Blind control having a narrow profile drive

Abstract

A blind control for a window covering having a narrow profile; and particularly relates to a control module for a window shade where the location of the drive mechanism is selected to minimize the gap between the end of the window shade and inside edge of a window opening; locating the drive mechanism in a shell disposed in a housing to rigidity a reduced thickness of the drive so as to minimize the gap; and use a single rod depending from the control module to activate the drive mechanism in a safe and secure manner. The invention also includes a housing with an end wall adjacent one end of the shade; a clutch projecting from said end wall and rotatable about a clutch axis, a drive gear engageable at one end of the clutch for rotatably driving said clutch and shade, said drive gear disposed in said housing adjacent said end wall; and a wand for driving said drive gear.

Claims

1. A control module to control a window shade comprising; a housing having an end wall, a shell plate, a first cavity and a second cavity; a driven gear means housed in said first cavity between said shell plate and said end wall, said driven gear means adjacent one end of said window shade; drive means housed in said second cavity to rotatably drive the driven gear means and rotatably drive said window shade about an axis so as to raise and lower said window shade relative an opening; wherein said drive means housed in said second cavity is positioned axially inward from said one end of said window shade such that the shell plate and drive means overlap a face of the window shade and the drive means housed in said second cavity is axially spaced inward from the first cavity.

2. The control module as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control module includes a clutch disposed within said housing and engageable with said window shade, said driven gear means engageable with said clutch.

3. The control module as claimed in claim 2 wherein the drive means comprises a drive gear means between said shell plate and said end wall and engageable with said driven gear means to rotationally drive said clutch and said window shade about said axis for raising and lowering said window shade.

4. The control module as claimed in claim 3 wherein said second housing portion is radially spaced from said axis.

5. The control module as claimed in claim 3 wherein said shell plate covers said driven gear means in said first cavity and covers said drive gear means in said second cavity and constrains said drive gear means and driven gear means against binding.

6. The control module as claimed in claim 5 wherein said driven gear means comprises a spur gear disposed at one end of said clutch between said end wall and said shell plate so as to define a gap distance between said one end of said shade and said end wall.

7. The control module as claimed in claim 6 wherein the gap distance between said one end of said shade and said end wall is between 5 to 8 millimeters.

8. The control module as claimed in claim 7 wherein the drive gear means is either a worm wheel or bevel gear.

9. The control module as claimed in claim 6 further including at least one intermediate gear between said spur gear and said drive gear means.

10. The control module as claimed in claim 9 wherein said clutch includes selectively engageable braking means for preventing said shade from unrolling when said driven gear means is idle.

11. A control module to control a window shade roll comprising; a housing disposed at one end of said window shade roll, said housing having a control end wall, a shell plate and a first cavity and a second cavity, said first cavity communicating with said second cavity; a spur gear disposed in said first cavity between said control end wall and shell plate, to define a gap distance between said shell plate and said control end wall, said spur gear adjacent said one end of said window shade roll; a clutch projecting from said spur gear into said window shade roll, said spur gear rotatable with said clutch about a clutch axis for raising and lowering a window shade from said window shade roll; drive gear means disposed in said second cavity and engageable with said spur gear for rotatably driving said clutch about said clutch axis for raising and lowering said window shade; wherein said wherein said drive gear means in said second cavity is positioned axially inward from said one end of said window shade such that the shell plate and drive means overlap a face of the window shade and the drive means housed in said second cavity is axially spaced inward from the first cavity; a rod connected to said drive gear means to rotatably drive said spur gear.

12. The control module as claimed in claim 11 wherein said gap distance is between 5 and 8 millimeters.

13. The control module as claimed in claim 11 wherein said drive gear means includes a worm gear engageable with said spur gear.

14. The control module as claimed in claim 11 including at least one intermediate gear between said spur gear and said drive gear means.

