A New or Improved Attachment for use in connection with Venetian Blinds.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Oct., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 10th July, 1890-Accepted, 16th Aug., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Attachment for use in connection with Venetian
Blinds.
I, JOHN ANNAN BRYCE, of the Oxford and Cambridge University Club, Pall Mall,
London, S. W., Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention consists of a device for attachment to window sashes, or frames
for the purpose of preventing the lodging of the Venetian or other similar blind
on the ledge
or rail of the sash when the blind is lowered or the sash is raised.
The device constituting my invention is of such shape that it presents an inclined
plane or sliding surface to the lowest slab or bottom piece of the blind. Subject
to this the form may vary within wide limits. By means of a spring suitably
adapted to enable the inclined plane or sliding surface to give way slightly under
the pressure of the blind, both the blind and the device are relieved from shock, and a
throwing off action is gained.
The said spring may either be a separate spring added or it may be a part so
pent or arranged as to give a sufficient elasticity to the inclined plane or sliding
urface
f October 1889.
For the Applicant,
J. G. LORRAIN, M. Inst. M.E., M. Inst. E.E., &c.,
Norfolk House, Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C.,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Attachment for use in connection with Venetian
Blinds.
I, JOHN ANNAN BRYCE, of the Oxford and Cambridge University Club, Pall Mall,
London, S.W., Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
My invention consists of a device for attachment to window sashes or frames for the
purpose of preventing the lodging of the blind on the ledge or rail of the sash when
the blind is lowerd or the sash is raised.
The device constituting my invention is of such shape that it presents an inclined
plane or sliding surface to the lowest slat or bottom piece of the blind. Subject to
this the form may vary within wide limits. By means of a spring suitably adapted
to enable the inclined plane or sliding surface to give way slightly under the pressure
of the blind, both the blind and the device are relieved from shock, and a throwing off
action is gained.
The said spring may either be a separate spring added or it may be a part of the
device so bent or arranged as to give a sufficient elasticity to the inclined plane or
sliding surface.
Having thus described the nature of my invention in general terms and so shown
its scope I shall now proceed to show how I carry it into effect; and for that
purpose I shall refer to the accompanying drawings in which similar letters of reference
apply to similar or equivalent parts.
Figure 1 is an elevation of a part of a window with ordinary sliding sashes.
On the top rail A of the lower sash two of my attachments (of the form herein-
after described with reference to figures 2, 2a and 26) are fixed as shown
DD

page_text: Figures 2 and 2a illustrate respectively a front elevation and a side elevation, and
figure 26 a section through the line - of figure 2a, of one form of my attachment
which consists of two parts which I term respectively the slide and the base. The
slide (C in the figures) is the part which presents an inclined plane or sliding surface
to the bottom piece of the blind. The base (D in the figures) is the part by which the
attachment is fixed to the rail of the sash. This form of my invention 1 generally
construct of sheet brass the slide being dished as shown in figure 26 for the purpose of
lessening the friction between the bottom piece of the blind and the said slide.
Figures 3 and 3a show in front and side elevation respectively another form of my
attachment which differs from the form previously described in that the base is at an
acute angle with the slide instead of being at an obtuse angle thereto. In this form
of my attachment the base is affixed to the upper surface of the sash rail instead of to
the front surface thereof as is the case in figures 2 and 2a.
Figures 4 and 4a illustrate in front and side elevation respectively a third form of
my invention which I also preferably construct from sheet brass and which is also, like
the form shown in figures 3 and 3a, affixed in practice to the upper surface of the sash
rail. Figure 46 is a vertical section through the line y-y as seen from behind and
figure 4c a plan section through the line -. In this form of my invention it will be
seen that the slide C is attached to the base D by means of a web E, the whole
being bent from a piece of sheet brass and the slide dished as in the two forms
previously described.
Figures 5 and 5a illustrate in side elevation and plan respectively a fourth form of
my invention, this form differing from those previously described mainly in the fact
that instead of being made from sheet metal it is made from wire, preferably brass
wire, bent into shape. It will be seen that the end of the piece of wire forming the
base is bent into a loop for the purpose of affixing the attachment to the upper part of
a sash rail by means of a screw.
Figures 6 and 6a show in side elevation and plan respectively a fifth form of my
invention which differs from that shown in figures 5 and 5a chiefly in that the upper
end of the wire is continued downwards in the form of a tail-piece F whose end
rests upon the sash rail. In some cases I bend the end of this tail-piece into a
loop and attach it to the sash rail by means of a screw passing through it in the
same way as in the case of the loop in the base.
Figures 7, 7a and 76 show in front elevation, side elevation and plan respectively
a sixth form of my invention. This form is practically a duplication of the form
shown in figures 5 and 5a and it will be most easily understood by assuming that
two of the forms of my invention shown in figure 5 are placed side by side and their
free extremities c (figure 5) connected by a cross continuation c² (figure 7).
Referring again to figures 2 and 3 it will be seen that it depends upon the thick-
ness of the sheet metal employed whether there is sufficient spring to produce the
throwing-off action hereinbefore mentioned. Thus if the metal be thick and rigid the
slide will not yield under the pressure of the blind but if the metal be thin, and elastic
as hard rolled brass is, then there will be a spring or yielding motion at the angle
between the base and the slide which will enable the slide to give way slightly under
the pressure of the blind and produce the throwing-off action hereinbefore mentioned
so as to relieve the blind from any unnecessary shock.
In the form shown in figures 4, 4a, 46 and 4c it will be seen that the web E is
placed in an inclined direction connecting the left hand edge of C with the right
hand edge of D this zigzag form being given to the attachment for the purpose of
increasing the spring or yielding action of the slide. It will be readily understood
that if the web E were vertical instead of being inclined, that is to say if it con-
nected the left edge of C with the left edge of D or the right edge of C with
the right edge of D, there would be a deficiency of this spring or yielding
action.
In figures 5 and 7 it will be seen that the amount of spring will depend upon the
thickness and rigidity of the wire.
In figure 6 it will be seen that the amount of spring will depend not only upon

page_text: the thickness or rigidity of the wire but also upon the fact of the tail piece being free
or affixed to the sash rail.
The action of my invention is as follows. Two of my attachments having been
affixed to the upper rail of the lower sash of a window in connection with which a
Venetian or vertically moving blind is used, it will be seen that when the said blind
is lowered, or the lower sash raised, the lower part of the blind, instead of bulging
forward and then dropping away with a crash entailing probable damage, will
glide gently down the slides of the two attachments and come to rest without
shock.
Of the sheet metal forms shown I prefer that illustrated in figure 3 as the blind
on being pulled up is not so likely to catch on its base as on the base of the form
shown in figure 2 whilst as compared with the form shown in figure 4 it (the form
shown in figure 3) has the advantage of simplicity. Of the wire forms I prefer that
shown in figure 7 but with the free end continued downwards in the form of a tail-.
piece so that in side elevation it appears like figure 5-it being in fact a duplication
of the form shown in figure 6 just as the form shown in figure 7 is a duplication of
that shown in figure 5.
The forms which I have hereinbefore described are those which I have found to
give good results in practice but it will be readily understood that the form of my
invention as well as the material of which it is constructed may be varied to an
indefinite extent.
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 1
claim is
Dated this 10th day of July 1890.
J. G. LORRAIN, M.I.E.E., M.I.M.E.
Agent for Applicant.
J. G. LORRAIN, M.I.E.E., M.I.M.E.
Agent for Applicant.