Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Pleating type – With preformed pleats
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-03
2002-11-12
Johnson, Blair M. (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Pleating type
With preformed pleats
C160S084060, C160S169000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06478071
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to draw-pull window shades or blinds for use in residential or commercial applications. The shade mechanisms disclosed herein are ideally disposed to applications involving nonrectangular window shapes such as peaked, diagonal, or triangular frames, arches, arcuate sections, and other partial or full elliptical forms.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention fills a need for well constructed and aesthetically pleasing shades and blinds, for interior or exterior application, for nonrectangular window shapes or other openings increasingly being used in modern residential and commercial construction. Such shapes can include triangles, pitched tops, peaks, arches, arcuate sections, and full or partial elliptical forms. Such window shapes lend great character to modern residential and commercial architecture. However, owing to this same character, these windows are extremely difficult to shade in a manner which is at once aesthetically pleasing, fitted to the shape of the frame, and structurally sound. Several attempts have been made to address this challenging problem, but results have heretofore been inadequate.
With pitched, peaked, and triangular windows, the difficulty of providing a workable shade lies in the inability to adequately cover the acute angular portion at the window's apex. Stop-gap solutions have included covering only the rectangular portion of the window with a conventional shade leaving the angular apex exposed. In situations wherein the angle of the apex is less severe, a top rail has been installed along the length of the pitched lintel and the shade or blind material has been trimmed to fit the angle and attached to this rail. However, the lower rail of the shade upon which the material stacks when raised must be shorter than the top rail in order to travel through the narrower rectangular portion of the frame. This means that the lower rail must either stop its ascent at the cusp of the pitched portion, leaving the angular apex covered, or only one side of the lower rail may continue to be raised toward the apex. This is an undesirable solution because the shade material is subjected to the stress of being pulled toward the stationary end of the lower rail, which being shorter in length than the upper rail, its opposite end will not coincide with the apex when fully drawn. Because of this the shade material is likely to bunch at best and tear at worst. Additionally, either two draw cords or some other tension relieving method is required for the differing travel distances of each side of the lower rail.
Another detraction to present offerings in pitched or triangular window shades is that they are generally mounted in the lintel of the window frame rather than the sill. In most applications such windows are placed higher on walls toward the peaks of roof lines to accentuate the building architecture. Therefore when one looks out of these windows, one must look up at them. With shades of prior manufacture installed and opened, one sees a morass of mounting equipment and bunched shade material at the lintel of the window instead of the more aesthetically pleasing lines of the window itself. In many of these applications it would be preferable to place the mounting equipment and folded shade material on the sill which obscures the lower part of the window anyway when one is looking up at the window from a position below.
Even fewer options were available for covering windows with arched shapes until the advent of accordion pile and honeycomb shade materials. These materials allow for various degrees of arched shapes to be covered using a fan method. In those designs, the pleated or honeycomb material is constricted at one end while the opposite end is splayed open to fill the arch. Although such solutions generally cover the window, there are significant aesthetic drawbacks. First the bunching of the material at the point of constriction can be unsightly. This bunching also results in the folds of the material extending radially which is usually in marked contrast to the blinds on adjacent windows in which the folds are generally horizontal. This can be visually dissonant. Further, a circular opening remains at the pivot point, due to the limitations of bending a straight edge into an arc, which must be obscured by some additional facade.
The present invention is a significant improvement over prior alternatives and accomplishes the desired end with a more aesthetically pleasing appearance.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
Schnebly (U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,436) (Schnebly I) discloses shade systems for covering arched windows. In one embodiment, pleated or honeycomb fabric is trimmed into an arched configuration and is fixedly mounted to the sill. It is raised to cover the window by means of a continuous cord under constant tension attached at a fixed point to the top pleat of the shade material. A problem with this design arises from the stress placed upon a single point of the shade material engaged for raising and lowering its entire weight and structure. Similarly, the outer edges of the top surface of the shade are not supported. This requires a limitation of available shade materials to those with sufficient horizontal stiffness or structure, such as honeycomb, to prevent the sides of the shade from sagging. In practice, even the more rigid materials droop over longer spans. Additionally, when lowered, the pleats, if more rigid, tend to splay out in a fan shape rather than lay flat.
Schnebly I also discloses a system for covering arcuate windows via two hinged edge rails. Each pleated edge of pleated or honeycomb shade material is attached to each edge rail respectively, in essence forming a fan with the hinge providing ability to adjust the splay of the fan. In one embodiment the fan must be manually placed within or removed from the window frame which limits its usefulness, especially for windows placed high on a wall in a room with a vaulted ceiling. Another embodiment employs a drawstring, but its application is limited to windows of acute angles as gravity is required to collapse the fan and return the shade to a closed position. With both designs there are the additional limitations of bunching of shade material and a hole in the coverage of the shade material as it bends out around the hinge. This hole is also aesthetically displeasing and requires some additional shade or ornamentation to disguise it.
Schnebly et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,112) (Schnebly II) provides additional embodiments for covering arched and arcuate windows. These consist of fixed fans of pleated or honeycomb material supported on fixed arcuate frames with finger-like extensions for engaging the pleats or honeycombs to supply the necessary arcuate splay and some minimal vertical support. These systems are static and must be manually placed within or removed from the window frame, thereby severely limiting their usefulness. As with Schnebly I, applications of these systems are limited to fairly rigid, pleated or honeycomb shade materials as other materials would not have the stiffness required to support their own weight in such fan-like configurations.
Judkins (U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,025) discloses a system for clamping the top edges of irregular shaped shades to the upper rail mounted in the lintel. Pitched and arched shades are particularly shown. This system does not, however, allow the shades to be entirely raised. Retraction is limited to portions covering rectangular areas only. When an irregular section is reached, the shade can be opened no further because either the bottom rail encounters the lintel on one side or it is unable to travel through the narrowing frame of an arched section.
Niemeijer et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,383) discloses shade mechanisms for covering rectangular windows with pitched or arcuate lintels. The invention uses pleated or honeycomb shade material as well and is concentrated on an intricate weaving system of drawstrings through the shade material and a guide system to continue to evenly raise th
Rogers Paul T.
Workman Brian G.
Dorr, Carson , Sloan & Birney, P.C.
Johnson Blair M.
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