The present invention relates to a screen device, comprising:

- a first screen roller with a first screen which can be rolled up onto and unrolled from the latter;

- a second screen roller with a second screen which can be rolled up onto and unrolled from the latter;

- a first joining strip on a lateral side of the first screen, adjacent to the second screen;

- a second joining strip on a lateral side of the second screen, adjacent to the first screen; and

- a coupling piece which is arranged at a certain distance from the screen

rollers, comprising an upper body, a lower body and an intermediate piece, which together delimit a Y-shaped channel, in which the joining strips are fittable so as to be displaceable for coupling the joining strips when unrolling the screens and for uncoupling the joining strips when rolling up the screens.

In this case, the first joining strip, the second joining strip and the coupling piece together form a zip fastener. The joining strips may be constructed in various known ways and will typically comprise a textile strip which is provided on a lateral side with metal or plastic hook elements. In this case, the hook elements of the joining strips may interhook in order to couple the joining strips to each other and unhook to uncouple the joining strips from each other. The Y-shaped channel has open ends through which the hook elements of the joining strips may be pushed. By pushing the hook elements of both joining strips from two legs into a third leg of the Y shape, these interhook due to the fact that the first two legs converge in the third leg. Conversely, interhooked hook elements are unhooked by pushing these from the third leg towards the first two legs, due to the fact that the third leg diverges into the two legs. There is a growing trend to provide buildings with ever larger glass sections in order thus to allow an unimpeded view of the outside space which is as large as possible. If it is desired to provide such glass sections with a screen device with a screen which can be rolled up and unrolled, it is often not possible to provide just one single screen roller for this purpose. Increasingly often, several screen rollers have to be arranged next to each other to this end. Increasingly often, the screen rollers are in this case driven synchronously and screens which can be rolled up onto and unrolled from the latter are mutually coupled in their unrolled state by means of such a zip fastener, so that these screens can form an uninterrupted unit in their unrolled state. In this way, it is, for example, no longer possible for sunlight to penetrate between both screens or the screens together form an insect-repelling unit, etc. The screens may in this case be in line with one another, in which case they extend substantially in the same plane in the unrolled state, or they may each extend substantially in another plane in the unrolled state, in which case these planes are arranged at an angle to each other.

However, the zip fasteners by means of which these screens are coupled to each other, are highly susceptible to wear. When the most common coupling pieces for such zip fasteners are used, parts of the upper body and/or lower body and/or intermediate piece of the coupling piece, adjacent to the Y-shaped channel, will become excessively worn when the screens are repeatedly rolled up and unrolled and the upper body and the lower body will be pulled apart. If this coupling piece is replaced by a stronger and more expensive one, made for example from stainless steel, then it will be noted that the commonly used joining strips on the lateral sides of the screens will wear more quickly or the screens at the attachment location of these joining strips will tear. However, using stronger joining strips and/or stronger screens is not a satisfactory solution. The reason for this is that stronger joining strips are more rigid and can less readily be rolled up onto and unrolled from the screen rollers together with the screens, as a result of which more wrinkling occurs when rolling up the screens and/or their lateral sides will shift during rolling up, as a result of which they are no longer coupleable to each other. Stronger screens can also be rolled up and unrolled less readily, as a result of which more wrinkling occurs when they are being rolled up.

It is an object of the present invention to provide such a screen device in which the zip fastener is less susceptible to wear.

This object of the invention is achieved by providing a screen device, comprising:

- a first screen roller with a first screen which can be rolled up onto and unrolled from the latter;

- a second screen roller with a second screen which can be rolled up onto and unrolled from the latter;

- a first joining strip on a lateral side of the first screen, adjacent to the second screen;

- a second joining strip on a lateral side of the second screen, adjacent to the first screen;

- a coupling piece which is arranged at a certain distance from the screen

rollers, comprising an upper body, a lower body and an intermediate piece, which together delimit a Y-shaped channel, in which the joining strips are fittable so as to be displaceable for coupling the joining strips when unrolling the screens and for uncoupling the joining strips when rolling up the screens; and

- a guide element with a guide surface for guiding the joining strips which is arranged away from the screen rollers adjacent to the Y-shaped channel and/or partly delimits this Y-shaped channel and, viewed in the unrolling direction of the screens, at least during the unrolling and rolling up of the screens, is arranged gradually further away from each plane in which the screens substantially extend in their unrolled state.

Such a guide element forms a gradual transition towards the coupling piece. Due to the guide element, the stresses in the screen at the location of the coupling piece are greatly reduced, due to the fact that these are at least partly absorbed in a gradual way by means of the guide element, before they would be absorbed by the coupling piece. These stresses on the screens occur, inter alia due to sagging of these screens and due to the fact that said joining strips on the lateral sides of the screens cannot be attached to each other with 100% accuracy on the corresponding lateral sides on both screens. During installation of the screens, the differences between both joining strips are minimized as well as possible by angular rotation of the screens with respect to each other. However, these differences cannot be entirely compensated for by means of this procedure. Such a guide element can be produced in quite a number of ways.

