Patent ID: 6843302

Claim:
A shade operator comprising: (a) a support structure, a block secured to said support structure and a bushing secured to said support structure, said bushing having an inner cylindrical surface defining a longitudinal axis, (b) a helical spring coaxially located within the bushing and having a substantially cylindrical outer surface of such diameter as to be in contact with the inner surface of the bushing, the spring having a pair of opposite ends circumferentially movable relatively to each other selectively either to decrease or to tend to increase the diameter of the spring, (c) manually operable means for exerting a torque on the spring about said longitudinal axis and for simultaneously acting on a spring end to decrease the spring diameter and hence avoid frictional resistance by the bushing to rotation of the spring, and (d) means for connecting a shade roller to the spring to rotate therewith upon operation of the manually operable means, said connecting means further including means responsive to a torque from the roller for acting on a spring end to tend to increase the spring diameter to establish a frictional resistance by the bushing to rotation of the spring and hence of the connecting means, (e) wherein each spring end has a projection extending inwardly into a generally cylindrical cavity within the spring, the projections overlapping each other circumferentially to define a circumferentially extending space between them that also extends longitudinal of the spring, (f) said manually operable means including an integral projection shaped to engage one of the pair of projections of the spring.