Patent Publication Number: US-2002011262-A1

Title: Awning

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention is directed to an awning comprising a roller tube for winding up an awning fabric, wherein the roller tube is actuated in the winding direction by a torsion spring. Awnings of this type are also referred to as roller blinds. They are generally extended manually and wind themselves up automatically driven by the spring.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003] With this as the starting-point, the invention has as its object to design an awning of this type in such a way that it can be driven alternatively also by means of an electric motor, and a compact, largely factory-pre-assembled construction is attained that permits a quick installation at the window and can be used also for more complex shade systems, such as, e.g., triangular awnings.  
       [0004] This object is met according to the invention in such a way that the roller tube is disposed inside a housing and supported on its one end in a first face-end cover of the housing, with the torsion spring disposed in the interior of this first end of the roller tube and the roller tube supported in the region of its opposite second end by means of a bearing journal that extends away from a face-end cover. In particular, provision is made for the bearing journal to be detachably screwed to the inside of the face-end cover.  
       [0005] This arrangement as such is an advantageous improvement of a mechanical roller spring that is known per se.  
       [0006] In a further improvement of the invention, provision is furthermore made for the bearing journal to be formed by the driven shaft or its extension of an electric motor, with a rope sheave connected to the driven shaft.  
       [0007] This improvement permits, on one hand, to implement both a manual and a motor drive using the same basic construction; in particular, however, a tension rope can be driven via the rope sheave that acts on the free outer end of the awning fabric via deflection rollers and accordingly attains an even pulling and defined extension movement for the awning fabric even in complicated shade systems.  
       [0008] The rope sheave is advantageously disposed in the region of one end of the roller tube and formed as one piece with a bearing tube, with the roller tube being supported via bearing rings that sit on the bearing tube.  
       [0009] The invention will be explained in more detail below, based on a preferred exemplary embodiment in conjunction with the drawing. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
     [0010]FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section through an inventive awning without motor drive,  
     [0011]FIG. 2 shows an illustration corresponding to FIG. 1 with a motor, and  
     [0012]FIG. 3 shows a section along the line III-III in FIG. 2. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0013] In FIG. 1 an awning is shown that comprises a housing  1  in which a roller tube  2  is disposed for winding up an awning fabric not shown in the drawing.  
     [0014] In the interior of the roller tube  2 , on one end  3 , which is shown as the left end in the drawing, a torsion spring  4  is disposed, one end  5  of which is fixed on a shaft  6  on which the torsion spring  4  sits, and the shaft  6  penetrates through a bearing ring  7  and a driving bearing ring  8 , with the spring  4  acting on the roller tube  2  via the driving bearing ring  8  and a spring projection  9  in such a way that it actuates the extended awning fabric in the retraction direction. The outer end  10  of the shaft  6  is supported in a face-end cover  11 .  
     [0015] On the opposite end  12  of the roller tube  2 , a bearing journal  13  is provided on which the roller tube  2  is supported via two spaced-apart bearing rings  14 ,  15  with the bearing ring  15  sitting against a radially projecting ring flange  16  of the bearingjournal  13 . The bearingjournal  13 , in turn, is fastened on a face-end cover  17  by means of a screw  18 .  
     [0016] In this design, the awning can be operated manually in the usual manner, i.e., the awning fabric is extended against the force of the torsion spring  4  and locked, and retracted and wound up under actuation by the torsion spring  4 .  
     [0017]FIG. 2 shows a design according to FIG. 1, in which the bearing journal  13  is now replaced by a motor  19  that has an electrical connection  20 . A rope sheave  21  is connected to a bearing tube  22 , which is supported between the bearing rings  14 ,  15 . The roller tube  2 , which, of course, sits on the bearing rings  14 ,  15 , on the outside, is accordingly also supported on this bearing tube  22 . The bearing tube  22 , in turn, sits on the drive shaft  23  of the motor  19 .  
     [0018] A rope or the like, the outer end of which is connected to a front rail fastened on the outer edge of the awning cloth, may be wound up onto the rope sheave  21  so that, in combination with a suitable deflection arrangement for the rope, the unwinding movement of the roller tube  2  during the extension of the awning fabric is accompanied by a tension exerted onto the outer end of the awning fabric by the rope which is wound onto the rope sheave  21 .