CA1048241A - Apparatus for assembling louvred blinds - Google Patents

Abstract

APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING LOUVERED BLINDS
ABSTRACT
The invention relates to an apparatus for assembling the louvres of louvred blinds to the supporting ladders and elevating members and includes a vertically disposed flap pivoted at its bot-tom and having a ladder guide along one face. A louvre is inserted horizontally between the two vertical stringers and between two adjacent rungs thereof. The flap lying to one side holds the ladder obliquely such that the rung above the louvre is to one side of a hole therethrough. The louvre is then lifted and a vertical needle for inserting an elevating member such as a cord or chain enters the hole as the louvre is lifted. This lifting motion also lifts the ladder which motion causes the flap to pivot and flip to a position on the other side of the hole so that the next successive rung will be on the other side of the hole and the needle. The assembly continues and results in the rungs of the ladder being disposed alternately on opposite sides of the elevat-ing member.

Description

21 PRIOR }~RT DEVICES

23 In order to arrange the rungs of the ladder of a louvred 24 blind appropriately in relation ~o the elevating member, which in most cases will be a cord, but may alternatively consist of a chai 1, 26 it is known that`use may be made of a device having two pivoted 27 gripping arms alternately resting against successive rungs on 28 either side of the ladder in more or less horizontal direction.
29 The arms are of such shape that in this rest position, they de-~0 ¦ flect the 1 er somewhat out oE the vertical position t~ an ~.

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i4)41!3~1 l oblique ~OSitiOIl, relcltlve to the ladder, so -that the portion o ,

2 the l~dd~r located between two successive rungs is in oblique

3 position prior -to each stepwise lifting of the ladder. As guid-

4 ing member, in most cases a needle is employed, to which the ele-

5 vatin~ member may already be at-tached at the beginning of this as-

6 sembly operation, Since the position of the successive rungs is in each case fixed by the presence of the need].e, the elevating 8 member may alternatively if necessary not be attached to the needl~
until all rungs of the ladder have alternately been passed on lO either side of the needle by the lifting of the louvres.
ll When the ladder is lifted, one rung at a time will pass the 12 tip of the needle, the arm located on one side of the ladder re-13 leasing the rung hitherto held by it, while the arm on the other 14 side of the ladder can make contact with the next rung. The lat-15 ter thus draws the ladder into the other oblique position, so that 16 the next rung can now pass on the other side of the needle. In 17 order for the arms to retuxn to horizontal posltion quickly enough 18 after the lift, appropriately acting springs are provided. So l9 that the rungs of the ladder will be drawn at least more or less 20 straight prior to this assembly, a stationary spreading means is 21 arranged below the arms.
22 This contrivance has the disadvantage of being comparative-23 ly expensive to construct. Also, the design of the arms and the 24 dimensioning of the springs are critical, especially in reasonably 25 fast operation, if the process is to run smoothly. Furthermore, 26 the arms to be arranged transverse ~o the plane of the ladder re~
27 quire considerable additional space, which is further increased by 28 the space required for the spreading means~
29 From this point of departure, the object of the invention was to construct an arrangement of the kind above mentioned in .
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. . ., _.. . . ' . ~-r 1¦ such manner that the alternating obli~ue positioning of khe ladder 21 in opposed directions migh-t be accomplished by simpler means and 3 ¦even more dependably.
4 I SUMMARY OF T~IE INV~NTION
I
¦ The invention relates to an apparatus Eor assembliny louvr~
61 ¦blinds having louvres with vertically aligned holes ~or passage o~

7¦ an elevating member, having at leas~ ~wo suspension members each

8 ¦in the form of a ladder comprised of two strinyer cords and rung

9 ¦cords connecting th~ stringer cords, each rung cord holding and

10¦ supporting a louvre near a hole, therethrough, having a means with

11¦ a needle for passing the elevating member through the holes and

12¦ the ladder in such manner that successive runy cords lie alternat,e 131 ly on opposed sides of the elevating member, and having a ladder 14¦ guide actuable by lifting the ladder step by step which guide 151 serves to deflect the free end of the ladder, with each successive rung not yet engaged by the elevating member and the needle, al-17¦ ternately into different oblique positions relative to the needle 18¦ held vertical.
19¦ When the successive rungs thus alternately rest against the 20¦ elevating member on either side, the louvres and the ladders are ~1¦ secur~d in horizontal direction in relation to each other, so that 22¦ the louvres cannot slip laterally out of the ladder.
23 ¦ More specifically, it is proposed, according to this inven-24 ¦tion, that the guide actuable by the lifting of the ladder com-¦prise a flap pivoted on a horizontal axis and that the ladder be 26 ¦guided on the flap at a level located above the axis of the pivot.
27 ¦The pivoted flap itself being located below the means for thread-28 ¦ing the elevating member and the plane of entry of the louvres.
29 ¦ When the ladder is in one of its two oblique positions in 30 ¦its guide on the ~lap, ~hen upon lifting of the ladder there will I

