Patent ID: 7255150

Claim:
A venetian blind comprising: a headrail; a storage rail disposed under said headrail and having two ends, a pair of front and rear sidewalls connected fixedly to each other, and an upper end opening formed in said storage rail between said ends and between said front and rear sidewalls, each of said front and rear sidewalls having an outer surface that is formed with a horizontal rib; a covering unit disposed between said headrail and said storage rail and including a plurality of slats, and at least two ladder cords suspended from said headrail and interconnecting said slats, lowermost ones of said slats being received within said storage rail; and at least one flexible retainer configured as an inverted U-shaped plate that includes a pair of front and rear retaining-plate portions, each of said front and rear retaining-plate portions having an inner surface that is formed with a horizontal slot which has two open ends, said ribs of said front and rear sidewalls of said storage rail engaging respectively said slots in said front and rear retaining-plate portions of said retainer so as to retain said retainer on said storage rail, said retainer bridging said front and rear sidewalls of said storage rail so as to cover a portion of said upper end opening in said storage rail, thereby preventing removal of said lowermost ones of said slats from said storage rail through said upper end opening in said storage rail, said retainer being removable forcibly and upwardly relative to said storage rail so as to allow for the removal of said lowermost ones of said slats from said storage rail through said upper end opening in said storage rail.