Roller blind box

The invention comprises a roller blind box including a walling surrounding the rolled up roller blind assembly, a passage slit for the roller blind assembly extending throughout the entire length of the walling, two lateral face walls a roller blind shaft supported in the two face walls as well as a gearing for driving the roller blind shaft, wherein the walling surrounding the roller blind assembly has the form of a tube of a circular cross-section.

This invention relates to a roller blind box including a walling 
surrounding the rolled up roller blind assembly, a passage slit for the 
roller blind assembly extending throughout the entire length of the 
walling, two lateral face walls, a roller blind shaft supported in the two 
face walls as well as a gearing for driving the roller blind shaft. 
In conventional roller blind boxes of the type specified, the walling 
surrounding the rolled up roller blind assembly comprises four side walls 
combined into a rectangular box, one of the side walls having the passage 
slit for the roller blind assembly and another one having an access flap 
for performing assembly or repair operations. Such a conventional roller 
blind box is not able to be sealed or is able to be sealed only with 
difficulties, so that from externally dust and dirt are able to pass 
through the box into the spaces therebehind. Furthermore, this 
conventional box offers only an insufficient sound muffling and heat 
insulation effect. 
An object of this invention is to provide a roller blind box which affords 
a good sealing relative to dirt and dust particles and offers a better 
sound muffling and heat insulation effect. 
In the tubular roller blind box according to the invention, the space 
surrounding the rolled up roller blind assembly with the exception of the 
passage slit is completely and sealingly enclosed so that the roller blind 
box in the built-in condition represents a structural part tightly sealing 
the interior to the outside. 
In addition thereto, the roller blind box according to the invention is 
easier to produce, to handle and to assemble or to disassemble. The 
walling surrounding the receiving space for the roller blind assembly may 
be produced in an extrusion process of plastic material, preferably hard 
PVC, a simple regenerate also being employable. Alo, it is possible to 
produce the tubular walling of foamed material. Furthermore, it is 
possible by virtue of the principle according to the invention to ready 
assemble the complete roller blind box unit by the manufacturer so that 
the finished roller blind box unit inclusive surrounding walling, lateral 
face walls, gearing, shaft and roller blind assembly may be marketed. 
Dispatching is completely unproblematic, since the tubular walling firmly 
encloses the entire unit and defines an integral part easy to handle. The 
unit delivered in this form to the construction site is easy to assemble, 
because it merely must be attached to the masonry by means of suitable 
fastener elements such as prefabricated brackets, by bolting or by 
grommeting. At the same time, the advantage is obtained that the unit with 
an according selection of the lateral face walls is insertible left-hand 
as well as right-hand. 
Preferably, the internal diameter of the tubular walling is equal to the 
external diameter of the roller blind assembly rolled up into a round 
roll. In conventional roller blind boxes, upon rolling up of the roller 
blind assembly, an oval is obtained so that in the built-in condition a 
space must be made available for this oval which corresponds to the 
maximum diameter of the oval. With the measure according to the invention, 
it is possible, however, to roll up the roller blind assembly directedly 
into a very close, circular roll, the roll thereby being given its minimum 
possible dimensions. For the same roller blind length thus when using the 
principle of this invention a low structural height can be maintained 
which is confined by the tubular walling and thus is predetermined for 
building-in. When the building-in dimensions at the brick-work are very 
closely tolerated, the roller blind box according to the invention can 
even be built-in in instances where conventional roller blind boxes for 
the same roller blind length do not fit into the space any more between 
the top side of the window frame and the masonry opening. 
In order to insure that the roll closely rolled up in the circular tube and 
engaging the internal wall of the tube is able to also be conveniently 
rolled off without any difficulties, preferably a gearing acting 
bilaterally is provided by means of which the roller blind assembly is 
urged out of the circular tube for closing the roller blind. 
The tube defining the walling may have retaining flanges or moldings at its 
external perimeter for the attachment of covering plates so that the 
circular tube may be lined inwardly and outwardly without any problems. 
For circular tubes which are to be produced in an extrusion process such 
retaining flanges are preferably formed continuously, i.e. extend 
throughout the entire length of the circular tube. These retaining flanges 
or moldings may also be formed in such a way that they may be used for the 
attachment of additional sound-muffling and heat-insulating plates and/or 
also for inner and outer linings to be made available at the building 
site. 
When the roller blind box is to be used for extensive roller blind widths 
and the circular tube provided for the receiving space for the roller 
blind assembly consists of light material, it may be advantageous 
according to the invention for the circular tube to be reinforced. To this 
end, the circular tube may be provided with moldings having receiving 
openings for the insertion of reinforcement sections. 
The invention is explained in closer detail by way of example in the 
drawing and described hereinafter in detail in referring to the drawing.

