Patent Publication Number: US-7717152-B2

Title: Net guide for wire screen and wire screen apparatus having the same

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
   The present invention is relating to a net guide used in a wire screen in which a net is made openable/closable by a lateral pull and, more concretely, is relating to a net guide for wire screen, which goes in and out from a lower end of at least one of a movable frame or a fixed frame, that is attached to both ends of the net, to and from its inside, and which is introduced out along a lower end of the net concerned under a stretched state to thereby guide that lower end. 
   BACKGROUND ART 
   In the wire screen in which the net is made openable/closable by the lateral pull, the net guide which goes in and out, in compliance with an opening-and-closing of the above net, from the lower end of the movable frame or the fixed frame, that is attached to both ends of the net, to and from its inside, and which is introduced out along the lower end of the net concerned under the stretched state to thereby guide that lower end, is hitherto publicly known as disclosed in Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2 for instance. 
   The net guide described in the above Patent Document 1 is one which is constituted from plural resin-made guide pieces formed approximately like a U-letter by a bottom part along the lower end of the net and a standing wall part which stands up along an outer face of the net concerned, and a flexible tape-like member for connecting those guide pieces, and in which the guide pieces are connected by inserting the above tape-like member through an insertion part, of the above tape-like member, provided along bottom parts of the guide pieces, and fixing the guide pieces in both ends to the tape-like member concerned. 
   On the other hand, in the above Patent Document 2, there is disclosed one in which the above net guide is constituted as a connection-like body connected in order by a fitting between a protrusion and a hole in a rigid unit. 
   However, as to the net guides of the above Patent Documents 1 and 2, in both of them, since there is made such that the net guide can be bent in order to introduce it from the lower end of the movable frame or the fixed frame to its inside but cannot be bent in other direction, there has been an issue that if a foot or other thing is caught by the net guide introduced-out to a lower part of the net and a strong force or impact acts on it, the net guide is simply disassembled or damaged.
     Patent Document 1: JP-A-2003-201796 Gazette   Patent Document 2: JP-A-2000-145314 Gazette   

   DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
   Problems that the Invention is to Solve 
   A problem of the invention is to solve the above issue, thereby providing a net guide for wire screen, in which there is no fact that it is simply disassembled or damaged even if the foot or other thing is caught by the net guide introduced-out to the lower part of the net and the strong force or impact acts on it. 
   Other problem of the invention is to provide a net guide for wire screen, in which there is made so as to cause the net guide, that is formed by connections of many guide pieces, to have a stretchability by which it can bend in some degree in an arbitrary direction. 
   Means for Solving the Problems 
   In order to solve the above problems, the invention is a net guide for wire screen, in which a movable frame is attached to one end of a net being made openable/closable by a lateral pull, in which a movable frame or a fixed frame is attached to the other end of the net, and which, in compliance with an opening/closing of the net by the lateral pull of the movable frame, goes in and out from an lower end of at least one of the movable frame or the fixed frame, that is attached to the end part of the net, to and from its inside, and which is introduced out along a lower end of the net under a stretched state to thereby guide that lower end, characterized in that the net guide possesses many guide pieces formed approximately like a U-letter by a bottom part along the lower end of the net a standing wall part which stands up along an outer face of the net, and a wire inserted through through-holes provided in the guide pieces to thereby connect these guide pieces, and in the wire there is additionally provided a spring means which spring-biases the guide pieces under a connected state in a mutually, closely contacting direction to thereby retain the many guide pieces to a linear connected state. 
   In a desirable implementation mode of the above net guide for wire screen, each of the guide pieces has a butt part butting mutually against the adjoining guide piece under a state in which the net guide is linearly introduced out along the lower end of the net under a stretched state, and the butt part is formed as a plane part being directed to a direction intersecting perpendicularly to a connection direction of the guide pieces. 
