IMPROVEMENTS IN CURTAIN, BLIND, AND OTHER ROLLERS, AND IN FIXTURES AND OTHER APPLIANCES FOR THE SAME A communication
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederick William Brownlow at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th March 1879. A com-
munication from abroad by George March and Charles Cushman, of Boston,
Massachusetts, in the United States of America.
FREDERICK WILLIAM BROWNLOW, of the Firm of F. W. Brownlow & Co., of the
City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN CURTAIN,
BLIND, AND OTHER ROLLERS, AND IN FIXTURES AND OTHER APPLIANCES FOR THE
SAME A communication from abroad by George March and Charles Cushman, of
Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of America.
"
This Invention relates to that class of blind or curtain fixture in which a coiled
spring located in the roller is employed to raise and sustain the curtain or window
blind, and the object is, first, to produce a spring balance curtain roller with the
spring in a case or chamber at one end, or forming a continuation of the curtain
roller, and occupying as little length as practicable so as not to interfere with the
nailing of the curtain or shade to the roller (the same as if it were entirely of solid
wood), or the cutting the same to suit the varying widths of window, and at the
same time to secure sufficient length of spring to dispense with gearing.
This purpose is accomplished by means of an improved spring formed of
re-doubled series of spirals or coils concentric or one within another, and secured to
the shaft or spindle upon which the roller turns. Each of these concentric series is
formed of as many turns of the wire, or by preference flat steel ribbon of which it
is made, as may be required. The successive series of spirals or coils are connected
first at one end and then at the other end of the spring. It will be obvious that in
effect this improved construction of spring is equivalent to a spring of a single
spiral series as long as all of these concentric spiral series together, and hence by
this arrangement the spring is enabled to be shortened as many times as there are
concentric series of spirals or coils, so occupying the smallest possible compass,
which is its great excellency.
A further improvement in the spring consists in making the re-doublings or layers
of the same successively shorter from the inner to the outer, that is, each preceding
outer layer being one coil shorter at each end than the next succeeding inner layer.

page_text: This construction gives greater steadiness to the spring, and greater uniformity to
its action, whilst it also affords facilities for applying an improved construction of
brake, which, working in conjunction with the spring, effectually overcomes a
difficulty in working all balance spring fixtures, namely, that the spring is not the
same in its action when the shade or blind is nearly wound up as when drawn down,
being generally strongest in proportion when the shade is drawn down.
This brake consists of an elastic washer located at the outer end of the spring so
as to bear against the end of the said spring with an adjustable force in order to
restrain and control the spring after the shade is raised or lowered, and prevent its
drawing the same out of position if too strong, or letting it down too low if too weak
to fully sustain the same. This brake is centred upon the shaft or spindle of the
roller on which it slides. It has a metallic holder or case at its outer end and a
washer of leather or other comparatively soft frictional material for the end of the
inner layer of the spring to bear against, and a metallic washer next to the former
to give strength and firmness. Between the said washers and the holder before
mentioned a block of india-rubber or equivalent spring is introduced.
A screw
turns in a screw thread formed in one side of the holder, and extends through a
hole in the end of the ferrule of the fixture far enough to be reached by a screw
driver. By turning this screw one way the brake is driven inward and bears with
increased force and friction against the spring, and by turning it the other way
the force and friction are diminished, and thus the action of the brake is easily
adjusted.
An improvement in the construction of the shade or blind sticks consists in
loading them with lead or other heavy material, and which is effected by cutting a
deep groove in the upper edge of such sticks of sufficient thickness to just receive
the thickness of the strip of lead or other weighty material which is placed therein,
and remains secure without liability to work out of place.
This Invention further consists in the employment of felt for the bearings or
journals of blind rollers, in order principally to produce the necessary friction and
to obviate the creaking noise which takes place when such journals or bearings are
made of wood or metal. This felt may be used either as a bearing or as a journal,
I find it convenient to use a felt journal at the spring end of the roller, and a felt
bearing in the bracket at the other end of the roller. This bearing takes the form
of a ring or bushing, secured inside of the bracket case by shellac or equivalent
means. In order to command a frictional surface of sufficient extent I use roller
journals considerably larger than those ordinarily used for spring balance fixtures,
and in order to securely attach the felt journal to the pivot shaft or rod, which is
much smaller in diameter than the journal is designed to be, and to avoid the
necessity of making the pivot any larger in diameter than required to fulfil its own
functions, I securely cast a soft metal enlargement thereon, the periphery of which
has notches or wings to receive the felt previously cut into corresponding form to
fit over the same. A friction brake may be employed and caused to press upon the
outer surface of the felt bushing in the bracket of the roller so as to present no
bearing surface except of felt to the roller, the brake lever in this case being
mounted on the same bracket and provided with a cord or wire extending down-
wards and terminating in a ring, knob, or tassel to operate it by.
Another feature of my Invention consists in the employment of a peculiar locking
device attached to the spring end of the roller, so constructed and operating as to
hold or lock the pivot shaft from turning, and consequently to prevent the uncoiling
of the spring when the shaft is taken out of its bracket. This locking attachment
consists of a simple latch pivotted to the roller cap and provided with a knob or
projection to seize and move it by, and having a notch which fits over a flattened
or squared portion of the pivot shaft so as to hold the same from turning when the
latch is slipped over it so as to embrace the same. The peculiar form of this notch
is such that when the pivot shaft enters it, and is turned therein by the force of the
spring in the roller as far as it can be, the said latch will not unlock until the pivot

