The present invention relates to a light-blocking element for a covering for an architectural opening that eliminates the light gap between a first rail and a movable rail.
A typical window blind or shade has a expandable covering material which may be placed at any degree of expansion to cover any portion of the window opening in the vertical or horizontal direction, depending on how the rails are positioned. One configuration includes a movable bottom rail and a movable intermediate rail, with the expandable covering material extending between those two movable rails. In this configuration, the covering material may be retracted by moving the intermediate rail down or by raising the bottom rail up. This called a Top Down Bottom Up configuration.
A problem in this configuration is that when the intermediate movable rail is moved all the way to the top against the fixed head rail and then released, there may be a slight gap between the intermediate movable rail and the fixed head rail. When back lighted, as in the daytime, this gap is very noticeable and objectionable. Furthermore, the intermediate movable rail may sag in the middle, causing this gap to be variable (greater in the center and less at the ends), which causes the gap to be even more objectionable. Also, the intermediate movable rail may not be perfectly aligned with the fixed head rail; it may be offset or skewed, which also creates a gap.
An embodiment of the present invention provides a light-blocking element which closes any gap between a movable rail and the fixed head rail when the movable rail is in its uppermost position.
The present disclosure is set forth in various levels of detail in this application and no limitation as to the scope of the claimed subject matter is intended by either the inclusion or non-inclusion of elements, components, or the like in this summary. In certain instances, details that are not necessary for an understanding of the disclosure or that render other details difficult to perceive may have been omitted. It should be understood that the claimed subject matter is not necessarily limited to the particular embodiments or arrangements illustrated herein.
The accompanying drawings are for purposes of illustration only, and the dimensions, positions, order, and relative sizes reflected in the drawings attached hereto may vary. The detailed description will be better understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters represent like elements, as follows:
In the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that the phrases “at least one”, “one or more”, and “and/or”, as used herein, are open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. The term “a” or “an” entity, as used herein, refers to one or more of that entity. As such, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more” and “at least one” can be used interchangeably herein. All directional references (e.g., proximal, distal, upper, lower, upward, downward, left, right, lateral, longitudinal, front, back, top, bottom, above, below, vertical, horizontal, radial, axial, clockwise, and counterclockwise) are only used for identification purposes to aid the reader's understanding of the present disclosure, and/or serve to distinguish regions of the associated elements from one another, and do not limit the associated element, particularly as the position, orientation, or use of this disclosure. Connection references (e.g., attached, coupled, connected, and joined) are to be construed broadly and may include intermediate members between a collection of elements and relative movement between elements unless otherwise indicated. As such, connection references do not necessarily infer that two elements are directly connected and in fixed relation to each other. Identification references (e.g., primary, secondly, first, second, third, fourth, etc.) are not intended to connote importance or priority, but are used to distinguish one feature from another.
Referring to
When the intermediate movable rail 16 is moved by the user as far as it will go towards the head rail 14 then is released, there may be a slight rollback that occurs where the weight of the rail 16 and anything attached to it takes up any slack remaining in the lift cord system by dropping back after any lock (not shown) has engaged the lift rod (not shown). This released position is the uppermost position of the intermediate movable rail 16 (the closest position of the intermediate movable rail 16 to the head rail 14), and the rollback generally creates a slight light gap between the intermediate movable rail 16 and the head rail 14.
The light gap between the movable rail 16 and the head rail 14 may be uniform or non-uniform, and may result from any of a variety of conditions, such as distortion of the head rail 14; distortion of the movable rail 16 (such as may result from suspension of the movable rail 16 from spaced apart lift cords 22, the weight of the movable rail 16 between the lift cords 22 bowing the movable rail 16 downward); and/or skewing of the movable rail 16 with respect to the head rail 14. Because the elongated light-blocking element 12 is movable, as the movable rail 16 is moved towards the head rail 14, the elongated light-blocking element 12 floats with respect to the head rail 14 and the movable rail 16 to accommodate for any gaps between the head rail 14 and the movable rail 16.
The top surface of the intermediate movable rail 16 has a recessed central portion 17 (See
The light-blocking element 12 of the illustrative embodiment of
When the intermediate movable rail 16 is in a lowered position, spaced away from the head rail 14, as shown in
When the intermediate movable rail 16 moves up to a position closed to the head rail 14, as shown in
The light-blocking element 12 of the illustrative embodiments of
As an alternative, the light-blocking element 12 could be carried by, retained on, and movably coupled to the movable rail 16. In that case, the top of the movable rail 16 would be shaped similar to the bottom of the top rail 14, with an elongated channel and inwardly facing lips. The light-blocking element 12 would be inverted and its wings 26 would rest on a recessed support surface of the movable rail 16 spaced below the inwardly facing lips, so that the light-blocking element 12 would be carried by the intermediate movable rail 16 and the contact portion 30 of the light-blocking element 12 would project out the open top of the movable rail 16 as the movable 16 travels toward and away from the top rail 14. If the intermediate movable rail 16 bows as it carries the weight of the covering, the light-blocking element 12 would remain straight and would float relative to the intermediate movable rail 16 to accommodate any bowing, irregularities, or defection of the movable rail 16. At least the ends or some portions of the light-blocking element 12 would continue to rest on the support surface of the movable rail 16. If the intermediate movable rail 16 bows enough for the inwardly facing lips to contact the wings 26 of the light-blocking element 12 near the center of the light-blocking element 12, the light-blocking element 12 would also begin to bow. However, even in that case, the light-blocking element 12 would continue to project upwardly from the movable rail 16, and, as the movable rail 16 approaches the top rail 14, the contact portions 30 would enter into the open channel 24 of the top rail 14 so that, when the movable rail 16 is at its position closest to the top rail 14, the light-blocking element 12 would be recessed both inside the top rail 14 and inside the movable rail 16, thereby preventing any light gap between those two rails 14, 16 at that point.
