tilting of the tilting bar C and to effect braking action thereupon. Thus, the plastic bearing assists the magnetic braking means and may be used for this same purpose without the magnetic means.

An inverted U-shaped magnetic metal member 83 with inwardly extending stops 84 is rigidly mounted on the bottom wall 12 of the metal box 10 and conforms in curvature to the magnet surface 68' so as to lend braking action to the tilting of the bar C as the magnet is turned with the bar C from an intermediate position to positions against the stops 84, and upon closing of the blind slats in a manner to be made apparent as the description continues. The stops 84 will limit the movement only if the plastic bearings are used so that the exact tilt to close the slats is effected.

Pairs of continuous tapes 86 are utilized to connect the slats E, the tilting bar C and the bottom bar D in proper venetian blind relationship. Each pair of tapes are formed in effect into an elongated flat loop and their side reaches loosely over the long edges of the slats E and at their upper ends transverse slots 88 in the bottom box wall and connect with a metal guide plate 90 which is fastened by screw 91 to the top surface of the tilting bar C. At the other end, the reaches of the tapes pass under the bottom bar D and are secured thereto by adhesive or any other suitable fastening means. Cloth webs 96 are secured at their ends at opposite points along the opposed reaches of the tapes to form supports or seats for the slats E.

An elongated looped pull strap 100 has its ends fastened at opposite long edges of the bottom bar D by means of fastening elements 102. The loop depends from the bottom bar D and serves as a handle for manipulating the blind. A pull generally of the looped pull strap 100 will lower or permit raising of the blind upon coiled cords 52 and 54 being acted upon by the spring roller 19. If the front or back of the pull strap 100 is pulled alone the blind slats E will be tilted and against the braking action between the magnet 68 and metal inverted U-shaped member 83 to open or close the blind.

In FIG. 1, the slats E are shown in horizontal open position. Thus, manually pulling down on the looped handle 100 in a straight downward direction as shown by the arrows 104, the coil spring 46 will be released and will turn the roller 19 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 4 thereby winding the cords 52 and 54 around the roller and pulling the slats E and tapes 86 upwardly in the direction of the arrows 104. By manually pulling downwardly on the outer or front reach of the looped handle in the direction of the arrow 106, the slats E will be tilted in a direction to close the gaps therebetween and thereby close the blind. By manually pulling downwardly on the inner or rear reach of the looped handle 100 in the direction of the arrow 108, the slats E will be tilted in a direction to open the gaps therebetween and thus open the blind.

It should thus be apparent that with the one and the same pull strap 100 instead of pulling ropes at the opposite ends of the conventional venetian blinds, this blind can be raised and lowered and can be closed and opened.

Claims

What I claim is:

1. A venetian blind construction, comprising a header, a tilting bar tiltably mounted in said header, a movable bottom bar connected to said tilting bar by pairs of opposing tapes, one end of the tapes being fixedly connected to opposite side edges of the tilting bar, the other end of the tapes being fixedly mounted on opposite side edges of the bottom bar, a curtainlike spring-stressed roller in the header, slats tiltably supported between the opposing tapes, cords extending around the roller in spaced relationship therealong and through the slats, one end of the cords being fixed to the roller, the other end of the cords being fixed to the bottom bar, said header being channel-shaped with a bottom wall and sidewalls and open at opposite ends, the mounting for the tilting bar including brackets upstanding from the bottom wall of the header at both ends thereof, said tilting bar having bearing plates at both ends thereof, and pins extending from the upstanding brackets into said bearing plates, said bearing plates having frictional engagement with the bracket pins to effect braking action on the tilting movement of the tilting bar.

2. A venetian blind construction as defined in claim 1, and common means including a looped handle strap with its ends secured to the long edges of the bottom bar.

3. A venetian blind construction as defined in claim 1, and said header being of metal and having spaced holes therein, and grommets in said holes through which said cords extend, said grommets being of plastic to eliminate excessive wear upon the slat cords.

4. A venetian blind construction as defined in claim 1, and stop means on the header and engageable by the tilting bar to limit the closing movement of the tiltable blind slats.

5. A venetian blind construction as defined in claim 1, permanent magnet on the tilting bar in the header, and a U-shaped magnetic member on the header cooperative with the permanent magnet to effect a further braking action therebetween upon the bar being tilted to open and close the blind.

6. A venetian blind construction as defined in claim 5, and stops carried by the U-shaped metal member and engageable by the magnet to limit the tilting movement of the tilting bar and the closing of the slats.

7. A venetian blind construction as defined in claim 1, and a separate square-shaped closure member for closing each end of the header, said closure plate having flanges around all side edges thereof, one of said flanges being releasable mounted and adapted to be moved out of the way to permit the ends of the header to be inserted between the flanges and said closure members serving to fix the blind header to the top of a window frame.

8. A venetian blind construction as defined in claim 2, wherein the arrangement of the tilting bar, tapes, bottom bar and looped handle strap is such that a straight down pull of the handle automatically releases the spring roller to move the slats upward to collapsed condition, and a downward pull on one reach of the looped handle tilts the slats to closed position, and a downward pull on the other reach of the looped handle tilts the slats to open position.