The present invention relates to window blinds and particularly to soft blinds such as "festoon", "Austrian", and "Roman" blinds.

In accordance with the invention, a window blind system comprises; 5 a blind provided with a plurality of cord guides arranged in vertical series spaced across the width of the blind, support means, to be affixed to a wall or the like, wherefrom the blind may be suspended, a plurality of cords, each passing through one of said 10 vertical series of cord guides, and means associated with said support means whereby the cords may be led across the top edge of said blind to one side thereof such that the blind may be raised by pulling downwards on the cords. *-> According to a first embodiment of the invention, said support means comprises a rail and said means associated with said support means comprises a longitudinal channel extending along the length of the lower edge of said rail, said channel having a plurality of transverse slots spaced along its length 20 through which said cords may be passed and led along the length of the channel to one end of the rail.

Preferably, said channel is U-shaped, having first and second side walls and a floor, and said slots extend through said first side wall and partway across said floor. " Preferably also, said rail further includes an upper rail portion of box-section having a longitudinal groove extending alongits upper surface and said blind is suspended from said upper rail portion by means of beading, around which the upper edge of the blind is wrapped, inserted into said longitudinal

30 groove.

Preferably also, said rail is of PVC and said cords are of nylon.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, said support means comprises a rigid support member inserted through

- 2 -

an elongate sleeve formed at the top edge of the blind, and said means associated with said support ^me ans comprises a plurality of G-clamps attached to said elongate sleeve, each of said G- clamps comprising a C-shaped bracket and a screw threaded clamping member, said clamping member having an eyelet attached to its lower end through which said cords may be passed as so led across to one side of the blind.

According to a third embodiment of the invention, said support means comprises a rail inserted through an elongate sleeve formed at the top edge of the blind, the rail having on its rear face an elongate rib, and mounting brackets clamped to the sleeve and the rib, and said means associated with rail support means comprise eyelet heads of screws cooperable with said brackets to effect said clamping. In each case, the cord guides preferably comprise 0-rings having a T-piece extending radially outwards therefrom. The cord guides are preferably of flexible plastics material, such as nylon, and may be affixed to textile materials by inserting the crossbar of said T-piece into the weave. Preferably, the cord guides are affixed to tapes attached to the material of the blind.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Fig 1 is a perspective view of a section of head rail for use in a window blind system constituting a first embodiment of the invention;

Fig 2 is a perspective view of a portion of a blind in accordance with the invention;

Fig 3 is a plan view of a cord guide for use with the blind of Fig 2;

Fig 4 is a perspective view of the rail of Fig 1 and the blind of Fig 2 in operation;

Fig 5 is a sectional view of the rail and blind of Fig ₄ ;

Fig 6 is an end elevation, partly in section of a blind

system constituting a second embodiment of the invention;

Fig 7 is a perspective view of the blind system of Fig 6;

Fig 8 is a pictorial fragmentary view of the rear of a blind system constituting a third embodiment of the invention; Fig 9 is a fragmentary view showing the first stage in the assembly of the blind system;

Fig 10 is a fragmentary view showing a later stage in assembly; Fig 11 is a rear elevation of the assembled system; Fig 12 is an exploded view of a portion of the system; and

Fig 13 shows a cleat and screw for use with the system. Referring now to Fig 1 of the drawings, a soft blind system includes a head rail, generally designated by the reference numeral 2, which includes a U-shaped channel 4 running along the length of its lower edge and having first and second vertical sidewalls 6 and 8 and a floor 10. The channel 4 is provided with a series of slots 12 spaced along its length, the slots 12 being substantially perpendicular to the long axis of the rail 2 and extending through the first side wall 6 of the channel 4 and part of the way across the floor 10.

The second vertical side wall 8 extends upwardly to connect the channel 4 to an upper rail portion 14 which is suitably of box-section and is provided with a longitudinal groove 15 along its top surface 16, and with means whereby the rail 2 may be affixed to a wall or the like.

In the example illustrated, the upper rail portion 14 includes a longitudinal projection 17 of V-section, upon which a mounting bracket 18 is slidably mounted. The bracket 18 may be positioned anywhere along the length of the rail 2 and clamped in place by tightening a screw 20. The number of brackets 18 used obviously depends upon the length of the rail 2.

The rail 2 is further provided with an end-piece 20 comprising a plug portion 22, which fits the space between the channel 4 and the lower surface 24 of the upper rail portion 14, and a flange 26 which abuts the end of the rail 2 when the plug portion

- 4 -

22 is inserted.

An aperture 28 extends through the end-piece 20 to interconnect the outer surface of the flange 26 and the interior of the channel 4. The plug portion 22 also includes a number of grooves 30 parallel to the long axis of the rail 2, on its bottom surface 32 and on its top surface (not shown). The grooves 30 engage longitudinal projections 34 located on the floor 10 of the channel 4 and the lower surface 24 of the upper rail portion 14.