   Further, in the above net guide for wire screen, the wire inserted through the through-holes of the many guide pieces to thereby connect these guide pieces can be made a single wire, additionally it is made one in which the spring means possesses the coil spring, and a hollow cylindrical accommodation tube which accommodates the coil spring and whose length is longer than the coil spring, and one end of the wire is connected to the guide piece in one end of the net guide, the other end of the wire is connected to an introducing-out end side of the accommodation tube through the coil spring inserted into the accommodation tube, and a wire insertion end side of the accommodation tube is pressure-contacted with the guide piece of the net guide by a biasing force of the coil spring, or the spring means can be constituted by a stretchable wire elastically stretching/contracting, which is used in all or one part of the wire inserted through the through-holes of the guide pieces. 
   In the net guide for wire screen, which has the above constitution, since the many guide pieces constituting the net guide are connected by the wire and the wire is caused to always have a constant tension by the spring means, even if the strong force or impact acts on the net guide by the fact that the foot or other thing is caught by the net guide in introduced out in the lower part of the net, it is absorbed by a stretch of the spring means and the net guide bends in some degree in a direction of the acting force, so that there is no fact that it is simply disassembled or damaged. 
   Further, in the above net guide for wire screen, since the wire is inserted through the through-holes provided in the many guide pieces and connects them, there is no fact that, like the conventional net guide in which the rigid units are connected by the protrusion and the hole, a lot of trouble is required in an assembly, so that it is possible to easily manufacture the above net guide. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  It is a front view showing a constitution of a lateral pull mothproof wire screen in which a net guide for wire screen according to the invention is used. 
       FIG. 2  It is a plan view of the same. 
       FIG. 3  It is a side sectional view of the same. 
       FIG. 4  It is a partially broken front view showing a first embodiment of the net guide for wire screen according to the invention. 
       FIG. 5  It is a partially broken front view showing the net guide for wire screen under its bent state of the same. 
       FIG. 6  It is a front view showing a constitution of a guide piece used in the net guide for wire screen of the same. 
       FIG. 7  It is a right side view of the same. 
       FIG. 8  It is a plan view of the same. 
       FIG. 9  It is a sectional view at an A-A position in  FIG. 7 . 
       FIG. 10  It is a partial enlarged view conceptually showing a state in which the net guide for wire screen of the same is caused to go in and out to and from an inside of a movable frame. 
       FIG. 11  It is a partially broken front view showing a second embodiment of the net guide or wire screen according to the invention. 
       FIG. 12  It is a front view showing a constitution of a guide piece used in the net guide for wire screen of the same. 
       FIG. 13  It is a right side view of the same. 
       FIG. 14  It is a plan view of the same. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 
   
       
       
         
             2  wire screen frame 
             4  net 
             5  movable frame 
             6 ,  8  longitudinal frame member 
             10  lateral frame member 
             12 ,  22  net guide 
             14 ,  24  guide piece 
             14   a ,  24   a  bottom part 
             14   b ,  24   b  standing wall part 
             14   c ,  24   c  through-hole 
             15  wire 
             16 ,  26  spring means 
             17  coil spring 
             18 ,  28  accommodation tube 
         
       
     
  
   BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1-FIG .  3  show one embodiment of a lateral pull mothproof wire screen in which a net guide for wire screen according to the invention is used. 
   As shown in  FIG. 1 , this wire screen possesses schematically a wire screen frame  2  installed in a building opening part, a mothproof net  4  attached in the wire screen frame  2  so as to be openable/closable by a lateral opening, and a movable frame  5  for an opening/closing operation, which is attached to one end of the net  4 , and a net guide  12  for wire screen, according to the invention, is provided in a lower part of the wire screen frame  2 . 
