Monocontrol venetian blind

Abstract

Headrail hardware to lift and tilt a Venetian blind is provided. A single control operates both the lift and the tilt function. A multiturn band brake tilter is used with each ladder cord in a way that reduces the frictional forces encountered in lifting or lowering the blind. One end of each of the ladder cords is attached to an arm of its tilter. The tilters are disposed directly about the rotating drive rod with no intermediate parts, and are supported by cradles that mount in the headrail rather than by the drive rod as in prior art blinds. The drive rod rotates the tilters and the lifting mechanism until the tilters contact stops built into each of the cradles. Further rotation keeps the blind fully tilted while lifting or lowering of the blind continues. In the preferred embodiment, the lift cords are attached to the drive rod, which traverses to accumulate the cords in a single layer as the rod is rotated to lift the blind. The rotation of the rod within the tilters greatly reduces the lateral force needed to traverse the rod. An innovative bearing support is provided so that the weight of the blind is transferred from the tilter directly to the cradle, further reducing the frictional drag on the traversing rod.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.