Abstract:
A bracket system for window dressing includes two brackets configured to be attached to an architectural member, such as a window well, a wall or a ceiling and receive the ends of window dressings. The brackets have edges adapted to receive a fascia designed to hide the window dressing. Preferably, the fascia has a front wall designed to snap onto the brackets and is sized so that it extends above the brackets to provide a neater and cleaner look. The fascia may be L-shaped with a vertical and a horizontal member and the brackets may be configured so that the horizontal member attaches either to the top or to the bottom of the brackets.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 61/426,584 filed Dec. 23, 2010 and incorporated herein in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    A. Field of Invention 
         [0003]    This invention pertains to a bracket system for window treatments configured and structured to accept and support several window shades and other types of treatments. 
         [0004]    B. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0005]    Most window treatments consist of an elongated member that supports one or more decorative elements to cover a window, a door, some other openings, or purely for decorative purposes. Controls are added that are normally at least partially in, or attached to the elongated member and used to selectively , open or close the treatment and/or perform various other operations thereon. 
         [0006]    The elongated member is mounted either within the opening or on a vertical wall just adjacent to the opening using various types of brackets.  FIG. 1  shows an end view of a conventional elongated member having an end bracket  10  with a conventional L-shaped fascia  12  disposed between the end brackets (such as  10 ) and arranged to protect and hide various interior elements of the window treatment. The bracket  10  is formed with a plurality of holes  14  for mounting the bracket. The fascia  12  is made from a sheet of metal, plastic or other relatively light but strong material. 
         [0007]    The bracket  10  holds a clutch mechanism  16  operated by a chain cord  20  having ends  20 A,  20 B. The clutch mechanism  16  includes a pulley  18  operated by a chain chord  20  having cord ends  20 A,  20 B pulling on one end  20 A or the other  20 B causes the pulley to rotate in one direction or another thereby performing a predetermined function for the window treatment. 
         [0008]    The fascia is made with a thin lip  22  bent inwardly. The bracket  10  is made with a corner opening  24  having at its front edge a tongue  26  sized and shaped to fit into the lip  22 . The fascia  12  has a generally L-shaped cross-section with a major portion  30  terminating with lip  22  and a minor portion  32 . 
         [0009]    The window treatment is installed as follows. The bracket  10  and another similar bracket are mounted. The window treatment is mounted between the brackets. The fascia  12  is then positioned with its major portion being orientated essentially horizontally and the lip  22  is inserted into opening  24 . The fascia  12  is then rotated around tongue  26  clockwise causing the minor portion  32  to come into contact with and snap unto bracket  10  reaching the position shown. 
         [0010]    This arrangement has several disadvantages. First, a different-shaped bracket must be provided for each kind of window treatment. This can expensive and problematical for small distributors who cannot be fiscally burdened by requiring them to carry a large number of different types of brackets. Second, in some instances, the bracket must be mounted on horizontal wall W (using some other openings that have been omitted in  FIG. 1 ). However, as can be seen in  FIG. 1 , tong  26  has to be disposed below the wall W by several millimeters to accommodate the fascia  12  and allow it to be secured to the bracket. As a result, the upper-most edge of the fascia  12  is always slightly below and not flush with the wall W. This feature is found objectionable by many persons because it leaves a very narrow gap between the fascia  12  and the wall W which allows some light to be seen above the fascia that is not pleasing esthetically. 
         [0011]    Furthermore, existing brackets in general are sized and constructed to accommodate only window dressings of certain preselected configurations, and must be customized for each configuration. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0012]    The present invention addresses the problems discussed above and provides solutions to solve the problems. More specifically, a bracket system is provided that includes two brackets receiving ends of a window dressing. The brackets have a generally rectangular or square base with two side edges, a top edge and a bottom edge. Some of the edges are provided with panels disposed perpendicularly to the base. 
         [0013]    The system further includes a fascia that is preferably L-shaped with a vertical member and a horizontal member. In one embodiment of the invention, the vertical member is mounted on the brackets so that a small portion of the fascia extends above the bracket thereby providing a neater look by blocking light from passing through above the fascia. 
         [0014]    In another aspect of the invention, the panels or edges of the brackets are configured to accept the fascia in either a first configuration in which the horizontal part is on top of the brackets and a second configuration in which the fascia horizontal part is attached to the bottom of the brackets. 
