GB2258140A

GB2258140A - Curtain rail assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2258140A
Application number: GB9214335A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Werner Fluckinger
Original assignee: BRATSCHI SILENT GLISS
Current assignee: BRATSCHI SILENT GLISS
Priority date: 1991-07-10
Filing date: 1992-07-06
Publication date: 1993-02-03
Anticipated expiration: 2012-07-06
Also published as: GB2258140B; DE4222445A1; ITMI920224A0; IT1254767B; ITMI920224A1; GB9214335D0; CH682369A5

Description

A CURTAIN RAIL ASSEMBLY 223J1 4J The invention relates to a curtain rail

assembly comprising a support rail in which curtain carriers are displaceably guided, the carriers each having a roller disposed for rolling movement in the support rail.

Already known in the art are numerous curtain rail systems in which the carriers are constructed as sliders. For operating heavy curtains, for example those which consist of a darkening material, the friction of the sliders on the rail is comparatively high and correspondingly high traction forces are needed. Therefore, for heavy curtains, more suitable rail systems are those in which the carriers comprise rollers which are guided in the lower channel of a C-shaped rail. In the case of these likewise known devices, the pulling cord runs over the rollers in the same channel. So that the pulling cord does not interfere with the rollers, these latter must be tensioned by a special tensioning device which calls for a corresponding adjustment at the time of installation. Particularly in the case of curtains which consist of a stiff material or those which bave ruffle tape pleats, the carriers have a tendency to twis - t about their vertical axis when the curtain is operated. The result of this is that the rollers slip on the side walls of the guide channel and often become jammed. Therefore, the pulling force needed to move the curtain is greatly increased and may even cause jamming. Another disadvantage in this case is that in time dust and dirt collecting in the guide channel will adversely affect the movement of the rollers.

2 - The invention addresses the problem of providing a curtain rail assembly of the type mentioned and with which even heavy curtains can be pulled either by a cord pull or directly, with minimal noise and friction, and which can be nevertheless produced by relatively few simple and rugged components. The assembly should also be able to guarantee functionally reliable and low friction operation even if the rail is curved.

Therefore, the invention provides a curtain rail assembly comprising a support rail in which curtain carriers are displaceably guided, the carriers each having a roller disposed for rolling movement in the support rail characterised by a portion of the support rail being arranged to engage the curtain carriers to prevent excessive twisting thereof so that the rollers remain disposed for said rolling movement.

In a preferred embodiment, a curtain rail assembly comprises a rail in which curtain carriers are displaceablY guided, the rail having a guide channel for the carriers each of which has a roller and characterised in that the rollers are guided in a lateral guide slot in the guide channel W and have comparatively wide running grooves, portions of the carriers being disposed in-an adjacent carrier channel the inside width of which is so dimensioned that even with bilateral bearing of the webs against the side walls of the carrier channel, the rollers roll in the guide slot when the carriers are displaced.

-3 Preferably the rollers are guided in the lateral longitudinal slot in the C-shaped guide channel and they have running grooves. III the loaded state, the carriers run on the bottom edge of the longitudinal slot. Any dust or dirt present in the groove in the guide channel does not affect the movement of the rollers. The webs of the carriers are disposed in a door channel adjacent the C-shaped guide channel. This further channel is eminently suited to accommodating the pull cord which in this case does not need to be tensioned by any special device. III the preferred embodiment the inside width of the further channel and m running grooves of the rollers are so dimensioned that even with bilateral abutment of the webs against the side walls of this channel the rollers are still guided in such a way that they can roll along the longitudinal slot. When the curtain is operated, if the carriers are pivoted about their vertical axis, the webs abut the side walls of the channel before movement of the rollers is hampered by intense friction in the longitudinal slot. It has been found that such sliding of the webs on side walls of the rail can be kept very low in friction and movement of the carriers is not adversely affected. Consequently, even if the carriers become L-he rollers are always able Lo roll along the guide channel- and therefore even under a considerable loading the carrLt---rS Will MOVe with minimal friction in the rail.

According to a further development of the invention, the rail has laterally and vertically offset open bottomed cord channels, one cord channel being disposed Thi - in the upper P-=rt Of the carrier channel. Ls has the advantage that in the -case of a curved --a-i1 the pulling cord is unlikely to become jammed in the openings of the cord channels. Even with a curved rail, the pull-ing, cord 1-1 moves with minimal friction. If a cord channel is disposed in lt-he upper -art.' of the carrier channel, then offset o-F the two cord channels 's 11- Lq11t, J. -L po ss ib '1LC:- This has the advantage that the pulling and rollers can have a corre s pond ing 1-s7 radius. The friction entailled 'LLil,7 direction can Lhus be reduced. It is then also --eau=2L1Y possibl--- for both end housin-s 'W7 i th t-he PUll-3,Lng and direction changing rollers tO b-C OUIC --.-,aCtLl-Y identical COnStruction. Thus, the 7.7 rk of assembly and Stock keeping can be simplified.