   Although the wire screen frame  2  has left/right longitudinal frame members  6 ,  8  and a lateral frame member  10 , and one longitudinal frame member  8  of the longitudinal frame members  6 ,  8  is constituted by a fixed frame supporting a rotatable winding shaft  30  around which the net  4  is wound, there can be also made such that one longitudinal frame member  6  is made the fixed frame, one end of the net  4  is attached to the fixed frame, and the other end of the net  4  is wound around a winding shaft rotatably supported in the movable frame  5 . Further, in the embodiment shown in the drawing, although there is made such that the net  4  is wound around the winding shaft  30 , it is also possible to use one like an accordion by being alternatively folded back in reverse directions at a constant interval and, in this case, there can be made so as to be openable/closable in both left and right directions by attaching the movable frames to both ends of the net. 
   The longitudinal frame member  6  and a fixed frame constituting the longitudinal frame member  8  are ones fixed to a side frame (not shown in the drawing) of the building opening part by screws  31  and, to an upper end part and a lower end part of the fixed frame, there are attached respectively caps  8   a ,  8   b.    
   There is constituted such that the winding shaft  30  builds in a coil spring (not shown in the drawing), and a rotation biasing force by a twist of this coil spring is made a drive source for the winding of the winding shaft  30  to thereby automatically wind the net  4 , and there is made such that a lock device  35  provided in the movable frame  5  is engaged with a lock receiver  36  of the longitudinal frame member  6  at a stretched time of the net  4 , and thus the net  4  can be retained in its stretched state. Further, upper ends of the net  4  and the movable frame  5  are guided by the lateral frame member  10 . 
   As mentioned above, although the net guide  12  for wire screen is provided in the lower part of the wire screen frame  2 , this net guide  12  is one in which its one end is fixed to a lower end of the fixed frame constituting the longitudinal frame member  8 , it goes in and out to and from an inside of the movable frame  5  from its lower end in compliance with the opening/closing, of the net  4 , following upon a movement of the movable frame  5  and, by the fact that it is introduced out along the lower end of the net  4  under its stretched state at the stretched time of the net  4 , a swing of the lower end of the net  4  by the wind and the like is checked. 
   Further, frame caps  5   a ,  5   b  are attached respectively to an upper end part and a lower end part of the movable frame  5 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , the net guide  12  is constituted so as to be bendable by connecting many guide pieces  14 , which are formed by an injection molding of a synthetic resin, by a single wire  15 . Incidentally it is unnecessary that the guide piece is made of the synthetic resin. 
   If explained more concretely, as shown in  FIG. 6-FIG .  9 , the guide piece  14  constituting the net guide  12  is one formed approximately like a U-letter by a bottom part  14   a  along a lower end of the net  4  and one pair of standing wall parts  14   b  which stand up along an outer face of the net  4  and, in the bottom part  14   a  of this guide piece  14 , there is provided a through-hole  14   c  for inserting the single wire  15  in a direction along the lower end of the net  4 . The standing wall part  14   b  is constituted by a standing wall base part  14   d  vertically standing up from both sides of the bottom part  14   a , and a semicircular standing wall convex part  14   e  monolithically protruding from one side of the standing wall base part  14   d  and, in an inside wall of the standing wall base part  14   d , there is provided an escape part  14   f  for accommodating, when connecting the guide pieces  14 , the semicircular standing wall convex part  14   e  of the adjoining guide piece  14 . 
   Accordingly, by the fact that the semicircular standing wall convex part  14   e  is accommodated in the escape part  14   f , the guide piece  14  is connected to the standing wall part  14   b  of the adjoining guide piece without an interstice and, moreover, it is possible to bend the net guide  12  upward concavely. 
   Further, in both ends of the standing wall base part  14   d  in a connection direction, there are provided plane parts  14   g ,  14   h  as butt parts causing the adjoining guide pieces  14  to mutually butt under a state in which the net guide  12  is linearly introduced out from the movable frame  5  and, additionally as clearly shown in  FIG. 10 , there are provided plane parts  14   i ,  14   j  as butt parts causing the adjoining guide pieces  14  to mutually butt when the net guide  12  is bent in order to cause it to go in and out to and from the inside of the movable frame  5 . Therefor, although the net guide  12  constituted by connecting the many guide pieces  14  can be bent upward concavely for a bent introduction-in-and-out to and from the movable frame  5 , it is possible to suppress, by preventing the bending in a reverse direction, a disturbance of opening/closing operation due to a float from a floor face. 
