Patent Application
20170275942
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Roman style shade, especially to a cordless Roman style shade in which a front fabric without any horizontal rod is retracted or extended under control of a rear fabric and at least one piece of middle fabric. The width of the rear fabric and the width of the middle fabric are the same.
Descriptions of Related Art
The Roman shade is a common window shade formed by a suspended fabric (hereafter called the “front fabric”) disposed with a plurality of horizontal rods arranged at the fabric with the equal interval. While in use, the horizontal rods are driven by an automatic cord reel or a manually operated cord to retract or extend the front fabric. However, the Roman shade has shortcomings of exposed inner cord, negative effect of the cord on the appearance of the shade, a strangulation hazard to children, etc. In order to overcome the above shortcomings, a cordless curtain with functions of retraction and extension similar to the Roman shade is disclosed, as revealed in US 2011/0088852, U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050, U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002 etc.
However, the prior arts mentioned above have the following two shortcomings While in use.
In order to allow soft front fabric foldably retracted or extended horizontally and evenly, the front fabric of the shades revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050 (covering portion 51) and U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002 (blind material 30) are arranged with a plurality of horizontal rods used for supporting the front fabric (such as upper tubes 53 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050 or support rod 311/312 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002). Each horizontal rod made from materials with certain rigidity or support is connected to a rear side of the front fabric. Thus the front fabric is divided into a plurality of foldable fabric parts (such as cloth segment 511, 512, 513 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050). A hollow tubular space is formed on the rear side of the front fabric by sewing and used for mounting the rod. Not only the production cost of the front fabric is increased due to sewing, the production cost of the rods (upper tubes 53 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050 and support rod 311/312 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002) and the cost of assembly are also required. Although the horizontal rods are connected to the rear side of the front fabric, users still can see the horizontal rods through the front side of the front fabric. This seriously affects the appearance of the retracted curtain/shade.
Moreover, the actuating member 411, 412 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002 can be cord, tape, band, a long strip of fabric, etc, as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 7. Thus the horizontal width of the actuating member 411, 412 is limited and is much smaller than the length of the shaft rod 21 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002. During rolling-up of the actuating member 411,412 around the shaft rod 21, the actuating member 411,412 is unable to be wound around the shaft rod 21 continuously and positioned at the same point on the shaft rod 21, especially when the actuating member 411,412 is in the cord form (as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 7). While being around and stacked around the shaft rod 21, the cord is easy to be deviated to the right side or the left side randomly. Thus the soft front fabric (such as blind material 30 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002) is difficult to be retracted or extended horizontally and evenly no matter a single actuating member 411 412 is used to connect to a center of a rear side of the front fabric (such as blind material 30 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002) or two parallel actuating members 411 412 are used to connect to symmetrical positions on the rear side of the front fabric (such as blind material 30 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002) respectively. These result in trouble and inconvenience in operating the fabric/shade.
The shade revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050 also has similar shortcomings and problems. Refer to FIG. 3 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050, two parallel and vertical winding pieces 62 with limited width are used to be rolled and wound around a winding rod 61 respectively. Thus the front fabric (such as covering portion 51 or cloth segment 511, 512, 513) in U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050 is also difficult to be retracted or extended horizontally and evenly.
The front fabric of the prior arts (such as covering portion 51 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050 or blind material 30 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002 all got the problem of maintaining the horizontal position of the front fabric while being retracted. As to US 2011/0088852, it includes a blind body 10 formed by a plurality of honeycomb shaped blind elements. Thus the cost for materials, assembly and production is high and the cord required poses a hazard to kids. In these prior arts, the width of the actuating member 411, 412 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002/the winding piece 62 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050 is much more smaller than the length of the shaft rod 21 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002/the winding rod 61 in U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050. Thus they all have problems of difficulty in maintaining the horizontal position of the front fabric during rolling up or down. This is another main shortcoming of the prior art.
There is room for improvement and a need to provide a cordless Roman style shade that overcomes the above shortcomings by a front fabric being rolled-up or down under control of a rear fabric and at least one piece of middle fabric without the use of horizontal rods. The width of the rear fabric is equal to the width of the middle fabric.
