Window blind units constructed of wooden slats effectively provide both aesthetic qualities and light-control utility for home or commercial installations. Such window blind unit construction includes a plurality of wooden slats vertically aligned with each other, with mechanisms for raising and lowering the blind units and arranging the angle of the slats.
In addition to having a plurality of slats, a window blind unit commonly has a bottom rail parallel with the last slat and into which spaced pull cords enter and are anchored. The bottom rail generally is thicker, and therefore heavier, than the slats to thereby provide weight and direction to the slats in maintaining the blind unit in place. The top of a window blind unit typically houses respective mechanisms for raising and lowering the slats and bottom rail and for adjusting the angle of the slats. Housing construction usually is a metal enclosure which, many times, is covered with a valance that blends with the style, color, etc. of the slats and bottom rail. If the blind unit is mounted within a window casing, the valance generally is of one piece construction and is the width of the slats and bottom rail. If the blind unit is mounted to extend laterally outside of the window casing, then the valance is provided with three panels (two lateral, one front) whose adjoining corners can be mitred to produce a meeting, non-overlapping joint. In that construction the two lateral panels protrude outwardly from the wall around the window casing while the front panel extends between the lateral panels as recognized in valance design.
As is apparent from the above description, the production of bottom rails and valances can be quite labor intensive. Such intensiveness is due in part at least to the fact that both the bottom rail and the valance must be prepared with adequate precision so that pull cords have properly placed openings in the bottom rail and that valance panels are properly angled at their meeting sites and correctly sized so that they can be effectively applied at the top of window blind units. Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a machine for efficiently forming a bottom rail and a valance for a window blind unit.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a machine wherein the bottom rail is cut to size and in which a bored portion and an accompanying drilled portion is provided for entry and anchoring of pull cords.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a machine wherein valance components are cut to size and angled at appropriate lateral edges for generally precise meeting at perpendicular edges.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent throughout the description thereof which now follows.