Patent ID: 8601745

Claim:
A mountable operator for positioning a hinged movable sash of a window, comprising: a drive assembly mountable to a frame of the window and having: an extendable and retractable drive chain coupleable to a movable sash of the window such that extending and retracting the drive chain moves the movable sash relative to the frame of the window, and a sprocket for engaging the drive chain such that the rotation of the sprocket extends and retracts the drive chain; a drive shaft insertable into the drive assembly after the drive assembly is mounted to the frame of the window to operably engage the sprocket, wherein the rotation of the drive shaft rotates the sprocket to extend and retract the drive chain; and a drive shaft retainer mountable to the drive assembly for receiving and selectively engaging the drive shaft inserted into the drive assembly, wherein the drive shaft retainer assembly defines an aperture for receiving the drive shaft after insertion of the drive shaft into the drive assembly such that the drive shaft retainer assembly rotatably engages the drive shaft to prevent the drive shaft from being withdrawn from the drive assembly; and the drive shaft retainer having at least one removable fastener that releasably mounts the drive shaft retainer assembly to the operator, wherein removing the removable fastener releases the drive shaft retainer assembly from the operator thereby releasing the drive shaft from the drive assembly such that the drive shaft can be withdrawn from the operator.