Patent Application
20070289090
Referring to
Each of the sliding wheels 2 comprises a sliding hanger 21, a wheel seat 20, a central connecting shaft 25, and a plurality of sliding elements 26. The sliding hanger 21 has a top toggle portion 211 and a hanging arm 212 downwardly extended from the top toggle portion 211 for connecting with a top edge portion of the drapery fabric 3, wherein the top toggle portion 211 has a through toggle cavity 216 formed therein.
The wheel seat 20, having a rotating groove 201, adapted to fittedly receive in the toggle cavity 216 of the sliding hanger 21, wherein the wheel seat 20 has a through connecting channel 202 extended along an axial direction thereof.
The central connecting shaft 25 penetrates though the connecting channel 202 for not only enhance a structural rigidity of the respective sliding wheel 2, but also evenly distributing a load imposed on the sliding wheel 2.
The plurality of sliding elements 26 is rotatably received in the rotating groove 201 for running on a circular sidewall of the toggle cavity 216, wherein the sliding wheel 2 is slidably mounted on the sliding track 4 for sliding therealong so as to slide the drapery fabric 3 along the sliding track 4 without significant risk of the sliding wheel 2 being damaged by excessive weight applied thereto.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the top toggle portion 211 of the sliding hanger 21 is circular in shape with a through hole on the center thereof located on the upper potion of the sliding hanger 21. Two ribs 215 are spacedly installed on the side section of the inner rim of the toggle portion 211. The toggle cavity 216 is defined by the hollow section formed by the inner rim of the toggle portion 211.
The hanging arm 212 is located on the lower portion of the sliding hanger 21, and further has a hanging hole 213 for being hooked by a hanging pin on the upper portion of the drapery fabric 3. A retaining pillar 218 is extended from the two sides of the hanging arm 212 for confining the hanging arm 212 with a predetermined angle between the hanging arm 212 and the sliding track 4.
The wheel seat 20 further comprises a first wheel casing 22 and a second wheel casing 24 detachably coupled with each other within the toggle cavity 216 to form the wheel seat 20 having the rotating groove 201. More specifically, the first wheel casing 22 has a first seat panel 221 with a through hole on the center thereof. The first seat panel 221 has an outer diameter slightly larger than the inner diameter of the corresponding rib 215 of the toggle portion 211 of the sliding hanger 21 so that the first wheel casing 22 is adapted to receive in the toggle cavity 216 with the first seat panel 221 biasing against the corresponding rib 215 of the toggle portion 211.
Moreover, the first wheel casing 22 further has a tubular holder 222 which is cylindrical and tapered in shape with a through hole on the center thereof, and is extended from an outer side of the first seat panel 221, and a first coupling holder 223 concentrically and inwardly extended from inner side of the first seat panel 221 to locate in the toggle cavity 216. The first wheel casing 22 further has a first passage channel 224 coaxially extended along the first wheel casing 22, wherein the first passage channel 224 has a substantial contracted portion and enlarged portion formed in the tubular holder 222 of the first wheel casing 22 to define a first biasing shoulder 225 between the contracted portion and the enlarged portion of the first passage channel 224, so that when the central connecting shaft 25 is inserted into the wheel seat 20 for securely connecting the first wheel casing 22 and the second wheel casing 24, a head portion 251 of the central connecting shaft 25 is adapted to bias against the first biasing shoulder 225. In other words, a further movement of the central connecting shaft 25 can be substantially restricted by the first biasing shoulder 225 which also helps in retaining the central connecting shaft 25 in position within the toggle cavity 216.
It is worth mentioning that the tapered tubular holder 222 defines a slanted guiding surface 2221 formed as an outer surface thereof for allowing a sliding movement of the sliding wheel 2 when it is installed in the sliding track 4.
On the other hand, the second wheel casing 24 has a second seat panel 241 with a through hole formed on the center thereof. The second seat panel 241 has an outer diameter slightly larger than the inner diameter of the rib 215 of the toggle portion 211 of the sliding hanger 21 so that the second wheel casing 24 is adapted to receive in the toggle cavity 216 with the second seat panel 241 biasing against the corresponding rib 215 of the toggle portion 211.
