Title:

Awning

United States Patent Application 20020011262

Kind Code:

A1

Abstract:

In an awning comprising a roller tube for winding up an awning fabric, wherein the roller tube is actuated in the winding direction by a torsion spring, provision is made for the roller tube to be disposed in a housing and supported with its one end in a first face-end cover of the housing, and for the torsion spring to be disposed in the interior of this first end of the roller tube, and for the roller tube to be supported in the region of its opposite second end via a bearing journal extending away from a face-end cover.

Inventors:

Dieckmann, Martin (Mettingen, DE)

Application Number:

09/908546

Publication Date:

01/31/2002

Filing Date:

07/20/2001

Export Citation:

Click for automatic bibliography generation

Assignee:

DIECKMANN MARTIN

Primary Class:

135/117

Other Classes:

52/73, 52/74, 135/88.1, 135/88.11, 135/88.12

International Classes:

E04F10/06; E06B9/42; E06B9/60; E06B9/50; (IPC1-7): E04B1/34; E04B7/16; E04H15/08; E04H15/58

View Patent Images:

Download PDF 20020011262

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Primary Examiner:

NOVOSAD, JENNIFER ELEANORE

Attorney, Agent or Firm:

Browdy and Neimark, PLLC (Washington, DC, US)

Claims:

What is claimed is:

1. An awning comprising a roller tube (2) for winding up an awning fabric, wherein the roller tube (2) is actuated in the winding direction by a torsion spring (4), wherein the roller tube (2) is disposed in a housing (1) and supported with its one end in a first face-end cover (11) of the housing (1), said torsion spring (4) being disposed in the interior of this first end of the roller tube (2) and said roller tube (2) being supported in the region of its opposite second end (12) via a bearing journal (13, 23) extending away from a face-end cover (17).

2. An awning according to claim 1, wherein the bearing journal (13) is detachably screwed to the face-end cover (17).

3. An awning according to claim 1, wherein the bearing journal is formed by the drive shaft (23) or its extension of an electric motor (19), and a rope sheave (21) is connected to the drive shaft (23).

4. An awning according to claim 3, wherein the rope sheave (21) is disposed in the region of one end (12) of the drive shaft (2).

5. An awning according to claim 4, wherein the rope sheave (21) is formed as one piece with a bearing tube (22), with the roller tube (2) supported by means of bearing rings (14, 15) sitting on the bearing tube (22).

Description:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention is directed to an awning comprising a roller tube for winding up an awning fabric, wherein the roller tube is actuated in the winding direction by a torsion spring. Awnings of this type are also referred to as roller blinds. They are generally extended manually and wind themselves up automatically driven by the spring.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] With this as the starting-point, the invention has as its object to design an awning of this type in such a way that it can be driven alternatively also by means of an electric motor, and a compact, largely factory-pre-assembled construction is attained that permits a quick installation at the window and can be used also for more complex shade systems, such as, e.g., triangular awnings.

[0004] This object is met according to the invention in such a way that the roller tube is disposed inside a housing and supported on its one end in a first face-end cover of the housing, with the torsion spring disposed in the interior of this first end of the roller tube and the roller tube supported in the region of its opposite second end by means of a bearing journal that extends away from a face-end cover. In particular, provision is made for the bearing journal to be detachably screwed to the inside of the face-end cover.

[0005] This arrangement as such is an advantageous improvement of a mechanical roller spring that is known per se.

[0006] In a further improvement of the invention, provision is furthermore made for the bearing journal to be formed by the driven shaft or its extension of an electric motor, with a rope sheave connected to the driven shaft.

[0007] This improvement permits, on one hand, to implement both a manual and a motor drive using the same basic construction; in particular, however, a tension rope can be driven via the rope sheave that acts on the free outer end of the awning fabric via deflection rollers and accordingly attains an even pulling and defined extension movement for the awning fabric even in complicated shade systems.

[0008] The rope sheave is advantageously disposed in the region of one end of the roller tube and formed as one piece with a bearing tube, with the roller tube being supported via bearing rings that sit on the bearing tube.

[0009] The invention will be explained in more detail below, based on a preferred exemplary embodiment in conjunction with the drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0010] FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section through an inventive awning without motor drive,

[0011] FIG. 2 shows an illustration corresponding to FIG. 1 with a motor, and

[0012] FIG. 3 shows a section along the line III-III in FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0013] In FIG. 1 an awning is shown that comprises a housing 1 in which a roller tube 2 is disposed for winding up an awning fabric not shown in the drawing.

[0014] In the interior of the roller tube 2, on one end 3, which is shown as the left end in the drawing, a torsion spring 4 is disposed, one end 5 of which is fixed on a shaft 6 on which the torsion spring 4 sits, and the shaft 6 penetrates through a bearing ring 7 and a driving bearing ring 8, with the spring 4 acting on the roller tube 2 via the driving bearing ring 8 and a spring projection 9 in such a way that it actuates the extended awning fabric in the retraction direction. The outer end 10 of the shaft 6 is supported in a face-end cover 11.

[0015] On the opposite end 12 of the roller tube 2, a bearing journal 13 is provided on which the roller tube 2 is supported via two spaced-apart bearing rings 14, 15 with the bearing ring 15 sitting against a radially projecting ring flange 16 of the bearingjournal 13. The bearingjournal 13, in turn, is fastened on a face-end cover 17 by means of a screw 18.

[0016] In this design, the awning can be operated manually in the usual manner, i.e., the awning fabric is extended against the force of the torsion spring 4 and locked, and retracted and wound up under actuation by the torsion spring 4.

[0017] FIG. 2 shows a design according to FIG. 1, in which the bearing journal 13 is now replaced by a motor 19 that has an electrical connection 20. A rope sheave 21 is connected to a bearing tube 22, which is supported between the bearing rings 14, 15. The roller tube 2, which, of course, sits on the bearing rings 14, 15, on the outside, is accordingly also supported on this bearing tube 22. The bearing tube 22, in turn, sits on the drive shaft 23 of the motor 19.

[0018] A rope or the like, the outer end of which is connected to a front rail fastened on the outer edge of the awning cloth, may be wound up onto the rope sheave 21 so that, in combination with a suitable deflection arrangement for the rope, the unwinding movement of the roller tube 2 during the extension of the awning fabric is accompanied by a tension exerted onto the outer end of the awning fabric by the rope which is wound onto the rope sheave 21.

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