Slat with pressure contact part and blind using same

Abstract

A slat for use in a window frame having opposing walls may include a wing portion structured to block light, the wing portion having a first end in a longitudinal direction and a second end opposite to the first end; and a first pressure contact part provided at the first end and a second pressure contact portion provided at the second end, the first pressure contact part and the second pressure contact part being structured to press the wing portion against the opposing walls of the window frame to thereby hold the wing portion in place.

Claims

1. A slat for use in a window frame having opposing walls, the slat comprising: a wing portion structured to block light, the wing portion having a first end in a longitudinal direction and a second end opposite to the first end; and a first pressure contact part provided at the first end and a second pressure contact portion provided at the second end, the first pressure contact part comprising a first face and the second pressure contact portion comprising a second face; wherein the first face is a furthermost structure of the slat at the first end in the longitudinal direction; wherein the second face is a furthermost structure of the slat at the second end in the longitudinal direction; wherein the first face comprises a first face planar surface approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and bound by a first face outer circumferential edge, the first face planar surface completely filling an area bound by the first face outer circumferential edge; wherein the second face comprises a second face planar surface approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and bound by a second face outer circumferential edge, the second face planar surface completely filling an area bound by the second face outer circumferential edge; wherein the first pressure contact part is structured to press the first face against a first wall of the opposing walls, and the second pressure contact part is structured to press the second face against a second wall of the opposing walls, such that a first pressing force of the first face against the first wall and a second pressing force of the second face against the second wall hold the slat between the opposing walls; wherein the slat is movable in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and configured to be held at any position within the window frame.

2. The slat according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first pressure contact part and the second pressure contact part comprises an extendable and retractable tension rod comprising a slide lock mechanism, a screw mechanism, or an outer attachment structure; wherein the wing portion is structured to pivot about an axis parallel to a length of the wing portion; and the slat is structured such that an opening and closing angle of the slat is flexibly adjusted by manually rotating the wing portion.

3. The slat according to claim 1, wherein the wing portion has a planar shape.

4. A blind for use in a window frame having opposing walls, the blind comprising: a plurality of slats, each slat of the plurality of slats comprising: a wing portion structured to block light, the wing portion having a first end in a longitudinal direction and a second end opposite to the first end; and a first pressure contact part provided at the first end and a second pressure contact portion provided at the second end, the first pressure contact part comprising a first face and the second pressure contact portion comprising a second face; wherein the first face is a furthermost structure of the slat at the first end in the longitudinal direction; wherein the second face is a furthermost structure of the slat at the second end in the longitudinal direction; wherein the first face comprises a first face planar surface approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and bound by a first face outer circumferential edge, the first face planar surface being continuous and completely filling an area bound by the first face outer circumferential edge; wherein the second face comprises a second face planar surface approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and bound by a second face outer circumferential edge, the second face planar surface being continuous and completely filling an area bound by the second face outer circumferential edge; wherein the first pressure contact part is structured to press the first face of the first cap against a first wall of the opposing walls, and the second pressure contact part is structured to press the second face against a second wall of the opposing walls, such that a first pressing force of the first face against the first wall and a second pressing force of the second face against the second wall hold the slat between the opposing walls; wherein the plurality of slats are spaced apart from each other; wherein the slat is movable in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and configured to be held at any position within the window frame.

5. The blind according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of slats are mutually connected at a predetermined distance therebetween with a connecting pin structured to position the slats so as to be connected spaced apart from each other.

6. The blind according to claim 4, wherein the wing portion of each of the plurality of slats comprises a material that can be cut to conform to a distance between the opposing walls of the window frame; the wing portion comprises a cylindrical extension wing portion that sandwiches the wing portion from front and rear sides at one end of the first end and the second end; the extension wing portion is structured to extend and retract along the longitudinal direction of the wing portion; and the wing portion is structured to extend a length of the wing portion along the longitudinal direction to conform to the distance between the opposing walls of the window frame.

