Patent Publication Number: US-2009223643-A1

Title: Transverse Moving Apparatus For Double-Layer Window Covering

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a transverse moving apparatus for double-layer window coverings that has an actuation assembly linking to a moving assembly located on a holding assembly to allow manual control of the actuation assembly to regulate a first shade and a second shade of a double-layer shade assembly to adjust lighting and dark effect. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     There are many different types of window coverings on the market such as pleated shades, roman shades and the like. They mainly aim to be installed at doors and windows of houses to block sunshine and serve decorative purpose. When in use to control lighting brightness and darkness the window coverings usually are rolled upwards to receive or block light across a whole swathe. Such a structure creates many problems in practice, notably: 
     To control light projection through the conventional window coverings the entire shade of a window covering has to be rolled upwards. Adjusting light projection amount to suit user&#39;s requirement is difficult. Practicality of the window covering is not desirable. 
     To remedy the aforesaid problem a double-layer window covering  10  allowing users to adjust lighting and darkness has been developed as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . It includes an upper elongated support  11 , a lower elongated support  12 , a transverse moving means  13 , a shade lift cord assembly  14  and a transmission assembly  15 . The transverse moving means  13  is located in the upper elongated support  11  and has a first plate  131  with one side fastened by a first cord  141  of the shade lift cord assembly  14 . The first lift cord  141  threads through a first aperture  111  of the upper elongated support  11 . The shade lift cord assembly  14  also has a second lift cord  142  with other end winding a guiding wheel  1331  of a latch element  133  and threading through a second aperture  112  of the upper elongated support  11 . Thereby the first and second plates  131  and  132  fastened respectively to a first and a second fastening members  135  and  136  and bridged by a latch rod  134  can be moved synchronously. When the second lift cord  142  is pulled (referring to  FIG. 3 ), a first shade  21  of a shade assembly  20  fastened under the first and second plates  131  and  132  is moved to one side from an original position overlapped with a second shade  22  in a dark zone to a new position where the zebra-striped first and second shades  21  and  22  have their dark segments overlapped to form a bright zone. When the first lift cord  141  is pulled, the first shade  21  fastened to the bottom of the first and second plates  131  and  132  is moved to other side relative to the second shade  22  from a maximum bright zone to a smaller bright zone or the dark zone, thereby the lighting and dark condition can be adjusted. However, the structure mentioned above is complicated and requires a lot of elements. Assembly and installation are difficult. Operation is troublesome. The practicality is lower. There is still room for improvement. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention aims to provide a transverse moving apparatus for double-layer window coverings to solve the problem of the conventional window shades that is difficult to adjust light projection and to effectively regulate bright and dark overlapping size of a first shade and a second shade of a double-layer window covering to adjust lighting and dark condition. 
     To achieve the foregoing object the invention provides a transverse moving apparatus for a double-layer window covering which has an upper elongated support, a lower elongated support, a transverse moving means, a shade assembly and a transmission assembly. The transverse moving means is installed in the upper elongated support and includes at least a moving assembly, an actuation assembly and a holding assembly. The moving assembly has a first plate and a second plate located at two sides of a guiding trough in the upper elongated support, and a latch rod latched on two outer sides of the first and second plates. The actuation assembly has a strip which may be a rope with one end fastened to a front end of the first plate and other end threading through a slot formed at a front side of the upper elongated support. The holding assembly has a first fastening plate and a second fastening plate that correspond to each other. The first and second fastening plates are fastened to the bottom of the first and second plates close to a first aperture and a second aperture at two ends of the upper elongated support. The actuation assembly and the moving assembly located on the holding assembly are linked so that they can be moved at the same time to adjust the lighting and dark condition. 
     The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of a conventional double-layer window covering in a use condition; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of a transverse moving means of a conventional double-layer window covering; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view a conventional double-layer window covering in a condition of pulling a second lift cord of the transverse moving means; 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the transverse moving apparatus of the invention; 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded view of another embodiment of a guiding member of the transverse moving apparatus; 
         FIG. 6  is an exploded view of yet another embodiment of the guiding member of the transverse moving apparatus; 
         FIG. 7  is an exploded view of still another embodiment of the guiding member of the transverse moving apparatus; 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic view of the invention showing the actuation assembly of the transverse moving apparatus pulled from one side; 
         FIG. 9  is a schematic view of the invention showing the actuation assembly of the transverse moving apparatus pulled from another side; 
         FIG. 10  is an exploded view of another embodiment of the actuation assembly and a first plate of the invention; 
         FIG. 11  is a schematic view of the actuation assembly and the first plate moved sideward according to  FIG. 10 ; 
         FIG. 12  is an exploded view of yet another embodiment of the actuation assembly and the first plate of the invention; 
         FIG. 13  is a schematic view of the actuation assembly and the first plate moved sideward according to  FIG. 12 ; and 
         FIG. 14  is an exploded view of still another embodiment of the actuation assembly and the first plate of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to  FIG. 4 , the double-layer window covering according to the invention has an upper elongated support  30 , a lower elongated support (not shown in the drawing) spaced from the upper elongated support  30  at a lower side, a transverse moving means  40 , a shade assembly  50  and a transmission assembly  60 . 
