CURTAIN SUSPENSION WITH A CORD DRIVE

Abstract: On a curtain rod (10) are placed movable torus-shaped rings, supporting a curtain, drawn back and forth by a cord drive (3, 4). The cord drive is fastened by means of clamping rings (6) to the rings (1, 2) placed next to each other on two curtain halves, which can be pulled towards and away from each other, and the cord drive runs in guide members (9), each being fastened to the rod (10) by means of a screw (8). As a curtain rod tends to sag in the middle after some time, it is difficult to construct the cord drive in the usual way with a groove or rail embedded in the rod, as it is desired to turn the rod around its axis to counteract the sagging. The guide members of the cord drive according to the invention can easily be moved to the rear side of the rod, where they are not visible. In another embodiment the guide members are arranged in brackets (12) supporting the rod. Thus in a simple manner it is obtained that the cord drive always is placed at the rear side of the rod, also when the rod has to be turned around its axis from time to time.

Description: CURTAIN SUSPENSION WITH A CORD DRIVE Technical Field of invention The invention relates to a curtain suspension with a cord drive for a folding curtain suspended from a curtain rod, especially a wooden rod, which curtain, by means of a run- ning string, curtain hooks or similar means, is suspended in wooden rings mutually connected by a running string or tape at the upper edge of the curtain, said wooden rings being movable along the wooden rod by means of a cord drive guided by guide members and fastened to the rings placed next to each other on two curtain halves or to the one of the outer rings of a single curtain. Background Art Up to now it has been difficult to construct a curtain suspension with a wooden curtain rod and wooden rings with an effective and durable cord drive and to make the cur¬ tain hang beautifully folded both when drawn across and when drawn away from the window. One of the reasons for this is that a wooden curtain rod with the passage of time will sag in the middle. To counteract this, the rod can be turned in its bearings from ti e to time. However, this is not possible, if the rings are provided with a cord drive, in which the cord drive runs in a groove or guide rail re¬ cessed in the rod - as is usual for metal rods. By turning a rod having such a longitudinal guide rail the cord drive inevitably will leave its generally desirable, hidden po¬ sition behind the curtain rod and become visible. O PI Disclosure of Invention By the present invention is provided a curtain suspension which makes it possible to obtain a persistently beauti- ful folding of the curtains suspended in wooden rings, which can be operated by a cord drive, and a curtain sus¬ pension which can be provided by simple means and which further is advantageous, because it is not necessary to keep a large stock of curtain rods in different types and forms with or without cord drive. According to the present invention this is obtained by the cord drive being located outside the surface of the curtain rod along a generatrix of the rod and being guided by guide members the position of which relative to said generatrix can easily be changed along the circumference of the rod. The cord drive is deliverable as a unit, which can easily be mounted on all types of curtain rods and in such a way, that if a rod becomes curved by the weight of the heavy curtains, the guide members and consequently the cord drive can be displaced relative to the circumference of the rod and still be placed behind the curtain rod after it has been turned to counteract or neutralize the sagging. The guide members can be very simple parts, say plastic pieces with two throughgoing passages for the cord, a curved abutment surface, the generatives of which are pa¬ rallel to the cord drive passage and a hole transverse to the abutment surface and receiving a screw for securing the plastic piece to the rod in such manner, tha the cord drive passages become parallel to the axis of the rod. Also, the guide member could simply be a roller fastened to the curtain rod by a screw extending through the hub of the roller. When the rod is turned the guide,member can easily be tightened against the new rear side of the rod. In a still more simple embodiment each guide member is pro¬ vided by two holes extending through a bracket for a bea¬ ring supporting the curtain rod and extending substantially parallel with the rod. The holes can of course be replaced by a single hole with a sleeve, which has two separate pas¬ sages. The cord drive can easily be fastened to those rings which are to be pulled directly from the cord by means of a sub- stantially horseshoe-shaped clamping ring having a mainly cylindrical recess, adapted to squeeze around a part of the wooden