Patent Publication Number: US-6213437-B1

Title: Industrial curtain brackets

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to industrial curtains and, particularly, to a bracket and rod assembly for supporting an industrial curtain. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Industrial curtains are conventionally employed to provide closures between, for example, separate manufacturing areas within large buildings, warehouses and the like. On a smaller scale, they are used to cover smaller doorways to temperature controlled rooms or the like. The general idea is to provide a closure which nevertheless allows foot or vehicular traffic to pass through. These curtains are generally made up of side-by-side elongated plastic strips which hang from a bracket assembly mounted on a wall and extending across the top of the opening. More often than not, the strips are translucent or at least semi-transparent so that persons or vehicles approaching the curtain can see if the way is clear on the other side of the curtain. 
     It is often necessary to replace one or more of the elongated strips and to date, this has proven to be a time consuming effort if it is necessary to remove one or both of the wall mounted brackets. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a new and improved bracket assembly design which allows quick and easy installation and replacement of industrial curtain strips on a supporting rod. This is done by providing a unique bracket and rod structure which allows curtain strips to be loaded onto the supporting rod without having to remove either of the two wall mounted brackets. 
     In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, one wall mounted bracket is provided with a rod supporting hole while the opposite wall mounted bracket is provided with a rod supporting an open-ended slot or groove. The hole in the one supporting bracket is large enough to permit the rod to be raised out of the open-ended slot in the opposite bracket while nevertheless providing support for the rod, thus taking up the weight of not only the rod itself but also of the curtain strips loaded onto the rod. 
     It is another feature of the invention that one of the mounting screws for the bracket containing the open-ended slot is alignable with a through hole in the rod itself so that when the mounting screw is installed, it also passes through the curtain supporting rod, thereby locking the rod in place. 
     Accordingly, in its broader aspects, the present invention relates to a bracket assembly for supporting one or more curtain strips, the assembly comprising an elongated rod; a first wall mount bracket adapted to support one end of the rod; a second wall mount bracket adapted to support an opposite end of the rod; and means for permitting one or more elongated curtain strips to be loaded onto the rod when the first and second brackets are secured to a wall, without having to remove either of the first and second brackets from the wall. 
     In another aspect, the invention relates to a bracket assembly for supporting one or more curtain strips, the assembly comprising an elongated rod; a first bracket having a slot therein for supporting one end of the rod; a second bracket having a hole therein for supporting an opposite end of the rod; the first bracket having at least two fastener holes therein and the rod having a through hole at one end thereof perpendicular to an axis of the rod, the through hole alignable with one of at least two fastener holes so that a fastener may extend through the through hole and said one of at least two fastener holes to thereby lock the rod to the one bracket. 
     In still another aspect, the invention relates to an industrial curtain assembly comprising an elongated rod supporting a plurality of elongated curtain strips; a first bracket adapted for mounting on a wall surface and having a slot therein for supporting one end of the rod; a second bracket adapted for mounting on the wall surface and having a hole therein for supporting an opposite end of the rod; the first bracket having at least two fastener holes therein and the elongated rod having a through hole at one end thereof perpendicular to an axis of the elongated rod, the through hole alignable with one of at least two fastener holes so that a fastener may extend through the through hole and one of at least two fastener holes to thereby lock the elongated rod to the one bracket. 
     Additional objects and advantages of the subject invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bracket assembly for use with traffic curtains in accordance with the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a side elevation of one of the brackets illustrated in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a partial front elevation of a single curtain strip; 
     FIG. 4 is a side elevation of FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 but shown installed with industrial curtain strips loaded onto the bracket assembly; and 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a bracket assembly in accordance with another embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
     With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the bracket assembly  10  in accordance with the invention includes a first bracket  14  and a second bracket  16 , both designed to be mounted on a wall or other vertical surface for supporting the rod  12 . The rod  12  comprises a hollow tube provided with a through hole  18  perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tube, at the far left of the tube as viewed in FIG.  1 . 
     Bracket  14  includes a first planar portion  20  with mounting holes  22  and  24  adapted to receive bolts or screws  26  and  28  (or other suitable fasteners), by which the bracket  14  can be secured to a vertical wall surface. A second planar portion  30  extends generally perpendicular to the first planar portion  20  and is provided with a generally U-shaped slot  32 , opening at the top of the bracket portion  30 , and adapted to support one end of the rod or tube  12 . 
