FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a window blind carrier slide, and more particularly to a window blind carrier slide that allows a window blind to be conveniently mounted to or dismounted from upper and lower guide rails for the window blind.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There are many kinds of window coverings, such as curtains, draperies, shades, blinds, etc. These window coverings may be mounted to or hung from a window in different manners. A conventional curtain mainly includes a guide rail, a plurality of carrier slides, and one or more pieces of curtain fabrics. The guide rail is mounted to a fixed place across an upper side of a window. Each of the carrier slides includes an upper roller slidably mounted on the guide rail and a hole formed at a lower part of the carrier slide. Every curtain fabric is folded along an upper edge thereof to form a plurality of pleats, to each of which an end of an S-shaped hook is connected. The other end of the hook is hooked to the lower hole of the carrier slide, so as to connect the curtain fabric to the carrier slide and allow the curtain fabric to be pulled open or close along the guide rail via the carrier slide. However, when it is desired to remove the curtain fabrics from the guide rail for cleaning, the user has to stand at a higher place to remove the hooks from the carrier slides one by one. This is very inconvenient and dangerous for the user to do so.
Another conventional curtain mainly includes an upper guide rail, a fixing rod, and one or more pieces of curtain fabrics. The upper guide rail is mounted to a fixed place across an upper side of a window, and has a guide channel formed along a lower side of the guide rail. The curtain fabrics are hung from the fixing rod, and the fixing rod is sideward slid into the lower guide channel of the upper guide rail from a lateral end of the guide rail. Two stoppers are then connected to the two lateral ends of the upper guide rail to confine the fixing rod in the lower guide channel of the guide rail. Since no hook is needed to connect the curtain fabrics to the fixing rod, the curtain fabrics along with the fixing rod may be more conveniently mounted to or dismounted from the upper guide rail. However, when it is desired to dismount the curtain fabrics from the upper guide rail for cleaning, the user has to remove the two stoppers from the two lateral ends of the guide rail, and then slides the whole fixing rod out of the lower guide channel of the guide rail. The stoppers disadvantageously increase the material and manufacturing costs of the curtain. And, when the window or the upper guide rail is located at a place without extra spaces left at two lateral ends thereof, it is impossible to sideward slide the fixing rod out of the lower guide channel of the upper guide rail once the whole curtain has been mounted to the window. The user has to inconveniently dismount the whole upper guide rail from the window remove the fixing rod and the curtain fabrics from the guide channel.
It is therefore desirable to develop a window blind carrier slide to enable convenient mounting and dismounting of a window blind to and from an upper guide rail fixedly mounted across an upper side of a window.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a window blind carrier slide that includes two detachably connectable parts to enable a user to conveniently mount and dismount a window blind by engaging or disengaging the first part with or from the second part in a direction normal to a front side of the first part.
To achieve the above and other objects, the window blind carrier slide according to the present invention includes a sliding body having at least one set of f fixing members located at an upper front side and an upper rear side thereof for slidably mounting in a guide channel of an upper rail for a window blind, and at least one linking seat located at a lower side thereof; and a linking block having at least one engaging portion provided at an upper side thereof for tightly engaging with the at least one linking seat on the sliding body, and two mounting legs located at two lower lateral sides of the at least one engaging portion for locking to a guide channel in a lower rail for the window blind. The linking block is detachably connected to the sliding body through engagement of the at least one engaging portion on the linking block with the at least one linking seat of the sliding body from a front side of the linking seat, enabling quick mounting and dismounting of the window blind.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a window blind carrier slide according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an assembled perspective view of the window blind carrier slide of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an exploded front view of the window blind carrier slide of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a window blind carrier slide according to a second embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is an assembled perspective view of the window blind carrier slide of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is an exploded front view of the window blind carrier slide of FIG. 4;
FIG. 7 shows a first example of application of the window blind carrier slide of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the circled area of FIG. 7; and
FIG. 9 shows a second example of application of the window blind carrier slide of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 that are exploded perspective, assembled perspective, and exploded front views, respectively, of a window blind carrier slide 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the window blind carrier slide 1 includes a sliding body 11 and a linking block 12. The sliding body 11 includes two fixing members 111 separately located at upper front and upper rear sides of the sliding body 11 for slidably mounting to a guide channel 81 in an upper rail for a window blind (see FIGS. 7 and 8). In the illustrated first embodiment of the present invention, the fixing members 111 are two rollers. However, the fixing members 111 may be other functionally similar structures, such as two oppositely extended sections or blocks. The sliding body 11 also includes a lower linking seat 112 having a neck portion 1121.
