Patent Application
20180283095
The disclosure relates to a window blind, and more particularly to a roman blind having a safety lift cord device that is attached to extending pleats of a blind shade to be controlled for raising and lowering the shade.
BACKGROUND
A conventional window blind has two lift cords attached to a blind shade to be controlled for raising and lowering the blind shade. To prevent children from strangulation or suffocation accidents, referring to
Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a safety lift cord device for a window blind that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.
According to the disclosure, the safety lift cord device includes a lift cord extending vertically in a lengthwise direction, and an elongated safety guard having a cord running section in which the lift cord is disposed. The cord running section has a plurality of guard units disposed in the lengthwise direction. Each of the guard units has a first front segment which is disposed forwardly of the lift cord and which extends in an increased slope direction that is inclined relative to both the lengthwise direction and a horizontal direction normal to the lengthwise direction, to intersect the lift cord, a second front segment which is disposed forwardly of the lift cord and which extends in a decreased slope direction that is inclined relative to both the lengthwise direction and the horizontal direction to intersect the lift cord, a first rear segment which is disposed rearwardly of the lift cord and which extends in the decreased slope direction to intersect the lift cord, and a second rear segment which is disposed rearwardly of the lift cord and which extends in the increased slope direction to intersect the lift cord. The cord running section has a plurality of penetrating holes each defined among the first and second front segments and the first and second rear segments such that it is not feasible for a child to reach and pull the lift cord out from the penetrating holes.
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics.
Referring to
The safety guard 3 has a chain-shaped first end rope 31, a chain-shaped second end rope 32 spaced apart from the first end rope 31 in a horizontal direction (i.e., a left-and-right direction) normal to the lengthwise direction, and a chain-shaped middle rope 33 interposed between the first and second end ropes 31, 32 and spaced apart from both the first and second end ropes 31, 32 in the horizontal direction. A cord running section 34 is disposed between the first end rope 31 and the middle rope 33 such that the lift cord 4 is disposed in the cord running section 34. A connecting section 35 is disposed between the middle rope 33 and the second end rope 32. Each of the first and second end ropes 31, 32 and the middle rope 33 is elongated in the lengthwise direction 40.
The cord running section 34 has a plurality of guard units 340 arranged and spaced apart from each other in the lengthwise direction. Each of the guard units 340 has a first front segment 341 which is disposed forwardly of the lift cord 4 and which extends in an increased slope direction that is inclined relative to both the lengthwise direction and the horizontal direction to intersect the lift cord 4, a second front segment 342 which is disposed forwardly of the lift cord 4 and which extends in a decreased slope direction that is inclined relative to both the lengthwise direction and the horizontal direction to intersect the lift cord 4, a first rear segment 343 which is disposed rearwardly of the lift cord 4 and which extends in the decreased slope direction to intersect both the lift cord 4 and the first front segment 341, and a second rear segment 344 which is disposed rearwardly of the lift cord 4 and which extends in the increased slope direction to intersect both the lift cord 4 and the second front segment 342. Thus, the cord running section 34 has a plurality of penetrating holes 345 each defined among the first and second front segments 341, 342 and the first and second rear segments 343, 344. In this embodiment, each penetrating hole 345 is of a substantially rhombus shape. Hence, the first and second front segments 341, 342 are extended in a zigzag way between the first end rope 31 and the middle rope 33, and the first and second rear segments 343, 344 are extended in a zigzag way between the first end rope 31 and the middle rope 33. The first and second front segments 341, 342 of each guard unit 340 have extending lines which intersect each other by a front included angle 346 that is smaller than 90 degrees. The first and second rear segments 343, 344 of each guard unit 340 have extending lines which intersect each other by a rear included angle 347 that is smaller than 90 degrees. For example, each of the front and rear included angles 346, 347 is about 30 degrees.
The connecting section 35 is attached to the blind shade 51. In this embodiment, the connecting section 35 has a plurality of first connecting segments 351 each of which is connected between the middle rope 33 and the second end rope 32 and extends in a decreased tilt direction that is inclined relative to both the lengthwise direction and the horizontal direction, and a plurality of second connecting segments 352 each of which is connected between the middle rope 33 and the second end rope 32 and extends in an increased tilt direction that is inclined relative to both the lengthwise direction and the horizontal direction to intersect the respective first connecting segment 351.
In use, the connecting section 35 is attached to the blind shade 51 at a plurality of attachment portions that are equivalently spaced apart from each other in the lengthwise direction 40, such as at the extending pleats of the roman-type blind shade 51. The lift cord 4 is disposed in the cord running section 34 in the lengthwise direction 40, and rearwardly of the first and second front segments 341, 342 and forwardly of the first and second rear segments 343, 344. Since each of the first and second front and rear segments 341, 342, 343, 344 is inclined relative to both the lengthwise direction 40 and the horizontal direction, each of the penetrating holes 345 defined thereamong is considerably reduced at its width. In other words, with the same largest height of the penetrating holes 345, the height of each penetrating hole 345 is reduced gradually toward two sides thereof. It is not feasible for a child to reach and pull the lift cord 4 out from any one of the penetrating holes 345, such that the risk of endangering children can be greatly reduced. Thus, the safety lift cord device according to the disclosure can prevent children from accidental strangulation without the need to increase the guard units 340.
Referring to
While the disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