15. The control module as claimed in claim 11 wherein the drive gear means is either a worm wheel or bevel gear.

16. A control module to control a window shade comprising; a housing having an end wall and a shell plate; a driven gear means disposed within said housing between said shell plate and said end wall, said driven gear means adjacent one end of said window shade; drive means disposed within said housing and engageable with said window shade for rotatably driving the driven gear means so as to raise and lower said window shade relative the opening; wherein said drive means is positioned inward from said end wall and overlaps said one end of said window shade; and a wand for driving said drive means; said wand including a shaft defining two intersecting spiral grooves and a hand portion coaxially receiving said shaft for reciprocal movement of said hand portion relative said shaft to rotate said wand, and a selector carried on said hand portion to selectively switch the rotation of said shaft in a selected first or second direction; wherein said selector allows engagement into a specific spiral groove of the two intersecting spiral grooves in order to select the specific direction of the rotation of the wand.

17. A control module to control a window shade comprising; a housing having an end wall and a shell plate; a driven gear means disposed within said housing between said shell plate and said end wall, said driven gear means adjacent one end of said window shade; drive means disposed within said housing and engageable with said window shade for rotatably driving the driven gear means so as to raise and lower said window shade relative the opening; wherein said drive means is positioned inward from said end wall and overlaps said one end of said window shade; and a rod for driving said drive means; wherein said rod comprises a shaft defining two spiral intersecting grooves or two spiral intersecting protrusions and a hand portion coaxially receiving said two intersecting spiral grooves or two intersecting spiral protrusions for reciprocal movement of said hand portion relative said two intersecting spiral grooves or two intersecting spiral protrusions to rotate said shaft in a selected first or second direction to lower or raise said window shade and a selector on said hand portion to selectively switch the rotation of said shaft; wherein said selector allows engagement with a specific spiral groove or specific spiral protrusions of the two intersecting spiral grooves or two spiral intersecting protrusions in order to select the specific direction of the rotation of the wand.

18. The control module as claimed in claim 17 wherein each of said two intersecting spiral protrusions are defined by two spaced opposite side walls extending radially outwardly from said shaft, each said spaced opposite side walls having a bottom edge and top edge and the space between the top edge of each said spaced opposite side walls being less than the space between the bottom of each said spaced opposite side walls.

19. The control module as claimed in claim 18 wherein said drive means includes a drive shaft disposed at an angle relative the housing and said rod hangs vertically downwardly from said drive shaft in a first position and is moveable to a second operable position to drive said drive shaft.

20. A control module to control opening and closing a widow shade comprising: a shaft defining two spiral intersecting grooves or two spiral intersecting protrusions and a hand pumping portion coaxially receiving said two intersecting spiral grooves or two intersecting spiral protrusions for reciprocal movement of said hand pumping portion relative said two intersecting spiral grooves or two intersecting spiral protrusions to rotate said shaft in a selected first or second direction to lower or raise said window shade, and a switch carried on said hand pumping portion to selectively switch the rotation of said shaft; wherein said switch allows engagement with a specific spiral groove or specific spiral protrusion of the two intersecting spiral grooves or two spiral intersecting protrusions in order to select the specific direction of the rotation of the wand.

21. A control module as claimed in claim 20 wherein a first end of said shaft includes an attachment to suspend said shaft from said window shade and a second end of said shaft includes a hand grasping portion with said hand pumping portion disposed coaxially on the shaft for reciprocal movement of said hand pumping portion between said first and second end.

