Supports: racks – Specially mounted – Wall or window
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-13
2004-02-10
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Supports: racks
Specially mounted
Wall or window
C248S265000, C211S086010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06688479
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a U-shaped curtain rod, and more particularly to a U-shaped curtain rod that includes an adjustable rod and two knuckle joints pivotally turnably connected between the adjustable rod and two mounting plates fixed to, for example, two window jambs. Each of the knuckle joints includes two adjusting blocks that are closely attached to each other by a screwing member extended through centered holes provided on the adjusting blocks, and could be pivotally turned relative to each other by slightly loosening the screwing member. A plurality of radially extended adjusting teeth are provided on two contact surfaces of the two adjusting blocks to locate the latter to an adjusted position. When the adjusting blocks are pivotally turned, two connecting arms connected to outer ends of the adjusting blocks to separately connect to the mounting plate and the adjustable rod are pivotally turned relative to the mounting plate to a position closer to or away from the window as desired.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A U-shaped curtain rod is frequently designed for fixing to window jambs above a kitchen sink,
FIG. 1
is an exploded perspective view of a conventional U-shaped curtain rod that mainly includes an adjustable rod
10
and two mounting plates
20
. The adjustable rod
10
includes two L-shaped tubes
11
, two inner ends of which are integrally bent into two telescopic heads
12
for the two L-shaped tubes
11
to slidably connected to each other at these telescopic heads
12
. An outer end of each L-shaped tube
11
is provided at upper and lower sides with two symmetrical long holes
13
, and an engaging opening
14
is defined between the upper and the lower sides of each outer end. Each mounting plate
20
includes a fixing base
21
having two mounting holes
22
formed at predetermined positions thereon, and a support bracket
23
forward extended from an outer edge of the fixing base
21
at a right angle relative to the fixing base
21
. The support bracket
23
includes a smoothly curved lower front corner to provide an engaging nose
24
, and a retaining projection
25
upward extended from a predetermined point on an upper edge of the support bracket
23
. The retaining projection
25
is adapted to engage with one of the long holes
13
on the outer ends of the L-shaped tubes
11
.
FIG. 2
shows the manner of mounting the conventional U-shaped curtain rod to two window jambs. As shown, the two mounting plates
20
are attached to desired positions on the window jambs above a kitchen sink by threading screws through the mounting holes
22
on the fixing bases
21
. Then, connect a curtain
30
to the two slidably connected L-shaped tubes
11
and adjust the telescopic heads
12
to obtain a desired overall length for the adjustable rod
10
to match with a distance between the two fixed mounting plates
20
. The adjustable rod
10
is then connected to the mounting plates
20
by aligning and engaging two long holes
13
at upper sides of the outer ends of the two L-shaped tubes
11
with the upward extended retaining projections
25
, and allowing the engaging noses
24
of the mounting plates
20
to slide into the engaging openings
14
to locate the whole support brackets
23
in the engaging openings
14
to firmly support the adjustable rod
10
at a desired position.
The above-described conventional U-shaped curtain rod has the following disadvantages:
1. The U-shaped adjustable rod
10
is formed from two L-shaped tubes slidably connected to each other at inner ends. The curtain
30
hung on the adjustable rod
10
is always located in front of the window jambs with a fixed distance between the curtain and the window. That is, the distance of the curtain
30
from the window is defined by the L-shaped tubes
11
and is not adjustable. The curtain
30
is therefore monotonously located in front of the window.
2. Since the distance between the curtain
30
and the window is fixed and could not be adjusted closer to the window, the curtain
30
tends to be wetted by slashed water when a user works at the sink. To avoid splashing water and wetting the curtain
30
, the user would have to do work at the sink in a moderate and less efficient manner.
It is therefore desirable to develop an improved U-shaped curtain rod to eliminate drawbacks existing in the conventional U-shaped curtain rod.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a U-shaped curtain rod having an adjustable rod that could be easily adjusted to a position closer to or away from a window as desired.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a U-shaped curtain rod having an adjustable rod that could be adjusted to a position closer to a window as desired, so as to avoid a curtain from being wetted by splashed water and allow a user to do works at a sink in a more efficient manner.
To achieve the above and other objects, the U-shaped curtain rod of the present invention includes an adjustable rod formed from two telescoping hollow tubes; two knuckle joints connected to two outer ends of the adjustable rod, each of which being formed from two laterally symmetrical sets of a connecting arm and an adjusting block; and two mounting plates to which the knuckle joints are pivotally turnably connected. The two adjusting blocks of each knuckle joint are closely attached to each other by a screwing member extending through centered holes thereof, and are provided at contact surfaces with a plurality of radially extended adjusting teeth to locate the two adjusting blocks at an adjusted position relative to each other. By slightly loosening the screwing members, the two adjusting blocks of each knuckle joint could be turned relative to each other, allowing the two connecting arms to pivotally turn to positions closer to or away from a window to which the curtain rod is fixed.
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Bacon & Thomas PLLC
Novosad Jennifer E.
Stodola Daniel P.
LandOfFree
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