Winding mechanism of blind
A winding mechanism mounts at a groove of a head rail of a blind and comprises a cord wrapped around a bottom stiffener strip and the head rail, a rope roller, a rope wound around the rope roller and coupled to the cord, a first roller coupled to the rope roller by gear, a second roller, and an S-shaped spring interconnected the first and second rollers, the spring adapted to exert a force to support the drapery material. In a downward pulling of the stiffener strip the rope roller rotates to release the rope and the cord with one worm section of the spring being further wound and the other worm section thereof being loosened for reaching a balance with the blind. An upward pulling of the same has an opposite effect. The drapery material is able to stay at any position in response to stopping the rope roller.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to blinds and more particularly to a winding mechanism of a blind (e.g., roll-up or Venetian blind) with improved characteristics.
2. Related Art
Typically, a blind (e.g., roll-up or Venetian blind) is adapted to raise or lower by pulling a lift cord coupled to a winding mechanism. However, it is possible that a child may tie the exposed cord about the neck to cause danger or even death. Thus, this is not safe.
A conventional roll-up blind having a hidden lift cord is shown in
However, the previous design suffered from several disadvantages. For example, the springs 2 tend to lose its elasticity after a predetermined times of lowering or raising operation of the folds 4. And in turn, it may compromise the positioning capability of folds 4 by operating the cords 7 and 8. Further, there are no guide members for the cords 7 and 8 in the head rail 1 and the stiffener strip 3. It may increase friction in pulling the cords 7 and 8 during operation. To the worse, the cords 7 and 8 may break after a predetermined times of lowering or raising operation. Furthermore, the stiffener strip 3 is relatively thin, resulting in a poor maneuverability of the blind.
Thus, it is desirable to provide an improved winding mechanism of blind in order to overcome the above drawbacks of prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a winding mechanism mountable at a groove of a head rail of a blind, the blind further including a bottom stiffener strip and a sheet of drapery material coupled between the head rail and the stiffener strip, comprising a cord having one end tied off at a first position of the stiffener strip, passed one side of the sheet of drapery material, the head rail, and the other side of the sheet of drapery material, and having the other end tied off at a second position of the stiffener strip; a rope roller; a rope wound around the rope roller and coupled to the cord; a first roller rotated with the rope roller by gear meshing; a second roller; and a spring interconnected the first roller and the second roller, the spring including two worm sections together formed an S, the spring adapted to exert a force to support the weight of the sheet of drapery material, wherein in a downward pulling of the stiffener strip the rope roller rotates to release the rope and the cord for lowering the sheet of drapery material with one worm section being further wound and the other worm section being loosened as a counterweight of the sheet of drapery material so as to reach a balance, thereby maintaining the sheet of drapery material at any one of a plurality of positions from a fully raised position to a fully lowered position in response to stopping the rope roller, and in an upward pulling of the stiffener strip the rope roller rotates in an opposite direction to wind the rope and the cord for lifting the sheet of drapery material with one worm section being loosened and the other worm section being further wound as a counterweight of the sheet of drapery material so as to reach a balance, thereby maintaining the sheet of drapery material at any one of a plurality of positions from the fully raised position to the fully lowered position in response to stopping the rope roller.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring to
Referring to FIGS. 5 to 7, the winding mechanism 40 comprises a case 41 open to its bottom, the case 41 having an internal space 42 for mounting a rope roller 43, a first roller 44, and a second roller 45 therein. Three shafts 46 each has two ends fixed on two opposite walls of the case 41 with the rope roller 43, the first roller 44, or the second roller 45 rotatably put thereon. A spring 47 is interconnected the first roller 44 and the second roller 45. The spring 47 comprises two worm sections 471 and 472 together formed an S. The spring 47 can exert a force to support the weight of the sheet of drapery material 30. A free end 48 of the worm section 472 is fixed on the first roller 44. A long rope 49 is wound around the rope roller 43 and the guide rollers 11, 12, 14, and 15 and its winding is opposite to that of each of the worm sections 471 and 472. One end of the rope 49 passes one of two slits 411 on one side surface of the case 41 to couple to the cord 13. As such, the rope 49 and the cord 13 can operate as a whole. The rope roller 43 comprises a gear 412 at one end to be meshed with a gear 413 of the first roller 44 such that the rope roller 43 and the first roller 44 can rotate in opposite directions.
