Curtain rod assembly

The task of installing curtain rods frequently falls to those with very little experience using tools such as screw drivers, hammers, and the like. It is not uncommon for the inexperienced person to call in the assistance of a professional technician to install the necessary hardware required to support a curtain. Where the window is not large in size, the inexperienced installer may find the minimum fees charged by experienced technicians to be prohibitive, and therefore there is a need for window curtain hardware suitable for retaining a curtain and rod that can be easily installed to decorate a relatively small window surrounded by a typical window frame. The device could also be used to form a canopy for a bed, a shower tub enclosure, a room divider, or over a passageway.

Briefly, the invention is embodied in a curtain rod assembly for supporting a curtain rod, the assembly being attachable between parallel spaced apart vertically oriented generally planar inner frame members for a frame surrounding a window. Such windows and their surrounding frames are manufactured in numerous sizes such that windows are available with many different inner dimensions between the parallel generally planar vertical frame members. To accommodate windows of different widths, the invention includes a longitudinally adjustable retainer member having a first end positionable against a first planar vertical frame member and a second end positionable against the opposing parallel second planar frame member of either a first window in which the vertical planar frame members are spaced apart a first given distance, and a second window in which the vertical parallel frame members are spaced apart a second given distance. The device further includes some means for retaining the first end of the retaining member against the first vertical frame member and the second end against the second vertical frame member. The means for retaining may be in the form of a compressible spring embedded within the elongate retaining member for applying compressive force against the surfaces of the first and second vertical parallel window frame members to thereby maintain the retaining member in a desired position. Alternately, the retaining member may include first and second telescopic portions which are threadedly engaged with one another such that rotation of a first member with respect to a second member will urge the first and second ends of the retaining member longitudinally apart from one another thereby compressing the first and second ends against the first and second vertical frame members. In yet a third embodiment, a retaining device such as a loop and hook type retainer of the type generally sold under the trademark VELCRO may be used with one element of the loop and hook retainer attached to the ends of the retaining member and the second portion of the hook and loop retainer secured by an adhesive or the like to the surfaces of the parallel vertical window frame members.

Attached near the first end of the retaining member is an inner end of a first bracket, and attached adjacent the second end of the retaining member is an inner end of a second bracket. The first and second brackets are retained non-rotatably to the ends of the retaining member and extending between the outer ends of the brackets is a curtain rod for retaining a curtain across the window. To permit the curtain rod to extend beyond the width of the window frame, the brackets include a horizontally outwardly extending portion such that the outer ends thereof are spaced apart a distance that is greater than the width of the window frame. Similarly, to insure that the curtain extends over the upper end of the window frame, the brackets include a portion that extends vertically a distance sufficient to retain the curtain rod above the upper edge of the window frame.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 1A, and 2, the present invention is a curtain rod assembly 10 for use to retain a curtain, not shown, across the surfaces of a window 12 and a window frame 14. As seen from within a building, the window frame 14 includes a windowsill 16, a pair of vertical generally co-planar decorative side members 18, 20, a top member 22 and planar, parallel spaced apart vertical inner window frame members 24, 26.

Positioned between the upper ends of the inner window frame members 24, 26 is an elongate retaining member 28 having a first end 30 and a second end 32. In its preferred embodiment, the retaining member 28 is longitudinally adjustable such that the distance between the first end 30 and second end 32 may be adjusted to fit within the given distance D1 between the frame members 24, 26 of window frame 14, or between frame members of a second window 27 having different dimensions and a different given distance D2 between the inner window frame members.

Referring to FIG. 3, the retaining member 28 includes a first tubular member 34 one end of which is the first end 30 of retaining member 28, and telescopically received within the tubular first member 34 is a second tubular member 36, one end of which is the second end 32 of the retaining member 28. An adjustment device 38 is provided for longitudinally adjusting the first tubular member 34 with respect to the second tubular member 36. The adjustment device 34 may be in the form of a coil spring having a first end rigidly secured to the second end 32 of the second tubular member 36 and extends through the central opening of the second tubular member 36. The coil spring 38 has an outer diameter that is a little smaller than the inner diameter of the first tubular member 34 such that the first tubular member 34 will surround the coil spring 38 as the parts are telescopically assembled to one another. A crimp in the wall of the first tubular member 34 forms a radially inwardly extending projection 40 sized and shaped to fit between two successive turns of the coil spring 38 to thereby limit longitudinal movement of the first tubular member 34 with respect to the second tubular member 36. The spacings between the outer ends 30, 32 of the retaining member 28 can be changed by rotating the first tubular member 34 with respect to the second member 36 causing the projection 40 to be screwed axially inwardly or axially outwardly along the coil spring 38 to thereby retract or extend the overall length of the retaining member 28. In this embodiment, the retaining member 28 can be longitudinally adjusted so that the overall length 42 of the retaining member 28 is a little longer than the given distance D1 between the first and second inner window frame member 24, 26 while the coil spring 38 is in its unstressed condition. Thereafter, the first and second ends 30, 32 of the retaining member 28 can be compressed against one another thereby compressing the coil spring 38 until the overall length of the retaining member is less than the given distance D1 thereby permitting the retaining member 28 to be fit between the inner window frame members 24, 26. Once inserted between the inner window frame members 34, 36 the compressed coil spring 38 will urge the first and second end members 30, 32 axially outwardly against the surfaces of the inner window frame members 24, 26 and thereby retain the retaining member 28 in its desired location, which is preferably parallel to and immediately below the upper frame member 22.

As shown in FIG. 1A, by axially adjusting the length of the retaining member 28 the same retaining member 28 can be used to support the curtain rod assembly 10 to a second window frame 43 having a somewhat different given distance D2 between its parallel spaced apart vertical frame members 44, 45. It should be appreciated that an elongate compressible member having a first and a second tubular portion such as portions 34 and 36 telescopically assembled to one another and longitudinally adjustable by means of a spring, such as spring 38, and a projection 40 are well known in the prior art, however, such compressible members have not been used to support curtain rod assemblies until the advent of the present invention.