     The upper elongated support  30  has a guiding trough  31  inside and a first aperture  32  and a second aperture  33  close to two ends thereof, a slot  34  at a front side of one end, and a guiding member  35  below an outer side of the slot  34 . 
     The transverse moving means  40  is located in the guiding trough  31  of the upper elongated support  30  and includes at least: 
     a moving assembly  41  consisting of a first plate  411  and a second plate  412  held in the guiding trough  31 , and a latch rod  415  which has two latch elements  416  at two ends thereof. The first and second plates  411  and  412  are located respectively above the first and second apertures  32  and  33 , and movable reciprocally at two ends of the guiding trough  31 . The first plate  411  and second plate  412  have respectively fastening holes  4111  and  4121  to receive fastening elements  417  such as screws or the like, and a first latch trough  4112  and a second latch trough  4122  at the bottom that correspond to each other. The latch rod  415  is wedged in the first and second latch troughs  4112  and  4122  with the latch elements  416  at the two ends inserted into coupling holes  413  and  414  at two outer sides of the first and second plates  411  and  412 ; 
     a holding assembly  43  which has a first fastening plate  431  and a second fastening plates  432  that correspond to each other and are fastened to the bottom of the first and second plates  411  and  412  close to the first and second apertures  32  and  33 , and have respectively a groove  433  and  434  in the center to hold the latch rod  415 , and an upright plate  435  and  436  at one end thereof directing downwards; and 
     an actuation assembly  42  which includes a strip. In an embodiment shown in  FIG. 4 , it is a flexible rope with one end  421  fastened to a front end of the first plate  411  and other end  422  threading through the slot  34  of the upper elongated support  30  to wind on the guiding member  35  to move the first and second plates  411  and  412  transversely (referring to  FIGS. 8 and 9 ). The guiding member  35  is a plank as shown in  FIG. 4 , or a jutting element  35   a  as shown in  FIG. 5  with a directing trough  351   a  formed thereon and two sunken holes  352  at two ends to be run through by fastening elements  353   a  and are fastened to fastening holes  300  formed on outer sides of the upper elongated support  30 . Other embodiments may also be adopted, such as the one shown in  FIG. 6  in which the guiding member  35   c  has more than one set spaced from each other on an outer side of the upper elongated support  30  below the slot  34 ; or the guiding member  35   d  may be a roller as shown in  FIG. 7  to reduce resistant force while the actuation assembly  42  is pulled. 
     Referring to  FIG. 10 , the actuation assembly  42   a  includes a strip which may be a hard rod  421   a.  The rod  421   a  has a coupling portion  422   a  at one end with a screw hole  423   a  formed thereon to be run through by a fastening element  424   a  to be fastened to a fastening hole  4112   a  passing through the slot  34  at the front end of the first plate  411   a.  Thus when the hard rod  421   a  is moved the shade assembly (not shown in the drawings) beneath the first plate  411   a  also can be moved transversely at the same time (referring to  FIG. 11 ). 
     Referring to  FIG. 12 , the actuation assembly  42   b  includes a strip which may be a hard rod  421   b.  The rod  421   b  is coupled with a gear  422   b  to run through an opening  311  formed at a front end of the guiding trough  31  of the upper elongated support  30  to be engaged with a gear rack  4111   b  at a front edge of the first plate  411   b.  Thus when the hard rod  421   b  is rotated the gear  422   b  at one end thereof also rotates to drive the gear rack  4111   b  to move transversely at the same time (referring to  FIG. 13 ). Yet another approach is shown in  FIG. 14  in which the actuation assembly  42   c  has a strip formed in a bead chain  421   c,  and a transmission shaft  422   c  with a screw thread portion  423   c  at one end and a coupling portion  424   c  at other end. The first plate  425   c  has a screwing portion  426   c  at one end engaging with the screw thread portion  423   c  while the coupling portion  424   c  is wound by the bead chain  421   c.    
     By means of the constructions set forth above, when adopted on the double-layer window covering to extend and retract the first and second shades (not shown in the drawings), referring to  FIG. 8 , the transverse moving means  40  is held in the upper elongated support  30 , the actuation assembly  42  at one side of the first plate  411  threads through the upper elongated support  30  to wind the guiding member  35 , and the first and second plates  411  and  412  are moved synchronously through the latch rod  415 . When the actuation assembly  42  is pulled in one direction, the first shade (not shown in the drawings) fastened to the first and second plates  411  and  412  is moved towards one side from an original overlapping position with the second shade in a dark zone to a new position where the zebra-striped first and second shades have their dark segments overlapped to form a bright zone. Referring to  FIG. 9 , when the actuation assembly  42  is pulled in an opposite direction, the first shade fastened to the bottom of the first and second plates  411  and  412  are moved to other side against the second shade from a maximum bright zone to a smaller bright zone or the dark zone, thereby users can adjust the lighting and dark condition as desired.