In a first specific embodiment, the guide element may be rigid. The design thereof is then adapted as well as possible to the stresses to be absorbed. Such a rigid guide element may be produced so as to be hard-wearing and may subsequently be arranged in a fixed position in the screen device on the coupling piece or form part of an adapted coupling piece.

In a second specific embodiment, the guide element may be at least partly deformable, for example made of a flexible plastic. This guide element or a part thereof is then preferably designed to be flexible in such a way that its shape automatically adapts to the stresses to be absorbed. In the rest position, its guide surface may extend, for example, parallel to the plane or the planes in which the screens substantially extend. When the screen is being rolled up or unrolled, the said stresses will increase and this guide element will then automatically arranged itself in such a manner that its guide surface is arranged gradually further away from each plane in which the screens substantially extend in their unrolled state.

With such a screen device in which the guide element is at least partly deformable, the lower body of the coupling piece is preferably at least partly deformable and forms part of the guide element. In this case, at least a part of this lower body may also be designed as the said guide element. In a preferred embodiment of a screen device according to the present invention, the guide surface is curved, at least during the unrolling and rolling up of the screens. In a third specific embodiment of a screen device according to the present invention, the coupling piece is tiltably arranged in the screen device and the lower body forms part of the guide element. When unrolling and rolling up the screens, the coupling piece can then tilt on account of the increased stresses in such a way that its guide surface is arranged gradually further away from each plane in which the screens substantially extend in their unrolled state.

A particular embodiment of a screen device according to the present invention comprises a holding element with a bottom holding body and a top holding body, between which the coupling piece is arranged, in which the bottom holding body forms part of the guide element. With such a holding element, it is easily possible to enable a guide element according to the present invention to adjoin a coupling piece which is for example commercially available and which is arranged between the holding bodies of this holding element. With such a screen device with holding element, in which the Y-shaped channel comprises a first leg which is turned towards the first screen roller, comprises a second leg which is turned towards the second screen roller and comprises a third leg which is turned away from the screen rollers, the holding element preferably comprises a first channel which adjoins the first leg, a second channel which adjoins the second leg and a third channel which adjoins the third leg of the Y-shaped channel. By means of the channels in the holding element, the joining strips are guided over a greater distance than is the case with the known coupling pieces themselves. In this case, the third channel preferably ends away from the coupling piece in a diverging piece, so that a gradual transition towards the screen rollers is achieved. The first channel and the second channel preferably also each end away from the coupling piece in a diverging piece, so that stresses can be absorbed gradually. A guide element according to the present invention is particularly advantageous with a screen device according to the present invention, in which the screen rollers are rotatable about a respective rotation axle and in which these rotation axles are arranged at an angle with respect to each other in the fitted position of the screen device.

The present invention will now be explained in more detail by means of the following detailed description of some preferred screen devices according to the present invention. The sole aim of this description is to give illustrative examples and to indicate further advantages and features of these screen devices, and can therefore by no means be interpreted as a limitation of the area of application of the invention or of the patent rights defined in the claims.

In this detailed description, reference numerals are used to refer to the attached drawings, in which:

- Fig. 1 shows a screen device according to the present invention from below in perspective;

- Fig. 2 shows a part of the screen device from Fig. 1 in more detail in perspective at the location of the connection of the screens thereof;

- Fig. 3 shows the screen device from Fig. 1 in cross section, cut at right angles to the first screen roller;

- Fig. 4 shows the screen device from Fig. 1 in cross section, cut at right angles to the holding element and the coupling piece;

- Fig. 5 shows the holding element and the coupling piece from the screen device from Fig. 1 separately in cut-away perspective view;

- Fig. 6 shows the holding element and the coupling piece from the screen device from Fig. 1 separately in side view; - Fig. 7 shows the holding element and the coupling piece from the screen device from Fig. 1 separately in front view;

- Fig. 8 shows the holding element and the coupling piece from the screen device from Fig. 1 in cross section, cut along plane A from Fig. 7;

- Fig. 9 shows an alternative embodiment of a holding element and a coupling piece for a screen device according to the present invention in side view;

- Fig. 10 shows the holding element and the coupling piece from Fig. 9 in cross section, cut along plane A from Fig. 9;

- Fig. 11 shows the holding element and the coupling piece from Fig. 9 in front view;

- Fig. 12 shows the holding element and the coupling piece from Fig. 9 in cross section, cut along plane B from Fig. 11;

- Fig. 13 shows a further alternative embodiment of a holding element and a coupling piece according to the present invention in front view;

- Fig. 14 shows the holding element and the coupling piece from Fig. 13 in cross section, cut along plane A from Fig. 13.

