US1878526A - Traverse equipment - Google Patents

Description

P 1932- w. c. KENNEY ET AL TRAVERSE EQUIPMENT Fild Feb. 6, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 illl'aln Georg @MKnn Sept. 20, 1932.

W. C. KENNEY ET AL TRAVERS E EQUI PMEN '1' Filed Feb. 6, 1932 2'Sheets-Sheel .lhvel'ztar mug l F living h Ylliazn GK? (7001 el zlnuqy Patented Sept. 20, 1932 UNETE STATES PATENT oF-rlclz WILLIAIM G. KENNEY AND GEORGEHM. KENNEY, OF CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND, AS.-

SIGNORS TO KENNEY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND,

A CORPORATION O FLRHODE I SLAIN D TRAVERSE EQUIPMENT Application fi1ed.IE'ebruary e; 193:2.- Serial No. 531,350.

This invention relates totliat class of ourtain fixtures known to'the trade as traverses wherein a pair of curtains, portieres or other hangings are suspended at their upper edges from a rod b y-means of a plurality of traveling idlers and a pair of mastercan riers slidingwithin the rod; The master carriers, and with them the hangings, are adapted simultaneously to be drawn together 10 or apart by means of a pull cord operating over guide pulleys mounted in or on the rod.

In general, the object of our present invention is to improve and simplify such traverse equipment to the end that the traverse shall operate freely at all times Without danger of jamming or cramping the moving parts or entangling the operating cord with said moving parts. 7

To accomplish his object we have de- 29 veloped master and idler carriers of entirely new structure and result. Our carriers are so designed as to prevent all possibility of the operating cord .from becoming caught be tween them and their trackways and thus 2 causing the equipment to am. Specifically both the master and idler carriers used in our traverse are provided with eyesor' loops in which the operating cord is positively :con-

fined and guided, thus eliminatingthe dan- 30 ger of the cord becoming entangled with the moving carriers.

Our master carriers, moreover, are pro vided with a locking device of entirely new type by means of which the operating cord can be instantly locked to and unlocked from the master carrier at any position of adjnstment of the master carrier along the trackwav without danger of cutting, fraying. or,

otherwise damaging the operating cord; 7 In order to obtain such ad ustment in traverses now on the market it is necessary either to use set screwswhich bite into the cord when tightened. and soon fray or cut it, or else to use locking-devices which are so difficult of accesses to require the rod to be removed from its operatingbrackets in order to manipulate said locking devices.

Each master carrier of our traverse is constructed to guide and confine one length of the looped operating cord and to be locked to and unlocked from the other length of such cord; Thus the cord is not only prevented from becoming entangled Withthe' moving carrier but the carrier may be locked to and unlocked from the cord whenever it is desired to adjust the carrier to anew position along the rod, without danger .of fraying or cutting'the cord and without requiring'that the rod be dismounted from its supporting brackets.

Each idler carrier of our traverse isconstructed to guide and confine both lengths of the operating cord, and additionally is provided with means adapted positively to prevent the idlers from tilting into a position wherein they will jam against the inside wall of the rod. v V

The construction and manner of assembling and operating our traverse, together with a form of traverse which has been found both i satisfactory under actual: service conditions and well adapted to'the' requirements of com mercial manufacture, is described and illustrated in the accompanying specification and draw1ngs,and'1ts characteristic features of novelty particularly pointed out in the appended claims. a

In the drawings .Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation of atraverse installation in accordance with our con- -v y Q I Fig. 2 is a sectiona'lized showing .of the'traverse assembly'of Fig.1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective of a section of our novel traverse rod, removed' Fig. 4 is aperspective view of one of the master'carriers, removed from the assembly, and unlocked. I V

Fig. '5 is a fragmentary side view thereof, and showing the parts in their locked position.

6 is a section on the line 6- 6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 'is' a perspective view of one of the idler carriers, removed, V Fig. '8 is a section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 2,and o .9 is a perspective viewof one of the rod supporting brackets removed.