22. A wand for attachment to a window shade assembly comprising; a) a shaft defining two spiral intersecting grooves or two spiral intersecting protrusions and a hand pumping portion coaxially receiving said two intersecting spiral grooves or two intersecting spiral protrusions for reciprocal movement of said hand pumping portion relative said two intersecting spiral grooves or two intersecting spiral protrusions to rotate said shaft in a selected first or second direction to lower or raise said window shade; b) wherein a first end of said shaft includes an attachment to attach said shaft to a control module and a second end of said shaft includes a hand grasping portion with said hand pumping portion disposed coaxially on the shaft for reciprocal movement between said first and second end; and c) wherein each: i) said groove is defined by two spaced groove side walls extending radially outwardly from said shaft, each said spaced groove side walls having a bottom edge and top edge and the space between the top edge of each said spaced groove side walls is greater than the space between the bottom edge of each said spaced groove side walls; or ii) said protrusions is defined by two spaced opposite protrusion side walls extending radially outwardly from said shaft, each said spaced opposite protrusion side walls having a bottom edge and top edge and the space between the top edge of each said spaced opposite protrusion side walls being less than the space between the bottom edge of each said spaced opposite protrusion side walls.

23. The wand as claimed in claim 22 further including a switch disposed on an exterior surface of said hand pumping portion to selectively switch the rotation of said shaft; wherein said switch allows engagement with a specific spiral groove or specific spiral protrusion of the two intersecting spiral grooves or two spiral intersecting protrusions in order to select the specific direction of the rotation of the wand.

Description

IN THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the narrow profile control module for a window shade.

(2) FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the narrow profile control module for a window shade.

(3) FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the narrow profile control module for a window shade.

(4) FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the control module.

(5) FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C are partial perspective views of the interior cavities of the first and second cavities at various stages of assembly.

(6) FIGS. 6A and 6B are perspective views of the narrow profile control module for a window shade and wand.

(7) FIGS. 7A and 7B are further perspective views of the interior of the housing of the narrow profile control module for a window shade and wand.

(8) FIGS. 8A, 8B, 80, 8D, 8E, 8F, 8G, and 8H are various views of another embodiment of the invention.

(9) FIGS. 9A, 9B, 90, 9D and 9E are side views of another embodiment of the rod or wand.

(10) FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C are a view of the wand having helical grooves.

(11) FIGS. 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D and 11E are a front elevation view with the shade lowered, a rear elevation view with the shade lowered, cross sectional view with the shade lowered and a front elevation view with the shade raised, and a perspective view of the narrow profile control module, respectively.

(12) FIGS. 12A, 12B, 12D, 12E and 12F are various cross sectional views of another embodiment of a wand having helical protrusions.

(13) FIG. 13 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a housing whereby a drive shaft is disposed at an angle.

(14) FIG. 14 is a rear perspective view of the FIG. 13.

(15) FIG. 15 is a rear elevational view of the embodiments shown is FIGS. 13 and 14.

(16) FIG. 16 is a cross sectional view of FIG. 15 along the line D-D.

(17) FIG. 17 is a cross sectional view of FIG. 16 along the line C-C.

(18) FIG. 18 is a cross sectional view of FIG. 15 along the line B-B

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(19) Like parts are given like numbers throughout the figures.

(20) FIG. 1 generally illustrates a blind control 10 for a window covering having a narrow profile. In particular the blind control 10 relates to a control module 12 for a window shade 11 adapted to fit within an opening 14. The opening 14 can be an opening for a window that is comprised of drywall that has an inside edge 17 defining the opening; or in another embodiment the opening may be defined by a window frame comprised of wood or the like adjacent the window opening 14 where the window frame has an inside edge 17.

(21) The control module 12 includes a driven gear 18 disposed between the window shade 11 (FIG. 11C) and inside edge 17 of opening 14 or window frame 16 so as to define a gap 15 between the window shade 11 and edge 17; drive gears 20a and 20b located outside the gap 15 and engageable with said window shade roll 13 for rotatably driving the driven gear 18 so as to raise and lower said window shade 11; and a rod 90 for driving said drive gears 20a and 20b.