7. The slat according to claim 3, wherein a design is provided on a surface of the wing portion.

8. A blind for use in a window frame having opposing walls, the blind comprising: a plurality of slats, each slat of the plurality of slats comprising: a wing portion structured to block light, the wing portion having a first end in a longitudinal direction and a second end opposite to the first end; and a first pressure contact part provided at the first end and a second pressure contact portion provided at the second end, the first pressure contact part comprising a first face and the second pressure contact portion comprising a second face; wherein the first face is a furthermost structure of the slat at the first end in the longitudinal direction; wherein the second face is a furthermost structure of the slat at the second end in the longitudinal direction; wherein the first pressure contact part is structured to press the first face of the first cap against a first wall of the opposing walls, and the second pressure contact part is structured to press the second face against a second wall of the opposing walls, such that a first pressing force of the first face against the first wall and a second pressing force of the second face against the second wall hold the slat between the opposing walls; wherein the plurality of slats are spaced apart from each other; wherein each slat of the plurality of slats is movable in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and configured to be held at any position within the window frame.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings which are meant to be exemplary, not limiting, and wherein like elements are numbered alike in several Figures, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating slats with pressure contact parts according to at least an embodiment of the present invention that are pressed and installed side by side between opposing walls of a wind frame to constitute a blind.

(3) FIGS. 2A-2B is a perspective view illustrating a slat with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention with a tension rod constituting the pressure contact part being inserted into a hollow cylinder that is provided along the longitudinal direction of a wing portion.

(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a slat with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention with tension rods constituting the pressure contact part being inserted into hollow cylinders that are provided at both ends of the wing portion along the longitudinal direction thereof.

(5) FIG. 4 is a front view illustrating another embodiment of the pressure contact part.

(6) FIG. 5 is a front view illustrating yet another embodiment of the pressure contact part.

(7) FIG. 6 is a front view illustrating the slat with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention.

(8) FIG. 7 is a front view illustrating the slat with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention with a wing portion being rotated.

(9) FIG. 8 is a front view illustrating the slat with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention with the wing portion having another shape.

(10) FIG. 9 is a front view illustrating the slat with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention with the wing portion having an optional design added thereto.

(11) FIGS. 10A-10C is a front view illustrating a connecting pin and a blind that is constituted by connecting a plurality of slats with pressure contact parts according to at least an embodiment of the present invention using the connecting pin.

(12) FIG. 11 is a front view illustrating the slat with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention having an extension wing portion slidably attached to extend the length of the slat along a longitudinal direction thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(13) FIG. 1 is a perspective view seen from the inside of a room, illustrating slats 1 with pressure contact parts constituting a blind 100 according to at least an embodiment of the present invention that are installed side by side between vertically opposing walls of a wind frame by compressing pressure contact parts 20. Although FIG. 1 illustrates a vertical blind 100 wherein the strip shaped slats 1 with pressure contact parts are compressed between vertically opposing walls in a window frame, the blind 100 may also be constituted as a transverse blind wherein the pressure contact parts 20 of the slats 1 with pressure contact parts are compressed between the horizontally opposing walls of the window frame. FIG. 1 shows the blind 100 composed of four slats 1 with pressure contact parts, but the necessary number of slats 1 with pressure contact parts according to at least an embodiment of the present invention may be used to fit in the window frame. As described above, the blind 100 according to at least an embodiment of the present invention is different from a conventional blind equipped with slats having a predetermined size at the time of production so that a user may purchase an optional number of slats 1 with pressure contact parts that matches the size of the window frame, attaching the slats 1 to be pressed between the opposing walls of the window frame. As such, the blind 100 may help to create a neat design and also improve flexibility in design.

(14) Further, the slats 1 with pressure contact parts can be individually opened and closed by manually rotating the wing portions 10. Therefore, the slats 1 has the advantage of blocking a necessary part of the outer light entering a room and has a structure different from conventional slats that are all together held at the same opening and closing angle, for example, by using a ladder cord. Although FIG. 1 shows the opposing walls in a window frame that are provided inside a room, the opposing walls may extend outside the window depending on the types of the window frame. The blind 100 can be installed in such a window frame by mounting the slats 1 with pressure contact parts according to at least an embodiment of the present invention to be pressed between the opposing walls outside the window. As described above, the user can assemble a blind 100 with a sense of DIY by purchasing an optional number of the slats 1 with pressure contact parts as standalone items and by arranging the optional number of slats to be mutually spaced apart depending on his or her taste. As a matter of course, the blind 100 has the advantage of blocking sunlight or visibilities from the outside flexibly depending on the number of the slats 1 mutually spaced apart as described above.

