Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Plural strip – slat – or panel type – With mounting or supporting means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-16
2003-12-02
Purol, David (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Plural strip, slat, or panel type
With mounting or supporting means
C160S229100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06655443
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to a shutter, and more particularly to a hinge member rotatably connecting plates to each other, the plates constituting a shutter panels.
2. Disclosure of The Invention
Japanese Publication No. 61-137792A, Utility model, discloses one example of a shutter panels having a configuration shown in
FIG. 14
in which a plurality of plates are rotatably connected to one another by hinge members.
A shutter panel
10
in this example includes slats
18
and hinge members
2
. The slats
18
each have a plate
1
and a cylindrical portion
17
which is integrally and continuously provided on the plate
1
along opposite end edges thereof on the side of its long side. The hinge members
2
each include holding portions
28
each turnably fitted over the cylindrical portion
17
, and a reinforcing member
29
provided between the holding portions
28
. The shutter panel
10
is slidably held by a pair of guide rails
4
.
As shown in
FIG. 14
, each holding portion
28
of the hinge member
2
has a C-shaped section formed with a slit along its longitudinal direction such that the cylindrical portion
17
is rotatable and is prevented from being pulled out. As shown with broken lines in
FIG. 14
, the holding portion
28
is rotatably fitted over the cylindrical portion
17
in a range between opened end edges of the slit.
Since the shutter has such a configuration, if the shutter panel
10
is held by guide grooves
40
of the guide rails
4
having curved portions R and is allowed to slide as shown in
FIG. 15
, the shutter panel
10
is automatically bent along the curved portions R of the guide rails
4
and slides in the guide grooves
40
. When the shutter panel
10
is not used, it can be wound around a cylindrical drum disposed above the guide rails
4
and can be accommodated compactly.
However, the shutter panel
10
can easily be bent and extended straightly along the guide rails
4
or a take-up drum. Therefore, there is a problem that when the shutter panel
10
slides, the plates
1
are unnecessarily pivoted and caught by the guide grooves
40
, and the shutter can not be opened and closed smoothly.
Such a problem appears remarkably when the guide rails
4
have the curved portions R, and if the shutter panel is indiscriminately bent as shown in
FIG. 12
, the plates
1
or hinges
2
are caught by the guide grooves
40
of the curved portions R, and the shutter panel
10
can not slide in some cases.
In such a case, it is necessary to once pull the shutter panel
10
to its initial state to improve the indiscriminate bending thereof, and to allow the shutter panel
10
to slide in its normal direction again, and there is a problem that it is necessary to repeat the same operation many times until the shutter panel
10
passes through the curved portions R without being caught by the guide grooves
40
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a shutter including: a shutter panel having a plurality of plates rotatably connected to one another by means of hinge members; and a pair of guide rails formed with guide grooves for slidably holding opposite end edges of the shutter panel, thereby smoothly opening and closing the shutter even if a curvature of each the guide rail is varied along a sliding direction of the shutter panel.
To achieve the above object, a shutter of the present invention has a feature that the hinge member can be bent only in a direction in which a curvature becomes greater than a portion of the guide groove having a minimum curvature.
The adjacent plates are selectively rotatably bent only in a direction in which the curvature of the guide groove becomes greater. Therefore, when the shutter panel is allowed to slide along the guide grooves, the plates are prevented from being rotatably bent in a direction in which the curvatures become smaller and prevented from being caught by the guide grooves. Thus, a minimum curvature portion of the guide rail and the curved portion of the shutter panel smoothly slide.
Since the present invention has the above configuration, the following specific effect is obtained.
The shutter panel slides smoothly in the minimum curvature portion and curved portion of each the guide rail. Therefore, the shutter is smoothly opened and closed even if the curvature of the guide rail is varied along the sliding direction of the shutter panel.
Other object, features, aspects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings and appended claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3101485 (1963-08-01), Kirshenbaum
patent: 4345635 (1982-08-01), Solomon
patent: 4432591 (1984-02-01), Rinkewich
patent: 5265663 (1993-11-01), Munekata et al.
patent: 5850862 (1998-12-01), Miller
Mochizuki Kenji
Mochizuki Masanori
Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery
Isel Co., Ltd.
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