(22) The control module 12 includes a housing 40 having a control end 17 (FIG. 11D) and opposite pin end 19 (FIG. 11D). The control end 17 has the control elements and includes an end wall 41 (FIG. 1) adapted to be disposed adjacent said edge 17 of the window opening 14 as seen in FIGS. 4, 11A, 11B, 11C and 11D. In particular the end of the shade 11, namely one end 21 of the shade roll 13 is preferably as close to the inside edge 17 of the window opening 14 to minimize the gap 15 and block out as much of the light from the outside as possible. A clutch 50 is disposed within the housing 40 and is engageable with the shade roll 13 of window shade 11 in a manner well known to those persons skilled in the art. In particular the clutch 50 is axially rotatable about shaft 9. Two springs 11a and 11b are coaxially aligned with shaft 90. The shaft 90 and springs 11a and 11b are received within the clutch 50. The ends 13a and 13b of the springs 11a and 11b have projections that engage the openings 50a and 50b of the clutch 50 so as to prevent the clutch from unravelling in a manner well known to persons skilled in the art.

(23) FIG. 11C shows there is another space 6 between another end of the roll 13 and an opposite edge of window opening 14 which approximately comprises the thickness of the end wall 43 of the pin end 19, since the other end of the shade roll contacts or is very close to the end wall 43. The space 6 is generally smaller than the gap 15, and the invention herein relates to the gap 15 at the control module end 7 of control module 12.

(24) The driven gear 18 is engageable with the clutch 50. In particular the driven gear 18 includes projections 18a and 18b that are received through the hole 64 into the clutch 50. The clutch 50 is axially disposed between the window shade 11 and said end wall 41. The driven gear 18 rotatably drives said clutch 50 and shade 11 about a clutch axis for raising and lowering said shade 11 relative said window opening 14.

(25) The drive means or gears 20a and 20b are located in a region away from the gap 15 so as to minimize the gap 15 or distance between one end 21 the shade 11 and edge 17 of window opening 14, or in particular the drive gears 20a and 20b are located away from the axis of clutch rotation so as not to interfere with the rotating clutch 50 or shade roll 13. In one embodiment the drive gears 20a, and 20b are radially spaced away from the clutch axis of rotation. In other words the drive gears 20a and 20b overlie the clutch 50 and shade roll 13 so as not to add any measurement to the gap 15.

(26) The housing 40 includes a first housing portion 42 for receiving said driven gear 18 and a second housing portion 44 communicating with said first housing portion 42, the second housing portion 44 for receiving said drive gear means 20a and 20b.

(27) In one embodiment the thickness of the driven gear 18 is between 5 to 8 millimeters thick. However this is given by way of example and other thicknesses can be used within the scope of this invention.

(28) In order to constrain the relatively thin thickness of the drive gear 18 a shell plate 60 is used to cover the driven gear 18 in the first chamber 42 and for covering the drive gear 20a and 20b in the second chamber 44 and constrain said driven gear means 18 and drive gear means 20a and 20b against flexing and binding.

(29) The first and second chambers 42 and 44 define a chamber, where the first chamber 42 includes a first chamber wall 47 and the second chamber 44 includes a second chamber wall 49, again in order to constrain the drive gear 18 and driven gears 20a and 20b against flexing and binding, in addition to the shell plate 60.

(30) The shell plate 60 is seen in FIG. 1 and comprises a first shell plate portion 62 having a hole 64 to receive the clutch 50 there through and a second shell plate portion 66. The shell plate 60 has an offset connecting surface 68 connecting the first shell cover portion 62 and the second shell cover portion 66. The offset connecting surface 68 or offset or distance between the first shell plate portion 62 and second shell plate portion 66 provides a means of locating the drive gears 20a and 20b away from the gap 15 to minimize the gap 15.

(31) More particularly the drive gear 20 comprises a gear 21 connected to pinion gear 23 as best seen in FIG. 5C. The drive gear 20 also includes a worm wheel 25 coaxially connected to drive shaft 27. The gear 21 rotationally drives intermediate gears 29a and 29b which in turn rotationally drive the drive wheel 18.