' According to our present invention, .we

utilize ithe U-shaped rod ofthe" George M.

Kenney Patent No. 1,723,975, of August 6, 1929, as the rod element of our present novel combination.

Such rod may be either a single length or may consist of two or more telescopic members asindicated at A and Bin Figs. 1 to 3. In either case, the rod presents a pair of spaced side walls 1 connected across their upper edges by thetop. wall 2, and terminating at their lower edges in spaced inturned flanges 3 which afford trackways for the master and idler carriers of the traverse.

The space 4 separating said flanges is substantially central of therod so that the weight of the curtains or other hangings'I-I and H is disposed insubstantiallythe vertical axis of the rod and in a plane parallel to the window or other'opening to .be covered.

rod seating formation 7 providing a U-shaped recess of reversed disposition as to the U of the rod so that theends of the rod may be entered into the samefrom above, the rod .endsbeing slotted as at 8 (Fig. 3) and the U-shaped. recess of each bracket being pro.- vided with a centering and locking prong 9 adapted to be penetrated'through a rod. slot 8. When the rod is mounted in. the brackets, its rounded bottom edg'es 3 rest against the rounded bottom edges 7 of the recesses 7, so that the weight of the rod andits hangings is borne entirely by said bottom edges 7.

The bracket per se however forms no part of our present invention except in its com- I binative relation to the rod.

Slidable inside the rod' on the continuously horizontal uninterrupted trackways provided ,by the free edges ofthe upturned flanges 3 of the rod is a pair of master carriersindicated generally atlO'ahd 10 and a plurality of idler. carriers indicated generally at 11. These carriers have curtain attachingportionsdepending throughthe slot. or opening 4 spacing the flanges 3 so that the weight. of the hangings is disposed centrally of the rod. Themaster carriersare'duplicates of each other, as are the idlers 11, and hence a description of one of each will-suffice.

Each master carrier comprises a relatively thin strip or body portion, preferably of me ah l/Vhere :of metal it may be formed, preferably alongits upper edge as a pair of Spaced loops or eyes 12 and 13, which are preferably located, respectively, at either. end

of said upper edge, .These eyes, afford antii ti s ss elt elqoped gree in card.

The traverse rigging is as 7 tons 23 bymeans the exposed operating ends of which are indicated at 14 and 15.

Beyond the eyes 12 and 13, each carrier extends upwardly as a pair of division webs 12 and 13 at the extreme ends of the carrier. One purpose ofthe webs is to space the lengths of the operating cord apart. The cord lengths pass over rollers 16 and 17 mounted onv each carrier at said webs. Another purpose of the webs is to prevent the carriersfrom striking against the top wall of'the rod. I

"Therollers 16 and 17 ride on the trackwaysprovided by thefree edges of the upturned flanges f the rod and the lengths of the operating cord rest on the upper surfaces of these rollers. V l

Inwardly of the eyes or loops 12 and 13 the upper edge of each master carrier is provided witha fixedpairbf spaced alined cord guides 18 and 19 between which is a movable cord guide 20.

The movable cord guide 20 is capable of limited movement in both a lateral and a vertical direction relative to the fixed guides 18 and 19. When moved laterally towards the left and downwardly from the position of Fig. t to that of Fig, 5, said guide 20 clamps or binds the inserted length ofcord therein,

thus lockingthe master carrier to the cord. 3;

,When the guide 20 is moved to the release position of Fig. 4, the cord is unlocked so that the carrier may be adjusted-along the rod to .a new position and again locked.

The movement of the guide 20 from looked a;

tounlocked position and vice versa may be conveniently, accomplished by forming the guide 20 as van integral part of a manually operable locking lever 21 mounted on the body portion of the carrierfor limited motion in both alateral and a vertical direction.