         [0015]    Plates may be mounted or attached to the brackets for accepting the ends of window shades. Adapters are attached to the plates, if necessary, various plates having different configurations to conform to or receive window dressings of different kinds. In some configuration, two or more parallel window dressings are supported by a single pair of brackets. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  shows an end view of a prior art window dressing and its end bracket; 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  shows an orthogonal exploded view of a bracket system for a window treatment constructed in accordance with this invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  shows a front view of the bracket system; 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  shows an end view of the bracket system; 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  shows an elevational view of a bracket with a plate; 
           [0021]    FIG.  5 AA shows a side view of the plate; 
           [0022]    FIG.  5 BB shows a side view of the bracket; 
           [0023]      FIG. 5A  shows a side view of the facie for the bracket system; 
           [0024]      FIG. 5B  shows an elevational view of the bracket used in the system; 
           [0025]      FIG. 5C  shows top view of the bracket of  FIG. 5B ; 
           [0026]      FIG. 6  shows a side sectional view of the fascia attached to a bracket; 
           [0027]      FIG. 7  shows an enlarged side view of the fascia attached to the bracket; 
           [0028]      FIG. 8  shows an orthogonal view of a bracket of  FIGS. 2-5  supporting some of the components of a window covering; 
           [0029]      FIG. 9  shows an orthogonal view of the invention configured to receive and support two window dressings attached to a single bracket; 
           [0030]      FIG. 10  shows an orthogonal view of the some of the components of the window dressing of  FIG. 9 ; 
           [0031]      FIG. 11  shows an orthogonal view of the invention configured to receive and support a window dressing having a large diameter; 
           [0032]      FIG. 12  shows an orthogonal view of the invention configured with an adapter plate shaped to receive and support a motor-driven a window dressing; 
           [0033]      FIG. 13  shows an orthogonal view of the invention configured with an adapter having three holes; 
           [0034]      FIG. 14  shows an alternate embodiment of the bracket having a plate three holes in a row; 
           [0035]      FIG. 15  shows an alternate embodiment of the bracket receiving a clutch plate; and 
           [0036]      FIG. 16  shows an alternate embodiment of the bracket receiving a plate adapted to receive a motorized window shade. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0037]    The major elements of bracket system constructed in accordance with this invention are shown in  FIGS. 2-5B . The bracket system  100  includes two, preferably identical, end brackets  102 ,  104 . The end brackets are  102 ,  104  preferably are made of a conventional metallic alloy using conventional techniques, such as stamping. 
         [0038]    Each end bracket includes a flat rectangular base  106  and three panels  108 ,  110 ,  112  disposed along three sides of the base  106 . The fourth side has a tab  114 . The three panels and the tab are substantially perpendicular to the base  106 . Panels  108 ,  110  are preferably identical and the panel  112  is configured so that it is symmetrical about a vertical axis of the brackets  102 ,  104 . The three panels have a plurality of slots and perforations as described in more detail below. 
         [0039]    Attached to the two brackets is a fascia  116 . As shown in detail in  FIG. 5A , the fascia  116  is L-shaped and has two sections  118 ,  120 . Section  118  is provided with an intermediate lip  122  shaped to form a channel  124 . Section  120  is terminated with a lip  126  forming a channel  128 . It should be understood that the dimensions of the lips  122  and  126  and channels  124  and  128  are somewhat exaggerated in  FIG. 5A  for the sake of clarity but in actuality there are shaped so that the channels are about the same cross-sectional width as the thickness of bracket  102  to form an interference therewith. The length of the fascia  116  is dependent on the width of the window dressing. Its total height HF is equal to H 1 +H 2 , where H 1  is the distance from the free edge of section  118  to the lip  122 . The fascia has a width W. The fascia  116  can be extruded aluminum or other similar material. 
         [0040]    Details of the bracket  102  are shown in  FIGS. 5A and 5B . Panel  110  is formed of three sections. Two of the sections  130 ,  134  are mirror images and include apertures  136  for mounting the brackets and to make the brackets lighter. The central section  132  has essentially the shape of an elongated tongue. Panel  110  has several dimensions that have special importance. 
         [0041]    The distance between the side edge SE of section  132  and the outer surface of panel  108  is equally to the width W of fascia  116 . The distance between side edge SE 2  of section  134  and the outer surface of panel  108  is at least H 1 . The length of panel  108  is H 2 . The distance between the top edge TE of panel  102  and the outer surface of panel  110  is at least H 1 . The distance between the side edge SE 3  of tab  114  and the outer surface of panel  108  is W. The distance between the bottom edge BE of panel  108  and the bottom surface of tab  114  is at least H 1 . As a result of these dimensions, the fascia  116  can be mounted on to the brackets  102 ,  104  in two configurations. In one configuration, the section  120  is attached to the bottom of the bracket as shown in  FIG. 5A . In the second configuration, the section  120  is attached to the top of the bracket. In either case, the section  118  is attached to the panel  108  (or  112 ). Moreover, the portion  131  of section  118  extends vertically further then the panel  110  of bracket  102  by amount sufficient to insure that imperfections in the window seal or installing the bracket  102  slightly below the window seal does not result in a gap of light seen above the window dressing. For example, the portion  132  may exceed the top surface of section  110  by about 1/32-⅜″. Moreover, the bracket and its panels are shaped so that fascia  116  is installed by first inserting its portion  131  into either zone Z or Y (see  FIG. 5B ) and then pivoting it to snap onto the brackets  102 ,  104 . The final position of the facie is shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 . 