(32) A drive gear cage 70 is disposed in the second chamber 44. The cage or shell 70 lies flat against the gear 21 as shown in FIG. 5B. The cage 70 includes a hole 72 for receiving spur gear 23 for rotation therein. The shaft 27 of the spur gear 25 includes two spaced annual recesses 25a and 25b which are adapted to receive retaining clips 31a and 31b (FIG. 6A) respectively. The drive gear cage or shell 70 has openings 73a and 73b (FIGS. 5C, 6A) which are adapted to receive retaining clips 31a and 31b respectively that engage with annual recesses 25a and 25b as discussed so as to contain, constrain and retain the drive gear means 20 in a small compartment to rigidify a reduced thickness of the drive so as to minimize the gap 15.

(33) The shell cover 60 includes fastening holes 61a, 61b, and 61c adapted to receive fastens such as screws to tighten the shell or cage cover 60 to the housing 40 and further rigidify the control module 12 against binding.

(34) The drive gear cage 70 is offset away from the plane of the driven gear 18 and gear 21 in a direction away from the end wall 42 and thus away from the gap 15. In other words the spur gear 23 and worm wheel 25 do not contribute to gap dimension thus providing a narrow profile control module as described.

(35) In one embodiment the driven gear 18 comprises a spur gear 18 disposed at said one end 51 of said clutch 50 between said end wall 41 and said one end of said shade so as to define a narrow gap 15 between said one end of said shade and said frame 16 of said window.

(36) In another embodiment the control module 12 comprises at least one intermediate gear 29a or 29b between said spur gear 18 and said drive gear means 20. The drive gear means 20 in one example is a worm wheel.

(37) The clutch 50 includes selectively engageable braking means for preventing said shade from unrolling when said driven gear or spur gear 18 is idle and includes springs 11a and 11b. The clutch braking means is well known to those persons skilled in the art and will not be described herein.

(38) The invention described herein relates to a narrow profile control module 12 for a window shade roll 13 comprising; a housing 40 disposed at one end of said window shade roll 13, said housing 40 having a control end wall 41 and first cavity 42 and a second cavity 44, the first cavity 42 communicating with said second cavity 44; a spur gear 18 disposed in said first cavity 42 between said end wall 41 and one end of said window shade roll 13, and defining a gap 15 between one end of said window shade 13 and said edge 17 of the opening 14; a clutch 50 projecting from said spur gear 18 into said window shade roll 13, said spur gear 18 rotatably engageable with said clutch 50 about a clutch axis for raising and lowering said window shade 11; a drive gear means 20 disposed in said second cavity 44 away clutch axis so as to not interfere with said gap 15 adjacent said end wall 41 said drive gear means 20 engageable with said spur gear 18 for rotatably driving said clutch 50 about said clutch axis for rotatably driving the clutch about the clutch axis for raising and lowering the window shade 11; a rod 90 connected to the drive, gear for rotatably driving the spur gear.

(39) In one embodiment the gap is defined as the space between the inside edge 17 of the window opening 14 or frame 16 and one end 21 of the window shade 11 or roll 13.

(40) FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 8F, 8G, and 8H are various views of another embodiment of the invention where the drive means 20a and 20b is a bevel gear 80a and 80b. The end of the rod 90 also has a bevel gear 80b.

(41) FIGS. 2, 3, 6A and 6B show that the rod 90 has a handle 92 that can be used to manually rotate the drive shaft 27 to rotate the drive means 20. The rod or wand 90 also includes a hollow sleeve 94 that can be grasped in one hand while the other hand manually rotates the rod 90 by handle 92.

(42) Alternatively FIGS. 9A, 9B, 9C and 9D are side views of another embodiment of the rod or wand 90. In this case the sleeve 94 is longer than in FIG. 1 and can be moved axially upward or downward so that intermediate horizontal piece 95 and vertical piece 96 are exposed and articulated 90 degrees relative to one another. The drive means 20 can be manually driven in this fashion. Alternatively the sleeve 94 is moved downwardly to cover articulated joints 98 and 99. Once the articulated joints 98 and 99 are covered by sleeve 94 a motor drive (not shown) can engage a socket adapter 97 and rotatably drive the rod 90. The sleeve 94 is long enough to cover the articulated joints 98 and 99 so that the rod does not become twisted when rotated by the motor drive.

