IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER BLIND FURNITURE."
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles de Quillfeldt at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th May 1877.
CHARLES DE QUILLFELDT, of the City of New York, United States of America,
but at present residing at Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gentleman.
IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLER BLIND FURNITURE."
66
My Invention relates, first; to spring roller blinds, that is, to roller blinds in
which the blind, when released, is wound upon the roller by the action of a coiled
spring; and this part of my Invention consists of the construction and combination
of parts herein-after described. for retaining the blind at any required position and
for preventing the too rapid winding up of the said blind and the consequent injury
to the winding-up mechanism.
In constructing the retaining mechanism according to my Invention, I fix on one
end of the blind roller a recessed plate or hub, in the recesses of which plate or hub
two excentrically pivotted discs, arms, or pawls work freely upon their pivots. The
said excentric discs, arms, or pawls are enclosed by a cap fixed to the stationary
shaft or axis on which the blind roller turns. This cap has an internal, nearly
annular shoulder, against which the periphery of the recessed plate or hub bears.
The said annular shoulder is however cut away at one part of its circumference so
as to form a cam, recess, or brake, into which one of the excentrics, discs, arms, or
pawls on the blind roller may enter by turning upon its pivot. The said cam,
recess, or brake in the cap has a stop or shoulder at one end, but the opposite
end passes into the annular shoulder of the cap by a curve or incline without having
a stop.
The action of the mechanism is as follows:-On unwinding or pulling down the
blind the motion of the roller causes one or other of the discs, arms, or pawls on its
end to be thrown by centrifugal force into the cam or recess in the fixed cap, but
the said disc, arm, or pawl, by working against the curved or inclined end of the
said cam or recess, is pressed back again into the hub. When however the blind
is quickly released for rewinding it, the roller moves in the opposite direction, and
one of the discs, arms, or pawls is thrown out by centrifugal force and made to enter
the cam or recess in the fixed cap and bear against the stop or shouldered end of the
said cam or recess. The motion of the roller is thereby inmediately arrested and
the blind retained in the position to which it has been brought.

page_text: To wind up the blind partially or wholly, it is only necessary to permit the roller
to rotate slowly, whereby the pivotted discs, arms, or pawls are retained in their
recesses in the hub and the roller rotates without obstruction, and the blind may be
wound up.
My Invention consists further in applying the retaining mechanism herein-before
described to roller blinds in which the blind is wound upon the roller by the pulling
of a cord which had been wound upon a pulley by the pulling down of the blind.
In this arrangement, the pivotted arms or pawls are carried on the outer face of the
cord pulley, and the end of the bracket in which the axis of the roller turns is made
of a cap form to fit over the fixing arms or pawls, the said cap having within it the
cam or recess described with respect to the cap of the spring roller arrangement.
My Invention consists further in making the brackets in which blind rollers turn
or are supported with a middle spike, and providing the base plate of the bracket
with open ended slots.
The bracket is secured to the window frame by driving the spike into the said
frame, and the bracket is further fixed perpendicularly to the frame by driving
screws through the open ended slots in the base plate so as to cause the said base
plate to bear firmly against the window frame.