. Stamped or otherwise marked on the body of the carrier itself are oppositely pointing arrows and. the legends, To look and To release indicating the locked and unlocked positions of the lever when swung laterally. When swung to the locked positions the lever is also drawn slightly downwardly to move the guide 20 out of alinement with the guides 18 and 19 (F 5) thereby binding the length 1 ofthe cord linfsaid figure. lVhen swung to the unlocked position, the lever also moves slightly upwardly to carry the guide 20 back into substantial alinement with the guides 18 and 19 (Fig.4) thereby releasing the cord length 14: in said figure.

Forthis purpose, the lever is extended downwardly at one side of the carrier sub:

stantially parallel to the: plane thereof, and is provided at its lower, end with a stud which is disposed through a cam slot 22 formed in thebody of the carrier and is provided with rounded heads or operating.butofiwhich the lever may be Themetal of the carrierabove the slot 22 is cutaway as indicated at 24: and is depressed laterally slightly above said cut-out 24: as indicated at 25 to provide a guiding bar to guide the, leverin its back and forth swinging motion, the body of the lever above the buttons 23 and beneath the guide 20 being slightly depressed laterally to bear against said bar 25.

One end of each master carrier is offset, as indicated at 26, to permit it to clear the reversely offset end of the opposite master car rier when the carriers are brought together whereby the hangingsmay be overlapped upon each other when closed. These offset ends, as well as the opposite ends of the master carriers are apertured as at 27 to receive any suitable curtain fastening device,

as a hook or thread.

Each idler carrier 11 (Fig. 7) comprises adepending hanger 28 and two sets of rollers 29 and 30 at either end of the upper portion of said hanger, which is formed as a cord guiding eye or loop 28 The lower end of hanger is perforated asat 31 for the attachment of the curtain. Above said hole 31 and below the rollers 29and 30, the hanger is provided with a third set of rollers 28. These rollerstrack along the outer edges 3 of the rod and prevent the idler from tilting inside the rod and thereby jamming the operating cords between the idlers and the top wall of the rod.

The cord rigging'is standard. At the right hand-end of the rod in Fig.2 there is mounted a double pair of alined pulleys 32, only one of which shows however in said figure. At the left hand end of the rod is mounted a single pulley 33.

Both lengths 14 and 15 of the pull cord are looped over pulley 33 and each length is individually passed over one or the other of the pair of pulleys 32.

Considering the disclosure of Fig. 2 as typical, from the far pulley 32 in that figure over which the length 14 for example passes, said length is carried through the eye 28 of the idler carrier 11- of which there may be more than one, and thence loosely through the eyes 13 and 12 of the master carrier at the far side of the webs 13 and 12 but not through the loops 19, 20 or 18 of said carrier, thence through the eye 13, fixed loop 18, looking loop 20, fixed loop 19, and eye 12 of the other master carrier 10, thence through the eye 28 of the idler carrier 11, of which there may be more than one lying between said carrier 10 and the pulley 33, thence over pulley 33, thence as return length back through the eye 28 of said idler carrier or carriers, thence loosely through the eyes 12 and 13 of master carrier 10 at the near side of the webs 12 and 13, thence through the loops 19, and 18 of the other carrier 10 i at the near side of the webs 12' and 13, thence through the eye 28 of the idler carrier or carriers 11 which lie between said carrier 10 and the pulleys 32, and finallyover the-nearer of said pulleys 32. i

By means of this. arrangement, the cord lengths are positively guided'and confinedso as notto become entangled with the moving v wards each other when one end 14 0f the i cord is drawn downwardly and awayfrom each other when the opposite end v15 of the cord is drawn downwardly. Y n

If after a rod has been installed, as in Fig.

1, for example, it is found desirable toreverse its position so that the pull cord ends will be at the left hand end of. the rod instead of the right, the rod inits entirety is simply lifted out of its supporting brackets,

turned around, and replaced in the brackets.

