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US 8,573,281 B2Granted
Cord tension control for top down/bottom up covering for architectural openings
AssigneeHunter Douglas Inc.
InventorsTerrence M. Drew, Jon C. Fearnow, Suzanne M. Fujita, Jeffrey L. Spray
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Cord tensioning systems are provided for top down/bottom up coverings to prevent entanglement of lift cords about associated wrap spools by correlating rotation of the wrap spools with translating threaded nuts mounted on threaded shafts rotating in unison with the wrap spools whereby abutment of nuts associated with lift spools prevent over movement of rails associated with the spools and thus entanglement of the lift cords associated therewith.
Claims20
A top down/bottom up covering for an architectural opening comprising in combination:
- a headrail;
- at least two horizontally disposed vertically movable rails supporting at least one panel of collapsible shade material;
- at least two flexible lift cords affixed to each rail;
- a control system component associated with each rail, each component including an elongated drive shaft, a system for reciprocally and reversibly rotating said drive shaft about its longitudinal axis, a wrap spool rotatable with said drive shaft and connected to a lift cord such that said lift cord can be wrapped about or unwrapped from said wrap spool, vertical movement of said rails being effected by wrapping and unwrapping of said lift cords about said spools, and a cord tension control system for preventing said lift cords from becoming entangled at said wrap spools, said cord tension control system including a threaded shaft associated with and rotatable in unison with each drive shaft, a nut threaded on each of said threaded shafts for translating movement along an associated shaft, the nuts on said threaded shafts overlapping in their path of travel along an associated threaded shaft whereby upon engagement of said nuts with an adjacent nut the drive shafts will be prohibited from rotating in a predetermined direction thereby prohibiting the wrap spools on said drive shafts from rotating;
- said cord tension control system further including a housing in which said threaded shafts are rotatably mounted, fixed abutments in said housing in engagement with said threaded shafts to prevent a predetermined amount of axial movement of said shafts in a predetermined direction and resilient members in said housing biasing each of said shafts against said fixed abutments.
2 more elements
A covering for an architectural opening comprising:
- a headrail;
- at least two rails supporting at least one panel of shade material;
- at least two flexible lift cords affixed to each rail;
- a control system component associated with each rail, each component including a drive shaft, a system for rotating said drive shaft about its longitudinal axis, a wrap spool rotatable with said drive shaft and associated with a lift cord so that said lift cord can be wrapped about or unwrapped from said wrap spool, vertical movement of said rails being effected by wrapping and unwrapping of said lift cords about said wrap spools, and
- a cord tension control system including a threaded shaft rotatable in unison with each drive shaft, a nut threaded on each of said threaded shafts for movement along an associated threaded shaft, said nuts on said threaded shafts overlapping in their path of travel along an associated threaded shaft so that rotation of said drive shafts is restricted upon engagement of one of said nuts with another of said nuts, thereby restricting rotation of said wrap spools on said drive shafts;
- said cord tension control system further including a housing in which said threaded shafts are rotatably mounted, fixed abutments in said housing in engagement with said threaded shafts to restrict axial movement of said shafts, and resilient members in said housing biasing each of said shafts against said fixed abutments.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.