A safety device for an architectural opening covering

0001The present invention relates to a safety device for a covering for architectural openings, such as windows, wherein the covering utilizes a tilt wand and pull cord control system. There are many different types of such coverings, such as horizontal and vertical blinds, both incorporating slats. The wand is used to draw the slats. Coverings of the above referred to types conventionally include a plurality of spaced apart, parallel slats which may be either horizontal or vertical. When the slats are horizontal, a head rail and a bottom rail are employed. When the slats are vertical, a single head rail is employed. Tilting of horizontal slats or vertical slats may be controlled by rotation of a substantially rigid tilt wand mounted at one end of the head rail. The degree of extension or retraction of the slats across an architectural opening such as a window, may be controlled by a pull cord. When the slats are horizontally oriented, retraction of the covering typically results in stacking of the slats immediately underneath the elongate head rail. When the slats are vertically oriented, retraction of the covering typically results in closely adjacent stacking of the vertical slats depending at one or both ends from the head rail.

0002Usually the pull cord used with horizontal or vertical blinds is continuous or has coupled ends, establishing a looped cord, which has sometimes proved to be dangerous to small children. Injury can occur if a child inserts its head in the closed loop of the pull cord and falls while the child's neck rests in the loop.

0003Safety techniques for releasing pull cords from a tassel cap when the pull cords are spread apart in an outward direction have been developed. For example, US-A-4,909,298 teaches a tassel body for releasably restraining the paired knotted ends of a pull cord. The body includes two holes and after being extended through the holes, the two ends of the pull cord are knotted to retain the cords in fixed relationship. In this construction the body is formed in two halves and if an infant should put its head between the cords, the two halves separate, thereby reducing the danger. While this is reasonably satisfactory, there is a problem that the body must subsequently be reassembled.

0004In addition to posing a possible risk of injury to children, freely hanging pull cords sometimes get entangled in window blind slats or adjacent furniture. As a result, pull cords can sometimes be awkward to retrieve, giving the window treatment system a disorderly appearance.

0005According to the present invention there is provided a safety device for an architectural opening covering having a pull cord and a tilt wand, said device comprising a body for receiving the two parts of the looped pull cord, characterised in that the body includes a longitudinal through passage formed therein for receiving the said tilt wand.

0006The safety device is specifically useful in a window covering having parallel slats, a pull cord and a tilt wand. The safety device includes a body that slidably retains the lower loop of a looped pull cord and is preferably rotatably fixed to the tilt wand at a predetermined location along the length of the tilt wand. The fixed connection to the tilt wand retains a taut condition in the depending segments of the looped pull cord thereby retaining a close relationship between the depending segments of the pull cord minimizing the risk of an object, such as a child's head, being encaptured between the segments and at the same time retaining an orderly appearance.

0007In order that the present invention may more readily be understood, the following description is given, merely by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which:- <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li>Figure 1 is an isometric view of a vertical window covering incorporating one embodiment of a safety device of the present invention, in which a pull cord and a tilt wand are maintained in substantially vertical and parallel orientation;</li><li>Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary isometric view of the safety device shown in Figure 1;</li><li>Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical section of the safety device shown in Figures 1 and 2 taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2;</li><li>Figure 4 is a vertical section, taken along line 4-4 of Figure 3;</li><li>Figure 5 is a horizontal section taken along line 5-5 of Figure 4;</li><li>Figure 6 is a horizontal section taken along line 6-6 of Figure 4;</li><li>Figure 7 is a horizontal section taken along line 7-7 of Figure 4;</li><li>Figure 8 is a fragmentary exploded view of a safety device shown in Figures 1 to 7, showing its operative connection to the tilt wand and pull cord; and</li><li>Figure 9 is an isometric view of the cap portion of the safety device shown in Figures 1 to 8.</li></ul>

0008A safety device 10 of the present invention is shown in Figure 1 in connection with a window covering 12. The window covering 12 includes a rigid tilt wand 14 and a continuous pull cord 16 to control orientation and placement of the slats 18 of the covering 12 through an elongate head rail 19 in a conventional manner. While the device 10 of the present invention is described in conjunction with a window covering 12 having vertical slats 18 in which adjacent slats are connected by a connecting sheet, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to its use with vertical window blinds as shown in Figure 1, but rather may be incorporated in a wide variety of window treatment systems, for example, vertical and horizontal venetian blinds.

0009As shown in Figures 2 to 9, the device 10 of the present invention includes a substantially cylindrical body 20, having a base portion 28 with a generally vertical face 30 (Figure 8), and a cap portion 26 removably connected to the base portion. The base portion has an upper surface 22 and a lower surface 24. Extending from the upper surface 22 to the lower surface 24 of the base portion 28 is a longitudinal or axial passageway 32, which is adapted to rotatably receive the tilt wand 14. Formed in the base portion 28 and in the cap portion 26 of the body 20 is a transverse cylindrical pocket 36 having a segment 36a in the base portion 28 and a segment 36b in the cap portion 26. The pocket 36 is concentric with the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical body 20. Rotatably positionable within the pocket 36 is an annular collar 38 having a diameter only slightly smaller than that of the circular pocket 36. The collar 38 includes an axial aperture 40 for receiving the tilt wand 14. Also formed in the collar 38 is a transverse threaded opening 42 adapted for receiving a set screw 44.