(15) FIG. 2A-2B is a perspective view illustrating a slat 1 with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention with a tension rod 20A constituting a pressure contact part 20. That is, as shown in FIG. 2A, the tension rod 20A is inserted into a hollow cylinder 11 provided along the longitudinal direction of a wing portion 10 with an elastic cap 21 made of a lubber or the like, mounted on both ends. The tension rod 20A is a commercially available extendable rod composed of an elongated pipe and an elongated slide rod that has a smaller diameter than the pipe and is used tightly inserted into the pipe. The tension rod 20A has a well-known slide lock mechanism configured such that when the slide rod is rotated in one direction relative to the pipe the slide rod is locked in a non-slidable state, and when the slide rod is rotated in the opposite direction the slide rod is unlocked to allow the tension rod to extend or retract. FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 2A taken along the line AA. The tension rod 20A in the drawing is configured to rotate inside the hollow cylinder 11 in the wing portion 10, and thus when the slat 1 with a pressure contact part is pressed and held between the opposing walls of the window frame as shown in FIG. 1, each wing portion 10 can be rotated about the tension rod to thereby allow the user to easily perform shielding adjustment by manually rotating each wing portion 10.

(16) The wing portion 10 may be made of a thin film like material such as a generally-used slat material. Further, in order to prevent the wing portion 10 from excessively rotating inside the hollow cylinder 11 due to winds blowing through the open window, irregularities (not shown) are formed on the inner surface of the hollow cylinder 11 so that an opening and closing angle of the slats can be maintained by a suitable rolling friction. In this regard, the slat 1 has a different structure than the structure where a curtain is simply suspended from an extension rod as in so-called a caf curtain.

(17) Further, a commonly used blind has slats each having a wing portion with a short width of approximately 25 mm to 50 mm, whereas the slat 1 with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention has a hollow cylinder 11 and thus is hardly curved compared to a conventional blind even in the case of a transverse blind. Therefore, the wing portion 10 may have a wide width of 200 mm or greater, and thus the wide width may also have the advantage of facilitating various types of designs on the wing portion 10. Although the hollow cylinder 11 is provided at the center of the short side of the wing portion 10 in the drawing, the hollow cylinder may be positioned either on the right side or left side along the short side of the wing portion in terms of design.

(18) FIG. 3 illustrates a slat 1 with a pressure contact part according to another embodiment. That is, hollow cylinders 11, which are shorter than the hollow cylinder shown in the embodiment in FIGS. 2A-2B, are provided only on both ends near the short side of the wing portion 10 with tension rods 20A inserted therein. With this configuration, the entire part of the wing portion 10 needs rigidity, the wing portion 10 must be constituted by a relatively thick material rather than the thin film like material.

(19) Although FIGS. 2A-2B and 3 illustrate structures where the tension rods 20A are inserted into the hollow cylinder 11 of the wing portion 10 to rotate inside the hollow cylinder, the slat 1 with a pressure contact part is not limited to these structures. The pressure contact part 20 may be constituted by a simple screw mechanism 20B composed of a screw shaft 22 and a screw receptor 23 wherein a screw is adapted to advance and retract as shown in FIG. 4, thereby advancing elastic caps 21 at both ends and causing the elastic caps 21 to be pressed between the opposing walls in the window frame. With this configuration, when the wing portion 10 is rotated, the screw receptor 23 is manually unfastened with respect to the screw shaft 22, then the wing portion 10 is rotated at a prescribed angle, thereafter, the screw receptor 23 is rotated again to thereby press the elastic caps 21 against the opposing walls in the window frame. In this case, the diameter of the screw receptor 23 is preferably increased to facilitate the manual rotation of the screw receptor 23.

(20) FIG. 5 is a front view illustrating yet another embodiment of the pressure contact part 20. Here in the embodiment, the pressure contact part 20 is constituted by an outer attachment structure 20C independently provided at the outer side along the axial direction of the wing portion 10. In this outer attachment structure 20C, a pressing member 25 stored in a pressing member container 24 is biased toward the wing portion 10 by a spring body 26. That is, the pressing member 25 is presses against the end face of the wing portion 10 by the spring body 26 while the elastic cap 21 is pressed against and held by the opposing wall in the window frame at the same time. In this case, the pressing member 25 is pivotable in the pressing member container 24, and thus the wing portion 10 pressed against and held by the opposing wall is manually pivotable about the axis to thereby enable a flexible opening and closing angle.

(21) Various types of structures of the pressure contact part 20 may be applied besides those described above, however, the pressure contact part 20 according to at least an embodiment of the present invention may include other structures as long as the opening and closing angle of the wing portion 10 can be manually and flexibly set with the elastic cap 21 pressed against the opposing wall in the window frame at one end while being pressed against the wing portion 10 at the other end, and therefore the pressure contact part 20 is not limited to the structures as described above.