ring, and a groove being so shaped that a string in¬ serted in the groove will be pressed firmly against the sur¬ face of the ring, when the cylindrical recess lies tightly around the ring. The length of the cord drive situated bet¬ ween the rings directly pulled by the cord and the guide members run through the other wooden rings, which are moved indirectly from the rings, pulled by the cord drive by means of running strings, tape or similar parts in the curtain. According to the invention the clamping rings also can be doable with two recesses spaced apart to clamp around the two outer rings on the curtain, ensuring a proper joint, i.e. mutual overlap of curtains drawn towards each other. The invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings . Brief Description of Drawings Fig. 1 and 2 are a rear and a top plan view respectively of an embodiment of a curtain suspension in accor¬ dance with the invention with a curtain rod, only showing those curtain rings influenced by the cord drive, Fig. 3 is an end view of a guide member for the cord drive mounted on a curtain rod, Fig. 4 is a top plan view of another embodiment of the curtain suspension according to the invention, Fig. 5 is an end view of a guide member for use in the embodiment in Fig. 4, Fig. 6 shows a clamping ring for two rings. Best Mode of Carrying Out the Invention 0 The embodiment in Fig. 1 and 2 comprises two wooden rings 1, 2 which are the rings placed next to each other out of a number of rings fastend on either curtain half and which rings are carried by a curtain rod 10. The other rings are not shown for the sake of distinctness. The curtain halves 5 are suspended in rings by means of eyes 3 and curtain hooks (not shown) are pinned arbitrarily on e.g. spirals grip¬ ping into a running string on the curtain. The upper part 4 of a cord drive is fastened to the curtain ring 1 and the lower part. 5 is fastend to the curtain ring 2, the cord 0 part being wedged to the rings by means of clamping rings 6 having a cylindrical recess with which the clamping rings clutch either ring 1 and 2 respectively, grooves for the cord drive parts being shaped with a sharp angle into which the cord drive is pressed by ring 1 and 2 respectively when 5 the clamping ring 6 grips around it. Fig. 2 shows a cross section of the rings 1 and 2 immediately above the clamping rings 6 for the upper part 4 and the lower part 5 of the cord drive respectively. Adjacent each end of the curtain rod a screw 8 is screwed into the rod, which screw holds Q a guide member 9. The guide member 9 shown at the left side of the figure serves to guide the cord drive at the passage from part 4 to part 5, and the guide member 9 at the right side of the figure serves to guide the cord drive parts downwards to handles . (not shown) . Every guide member 9 has 5 cylindrical surface with which the guide member is pressed against the curtain rod 10 by means of the screw 8. This causes passages 11 through the guide member to extend main¬ ly parallel to the curtain rod, and the cord drive parts. and 5 are passed through these passages. The guide members 9 at each end have curved surfaces guiding the cord drive at the passage from part 4 to part 5 and at the passage from part 4 to the vertical part, leading to the handle. The cord drive parts 4 and 5 are lead through the curtain rings (not shown), which support them. The curtain rod 10 is - as usual - placed in bearings in holders 12, which are fastened to the wall. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 and 5 one of the guide members constitute sleeves 13, each placed in a hole in the brackets 12 parallel to the curtain rod 10 and having passages 14 for the cord drive parts 4 and 5. Of course, the sleeves 13 can be replaced by two parallel holes in either bracket 12. In Fig. 4 the curtain rings are not shown, It can be seen that in the embodiments described above the curtain rod 10 can easily be turned about its axis without influencing the cord drive. In the first-mentioned embodi- ment the cord drive can easily be brought back to its place at the rear of the rod by moving the screws 8, and in the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 the cord drive is not influenced at all. To make sure that the curtains are correctly and beauti¬ fully folded each ring may be connected with a link of a segmented folding lath,_ which is placed along the upper edge of the curtain and which folding lath is arranged in such a way that the curtain cannot be straightened out and/or so that the hinge-connected links only tolerate ben¬ ding in alternate opposite directions. Every ring is pre¬ ferably placed approximately over the middle of a link of the folding lath, and by pulling the cord drive in the outer rings the curtain will fold regularly with the folds facing alternately to one side and the other. The lower edge of the