.., -L 1J - - L t ---the t_1.70 The hei ht offset o-E.. cord -channels can bee created in a structurally simple way b-,; disposing laterally alongside the carrier channel a fitting channel with one O-LE the two cord channels disposed beneath this latter.

- L I- L- L According to a Jurther development of the i-E the width of the cord channel is narrower than the width ato the rollers, then the carriers can be particularly narrow and so the centre of gravity of the carriers can be particularly close to the front of the rail. This has 6_ the advantage that the part of the curtain covering the rail projects less forwardly and also the friction of this part of the curtain on the rail can be reduced. Further advantageous features will emerge from the other dependent claims and the ensuing description.

The pulling device according to the invention is also suitable for a catapult type of pull in which the curtain is displaced directly by hand and in which neither cord nor cord channels are required in the curtain rail.

E.-kr.arctples. of embodiment of the invention are explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a cross-section through a pulling device according to the invention; Fig.2 shows a view of a carrier; Fig.3 is a perspective view of a carrier; Fig.4 is a further view of the carrier; Fig.5 is a side view of the pulling device according to the invention; Fig.6 is a partially sectional view of an end housing, and Fil.7 is a purely diagrammatic view of a portion of the rail with a carrier twisted about the vertical axis, and Figs.8 and 9 in each case show cross-sections through other forms of curtain rail for use in the invention.

The curtain comprises a curtain rail 1 of a suitable light metal alloy. For attaching the rail 1 to a wall or ceiling, it has at the back an open fitting channel Wall carriers not shown here are clipped into this channel. Two!-=-'-ermiv and vertically offsetco-rd L -1 _ - 1J Lt m a continuous channels 3 and 4 each have at the 7-ot-t- -L opening 8, 6 through -,..-.1-.-Lch an endless pull cord 1.3) iS J LLed. AS Fig. 5 shows, IL-Ine pull cord 13 is deflected 33 and in an in an end housing 2-6 by means of a roller oppositely disposed. housing 2:5 deflected downwardly W. On the part pro- Lhrough 900 via two rollers 29 and truldiner from the housing 25, the pull cord 13 can b-e moved in one dLrection 0-77 the other in order to open or close a CUrt-=in 22.4 (Fig. 1). The tWO Inousiinqs 25 and 26; are preferablv of construct- _Lon. Apart- from this has the advantage tha even Jin S-Lri.-Lple stock 'Keeping, t L - L L -L the installed condition, pulling or direaction-changing car, easily be reversed. Be t 1 7-en the end hous ing 2 5 and 1 Z J, pull cord 13 runs substantially straight and J s f. 0 the L J_ -L = -L -ed through a comparatiVel-17 larre the roller 33 L 11 - - -L L to r -- d iJu s This radius thus corresponds appro-27.

half the vertical offset of the two cord channels 3 and 4. Fix.ed to the pull cord 13 are two draw-hooks not shown herg- but which are well known and which projeect i. =v-ri4---r channel 2 for displacement of the curtain nto a c- -1 A 2.4 and the carriers 15 connected to it. The carriers 15 produced from a suitable syntheticc plastics material by an injection mould-ing process consist in each case of a web 16 With a ring 21 at the bottom end and a roller 19 mounted to rotate on a journal 1.7 integrally formed on the web 16. As Fig. 1 shows, tIne bottom end of the 7.7 L.. eb 16 projects through an aperture in the carrier channel 12 downward1v and out of the rail 1 and is bent over at the ring '21 in the direction of the curtain 24.

Suspended from the ring 21 is a hook 22 which is stitched to the curtain 24. Naturally, the number of carriers 15 will be determined by the length of the curtain 24 or of the rail 1.

The rollers 19 are guided in a guide slat 10 in a guide channel 9. As can be seen, the inside width of the guide channel 9 is comparatively narrow and is in particular!-,,, narrower than the carrier channel between the centre of gravity of the front face 35 of the rail 1 can be 2. The distance carrier 15 and the kept comparatively short as a result. so that the freedom of movement of the upper portion of the curtain 24 can be corresponding!-,;increased. For the same weight and consumption of n material, this also permits cof a higher construction of rail 1 so that this latter becomes comparatively stable and accordingly fewer suspension points are needed.

The rollers 19 run on a rounded-topped edge 11 of the guide slot 10 and have in radial section a V-shaped running groove 20. As can be seen particularly in Fig.!, the running aroove 20 extends substantially over the entire width- C of the roller 19. The roller 19 preferably has a width of about 4.5 om and is wider than the channel 9, the inside width b of which is preferably about 3.4.