1 ¦ rec~ularly be a cc~rta:i.n amount of Eriction between the ladder on 2 ¦the one hand and the guide a~d/or the flap on the other hand The 3 ¦discovery of the invcntion is that this friction suffices to brin~
4 ¦the flap in~o top dead center position through the stepwise lift-5 ¦ing of the ladder, The flap is thus supplied with a certain kinet6 ¦ic energy quite sufficient to move the flap past dead center into 7 ¦the other oblique position~ with the further assistance, once the 8 ¦dead center has been passed, of the dead weight of the flap.
9¦ The two extreme positions of the flap may be fixed at 10¦ suitable points by means of stops or suitable limitation of rota-11¦ tion of the pivot.
12¦ On the basis of the proposed construction, the invention

13¦ may be embodied with but little technical outlay. There are no

14¦ difficulties in the dimensioning and design of any restoring

15¦ forces, lever arms or the like. On the contrary, the speed of

16¦ swing of the flap will of its own accord adapt itself to the speed

17¦ at which the ladder is lifted, for if the ladder is lifted faster, 1~¦ the flap will s~ing faster also. Furthermore, the invention pro-19¦ vides absolute dependability in the alternation of the oblique 201 positions of the ladder. The center of gravity of the flap should21¦ be aboYe the pivot.
22¦ In further refinement of the invention, it is proposed that 231 the flap itself shall have two guiding member~, each associated 241 with one stringer of the ladder and arranged at a distance from 2~1 each other corresponding to the length of a rung. It thus becomes 26 ¦superfluous to provide a similar spreading means with guiding mem-27 ¦bers elsewhere~ which would otherwise require additional technical ¦outlay and additional space. The guide members may consist of two 29 Iplates with rails diverging obliquely from below upward. The 30 ¦spreading of the stringers,as usually required, to a more or less ' I .
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1~)4~3'~9L1 1 hori~.ontal and straight posit:ion of the runcJS, may thus be achieve~
1 2 ¦by simple means and with a minimum space requirement. To this is¦added the advantage that the simultaneous spreadin~ of the ladder 4 ¦increases the fxiction between it and the guiding and/or spreading ~ ¦members~ so that a correspondingly greater componen-t of force can 8 ¦be transmitted to the flap when the ladder i.s lifted. Thus any 7 ¦further measures to obtain adequate friction are superfIuous.
8 ¦Proper design will even eliminate the need of limiting the extreme 9 ¦swing of the flap with stops or by other means.
10¦ In further refinement of the invention, it is proposed that a guiding member be arranged above the flap~ against which the 12¦ ladder will bear in horizontal direction under the pressure exerte~
13¦ by the flap~ Since the ladder is already spread above the flap, ¦ the guiding member may suitably be so fashioned that it may simul-15¦ taneously perform a guiding function for the several louvres as 1~¦ they are inserted, 17¦ The guiding member may advantageously consist of a frame

18¦ cut out in the middle, the width of the cut-out determining the

19¦ horizontal range of deflection of the ladder. The ladder will ¦ thus alternately come to rest at one of two opposed interior sides 1 21¦ of the cut-out, while in one of the remaining sides, a slit may ap 22¦ propriately be provided, through which the ladder can be slipped ; 231 in and out 24 ¦ Further, it is proposed that the guiding member or frame 25 ¦shall have a pro~ection between each pair of points of contact for 26 ¦the stringers of the ladder, to serve as a hold-down for the rung.
27 ¦This permits insertion of the louvres along the top side of the 28 ¦guiding member, without danger that so much as a portion of the i 29 ¦rung will protrude above this plane of insertion. By this con-~- 3~ struction of the guiding m,mber, inc dentally, the maximum fricti~

