Adjustable track for louver drapes or blinds

Claim 1

Adjustable support and positioning means for vertical louver drapes of the type in which louvers are suspended from multiple trucks, comprising: multiple trucks for suspending said louvers, a pair of axially aligned elongated frame means adapted for nesting one within the other and telescoping between an extended position and a retracted position, and a pair of elongated shafts each having substantially uniform noncircular cross sections and being mounted within said frame means and adapted to support and permit sliding movement of said trucks along said shafts, said shafts being capable of sliding in relation to each other between extended and retracted positions corresponding to the extended and retracted position of said frame means, each of said multiple trucks having a driving gear, a driven gear operatively connected to said driving gear, a housing for said gears, said housing being longitudinally slidably mounted within said elongated frame means relative to at least one of said shafts, such that said driving gear remains slidably engaged with said noncircular shaft when said housing and gear are moved therealong and when said frame and shafts are in any position from fully extended to fully retracted, and a supporting means for suspending a louver therefrom, said supporting means being rotatably mounted within said housing and operatively connected with said driven gear, whereby when said shafts are rotated about their longitudinal axes, said driving gear is rotated therewith and rotates said driven gear and said supporting means, said shafts being axially aligned and one of said pair of shafts being tubular and having an inside diameter sufficient to permit the other of said pair to telescope therein between said extended and retracted positions, the outer shaft of said pair of shafts including engaging means affixed along its outer surface for slidably engaging said driving gears of said trucks and having a slot through the wall of said outer shaft parallel to the axis thereof, the inner shaft of said pair of shafts including engaging means affixed along its outer surface and sized to extend outwardly through said slot through the wall of said outer shaft for slidably engaging said driving gears.