Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Roll type – With fabric leading edge fastening means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-05
2001-10-02
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Roll type
With fabric leading edge fastening means
C160S023100, C292S228000, C292S203000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06296040
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a roller screen including a gauze screen, a roll-up mechanism for said gauze screen, a pull beam connected to the free end of said gauze screen, guides for guiding said pull beam and the side edges of said gauze screen, as well as spring hooks cooperating with cams present on the ends of said pull beam, which are mounted in the ends of said guides remote from said roll-up mechanism by a base which fits in the end of the guide. The hooks extend substantially in the longitudinal direction of said guides, and the spring force of said hooks can be adjusted by an adjusting screw mounted in said base.
A roller screen of this kind is known from European patent 579,335. The roll-up mechanism of such a prior art roller screen generally includes a spring, so that the pulled-out gauze screen is tensioned and the gauze screen will constantly tend to roll up again. Since the pull beam is retained in the pulled-out position as a result of the cooperation between the spring hooks and the cams, the gauze screen will be drawn tightly and free of folds before the door or window opening at all times.
With this prior art roller screen, the adjusting screw extends through the base substantially in the longitudinal direction of the guides, and thus substantially parallel to the respective spring hook, and makes contact with a part of the spring hook that extends at an angle to said longitudinal direction. Access to said adjusting screw can be gained only from the side of the base which is present at said end of the guides. The adjustability of the spring force makes it possible to adjust the retaining force between the cams and the spring hooks.
Although this prior art roller screen has proved to be satisfactory in practice, a number of aspects thereof can be further improved. Thus it is not possible in many cases to simply adjust the spring force by manipulating the adjusting screw once the roller screen is mounted in position, because said side of the base is not accessible at the end of the guide. The spring force, once adjusted before the roller screen is mounted in position, can only be changed when the roller screen is at least partially dismounted.
Another disadvantage of the prior art roller screen is the fact that, due to the selected position of the adjusting screw in the longitudinal direction of the guides and the spring hook, the point of application of the adjusting screw on the spring hook varies upon adjustment of the adjusting screw. As a result of this, there is no linear relationship between the movement of the adjusting screw and the increase or decrease of the spring force.
Finally, in some cases, there is a risk that the shifting of the point of application of the adjusting screw will produce a notch effect in the spring hook, due to the sharp screw thread thereof, which will cause damage to the hook and which, in an extreme case, may result in the unintentional collapse thereof.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide a roller screen of the kind referred to in the introduction, wherein the above drawbacks are overcome in a simple yet efficient manner.
In order to accomplish that objective, a roller screen includes an adjusting screw that extends substantially perpendicularly to the hook and in that said adjusting screw is accessible via an opening formed in a side wall of the guide.
Since the adjusting screw extends substantially perpendicularly to the hook and the hook extends substantially in the longitudinal direction of the guides, the adjusting screw also extends substantially perpendicularly to said guides, so that the adjusting screw will be readily accessible through the aforesaid opening in a side wall of the guide in question. In this manner it remains possible to manipulate the adjusting screw, after the roller screen has been mounted in position, in order to adjust the spring force, if desired. In addition, it is not necessary to dismount the roller screen (completely or partially) in order to do so.
Another effect that is achieved as a result of the fact that the adjusting screw extends substantially perpendicularly to the hook is that the point of application of the adjusting screw on the hook remains at least substantially constant, as a result of which an essentially linear relationship between the movement of the adjusting screw and the increase or decrease of the spring force is obtained. Furthermore, the end of the adjusting screw is prevented at all times from moving over part of the hook, with the screw thread of the adjusting screw producing a notch effect which may cause damage to the hook and which may eventually lead to the premature collapse thereof.
Preferably, the spring hook pivots about a pivot pin which is journalled in the base, wherein the adjusting screw engages a hook portion which is present on the side of the pivot pin opposite the hook end that cooperates with the cam. In this embodiment the spring hook consists of two parts: a hook end cooperating with the cam on one side of the pivot pin and a hook portion engaged by the adjusting screw on the other side of the pivot pin. In this manner the hook end that cooperates with the cam can be designed to have a large free length, thus reducing the risk of the spring hook being overloaded while springing.
The pivot pin may thereby be accommodated in a recess in the base and be locked in position in the base by a retaining cam which projects into said recess. The mounting of the pivot pin (and the spring hook connected thereto) takes place before the base is mounted in the guide. At that moment, deformation of the base enables the retaining cam to deflect, and the pivot pin can pass the retaining cam and move into the recess. When the base is subsequently placed into the end of the guide, the retaining cam can no longer deflect laterally, since the parts of the guide that engage the base render deformation of the base impossible. Thus, the pivot is locked in the base in an excellent manner.
As an extra protection against unintentional moving out of the base by the spring hook, the hook portion may furthermore include a flanged lip at its end, which lip is capable of engaging behind the base. Said lip prevents the spring hook and its pivot pin from moving out of the base.
Finally it is noted that the hook and the pivot pin may be integrally formed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4531562 (1985-07-01), Swanson
patent: 5090468 (1992-02-01), Tedeschi
patent: 5242070 (1993-09-01), Bretschneider et al.
patent: 5573050 (1996-11-01), Henkenjohann
patent: 5720333 (1998-02-01), Turvey
patent: 2745560 (1979-04-01), None
patent: 0 579 335 B1 (1993-07-01), None
Hamstra-Weesp B.V.
Koehler S.
Stodola Daniel P.
Thompson Hugh B.
Westman Champlin & Kelly P.A.
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