Flexible or portable closure – partition – or panel – Plural and/or with rigid closure – Plural strip – slat – or panel assemblies
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-01
2001-05-08
Johnson, Blair M. (Department: 3634)
Flexible or portable closure, partition, or panel
Plural and/or with rigid closure
Plural strip, slat, or panel assemblies
C160S17610R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227279
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to venetian type blinds which can have slats that can be tilted from an open horizontal position to a closed tilted position.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Venetian blinds consist of a plurality of horizontal slats. These slats rest on ladders made of cord, fabric tape, or flexible sheets of sheer material. Blinds have a headrail and bottomrail, the bottomrail being either one solid rail or two parallel rails connected by a cord. The blinds have a lift cord or cords, traditionally connected from the bottomrail through route holes in the slats, to a lift mechanism or cord lock in the headrail. In some venetian blinds the lift cords are placed proximate to the front and rear edges of the slats, and tiny notches or slots are made in the slats for the lift cords to pass through from the bottomrail into the headrail. Blinds are raised to stack slats at the top by pulling the lift cords through a cord lock, which locks into place by pulling the lift cords laterally to catch the lock and then back to set the lock. Alternately, an axle driven cord collection system may be used for one or more sets of lift cords in place of a cord lock. In this type of blind as in most venetian blinds when the blind is lowered all of the slats are in an open, horizontal position or in a closed tilted position. The blind cannot have one portion that is open and another portion which is closed unless the owner turns the slats individually. Yet, there has been a demand for blinds in which the upper half of the blind can be open while the lower half of the blind is closed or vice-versa.
One type of blind which has been offered to meet this demand is the so-called bottom-up blind. In this type of blind the slats are stacked on the bottomrail, which typically rests very near the window sill. A movingrail is placed on top of the slats and is connected to a lift cord which runs through the headrail. Pulling the lift cords raises the slats from the bottomrail. Examples of this type of blind are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7408 to Bohrer, U.S. Pat. No. 12,695 to Rose, U.S. Pat. No. 2,223,640 to Kwon and U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,108. to Levert et al. These blinds tend to be very bulky and can be awkward to operate because the movingrail is constantly changing position relative to the operator. None of these blinds allow some of the slats to be in an open horizontal position while other slats are in a closed tilted position. There is a need for a venetian blind which can do this. Ideally, this blind will also require a minimum of additional hardware. Also the blind should be able to utilize the components already commonly used such as cord ladders, fabric tape ladders, or sheer material sheet ladders. Overall, there is still a need for an easily operated, neat-looking venetian type blind with several style options wherein the upper slats can be open while the lower slats are closed or any combination thereof.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A venetian type blind that has a bottomrail, a headrail positioned above the bottomrail, a tilting segmented slat, and two sets of slats carried on either upper ladders or lower ladders. The tilting slat has a center segment and an end segment pivotably attached to each end of the center segment by a common axle that runs through the center segment. The first set of slats is carried on a set of upper ladders extending from the headrail to the center segment of the tilting slat. The second set of slats are carried on a set of lower ladders extending from the end segments of the tilting slat to the bottomrail. At least two lift cords attached to the bottomrail, run past all of the slats and through the headrail. The upper ladders are connected to a tilt mechanism within the headrail. A tilt operator such as a worm gear tilter is connected to the tilt mechanism. The tilt operator will cause the upper ladders and the center segment of the tilting slat to move. We prefer to provide a locking tab on each end segment which will lock the end segments to the center segment. When the end segments are so locked they will turn with the center segment and all of the slats will move together.
To change the lower slats to a position different from the upper slats an operator turns the end segment relative to the center segment. Since the end segments are on a common axle they will turn together. Thus, it is sufficient to turn one end segment relative to the center segment. The operator can also twist the bottomrail which is connected to the end segments via and the ladders and thus will tilt all the lower slats and the end segments. The tilting slat thereby enables the user to place the blind in any of four extreme positions when the blind is fully lowered. To simplify the description only the extreme positions of full tilt or horizontal are cited, but all the intermediary positions between the extremes are possible. All of the slats may be in a closed position; all of the slats may be in an open position; the slats on the upper ladders may be open while the slats on the lower ladders may be closed; and the slats on the upper ladders may be closed while the slats on the lower ladders may be open. The entire blind can be operated from the headrail controls when the end segments are locked to the center segment. The ladders are typically made of cord. In the preferred embodiment the lift cords run along the edges of the slats. If desired a pair of lift cords may pass through route holes in the center or on thc back edges of the slats. Use of center holes for the lift cords would require modification around the axle which runs through the tilting slat. Therefore, this structure is not preferred, but it is possible.
There are several distinct advantages of this venetian type blind which set it apart from those attempted earlier. All of the components except the tilting slat are off the shelf items that are used in existing venetian blinds. One could make this blind by simply replacing one of the slats in a prior art venetian blind with the tilting slat and cutting the ladders at the location of the tilting slat to form upper ladders and lower ladders. A manufacturer will not need to produce or purchase a new and expensive hardware system or buy any new equipment to make this type of blind. The blind is installed in the same manner as existing venetian type blinds. Operation of the segmented slat is very intuitive and requires little explanation.
Other objects and advantages of this venetian type blind will become apparent from the description of certain present preferred embodiments thereof which are shown in the drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 7408 (1850-06-01), Bohrer
patent: 12695 (1855-04-01), Rose
patent: 2116356 (1938-05-01), Laborda et al.
patent: 2213021 (1940-08-01), Solon
patent: 2214539 (1940-09-01), Reinike
patent: 2237539 (1941-04-01), Adams et al.
patent: 2283640 (1942-05-01), Kwon
patent: 2427266 (1947-09-01), Ewing
patent: 2579485 (1951-12-01), Ferguson et al.
patent: 2647572 (1953-08-01), Biscoe et al.
patent: 2719586 (1955-10-01), Graham
patent: 2979127 (1961-04-01), Brown
patent: 5443108 (1995-08-01), LeVert et al.
patent: 5096 (1888-04-01), None
Belongia Larry P.
Thomson John R.
Buchanan Ingersoll P.C.
Johnson Blair M.
Springs Window Fashions Division, Inc.
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