IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM OR APPARATUS FOR FIXING AND RELEASING THE CORDS OF VENETIAN BLINDS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Shepherd at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 17th May 1879.
ALFRED SHEPHERD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Window Blind
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM OR APPARATUS FOR FIXING AND
RELEASING THE CORDS OF VENETIAN BLINDS."
My Invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in mechanism
or apparatus for fixing and releasing the cords of Venetian blinds, by which
improvements the parts of the said mechanism or apparatus are made very simple
in construction and efficient in action.
In constructing the said mechanism or apparatus according to my Invention I fix
to the top rail of the Venetian blind a foundation plate having at each side a
vertical bracket or bearing carrying a horizontal axis, on which three or other
number of arms swivel or turn freely; the said arms having motion in a vertical
plane, I will call these swivelling arms the gripping arms of the apparatus. Each
of the said gripping arms consists of a bar or plate of metal having an eye at its
top end, which eye is threaded upon the horizontal axis described. When the said
gripping arms are arranged side by side upon their common axis, the free ends of
the said arms are situated a short distance from the base or foundation plate fixed
on the top rail. The cords connected with the laths of the blind pass between the
said free ends of the gripping arms and the foundation plate, and the said cords are
gripped by the said arms when it is required to fix the blind as herein after
explained. The cords after passing between the gripping arms and the foundation
plate pass over pulleys at the outerside of the apparatus, by which pulleys the
said cords are conducted to the side of the window within reach of the hand.
A cross pin or stop at the outer side of the three gripping arms, and fixed in the
brackets of the foundation plate, prevents the said arms being raised beyond a
certain angle. The check cord by which the gripping arms are thrown out of
action for releasing the cords when it is required to lower the blind is connected
with the middle gripping arm of the set, and the said middle arm is coupled to the
arms on either side of it by means of a pin connected with the middle arm and
crossing the outer arms; the ends of the coupling pin sliding in nearly horizontal
slots in the brackets or bearings of the foundation plate. When the check cord
is pulled down so as to lift the end of the middle arm from the blind cord, under
it the outer arms have the same motion given to them by the action of the coupling
pin, the said pin sliding in the nearly horizontal slots in the bearing plates. By

page_text: the arrangement described, the swivelling gripping arms move independently of
one another in their forward or gripping motion, but the three arms move together
iu their back or releasing motion when the check cord is pulled.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-
When the cords of the blind are released, the travelling of the weighted cords
under the free ends of the gripping arms in the direction proper to permit of the
descent of the blind causes the said arms to move in the same direction, that is,
towards the middle of the top rail. The said cords are thereby wedged or gripped
very firmly between the free ends of the said arms, and the foundation plate of the
apparatus and the blind is suspended or fixed. When the cords are pulled down
for raising the blind, the said cords travelling under the free ends of the gripping
arms raise the said arms from and release the cords. In order to lower the
blind, the check cord is pulled down. The three arms are thereby simultaneously
lifted from the cords in the manner hereinbefore described, and the cords are
released & may be payed out for lowering the blind. On releasing the check
cord and loosing the blind cords, the latter are again gripped by the gripping arms,
and the blind is fixed in its adjusted position.
Although I have only described an apparatus consisting of three gripping arms,
yet where two or more than three cords are used with the blind, an equal number of
gripping arms must be combined together, and worked in the manner before
described.