This invention relates to a suspension unit body for a suspension device with at least one track in which the suspension unit is movably borne. The suspension unit is designed as roller unit or as sliding unit.
For installation of curtains, these curtains are often provided with a multiplicity of suspension units on an upper edge, such as rollers or gliders, which are borne in a track in a way movable in longitudinal direction. The track can be mounted e.g. on a ceiling or a wall. Depending upon the construction of the suspension unit various problems can arise when pulling or pushing the suspension units in the track, such as, for example, too great a friction between individual components of the curtain device, noise generation from the movement in the track, e.g. through vibrations, sluggish or rough movement during pulling or pushing of the suspension units and noise through interaction of the suspension units among themselves.
Known from DE 3400118 is e.g. a roller unit in which a body consists of a first material and a roller, of a second material, running through the body. Thereby achieved is a reduction of noise during the movement of the roller units on the running surface of a track. The roller is produced in one piece in a two-component injection molding method. First a shaft part is produced from a plastic and then races are formed on the shaft part by means of which the roller unit is seated on the track. The material for the races is an elastic, and thus noise-reducing, plastic material. Through an axial channel in the shaft part, the material is injected into the race regions outside on the shaft part, whereby the channel is also filled up, so that the roller has a noise-damping filling. A damping of the noise generation by the body, which carries the roller, is not foreseen.
DE 19539825 shows gliders with a base body for insertion in a track. The base body has a molded-on elastic carrying element which is produced in a two-component technique. The elastic carrying element serves as a catch and snap-fitting connection between the gliders and the track. The particular shaping or molding of the elastic carrying element is made possible owing to the two-component technique, so that this element can be easily inserted into the track. Problems during movement of the suspension unit in the track, as mentioned by way of example above, are not taken into account with this construction. Instead the elastic material has a braking effect in the track.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a suspension unit for a curtain device and a curtain device which reduce the above-mentioned problems, in particular contribute to noise reduction during actuation of the curtain device and facilitate use of the curtain device.
This object is achieved by the invention by means of a suspension unit according to claim 1 and a curtain device according to claim 15. Advantageous embodiments and further embodiment examples are described in the dependent claims.
A suspension unit for a curtain device according to the present invention has a body, to which at a first end a guide element is connected and at a second end a curtain suspension is connected. The guide element is provided for guiding the suspension unit in a curtain guide of the curtain device such as e.g. a track or a rail. The guide element can be pulled or pushed along the curtain guide. Provided for attachment of a curtain to the suspension unit, is the curtain suspension, such as e.g. a ring, a hook, a grommet or the like. According to the invention, at least the body is made up of at least two different material sections which differ in their hardness. This means that provided is at least a first hard material section and a second, soft material section, whereby the hard material of the hard material section is harder in relation to the soft material of the soft material section. The different material sections can be of the same substance, but however with differing material characteristics with respect to hardness. Also different substances can however be used for the hard and the soft material section. The body of the suspension unit is preferably designed as two-component body. It should however not be excluded that a third or still a further material section is used for the suspension unit whose hardness differs from the first and the second material section.
By means of the construction of the body out of two material sections of different hardness, the body can at least partially absorb or dampen tensions and vibrations which arise e.g. through the movement of the suspension unit, through interaction with the curtain guide or through force effects from the pulling during actuation of the suspension unit, thus e.g. when pulling open or closed a curtain in the curtain guide. This leads to a reduction of the noise generation during the operation of the curtain and reduces the necessary application of force for actuation of the curtain.
The suspension unit is suitable for any type of curtain installations with a curtain guide, for example for textile curtains or vertical blinds, for shading or partitioning of rooms, on windows or on walls.
The body of the suspension unit can be designed as a frame or a type of open housing with lateral supports. The body is substantially box-shaped with the guide element on the upper, first end and the curtain suspension on the lower, second end. The supports are preferably provided on the outer edges of the body and extend from the upper to the lower end, the ends forming a termination of the body. The frame is preferably made of a hard material, and interim spaces between the supports are covered or filled with a soft material at least on opposite sides of the body. The hard material gives the frame a certain stiffness, while the soft material serves for support and damping. An interior space between the supports can be covered or at least almost filled with a soft material. This means that the inner sides of the frame or respectively of the supports and also the end terminations can be covered with the soft material. The interior space can also be filled completely with the soft material. The frame preferably has a circumferential region of hard material around the upper and the lower end and/or in circumferential direction around the lateral supports. Thus there exists an uninterrupted region of hard material around at least one of these circumferential directions. This construction gives the body stability.