     The bracket  16  is generally similar to the bracket  14  with one significant difference noted below. The bracket includes a first planar portion  34  provided with a pair of holes  36 ,  38  by which the bracket  16  is secured to a vertical wall surface by means of bolts or screws  46 ,  48 . A second planar portion  40  of the bracket extends generally perpendicularly to the first planar portion  34  but, unlike corresponding portion  30 , is provided with a hole  44  for supporting the opposite end of the rod  12 . 
     The supporting rod or tube  12  is fixed in place by having the bolt or screw  28  extend through the hole  18  in the tube  12  and then through the mounting hole  22  of the bracket  14 . At the same time, it can be appreciated especially from FIG. 2 that the bolt head  50  of the mounting bolt or screw  46  is located relative to the hole  44  in the second planar portion  40  of the bracket  16  such that when the tube  12  is in place, the peripheral surface of the tube will bear against the head  50  of the bolt with sufficient friction to prevent the tube  12  from sliding out of the bracket, especially when the bolt  28  at the opposite end of the tube is not yet in place. 
     With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the curtain strips are typically constructed of relatively heavy weight, translucent or semi-transparent plastic strips  52 . One end may be doubled back on itself and welded to form a closed loop  54  used to mount the strip on the supporting rod. The strips  52  are loaded onto the supporting rod so as to be in close side-by-side relationship as best seen in FIG.  5 . 
     In use, and with reference again to FIG. 5, the brackets  14  and  16  are first secured to the vertical wall surface, but bracket  14  is secured initially only by bolt or screw  26  passing through hole  24 . The industrial curtain strips  52  are then loaded onto the supporting tube or rod  12  in either of two ways. In a first technique, the rod or tube  12  is separated from the brackets  14 ,  16  while the curtain strips  52  are loaded onto the rod, via loops  54 . One end of the loaded rod  12  is then inserted into the hole  44 , and the other end then dropped into the U-shaped slot  32 . The mounting bolt  28  is then inserted through the hole  18  in the tube, and through the hole  22  in the bracket  14  and into the vertical wall surface to lock the supporting rod  12  in place. 
     In an alternative technique, the right end of the rod  12  (as viewed in FIG. 1) remains in the hole  44  and the other end of the rod is lifted out of the slot  32  so that the curtain strips  52  can be loaded onto the rod  12 . It can be appreciated that in this manner, the majority of the weight of the rod and the curtain strips is taken up by the bracket  16  (and hence the wall to which it is secured). Once the curtain strips are loaded onto the supporting rod  12 , the rod end can be dropped into the slot  32  and again secured by the bolt  28  as described above. In this regard, it should be noted that the diameter of the hole  44  is sufficiently large that it allows the rod  12  to be pivoted upwardly out of the slot  32  to facilitate the curtain strip loading operation. 
     Other bracket and rod constructions can be utilized to achieve the same objectives. For example, and with reference to FIG. 6, brackets  114  and  116  are similar to brackets  14  and  16 , but bracket  114  has a hole  62  rather than an open slot  32 . The tube  112  is formed with a swaged end  56  which prevents the rod from passing in a right-to-left direction (as viewed in FIG. 6) through the hole  144 . A hole  58  is formed near the other end of the tube, enabling a cotter key  60  to be inserted through the tube. 
     With the above described construction, the tube  112  may be moved to the left, out of the bracket  114  so that one or more curtain strips (original or replacement) can be loaded onto the tube. Subsequently, the tube  112  is moved to the left until the swaged end  56  abuts the planar portion  140  of the bracket  116 , with the opposite end of the tube extending through the hole  62  in bracket  114 . In this position, hole  58  lies to the outside of bracket  114  and cotter key  60  will prevent the tube from moving back out of the hole  62 . 
     Other combinations of keys, stops and the like may be employed to lock the tube in place after original or replacement strips have been installed or the like. For example, the head on bolt  28  (FIG. 1) may be employed as a stop to prevent movement of the tube  112  to the left as viewed in FIG. 6, with a cotter key located adjacent but inside the bracket  116  to prevent movement to the right. In all cases, replacement or original curtain strips can be loaded onto the tube without removing either of the wall mounted brackets. 
     While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.