According to the drawing, the roller blind box 1 includes a circular tube 2 
for receiving a rolled up roller blind assembly not illustrated in the 
drawing, two lateral face walls 3 of which only one has been illustrated 
in the drawing for the sake of clearness, a roller blind shaft 4 supported 
in the two face walls 3 as well as a gearing 5 acting bidirectionally for 
driving the roller blind shaft 4. 
The circular tube 2 serving to receive the rolled up roller blind assembly 
and comprisable of extruded plastic material cut to length has an internal 
diameter 6 which is equal to the external diameter of the roller blind 
assembly rolled up closely into a circular roll. As a passage for the 
roller blind assembly, the circular tube 2 is provided with a slit 7 
extending throughout the entire length thereof, the lower confining edge 
of which is provided with a circular bead 8. 
In the built-in condition of the roller blind box 1, it rests on the upper 
side of a window frame 9, this projecting laterally beyond the respective 
face ends of the roller blind box 1 by the thickness of the respective 
face wall 3. The position of the slit 7 of the built-in roller blind box 
is aligned relative to a lateral roller blind guide 10 which extends 
parallel to the window frame 9 at both roller blind sides. The roller 
blind guide 10 has an essentially U-shaped cross-section the limbs 11 and 
12 of which enclose the edge of the roller blind and guide it. The passage 
slit 7 of the circular tube 2 is aligned relative to the roller blind 
guide in such a way that the bead 8 defining the lower slit confinement 
generally is disposed above the U-limb 12 engaging the window frame 9, 
while the upper slit edge 13 generally is aligned relative to the external 
U-limb 11 of the roller blind guide. 
At its external perimeter, the circular tube is provided with retaining 
flanges 14, 15 and 16 extending throughout the entire tube length, which 
flanges are integrally joined to the tube when the round tube 2 is 
extruded. The retaining flanges 14 and 15 arranged at the one side serve 
to attach an angular covering part 17, and the retaining flange 16 
provided at the opposite side serves to attach an external lining plate 
18. 
The two face walls 3 serve to laterally close the circular tube 2, said 
walls being placed upon the internal cross-section of the circular tube 2 
and being secured thereto. The face walls 3 at the same time serve to 
support the shaft 4. The side part 3 illustrated in full lines in the 
drawing and formed circularly which is conformed in its circumference to 
the diameter of the circular tube 2 at the same time serves to provide a 
retaining means for the gearing 5 acting bidirectionally of which merely 
the drive shaft has been illustrated in the drawing. Instead of a 
circularly formed side part 3, of course also a side part having corners 
may be provided as illustrated at 3a which has been illustrated in phantom 
in the drawing and the outer outlines of which are not permitted to 
project beyond the covering plates 17 and 18. This side part 3a formed 
with corners may have the same shape as the side part according to the 
German Utility Pat. No. 78 06 067 which is very variable regarding its 
building-in capabilites. Since the circular tube 2 is insertable both 
right-hand and left-hand, various building-in possibilities for the roller 
blind box may be realized. 
In an alternative embodiment of a roller blind box not illustrated in the 
drawing which is provided with an elongate circular tube 2, the retaining 
flanges 14, 15 and 16 are formed as moldings which are provided with 
receiving openings for the insertion of reinforcement sections. 
All types of a roller blind box including a circular tube 2 surrounding the 
roller blind assembly may be most extensively prefabricated by the 
manufacturer so that the assembly at the construction site may be 
performed with a few manual operations. For dispatching, the circular tube 
at the same time serves the purpose of a packaging for the roller blind 
assembly. 
When a roller blind box in use is defective, it may be built out as a unit 
even by an unskilled person conveniently and returned to the manufacturer 
for the purpose of a repair or for an exchange for a new roller blind box.