Dual cordless retractable shade system with transitional shade materials for architectural openings

Abstract

A shade system including a middle rail including a roller blind in addition to top and bottom rails wherein a fabric is intermediate the top and middle rails.

Claims

1. A shade system, comprising: a top rail, the top rail defining a channel; a mid-rail, the mid-rail included in a top down/bottom up system; a roller, the roller secured to the mid-rail; a valance, the valance mounted to the mid-rail; a control system, the control system including a central clutch block and pulley brackets, the central clutch block and pulley brackets located inside the top rail channel; wherein the roller is manipulated by the control system.

2. The shade system of claim 1, further comprising a fabric, the fabric intermediate the top rail and the mid-rail, wherein the roller and the fabric are manipulated by the control system.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the fabric and the roller move in response to movement of the mid-rail.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the fabric is selected from the group consisting of laminated, duo rolled, and silhouette.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the control system includes a pull cord for operating the control system.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the fabric is sheer or blackout.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the valance is either angular or arcuate in transverse cross-section.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the top rail is mounted by end brackets to a frame of an architectural opening.

Description

(1) All publications, patents and patent applications cited herein, whether supra or infra, are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

(2) FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of a shade system of the present disclosure.

(3) FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the mid-rail of the shade system of FIG. 1.

(4) Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Although the drawings represent embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated in order to better illustrate and explain the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(5) The system of the present disclosure includes a control system and two shading units supported on and manipulated by the control system. The shading units are operatively connected to the support structure to move in response to movement of the support structure. As used in this Specification, the term “flexible” refers to materials that are capable of being flexed with examples of such materials being sheets of vinyl, woven or non-woven fabric, cords of natural or synthetic fibers, monofilaments, and the like. The term “semi-rigid” refers to materials that are somewhat stiff but can be flexed or folded. Examples of such materials would be resin reinforced fabric, polyvinyl chloride, and the like. The term rigid refers to stiff materials which could be resin reinforced fabrics (to a greater degree than the “semi-rigid” fabrics), polyethylene, wood, aluminum or other metals, and the like.

(6) With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplar embodiment of the system of the present disclosure can be seen to include a mid-rail 5 supporting a rigid valance 13 and a fabric 19 that includes a support structure in the form of a hem 15 that carry a weighted bottom rail or ballast bar 16 at the lower end and in operative engagement with the support structure. Fabric 19 is generally made of a flexible shading material.

(7) As best seen in FIG. 1, top rail 7 is adapted to be mounted by end brackets 6 to a frame (not shown) of an architectural opening in any conventional manner. Top rail 7 defines a channel formed therein to receive a central clutch block 10 and pulley brackets 9. Central clutch block 10 and pulley brackets 9 comprise a control system used for the vertical movement of mid-rail 5 via cords connected with cable fasteners 8 whose movement is used for selecting the operating length of optional intermediate fabric material (not shown) found in between the top rail 7 and the mid rail 5.

(8) Alternatively, the control system may include a pull cord for operating the control system. Pulling downwardly on the pull cord would cause mid-rail 5, as seen in FIG. 1, and optional intermediate shade material (not shown) to be raised and accumulated within top rail 7. By releasing a brake (not shown) commonly used in such control systems for holding the fabric 19 at any degree of extension, in this alternative embodiment, mid-rail 5 can fall by gravity allowing the shading material to expand from the retracted position through an intermediate position to the fully expanded position.

(9) Mid-rail 5 engages valance 13. Valance 13 is shown as angular but can be arcuate in transverse cross-section. Valance 13 can conceal fabric 19 when the fabric 19 is in the retracted position. Valance 13 can conceal mid-rail 7. When the fabric 19 is extended, the valance 13 provides a decorative finish to the fabric 19 while blocking the view of the headrail components from inside a room in which the fabric 19 is mounted.

(10) The mid-rail control system includes roller 14, clutch assembly 4, clutch 3, an end plug 12 may be a conventional system wherein fabric 19 can be accumulated within valance 13 when the fabric 19 is retracted or extended therefrom when the fabric 19 is extended.

(11) Referring to FIG. 1, the mid-rail 5, top rail 7, and bottom rail or ballast bar 16 have been incorporated into the skeletal system shown and as will be appreciated, mid-rail 5 can be moved upwardly or downwardly and through friction of guide cords the optional intermediate shading material (not shown) at the end of the top rail 7 and support of mid-rail 5 by the guide cords, mid-rail 5 will remain in any position in which it is placed. Mid-rail 5 can be moved up or down so as to position it in any desired location.

(12) The fabric 19 illustrated in FIG. 1 or 2 can be rolled onto a roller 14 provided in a mid-rail 5 with roller 14 being of any conventional type used in roller shade systems. As will be appreciated in FIG. 1 or 2, fabric 19 is partially extended and depends from roller 14. In this embodiment the leftmost side of roller 14 contains the clutch assembly 4 and clutch 3 which is secured to mid-rail 5 via an end bracket 2 and screws 1. The other side of roller 14 contains an end plug 12 which is secured to mid-rail 5 via an end bracket 11 and screws 1.

(13) In this embodiment, the fabric 19 is a sheet of flexible fabric material which may have a weighted bottom rail or ballast bar 16. This bottom rail or ballast bar 16 includes inserts 17 in both ends and is secured to fabric 19 by being placed in hem 15 and secured laterally by hem bar end caps 18 which are screwed into the ballast bar inserts 17.

(14) From FIG. 1, it will be appreciated that mid-rail 5 can be moved between any desired position and will retain any position in which it is placed due to the friction of mid-rail 5 with the guide cords and the support of the guide cords. As in the previously described uses of the optional intermediate fabric (not shown), when mid-rail 5 is raised, optional intermediate fabric (not shown) may gather and be supported on mid-rail 5. As mid-rail 5 is lowered, optional intermediate fabric (not shown) may become unstacked and distributed vertically across the architectural opening from top rail 7 to mid-rail 5 regardless of its position. It is also envisioned that optional intermediate fabric (not shown) may comprise any number of shading options including cellular fabric, draperies, venetian blinds, vertical blinds, retractable shades, and the like. This system functions using single or double roller shades. The mid-rail 5 is activated with a gear-box like internal torsion of clutch 3 and clutch assembly 4 inside of roller 14.

(15) It will be appreciated from the above, that a shade for an architectural opening has been described wherein a support structure has mounted thereon multiple shading materials and wherein the support structure can be extended or retracted with an appropriate control system. It is evident from the above that the material could take numerous configurations or sizes and the support structure could also be varied as well as the system employed for extending and retracting the fabric material. It will also be appreciated that hybrid fabrics can be used for varied aesthetics and further the fabric can be cut to any desirable shape to accommodate any configuration of an architectural opening. Accordingly, the shade is extremely versatile and while illustrative embodiments have been disclosed, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many variations and combinations of embodiments and arrangements could be employed.

(16) Although the present disclosure has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood the disclosure has been made by way of example, and changes in detail or structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.