The illustrated screen device (1) comprises two screen rollers (2, 3) and two screens (4, 5) which are attached to a respective screen roller (2, 3) at one end and are arranged thereon so as to be able to be rolled up and unrolled. To this end, the screen rollers (2, 3) are rotatable about a respective rotation axle (R, S). In the illustrated embodiment, these rotation axles (R, S) are arranged at an angle (a) with respect to each other. In the unrolled state, the screens (4, 5) then extend substantially in planes which extend at the same angle (a) with respect to each other. However, the present invention also applies to screen devices (1) in which the screen rollers (2, 3) are arranged in line with one another, so that the screens (4, 5) extend substantially in the same plane in the unrolled state.

Such screen devices (1) may typically be arranged in front of windows (35), as can be seen in Figs. 1 and 2, in order to at least partly screen these against sunlight. If these windows (35) can be opened, such screens (4, 5) are typically also used as a protection against insects. Such screen devices (1) may also be arranged freely or incorporated in, for example, a terrace covering in order to screen off an external space against sunlight or wind, etc. Each of the screen rollers (2, 3) of the illustrated screen device (1) is accommodated in a screen casing (30, 31). At the other end of the screens (4, 5) than the end where they are attached to the screen rollers (2, 3), a bottom slat (28, 29) is in each case attached. These bottom slats (28, 29) are coupled to each other to form a functional unit. These are provided to allow the screens (4, 5) to sag under the weight of these bottom slats (28, 29).

On the outer lateral sides of the illustrated screen device (1), lateral guides (26, 27) are arranged, in which the corresponding lateral sides of the screens (4, 5) and the corresponding ends of the bottom slats (28, 29) are held in a guided manner. Obviously, alternative embodiments without such lateral guides (26, 27), or in which these lateral guides (26, 27) only guide the screens (4, 5) or only the bottom slats (28, 29) are also conceivable.

In order to hold the screens (4, 5) in the lateral guides (26, 27), these may be provided, on the respective side, with, for example, the same joining strip as on the side thereof adjacent to the other screen (5, 4). To this end, the screens (5, 4) could alternatively also be provided on these lateral sides with other known guide elements for holding screens (5, 4) in lateral guides (26, 27) in a guided manner.

On the other lateral sides of the screens (2, 3) than the said lateral sides which are held in the lateral guides (26, 27), a zip fastener (6, 7, 8) is provided to couple the screens (4, 5) to each other in the unrolled state.

As can be seen more clearly in Fig. 2, the screens (4, 5) are to this end provided with a joining strip (6, 7) on their corresponding lateral side. The illustrated joining strips (6, 7) are constructed in a known manner from a textile strip which is provided with metal hook elements. However, these could also be constructed in several other known ways. The hook elements of the joining strips (6, 7) may interhook in order couple the joining strips (6, 7) to each other and unhook in order to uncouple the joining strips (6, 7) from each other.

To this end, a coupling piece (8) is in each case arranged under the screen casings (30, 31) in order to couple or uncouple these joining strips (6, 7). This coupling piece (8) in each case comprises an upper body (9), a lower body (10) and an intermediate piece (11), which together delimit a Y-shaped channel, in which the joining strips (6, 7) are fittable so as to be displaceable for coupling them when unrolling the screens (4, 5) or uncoupling them when rolling up the screens (4, 5).

In the illustrated embodiments, the coupling piece (8) is in each case held in a holding element (17) which comprises a bottom holding body (18) and a top holding body (19), between which the coupling piece (8) is arranged. The coupling piece (8) is in this case held in a recess (32) in the holding element (17). The holding element (17) in each case comprises a first channel (20) which adjoins a first leg (12) of the Y-shaped channel, a second channel (21) which adjoins a second leg (13) of the Y- shaped channel and a third channel (22) which adjoins the third leg (14) of the Y- shaped channel. The channels (20, 21, 22) in the holding element (17) in each case end away from the coupling piece (8) in a diverging piece (23, 24, 25).

The first two illustrated holding elements (17) in each case comprise a rigid bottom holding body (18) and a rigid top holding body (19) which are arranged in the screen device (1) in a fixed manner. The bottom holding body (18) is configured as a guide element (15) and is to this end, in each case adjacent to the third leg (14) of the Y- shaped channel, provided with a curved surface (16) which is arranged gradually further away from the planes in which the screens (4, 5) substantially extend in their unrolled state.

The last illustrated holding element (17) is tiltably secured on a securing body (34) which is pivotable about a pivot pin (33). When unrolling and rolling up the screens (4, 5), the adjoining lateral sides thereof will become more curved, as is illustrated on an enlarged scale in Fig. 4. The stresses which build up towards the coupling piece (8) in this case are now gradually absorbed by the guide surface (16). In the first two illustrated holding elements (17), the shape of the guide surface (16) is adapted to this end. In the last illustrated embodiment, the holding element (17) will tilt on account of these stresses, in such a way that the guide surface (16) thereof is arranged gradually further away from the planes in which the screens (4, 5) substantially extend in their unrolled state.