The roller 19 is engaged on the journal 17 by a catch 18 and is guided thereon with relatively little radial clearance. The running groove 20 opens radially outwardly to a width D which A substantially greater than and preferably more than twice as great as the width E of the edge 11. If the carrier 15 is pivoted about its vertical axis in relation to the diagrammatically in Fig. 7, then the become jammed in the slot 9 even if diametrically Opposite edges 31 and side walls of the channel 2. In the illustrated, if the carrier 15 is rail 1, as shown roller 19 does not the web 16 has the 32 bearing on the slantwise position moved in the 1 1 ion-,--Ltud.'Ln.al direction Of- the channel 2, then even under a heavy loading, the roller 19 -Ls still able to roll on I- LI.Le edge 11. At the same t'L.-.cie, the edges 331 and 32 rub on the rail 11, causing only minimal JEriction and noise L-Jy Vi--tue of the ver- ,Y7 small bearing areas involved. This ensures thal- even when a plurality of carriers 15 are in a slanting position, the curtain 24 can be disp placed with relatLVC:-1-Y little noise, without jarLwLtinq and thus with m4Lnimal pullin- force, even if the curtain 24 has been j L - r' produced from verv stiff material or has so-called rui-fle Lape pleats and even if t-he carriers 15 are heavilv loaded. Thus, it is essential that even with unfavourable loading and positioning of the carriers 15, the rollers 19 are able to roll on the edge 11 without friction. It is also readily obvious that on +11he cc;,.-c.,Dara-IL-ive'L'-v narrow edge 11, neither dust nor dirt can 1 -he rolling movement settle which might adversely affect t Of the carriers 15. It has been demonstrated 'Llhat even.,7ith a curved rail 1, low friction and low noise actuation of the curtain 24 is achievable.

The pulling device is suitable also for acatapult- - -r= Ln rails 40 or 50 shown in Pe -ted curtain having curtaJ cross-section in Fiqs. 8 and 9. The rail 40 comprises a "tng channel 44 in which can be snap -f -Lt-LL-ed holders I- -L L -L not shown here but which are intended for wall Mounting. The even simpler rail 50 is suitable for attachment to a ceiling, and in this case it has a groove 54 on which it is provided with holes at suitable intervals through which fixing pins can be passed. The rails 40 and 50 in each case comprise a comparatively narrow guide channel 42, 52 and a guide slot 41, 51. Inserted into the rails 40, 50 are in each case a pluralitv of above- described carriers 15, not shown here, the rollers 19 being guided for displacement in the guide slots 51. Where a catapult curtain is concerned, since the curtain is displaced directly on the curtain assembly, cord channels are not needed on the rails 40 and 50. The other features and advantages mentioned with regard to the first embodiment are also valid in this case.

Despite the said advantages, the pulling device according to the invention can be produced by a few simple parts.

Thus, a pulling device is made available which not only meets the aesthetic requirements but which, by virtue of its simple consMuction, is favourably costed and reliably in operation.

-1o-

Claims

1. A curtain rail assembly comprising a support rail (1) in which curtain carriers (15) are displaceably guided, the carriers each having a roller (19) disposed for rolling movement in the support rail characterised by a portion of the support rail being arranged to engage the curtain carriers (15) remain disposed for said rolling movement.

2. A curtain rail assembly comprising a rail (1) in which curtain carriers (15) are displaceably guided, the rail (1) having a guide channel (9) for the carriers (15) each of which has a roller (19) and characterised in that the rollers (19) are guided in a lateral guide slot (10) in the guide channel (9) and have comparatively wide running grooves (20), portions (16) of the carriers (15) being disposed in an adjacent carrier channel (2), the inside width (a) of which is so dimensioned that even with bilateral bearing of the webs (16) against the side walls of the carrier channel (2), the rollers (19) roll in the guide slot (10) when the carriers are displaced.

3. An assembly according to claim 2, comprising a pull-cord (13) to which a curtain-drawing member is attached, at the ends of the rail (1), traction and direction revising rollers (33, 34, 29, 30) for the pull cord (13), characterised by two laterally and vertically offset open- botttomed cord channels (3,4).

-11 h 4. An assembly according to claim 3, characterised in that a cord channel (3) is disposed in the upper portion of the carrier channel (2).

An assembly according to claim 3 or 4, characterised in that laterally alongside the carrier channel (2) there is a fitting channel (5) and below this a cord channel (4).

1 i JL;- 6 An assembly accordLng, t- o one o f -- 1 -- i mi L s 1 to in that the rollers (10' each have running groove (20) the width of r..,7b.ich increases steadilly.

t - - L with the rad-Jus of the roller.

characterised 7. An assembly according to c 1 a --Lm 2.

characterised in that the maximurti inside width of 'the running groove (.-)n is more than about twice as great as the width ( E) of an edge ( 11) Of the gU-Lde slot ( 10 8. An assembly according to claim 2 j characterised in that the inside width (B' o= the guide % 1 L channel (9) is greater than the width (D) of the rollers (19).

9. An assembly according to 11 clail-LI 5, in that the carrier channel (21 is disposed L- - - k z j - - 11 - =4 -between the L-L-Ling channel (5) and -L'I-,e guide channel 10. A curtain rail assembly substantiallly as herein described with reference to figures 1 to 7, or fig. 8 or fig 9 of the accompanying L drawings.