In a curtain guide of a curtain device, as a rule, a multiplicity of suspension units are strung behind one another in order to hold a curtain. In a variant of the body in which opposite sides are filled with soft material, these sides are preferably situated in pulling direction of the suspension unit, thus forming in pulling direction a front and a rear side of the body. The front and rear sides of the body of the individual suspension units are situated opposite one another and can bump into each other when they are moved in the curtain guide. The soft material preferably protrudes beyond the supports of the frame at least in direction of impact. The suspension units therefore hit one another with a surface made of soft material, whereby the impact and thus an impact noise can be damped.
The damping features depend, on the one hand, on the type of substances used and, on the other hand, on the volumetric and dimensional relations of the material sections. These are adapted to the conditions of a particular curtain device. In principle, the same substance can be used for the hard and the soft material sections, however with differing hardness. Used can be e.g. polyoxymethylene (POM), polypropylene (PP), or polyamide (PA). Different substances can also be used however. The named substances are particularly suitable for the hard material section. The soft material section be a caoutchouc such as is known e.g. by the name of Santoprene™, polyether block amide or PEBA or Pebax®, Hytrel®, Crastin® PBT or ABS Novodur®.
In a body according to the invention, an interim space volume between two supports of hard material can be filled with a soft material. The interior space between the supports of the body can also be lined with a soft material. The body preferably has a soft material in an upper region between the supports, to which the guide element is connected. This soft end region can form a kind of damping cushion for the guide element. The soft material section is thereby predominantly not situated on an outer side of the body, but instead the body is terminated predominantly by a hard material. The hard material section can encompass e.g. the terminal ends of the frame, which span the supports of the frame.
The guide element has a connection (44) or a shaft (8) through a region (11) of the body (1) filled with a soft material.
In a first embodiment of a suspension unit according to the invention a roller device is provided as guide element on the first, upper end of the body, which roller device is borne or rests in a rollable way on the curtain guide. The roller device has a shaft through a part of the body filled with a soft material. This can be e.g. the above-described soft end region of the frame. The roller device preferably has two rollers, which are connected to the shaft and protrude beyond the body on both sides, so that they can rest and roll on the curtain guide of the curtain device, as is already known. The movement of the rollers, respectively of the shaft in the body, can be damped by the soft region. Furthermore, during pulling or pushing of the curtain, an actuation of the suspension units is transmitted to the rollers in a damped way. Vibrations and swinging movements which arise with the movement of the suspension unit are thus hardly transmitted to the body.
Preferably a shaft bearing sleeve of hard material is provided in the region filled with a soft material at the end of the body, through which sleeve the shaft of the roller device extends. The shaft bearing sleeve is held in a damped way in the soft material. Alternatively, the shaft bearing sleeve can be connected to the hard material of the body, for example through crosspieces or ribs. The hard material of the shaft bearing sleeve makes possible, on the other hand, a reduction of the friction when the shaft turns in the shaft bearing sleeve, compared with the soft material. A pulling or pushing of the curtain is thereby facilitated. The shaft bearing sleeve can be designed as bearing bushing and can securely guide the roller device.
The roller device itself can also be produced in a two-component construction. The shaft preferably has outside a hard material which e.g. slides well in the shaft bearing sleeve, and the rollers have a soft material at least on the outside so that a rolling on the curtain guide is damped.
In a second embodiment of a suspension unit according to the invention, a sliding element is provided as guide element on the first, upper end of the body, which sliding element is borne in a sliding way on the curtain guide. On the outer side of the sliding element, which abuts the curtain guide, the sliding element consists of a hard material. Compared with a soft material, the hard material on the outer side facilitates the sliding on the surface of the curtain guide. The sliding element preferably has a soft material in an interior region. For example, the sliding element can be constructed around the soft region at the end of the frame, as described above. The outwardly situated hard material of the sliding element can be connected to the frame of the body. For example, the sliding element is designed as end termination of the body. The hard material of the sliding element can however also be offset with respect to the supports of the frame of the body and be connected to the body via the soft inner region. Alternatively, the sliding element can be a separate element of the suspension unit and can be borne in the body of the suspension element, for example in the soft end region of the frame, in a similar way as described above for the roller device. The materials used for the sliding element correspond substantially to the materials or substances of the body.
In a variant, the suspension unit can receive the guide element in a floating way, so that the guide element is slightly movable relative to the body. The floating bearing preferably takes place through an accommodation of the guide element in the soft material section of the body. The guide element can be borne on the body e.g. by means of a connection or a shaft which extends through a region of the body filled with a soft material. The soft material is sufficiently flexible so that it can yield slightly during movement of the guide element. Thus the guide element is slightly movable relative to the hard material section of the body. The bearing can take place e.g. through the accommodation of the shaft of the roller device or of the sliding element in the soft material section. In particular the floating accommodation can be achieved through bearing of the shaft bearing sleeve in the soft material section. By means of the floating bearing, a damping of the movement of the guide element can take place, as described above.