Moreover, the second wheel casing 24 further has a tubular sleeve 242 which is cylindrical and tapered in shape with a through hole on the center thereof, and is extended from an outer side of the second seat panel 241, and a second coupling holder 243 concentrically and inwardly extended from inner side of the second seat panel 241 to locate in the toggle cavity 216. The second wheel casing 24 further has a second passage channel 244 coaxially extended along the second wheel casing 24, wherein the second passage channel 244 has a substantial contracted portion and enlarged portion formed in the tubular sleeve 242 of the second wheel casing 24 to define a second biasing shoulder 245 between the contracted portion and the enlarged portion of the second passage channel 244, so that when the central connecting shaft 25 is inserted into the wheel seat 20 for securely connecting the first wheel casing 22 and the second wheel casing 24, a tail portion 252 of the central connecting shaft 25 is adapted to engage with the second biasing shoulder 225 for substantially retaining in the toggle cavity 216. In other words, a further movement of the central connecting shaft 25 can be substantially restricted by both the first biasing shoulder 225 and the second biasing shoulder 245.
It is worth mentioning that the tapered tubular sleeve 242 defines a slanted guiding surface 2421 formed as an outer surface thereof for allowing a sliding movement of the sliding wheel 2 when it is installed in the sliding track 4. At this stage, it is important to point out that the first and the second passage channel 224, 244 define the through connecting channel 202 of the wheel seat 20 for the central connecting shaft 25 to penetrate therethrough so as to couple the first wheel seat 22 with the second wheel seat 24 in the toggle cavity 216.
As briefly mentioned earlier, the central supporting shaft 25 has the head portion 251 and the tail portion 252, wherein the head portion 251 is enlarged in cross section for biasing against the first biasing shoulder 225 of the wheel seat 20, while the central supporting shaft 25 further comprises a plurality of elastic holding arms 253 extended at the tail portion 252 of the central supporting shaft 25. When the central supporting shaft 25 is inserted into the connecting channel 202, the elastic holding arms 253 are adapted to elastically engage with the second biasing shoulder 245 for restricting a lateral movement between the wheel seat 20 and the central supporting shaft 25.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, each of the elastic holding arms 253 has an enlarged clipping portion 2531 adapted for biasing against the second biasing shoulder 245 when the central supporting shaft 25 is inserted into the connecting channel 202. In other words, a diameter of the contracted portion of the second passage channel 244 is smaller than a diameter of the tail portion of the central supporting shaft 25 so that the elastic holding arms 253 are arranged to be slightly depressed with the central supporting shaft 25 is forced to insert into the connecting channel 202 until the elastic holding arms 253 are released to engage with the second biasing shoulder 245 when they pass through the contracted portion of the second passage channel 244.
It is worth remarking that the overall strength of the structure is enhanced by using the central supporting shaft 25 as a support between the first wheel seat 22 and the second wheel seat 24 because the stress from pulling of curtain cloth can be evenly distributed along the central supporting shaft 25.
The second coupling holder 243 has a diameter slight larger than a diameter of the tubular holder 222 so that the tubular holder 222 is adapted to insert into the second coupling holder 243 for the first wheel seat 22 and the second wheel seat 24 coupling with each other within the toggle cavity 216. The central supporting shaft 25 is then inserted into the connecting channel 202 for securing coupling the first wheel seat 22 with the second wheel seat 24 to form the rotating groove 201 between the two seat panels 221, 241. Consequently, the sliding elements 26 are freely received in the rotating groove 201 to facilitate the rotational movement of the wheel seat 20.
The operation of the present invention is as follows: the sliding wheels 2 are mounted onto the sliding track 4 in such a manner that when the sliding wheels 2 are slid along the sliding track 4, the drapery fabric 3 is driven to move for being opened and closed so as to, say, open and close a window opening by the drapery fabric 3.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the sliding elements 26 are preferably embodied as a plurality of metal balls running in the rotating groove 201 for facilitating a rotational motion of the wheel seat 2 within the toggle cavity 216.
In view of the above, the present invention substantially achieves the above mentioned objects and has the following advantages:
1. Having enhanced rigidity as compared with conventional arts by using the retaining shaft in the sliding support.
2. Easy and cheap to replace as the retaining shaft is most likely the part to break down when the sliding wheel is experiencing abnormal stresses.
3. The sliding wheel does not require involve complicated mechanical structure, so as to minimize the manufacturing cost and other related expenses of the sliding wheel as compared with conventional arts.
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. Its embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