The linking block 12 includes an engaging portion 121 located at an upper end of the linking block 12. The engaging portion 121 is configured to tightly engage with the neck portion 1121 of the linking seat 112 of the sliding body 11. As can be clearly seen from FIG. 1, the engaging portion 121 of the linking block 12 includes a limiting section 1211 to firmly hold the neck portion 1121 of the sliding body 11 to the engaging portion 121, such that the sliding body 11 is not movable relative to the linking block 12. The linking block 12 also includes two mounting legs 122 located at two lower lateral sides of the engaging portion 121. One of the two mounting legs 122 is provided with a through hole 1221, via which a fastening element (not shown) is extended to lock the linking block 12 to a guide channel 82 in a lower rail of the window blind (see FIGS. 7 and 8). Each of the two mounting legs 122 has two flanges 1222 separately horizontally protruded from a lower front and a lower rear edge of the mounting leg 122 for fitly engaging with two corresponding guide channels in the lower rail 82. Through engagement of the linking seat 112 with the engaging portion 121, the sliding body 11 and the linking block 12 are detachably connected to each other.
Please refer to FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 that are exploded perspective, assembled perspective, and exploded side views, respectively, of a window blind carrier slide 4 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the window blind carrier slide 4 includes a sliding body 41 and a linking block 42. The sliding body 41 includes two sets of fixing members 411 located at, an upper front side and an upper rear side of the sliding body 41 for slidably mounting to a guide channel 81 in an upper rail for a window blind (see FIGS. 7 and 8). In the illustrated second embodiment of the present invention, the fixing members 411 are two sets of rollers. However, the fixing members 411 may be other functionally similar structures, such as two sets of oppositely extended sections or blocks. The sliding body 41 also includes two lower linking seats 412 having a neck portion 4121 each.
The linking block 42 includes two engaging portions 421 located at an upper end of the linking block 42. The engaging portions 421 are configured to tightly engage with the neck portions 4121 of the linking seats 412 of the sliding body 41. As can be clearly seen from
FIG. 4, each of the engaging portions 421 of the linking block 42 includes a limiting section 4211 to firmly hold the neck portion 4121 of the sliding body 41 to the engaging portion 421, such that the sliding body 41 is not movable relative to the linking block 42. The linking block 42 also includes two mounting legs 422 located at two lower lateral sides of the two engaging portions 421. One of the two mounting legs 422 is provided with a through hole 4221, via which a fastening element (not shown) is extended to lock the linking block 42 to a guide channel 82 in a lower rail of the window blind (see FIGS. 7 and 8). Each of the two mounting legs 422 has two flanges 4222 separately horizontally protruded from a lower front and a lower rear edge of the mounting leg 422 for fitly engaging with two corresponding guide channels in the lower rail 82. Through engagement of the linking seats 412 with the engaging portions 421, the sliding body 41 and the linking block 42 are detachably connected to each other.
FIG. 7 shows a first example of application of the window blind carrier slide 4 of the present invention. And, FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the circled area in FIG. 7. It is understood the window blind carrier slide 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is used to mount a window blind in the same manner as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8. As can be seen from FIG. 7, the window blind carrier slide 4 of the present invention allows convenient mounting of a window blind in a limited space. As can be clearly seen from the enlarged view of FIG. 8, the fixing members 411 of every sliding body 41 are slidably mounted in the guide channel 81 in the upper rail for the window blind, and the mounting legs 422 of every linking block 42 are fitly engaged with the guide channel 82 in the lower rail of the window blind. The window blind may be easily mounted to a window simply by pushing the engaging portions 421 of every linking block 42 into the neck portions 4121 of the linking seats 412 of every sliding body 4l, so that the linking block 42 is connected to the sliding body 41 in a direction normal to a front side of the sliding body 41. When it is desired to dismount the window blind for cleaning, simply pull the engaging portions 421 of the linking block 42 out of the neck portions 4121 at the linking seats 412 of the sliding body 41 in a direction normal and opposite to the front side of the sliding body 41, so that the window blind is separated from the upper rail. In other words, the engaging portions 421 of the linking block 42 is engaged with or separated from the sliding body 41 by pushing or pulling the linking block 42 in a direction normal to a front side of the sliding body 41.
With the present invention, it is not necessary to use a plurality of hooks to inconveniently hook a curtain fabric to carrier slides mounted on the upper rail for the curtain; the window blind can be dismounted from the upper rail as a whole before being disassembled; the stoppers provided at two ends of the conventional upper rail of the curtain fabrics may be omitted to save the manufacturing cost thereof; and it is not necessary to dismount the window blind by sideward moving the whole window blind out of the upper rail.
FIG. 9 shows another example of application of the window blind carrier slide of the present invention. As shown, with the present invention, there are other choices for sliding open a window blind. For example, in designing a window blind for a window, a plurality of separate parts may be included in the window blind. In FIG. 9, three parts of window blind are illustrated. As shown, the three parts of the window blind are separately slidably connected to the upper rail of the window blind by mounting the roller-type fixing members 911, 1011, and 1111 of three sets of window blind carrier slides 9, 10, and 11 in three different guide channels 6, 7, and 8 in the upper rail. A user may push or pull open any one or more parts of the window blind to any lateral side of the window depending on personal preference or need, so as to admit sunlight into the window in an optimum manner.
The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
Patent Application
20070136986
