NONRETRACTABLE COVERING FOR ARCHITECTURAL OPENINGS

Abstract

A nonretractable covering for architectural openings such as doors, windows, archways, or the like includes a covering fabric like material having pivotal vanes with the fabric like material being extended between upper and lower tilt bars with one of the upper lower tilt bars being an active tilt bar and the other a passive tilt bar which moves in response to the active tilt bar. Movement of the active tilt bar between opened and closed positions pivots the vanes between opened and closed positions while the fabric material remains extended across the architectural opening.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an isometric of the covering of the present invention in an open position mounted on a door in an architectural opening.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the covering as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a left side elevation of the covering as shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of the covering of FIG. 1 in a closed condition.

FIG. 5 is a left side elevation of the covering as shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an exploded isometric of the active tilt bar and its mounting brackets used in the covering of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is an isometric of a mounting bracket used with the active tilt bar as shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is an exploded isometric of the passive tilt bar and its mounting brackets used in the covering of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken along line 11-11 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary section taken along line 12-12 of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged section taken along line 13-13 of FIG. 11.

FIG. 14 is a vertical section taken through the pivot shaft for the active tilt bar in a freely pivotal condition.

FIG. 15 is a vertical section similar to FIG. 14 with the pivot shaft being tightened relative to its condition of FIG. 14.

FIG. 16 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section taken along line 16-16 of FIG. 12.

FIG. 17 is an enlarged section taken along line 17-17 of FIG. 13.

FIG. 18 is an enlarged section taken along line 18-18 of FIG. 13.

FIG. 19 is an enlarged view taken along line 19-19 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 20 is a section taken along line 20-20 of FIG. 19.

FIG. 21 is a section taken along line 21-21 of FIG. 19.

FIG. 22 is an enlarged section taken along line 22-22 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 23 is an enlarged section taken along line 23-23 of FIG. 22.

FIG. 24 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken line 24-24 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 25 is a fragmentary section taken along line 25-25 of FIG. 24.

Claims

1. A nonretractable covering for an architectural opening comprising in combination: a fabric defined by a plurality of elongated horizontally disposed vertically spaced vanes having front and rear edges and a support structure including a front and/or rear vertically oriented support element secured to said front and/or rear edges respectively such that movement of said front and/or rear elements in a vertical plane causes said vanes to pivot about horizontal axes between an open position wherein said vanes are substantially horizontally oriented defining spaces therebetween and a closed position wherein said vanes are vertically oriented substantially in a vertical plane, said fabric having upper and lower edges,a horizontally disposed active tilt bar secured to one of said upper or lower edges of said fabric mounted for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis to simultaneously move said front and/or rear elements in a vertical plane, anda passive horizontally disposed tilt bar secured to the other of said upper and lower edges of said fabric and mounted for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis in response to pivotal movement of said active tilt bar.

2. The covering of claim 1 wherein there are front and rear support elements which move in opposite directions in a vertical plane.

3. The covering of claim 2 further including mounting brackets for pivotally supporting said active tilt bar and wherein at least one of said mounting brackets includes a variably resistant braking system to vary the amount of force necessary to pivot said active tilt bar.

4. The covering of claim 3 wherein said braking system is frictional.

5. The covering of claim 4 wherein one of said mounting brackets includes a fixed component, a pivotal component securable to said active tilt bar and a pivot shaft fixed to one of said fixed component or pivotal components for unitary movement therewith and connected with a pivotal connection to the other of said fixed component or pivotal component, said shaft being selectively radially expandable in said pivotal connection to vary the force necessary to pivot said pivotal component relative to said fixed component.

6. The covering of claim 5 wherein said pivot shaft includes a resilient component that can expand or retract radially.

7. The covering of claim 5 wherein the length of said pivot shaft is variable to radially expand or contract said resilient component.

8. The covering of claim 3 further including second mounting brackets supporting said passive tilt bar for free pivotal movement about its horizontal axis.

9. The covering of claim 8 wherein said second mounting brackets include a slide for permitting vertical linear movement of said passive tilt bar.

10. The covering of claim 2 wherein said active tilt bar is secured to said upper edge of said fabric and said passive tilt bar is secured to said lower edge of said fabric.

11. The covering of claim 2 further including a control element wherein said control element is a somewhat rigid wand connected to said pivotal component of said first mentioned mounting bracket.

12. The covering of claim 2 wherein said support elements are sheer and said vanes are made of a flexible opaque or translucent material.

13. The covering of claim 5 wherein said one of said mounting brackets supports one end of said active tilt bar and the other of said first mentioned mounting brackets supports the opposite end of said active tilt bar, said other mounting bracket including a fixed component, a pivotal component securable to said active tilt bar and a pivot shaft.

14. The covering of claim 13 wherein said pivot shaft of said other mounting bracket includes a longitudinally compressive resilient element permitting the length of said pivot shaft of said other mounting bracket to be yieldingly shortened.

15. The covering of claim 14 wherein said longitudinally compressive resilient element is a compression spring.

16. A covering for an architectural opening comprising: an upper tilt rail having a first longitudinally extending edge and second longitudinally extending edge wherein said tilt rail pivots about a longitudinally extending axis parallel to said first and second edges; anda friction system coupled to said upper tilt rail for maintaining said upper tilt rail in a fixed position when no external force is applied; anda fabric attached to said upper tilt rail, said fabric having a first side parallely displaced from a second side, said first side operatively coupled to said first edge of said upper tilt rail and said second side operatively coupled to said second edge of said upper tilt rail, said first side and said second side having at least one vane displaced therebetween; anda tiltable bottom rail having a first longitudinally extending edge and a second longitudinally extending edge, wherein said first side of said fabric is operatively coupled to said first edge of said bottom rail and said second side of said fabric is operatively coupled to said second edge of said bottom rail wherein angular translation of said upper tilt rail translates said bottom rail in a substantially similar angular movement.