Traversing and rotating wand for vertical blinds
AssigneeAll-Teck Blinds P.T.B. Inc.
InventorsMario Cadorette, Christian Laing, Viet Pham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vertical blind control includes a single control mechanism for traversing the vanes (8), i.e., opening or closing the blind, and for rotating the vanes to change the amount of light admitted by the closed blind. The control mechanism includes a wand (29), which is used to slide and rotate a shaft (35) carrying opposed bevel gears. One bevel gear (72) is engageable with a mating gear system (76) connected to a tilt rod (10) for rotating the vanes. The other bevel gear (63) is engageable with a drum (48) carrying a cord (13) for traversing the vanes to open or close the blind. The shaft is slidable within the mechanism so that only one of the bevel gears is engaged at any one time to effect the desired operation.
Claims18
A vertical blind comprising a headrail, a plurality of carriers slidable in the headrail for movement between open and closed positions, a respective vane suspended from each of the carriers, a cord in the headrail connected to at least one of the carriers for causing the carriers to traverse between open and closed positions of the blind, a tilt rod extending through the carriers for rotating the carriers to tilt the vanes, and a control mechanism capable of selectively controlling traversing and rotation of the carriers, said control mechanism comprising:
- a control casing disposed at one end of the headrail;
- a shaft member slidably and rotatably mounted in the casing;
- the shaft member being slidable in a longitudinal direction of the shaft member between first and second positions;
- first and second gear elements operatively mounted on the shaft member in opposed spaced apart relation;
- the first and second gear elements being selectively engageable with the shaft member;
- a drum member rotatably mounted within the control casing, the drum member carrying and frictionally engaging a portion of the cord to control traversing of the carriers by rotation of the drum member;
- a third gear member operatively coupled to the drum member and engageable with the first gear member;
- and
- a fourth gear member operatively disposed within the casing, the fourth gear member being rotationally coupled to the tilt rod and operatively engageable with the second gear member;
- wherein when the shaft member is positioned in the control casing so that the shaft member engages the first gear member, rotation of the shaft member causes rotation of the third gear member and the drum member to traverse the vanes, and when the shaft member is positioned in the control casing so that the shaft member engages the second gear member, rotation of the shaft causes rotation of the fourth gear member and the tilt rod to tilt the vanes.
A vertical blind comprising a headrail, a plurality of carriers slidable in the headrail for movement between open and closed positions, a respective vane suspended from each of the carriers, a cord in the headrail connected to at least one of the carriers for causing the carriers to traverse between open and closed positions of the blind, a tilt rod extending through the carriers for rotating the carriers to tilt the vanes, and a control mechanism capable of selectively controlling traversing and rotation of the carriers, said control mechanism comprising:
- a control casing disposed at one end of the headrail;
- a shaft member slidably and rotatably mounted in the casing;
- first and second gear elements rotatably and slidably mounted on the shaft member;
- latch means capable of releasably coupling the shaft member to one of the first and second gear members, the shaft member being slidable between a first position in which the latch means rotationally couples the shaft member to the first gear member, and a second position in which the latch means rotationally couples the shaft member to the second gear member;
- a drum member rotatably mounted within the control casing, the drum member carrying and frictionally engaging a portion of the cord to control traversing of the carriers by rotation of the drum member;
- a third gear member operatively coupled to the drum member and engaged with the first gear member;
- and
- a fourth gear member disposed within the casing, the fourth gear member being rotationally coupled to the tilt rod and operatively engaged with the second gear member;
- wherein when the shaft member is slid to its first position, rotation of the shaft member causes rotation of the first gear member which in turn causes rotation of the third gear member and the drum member to traverse the vanes, and when the shaft member is slid to its second position, rotation of the shaft member causes rotation of the second gear member which in turn causes rotation of the fourth gear member and the tilt rod to tilt the vanes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.