Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Fabric fastening means – To elongated element
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-13
2001-02-20
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Fabric fastening means
To elongated element
C160S330000, C024S716000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189597
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an arrangement for hanging a curtain to a supporting rod, and more particularly to a hanger ring assembly adapted for mounting a curtain onto a supporting rod.
2. Description of Related Arts
Curtains and the like such as drapes and portieres are common used for sheltering windows, shower areas, separating spaces, and etc. Most of the curtains are hanged by supporting rods or rod-like elements, each of which is solid or hollow elongated object having a uniform cross section. Curtains can be made of flexible sheet materials such as plastic or resin. Woven fabric or the like, or non-woven fabric or the like, or water resistant paper, or sheet metal, or woven metal strands or rods are other commonly known materials for making curtains.
The conventional methods of mounting a curtain onto a supporting rod include hook or clip method and ring method. If the two ends of the supporting rod are permanently affixed to two opposite walls, a plurality of J-shaped or S-shaped hook members are spacedly connected along a top edge of the curtain for hooking onto the supporting rod, or alternatively, a plurality of clip members are penetrated into the curtain for attaching directly to the supporting rod or to rings attached to the supporting rod.
If the supporting rod is supported between the two opposite walls in a detachable manner, a plurality of hanger rings are spacedly affixed along the top edge of the curtain, wherein the user must penetrate the supporting rod through the hanger rings before mounting the supporting rod between the two walls, so that the curtain is hanged up by the supporting rod. Also, in order to replace the curtain, the user must take down the supporting rod that causes a lot of trouble and time.
In order to rapidly mount a curtain onto a rod, U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,232 suggests communication between the openings in each pair of openings which are spacedly provided along a top edge of the curtain. The communication, in fact, contains an open path, such as a cut, between the two openings in a pair which enables the engagement of the curtain onto the rod directly without the need of the additional hook or clip members nor the need of taking down the rod. In other words, when mounting the curtain on the rod, the portion of the curtain between the pairs of openings in each pair are pushed to the other side of the rod by passing the rod through the cuts.
However, the plurality of cuts formed on the curtain largely weakens the material strength of the curtain and reduce the service life span of the curtain. Due to the weight of the curtain itself when it is hanged down, the curtain will be torn at the junctions of the cuts and openings. Moreover, when the user pulls the curtain mounted on the rod while spreading or gathering the curtain, a relatively large pulling force will be applied to the curtain that may easily pull pair of openings detaching from the rod through the respective cut extended between pair of openings. Also, the plurality of cuts provided between pairs of openings also render the spreading or gathering operation of the curtain along the rod becoming difficult because the pulling force applied to the curtain will not be evenly distributed around the rings. The junctions of the cuts and the openings will also cause resistance when moving the curtain along the rod. Besides, the appearance and the design of the curtain will be adversely affected by the existence of cuts thereon.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
Accordingly, it is a main object of the present invention to provide a hanger ring assembly for curtain that not only enables the curtain to be directly mounted onto a supporting rod without the need of additional hook or clip members nor the need of taking down the rod, but also prevents any cuts between the hanger openings on the curtain.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hanger ring assembly for curtain, which enables the mounting of the curtain onto the supporting rod being a lot faster and easier. For example, an adult may hang up a shower curtain according to the present invention within 12 seconds.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hanger ring assembly for curtain, wherein since no cut is provided between the hanger openings of the curtain, the appearance and design of the curtain can be perfectly reserved.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hanger ring assembly for curtain, wherein when each pair of the hanger rings of the hanger unit is assembled, no gap, slit or cut is formed, so that the weight of the hanging curtain will be evenly distributed around the hanger openings, so as to enable smooth spreading or gathering movement of the curtain when a pulling force is applied thereto.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hanger ring assembly for curtain, wherein each of the hanger units may consist of a pair of hanger ring and engagement ring respectively and coaxially connected to both sides of the hanger openings of the curtain so as to provide a more rigid and durable structure to support the curtain onto the supporting rod.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hanger ring assembly for curtain, wherein by eliminating the conventional hook or clip members, it not only can reduce its manufacturing cost, but also can provide a more neat appearance.
In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a curtain with a hanger ring assembly for mounting onto a supporting rod, comprising
a sheet material, which has a top edge, a plurality of opening portions spacedly formed along the top edge, a plurality of hanger openings provided on the opening portions respectively, and a plurality of edge gap each extending from the top edge to an upper portion of the respective hanger opening, wherein each of the opening portions defines a section of connecting tab adjacent to the respective edge gap; and
a plurality of hanger units each comprising:
a hanger ring which has a ring slit separating two ends thereof and defines a section of ring tab adjacent to the ring slit, wherein each of the hanger rings is attached to one side of the respective opening portion and coaxially extended around the respective hanger opening with the ring slit of the respective hanger ring staggering with the edge gap of the respective opening portion, wherein the connecting tabs of the opening portions of the sheet material are detachably overlapped with the ring tabs of the hanger rings respectively, adapted for enabling the hanger rings mounting onto the supporting rod through the ring slit and the edge gaps respectively; and
means for selectively connecting each of the ring tabs with the respective connecting tab.
In order to better reinforce the hanger rings to support the sheet material onto the supporting rod, each of the hanger units further comprises an engagement ring which has an end slit separating two ends thereof, wherein the engagement rings are respectively attached on another sides of the opening portions and coaxially aligned with the hanger rings respectively with the end slits thereof respectively aligned with the edge gaps of the opening portions of the sheet material so as to reinforce and better support the hanger openings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3118207 (1964-01-01), Breslow
patent: 3388734 (1968-06-01), Silvestre
patent: 4031943 (1977-06-01), Silvestre
patent: 6006406 (1999-12-01), Chung
Chan Raymond Y.
David and Raymond
Stodola Daniel P.
Thompson Hugh B.
LandOfFree
Hanger ring assembly for curtain does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Hanger ring assembly for curtain, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Hanger ring assembly for curtain will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2578103