Safety device protecting roller blinds against unrolling

Claim 1

In a roller blind with a horizontally oriented winding shaft, a safety device for arresting unrolling of the blind in the event of failure of support means for the blind, which comprises a shaft butt coupled to one end of the winding shaft to prevent rotation of the shaft butt relative to the winding shaft, at least one drive disk disposed on said shaft butt which drive disk rotates with said shaft butt, a bearing pin parallel to the axis of the shaft butt extending from the peripheral region of said drive disk, a pawl shaped inertial member pivotally mounted on said bearing pin which is concentric to the center of gravity and perpendicular to the lateral surfaces of said inertial member, and a housing having internal teeth in which is disposed the shaft butt with the drive disk and pivotally mounted inertial member whereby when said roller blind is rolled down in normal operation said inertial member will not change its position radially relative to said drive disk, but with increased unrolling velocity said inertial member in the form of a pawl will change its position radially relative to said drive disk and engage the internal teeth of said housing to arrest unrolling of the blind.