Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Plural strip – slat – or panel type – Venetian blind type
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-30
2001-11-27
Purol, David M. (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Plural strip, slat, or panel type
Venetian blind type
C160S900000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06321821
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to a traveler or slat carriage for a vertical blind and which is movable within a support rail, the traveler (slat carriage) carries a slat of the vertical blind by means of a pivot pin pivotably supported in a main body of the traveler (slat carriage). The pivot pin is supported in a toothed wheel which is pivotably supported in a main body of the traveler (slat carriage). The toothed wheel is driven by worm gear to pivot the pivot pin and, hence, the slat.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Travelers (slat carriages) for a vertical blind are well known in the art. They are sold by the BENTHIN Sonnenschutz GmbH, Bremerhaven, Germany in a vertical blind under the trademark DECOMATIC®. In the past such travelers (slat carriages) have been assembled manually. For some years machine assembly of such travelers (slat carriages) has been performed and machines for automatic assembly have been designed. However, the prior art traveler (slat carriage) itself was not re-designed to improve automatic assembly. As a result machines for the automatic assembly work very slowly and malfunctions of the machine occur very often due to the following reasons:
According to the prior art traveler (slat carriage), a stopper for limiting the pivot angle of a pivot pin was allocated to the toothed wheel. As a result, the toothed wheel needed to be inserted into the main body in a certain orientation. Then the pivot pin needed to be inserted into the toothed wheel again with a certain orientation. Hence, two parts of the traveler needed to be inserted in a certain orientation. Furthermore, a pull cord for opening and closing the vertical blind was inserted in an orifice of each traveler. Hence, the pull cord needed to be inserted into the group of travelers, which is needed for the vertical blind, before the group of travelers was inserted into the support rail.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to design a traveler (slat carriage) which is optimized for automatic assembly.
According to a first aspect of the invention the traveler or slat carriage comprises a stopper for limiting the pivot angle of the pivot pin, the stopper is allocated to the main body and the pivot pin. Although the toothed wheel may be inserted in the main body with a certain orientation, no certain orientation of the toothed wheel in the main body is required. The pivot pin is then inserted into the toothed wheel in the required orientation. Hence, only one part of the traveler needs to be inserted in a certain orientation.
Preferably, the pivot pin is supported in a toothed wheel by means of a slipping (ratchet) clutch. The pivot pin may a projection co-operation with recesses in the toothed wheel. For further simplifying the assembly of the traveler the number of recesses is by means of design features equal to the number of teeth of the toothed wheel. Preferably, each recess is in alignment to one of the teeth.
According to another design feature of the invention, the worm gear is only of one (single) piece. In contrast thereto the prior art worm gear was of two pieces, an inner sleeve and the worm gear. These two pieces needed to be pre-assembled before the worm gear could be inserted into the main body.
According to a second aspect of the invention a drive member, e.g. pull cord, for opening and closing the vertical blind can be inserted into an orifice of the traveler through a slit in the main body. Hence, the pull cord may be inserted into the orifice before or after the group of travelers has been inserted into the support rail without problems. The width of the slit is smaller than the diameter of the pull cord. This avoids the possibility of the pull cord falling out of the orifice during transport of the blind.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.
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Benthin Aktiengesellschaft
McGlew and Tuttle , P.C.
Purol David M.
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