- A traverse rod is designed to allow you to position your drapes using a pulley system. Within the rod is a mechanism of carriers and cording that moves the drapery back and forth along the rod. The drapery traverses along the rod, hence the name. This allows you to open your drapes as little or as much as you like, using a cord that hangs to one side of one of the drapery panels.
- Carriers are small, oblong pieces that fit within the groove of the rod itself. The ends that fit into the rod have round projections that allow the carriers to be pulled along the rod when the cords are pulled. The other ends of the carriers have small holes in them. Drapery hooks are inserted into the holes, attaching the pleated drapery to the rod. They then carry the drapery along the rod when the cord is set into motion.
- At one end of the rod is a pulley housing. The cord is fed through the housing and then into the master carriers, located at the center of the rod. The cord then is pulled through to the opposite end of the rod and the excess becomes the cord pull. It is the master carriers that allow the cording to work within the groove that houses the carriers. How the cording loops through the master carriers and the pulley housing determines if the drapery opens from the center or just to one side.
- When the cord that hangs to one side of the drapery is pulled, the carriers in the groove in the rod are pushed along that groove. The tension of the cord must be appropriate to the weight of the drapery and the length of the rod to maintain a smooth motion.