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IU4~Z~l 1 required to hold the lacld~r, whlch friction must be developed by 2 the guide members on the flap, is diminished.
3 BRIF.F ~ESCRIPTION OF TIIF DR~ GS
4 In the following, an embodiment of the invention will be 5 described in more detail by way of example, with reference to the 6 drawings in which:
7 Fi~. 1 shows a schemat.ic elevation of a portion of a machin 8 for making the louvres and which is directly adJacenk an assembly device, including the invention, ~or makiny up the packs of louvre ;
Fig, 2, to alarger scale, shows a portion of Fig. 1 in more 11 detail;
12 Fig, 3, to a still larger scale, shows a pictorial view of 13 a portion of Fig. 2 in more detail;
14 Fig. 4 shows a viaw of a flap incorporating a spreading 15 means; and 16 Fig, 5 shows a section at the line V-V in Fig. 4.

18 The device comprises a machine platform 10 and an assembly 19 rack 11. On the platform 10 is mounted a supply reel 12 of coiled

20 sheet metal for louvres. This is passed by way of rollers 13 to a

21 first pair of rolls 14 driven by a motor 15~ The strip of sheet

22 then passes through a fixture 16 in which it is straightened and

23 formed. Also ln fixture 16, the holes required for threading an

24 elevating member are punched and the strips of sheet metal are

25 trimmed to the particular desired length, thus completing the sev-

26 eral louvres 17, The parts directly associated with the machine

27 platform 10 t however, do not belong to the invention.

28 The assembly rack 11 has two vertical U-shaped suspensions

29 18 of clear inside width so dimensioned as just to match the width

30 of a louvre 17, On tbe inner sides of the suspensions 18 there .

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1 ar~ spring stops 19 which project into the sp~ce between the legs o~ the "[1" of suspensions 18 under the urging of springs. When 3 a louvre 17 is lifted upward it forces the stops 19 outward agains t 4 the springs and thus -the louvre 17 passes by the stops 19. When the louvre has thus passed above the stops 19 the springs then 6 again urge them inward where they project into th~ space between 7 the legs of the "U" of the suspensions 18 and may then serve as 8 support for the louvres 17 thereabove.
9 In the upper part of the assembly rack 11, a fixture 20 is arranged for holding and guiding a needle 21 in vertical direc-11 tion. The louvres 17 are each so inserted in the suspensions 18 12 that their holes 17a, punched on the machine platform 10 for re-13 ceiving an elevating member, lie exactly beneath the needle 21.
14 The elevating member is a cord, not shown here, which may be attached to the tip 21a of the needle 21 when all louvres 17 re-16 quired for one louvre pack have been properly assembled with the 17 ladder 23. As a conceivable modification, however, the needle 21 18 may have a lengthwise recess 22 in which a cord to serve as ele-19 vating member may aiready be contained before assembly is begun.
The several louvres 17 of the blind are held by a ladder 21 23 made up of cords. If the length of the louvres is not great, 22 two ladders 23 will be sufficient; however for blinds having longe r 23 louvres, three or more ladders might be provided, more or ~ess 24 evenly spaced over the louvre length. For clarity and simplicity, only one assembly unit has been shown in FigsO 2 and 3 but it 26 will be evident to those skilled in the art that there must be a 27 unit for each ladder all operating simultaneously each of which 28 will be identical to the unit shown.
29 Each ladder 23 comprises two stringer cords 23a and rung cords 23b connected between them and arran~ed at uniform intevals

31 between the stringers 23a; these intervals determine the distance

32 between adjacent louvres 17 one above another when the blind is . -.

