Roll-up curtain assembly for partitioning space into a private area

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6595262
  • Patent Number
    6,595,262
  • Date Filed
    Thursday, January 3, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 22, 2003
    21 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Purol; David
    Agents
    • Browdy and Neimark, P.L.L.C.
Abstract
A roll-up curtain assembly having an elongated seat frame designed to b e mounted at one lateral side of an entrance of a private area. The seat frame has an elongated opening. A rotatable shaft with a curtain piece roller up on the shaft is received in the seat frame. A reverse assembly is provided to return the curtain piece to the rolled up position after it is released from an extended position. The free end of the curtain piece passes through opening of the seat frame. A stopping device is mounted on the free end of the curtain piece for preventing the curtain piece from being pulled into the seat frame. A first join member is mounted on the stopping device and a second join member to be mounted on the other lateral side opposite from the seat frame of the entrance of the private area to assure closure of the curtain piece.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates generally to a curtain, and more particularly to a roll-up curtain assembly for partitioning space into a private area.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




Some bathroom in hotels or in home, there are a bathtub and an independent shower room. The shower room is usually partitioned by translucent glass and the entrance thereof is pivoted with a shutter or a door plank to prevent water spraying out of the shower room. Some of the shower room provides a slidable curtain or a fold-up shutter, they can be expended to close the entrance when use and can be received at one lateral side of the entrance when not use.




Except the shower room, there are some places need to be partitioned into a private area, such as a changing room. For these rooms, we usually take a shield, a curtain or a shutter to partition them into a temporary private area in a room.




No matter what type of the shade device as described above, they take a larger space to mount them on an entrance of the private area. That will decrease the space in the private area.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The primary objective of the invention is to provide a roll-up curtain assembly, which has a simpler structure, an easy operating mode and reducing the mounting space.




According to the objective of the invention, the roll-up curtain assembly comprises an elongated seat frame, which is to be mounted at one lateral side of an entrance of a private area. The seat frame has an elongated opening. A shaft receives in the seat frame for free rotating. Means for reversing the shaft back, while the shaft rotating an angle. A curtain piece has one end thereof securing at the shaft then rolled up on the shaft. The free end of the curtain piece passes through opening of the seat frame. A stopping device mounts at the free end of the curtain piece for preventing the curtain piece reversing back in the seat frame, and a join assembly having a first join member and a second join member. The first join member mounts at the stopping device and the second join member mounts at the other lateral side of opposite from the seat frame of the entrance of the private area.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is an exploded view of a preferred embodiment--of the present invention;





FIG. 2

is the structure sketch of the preferred embodiment, showing the roll-up curtain assembly mounting at the entrance of a private area;





FIG. 3

is the lateral sectional view of the preferred embodiment, showing the curtain piece rolled up;





FIG. 4

shows an another way of the frame seat mounting at the entrance of the private area, and





FIG. 5

is the lateral sectional view of the preferred embodiment, showing the curtain piece extended.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




Please refer to FIG.


1


and

FIG. 2

, the preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a roll-up curtain assembly, which is to be mounted at the entrance of a private area, like the doorframe of a shower room or at the wall of a bathroom corresponding to the bathtub. In this embodiment, we will take the shower room to mount the roll-up curtain assembly of the present invention thereon. The roll-up curtain assembly of the preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises an elongated frame seat


10


, a shaft


40


receiving in the frame seat


10


for free rotating, a reverse assembly


50


mounting at the shaft


40


, a curtain piece


60


rolled up on the shaft


40


, a stopping device


70


mounting at the free end of the curtain piece


60


, and a join assembly


80


.




The frame seat


10


is to mount at one lateral side of the doorframe of the shower room. The frame seat


10


includes an elongated first frame


20


, an elongated second frame


30


, a first cover


11


and a second cover


12


. The lengths of the first frame


20


and the second frame


30


are substantially equal to the height of the doorframe. The first frame


20


is made from pressing aluminum plank into an element of substantially U-shaped in cross section, which means two elongated sides thereof are bended to a same direction to form two parallel side walls and the midsection thereof forms a base wall. The base wall of the first frame


20


is disposed with a locking slot


21


at the interior side thereof along the elongated axis. The distal end of one side wall of the first frame


20


is bended inward about 45 degrees to form a first bending wall


22


. The exterior side of the bending wall


22


has a slot


23


along the elongated axis of the first frame


20


. The interior side of the other side wall has two position flanges


24


along the elongated axis thereof. One lateral doorframe of the shower room disposing an elongated slot, please refer to

FIG. 3

, to receive the first frame


20


therein and the opening end of first frame


20


is orientating to the entrance of the shower room. The first frame


20


is secured in the slot of the doorframe of the shower room by screws. It also can be done by the base wall of the first frame


20


attaching on the doorframe and being secured by screws as shown in FIG.