         [0042]    In addition, the plate  230  also has on one side a plurality of tabs  135  and on the other side a panel  137 . As seen in FIG.  5 AA, the panel  137  is formed of three sections  137 A,  137 B,  137 C. Each tab  135  is shaped so that it is angled slightly to permit the plates  230  to be press-fit into the brackets  102 ,  104  with the tabs  135  engaging the inner surfaces of slots  113 A,  113 B,  113 C (these slots are shown in FIG.  5 BB) of section  108 .. Both sections  108  and  110  further include a slot  113 D which is somewhat longer then the slots just described. Section  137 B is bent slightly outwardly and is sized and shaped to engage slot  113 D on section  110 . In other words, panel  137  and tabs  135  cooperate to maintain the plate  230  in place within the bracket  102 ,  104 . 
         [0043]    Completing the system, there are two end caps  130  (shown in detail in  FIGS. 3 and 4 ). Each end cap may be sized to cover one of the brackets  102 ,  104  and serve mostly a decorative purpose. On their inner surface, caps  130  may be provided with fingers  132  ( FIG. 2 ) that form an interference fit with holes  134  to mount and keep the end caps  130  on the brackets. Typically, end caps may be about 5.12×5.14 in and may be molded plastic or other materials. 
         [0044]    The sizes specified herein is particularly useful for various configurations, such as one large shade, two or more smaller shades, a shade with a clutch, a shade with a wound spring or other mechanisms. Various plates, adapters, etc. are mounted (temporarily or permanently) on the brackets to accommodate various sizes, numbers and types of window shades. This modular design allows the bracket system to be used in a large variety of uses and applications. The remaining figures show some exemplary configurations for the bracket system illustrating just some of the configurations that may be used to support various window coverings. 
         [0045]    Getting back to  FIG. 5 , bracket  102  is shown with a plate  230  formed with a set of five slots and holes arranged to receive the ends of respective window coverings, either directly, or via adapters. 
         [0046]    Each set includes a circular hole  240  and two rectangular slots  242  arranged on either side of the hole  240 . This is a standard configuration and can be used to accept a window covering at each set of slots and holes. (Note to Joe—is this true?) For example, in  FIG. 5 , adapters  140  are provided that mount on plates  230 . The adapters are shaped and sized to receive and a standard clutch  144  at one end and a plain idler end (not shown) on the other bracket.  FIG. 8  shows an enlarged isometric view of the bracket  104  with a plate  230 , an adapter  140  and a clutch  144 . 
         [0047]      FIGS. 9 and 10  show configuration in which two parallel window shades  150 ,  152  with respective clutches  154 ,  156  are mounted on the same bracket  104  and plate  230 . Each of the shades can be operated on its own and can be replaced independently. 
         [0048]      FIG. 11  shows bracket  104 , plate  230  and adapter  140  supporting a clutch  160  for receiving a window dressing having a relatively large diameter. 
         [0049]      FIG. 12  shows bracket  104  with a plate  170  and an adapter  171 . Adapter  171  has two lateral horizontal pins  173  sized and shaped to receive and support the ends of a known motorized window shade (not shown). for supporting the pin end of a motorized window shade (not shown). In this figure, an intermediate support  172  is also shown that may be mounted on the wall, a window well, etc., and then couple to the fascia of the bracket system. This intermediate bracket is necessary for very long window dressings that may be too heavy to be supported by only two brackets and may sag in the middle. 
         [0050]      FIG. 13  shows a bracket  104  with plate  170  and adapter  178  having three holes  173 A aligned horizontally. This adapted is useful for supporting another line of known window dressings. 
         [0051]      FIG. 14  shows details of the plate  170  used in  FIGS. 12 and 13 . 
         [0052]      FIG. 15  shows details of a plate  180  for a different kind of clutch. 
         [0053]      FIG. 16  shows a bracket  104  with a plate  180  for supporting a SOMFY ST-50 motor. 
         [0054]    Numerous modifications may be made to the invention without departing from its scope as defined in the appended claims;