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2 Beneath the needle 21, a flap 2~ is arranged, connected to 3 the assembly rack 11 and pivoting on a horizontal axis 25 parallel 4 to the plane of the ladder 23. The flap 24 is provided on one fac 5 with two guide plates 26 flanged at the sides. These are so shape l 6 and mounted on the flap 24 that the stringers 23a of the ladder 23 7 can glide between the flap 24 and the plate 2~o On their facing 8 sides, the plates 26 have guide rails 26a bent towards the flap ~ 24, not touching the flap 24, however, but Leaving enough clear-10 ance so that the rungs 23b can pass between the ends of the rails 11 26a and the flap 24. This distance may be adjusted as will now 12 be described. The guides 26 are mounted on pins 26b fixed to flap 13 24 and passing through holes in guides 26, Springs 26c urge the 14 guides 26 away from flap 24 and against the heads of pins 26b as 15 well as against the underside of the heads of screws 26d, Rotatia 16 of screws 26d adjusts the distance of rails 26a from flap 24. The 17 stringers 23a are nevertheless held by the rails 26a, being of 18 greater diameter than the rungs 23b, The rails 26a diverge from 19 below upward r SO that they can spread the stringers 23a of the 20 ladder 23 so far that the rungs 23b will assume a straight and mon 21 or less horizontal position.
22 Above the flap 24, more or less at the level of the middle 23 webs 18a of the suspensions 18, a guiding member in the form of a 24 frame 27 is provided, the middle cut-out 27a of which is accessibl~
25 from the outside through a slit 27b. On two opposed inner sides o 26 the frame 27, notches 27c are provided at a spacing corresponding 27 to the width of the ladder 23, forming the actual points of con-28 tact for the stringers 23a, while in between the two notches 27c 29 on each side there is a projection 27d holding down one rung 23b 30 at a time when the stringers 23a of the ladder 23 are in contact 1~4t~1Z4~L
1 ¦with one or the other side of the cut-out 27a inside the nokches ~ ¦27C therein.
3 ¦ The louvres 17 are lifted by a known lifting means, not ¦belonging to the invention, by means of which the louvres 17 may ¦be lifted to a point above the lowest set of spring stops 19.
6 ¦Nothing of this lifting means is here shown but vertical rods 28 ¦in slide bearings 29 with pins 30 to pick up the louvres 17.
8 ¦ The mode of operation of th~ device described is as 9 I follows.
10 ¦ The cord (not shown) serving as elevating member is se-11 ¦ cured by its lower end to the tip 21a of the needle 21 and otherwi e 12 ¦held in any suitable manner. The upper end of the ladder 23 is 13 ¦ secured to the top bar, here not shown, o the blind, or to one of 14 ¦ the louvres 17, as indicated in Fig. 3. The ladder is slipped under the guide plates 26 of the flap 24, the position of each 16 plate 26 in relation to the flap 24 being predetermined by means 17 of the previously described adjustment of screws 26d. A free 18 rung 23b is thus located as indicated in Fig. 3 below the left 19 projection 27d of frame 27. Two rungs above this is the last rung 23b as yet assembled. This rung is held by the lower end of the 21 needle 21 and is in contact on the right-hand side of the needle.
22 Between these two rungs 23b there is anothery intermediate rung 23 23b deflected to the left in relation to the lengthwise axis of 24 the needle 210 By suitable control and actuation of motion producing 2~ devices associated with the machine platform 10, one louvre 17 at 27 a time of proper length is inserted in the assemhly rack 11, each 2'3 one of a set of openings 17a being located exactly beneath a nee-29 dle 21. The ladder 23 assumes the oblique position to be seen in Figs. 2 and 3, due to the position of the flap 24.
31 The flap 24 is in the same position in each of Figs. 2 a ld .. ~ . .
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~ Z~l 1 3; hot~ever, several louvres 17 are shown already assembled in Fi~ure 2 so that the ~lternatincJ positions of the rungs 23b may 3 he seen.
4 Before a louvre 17 is supplied, first the lifting pins 30 must be lowered into their lowermost position underneath the 6 insertion plane 31. Then a louvre 17 is inserted through the 7 ladder in plane 31 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The top surface 8 of guide frame 27 aids in the proper insertion of the louvre 17 9 as the projection 27d holds down the next rung 23b.
After insertion of a new louvre 17, the lifting pins 30 11 are lifted; such lifting will lift the louvre 17, but will remain 12 without effect on the ladder 23 until the louvre 17 has engaged 13 beneath the next rung 23b above (i.e. the intermediate rung men-14 tloned above). Only then will the ladder 23 be lifted. Upon Eur-16 ther lifting, this rung 23b will pass by the tip 21a of the needle 16 21 on the left side of the needle, -thereby fixing its correct 17 position in relation to the elevating membex to be afterwards 18 brought in with the needle 21. At the same time, the flap 24 is 19 carried along by the ladder 23 towards top dead center by virtue 20 of the friction between the two. The flap 24 thereby gains a cer-~1 tain kinetic energy, or a certain angular velocity. When the 22 bottommost louvre 17 has been lifted so far that it is secured 23 against dropping back downward by the lowest set of spring stops 24 19 (as shown in the full line position of a louvre 17 in Fig. 3), the lifting pins 30 are arrested. The flap 24 continues its 2~ swinging motion by virtue of its kinetic energy, and after passing 27 top dead center drops into its right-hand position. Thus the 28 stringers 23a of ladder 23 come to rest in the notches 27c of 29 frame 27 on the right-hand side of cut-out 27a. That rung 23b 30 which ran along underneath the left-hand projec~ion 27d before ,-- .
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~ 8~3 l the lift is no~ on the ricJht-hand sid~ of th~ lengthwise axis of 2 the n~edle and about midway he~ween the louvre 17 just lifted ànd a next rung 23b b~low which runs alon~ underneath the right-hand 4 projection 27d.
The lifting pins 30 are now lowered again into their 6 extreme bottom position. ~ssembly of the next louvre 17 may be repeated, whereupon the flap 2~ is returned from its right-hand 8 into the left-hand position. The lifting of a newly inserted louvre from the plane 31 upward to the point, and somewhat beyond, that the needle 21 enters the hole 17a is equivalent to almost ll twice the distance between adjacent rungs 43b of the ladder. How~
12 ever, in each such lift the ladder itself will be raised only the 13 distance between two adjacent rungs 43b. This is due to the fact, 14 mentioned above, that the first portion of the upward movement of the louvre 17 from the plane 31 to engagement with the next rung 16 43b thereabove does not move the ladder.
17 This lifting is accomplished mechanically, optionally 18 including the control of corresponding movements in the control of l9 the systems associated with the machine platform lO. Alterna-tively, of course, the program of the several movements in the 21 area of each of the ladders 23 present in any instance may be 22 included in a common control.
23 As will be understood by those skilled in the art,the ter ~s 24 louvres and louvred blinds, as used above, are generic and re-fer to various structures which are called commonly by a 26 variety of different terms. one specific commonly used term 27 for certain of such louvred blinds is l'Venetianll blinds in which ~j 28 the louvres are commonly referred to as "slats'l. While such 29 structures are contemplated as falling within the invention above describ , it is clearly not limited solely thereto.
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Claims (12)