4


. In the second case, there is no need to dispose a slot on the lateral doorframe to simplify the assemble procedure.




The second frame


30


has a shape substantially as same as the first frame


20


having a base wall and two parallel side walls. The second frame


30


receives in the first frame


20


with the opening end thereof orientating to one side wall of the first frame


20


and with the exterior end of the interior side wall of the second frame


30


engaging in the locking slot


21


of the first frame


20


. The exterior side of the base wall has two parallel position slots


31


engaging to the position flanges


24


of the first frame


20


. The distal end of the exterior side wall of the second frame


30


is bended inward about 45 degrees to form a second bending wall


32


. The second bending wall


32


, like the first bending wall


22


, has a slot


33


at exterior side hereof. An elongated triangular indentation


13


is left at the opening end of the first frame


20


and an elongated opening is left between the distal ends of the first bending wall


22


and the second bending wall


32


. Two rubber pieces


15


attach at the exterior sides of the first and second bending walls


22


and


32


respectively and have flanges thereof engaging with the slots


23


and


33


respectively.




The first cover


11


and the second cover


12


secure at the topside and the bottom side of the second frame


30


. The second cover


12


has an engage shaft


16


at the interior side thereof.




The shaft


40


is made from pressing aluminum plank into a tube element. The length of the shaft


40


is slightly shorter than the frame seat


10


. The shaft


40


has flanges


41


at the interior side thereof. The shaft


40


receives in the interior space of the frame seat


10


with the bottom end thereof engaging to the engage shaft


16


of the second cover


12


for free rotating.




The reverse assembly


50


has a fixed device


51


, which is a shaft in the preferred embodiment, having one end thereof securing at the interior side of the first cover


11


, and the other end thereof receiving in the shaft


40


. A turning member


52


pivots at the free end of the fixed device


51


for free rotating. The turning member


52


has flanges


53


around the outer surface thereof to interfere with the flanges


41


of the shaft


40


, such that the shaft


40


and the turning member


52


will turn together. A torsional spring


53


disposes at the outside of the fixed device


51


having one end thereof fixing at the fixed device


51


and the other end thereof fixing at the turning member


52


. Thus, when an external force makes the shaft


40


to turn an angle, the reverse assembly


50


can provide the shaft


40


with a reverse force to turn the shaft


40


back to the initial position while the external force is gone.




The curtain piece


60


is made of waterproof material, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The curtain piece


60


is a rectangular piece having a width thereof substantially equal to the length of the shaft


40


. One lateral end of the curtain piece


60


fixes at the shaft


40


along the elongated axis of the shaft


40


, and then, the curtain piece


60


is rolled up on the shaft


40


. The free end of the curtain piece


60


passes through the opening


14


between the first and the second bending walls


22


and


32


. The rubber pieces


15


are slightly touch the curtain piece


60


.




The stopping device


70


has a length substantially equal to the width of the curtain piece


60


, which has a plank segment


71


providing with an elongated slot


74


at one side thereof and a triangular block segment


72


at the other side thereof. The free end of the curtain piece


60


fixes at the edge of the block segment


72


of the stopping device


70


. Thus, in the initial position, the block segment


72


is forced to receive in the triangular indentation


13


of the frame seat


10


by the reverse assembly


50


and stopping therein as shown in FIG.


3


. One lateral end of the plank segment


71


is left out of the frame seat


10


to form a holding portion


73


for user to hold. When user holds the holding portion


73


to exert the plank segment


71


to pull it out, the curtain piece


60


will extend along with the stopping device


70


to close the entrance of the shower room. When not use, the reverse assembly


50


will forces the curtain piece


60


and the stopping device


70


to turn back to the initial position.




The join assembly


80


has a first join member


81


and a second join member


82


. In the present embodiment, the first and the second join member


81


and


82


are two elongated soft magnets, one of them


81


is fixed in the slot


74


of the stopping device


70


, the other


82


is fixed on a seat plank


90


, which is mounted at the doorframe opposite from the seat frame


10


. The seat plank


90


has an elongated slot


91


for the second join member


82


receiving and fixing therein. When the curtain piece


60


is pulled out for the first join member


81


attaching on the second join member


82


, the magnetic attraction between the first and the second join member


81


and


82


will keep the curtain piece


60


in extending position, as shown in

FIG. 5

, to close the entrance of the shower room.