In an embodiment of the suspension unit, at a second end of the body the soft material section of the body has a bearing of soft material for movable bearing of the curtain suspension. The bearing can be provided e.g. by a slit or an opening through which an anchor-like counter bearing of the curtain suspension can be led, so that it abuts firmly on the soft material. Alternatively the curtain suspension can also be shaped in a fixed way on the body.
A further aspect of the invention relates to the advantageous design of the body for a suspension unit and a curtain device with at least one curtain guide and at least one curtain, which is suspended on a plurality of suspension units with a guide element for guiding of the suspension units in the curtain guide. The suspension units are designed in accordance with the above-described features.
The invention has been described with reference to a plurality of embodiments. The individual technical features of one embodiment can absolutely be used also in combination with another embodiment with the described advantages. The description of the inventive technical features is thus not limited to the respective embodiment.
Advantageous embodiments of the invention are presented in the following with reference to the drawings, which serve merely explanatory purposes and are not to be interpreted in a limiting way. Features of the invention disclosed by the drawings should be considered as belonging to the disclosure of the invention individually and in any combination. In the drawings:
The hard material section 20 is designed as frame and has lateral supports 4 at four edges of the hard material section. On a front and a rear side open interim spaces are formed, between the supports 4, in the form of aperture 18. The frame is open on both sides. The supports 4 are connected to one another by a terminal end 6 in the form of an arch-like bridging structure and below by a bottom element 16. Provided in the bottom element 16 is a slit or slot for introduction of the curtain suspension. In the interior between the supports 4 an interior space 17 of the frame is formed.
The soft material section 30 is designed in a precisely fitted way for the interior space 17 of the hard material section 20 and abuts on its inner sides, except in the region of the bottom element 16, which remains free of soft material. In particular the soft material section 30 has on the front and rear side an interim space filling 5, an upper soft region 11 and a central soft region 15. The interim space filling 5 penetrates between the supports of the hard material section 20. The upper soft region 11 has an axial passage 19, which extends from one side to the other side of the body in a way perpendicular to a pulling or pushing direction of the suspension unit. The central soft region 15 fills the interior space 17 approximately in the upper half of the body, so that an interim space 14 remains free in the lower half. Protruding downwardly from the central soft region 15 are extensions 13, which form a lining of the inner side of the supports 4.
The shaft bearing sleeve 12 is constituted by a sleeve with a length, so that the sleeve protrudes slightly beyond the passage 19 of the soft material section 30; for this see also
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Inserted in the bottom element 16 of the hard material section 20 is the curtain suspension 2. On a lower end the curtain suspension has a curtain fastener 9 in the form of a ring. On the upper end an anchor element 10 is provided, which is hung in the bottom element 16 and comes to lie in the interim space 14 of the body 1. Alternatively other designs are also possible as curtain suspension, such as e.g. shown in the embodiment of
Provided as guide element 3 on the upper end of the body 1 is a roller device, which has rollers 7 and a shaft 8. The shaft 8 extends through the shaft bearing sleeve 12 and disposed on both ends of the shaft 8 is one roller 7 each. The rollers 7 protrude beyond the sides of the body 1, so that they rest on a curtain guide of a curtain device and are able to be guided thereby. The rollers 7 are rotatable with respect to the body 1. The shaft 8 of the guide element 3 runs through the upper soft region 11 of the soft material section. Preferably the soft material of the upper soft region 11 is flexible in such a way that the shaft 8 is slightly movable within the soft region 11. Thus a kind of floating bearing of the shaft can take place. Alternatively, the shaft bearing sleeve can be connected to the hard material section e.g. through rigid crosspieces or ribs, so that the shaft bearing sleeve is fixed relative to the body and guides the shaft 8 in a stationary way.
If a multiplicity of suspension units are inserted in a curtain guide for guiding a curtain, these units can be moved in the usual way in a longitudinal direction of the curtain guide, for example by pulling on the curtain. The suspension unit preferably has on the body 1 laterally on the hard material section a pull cord attachment 22, however, on which a pull cord can be attached, which connects together the individual suspension units. By pulling on the cord in one direction or the other, the suspension units can be moved along the curtain guide. The pull cord attachment can be achieved e.g. by means of a clamp.
