IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER-BLIND FURNITURE
Year: 1884

page_text: I, THOMAS HORTON of No 1 Tudor Villas Handsworth New Road Birmingham
in the County of Warwick, Boiler Maker do hereby declare the nature of my
invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER-BLIND FURNITURE to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in dispensing with the use of the ordinary blind-racks
and maintaining at an uniform state of tension the cord for raising and lowering
window-blinds by suspending a weight made of iron or other heavy material from
the pulley on the end of the blind-roller by the cord for raising and lowering the
blind, the said weight having on the top of it a pulley on the under sido of which
the cord for raising and lowering the blind passes or runs In one side of the said
weight is a vertical groove shaped to fit a guide fixed to the window-frame (or in
proximity to it) The weight is thus prevented moving side-ways, but can rise and
fall in accordance with any variations that take place in the length of the cord.―
The weight being suspended from the pulley on the end of the blind-roller by tho
cord for raising and lowering the blind the tension on the said cord never varies,-
whereas in the use of ordinary blink-racks that are fixtures to the window-frame
(or fixed in proximity to it) the cord for raising and lowering the blind is subject
to various degrees of tension and sometimes becomes slack and other times tight in
consequence of the elongation or contraction of the said cord by a damp or a dry
atmosphere.
The accompanying drawings shew the weight with the pulley on the top of it,
and groove in one side of it, A is the weight, B the pulley on the under side of
which the cord C for raising and lowering the blind passes or runs D is a groove in
the said weight shaped to fit the guide E which said guide is to be fixed to the
window-frame or in proximity to it.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, THOMAS HORTON of N° 1 Tudor Villas Handsworth New Road Birmingham
in the County of Warwick, Boiler Maker, do hereby declare the nature of my
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER-BLIND FURNITURE" and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My improvements consist in maintaining at an uniform and never varying stato
of tension, the cord for raising and lowering a roller-blind and obtaining the
requisite adjustability of the pulley (or of a round grooved stud or knob instead of
the pulley) by suspending a sliding-pendant-weight, made of iron or other
sufficiently heavy material by the cord for raising and lowering the blind. The
said weight having at the top of it a pulley (or a round grooved stud or knob
instead of a pulley) on the under side of which, the cord for raising and lowering
the blind passes or runs. In the said sliding-pendant-weight is a vertical slot or
aperture through which ordinary screws or studs are passed and screwed into the
window-frame or other structure in proximity to it.
The slot or aperture being long enough to give a sufficient range of adjustability
to the said weight, which is thus prevented moving side-ways, but being suspended
by the cord for raising and lowering the blind the said weight rises and falls in
accordance with any variations that take place in the length of the said cord, which
is subject to elongation in a dry atmosphere and to contraction in a damp
atmosphere.
The adjustment of the said sliding-pendant-weight is therefore perfect, and
automatic,
I have endeavoured to obtain the requisite adjustability of the pulley of a blind-
rack, by means of an elastic band, attached to a book at the top of the rack, and
passed under a bar at the lower end of it, and, then brought up to another hook
fixed in the inside of a sliding strap, that carries the pulley, but found the tension
on the cord for raising and lowering the blind, varied, being greater when the
elastic band was extended, and less, when it was contracted, especially when the
elasticity of the band became impaired by use and age.
E is
The accompanying drawings illustrate the nature of my Invention. In figures
Nos 1. 2. 3 and 4 A is the sliding-pendant-weight, B the pulley, and C tho round,
grooved stud or knob, on the under side of which said pulley, or round grooved
knob, or stud, the cord D for raising and lowering the blind passes or runs.
the slot or aperture through which the screw or stud F is passed, The said screw
or stud, when fixed having the head of it projecting about a tenth part of an inch
from the sliding-pendant-weight, so that the said weight may slide upwards and
downwards freely.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
The method of maintaining at an uniform and a never varving state of tension

page_text: adjustability of the pulley (or of a round grooved stud or knob instead of the
pulley) on the under side of which, the lower part of the said cord passes or runs,
by suspending by the said cord a sliding-pendant-weight, having at the top or
other convenient part of it, the pulley (or a round grooved stud or knob instead of
the pulley) on the under side of which, the lower part of the said cord for raising
and lowering the blind passes or runs.-The said sliding-pendant-weight being so
placed that it can move upwards and downwards freely, and be kept in a vertical
or other necessary postion, by sliding against suitable studs or brackets fixed to the
window-frame or other convenient structure,