Claims
- 1. A break away operating cord system and retractable covering combination for an architectural opening, said combination including:
- a retractable barrier adapted to extend across the architectural opening and said operating cord system for manipulating the barrier through rotation of a support element in the operating cord system on which the barrier is mounted, said operating cord system comprising in combination:
- a drive member operatively connected to said support element for unitary rotation therewith,
- an operating cord operatively and selectively engageable with said drive member to reversibly rotate said drive member, said operating cord having first and second portions depending from opposite sides of said drive member such that an axial force on said first portion causes rotation of said drive member in a first direction and an axial force on said second portion causes rotation of said drive member in an opposite direction,
- a mounting plate having releasable elements supporting said operating cord for selective operative engagement with said drive member; and
- a mounting support for said mounting plate, said mounting support releasably supporting said mounting plate such that substantially equal axial forces applied simultaneously to said first and second portions of said operating cord causes said releasable elements on said mounting plate to be released from said mounting support thereby separating said mounting plate and operating cord from the remainder of said cord operated system and the retractable covering.
- 2. A break away cord system and retractable covering combination for an architectural opening, said covering including a retractable barrier mounted on a rotatable member, said barrier adapted to extend across the architectural opening, and said cord system being adapted for manipulating the barrier through rotation of said rotatable member which forms part of said cord system, said combination comprising:
- an operating cord operatively and selectively engageable with said rotatable member to reversibly rotate said rotatable member, said operating cord having first and second portions depending from opposite sides of said rotatable member such that an axial pulling force on said first portion causes said rotatable member to rotate in a first direction and an axial pulling force on said second portion causes said rotatable member to rotate in an opposite direction, and
- a reasonable release system supporting said operating cord such that simultaneous axial pulling forced applied to said first and second portions selectively disengages said operating cord from operative engagement with said rotatable member and separates said operating cord from said rotatable member and barrier.
- 3. The system of claim 2 wherein said release system includes a mounting plate supporting said operating cord for selective operative engagement with said rotating member and a mounting support releasably supporting said mounting plate.
- 4. The system of claim 1 wherein said mounting plate is pivotally and releasably supported on said mounting support.
- 5. The system of claim 4 wherein said mounting plate includes a pair of flexible clamp arms yieldingly biased into a clamping position in which position the clamp arms releasably retain the mounting plate on the mounting support.
- 6. The system of claim 5 wherein said mounting support includes abutments to substantially prevent flexing of said clamp arms upon either an axial pulling force on said first portion of the operating cord or an axial pulling force on the second portion of said operating cord but not upon substantially equal and simultaneous axial pulling forces on both said first and second portions of the operating cord.
- 7. The system of claim 4 wherein axial pulling forces on said first and second portions of the operating cord cause the mounting plate to pivot relative to the mounting support.
- 8. The system of claim 6 wherein said abutments limit the pivotal movement of said mounting plate.
- 9. The system of claim 5 further including a removable lock plate releasably mountable on said mounting support in a position to limit flexing of said clamp arms to prevent a release of said mounting plate from said mounting support.
- 10. The system of claim 1 further including a clutch system operatively connected to said drive member to selectively prevent rotation of said drive member.
- 11. The system of claim 10 wherein said clutch system is selectively engageable and disengageable such that when the clutch system is disengaged the drive member is prevented from rotating and when the clutch system is engaged the drive member is reversibly rotatable by axial pulling force on one or the other, but not both simultaneously, of the first and second operating cord portions.
- 12. The system of claim 11 wherein said mounting plate is reversibly pivotable by axial pulling forces on one or the other of said first and second operating cord portions and pivotal movement of said mounting plate engages said clutch system.
- 13. The system of claim 12 wherein pivotable movement of the mounting plate in a first direction engages the clutch system to allow the drive member to rotate only in a first direction and pivotal movement of the mounting plate in an opposite direction engages the clutch system to allow the drive member to rotate only in an opposite direction.
- 14. The system of claim 13 wherein said clutch system includes a coil spring frictionally engaged with said drive member when the coil spring is in an at rest position and the clutch system is disengaged, said coil spring being substantially fixed in position to prevent rotation of the drive member when the clutch is disengaged.
- 15. The system of claim 14 wherein said coil spring has engagement means which can be manipulated to change the diameter of the coil spring to permit rotation of the drive member relative to the coil spring.
- 16. The system of claim 15 wherein said engagement means are selectively engageable upon pivotal movement of said mounting plate.
- 17. The system of claim 16 further including a mounting hub pivotally mounted on said mounting support and releasably connected to said mounting plate for unitary pivotal movement therewith.
- 18. The system of claim 17 wherein said mounting hub is selectively engageable with said engagement means on said coil spring upon pivotal movement of said mounting plate.
- 19. The system of claim 18 further including a stop member on said mounting support cooperating with said mounting hub to permit pivotal movement of the mounting hub while prohibiting rotational movement of the mounting hub.
- 20. The system of claim 19 wherein said mounting plate includes a pair of flexible clamp arms yieldingly biased into a clamping position in which position the clamp arms releasably connect the mounting plate to the mounting hub.
- 21. The system of claim 20 wherein said mounting support includes abutments to substantially prevent flexing of said clamp arms upon either an axial pulling force on said first portion of the operating cord or an axial pulling force on the second portion of the operating cord but not upon substantially equal and simultaneous axial pulling forces on both said first and second portions of the operating cord.
- 22. The system of claim 21 further including a removable lock plate releasably mounted on said mounting support in a position to limit flexing of said clamp arms to prevent a release of said mounting plate from said mounting support.
