Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Roll type – With guides or fabric edge holders
Patent
1993-11-23
1996-06-18
Johnson, Blair M.
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Roll type
With guides or fabric edge holders
1602731, E06B 917
Patent
active
055268650
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention concerns a device for closing a bay, separating off a room or covering a swimming pool, silo etc., comprising a blind which can be wound around a winding axis with flexible lateral edges held in position in guide tracks during winding and unwinding of said blind.
Especially for blinds with a relatively large area, when such blinds are unwound to cover a bay, for example, the pressure acting essentially perpendicular to one of its surfaces can be relatively large, in particular for blinds exposed to the wind.
As a consequence, in the known closing devices of this type, the guide tracks in which the edges of the blind move and are held, can be subjected to very uneven forces from one side of the blind, as opposed to the other side of said blind. It may even happen that all the forces exerted by the above-mentioned edges may be concentrated on a single side of the blind, thus creating torsion on certain parts of said guide tracks, resulting in irregular wear both of the guide tracks and of the edges of the blind, and moreover a greater risk of said edges suddenly coming free of the guide tracks and damaging them as a result.
Another not inconsiderable disadvantage of closing devices of certain dimensions is fitting the blind, which generally requires laborious preparation by specialized workers to ensure that the edges of the blind slide with controlled friction in the guide tracks, that winding and unwinding are uniform, and that the blind is perfectly plane in its unwound position. The main aim of the invention is to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages, in an extremely simple but very effective way.
To this end, according to the invention, the above-mentioned guide tracks are mounted on a support in an elastic manner and/or pivoting about an axis essentially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said guide tracks, such that said lateral edges can be held in the guide tracks during displacement of said guide tracks in relation to the support.
Advantageously, the guide tracks are mounted by elastic means on the support, such that they can undergo a displacement in the direction of the blind when a force is exerted on the latter.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, the guide tracks are mounted on rods extending essentially vertically to the longitudinal axis of said guide tracks and mounted with a certain amount of play in holes in the surface of the support, the elastic means comprising a helical spring slid over the above-mentioned rod, on the side of this surface opposite the guide tracks, pushing against said surface.
Other details and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description, given by way of example only, without being limitative, of several embodiments of the invention, with reference to the attached drawings, where:
FIG. 1 is an elevation, with partial break lines, of a first embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a section along line II--II in FIG. 1, to a greater scale.
FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a horizontal section of this embodiment, showing the position of the device under the action of a horizontal force acting on the blind.
FIG. 4 is a cross section, analogous to that in FIG. 2, of a second embodiment of the device according to the invention.
FIG. 5 is also a cross section, analogous to that in FIG. 2, of a third embodiment of the device according to the invention.
In the different figures, the same reference numbers refer to the same or analogous elements.
The embodiment of the closing device according to the invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, comprises a blind 1 which can be wound around a winding axis (not shown), e.g. for closing off a bay, such as a garage, workshop or hangar entrance, or as a room partition, or as a cover for swimming pool, silo etc.
This blind 1 has lateral flexible edges 2 which project from the plane of the blind and are held sliding in the guide tracks 3, said guide tracks being located laterally on either side of e.g. the bay to be closed off.
The device is essentially characterized in that
REFERENCES:
patent: 1632742 (1927-06-01), Minard
patent: 1736432 (1929-11-01), Dixson
patent: 1840454 (1932-01-01), Kennedy
patent: 5131450 (1992-07-01), Lichy
Dynaco International
Johnson Blair M.
LandOfFree
Closing, separating or covering device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Closing, separating or covering device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Closing, separating or covering device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-216994