(22) FIG. 6 is a front view illustrating the slat 1 with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention when the wing portion 10 faces front. FIG. 7 is a front view when the wing portion 10 is rotated. The manual rotation of each slat 1 allows the wing portion 10 to rotate at an optional opening and closing angle. A locking projection 27 may be provided below the tension rod to hold the wing portion 10 at a prescribed position as shown in FIG. 6.

(23) FIG. 8 is a front view illustrating the slat 1 with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention with the wing portion 10 having another shape. That is, the wing portion 10 may be formed into different shapes for each the slat 1 with a pressure contact part. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, optional designs may be applied to each wing portion 10.

(24) As described above, the blind 100 according to at least an embodiment of the present invention has the advantage of being configured by the necessary number of the slats 1 with pressure contact parts at the necessary intervals depending on the width of a window frame. At this time, if the slats 1 with pressure contact parts are provided at regular intervals, slats 1 may be mutually connected with connecting pins 30 provided between the wing portions 10 and the elastic caps 21 as shown in FIG. 10A. The connecting pin 30 may be made up of a wire or the like having rings formed at both ends as shown in FIG. 10b. When using these connecting pins, the elastic cap 21 is removed from the pressure contact part 20 (tension rod or the like) to attach the connecting pin 30 to the contact part 20, and then the elastic cap 21 is again attached to the contact part 20. Thereby, the user can assemble the blind 100 depending on his or her taste by rotating and pressing the elastic cap 21 against the opposing walls in the window frame. Alternatively, the connecting pin 30 may have another shape in which a part of the ring is chipped off as shown in FIG. 10C. In this case, adjacent slats 1 with pressure contact parts may be connected by fitting the connecting pin 30 to the pressure contact part 20 from the side thereof without removing the elastic cap 21.

(25) The slat 1 with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention may be manufactured using, for example, a material that can be easily cut with scissors. When using such a material, if the length of the wing portion 10 of the blind 100 according to at least an embodiment of the present invention is too long with respect to the width of a window frame, the user can easily adjust the length of the wing portion 10 by himself or herself by cutting off the wing portion 10 with scissors. On the contrary, if the length of the wing portion 10 is too short, a slidable extension wing portion 12 can be added to the wing portion 10 in order to extend the length of the slat 1 with a pressure contact part along the longitudinal direction, as shown in FIG. 11. That is, the extension wing portion 12 is formed into a cylinder shape to sandwich the end of the wing portion 10 from the front and rear sides and is configured to be able to advance and retract along the longitudinal direction of the hollow cylinder 11. The extension wing portion 12, when retracted, is held by the wing portion 10 while fully covering the end of the wing portion 10, and when advancing, the extension wing portion 12 is slidingly moved along the arrow direction manually by an extended length while being held by the wing portion 10. The extension wing portion 12 is simply formed into a cylinder shape to sandwich the wing portion 10 without the hollow cylinder 11 differently from the wing portion 10, and thus is slidable along the longitudinal direction while covering the wing portion 10. As such, the slat 1 with a pressure contact part according to at least an embodiment of the present invention makes it possible to easily adjust the length by slidingly moving the extension wing portion 12 from the end of the wing portion 10 by the needed length when advancing the tension rod 20A to conform to the width between the opposing walls in the window frame. Therefore, the blind 100, in which a plurality of slats 1 with pressure contact parts is arranged at regular intervals, can be adapted to, for example, the vertical blind as shown in FIG. 1 by choosing the number of the slats 1 with pressure contact parts for the horizontal width, and by using the extension wing portion 12 for the vertical width, respectively, and thus can be flexibly applied to suit the size of a window frame. In this regard, the blind 100 has the advantage of having the significantly improved scene adaptability compared to conventional blinds with a factory-configured fixed size.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

(26) As described above, the user may purchase the necessary number of the slats 1 with pressure contact parts according to at least an embodiment of the present invention and assemble the blind 100 suitable for the size of the window frame depending on his or her taste, and therefore the slats 1 with pressure contact parts has broad marketability.

(27) While the description above refers to particular embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit thereof. The accompanying claims are intended to cover such modifications as would fall within the true scope and spirit of the present invention.

(28) The presently disclosed embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims, rather than the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.