Therefore it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a cordless Roman style shade that includes at least one piece of middle fabric arranged between a front fabric and a rear fabric while the rear fabric and the middle fabric have the same width. A front end and a rear end of the middle fabric are connected to a rear side of the front fabric and the rear fabric respectively without the use of horizontal rods. Each piece of the middle fabric is retracted and wound around a rotating shaft in turn and the front fabric is also driven by the middle fabric to be retracted or extended gradually when the rear fabric is retracted and wound around the rotating shaft. Thus the front fabric is retracted or extended horizontally and evenly. The production cost of the cordless Roman style shade is reduced without the use of the horizontal rods.
In order to achieve the above object, a cordless Roman style shade according to the present invention includes a headrail with a certain width for installation on a window, a rotating shaft disposed under the headrail, a front fabric, a rear fabric and at least one piece of middle fabric arranged between the front fabric and the rear fabric. An upper end of the front fabric is fixed on a front side of the headrail so that a lower end of the front fabric is able to be suspended for shading the window. The width of the rear fabric is no more than that of the front fabric. An upper end of the rear fabric is fixed on the rotating shade so that a lower end of the rear fabric is able to be suspended and corresponding to the front fabric. The total length of the rear fabric suspended is preferred to be smaller than that of the front fabric suspended. The rear fabric is retracted upward or extended downward by the rotating shaft being rotated clockwise or counterclockwise. As to the middle fabric, its length is equal to the rear fabric. A front end of the middle fabric is horizontally connected to a position at a certain level of a rear side of the front fabric to form a connection portion. Thus the front fabric is divided into two adjacent front fabric segments by the connection portion at the certain level. There is no horizontal rod disposed on the connection portion at the certain level. A rear end of the middle fabric is horizontally connected to a position at a certain level of a front side of the rear fabric to form another connection portion. The rear end of the middle fabric is moved along with the rear fabric and wound around the rotating shaft when the rear fabric is retracted upward and wound around the rotating shaft. The front end of the middle fabric is also driven to move upward when the middle fabric is retracted along with the rear fabric. Thus each front fabric segment of the front fabric is foldably retracted or extended horizontally and evenly in turn by each connection portion.
The rotating shaft is used in combination with a spring member. The rotating shaft is rotated along with the rear fabric when the rear fabric is pulled downward to make the front fabric change from a foldably retracted state to an extended state. After the rear fabric in the extended state being released from the positioning state, the rotating shaft is rotated in the opposite direction due to restoring force of the spring member. Thus the front fabric and the rear fabric can be turned from the extended state to the retracted state.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Refer to
The headrail 10 with a certain width is used to be fixed on a window (now shown in figure). Thus the cordless Roman style shade of the present invention is used as a shade between indoor space A and indoor space B, as shown in
Refer to
Refer to
Still refer to
Refer from
While in use, the rear end 52 of each piece of the middle fabric 50 (50a, 50b, and 50c) is moved along with the rear fabric 40 and wound around the rotating shaft 20 in turn when the rear fabric 40 is retracted upward and wound around the rotating shaft 20. The front end 51 of each piece of the middle fabric 50 (50a, 50b, and 50c) is also driven to move upward when the piece of the middle fabric 50 (50a, 50b, and 50c) is retracted along with the rear fabric 40. Thus each front fabric segment 35 of the front fabric 30 is foldably retracted or extended horizontally and evenly in turn by each first connection portion 34. The width of each piece of the middle fabric 50 (50a, 50b, and 50c) is equal to the rear fabric 40 so that both the rear fabric 40 and each piece of the middle fabric 50 (50a, 50b, and 50c) can be retracted and wound around the rotating shaft 20 evenly and horizontally. The cordless Roman style shade of the present invention do solve the uneven rolled-up/down problem of the prior arts mentioned above (U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,050, U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,002, etc.). Moreover, the production cost of the shade is reduced without the use of the horizontal rods arranged at the front fabric 30.
Furthermore, the height of the first connection portion 34 in relative to the second connection portion 54 of each piece of the middle fabric 50 (50a, 50b, and 50c) can be equal or unequal according to user's requirements. Take the embodiment in
In addition, the rotating shaft 20 can be used in combination with a spring member 60, as shown in
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, and representative devices shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
