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US 2017/0321478 A1Published application
Tilt Mechanism for a Window Blind
AssigneeHunter Douglas Inc.
InventorsDonald E. Fraser, Richard N. Anderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A blind is arranged such that minimal force is required to rotate the tilt drum to tilt the slats from the fully open to the fully closed position and back, with each of the front and rear tilt cables sharing the load nearly equally throughout the entire path from the fully open to the fully closed position and back.
Claims18
1-20. (canceled)
A blind, comprising:
- a head rail having a bottom;
- a rotatable tilt drum in said head rail, said tilt drum defining an oblong shape, said oblong shape defining a major axis and a minor axis;
- a front tilt cable extending from said tilt drum, out through said bottom of said head rail, and extending downwardly from said head rail;
- a rear tilt cable extending from said tilt drum, out through said bottom of said head rail, and extending downwardly from said head rail;
- a plurality of spaced apart rungs, including a top rung, each of said rungs being secured at a front rung end to said front tilt cable and at a rear rung end to said rear tilt cable;
- and
- a plurality of elongated slats, each slat being supported on one of said rungs;
- wherein said major axis of said tilt drum is oriented in a substantially vertical direction when said slats are rotated to both a fully closed position and a fully opened position.
5 more elements
A blind, comprising:
- a head rail having a bottom;
- a rotatable tilt drum in said head rail, said tilt drum defining an oblong shape having a centroid, said tilt drum being mounted for rotation about an axis of rotation that is offset from said centroid;
- a front tilt cable extending from said tilt drum, out through said bottom of said head rail, and extending downwardly from said head rail;
- a rear tilt cable extending from said tilt drum, out through said bottom of said head rail, and extending downwardly from said head rail;
- a plurality of spaced apart rungs, including a top rung, each of said rungs being secured at a front rung end to said front tilt cable and at a rear rung end to said rear tilt cable;
- and
- a plurality of elongated slats, each slat being supported on one of said rungs;
- wherein, when said tilt drum is rotated to tilt said slats from a fully opened position to a fully closed position, one of said front tilt cable or said rear tilt cable is wound around said tilt drum faster than the other of said front tilt cable or said rear tilt cable is unwound from said tilt drum so as to maintain a center of gravity of each of said slats at substantially the same elevation during tilting of said slats.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.