0010Formed in the cap portion 26 and in the base portion 28 are complementary and confronting first longitudinal channels 46 and second longitudinal channels 48, extending longitudinally of the body 20 from the upper surface 22. The first longitudinal channels 46 are substantially parallel with the second longitudinal channels 48 and with the longitudinal passageway 32. The channels 46, as well as the channels 48, are adapted to confront each other and thereby define passageways in the body 20 of generally circular cross section and of a diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the pull cord 16. The first and second longitudinal channels 46 and 48, respectively, communicate tangentially with circular recesses 50 and 61, respectively, formed in the base and cap portions 26 and 30, respectively, of the body 20. The recesses 50 and 61 are confronting and adapted to rotatably receive a pulley 52 having a pulley groove 53 and an integral axle 54 and hub 56 arrangement which rotate about a central axis 58 of the pulley 52. The axis 58 extends diametrically of the body 20. The diameter of the recesses 50 and 61 is slightly larger than the diameter of the pulley 52. Opposing centered recesses 60, within the recesses 50 and 61, are adapted to rotatably support opposing ends of the pulley axle 54. The first pair of longitudinal channels 46 are adapted to slidably receive a first segment 62 of the pull cord 16 and the second pair of longitudinal channels 48 are adapted to slidably receive a second segment 64 of the pull cord 16. The first and second segments 62 and 64 of the pull cord 16 are integral with each other and extend around a lower half 66 of the pulley 52 within the pulley groove 53.

0011Formed in the interior face 30 of the base portion 28 near the upper and lower surfaces are threaded blind holes 34. A pair of unthreaded holes 45 corresponding to the pair of threaded holes 34 are formed in the cap portion 26. The holes 34 and 45 are alignable when the cap portion is confronted with the base portion and are adapted to receive fasteners 65 which releasably connect the cap 26 to the base 28.

0012To assemble the device 10 of the present invention on a window covering 12, the cap portion 26 of the device 10 is first separated from the base portion 28, exposing the interior face 30 of the base portion 28. Next, the set screw 44 is partially inserted into the threaded collar hole 42 and the collar 38 is placed in the circular pocket 36. The tilt wand 14 is then inserted into the longitudinal passageway 32 at the upper surface 22 of the body 20, passed through the central collar aperture 40 and centrally positioned in the longitudinal passageway 32 so that opposing ends of the tilt wand 14 extend beyond both the upper surface 22 and the lower surface 24 of the body 20.

0013The pull cord 16 is then placed in the pulley groove 53, contacting the pulley 52 along the lower half 66 thereof. The pulley 52 and pull cord 16 are then placed in the first recess 50, with an end of the pulley axle 54 positioned in the associated recess 60. The first portion 62 of the pull cord 16 is then positioned in the first longitudinal channel 46 of the base 28 and the second portion 64 of the pull cord 16 is positioned in the second longitudinal channel 48 of the base 28.

0014The base portion 28 with collar 38, pulley 52, and the pull cord 16 mounted therein, is then slid along the length of the tilt wand 14 until the pull cord 16 is taut. The set screw 44 is then advanced into gripping engagement with the tilt wand 14. The cap portion 26 of the body 20 is then placed in confronting relationship with the base portion 28 of the body 20, with the base portion holes 34 in alignment with the corresponding cap portion holes 45. The fasteners 65 are inserted through the cap and threaded into the base portion holes 45 and 34, respectively, thereby attaching the cap portion 26 to the base portion 28 to form the integral body 20.

0015In operation, because the tilt wand 14 extends vertically downwardly from window covering head rail 19, and because the collar 38 is fixedly connected to the tilt wand 14, the safety device 10 of the present invention maintains a vertical orientation in which the upper and lower surfaces 22 and 24 are maintained in a substantially horizontal orientation, the longitudinal passageway 32 and the first and second longitudinal channels 46 and 48 are maintained in a substantially vertical orientation, and the device 10 is maintained at a fixed position along the length of the tilt wand 14.

0016Because the device 10 is fixedly positioned on the tilt wand 14, the first and second segments 62 and 64 of the continuous pull cord 16 are taut and the pull cord 16 remains taut whether the window covering 12 is fully retracted, partially retracted, fully open, or under adjustment through manipulation of the pull cord 16. When the distance between the first and second longitudinal channels 46 and 48 is sufficiently small, the first and second segments 62 and 64 of the pull cord 16 will remain closely spaced and difficult to spread apart.

0017Moreover, because the safety device 10 maintains tension on the pull cord 16, the first and second segments 62 and 64 of the pull cord 16 are kept in a substantially parallel relationship along their length from the device 10 to the head rail. As a result, a neat and aesthetically appealing appearance is maintained for the window covering 12.

0018Despite the tension maintained on the pull cord 16 by the device 10, the tilt wand 14 can be freely rotated within the device 10 and the slats 18 of the window covering 12 can thus be freely tilted or rotated, as the case may be. This is because the collar 38, which is fixedly mounted to the tilt wand 14, is of a diameter smaller than the circular pocket 36 in which it is positioned, and thus rotates freely within the circular pocket. Rotation of the collar 38 and the associated tilt wand 14 is not obstructed by the set screw 44, which, when fully inserted into the collar hole 42, does not extend beyond the outer diameter of the collar 38.

0019A presently preferred embodiment of the present invention and many of its improvements have been described with a degree of particularity. It should be understood that this description has been made by way of preferred example, and that the invention is defined by the scope of the following claims.