The S-shaped spring 47 is energized due to the same winding direction of the worm sections 471 and 472 and the weight of the sheet of drapery material 30. A downward pulling of the stiffener strip 20 by the hand together with the weight of the sheet of drapery material 30 can overcome an upward pulling force of the cord 13 provided by the spring 47. As such, the rope roller 43 rotates to release the rope 49 and thus the cord 13 so as to lower the sheet of drapery material 30. The worm section 471 is wound further (i.e., store energy) and the worm section 472 is loosened to compensate the further winding of the worm section 471 during the release. Such serves as a counterweight of the sheet of drapery material 30 so as to reach a balance. As a result, the sheet of drapery material 30 is adapted to stay at any one of a plurality of positions from the fully raised position to the fully lowered position by stopping the rope roller 43.
Referring to
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In practice, each of the springs 47 and 66 can control one or more rope rollers 43 for accommodating different sizes of the blind. In brief, the invention is safe and smooth in its operation.
While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.
Claims
1. A winding mechanism mountable at a groove of a head rail of a blind, the blind further including a bottom stiffener strip and a sheet of drapery material coupled between the head rail and the stiffener strip, comprising:
- a cord having one end tied off at a first position of the stiffener strip, passed one side of the sheet of drapery material, the head rail, and the other side of the sheet of drapery material, and having the other end tied off at a second position of the stiffener strip;
- a rope roller;
- a rope wound around the rope roller and coupled to the cord;
- a first roller rotated with the rope roller;
- a second roller; and
- a spring interconnected the first roller and the second roller, the spring including two worm sections together formed an S, the spring adapted to exert a force to support the weight of the sheet of drapery material,
- wherein in a downward pulling of the stiffener strip the rope roller rotates to release the rope and the cord for lowering the sheet of drapery material with one worm section being further wound and the other worm section being loosened as a counterweight of the sheet of drapery material so as to reach a balance, thereby maintaining the sheet of drapery material at any one of a plurality of positions from a fully raised position to a fully lowered position in response to stopping the rope roller, and
- in an upward pulling of the stiffener strip the rope roller rotates in an opposite direction to wind the rope and the cord for lifting the sheet of drapery material with one worm section being loosened and the other worm section being further wound as a counterweight of the sheet of drapery material so as to reach a balance, thereby maintaining the sheet of drapery material at any one of a plurality of positions from the fully raised position to the fully lowered position in response to stopping the rope roller.
2. The winding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the winding mechanism further comprises a retaining member including an elongate seat engaged with a bottom surface of the stiffener strip, and two upwardly curved snapping edges along front end rear edges of the seat for clamping the stiffener strip.
3. The winding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the rope roller comprises a first gear and the first roller comprises a second gear meshed with the first gear such that the rope roller and the first roller are adapted to rotate in opposite directions.
4. The winding mechanism of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of second rope rollers coupled to the spring.
5. The winding mechanism of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of spaced guide rollers disposed in the groove and two holes formed on a bottom of the groove, and wherein the guide rollers are coupled together by winding the cord therearound, and two ends of the cord are adapted to pass the holes.
6. The winding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the rope is wound in a direction opposite to that of each of the worm sections.
7. The winding mechanism of claim 1, comprising a case for receiving the rope roller, the first roller, and the second roller therein.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 29, 2004
Publication Date: Jun 29, 2006
Inventor: Henry Lin (Taipei)
Application Number: 11/023,560
International Classification: A47H 5/00 (20060101);