The light-blocking element 12 may be formed from more than one material. For instance, the central body portion 28 of the light-blocking element 12 may be formed from a substantially rigid material, whereas the wings 26 and/or contact portion 30 of the light-blocking element 12 may be formed from a substantially flexible material. In one embodiment, the light-blocking element 12 may be manufactured out of a dual durometer material, such as a hard plastic for the central body portion 28, and a softer, more flexible plastic or rubber for the wings 26 and/or contact portion 30. This results in a quieter operation of the light-blocking element 12 (as a softer element contacts the head rail 14 during movement of the light-blocking element 12, reducing noise upon contact of these elements), and it helps the light-blocking element fill the gap even when the height of the gap varies along the length of the head rail 14, with the more flexible material flexing to adjust for the variations in the height of the gap.
The magnet 36, and the corresponding strip 34 are preferably located towards the middle of an unsupported span of the intermediate movable rail 16, in an effort to prevent undesirable bowing, sagging, deflection or distortion of the intermediate movable rail 16. As the intermediate movable 16 is raised all the way up to its uppermost position (See
It should be noted that there may be a plurality of magnets 36 and their corresponding magnetically attracted strips 34 spaced along the longitudinal axis (the x direction) of the head rail 14 and of the intermediate movable rail 16, as desired. Alternately, a single strip of magnetically attracted material may extend substantially the whole length of the light-blocking element 12*, and/or a single magnetic strip may extend substantially the whole length of the intermediate movable rail 16. Finally, the magnet 36 may be mounted to the light-blocking element 12* and the ferromagnetic material 34 may be mounted to the intermediate movable rail 16, or both the strip 34 and the magnet 36 may be magnets, arranged so that their opposite poles face each other so they are attracted to each other.
While the embodiments described above show several means for covering the gap between the head tail 14 and the intermediate movable rail 16, various other mechanisms could be used to accomplish this goal. For example, hook-and-loop fasteners may be used instead of, or in addition to, the magnets to detachably secure the intermediate movable rail to the light-blocking element and provide support for the intermediate movable rail to alleviate bowing, sagging, deflection or distortion of the intermediate movable rail. Also, while this embodiment shows a movable bottom rail 18, the bottom rail 18 could be fixed.
While the embodiments described above show means for covering a horizontally-oriented gap, the same mechanism could be used for covering other gaps in architectural openings, including vertically-oriented gaps. In the case of a vertically-oriented gap, the mechanism would be rotated ninety-degrees from what has been shown here, and a spring could be provided to take the place of gravity in biasing the light-blocking element toward the movable rail. In that case, the relative positions of the elements of the mechanism would remain the same as in the embodiments shown here.
While the foregoing description and drawings represent exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that various additions, modifications, and substitutions may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention or the principles thereof. For instance, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms, structures, arrangements, proportions, and with other elements, materials, components, and otherwise, such as may be particularly adapted to specific environments and operative requirements, without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. While the disclosure is presented is terms of embodiments, it should be appreciated that the various separate features of the present invention need not all be present in order to achieve at least some of the desired characteristics and/or benefits of the present invention or such individual features. It will be appreciated that various features of the disclosure are grouped together in one or more aspects, embodiments or configurations for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. However, various features of the certain aspects, embodiments, or configurations of the disclosure may be combined in alternate aspects embodiments, or configurations, and features described with respect to one embodiment typically may be applied to another embodiment, whether or not explicitly indicated. Accordingly, individual features of any embodiment may be used and can be claimed separately or in combination with features of that embodiment or any other embodiment. Moreover, elements shown as integrally formed may be constructed of multiple parts or elements shown as multiple parts may be integrally termed, the operation of elements may be reversed or otherwise varied, the size or dimensions of the elements may be varied. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to only the embodiments specifically described herein. 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, and not limited to the foregoing description.
The following claims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description by this reference, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of the present disclosure. In the claims, the term “comprises/comprising” does not exclude the present of other elements or steps. Furthermore, although individually listed, a plurality of means, elements or method steps may be implemented by, e.g., a single unit or processor. Additionally, although individual features may be included indifferent claims, these may possibly advantageously be combined, and the inclusion in different claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and/or advantageous. In addition, singular references do not exclude a plurality. The terms “a”, “an”, “first”, “second”, etc., do not preclude a plurality. Reference signs in the claims are provided merely as a clarifying example and shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims in any way.
This application claims priority from and is related to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/073,965 filed Nov. 1, 2014.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62073965 | Nov 2014 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 15866589 | Jan 2018 | US |
Child | 16204207 | US | |
Parent | 15436974 | Feb 2017 | US |
Child | 15866589 | US | |
Parent | 14925423 | Oct 2015 | US |
Child | 15436974 | US |