IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLERS, RODS, OR BARS FOR WINDOW BLINDS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Speirs Simpson, of Battersea, in the County of
Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLERS, RODS, OR BARS
FOR WINDOW BLINDS."
- Sealed the 11th March 1879, and dated the 17th September 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Speirs Simpson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th September 1878.
WILLIAM SPEIRS SIMPSON, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey. ❝ IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ROLLERS, RODS, OR BARS FOR WINDOW BLINDS."
The object of my Invention is to facilitate the fixing of a blind upon its roller,
rod, or bar, and the removal of the blind for cleaning or the substitution of another.
Blinds suspended from the top of a window are mostly tacked upon wooden
'rollers, and unless this is very carefully done the blind will not hang straight and
it is usually damaged if removed.
I propose to make the roller by cutting off suitable lengths from metal tubing of
any desired diameter, to slit these tubes from end to end, and to open this slit so
that it will permit the passage of only a single thickness of the material used for
the blind. I propose to fit on to one end of the roller a metal or a wooden plate
with a pin or spindle to enter into a bracket on one side of the window, and upon
the other end I fit a pulley also with pin or spindle to enter a bracket on the
opposite side of the window, and I make the one or the other of these end spindle
plates moveable so that when the roller is taken from its brackets I may take off
this plate and leave one end of the aforesaid slit open to receive the blind, making
this spindle plate so that when put on to the roller it will turn it when the roller
cord is pulled; or I may provide the roller with a spring if desired.
All that is needed to ensure the perfect fitting of the blind upon the roller thus
made is that a straight hem be sewn at the top of the blind, which is then pulled
down the slit with the double hemmed part within the cylinder, out of which it
CD "
1

page_text: cannot be pulled when the roller is in a horizontal position, as the hem cannot pass
out of the cylinder through the slit but can only be withdrawn by removing the
roller from its brackets and drawing it out parallel with the slit.
Instead of using rollers cut from metal piping I may use cylinders of any suitable
material, providing them with a longitudinal opening running from end to end and
suitable plates for spindle and pulley ends.
My Invention applies not only to blinds hanging from a top roller but equally to
those suspended by a rod or bar crossing the window at any desired height. In
this case no spindles are required but the rod or bar is slit or grooved to receive the
hemmed part of the blind and is hung upon suitable brackets or catches on each side
of the window.
That part of the blind which is to pass within the slit or groove may be made
sufficiently thick to prevent its being drawn through the slit by any suitable means,
but a simple hem will be found sufficient for this purpose.
I may use adjusting screws or any suitable device to regulate the width of the
slit according to requirement.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Speirs Simpson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
March 1879.
WILLIAM SPEIRS SIMPSON, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey. " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ROLLERS, RODS, OR BARS FOR WINDOW BLINDS."
This Invention relates to a means of facilitating the fixing of a blind upon its
roller, rod, or bar, and the removal of the blind for cleaning or the substitution of
another.
Heretofore blinds suspended from the top of a window have been mostly tacked
upon wooden rollers, and unless this was very carefully done the blind would not
hang straight and was usually damaged if removed.
My Invention consists in making the rollers by cutting off suitable lengths from
metal tubing of any desired diameter, in slitting these tubes from end to end, and
opening this slit so that it will permit the passage of only a single thickness of the
material used for the blind.
I fit to one end of the roller a metal or a wooden plate with a pin or spindle to
enter into a bracket on one side of the window, and upon the other end I fit a
pulley also with pin or spindle to enter a bracket on the opposite side of the window,
and I make the one or the other of these end spindle plates moveable so that when
the roller is taken from its brackets I may take off this plate and leave one end of
the aforesaid slit open to receive the blind, making this spindle plate so that when
put on to the roller it will turn it when the roller cord is pulled; or I may provide
the roller with a spring if desired.
My Invention applies not only to blinds hanging from a top roller but equally to
those blinds or curtains suspended by a rod or bar crossing the window at any
desired height. In this case no spindles are required, but the rod or bar is slit or
grooved to receive the hemmed part of the blind and is hung upon suitable brackets
or catches on each side of the window or held by any suitable device.
On the accompanying Drawing,-
Figure 1 is a front view illustrating the application of my Invention to the
ordinary roller-blind.
Figure 2 represents one of the end blocks withdrawn from the barrel or roller.
Figure 3 being a cross section through the barrel or roller.
A is the roller or barrel in which is a narrow opening a running from end
to end.
B, B, are the end blocks, one forming the pulley for cord.
C is the blind.
D the hem.
Figure 4 is a front view of a curtain bar of an oval form embodying my
Invention.
Figure 5, a cross section through the same.
E, curtain bar; e, slit or opening in same.
F, F, supports for bar E.
G the curtain; H the hem.
Figure 6 is a front view shewing the application of my improvement to an
ordinary round curtain rod (this rod may form bottom rod to the curtain, Figures 4
and 5).
Figure 7 being a cross section through the same.
I is a curtain rail or rod; i, opening in same for curtain.
K, K, supports for rod I.
L the curtain.
M the hem.
All that is needed to ensure the perfect fitting of the blind upon a roller thus
made is that a straight hem (D, H, M, Figures 3, 5, and 7, be sewn at the top of

page_text: '
the blind, which is then pulled down the slit (a, e, i,) with the double-hemmed
part within the cylinder, out of which it cannot be pulled when the roller is in a
horizontal position as the hem cannot pass out of the cylinder through the slit but
can only be withdrawn by removing the roller from its brackets and drawing it out
parallel with the slit.
Instead of using rollers cut from metal piping I may use cylinders of any suitable
material, providing them with a longitudinal opening running from end to end, and
suitable plates or spindles and pulley ends.
That part of the blind which is to pass within the slit or groove may be made.
sufficiently thick to prevent its being drawn through the slit by any suitable means,
but a simple hem will be found sufficient for this purpose.
I may use adjusting screws or any suitable device to regulate the width of the
slit according to requirement.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention and in
what manner the same is or may be performed,
I claim as secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent,
The use in a blind or curtain roller, rod, or bar of a longitudinal slit to receive
and hold the blind or curtain, substantially as herein-before described and shown
'on the accompanying Sheet of Drawing.
41
In witness whereof, I, the said William Speirs Simpson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.