For curtain positioning the suspension units are moved along the curtain guide. Tensions, swinging movements or vibrations arising thereby are damped by means of the soft material in the body 2, as mentioned at the beginning. If the individual suspension units bump into one another, the interim space fillings 5 of the soft material of the individual suspension units hit one another, so that noise generation is reduced.
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The gliders 40 in this embodiment are borne in a movable way relative to the body 1. With a shifting of the suspension unit on the curtain guide, on the one hand, the gliders 40 can roll with their outer circumference on the curtain guide and thus assume an optimal position for the sliding movement. On the other hand, the body 1 with the curtain suspension 2 can be tilted relative to the curtain guide and thus can also assume an optimal position for the shifting of the suspension unit. Resulting therefrom is a simple sliding of the suspension units along the curtain guide and a reduction of the force necessary to do this.
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Die connection 44 of the gliders 40′ is disposed in a torque-proof way in the passage 19 of the soft material section 30, as shown in
The individual elements of the suspension unit in the form of the body 1, the curtain suspension 2 and the guide element 3 are in this embodiment rigid with respect to one another. The suspension unit is preferably produced by a two-component injection molding process, as previously described.
With a displacement of the suspension unit along the curtain guide, the suspension unit can roll away on the oval or elliptical contact surfaces of the gliders 40′ so that the suspension unit can be tilted relative to the curtain guide and can assume a smooth-running position. The movements of the suspension units along the curtain guide of the curtain device are damped by the soft material sections of the suspension units, so that noise generation is diminished and an easy adjustment of a curtain of the curtain device becomes possible.
The hard material section 20 acts as a frame and again has lateral supports 4 at four edges of the hard material section. The frame is open on both sides. On the front and rear side the apertures 18 are filled in by the interim space filling 5. The supports 4 are connected to one another above by a terminal end 6 and below by a bottom element 16. Provided in the bottom element 16 is a keyhole-type opening with a narrow entry region 53 and a round bearing region 54, whose diameter is greater than the width of the entry region 53. Formed in the interior between the supports 4 is the interior space 17 of the frame. The hard material section 20 has a pull cord attachment 22, to which a pull cord can be fixed which connects together the individual suspension units.
The soft material section 30 is designed for the interior space 17 of the hard material section 20 in a form-fitting way and abuts its inner sides, except in the region of the bottom element 16 over the entry region 53 and bearing region 54. The soft material section 30 has in this embodiment a gap 55, which extends parallel to the shaft bearing 50. The gap 55 runs somewhat farther than to the middle of the soft material section 30. It can also be longer, however. The gap 55 does not completely divide the soft material section 30, however. The gap 55 is situated approximately between the upper soft region 11 and the central soft region 15. Furthermore the soft material section 30 has an axial passage 19. The gap 55 of the soft material section 30 and the crosspieces 51 of the hard material section 20 are best seen in
In a way similar to that of the embodiment of
Inserted into the bearing region 54 in the bottom element 16 of the hard material section 20 is the curtain suspension 2. Borne at the lower end of the curtain suspension is the curtain fastener 9 in the form of a ring. Provided on the upper end is the anchor element 10, which is hung in the bearing region 54. Foreseen above the ring bearing is a horizontal bearing surface 56, from which a vertical extension 57 protrudes upwardly, which ends with the anchor element 10. The extension 57 is designed round with two opposite flat areas 58. The diameter of the extension 57 in the region of the flat areas 58 corresponds to the width of the entry region 53. The diameter of the extension 57 in the circular region is bigger and corresponds to the diameter of the bearing region 54. The diameter of the anchor element 10 is bigger than the diameter of the bearing region 54.
To insert the curtain suspension 2 into the bearing region 54, the extension 57 is aligned to the entry region 53 in such a way that it can be pushed through this entry region. In the bearing region 54 the extension 57 is rotated by about 90° so that the extension 57 no longer fits through the entry region 53. The bearing surface 56 thereby comes to be situated on the lower side of the bottom element 16 and the anchor element 10 on the upper side of the bottom element 16. The curtain suspension 2 is securely held in this position in the body 1.
Provided as on the upper end of the body 1 is again a roller device as guide element 3 comprising rollers 7 and shaft 8. The shaft 8 extends through the shaft bearing 50, and disposed on both ends of the shaft 8 is one roller 7 each. The rollers 7 protrude beyond the sides of the body 1, so that they rest on a curtain guide of a curtain device and can be guided thereby. The shaft 8 of the guide element 3 runs through the upper soft region 11 of the soft material section 30, as already described with respect to the embodiment according to
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Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2014/067677 | 8/19/2014 | WO | 00 |