Improvements in or applicable to Venetian Blinds.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 11th July, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 10th Jan., 1896-Accented, 15th Feb., 1896
Improvements in or applicable to Venetian Blinds.
I, WALLACE ROBERTS, of No. 3 Winchester Street, Pimlico, in the County
of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in or applicable to Venetian blinds, the
improvements having mainly for object to provide more simple and efficient means
for raising and lowering such blinds than hitherto.
In carrying out my invention the blind is constructed of the usual laths or slats
and tape ladders, the head of the blind being provided with hooks or their
equivalents by which it can be easily hung to a support consisting of a wooden
strip adapted to be fitted to the upper part of a window. In suitable bearings on
the upper side of the said support I provide a roller carrying two pulleys :-viz.-
one above each of the tape ladders. To each of the said pulleys is attached one
end of a band which passes through the support and through the head and each
lath similarly to the cords now employed, the lower end of each band being
connected to the lowermost lath.
On one end of the said roller I provide a chain wheel over which passes an
endless chain such chain also passing over a pulley placed in a suitable position at
one side of the window.
By this arrangement it will be obvious that if the blind is down and the chain
be pulled so as to rotate the chain wheel, the roller being also rotated, the bands
will be wound on the pulleys and the blind be raised from the bottom as usual, the
chain and chain wheel holding the blind in any position to which it may be raised.
To lower the blind the chain is moved in the opposite direction.
In the case of heavy blinds it may be found advantageous to provide suitable
means such as a hook or catch adapted to be inserted into a link of the chain so as
to hold it.
The ends of the bands are detachably fixed to the pulleys in any suitable
manner such as by means of pins passing through loops in the ends of the bands
and through holes or slots in the peripheries of the pulleys so that if it be required
to remove the blind it is simply necessary to disconnect the bands and unhook the
blind from its support.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4 South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or applicable to Venetian Blinds.
I, WALLACE ROBERTS, formerly of No. 3, Winchester Street, Pimlico, now of
284 Leicester Square, in the County of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what mauner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in or applicable to Venetian blinds, the
improvements having mainly for object to provide more simple and efficient means
for raising and lowering such blinds than hitherto.

page_text: In carrying out my invention the blind is constructed of the usual laths or slats
and tape ladders, the head of the blind being provided with hooks or their
equivalents by which it can be easily hung to a support consisting of a wooden
strip adapted to be fitted to the upper part of a window. In suitable bearings on
the upper side of the said support I provide a roller carrying two pulleys, viz., one
above each of the tape ladders. To each of the said pulleys is attached one end
of a band which passes through the support and through the head and each lath
similarly to the cords now employed, the lower end of each band being connected
to the lowermost lath.
The ends of the bands are detachably fixed to the pulleys in any suitable
manner, such as, by means of pins passing through loops in the ends of the bands
and through holes or slots in the peripheries of the pulleys.
By the employment of bands the blind is drawn up very evenly as the said
bands are wound evenly on the pulleys.
On one end of the said roller I provide a chain wheel over which passes an
endless chain, such chain also passing over a pulley placed in a suitable position at
one side of the window.
In the case of heavy blinds it may be found advantageous to provide suitable
means, such as a hook or catch, adapted to be inserted into a link of the chain so
as to hold it.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is an elevation of a Venetian blind having my improvements applied
thereto :
Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 drawn to an enlarged scale:
Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 drawn to an enlarged scale:
Figure 4 is an elevation of one of the pulleys shewing the device for attaching
the bands to the same:
Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4:
Figure 6 is a side elevation of the bracket carrying the lower chain wheel or
pulley together with the catch for locking the chain in position :
Figure 7 is an elevation of the same at right angles to Figure 6:
Figure 8 is a side elevation of a modified form of bracket for carrying the lower
chain wheel and catch :
Figure 9 is a plan of the same:
Figure 10 is a front elevation of a modified form of the lower chain wheel and
bracket, provided with means for actuating the latter :
Figure 11 is a side elevation of the same.
