Uni-directional cord take-up device

Abstract

The invention is a dual reel cord take-up device for flat wire cable which as a generally semi-cylindrical upper and lower case half which snap attach together over a dual-purpose shaft to make two compartments. The first compartment is a cord extension and take-up compartment which is divided in two by a slotted disk on the dual-purpose shaft in that compartment. Flat wire cable is wound on the dual-purpose shaft in both compartments, and extends through two apertures in the walls of the compartment. The cable in one aperture is fixed so it does not move in and out of the aperture. The wire cable in the second aperture is free to extend or retract through the aperture. A spring provides the power to retract cable into the take-up device.

We claim:  
     
       1. A dual reel cord take-up device for flat wire cable which comprises: 
       (a)  a generally semi-cylindrical upper case half with two parallel compartments in a direction perpendicular to the  an axis of the cylinder  upper case half, the  a first compartment of said two parallel compartments being adapted to receive the  a first end of a dual-purpose shaft, and the  a second compartment of said two parallel compartments being adapted to receive the  a second end of said dual-purpose shaft and a spring cup, said upper case half having snap-fit means for receiving a lower case half and means for receiving a flat wire cable;  
       (b)  a generally semi-cylindrical lower case half, also with two compartments which correspond to said first and second compartments of the upper case half, said lower case half also having snap-fit means for receiving and cooperating with said upper case half snap-fit means for receiving  and for retaining said upper case half in fixed relationship with said lower case half, said lower case half also having means for receiving a flat wire cable and   
       said first and second upper half compartments configured to connect with said lower half compartments to form a first device compartment and a second device compartment, said second device compartment having holding means for holding said spring cup in said second device compartment against rotation in one direction but not the otherin an opposing direction;  
       (c) asaid dual-purpose shaft supported and held in rotatable relationship by both the upper and lower case halveshalf compartments, the dual-purpose shaft being provided on its first end in the first device compartment of the upper and lower case halves  with a slotted disk which divides the first end of the dual-purpose shaft into two adjacent reels for receiving flat wire cable, in which the  one of said two adjacent reels are  is called a cable extension and take-up reel and another of said two adjacent reels is called a captive cable  reel;  
       (d) the slotted disk further dividing the first compartment into two adjacent compartments, thesaid flat wire cable extendingextends through two apertures within said first device compartment one cable  end of said flat wire cable fixed in an  one aperture, and the other cable  another end of said flat wire cable free to extend and retract through its  a second aperture of said two apertures, the dual-purpose shaft being provided on its second end in the second compartment of the upper and lower case halves with a slot in the dual-purpose shaft for receiving a spring within the spring cup;  
       (e) a generally cylindrical , said spring cup disposed within the  said second device compartment of the upper and lower case halves , the  said spring cup having an outer surface perpendicular to its axis of rotation, ;  
       means cooperating with the holding means of said second device compartment to hold the spring cup against rotation relative to the upper and lower case halves in said one direction but not in the other  an opposing direction, and spring stop means on its  an inner cylindrical  surface of said spring cup for fixing one end of the spring to the spring cup; and  
       (f)  a flat coil spring disposed within the spring cup, the spring being fixed on its outer end to the spring stop means of the spring cup and being fixed on its inner end to the slot of the second end of the dual-purpose shaft, the flat coil spring being sized in relation to the  a length of the flat wire cable so that when the flat coil spring is completely wound on the dual purpose shaft, the flat wire cable from  on the cable extension and take-up reel still has several winds remaining around the dual purpose shaft, and the flat wire cable on the captive cable  reel is pressed against the walls of the upper and lower case halves  half compartments of the first device compartment, and has not begun to reverse wind.  
     
     
       2. The take-up device of  claim 1  wherein the holding means in the second device compartment are  comprise notches , which notches  configured to cooperate and interact with the cooperating means of the spring cup which are , said cooperating means comprising resilient prongs on its  an outer cylindrical surface of said spring cup. 
     
     
       3. The take-up device of  claim 1  wherein the spring cup has detent means on its  said outer surface thereof perpendicular to its  said axis of rotation of said spring cup for winding the flat coil spring. 
     
     
       4. The take-up device of  claim 1  wherein the two apertures in the lower case half  first device compartment are sufficiently large to permit the passage of said flat wire cable, but are not large enough to permit the  passage of folded flat wire cable. 
     
     
       5. The take-up device of  claim 1 , wherein the dual-purpose shaft has a larger diameter in the cable extension and take-out  take-up reel than the  a diameter of the dual-purpose shaft in the captive cable reel.