Improvements in Blind Furniture.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 24th July, 1886.
Complete Left, 23rd Apr., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 27th May, 1887.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Blind Furniture.
I, HENRY PHILIP HOGHTON of 40 William Street Cheetham Hill Manchester
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to blind furniture that is to say to the fittings whereby
blinds are raised and lowered and are held or retained in adjusted position. According
to my Invention the blind is held by the action of a spring or weight in pressing
the periphery of a pulley disc or cylinder or part on the roller against friction
surfaces, the pulley or disc being released self-actingly when the parts are acted
upon to raise or lower the blind. I mount a blind roller in such a manner as that
the gudgeon at one end or at each end has a little upward and downward play.
in the bearing or otherwise the bearing has play in a fitting. In some cases a spring
or weight is applied to raise the roller end and when so raised the periphery of the
cord pulley or of a flange or disc upon the roller end or the cord upon the pulley
comes into contact with a fixed brake or chock which resists the tendency for the
roller to be turned by the weight of the blind or by the action of the spring in
the cases of spring blinds. I prefer to make this brake in the form of two surfaces
a little inclined from the parallel so that a slight force is sufficient to make the part
say for example a cord pulley hold in the chock so as to keep the blind from running
down or from being wound up by spring action as the case may be. The blind may
be raised and lowered by means of a simple cord which winds upon the pulley
when the blind is lowered or by means of an endless cord. When a tension is put
upon the cord the pulley is drawn away from the brake sufficiently to permit
of the rotation of the roller. The cord or appliances for rotating the roller or for
raising and lowering the blind may be arranged in several ways without departing
from my invention. An endless cord may pass over pulloys mounted at a higher

page_text: level than the blind roller in which case the pulley or other contact part upon the
roller is raised out of contact with the brake and is lowered into contact therewith.
In some cases and particularly in the cases of comparatively small or short blinds
I provide each end of the roller with a cord pulley to which one end of a cord
is attached. The other end of the cord passes round a bottom pulley and is attached
to the lath or bottom bar of the blind. In this arrangement it is only necessary
to push upward or draw downward the said bottom lath or bar. In the cases
of blinds which are not wound upon rollers the actuating cord or cords is or are
passed round a pulley or pulleys which is or are chocked or braked in the same
manner as the pullies upon the blind rollers the cord being passed ono or more times
around the holding pulley or the latter being so formed as to grip the cord so that
the weight of the blind is sustained when the pulley is prevented from revolving.
Dated this 23rd day of July 1886.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.
I HENRY PHILIP HOGHTON of 40 William Street Cheetham Hill Manchester in
the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying drawings:
My Invention relates to blind furniture that is to say to the fittings whereby
blinds are raised and lowered and are held or retained in adjusted positions.
According to my invention the blind is held by the action of a spring or weight
in pressing the periphery of a pulley disc or cylinder or part on the roller against
friction surfaces the pulley or disc being relieved self-actingly when the parts are
acted upon to raise or lower the blind. I mount a blind roller in such a manner
as that the gudgeon at one end or at each end has a little upward and downward
play in the bearing or otherwise the bearing has play in a fitting. In some cases
a spring or weight is applied to raise the roller end and when so raised the periphery
of the cord pulley or of a flange or disc upon the roller end or the cord upon the
pulley comes into contact with a fixed brake or chock which resists the tendency
for the roller to be turned by the weight of the blind or by the action of the spring