- 23. An operating system for a covering for an architectural opening comprising:
- an operating mechanism adapted to be operatively coupled to said covering for controlling movement of said covering across said architectural opening; and
- an operating loop cord coupled to said operating mechanism for controlling the movement of said operating mechanism, said operating loop cord being mounted on a member that is separable from said operating mechanism and said covering when a predetermined force is applied to said operating loop cord.
- 24. The operating system of claim 23 wherein said operating mechanism controls the lifting and lowering of said covering.
- 25. The operating system of claim 23 wherein said covering is a window covering.
- 26. The operating system of claim 25 wherein said window covering has slats that are horizontally disposed and that are able to rotate.
- 27. The operating system of claim 25 wherein said operating mechanism controls the raising and lowering of said window covering.
- 28. The operating system of claim 26 wherein said operating mechanism controls the rotation of said horizontally disposed slats.
- 29. The operating system of claim 25 wherein said operating mechanism moves the window covering across the window.
- 30. The operating system of claim 23 wherein said operating loop cord has two cord portions hanging vertically from said operating mechanism and said operating loop cord is separable from said operating mechanism when a substantially equal predetermined force is applied to both cord portions simultaneously.
- 31. A method of separating and reattaching an operating loop cord coupled to a covering assembly of an architectural opening comprising the steps of:
- providing a force release mechanism for coupling said operating loop cord to said covering assembly, applying a predetermined force to said operating loop cord to release said cord from the covering assembly; and,
- reattaching the force release mechanism to the covering assembly.
- 32. The method of claim 31 wherein said operating loop cord defines a lowermost extent and said force is applied to the lowermost extent of said operating loop cord.
- 33. Cord operating system for rotatably controlling movement of an architectural covering device, said operating system including:
- a looped endless operating cord for manipulation by hand, said operating cord being arranged to define first and second depending portions substantially parallel to one another and upper and lower closed ends connecting the first and second depending portions;
- a rotatable drive member for transmitting rotation for controlling the covering device, said rotatable drive member having a circumferential drive surface;
- a mounting support adapted to be fixed in relation to the covering device, said mounting support rotatably supporting the rotatable drive member;
- a release plate being movably arranged on said mounting support;
- yieldable connecting means for releasably connecting said release plate to said mounting support; and
- guide means on said release plate for guiding the upper closed end of said operating cord in driving engagement with a portion of the drive surface of the rotatable drive member to selectively and reversibly rotate the rotatable drive member; wherein said first and second depending portions of the operating cord depend from opposite sides of said release plate at diametrically opposite positions with respect to the rotatable drive member, such that an axial pulling force on either one of the first and second portions causes the rotatable drive member to rotate in either of a first and second rotational sense, while substantially equal pulling forces of predetermined magnitude applied simultaneously in an axial direction to the first and second portions cause the yieldable connecting means to allow the release plate to release from the mounting plate and to disengage the looped operating cord from the rotatable drive member and thereby to separate the operating cord from the mounting support.
- 34. Cord operating system according to claim 33, wherein said release plate is pivotally supported on the mounting support, having a pivot axis coextensive with said rotatable drive member.
- 35. Cord operating system according to claim 33 wherein the yieldable connecting means comprises a pair of flexible arms on said release plate, said flexible arms being yieldingly biased to retain the release plate on the mounting support.
- 36. Cord operating system according to claim 33, wherein said release plate is pivotally supported on the mounting support, having a pivot axis coextensive with said rotatable drive member and wherein the yieldable connecting means comprises a pair of flexible arms on said release plate, said flexible arms being yieldingly biased to retain the release plate on the mounting support.
- 37. Cord operating system according to claim 36, wherein said mounting support includes at least one abutment to substantially prevent flexing of said flexible arms when the operating cord is subjected to only an axial pulling force on one of its first and second portions and said release plate is thereby caused to pivot relative to the mounting support against said at least one abutment.
- 38. Cord operating system according to claim 37, wherein said release plate is reversibly pivotable in either one of a first and a second direction upon an axial pulling force on one or the other of said first and second portions of said operating cord and pivotal movement of said release plate prevents flexing of said flexible arms in at least one of said first and second directions by abutting said at least one abutment.
- 39. Cord operating system according to claim 34, wherein said mounting support comprises a support shaft and said rotatable drive member comprises a mounting hub having a central cylindrical passage engaged on said support shaft.
- 40. Cord operating system according to claim 36, wherein said mounting support comprises a support shaft and said rotatable drive member comprises a mounting hub having a central cylindrical passage engaged on said support shaft.
- 41. Cord operating system according to claim 40 wherein said mounting hub comprises a contoured annular groove and said release plate comprises correspondingly contoured inner edges on said flexible arms to yieldingly fit in said contoured annular groove.
- 42. Cord operating system according to claim 41 wherein said contoured annular groove comprises a semi-circular lower half inner surface terminating in upper inwardly directed shoulders and each of said contoured inner edges of said flexible arms comprising a complementary lower arcuate segment terminating in an upper horizontal lip.
- 43. Cord operating system according to claim 33, 34, or 35, wherein said guide means comprises a semi-circular guide surface projecting from said release plate to extend in close circumferential relationship with a portion of the cylindrical drive surface and between a pair of opposite return pulleys on said release plate at diametrically opposite positions with respect to the rotatable drive member.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a non-provisional application corresponding to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/041,791 filed Apr. 2, 1997.
US Referenced Citations (16)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
7661 |
Apr 1893 |
GBX |