   The plane part  14   g  is a plane part positioned in a side opposite to a protrusion side of the standing wall convex part  14   e  and becoming vertical under a state in which the net guide  12  is linearly introduced out, the plane part  14   i  is a plane part positioned above the plane part  14   g  and being slanted in a standing wall convex part  14   e  side, the plane part  14   h  is a plane part positioned in the standing wall convex part  14   e  side, parallel to the plane part  14   g  and having a height of the same degree as the plane part  14   g , and the plane part  14   j  is a portion existing on the same plane as the plane part  14   h  and positioned above the plane part  14   h.    
   Further, as shown in  FIG. 7 , the guide piece  14  makes guiding protrusions  14   k  by slightly hanging lower portions of the standing wall base parts  14   d  from both side ends of the bottom part  14   a . As shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 3 , although the guiding protrusion  14   k  is one which, by fitting a rail-like guide part G protrusion on the floor face of the building opening part in a degree not becoming hindrance of walking, causes the net guide  12  to suitably slide on the guide part G to thereby make possible a stable opening/closing of the net  4  along the guide part G, it is not necessarily required to provide the guiding protrusion  14   k  and the guide part G on the floor face. 
   A shown in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , in the net guide  12 , although the respective guide pieces  14  are connected by inserting the wire  15  through the through-hole  14   c  of each of the guide pieces  14 , in this wire  15  there is additionally provided a spring means  16  retaining the many guide pieces  14  in a linear connected state by spring-biasing the guide pieces  14  under the connected state in a direction mutually contacting closely. 
   This spring means  16  is one constituted by the facts that one end of the wire  15  is fixed to the guide piece  14  in one end side under the connected state by a fixation element  15   a , the other end of the wire  15  is connected to one end of a coil spring  17 , the coil spring  17  is accommodated in a hollow cylindrical accommodation tube  18  and the other end of the coil spring  17  is introduced out from a tip of the accommodation tube  18 , and its introduced-out end is fixed to an outer end part of the accommodation tube  18  by a fixation element  15   b . The hollow cylindrical accommodation tube  18  has a length sufficient to accommodate in its inside the coil spring  17  even when it is sufficiently stretched. Moreover, the coil spring  17  is mounted under a state giving a suitable tension to the wire  15  when its both ends are fixed to the guide piece  14  and an outer end part of the accommodation tube  18 . Accordingly, a wire insertion end side of the accommodation tube  18  is pressure-contacted with an end part of the guide piece  14  under the connected state by the biasing force of the coil spring  17 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 1 , in the net guide  12 , there is made such that, the guide piece  14  in one end side under the connected state is connected to a lower end of the longitudinal frame member (fixed frame)  8 , the accommodation tube  18  of the coil spring  17  butting against the guide piece  14  in the other end side under the connected state is disposed together with several guide pieces  14  in the movable frame  5 , and when the movable frame  5  moves, they move up and down in the movable frame  5 . Incidentally, it is possible to provide, in the frame cap  5   b  in a lower end part of the movable frame  5 , a guide face  5   c  guiding the bend of the net guide  12  in compliance with a necessity. 
   In the net guide  12 , since the many guide pieces  14  are connected by the wire  15  inserted through the through-holes  14   c  provided in the bottom parts  14   a  of these guide pieces  14  and the tension is given to the wire  15  by the spring means  16 , the many guide pieces  14  can be connected in the connected state by the wire  15  caused to always have a constant tension, and it is possible to cause the connection of the guide pieces  14  to have the stretchability by the spring means  16 . 
