Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Plural strip – slat – or panel type – With mounting or supporting means
Reexamination Certificate
1997-07-31
2001-01-23
Johnson, Blair M. (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Plural strip, slat, or panel type
With mounting or supporting means
C160S036000, C160S201000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06176291
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a motor-driven shutter, its novel characteristics affecting the means that allow the shutter to be motor driven, the shutter assembly box and the coupling means between the slats which compose the shutter itself.
The object of the invention is to provide a reversible shutter (which can be cleaned from the same side, in view that, depending on the direction of the movement, the shutter discloses one surface or the other) that is driven by a motor and which furthermore may be installed as a single-block assembly inside the built-in box through the use of appropriate mounting means.
The shutter being advocated is based on a reversible type of unit mounted between plates provided at the ends of the shutter winding or concealment box, the shutter slats incorporating at the ends thereof parts fitted with cylindrical appendices which emerge laterally, spaced between each other through an appropriate gap so that pinion teeth are inserted between said appendices which, upon rotating, draw on said parts and cause the slats to move, being particular in that said appendices fitted at the ends of the slats extend and are guided along labyrinthine channels provided for that purpose at the inner faces of the end plates fixed at the ends of the box. Said labyrinthine shutter slat guiding/sliding channels comprise an entry and an exit which, at the bottom, converge in a common channel fitted as a continuation of the channel provided at each side of the window hollow for guiding the shutter while it is being winded (opening the shutter) or unwinded (closing the shutter).
The type of shutter described is intended and conceived for manual operation; that is to say, through a corresponding belt which causes the rotation of an axis on which a crown is fitted which engages pinions on whose axes are mounted, at the other side of the plate, the pinions which draw the slats.
This type of reversible shutter is composed of hollow slats of a rectangular section, additional coupling means being provided at the ends or upper and lower edges thereof, said coupling means being constituted by an extension in the form of a hook fitted onto one edge or end, and a straight channel of a rectangular section fitted at the opposite edge for the entry and coupling of the hook.
The shutter built around this type of slat presents certain drawbacks from the standpoint of the darkening function, namely that an efficient closure cannot be achieved in order to prevent the passage of light. Furthermore, the configuration of the coupling means provides poor or improper operation because of the deficient accommodation between said coupling means as a result of the labyrinthine path which produces continuous changes in the trajectory of the movement.
To the above problems and inconveniences must be added the difficulty involved in mounting the shutter, with all its components, inside the corresponding box.
Based on said reversible shutter concept, this application claims, in a first aspect, improvements designed to achieve motorized operation of the shutter, i.e. that it be motor driven.
Toward this end, it is foreseen that the crown which causes the pinions to rotate be mounted on a tubular axis of a polygonal section which is made to rotate by means of a cylindrical motor located inside it, the rotation of said tubular axis, and consequently of the crown mounted on it, being transmitted to the pinions on whose axes are in turn mounted the slat-drawing pinions. Transmission is advantageously achieved from a crown to a pinion and from the latter to a second crown engaging a second pinion, in the event that two pulling pinions are provided; if more pinions are needed as a result of the shutter having a considerable length, both crowns may engage one, two or more pinions.
Evidently, the shutter's fully winded or fully unwinded positions are established by stoppers, so that instead of said end of trajectories corresponding to the motor, in the conventional manner, said stoppers are defined by micro-switches which for connection and disconnection purposes are activated by the shutter's end slats, said slats being provided with projections which, on passing the points wherein are located the micro-switches, act on them and thus close the motor-feeding circuit, said micro-switches being functionally associated in a way that when one is activated the other(s) is/are deactivated, and vice-versa.
More specifically, in the labyrinthine channel which determines the guide along the path of the shutter, three micro-switches are provided arranged in a way that one of them is activated when the shutter reaches its closed position; another is activated when the shutter reaches its open position; while the third is activated when the shutter again reaches its closed position in the course of its reverse trajectory. Said micro-switches are obviously mounted in specific points along the labyrinthine path so that they are activated precisely when the first and last slats, which are the slats fitted with the micro-switch activation projections, pass said points. The connection of the micro-switches is furthermore conducted in a way that they operate either in combination or independently for the opening and closing of the circuit feeding the motor, thus stopping or activating the motor. It should also be noted that the motor can be stopped at any moment via the corresponding on/off switch, detaining the shutter at any point in its trajectory, i.e. partially open or raised.
Another novel feature of the shutter corresponds to the slats that make up the shutter, and more specifically to a series of improvements introduced therein.
One improvement consists in that the inner surface of the arched extension which constitutes the coupling element in one of the slat edges is concave instead of flat, as in prior art slats. Said concave surface is complementary to a convex surface which defines a fin that delimits, on one side thereof, the channel provided at the opposite edge for coupling said extension. These complementary curves provide a hinge effect and movements in a way that the slats are not affected by path changes along the labyrinthine trajectory.
Furthermore, said channel is delimited along the other side by and arched fin, the free edge of which tends to converge and lean over an ample step formed by an arched extension acting as a hook which enables closure without fissures, that is to say, a closure providing total darkness.
Additionally, the end slats, both upper and lower, finish in a strangled rectangular channel shape for the installation of draught excluders or joints which not only perform as shock absorbing supports but also provide a closure that is free of fissures.
Another aspect of the invention refers to the shutter box and the way in which the shutter assembly is mounted inside it, this aspect being considered as part of another series of improvements relating to the shutter.
One of the improvements consists in that the sides or end walls of the box, mounted during the masonry construction above the upper part ot the window hollow in which the shutter is installed, incorporate along their inner face a pair of profiles arranged to define an upper channel and a lower channel which face each other for the sliding assembly of the corresponding lateral plates along the labyrinthine path and which furthermore carry the pinions and crowns which drive the rotation means via the transverse axis fitted between the plates. The assembly made up of these components, forming a single-block assembly, is mounted in the box by sliding the upper and lower plate edges in the labyrinthine paths along the channels forming the profiles integral to the inner face of the end walls or sides of the box.
Furthermore, in another basic improvement, a pair of special parts are arranged in correspondence with the lower part of the sides, said parts constituting a means of attaching the labyrinthine path plates and the intermediate means associating the guide in each side and the box end wall itself. Said parts are fitted with
Gomez Emiliano Martin
Sanchez Francisco Lujan
Ceraper, S. L.
Johnson Blair M.
McMahon John C.
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