Referring now to Figs 2 to 5, a blind 36 for use with the head rail 2 of Fig 1 is provided with a plurality of cord-guides 38 arranged in vertical series spaced across the width of the blind 36. A suitable cord guide 38 is shown in Fig 3 and comprises an 0-ring 40 with a T-piece 42 extending radially outwards therefrom. The cord guides 38 are preferably of a flexible plastics material such as nylon and may be affixed to textile materials by inserting the cross-bar 44 of the T-piece 42 into the weave. Preferably, the cord guides 38 are not affixed to the material of the blind 36 itself but to a series of tapes 46 attached thereto.

In use, the upper edge of the blind 36 is suspended from the rail 2; eg by means of beading 48, around which the material of the blind is wrapped, inserted into the groove 15 of the upper rail portion 14, as is best seen in Fig 5 (the thickness of the material of the blind 36 has been exaggerated for the sake of clarity). A cord 50 is passed through each vertical series of cord guides 38, through a corresponding slot 12, along the channel 4 and out through the aperture 28 of the endpiece 20. The cords 50 may be gathered into a bundle 52 hanging from the end of the rail 2 and the blind may then be raised by pulling downwards on the bundle of cords 52. The ends of the cords 50 are prevented from passing through the cord guides 38 by any suitable means., such as cross-pieces 54.

The cords 50 are preferably of nylon and the rail 2 is preferably of PVC. Since the nylon of the cords 50 is harder than PVC, there is no need to smooth the edges of the slots 12 thereby simplifying manufacture of the rail 2. The rail 2

may be produced with the slots 12 at predetermined spacings to be used as required, or the slots 12 may be cut as desired to suit specific applications. The system described above is applicable to all types of soft blinds including festoon, Austrian and Roman types.

Referring now to Figs 6 and 7, a second aspect of the invention relates to a blind 56 of the type which depends from a rigid support member 58 inserted into a elongate sleeve 60 formed at the top edge: of. ^" the blind 56. In the case illustrated, the support member 58 is ^• shown as a hollow tube of circular section and, again, the thickness of the blind material has been exaggerated. The blind 56 may be affixed to a wall or the like by means of suitable brackets (not shown) attached to either longitudinal end of the support member 58. As in the previous example, the blind 56 is provided with a plurality of cord guides 38 arranged in the same manner as before. In this case, however, a number of G-clamps 62 are attached to the elongate sleeve 60 and support member 58 at intervals corresponding to the positions of the vertical series of cord guides 38.

Each G-clamp 62 comprises a C-shaped bracket 64 and a screw threaded clamping member 66 having an eyelet 68 attached to its lower end. In use, the elongate sleeve 60 of the blind abuts the upper limb of the C-shaped bracket 64 and the clamping member 66 is rotated to secure the G-clamp 62 to the blind. Preferably, the clamping member 66 engages the blind 56 below the seam of the sleeve 60.

As shown in Fig 7, the blind cords 50 pass up through the cord guides 38 and are then strung across the upper edge of the blind 56 through the eyelets 68 of the G-claims 62.

As before, the cords 50 may be gathered in a bundle (not shown) at one side of the blind 56, which may then be raised by pulling downwards on the bundle of cords.

The rigid support member 58 of this embodiment may be of telescopic construction so that its length can be varied as required,

- 6 -

as is known from existing curtain systems. Existing curtains of this type may in fact be converted to blinds simply by the addition of G-clamps 62 cords 50 and cord guides 38.

A soft blind system includes a rail 71 having on its rear face an elongate rib 72 and being of a design commonly used to carry sliders for suspending curtains. The system also includes brackets 73 for fixing to a wall or the like and having jaws 74. The brackets 73 are also commonly available for hanging curtains when the jaw 74 clamp directly to the rib 72. In this case th& jaws 74 clamp a sleeve 75 to the rib 72, the rail 71 being inserted in the sleeve 75 which is formed at the top edge of a festoon blind 76.

The jaws 72 are closed together by means of a screw 77 in each bracket 73, the screw having an eyelet head 78. The eyelet heads 78 serve as guides for cords 79. Each cord 79 is fixed to bottom of a vertical tape 80 sewn to the rear side of the blind 76 'and threaded through guide loops 81 spaced along the tape 80. A number of tapes 80 are spaced across the blind 76 and are so attached to the blind 76 that the fabric is ruched between adjacent tapes 80. The cords 79 are gathered together at one or other side of the blind 76 where they are joined by means of a screwed ball connector 83 to a single pull cord 83 (Figure 12).

In assembling the system the rail 71 is cut to the required length and inserted into the sleeve 75 (Figure 9). Thereafter, the brackets 73 are attached to the sleeve 75 and the rib 72 (Figure 10). Each cord 79 is in turn connected to the lower end of the corresponding tape 80 and threaded through the loops 81 on that tape and the eyelet head 78 is a bracket 73 aligned with the tape 80. The cords 79 are then gathered together as they extend across the blind and through the eyelet heads (Figure 11). The cords 79 are then passed through a hole in the top half of the ball connector 82 and knotted together. Also, one end of the thicker pull cord 83 is passed through a hole in the other half of the connector 82 and knitted whereupon the two halves are connected together. The other end of the cord 83

- 7 -

is passed through a hole in an acorn 84 (Figure 12).

In use, when it is desired to retain the blind in a raised position the cord 83 is merely around about a cleat 85 screwed to the wall or the like at a convenient position (Figure 13).