   And, since the net guide  12  for wire screen is caused to have the stretchability by the spring means  16 , it is bendable when going in and out from the lower end of the movable frame  5  as shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 5 . Further, even in a case where the strong impact is exerted, e.g., by the fact that the foot is caught by the net guide  12  for wire screen, since that impact is absorbed by the spring means  16 , it is possible to prevent the net guide  12  from being damaged and, moreover also after a deformation of the net guide  12 , it can be returned to an original form by the biasing force of the coil spring  17 . 
     FIG. 11  and  FIG. 12-FIG .  14  are ones showing a second embodiment of the net guide for wire screen, which is concerned with the invention. 
   Although a net guide  22  for wire screen is similar in its main constitution to the net guide  12  for wire screen of the embodiment 1, a disposition of a spring means  26  is made reverse to the case of the first embodiment as shown in  FIG. 11 . Further, constitutions of a guide piece  24  and the spring means  26  differ from the guide piece  14  and the spring means  16  of the embodiment 1. 
   If mentioned more detailedly, the guide piece  24  is one formed approximately like the U-letter by a bottom part  24   a  along the lower end of the net  4  and one pair of standing wall parts  24   b  which stand up along the outer face of the net  4  and, in the bottom part  24   a  of this guide piece  24 , there is provided a through-hole  24   c  for inserting the wire  15  in the direction along the lower end of the net  4 . The standing wall part  24   b  is constituted by a standing wall base part  24   d  vertically standing up from both sides of the bottom part  24   a , and a semicircular standing wall convex part  24   e  monolithically protruding from one side of the standing wall base part  24   d  and, in an inside wall of the standing wall base part  24   d , there is provided an escape part  24   f  for accommodating the semicircular standing wall convex part  24   e  of the adjoining guide piece  24 . 
   Further, in both ends of the standing wall base part  24   d  of an approximately rectangular shape in a connection direction, there are provided plane parts  24   g  and  24   h  as butt parts butting against the adjoining guide piece  24  under a state in which the net guide  22  is linearly introduced out, and there are provided plane parts  24   i ,  24   j  as butt parts butting against the adjoining guide piece  24  when the net guide  22  is bent in order to cause it to go in and out to and from the inside of the movable frame  5 . Therefor, although the net guide  22  can be bent upward concavely for the bent introduction-in-and-out to and from the movable frame  5 , it is possible to suppress, by preventing the bending in the reverse direction, the disturbance of opening/closing operation due to the float from the floor face. 
   As shown in  FIG. 11 , as the spring means  26 , it is one constituted by the facts that one end of the wire  15  is fixed to the guide piece  24  in one end side under the connected state by the fixation element  15   a , the other end of the wire  15  is connected to one end of the coil spring  17 , the coil spring  17  is accommodated in a hollow cylindrical accommodation tube  28 , and the other end of the coil spring  17  is fixed to an outer end part of the accommodation tube  18  by the fixation element  15   b.    
   Incidentally, in  FIG. 11 , although the wire  15  is shown under its stretched state, it is mounted under a state in which a suitable tension is given to the wire  15  similarly to the embodiment shown in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , and the guide pieces  24  are pressure-contacted by the biasing force of the coil spring  17 . Further, since the constitution and the action other than those explained here in relation to the second embodiment do not change from the case of the first embodiment explained before, their explanations are omitted. 
   The net guide for wire screen of the invention is not one necessarily limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the above embodiments, although the winding shaft  30  is accommodated in the fixed frame constituting the longitudinal frame member  8  and the net guides  12 ,  22  are caused to go in and out to and from the inside of the movable frame  5  from its lower end, as mentioned before, the winding shaft may be accommodated in the movable frame, and the net guide may be caused to go in and out to and from the inside of the longitudinal frame member from its lower end. 
   Further, in the above embodiments, although the spring means  16 ,  26  of the net guides  12 ,  22  are constituted with the coil spring  17  to which the wire  15  is connected and the accommodation tubes  18 ,  28  accommodating the coil spring  17  being made main members, it is also possible to use a wire having the stretchability as the wire and, by it, constitute the spring means.