AU698353B1 - Vehicle roller blind - Google Patents

Description

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AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT VEHICLE ROLLER BLIND THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IS A FULL DESCRIPTION OF THIS INVENTION, INCLUDING THE BEST METHOD OF PERFORMING IT KNOWN TO ME:- This invention relates to a vehicle roller blind and in particular to a more compact structure for a vehicle roller blind.

5 Up to the present time a screen of a foil based material has normally been used to shade vehicle windows to stop sunshine shining through the vehicle windows and raising the inside temperature. Such foil screens are difficult to fold, occupy passenger space and are prone to getting dirty. Spring operated .roller blinds are more convenient than a foil screen

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but have disadvantages.

One such disadvantage is the need to have the spring 15 accommodated. Typically, the spring is inserted in a hollow portion of the blind shaft requiring a larger diameter for the shaft than would otherwise be the case. In turn, unrolling of the blind requires the shaft to turn many times to enable the extent of a vehicle windscreen to be covered. While unravelling of the blind may be easy at first it becomes more difficult as the blind approaches its full extent.

With the shaft accommodating the spring internally the diameter of the shaft is increased increasing the size I-1 I, I -2of the blind or for a fixed roller blind diameter, limiting the maximum rollup extent of the blind.

Such disadvantages mean that blinds of this kind are less useful for covering the large area of the windscreen of a vehicle since to cover a large area a thin material has to be used for a given diameter of roller or for a thicker material a larger diameter roller has to be accommodated with consequent weight and size problems. A thin screen material is more prone to wear and a thicker material to being more difficult to unroll.

The present invention seeks to overcome these 15 disadvantages in the prior art or at least to ameliorate them or to provide an alternative thereto.

According to the invention there is provided a vehicle S. roller blind including a housing means including a shaft extending longitudinally between a pair of ends, :at at least one end an enclosure means housing a gear means, driven by said shaft, and a resilient means, said resilient means being attached at one end to said gear means and at said other end to said enclosure 25 means whereby rotation of said shaft in one sense tensions said resilient means and rotation of said shaft in the opposite sense releases said tension, a roll of sun screening material accommodated by said shaft and attached at one edge of said roll to said shaft, and means fixed to said housing for removably attaching said roller blind to a surface. Preferably, the housing is attached to a surface of the vehicle by suction cups. The gear means is preferably a spur or bevel gearing and the resilient means is a spring of a coil wound (helical) or spiral form.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be

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-3described with respect co the following figures in which: Figures la,lb,l,, show three views of a first embodiment of the invention; Figures 2a,2b,2c, and 2d show views of a second embodiment of the invention; and Figure 3 shows one application of the invention.

Referring to figure 1, the roller blind 10 comprises a housing 12 having end sections 14,16, between which a longitudinal shaft 18 extends. The shaft 18 has stubs 20,22, at either end to allow rotation of the shaft 18. Stub 22 is accommodated in a bore 24 of end 16. The bore 24 may be lubricated to allow easy rotation of the stub 22 or the end 16 may be made of a material having a low coefficient of friction or the 20 stub 22 may be coated with a material of low friction such as teflon.

Stub 20 extends through an aperture 26 of housing 14.

The coefficient of friction between stub 20 and the surface of aperture 26 is made low so that easy rotation of the stub 20 within the aperture 26 is achieved. Attached to stub 20 is a small driving gear of a bevel gear 32. This small gear 30 drives the larger driven gear 34 fixed to the shaft 36. The shaft 36 is accommodated in respective end bores 38,40 allowing rotation of the shaft 36 about an axis 42 which is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 44 of the shaft 18. A coil or helical spring 46 is fixed at one end 48 to the housing of the end 14 and at the other end 50 to the gear 34. Rotation of the gear 34 in the direction of the arrow 52 tensions the spring 46, corresponding to rotation of the shaft 18 in a clockwise sense as viewed from the direction of the gear Fixed to the shaft 18 is a roll of material suitable for shading in sunlight. The roll is attached to the shaft 18 in a manner well known in the art at one edge of the roll and is free at the other longitudinal edge. The roll is accommodated within the free space between the ends 14,16. The addition of the gearing 32 and the spring 46 allows the shaft 18 to be of a smaller diameter that is common in roller blinds as the spring 46 does not need to be accommodated in the interior of the shaft as is the usual situation. The ratio of the gear teeth of gear 30 to the gear teeth of gear 34 provides a reduction gearing such that unrolling of the blind affords less resistance than would otherwise be the case in the absence of gearing.