Some stuff we have to mention hereunder, to make the specification clearer.




1. The first and the second join member


81


and


82


of the join assembly


80


can be replaced by any type of detachable join assembly, such as a set of hook and ring or a pair of Velcro.




2. The rubber pieces


15


are to block out the water on the curtain piece


60


to keep the interior space of the seat frame


10


dry.




3. For the reverse assembly


50


of the present invention, there were many types of the mechanisms of the reverse assemblies in prior art. In above, we just pick one type of the reverse assembly


50


to describe. However, any type of the reverse assembly in prior art can be used in the present invention.




4. In the detail description, we take the shower room for example to mount the roll-up curtain assembly of the present invention thereon. In practice, the roll-up curtain assembly of the present invention can be set at indoor or outdoor, where need to be partitioned into a private area.




5. In the prefer embodiment, we provide the seat frame


10


with the first frame


20


securing at the doorframe and the second frame


30


engaging in the first frame


20


. Whereby user just need to remove the second frame


30


to replace the shaft


40


, the reverse assembly


50


and the curtain piece


60


.




6. The size, material and pattern of the curtain piece


60


should not be limited within the specification description. We also can pick a translucent material or print pattern on it.



Claims
  • 1. A roll-up curtain assembly to partition a space into a private area, comprising:an elongated seat frame adapted to be mounted at a lateral side of an entrance of the private area; said seat frame having an elongated opening along an elongated axis thereof; a rotatable shaft engaged within said seat frame; a curtain piece in a rolled up position on the shaft having one end thereof fixed to the shaft; a free end of said curtain piece passing through the opening of said seat frame; a reverse assembly fixed on said seat frame and engaged to said shaft for returning the curtain piece to the rolled up position after being released from an extended position; a stopping device mounted on a free end of said curtain piece; a width of said stopping device being larger than the width of said opening of said seat frame to prevent said curtain being pulled into said seat frame by the reverse assembly; said stopping device having a holding portion to assist a user when extending the curtain piece, a join assembly having a first join member and a second join member engageable to said first join member; said first join member mounted on said stopping device and said second join member adapted to be mounted on another lateral side of the entrance of the private area opposite from said seat frame; wherein said seat frame has an elongated first frame and an elongated second frame; elongated sides of said first frame being bent forming two side walls and a midsection thereof to form a base wall; said second frame having two side walls and a base wall; the base wall of said first frame adapted to be engaged to the lateral side of the entrance of the private area with an opening end thereof oriented to said entrance; said second frame being received in said first frame with an opening end thereof oriented to one side wall of said first frame; wherein said first frame has a locking slot on an interior, side of the base wall thereof; a distal end of an interior side wall of said second frame engaged to said locking slot of said first frame; an exterior side of the base wall of said second frame having at least one position slot; an interior side of another side wall of said first frame having at least one position flange engaged to said position slot of said second frame.
  • 2. The roll-up curtain assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein a distal end of the one side wall of said first frame is bent inward to form a first bent wall; a distal end of an exterior side wall of said second frame being bent inward to form a second bent wall corresponding to said first bent wall; an elongated indentation being formed between said first and said second bent wall; said opening of said seat frame being formed between distal ends of said first and said second bent wall; said stopping device having a plank segment and a block segment; said curtain piece fixed to said block segment of said stopping device; said stopping device having an initial position of said block segment thereof received in said indentation of said seat frame and stopping therein when the curtain piece is in the rolled up position; a side holding portion located at one side of said plank segment.
  • 3. The roll-up curtain assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said reverse assembly comprises a fixed device fixed at one end to said seat frame, a turning member rotatable on the fixed device and a torsional spring having one end fixed to said fixed device and another end fixed to said turning member.
  • 4. The roll-up curtain as defined in claim 3, wherein said shaft is tube-shaped; said fixed device being shaft-shaped and having one end thereof inserted into said shaft, another end thereof fixed to said seat frame; said turning member being received in said shaft and engaged with said shaft; said spring providing on said fixed device.
  • 5. The roll-up curtain assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said curtain is made of waterproof material; two rubber pieces respectfully mounted on said seat frame at opposite sides of said opening to block water from entering the seat frame.
  • 6. The roll-up curtain assembly as defined in claim 1, further comprising a seat plank adapted to be mounted on the other lateral side of the entrance of the private area parallel to said seat frame; said second join member of said join assembly adapted to be mounted on at said seat plank; said first and said second join members of said join assembly being two magnets.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
90126953 A Oct 2001 TW
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