curtain is preferably provided with a corres- ponding folding lath, the links of which however have al¬ most the double length of the links in the upper folding lath. By means of the laths in which the links are bending alternately to one side and the other, pulling the cord drive ensures a beautifully folded curtain. The upper fold¬ ing lath moreover serves to keep the upper edge of the curtain straight, so that it does not sag between the hooks connecting the curtain to the wooden rings. Moreover, by placing the two rings abutting each other.when the curtain halves are drawn on at a few centimetres distance from the ends of the curtain halves, a proper overlap of the curtain halves can be obtained. The two outer rings 1 and 2 respec¬ tively can be fastened to each curtain half by means of a double clamping ring as shown in Fig. 6, and these two outer rings on each curtain half can be connected to one and the same outer link of an upper folding lath on the curtain. It will be realized that various modifications can be car¬ ried out within the scope of the invention. Thus, an elec- " trie motor could be mounted within the. brackets supporting the curtain rod, said motor pulling the cord drive running over cord drive pulleys rotatably supported in the brackets. If desired, the cord drive pulleys could also be rotatably mounted directly on the curtain rod by means of a screw. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that both curtain rod and rings of the "old-fashioned" type dealt with here need not to be made of wood, but could be made of plastic or other materials as well. Moreover, the guide members could be constructed in various other ways. Thus, each guide member could be shaped as a ring mounted around a support protruding from the wall, and having a bearing in which the curtain rod is supported, and the passages for the cord drive could be placed in the ring in such a way, that they by-pass the supports. The double clamping ring shown in Fig. 6 might advantage¬ ously be shaped with a spacer as indicated by dotted lines instead of the one shown by the solid lines, whereby the clamping ring can be mounted at the outer side of the cur¬ tain rings, while the spacer slides along and is guided by the curtain rod.

Claims: WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. Curtain suspension with a cord drive for a folding curtain, " suspended from a curtain rod (10), especially a wooden rod, which curtain by means of a running string, cur¬ tain hooks or similar means is suspended in wooden rings (torus-shaped rings) mutually connected by a running string or tape at the upper edge of the curtain, said wooden rings being movable along the rod by means of a cord drive (4, 5) guided by guide members {9, 13) and fastened to the rings (1, 2) placed next to each other on two curtain halves or to the one of the outer rings of a single curtain, charac¬ terized by the cord drive {4, 5) being located outside the surface of the curtain rod (10) along a generatrix (side line) of the rod and being guided by guide members (9, 13) the position of which relative to said generatrix can easi¬ ly be changed along the circumference of the rod. 2. Curtain suspension according to claim 1 , charac¬ terized in that each guide member (9) has two parallel passages (11) lying parallel with the generatrices of a curved abutment surface adapted to be placed against a cy¬ lindrical curtain rod (10) when the guide member is faste¬ ned to the rod by means of a screw (8) . 3. Curtain suspension according to claim 1, charac¬ terized in, that each guide member is constituted by pas¬ sages (14) extending through a bracket (12) for a bearing supporting the curtain rod (10) and extending substantially parallel to the rod. 4. * Curtain suspension according to claims 1—3, characterized in that the cord drive (3, 4) is fastened to the rings (1, 2) to be pulled directly from the cord by means of clamping rings (6) having a substantially cylin¬ drical recess adapted to squeeze around a part of the wooden ring (1, 2), and a groove being so shaped that a string in¬ serted in the groove will be pressed firmly against the surface of the ring, when the cylindrical recess lies tight around the ring. 5. Curtain suspension according to claims 1-4, characterized in that the clamping ring has mutually spaced recesses adapted to squeeze around the two outer rings on a curtain (Fig. 6) . 6. Curtain suspension according to claim 1, charac¬ terized by each guide member being shaped as a ring mounted around a support protruding from the wall and having a bea¬ ring in which the curtain rod is supported, the passages for the cord drive being placed in the ring in such a way that they by-pass the support.

Inventors: KAERSGAARD BORGE
Applicants: BORGE KAERSGAARD APS, KAERSGAARD BORGE
Application year: 1982
Main classification: A47H5
IPC codes: A47H5