A roller shade clutch with internal gearing

摘要

A bi-directional clutch (10) is provided for supporting a window dressing on a structure. The clutch (10) includes a protective guard (12) adapted to be secured to the structure. The protective guard (12) is provided with a disk (14) with a lip (16) and a drum (20) disposed coaxially on the disk. A drive (40) is also provided that has a boss (44) and a hub (42). The hub (42) is facing the lip (16) to define a chamber, and the boss (44) is disposed telescopically over the drum (20). A tubular housing (60) is provided that is disposed telescopically over the boss (44) and, is adapted to engage the window dressing. A gear box (30, 48) is disposed in the chamber, and is coupled to an elongated operating member (90). The gear box is adapted to transfer a rotation to the tubular housing (60) when the elongated operating member (90) is manipulated by the user.