This may bedone without disturbing'the setting of the carriers or removing and re-' placing any of the operating parts of the traverse, the master carriers being stamped on both sides with the operating directions as to locking and releasing so that either side which happens to be outermost presents the same operating directionsQ Our rod is of the maximum rigidity and strength, due to'its U-shape, and hence may be extended to any practicable length Without danger ofsagging or buckling.

The curtains hang centrally of the rod and hence our carriers may be manipulated back and forth with farless effort, due to the substantial reduction of friction. In our rod, the friction is equally distributed over both parallel flanges .3 of the rod which afiord a pair of track railsdisposed intthe same horizontal-plane. 1

Various modifications in the construction and operation of our device may obviously be resorted to if within the spirit and scope of our invention as defined by-the-appended claims.

ar a

lVhat we therefore claim and desire to se cure by Letters Patent is r 1; In traverse equipment, a rod, a master and an idler carrier movable on said rod, said master carrier having an eye adjacent each end thereof and a movable looking formation between said eyes and independent thereof, and said idler carrier .also having" an eye, andra loopedoperating-cord for said ,maStercarrier,ronelengthofsaid cordpassing through the eyes of 'saidmastercarrie'r and the other lengt-h of said cord passing both through said eyes and the locking formation of said master carrier but independent of said first-namedlength, and both lengths passing throughthe eye of said'idler carrier.

2. Traverse'equipment asclaimed in claim 1 wherein themaster carrier adjacent said eyes is provided with rollers, constituting both guides over which the cord lengths pass to said eyes and anti-friction -"-bearings adapted to track on said rod.

'3. Traverse equipment as claimed in claim 1 wherein the idler carrier below said eye is provided with rollers adapted to track on said rod.

4. In traverse equipment, a master carrierhaving a pair of spaced alined eyes adjacent its ends, and a looped operating cord, both lengthsof which are received and guided in saideyes. I a a Y5; A master carrier as claimed in claim 4, wherein the carrier hasrollers in advance of said eyes and below the sanie'over which the operating cord passes to said. eyes;

6. In traverse equipment, a master carrier having a pair of spaced alined eyes adjacent its ends adaptedto receive and guide an operating eordalong said upper edge, rollers in advance of said eyes and below the same over which the operating cord passes to said eyes, and division websabove said rollers and disposed substantially centrally of said eyes and in advance of the same.

" 7. A master carrier as claimedin claim 6, 1 a I wherein said carrier between said eyes is formed with a fixed pair of spaced alined cord guiding loops and a movable cord locking loop is disposed in the space between said 7 fixed pair of loops and is movable into and out ofregistry therewith.

8. In traverse equipment,'a master carrier havinga fixed pair of spaced cord guides,

, and a movable cord lock disposed in the 7 space between said fixed guides for movement I v into and out of registry therewith.

' 9. In traverse equipment, a master carrier having afixed pairof spaced cord guides, and a cord lock'comprisinga lever mounted on said carrier for movement both laterally V and vertically relative thereto, said lever having at its upper end a movable cord guide disposed between said pair of fixed cord guides and shiftableinto and out of registry therewith by andin the inovement of said lever to lock or the cord. a 10. A master carrier as claimed inclaimt),

release position relative to tures.

to be passed, said head 'terminatingin a dependingdrapery attaching portion, an antifriction element at either end ofsaid head below said eye and spaced thereby from each other, and an anti-friction element carried by said depending drapery attaching portion and disposed below said anti-friction elements of the head and substantially centrally thereof.

12. In traverse equipment, a U-shaped rod having spaced solid front and rear walls, a connecting top wall, and a pair of spaced traclrforming flanges extending inwardly and upwardly from its lower edge to provide a substantially continuous, unbroken trackway from end to end of the rod, a master carrier having a roller bearing on said track- GEORGE M. KENNEY. WILLIAM C. KENNEY.

wherein the body'of the carrier is formed withla camslot and the lower-endof said lever is provided with afinger-operating stud disposed through saidslot; p

13 11. In traverse equipment. an idler slide having a head formed with a cord guiding eye through V which an operating cord is adapted

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