page_text: may
in the cases of spring blinds. I prefer to make this brake in the form of two
surfaces a little inclined from the parallel so that a slight force is sufficient to make
the part say for example a cord pulley hold in the chock so as to keep the blind
from running down or from being wound up by spring action as the case may be.
The blind be raised and lowered by means of a simple cord which winds upon
the pulley when the blind is lowered or by means of an endless cord. When a
tension is put upon the cord the pulley is drawn away from the brake sufficiently
to permit of the rotation of the roller. In the cases of blinds which are not wound
upon rollers the actuating cord or cords is or are passed round a pully or pullies
which is or are chocked or braked in the same manner as the pullies upon the
'blind rollers.
In order that my invention may be fully understood I will describe the same
with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate
an arrangement designed for application more particularly to carriage blinds.
Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate the application of my invention to ordinary roller blinds.
Fig. 4 illustrates a modification in the same.
Fig. 5 illustrates the application of my invention to venetian blinds.
In Figs. 1 and 2, a represents a portion of a blind which is partly wound upon
a roller at one end of this roller only appearing for want of space but it must
be understood that the other end of the roller is provided with parts which are
duplicates of those which appear in the drawings. An end view of the roller appears
in Fig. 2. Upon the end of the roller is fixed a cord pulley c which in the example
is formed with a voluto groove of a width to suit the cord d. One end of the said
cord is attached to the pulley c at the point of its largest diameter and the other
end of the cord is attached to the bottom lathe of the blind the bight of the cord
passing partly around a carrier pulley f. In the example the last named pulley
is fixed upon a
light shaft g on which is also fixed the corresponding pulley at
the other side of the blind so that the two pullies revolve in unison but in some cases
the two pullies would be fixed upon two independent shafts or be mounted to revolve
upon studs carried by suitable fittings attached to the window frame. The shaft
g
is mounted with its ends in bearings or slots in suitable plates or fixings and is
or may be pressed downward by means of springs or weights so that the cord is
maintained at a suitable tension. The intention in making the pulley c of a volute
form is to obtain that the said cord shall be wound or unwound at the same rato
of speed as the blind so that the carrier pulley f is not raised or lowered to an
important extent. To ensure this I make the volute pulley of such proportions
as that the difference in radius between the two ends of one complete turn around
the pulley shall be equal to the thickness of the blind. I have adopted this form
of pulley for the reasons set forth but I do not make any claim in respect of it and
if preferred a cylindrical pulley may be used. Upon the pulley c is formed or fixed
a flange c which preferably turned. The gudgeon upon the roller or pulley end
works in a bearing piece h which is drawn upward by means of a spring h¹. A
fixing applied at each side of the window is formed with two surfaces which are
a little inclined from the parallel as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The flange c¹ is drawn
by the spring into contact with these surfaces whereby the said flange is chocked
or braked so that it cannot be turned by the weight of the blind acting upon the
roller. As both ends of the roller are similarly braked the blind roller is held very
firmly. To raise or lower the blind it is only necessary to apply the hand to
the bottom of the blind and to push the same upward or to draw the same downward
as the case may be. In the one case by drawing downward the blind the flange c
is drawn downward so as to be released from forcible contact with the chocki i and
the blind roller is then free to revolve. In the other case the bottom lathe acts upon
the cords d which draw downward the roller ends. Although I have described the
blind roller as being braked at both ends this is not always desirable and in some
cases the chock i i would be applied only at one end of the roller. In Fig. 3 the
blind roller is provided with a pulley upon which the cord winds when the blind

page_text: is drawn downward or a pulley adapted to grip an endless cord may be used. The
pulley is formed with a flange c which is drawn by means of a spring into a chock
as in the case of the example first described. The blind is drawn downward by
acting directly upon the bottom of the blind and is raised by pulling the cord,
the flange being released from the chock in both cases. The roller may be provided
with a spring action of an ordinary or suitable construction the spring tending
to wind up the blind. In such cases the cord and the cord pulley are dispensed with
the flange c¹ being retained.
Fig. 4 illustrates a modification. In this example the vertical position of the
.chock is reversed and the flange c¹ is lowered into contact with the faces i. i. the
weight of the roller and blind furnishing the requisite contact pressure, so that
a spring or springs such as his or are not required. In such a case the roller must
be raised to relieve the flange c¹ and therefore I pass the cord d over a carrier pulley j.
The lath is preferably made heavy enough to lower the blind when it is at
the top or a cord may be used for this purpose. In Fig. 5 k k represent two
ordinary venetian blind pulleys over which pass the cords whereby the blind
is raised or lowered as is usual. I apply a pulley m which is provided with a chock i i
which breaks a flange upon the pulley as in the examples already described. To
prevent the cords from slipping upon the pulley m the said cords are caused to take
two or more turns around the pulloy according to the weight of the blind or the
pulley is formed with grooves into which the cords wedge themselves or is otherwise
formed to grip the cord so that the blind is sustained when the pulley is prevented
from revolving. I do not confine myself to the particular formation of the chock
or brake as the same may be varied so long as the raising and loworing of the pulley
or of a flange or circular part of or upon the blind roller effects the braking and
releasing or releasing and braking of the said pulley or flange. By way of examplo
the flange c¹ might be braked by frictional contact with a single curved surface
which might or might not be covered with elastic material or the said flange might
be serrated and be held by a serrated surface by a fixed detent.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
(1) The blind furniture substantially as and for the purposes set forth and indicated
hereinbefore and in the accompanying drawings.
(2) In furniture or fittings for use in connection with blind rollers a chock
or brake piece with which a flange or collar upon the blind roller is in contact when
the blind is at rest and from which the said flange or collar is released when the
blind or blind cord is acted upon to raise or lower the blind substantially as set forth
and indicated.
(3) As a brake to prevent the turning of a blind roller the two surfaces i i forming
a chock into which the roller pulley or a flange thereon is pressed by a spring
or by the weight of the parts substantially as and for the purpose set forth and
indicated.
(4) As parts of the furniture of venetian blinds or of other blinds which are not
wound upon rollers the chock ii in connection with the flanged pulley m the parts
being arranged and acting substantially as set forth and indicated.
DE: 001d...
A1 1007
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.