Similar letters of reference indicate similar or corresponding parts throughout the
drawings.
a, a are the laths or slats of ordinary construction and is the head of the blind,
the said head being provided with loops c, e curved, as shewn, so as to allow the
head to be turned to any desired inclination. d, d are hooks suspended from
the wooden support e which is fitted to the upper part of the window, as shewn
clearly in Figure 1, and on which the hooks d are adapted to be hung so as to
support the blind in position.
fis the roller mounted in bearings g, g arranged in the support e as shewn
clearly in Figure 1. h, h are the two pulleys on the said roller f, and i, i are the
bands made of a suitable non-elastic material. These bands are connected at one
end to the lowermost lath, pass through the other laths in the usual manner, as
shewn in dotted lines in Figure 1 and are connected to the pulleys h, h by means of
pins j, j which pass through loops k, k in the ends of the bands i, i and through
notches or slots 1, in the peripheries or rims of the pulleys h, h. One end of each
pinj is provided with a hook m pivotally connected to the roller by means of the
eye n which allows the pin lateral movement and the other end of each pin
passes through the staple o so as to secure the band in position on the pulley.
It will be obvious that to remove the band it is simply necessary to disconnect

page_text: the same by removing the pins from the staples o which allows the pins to be lifted
from the slots in the pulleys so that they can be drawn from the loops k in the
ends of the bands i.
p is the chain wheel on one end of the roller f, and q the endless chain which
passes over the same. is the lower chain wheel or pulley arranged on one side
of the window, the said chain wheel being mounted in a suitable bracket s,.
Figures 6 and 7. t is a catch pivotally connected to the brackets, one end t¹ of the
said catch being bent and tapered so as to engage in a link of the chain q to retain
the blind in any desired position.
Figures 8 and 9 are views similar to Figures 6 and 7 of a modified form of lower
bracket and catch adapted to be fitted to the inside of the window frame.
In the case of very heavy blinds I advantageously employ an arrangement such
as that represented in Figures 10 and 11 for raising the same.
In this arrange-
ment the lower chain wheel is provided with a bevel wheel which gears with
a second bevel wheel mounted on the brackets and adapted to be rotated by a
handle w.
x is a chain which passes over the head 6 of the blind and over a lower chain wheel y
for the purpose of turning the laths of the blind to the required angle by the
movement of the curved loops c, c on the hooks d, d.
It will be obvious that if the blind is down, as shewn in Figure 1, and the chain q
be pulled so as to rotate the chain wheel p and the roller f, the bands i, i will be
wound up on the pulleys h, h and the blind will be raised from the bottom in the
usual manner. When the blind has been raised to the required position it is held
either by means of the catch t in the case of heavy blinds, or, in the case of light
blinds, by the friction of the chain and chain wheel.
If it be required to remove the blind for cleaning or for any other purpose, it is
only necessary to remove the pins ; from the loops k in the ends of the bands i
and then to unhook the head of the blind and remove the roller f from the
supports g.
I wish it understood that my improvements can be applied to blinds of the
kind known as festoon or pocketted blinds, in which case the fabric composing the
blind is attached to the head of the blind thus replacing the laths.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what.
I claim is
1. In a Venetian blind wherein the laths are hung on a support, the combination
with the laths of a roller adapted to be rotated by means of a chain wheel and
chain, of pulleys mounted on the said roller and of bands attached to the bottom
lath and detachably connected to the pulleys on which they can be wound substan-
tially as, and for the purposes, herein before described.
2. In a Venetian blind, wherein the laths are raised by bands adapted to be
wound on pulleys mounted on a roller, connecting the end of each band to the
pulley by means of a pin passing through a loop in the end of the band and
designed to be secured in position in a notch in the periphery of the pulley,
substantially as described.
3. The improved Venetian blind hereinbefore described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 10th doof trav
1902
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.