The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 26, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 05, 2000
Ronald L. Bowman, Golden, CO (US);
Paul G. Swiszcz, Boulder, CO (US);
Hunter Douglas Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ (US);
Abstract
A covering for an architectural opening includes a new system for mounting the controls for the covering within the head rail such that suspended vertical vanes are closely positioned relative to the bottom of a head rail and disposed so as to form a continuous and integrated look with the head rail. An improved pantograph is used in the control system with one set of links of the pantograph having tapered side edges to improve stacking of the vanes adjacent to the end of a head rail without sacrificing strength and therefore quality of the control system. An improved operating system in the form of the combination of a tilt wand, coupler and pull cord provides a simplified system for not only moving the vanes along the length of the head rail between extended and retracted positions but for also pivoting the vanes about longitudinal vertical axis between open and closed positions. An improved system for connecting suspended vanes to the control system is also provided with the system being uniquely designed for use with tubular vanes and retains the vanes in a tubular orientation. The tilt wand is connected to the tilt rod within the head rail by an inclined drive connector that enables the tilt wand to be aligned with the pull cord at the location where the pull cord drops from the head rail for manipulation by an operator. In this manner, the combined tilt wand and pull cord establish a substantially child-proof operating system for the covering.