(43) The sleeve 94 has an upper end that has a shoulder 110 which engages a connecting piece 112 when in the lower position as shown in FIG. 9A. The bottom end 114 is tapered so as to self-align as the sleeve 94 moves from the upper position shown in FIG. 9E to the lower position shown in FIG. 9A.

(44) FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C illustrate a rod or wand 90 which includes a first shaft 99 defining spiral grooves 100a and 100b and hand pumping portion 102 coaxially receiving said first shaft 99 for reciprocal movement of said hand portion 102 relative said first shaft 99 to rotate said shaft 99 and wand in a selected first or clockwise rotation or second or counter clockwise direction. The hand portion includes a slideable selector 104 for selecting the direction of rotation of said drive gear means 20.

(45) FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C also illustrate a hand grasping portion 120 which can be grasped by an individual grasping the hand pumping portion 102 by another hand and reciprocately pumps the hand pumping portion 102 up and down in a reciprocating fashion between a first reciprocating position and a second reciprocating position so as to rotate the first shaft 99.

(46) The hand grasping portion 120 is hollow and includes two projections 122 which engage an annular groove 124 as shown; so as to permit rotation of the first shaft 99 relative the hand grasping portion 120.

(47) Furthermore, FIG. 1 illustrates that the controls (driven and driver gears) are housed in the housing 40 while the other opposite end includes a pin end 19. The interior surface of the pin end 19 includes a post which receives a revolving pin 5 as best seen in FIG. 11C which coaxially receives the other end 43 of the shade roll 13 for rotation of a clutch axis and shade roll axis.

(48) FIG. 1 also shows an exploded view of a cassette 130 which can be comprised of aluminum or plastic or the like and includes a plurality of extensions or rails that are adapted to engage (not shown) for attachment adjacent a window opening 14. The brackets 132 allow a user to fasten the bracket (not shown) to adjacent the window opening 14 first and thereafter snap the cassette 130 in place for easy installation.

(49) The arrangements shown in FIG. 1 can be reversed so that the control end 7 is located on the opposite end depending on which side of the window cassette the user desires to place the wand 90. The control end 7 shown in FIG. 1 consists of a right control cap while the opposite pin end 19 comprises a left end cap. However these can be reversed.

(50) The left side of the cassette 130 of FIG. 2 presents the pin end cap while the right side of FIG. 2 presents the right control cap.

(51) The cassette 130 covers the internal mechanism of the control elements.

(52) FIGS. 12A, 12B, 12C, 12D, 12E and 12F are another embodiment of the wand, similar to FIGS. 10A-10C except the helical grooves have been replaced with protrusions, 100C 100D; but otherwise operate in a similar manner to that as shown in FIGS. 10A-10C. Furthermore FIG. 12F is cross sectional view of FIG. 12C along the lines C-C.

(53) Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 13,14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 whereby the drive shaft 27 is disposed by an angle as best seen FIG. 15. Such embodiment maybe useful when in use with wide slats such as wooden slats in the window coverings, which slats may protrude beyond on the housing 40.

(54) In such arrangement the wand as (for example as shown in FIGS. 10A-10C FIGS. 12A-12F) would hang vertically downwardly from the connecting loop 35 of the drive shaft 27 in a first position. However, in order to raise or lower the shade the wand shaft 99 or 90 as previously described would be moved by the user so that the axis of the shaft 99 would be in line with or coaxial with the axis of the shaft 27 in a second operable position thereby permitting rotation as previously described in order to raise or lower the shade material.

(55) Furthermore, FIG. 16 illustrates that a bevel gear 80b in another embodiment located at the end of the shaft 27 (rather than the worm gear as shown in FIG. 1) so as the engage a clutch 50 having a spur gear 18 at the end thereof.