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US 5,706,876 AGranted
Cordless, roller bar cellular shade
OwnerPhillip A. Lysyjinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cordless, cellular window shade uses a conventional roller shade bar with a spring pawl arrangement to raise and lower the cellular, window covering fabric by at least two wide, transversely spaced tapes extending from the head rail of the shade through slits in the cellular fabric and secured to the bottom rail of the shade. Each tape has periodically spaced, alignment openings along its length which engage circumferentially spaced, spokes protruding from the roller shade bar to precisely wind the tape about the roller shade bar as the shade is raised or lowered and thus maintain the bottom rail in parallel relationship with the low profile, head rail.
Claims34
A cordless cellular roller shade comprising:
- a) a head rail containing a roller shade bar having a spring extending therein with one end of said spring attached to a tension bar and the opposite end secured to a shade bar end cap, said shade bar end cap having a ratchet/pawl mechanism for tensioning said spring upon shade bar rotation in one direction and releasing spring tension upon opposite shade bar rotation;
- b) a bottom rail adapted to be raised and lowered relative to said head rail;
- c) a pleated, cellular shade fabric extending between said head rail and said bottom rail, said cellular shade fabric having, when said shade is drawn, a honeycomb cross-section defined by a plurality of polygonal shapes vertically stacked one on top the other, said polygonal shapes collapsed into a plurality of vertically stacked, fabric plys nested between said head rail and said bottom rail when said shade is raised;
- d) at least first and second transversely spaced slits extending through said polygonal shapes from the bottom to the top of said cellular shade fabric;
- e) said roller shade bar having first and second transversely spaced spoke assemblies aligned with said first and second slits, respectively, each spoke assembly having a like plurality of spokes circumferentially spaced about and extending outwardly from said shade bar;
- and
- f) first and second tapes extending from said spoke assemblies through said first and second slits and secured to said bottom rail, respectively, each tape having a plurality of alignment openings spaced along its length whereby each tape is precisely wound about its respective spoke assembly to consistently maintain said bottom rail in parallel relationship with said roller shade bar when said shade is raised or lowered to any position.
4 more elements
A cordless window shade comprising:
- a) a cellular shade fabric having a honeycomb, cross-sectioned configuration which expands and folds in an accordion manner when said shade is raised and lowered, said cellular fabric having first and second transversely spaced, longitudinally-extending slits through said honeycomb configuration and first and second support tapes extending, respectively, through said first and second slits;
- b) a bottom rail adjacent the bottom of said cellular fabric, said tapes secured to said bottom rail;
- c) a transversely extending roller shade bar adjacent the top of said cellular fabric, spring means within said shade bar for tensioning a spring when said shade bar is rotated in one direction as said shade is lowered and releasing said spring tension to cause the shade bar to rotate in the opposite direction when said shade is raised;
- and
- d) a first and second plurality of spokes extending outwardly from said roller shade bar and aligned with said first and second tapes, respectively, said first and second tapes have a plurality of alignment openings spaced along their length for receiving said spokes as said shade is raised and lowered whereby said bottom rail is maintained parallel with said roller shade bar at any drawn position of the shade.
2 more elements
A cordless shade comprising:
- a) a head rail for attachment to a window sill having a roller shade bar and spring pawl means tensioned upon shade rod rotation when said shade is drawn;
- b) a bottom rail;
- c) a shade fabric between said top and bottom rails with the fabric arranged to fold over onto itself to form plys when said bottom rail is raised towards said top rail, and means associated with said fabric to permit said bottom rail to be connected to said head rail through said fabric;
- d) first and second tapes extending through said means associated with said fabric, each tape secured at one end to said bottom rail and at its opposite end to said roller shade bar, and each tape having, along its length, a plurality of spaced alignment openings;
- and,
- e) said roller shade bar having at least a first and second transversely spaced spoke assemblies aligned with said first and second tapes, respectively;
- each spoke assembly having a plurality of spokes circumferentially spaced about and extending outward from said roller shade bar for insertion through said tape alignment openings when said tapes are wound about said spoke assemblies upon rotation of said shade roller bar whereby said fabric is extended or folded upon actuation of said spring means by movement of said bottom rail, said bottom rail being maintained substantially parallel with said shade rod irrespective of its vertical position.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.