I CLAIM:

1. In an apparatus for assembling louvred blinds having louvres with holes therein, an elevating member, and a ladder hav-ing a pair of stringers with a plurality of rungs extending between said stringers which apparatus includes a vertically disposed nee-dle for threading the elevating member through holes in the louvres, means for raising each successive louvre after its insertion be-tween two adjacent rungs of the ladder, the raising of a louvre serving to pass said needle through a hole in the louvre, and means for guiding the unassembled portion of the ladder to and between a first position in which a rung of the ladder is positioned to one side of the vertical axis of the needle and a second position in which the next succeeding rung is positioned to the other side of said axis, the improvement comprising said guide being a piv-oted flap having one surface thereof in guiding relationship with the ladder, said flap being moveable between said two positions by the upward movement of said ladder, said ladder being in turn moved by a louvre being lifted by said lifting means whereby successive rungs of said ladder are positioned on opposite sides of said needle.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the surface of said flap which is in guiding relationship to said ladder is above the pivot axis of said flap.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 in which said pivoted flap is located below said needle and also below the plane of insertion of louvres into said ladder.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 in which the center of gravity of said flap is positioned above the pivot axis of said flap.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 in which the guiding surface of said flap has two guide members each being in guiding engage-ment with one of said stringer cords of the ladder.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 in which the upper end of said guide members are arranged at a distance from each other corresponding to the length of a rung.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 in which said guide members include means for spreading said stringer cords apart by a distance corresponding to the length of the rung.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 in which said means for spread-ing the stringer cords comprises a guide rail on each of said guide members extending toward the facing surface of said flap, and said guide rails diverging upwardly from each other.

9. Apparatus of claim 8 in which said guide rails are spaced from said surface of said flap by a distance substantially corresponding to the thickness of the rungs.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 including a guiding member above said flap, an opening through said guiding member through which said ladder passes, and said ladder alternately bearing against one then the other of two opposite sides of said opening under pressure exerted by said flap.

11. The device of claim 10 in which said two oppvsite sides of said opening each has a projection extending toward the pro-jection from the other thereof said projections alternately serv-ing to hold down successive rungs of said ladder.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 in which the dimensions of said opening determine the amount of deflection of the ladder.