Once the screen material has been rolled to its desired length it can be rerolled in the usual manner 20 of a roller blind by releasing tension of the spring 46 to effect rerolling of the shading material onto the shaft 18. In this situation the larger gear 34 effects a rapid rerolling of the blind.

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The housing 12 is fixed to a suitable surface whether on a vehicle or otherwise by the suction cups 60,62 athe bases 64,66 of which form a socket joint for the ball shaped feet 68,70 fixed to the housing 12.

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The suction cups 60,62 allow the easy fixing of the roller blind to any surface and in particular to the windscreen of an automobile allowing the blind to be unrolled across the windscreen. The free end of the blind may accommodate a suitable fixing means to secure the blind in the unravelled position. For example, a suction cup or a rumber of suction cups may be employed to secure the free end of the blind I I II to the windscreen when it is unravelled.

Figures Ib and ic, show respectively a view of the blind from the direction of arrows 70,72 as shown in Figure la.

As seen more clearly in Figures la and ic a rigid connection 74 forming part of the housing 12 extends between the ends 14,16 and locates the positions of the ends 14,16 and of the shaft 18.

Referring to the second embodiment as shown in the views of figure 2, the roller blind comprises a shaft 118 extending between the two separate ends 114,116.

End 114 comprises a housing 120 enclosing an arrangement of gearing 122 and spring 146.

The gearing 132 housed within the end 114 comprises a spur gearing and includes parallel shafts 121,123 20 carrying respectively interengaging gears 124,126 comprising a reduction gearing with gear 126 being the smaller of the pair. Also fixed on shaft 123 is a gear wheel 130 which engages with the small gear wheel S"132 fixed at the end of the shaft 118. The gear wheel 132 is the smaller of the pair such that several turns of the gear wheel 132 are required to effect a S complete revolution of the gear wheel 130 and hence of the shaft 123 or the gear wheel 126.

S .i 30 Fixed about shaft 121 is spiral spring 146 which is fixed to the housing end 114 at 134. Rotation of the shaft 118 in the direction of the arrow 140 operates through the set of gearings 132,130, 126, and 124 to tension the spring 146 about the shaft 121. Such rotation results in unwinding of the screen which is, as stated above, fixed at one end to the shaft 118.

Triggering of the release of the tension thus stored Ic IM -6in the spring 146 results in the shaft 118 rotating in the opposite sense to that of arrow 140 and rewinding about the shaft 118.

The gearing 130 and 126 are co-axial on the shaft 123 but gearing 130 is of a larger circumference (diameter) to that of gearing 126 thereby providing a speed increase due to the ratio of the respective gear teeth and thereby spinning gear 132 faster than would a direct connection between gearing 132 and gearing 124.

Because of the gearing arrangements and the ratio of the respective gearing pairs 124,126 and 130,132 the unravelling of the roll of material is much easier than it would be without the gearing and conversely the rewinding is that much more swift. As for the .4 first embodiment described above with respect to figure 1 the shaft 118 can be of a much smaller diameter than it would otherwise have to be for a conventional roller blind where the spring is incorporated in a hollow in the shaft.

In this embodiment the stubs 180,182 of the shaft 118 maintain the ends 114,116 at the required separation rather than there being a portion 74 of the housing 2 extending from one end to the other as in the embodiment of Figure 1.

30 To retain and locate the stub 180,182 in its respective end 114,116, each of the ends 114,116 may be made of sections, for example approximate halves, and the stubs 180,182 made with ball shaped or T-shaped end portions (not shown) so that the sections can be pressed or clipped together about the shaped end portion of the stub 180,182. The respective sections or halves have cut-outs for this purpose.

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-7- Alternatively, the stubs may be retained in place in the respective ends 114,116 by a circlip, collar or otherwise within the knowledge of a person skilled in the art.

The ends 114 and 116 are fixed to the windscreen or other surface of a vehicle by the suction cups 160,162. The cups 160,162 have a waisted end 164. As described above, each of the ends 114,116 is made of sections, with the sections being pressed or clipped together. The waisted end 164 retains the suction cup 160,162 in its respective end 114,116 by the end sections being shaped to accommodate or close about the waisted end 164 when the sections are clipped or pressed together (in a similar manner to that for the stubs 180,182) ~The end 116 as shown more clearly in figure 2 (c) comprises a discoid shape with an L-shaped arm 172 20 fixed and extending from one side of the main discoid body 174. The waisted portion 164 of cup 162 is then fixed to the end of the L-shaped arm 172 thereby enabling the end 116 to be used to lever the cup 162 for the purpose of selective disengagement of the cup 162 with the windscreen or surface as will be 2 described now with respect to figure 3.