page_text: is again inserted into the bearing of the bracket, which takes the torsional force of
the spring and thereby again leaves the lock latch free to be raised from the pivot.
A notch is also formed in, or double shoulders upon the pivot, so as to embrace the
bracket and prevent all play or movement of the roller endwise.
Another feature of the said Invention consists in a self-acting ratchet device in
connection with a spring actuated curtain roller, and in so arranging the fixture
that either the said self acting ratchet device may be employed as such, or may be
inactive, and allow it to operate as a simple spring balance fixture with a weighted
slat or tassel according to preference. The self-acting ratchet fixture is constructed
with a notched inner periphery or ratchet, formed on a projecting flange of the
roller cap, into which ratchet takes a detent or pawl pivoted to a fixed projection
on the spindle, or which may be mounted on the bracket; the said detent being
so arranged as to fall by its own weight into the notches of the ratchet, and hold
the roller from winding up the shade, and so that a slight lifting thereof will
disengage it from the ratchet. Below this detent is situated a lifter pivoted upon
the roller bracket, in such a way that on raising its main arm the said detent is
lifted out of the ratchet. Another arm of the lifter terminates in a rod or wire
which extends downwards, and laterally so as to be suspended or held in position
close in front of the shade or blind, in order that when the same is pulled outward
a little it pushes forward the rod or wire, and thereby through the lifter lifts the
detent away from the ratchet and allows the spring roller to wind up the shade or
blind which it will continue to do whilst the same is thus held forward, but the
detent immediately descends and engages with the ratchet the moment that the
shade is allowed to drop into its natural suspended position.
To change this ratchet fixture into a simple balance fixture the spindle of the
roller is turned half way round in the bracket, thereby turning the pawl over so as
always to swing away from the ratchet as long as the roller remains mounted in
the brackets, but upon the removal of the roller therefrom the pawl is caused by
centrifugal action to at once engage with the ratchet in the same manner as if
impelled by gravity, and thus prevents the roller spring from unwinding. It is
sometimes found advantageous to enlarge the bearing of rollers, and to make the
same of some soft metal working against pivot projections on the brackets, and
thus produce sufficient friction to hold the shade stationary when once at rest, and
yet to offer no inconvenient resistance whilst the shade is in motion. A tubular
bearing extending from the adjacent roller cap inwards between the coils or layers
of a redoubled layer spring serves to relieve the other layers of the said spring
from pressure, and prevents the grating and disagreeable noise which otherwise
takes place by the coils rubbing one against the other.
Further, this Invention consists in an improved device for automatically insuring
the insertion of the spindle into the bracket, so that the spring locking pawl will
gravitate away from the locking stops or ratchet teeth on the roller as long as the
curtain roller remains mounted in the brackets, but when the roller is removed
from the bracket the pawl is thrown by centrifugal force against one of the stops to
keep the spindle from unwinding. This device has four combining elements;
a centrifugal locking pawl or catch mounted on the spindle, which carries the
spring of the curtain roller; locking stops or their equivalent, such as ratchet
teeth, against which the pawl catches to prevent the uncoiling of the spring; and
two co-operating projections one upon the spindle and the other upon the bracket,
the former arranged to strike the latter, and thereby prevent the insertion of the
spindle into the bracket notch, except when the said spindle is right side up to
bring the pawl into a self gravitating position for keeping it out of contact with
the stops on the roller. A modification of this arrangement consists in having a
ratchet formed on the periphery of a hub or projecting tube upon the roller close
to the spindle, and in having the pawl made with two arms, the inner arm taking
into the notches of the ratchet, and the other arm being long and heavy enough to
lift the inner arm out of the ratchet notches by its gravity, and to cause the said
inner arm to engage with the ratchet by its centrifugal action.

page_text: Lastly. This Invention relates to an improved construction of bracket for
supporting a series of rollers for exhibiting maps, diagrams, or other delineations
so as to occupy little space, and to bring each and all the maps into the same
vertical plane as near as possible, and consists in arranging the bearings of the
rollers in the brackets one above another, but each adjacent bearing being set a
little further back, say from the back of the bracket, than the preceeding one, or
vice versa.