1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to coverings for architectural openings and more particularly to a skew adjustment device positioned within the head rail of the covering to maintain a uniform rollup of covering fabric onto a roller disposed within the head rail.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Coverings for architectural openings have assumed different forms over many years. Early forms of coverings simply consisted of fabric draped across all or some portion of an architectural opening such as a door, archway, window or the like.
Retractable coverings have also been a popular product wherein the covering is either suspended vertically and retracted to one or both sides of the architectural opening or rolled up or down about a roller at the top or bottom of the opening. The latter category of retractable coverings include a flexible fabric or fabric like material that is connected to a roller and can be retracted about the roller in a retracted condition of the covering or extended from the roller across the architectural opening in an extended condition.
One problem with retractable coverings that include a flexible material that is wound onto or unwound from a roller resides in the material skewing as it is wound onto the roller or unwound from the roller. When the material skews, it translates horizontally along the longitudinal axis of the roller as it is raised and wraps around the roller in a spiral fashion sometimes referred to as barber poling. As a result, the bottom rail along the bottom edge of the material is not desirably horizontally disposed during operation of the covering. Skewing of the material can be caused by various features of the covering including the roller not being horizontally mounted, the fabric not being fixed to the roller horizontally, or the fabric being asymmetrically configured, but regardless of the cause of the skew, it is aesthetically undesirable and can cause the fabric to engage the housing for the roller where it can fray. Accordingly, attempts have been made to correct skew.
Typically, the skew is corrected with a ballast bar or bars slidably positioned in the bottom rail of the covering so that the ballast bar or bars can be releasably fixed at any desired location along the horizontal length of the bottom rail. This of course shifts the center of gravity of the bottom rail which counters the bias in the covering material so that the bottom rail remains horizontal as desired for operation and aesthetics.
While ballast bars in the bottom rail are typically concealed within the bottom of the bottom rail, under certain circumstances, they can become visible and accordingly alternative anti-skew systems are continually being investigated.
It is to provide an alternative skew adjustment system that the present invention has been developed.
The skew adjustment system of the present invention is incorporated into the head rail of a rollup covering for architectural openings wherein the covering includes a flexible fabric or fabric-like material adapted to be wound about a roller in the head rail when retracting the covering or unwound from the roller when extending the covering. It has been found that by creating a point of increased tension on the flexible material at a predetermined fixed position along the horizontal length of the roller the tendency of the fabric to skew as it is being rolled on or unrolled from the roller can be offset.
In accordance with the present invention, an engagement arm is slidably positionable at releasably fixed positions along the horizontal length of the head rail, with the arm being resilient and adapted to slidably engage the fabric material when it is at least partially wound about the roller. The engagement arm creates a frictional drag on the material which inhibits the wrapping of the material at the location of the engagement arm while allowing other locations along the length of the roller to accept the fabric with a looser wrap so as to counter the skew bias. Other aspects, features and details of the present invention can be more completely understood by reference to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the drawings and from the appended claims.
Referring first to
The covering 20 shown in
As will be more clearly appreciated with the description that follows, the skew adjustment device 36 is slidably disposed within the head rail 22 and can be releasably fixed at any position along the horizontal length of the head rail. The skew adjustment device is a frictional device that slidably engages and compresses the fabric material 28 as it is being wrapped onto the roller or unwrapped from the roller 24. The frictional engagement with the fabric material provides drag and compression at a preselected position along the horizontal length of the roller so that the rate at which the fabric wraps about the roller at the location of engagement and the tightness of the wrap can be controlled thereby controlling skew.
With reference to
With reference to
It should also be noted that the free or distal edge 52 of the engagement arm is hook shaped so as to provide a smooth curved forwardly convex edge portion which as will become more clear hereafter, slidably engages the fabric material 28 in the covering to correct any skew that may be inherent therein.
The head rail 22 for the covering as possibly best seen in
The front wall 54 of the head rail 22, again as probably best seen in
The front wall 54 of the head rail 22 is preferably an extruded member that can be made from aluminum, plastic or other suitable material so that the features described above are formed continuously along the horizontal length of the front wall. Accordingly, the pocket 72 and the seat 76 are confronting along the inner surface of the front wall for slidable receipt of the top and bottom edges of the skew adjustment device.
With reference to
When the skew adjustment device 36 is fully and slidably mounted on the front wall 54 of the head rail 22, it is positioned as seen best in
The hook shaped distal edge 52 of the engagement arm 40 as mentioned above provides a smooth curved convex surface for engagement with the material or fabric 28 of the covering and due to the arcuate nature of the distal edge of the engagement arm, the arm engages the material of the covering tangentially so as not to snag the material. As will be appreciated in
The engagement of the arm 40 with the material 28 is designed to establish a frictional drag on the material and compresses the material on the roller as it is being wrapped or unwrapped from the roller. As will be appreciated by providing frictional drag and compression at a predetermined location along the length of the roller 24 the fabric is encouraged to wrap or unwrap in an unnatural way. This of course is designed to counter or offset the natural bias that may be in the fabric causing it to skew if not corrected. In other word, at the location on the fabric where the skew adjustment device 36 is engaged, the fabric is compressed toward the roller causing the material beneath the engagement arm to wrap more slowly and more tightly about the roller or unwrap more slowly and more tightly from the roller. Due to the fact that the skew adjustment device can be releasably fixed through friction at any position along the length of the head rail 22, any degree of skew or inherent bias in the covering can be corrected.
By way of example, if the skew in the covering is as illustrated in
An alternative embodiment of the skew adjustment device is shown in
Although the present invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood the disclosure has been made by way of example and changes in detail or structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
The present application is a division of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/750,041 (“the '041 application”) filed on May 17, 2007 and entitled “Skew Adjustment Device For Coverings For Architectural Openings”, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/747,957 (“the '957 application”) filed on May 23, 2006 and entitled “Skew Adjustment Device For Coverings For Architectural Openings.” The '041 and '957 applications are incorporated by reference into the present application in their entireties.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20100018657 A1 | Jan 2010 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60747957 | May 2006 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11750041 | May 2007 | US |
Child | 12573993 | US |