Another embodiment not shown in the figures includes the combination of a spur gearing such as shown in Figures 2 but using a helical spring. Such a combination is shown in my earlier application.

A still further embodiment not shown includes the combination of a bevel gearing such as shown in Figures 1 but using a spiral spring in place of the helical or coil spring.

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Figure 3 shows a view of the windscreen of a motor vehicle from the inside. The windscreen 200 has affixed at one side 202 a roller blind 204 according to the invention. To cover the windscreen the roller blind is unravelled in the direction of the arrow 206 to cover the desired area of the windscreen 200. The free end of the blind is fixed to the point 210 which may be by means of a suction cup or a clip.

When the blind is not in use the screen is wound up and the blind rotated to the position 214 shown in outline. In this way the view of the driver is not obstructed by the roller blind being retained at the edge of the windscreen. In the embodiment shown with respect to figure 2 and in particular with the end 116 located at the top of the windscreen the construction 4. of the L-shaped arm 172 attached to the suction cup 162 allows that end of the roller blind to be detached from the windscreen more readily allowing the rotation *o of the roller blind to the position shown as 214 in figure 3.

Though the embodiments show a helical spring or a spiral or clock spring other types of spring may be 25 used within the knowledge of a person skilled in the art. Equally, though the embodiments show a spur gearing or a bevel gearing other types of gearing, for example a worm gearing, may be used within the knowledge of a person skilled in the art. The gearing teeth may be straight or helical.

The ends, shaft and housing elements of the roller blind can be made of any suitable material but in particular it is contemplated that a moulded plastics material can be used although wood or metal are also contemplated. The screen material of the roller blind -9can be made of any reinforced foil or other substantially opaque material used for this purpose.

The gears may be made of metal or nylon, the latter material being essentially self lubricating.

The gearing and spring arrangement may also be arranged on both ends 14,16 or 114,116 of the respective shaft 18,118 thereby increasing the power and ease of operation of the rolling action. In turn either end may house any of the forms of the gearing and spring arrangements discussed above and need not necessarily be of the same type on each end.

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Claims (13)

1. A vehicle roller blind including a housing means including a shaft extending longitudinally between a pair of ends, at at least one end an enclosure means housing a gear means, driven by said shaft, and a resilient means, said resilient means being attached at one end to said gear means and at said other end to said enclosure means whereby rotation of said shaft in one sense tensions said resilient means and rotation of said shaft in the opposite sense releases said tension, a roll of sun screening material accommodated ~by said shaft and attached at one edge of said roll to said shaft, and means fixed to said housing for removably attaching said roller blind to a surface. S 15

2. A vehicle roller blind as claimed in claim 1 wherein said housing means further includes a rigid connection joining said ends in addition to said shaft. .e 20

3. A vehicle roller blind as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said gear means is a bevel gear and said resilient means is a helical spring.

4. A vehicle roller blind as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said gear means is a spur gear and said resilient means is a spiral spring.

A vehicle roller blind as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said gear means is a spur gear and said resilient means is a helical spring.

6. A vehicle roller blind as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said gear means is a bevel gear and Y said resilient means is a spiral spring. F- P e -11-

7. A vehicle roller blind as claimed in any one of claims 1-6 wherein said means fixed to said housing for removably attaching said roller blind to a surface includes a suction cup fixed to each said end.

8. A vehicle roller blind as claimed in claim 7 wherein at least one of said suction cups is fixed to said end by a L-shaped arm.

9. A vehicle roller blind as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein each said end houses a gear means driven by said shaft and a resilient means attached to said gear means, said resilient means and said gear means being as claimed in any one of claims 3-6.

10. A vehicle roller blind as claimed in claim 9 wherein said means fixed to said housing for removably attaching said roller blind to a surface includes a suction cup fixed to each said end.

11. A vehicle roller blind as claimed in claim wherein at least one of said suction cups is fixed to said end by a L-shaped arm. Ss.: 25

12. A vehicle roller blind substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures la, Ib and Ic or as modified with respect to Figure 3.

13. A vehicle roller blind substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d and Figure 3. YING FU WU Patent Attorneys for the Applicant Halford Co Dated this 4th day of September 1998 -12- ABSTRACT A vehicle roller blind is disclosed having a small diameter shaft 18 fixed between two ends 14,16 with at least one of the ends 14 having a bevel gearing and spiral spring arrangement 32, 46 making unrolling and rerolling of the blind screen easier. The blind is fixed to a surface for example the windscreen of a motor vehicle by the suction cups 60,62. A spiral spring and spur gearing arrangement are also described. *e a o* a e. a a *o I