1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a device for a building, and more particularly to a covering device for an opening of a building, and a headrail structure thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A window covering is a common covering device for an opening of a building, which typically includes a fixed headrail, a window covering material, and a movable bottom rail. The fixed headrail is provided on a window frame or a building structure, and the window covering material is located between the fixed headrail and the movable bottom rail. When the movable bottom rail is moved up and down relative to the fixed headrail, the window covering material would change a covered area of the opening of the building.
In general, control units having different functions would be provided in the fixed headrail for lowering and raising the movable bottom rail, or for tilting slats of the window covering material. Therefore, a plurality of bores would be provided on the fixed headrail for easily operating the components of the control units, such as the lifting cords, which would pass through said bores to be manipulated. However, the bores would expose parts of the components, and such design significantly affects the overall aesthetic appearance of the covering device. In all aspects, the fixed headrail structure still has room for improvements.
In view of the above, one objective of the present invention is to provide a covering device for an opening of a building, and a headrail structure thereof, which could enhance the overall texture, and overcome the problems of the conventional headrail structure and the covering device.
The present invention provides a headrail structure, including a front side plate, a rear side plate, and a transverse plate, wherein the front side plate and the rear side plate are respectively connected to two different long edges of the transverse plate. The transverse plate has at least one opening, and the front side plate has a protrusion extending downward, wherein the protrusion is near the opening.
The present invention further provides a covering device for an opening of a building. The covering device includes a fixed headrail formed as the aforementioned headrail structure, a movable bottom rail, and a window covering material provided between the fixed headrail and the movable bottom rail. The window covering material is controllable through at least one control unit. The fixed headrail includes a front side plate, a rear side plate, and a transverse plate, wherein the front side plate and the rear side plate are respectively connected to two different long edges of the transverse plate. The transverse plate has at least one opening, and the front side plate has a protrusion extending downward, wherein the protrusion is near the opening. The control unit is provided in the fixed headrail, and is exposed through the opening thereof.
With the design of above, the opening of the transverse plate could be cleverly shielded by the protrusion of the front side plate, which enhances the overall texture of the covering device.
The present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which
A headrail 10 of a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in
Referring to
A top edge of the front side plate 11 of the headrail 10 is bent inward to form a bend 11e, and the bend 11e is further connected to a hooked rib 11a. However, in other embodiments, the hooked rib 11a could be omitted. The hooked rib 11a bends inward and downward, wherein a groove 11b is formed between the hooked rib 11a and an inner surface of the front side plate 11. An outer side of the front side plate 11 has a first projection 11c near the top edge of the front side plate 11, in which the first projection 11c extends outward. As shown in
A top edge of the rear side plate 12 of the headrail 10 is bent inward to form a bend 12e, and the bend 12e is further connected to a hooked rib 12a. However, in other embodiments, the hooked rib 12a could be omitted. The hooked rib 12a bends inward and downward, in which a groove 12d is formed between the hooked rib 12a and an inner surface of the rear side plate 12. In addition, a bottom edge of the rear side plate 12 extends downward to form a second projection 12b, and an edge of the second projection 12b is lower than a junction of the rear side plate 12 and the transverse plate 13.
In other embodiments, the transverse plate 13 of the headrail 10 has at least one opening. As shown in
If the headrail 10 is made of plastic, such as Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a shallow groove 16 could be formed on an outer surface of the junction of the front side plate 11 of the headrail 10 and the inclined portion 13b of the transverse plate 13. Whereby, the headrail 10 could be prevented from structural shrinkage due to the curing of plastic, because the plastic shrinkage might cause a deformation for an appearance of the headrail 10. In addition, the shallow groove 16 is not only beneficial to keep the appearance of the headrail 10 in place, but also creates a decorative effect. It is noted that, if the headrail 10 is made of aluminum or other material which would not tend to shrink or deform, the shallow groove 16 could be omitted. However, if the shallow groove 16 is provided for the purpose of decorating, the shallow groove 16 could be still formed by extrusion or stamping. In such a case, the shallow groove 16 could be positioned at anywhere on the front plate 11, and not limited to be at the junction of the front side plate 11 and the transverse plate 13.
The structures of the headrail 10 have been explained above, and the use of the headrail would be discussed in details below. A covering device for an opening of a building is shown in
In the first embodiment, the headrail 10 is fixed. The movable bottom rail 18 is located below the headrail 10, and could be moved through a plurality of lifting cords 20 to be raised and lowered relative to the headrail 10. The window covering material includes a plurality of slats 22, and the slats 22 are suspended in parallel between the headrail 10 and the movable bottom rail 18. Each of said lifting cords 20 is near two vertical strings of a ladder 24, and the lifting cords 20 and the vertical strings are respectively located on a front side and a rear side of the slats. In addition, at least one control unit is provided in the headrail 10, and is exposed through the opening of the headrail 10, whereby the control unit could tilt the slats 22 to change a shielding effect of the slats.
The mounting brackets 26 are provided on a fixture structure of the building (not shown), such as window frame, whereby the mounting brackets 26 and the headrail 10 could be assembled easily. As shown in
In the first embodiment, the control unit includes a slat tilting structure and a control module. The ladder 24 could be controlled through the slat tilting structure to tilt the slats 22, whereby to provide different shielding effects. On the other hand, the lifting cords 20 could be released or locked through the control module to move or fix the movable bottom rail 18 to change an area covered by the window covering material. In other embodiments, the control unit merely includes the control module, but the slat tilting structure is omitted. The slat tilting structure and the control module are both well-known components, so it will only mention about the features related to the headrail 10 of the present invention in the following.
As shown in
The control member 28 has a housing 28a, a tilting assembly 28b, and a tilting cord 28c, wherein the tilting assembly 28b is provided in the housing 28a to raise and lower the two vertical strings of each of the ladder 24. One end of the tilting cord 28c is connected to the tilting assembly 28b, while another end thereof extends out of the opening 14 of the headrail 10, and is exposed out of the headrail 10. The tilting cord 28c is adapted to tilt the slats 22. In the first embodiment, the opening 14 is covered by the housing 28a of the control member 28, wherein a top of the housing 28a has a plurality of protrusions 28d. One of the protrusions 28d engages with the groove 11b of the front side plate 11, while another one of the protrusions 28d abuts against the hooked rib 12a of the rear side plate 12. In other embodiments, the housing 28a of the control member 28 is fixed in the headrail 10 by the bend 11e of the front side plate 11 and the bend 12c of the rear side plate 12 of the headrail 10.
The rotating member 29 has a drum support 29a and a ladder drum 29b, wherein the ladder drum 29b is provided in the drum support 29a. The drum support 29a is fixed in the headrail 10 by the bend 11e of the front side plate 11 and the bend 12c of the rear side plate 12 of the headrail 10. In other embodiments, the drum support of the rotating member has at least one protrusion which is adapted to engage with or abut against the hooked rib of one or both of the front side plate and the rear side plate.
As shown in
The protrusion 15 of the front side plate 11 is near the openings 14, 14′, so that the tilting cord 28c and the lifting cords 20 would not contact with the protrusion 15 while being pulled outward. Whereby, the operation would be smooth. Also, since the end 15a of the protrusion 15 is lower than the edges 14a, 14a′ of the openings 14, 14′, the openings 14, 14′ can be shielded by the protrusion 15. Whereby, an appearance of the headrail 10 would be simple and clean, which enhances the quality of the whole covering device. Furthermore, because the bottom surface of the transverse plate 13 has the rib 13c provided thereon, the rib 13c could prevent the light leaking in through the slit between a bottom surface of the headrail 10 and the top edge of the topmost slat 22 when the slats are rotated into a vertical position, which provides a better shielding effect.
A headrail 10A of a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in
A headrail 10B shown in
A supporting member could be further provided in a headrail to enhance the structural strength. As shown in
In
It must be pointed out that the embodiments described above are only some preferred embodiments of the present invention. All equivalent structures which employ the concepts disclosed in this specification and the appended claims should fall within the scope of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201420047035.6 | Jan 2014 | CN | national |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 14603510 | Jan 2015 | US |
Child | 15348677 | US |