Patent Application
20130326846
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clip for a gutter guard and, more particularly, to a clip for removably securing the front lip or portion of a gutter guard to the front depending lip of a gutter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gutters are open-top channels that collect and direct water away from a building and its foundation. The opening to the gutter channel must remain unobstructed in order for the gutter to function properly. It is common for debris, such as leaves, cones, seeds, pine needles and the like, to collect and block water flow. Obstruction of the gutter channel causes the gutter to overflow and become ineffective. Many people clean their gutters regularly as part of a preventive maintenance program, while others resort to such devices as covers and guards in an attempt to shield the gutter from the accumulation of debris in the channel.
Many of the gutter guards use a single wire layer to cover the open top of the gutter. Other guards combine a wire layer with a mesh layer to keep debris out. The guard helps prevent large debris, such as cones or seeds, from settling in the gutters. However, smaller particles often slip past such layers. The structure of the guards is generally flat so that the layers lay flat above the opening. Sometimes the integrity of the guard cannot be maintained against heavy debris or debris that has collected and settled on the guard over time.
A new and improved gutter guard that is a subject of a pending patent application comprises elongated panels of any suitable length, which may be mounted end to end on a gutter and may be formed of any suitable material such as aluminum. Each panel is of a perforated, undulating or sinusoidal wave construction comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending, laterally spaced, elongated raised areas for retarding water flow across the panel with recessed channels therebetween. The perforations in the nature of first holes in the panel are closely spaced in longitudinally aligned relation and also in offset lateral relation, and are disposed in the longitudinally extending recessed channels and in the portions of the longitudinally extending raised areas facing the rear of the panel that is intended to be mounted on a portion of a gutter that is attached or to be attached to the adjacent portion of a building or the like near the roof thereof.
In accordance with existing practice and the prior art, the front lip of the gutter guard is attached to the adjacent depending front lip of the gutter by screws or rivets which is time consuming and involves the penetration of both the gutter guard and the gutter. The clip of the present invention serves to removably secure the front lip of the gutter guard to the depending front lip of the gutter without the requiring the use of any connector members such as screws or rivets, or the penetration of the guard and/or the gutter.
The new and improved clip of the present invention is formed of a suitable flexible and resilient material, such as aluminum, steel or plastic, and is of a generally C-shaped unitary configuration that is open at an outer end portion thereof.
The clip comprises a lower panel with a folded or enlarged portion at an outer end thereof. A front panel extends upwardly and outwardly from an inner end of the lower panel and merges with an intermediate panel that extends downwardly and outwardly over the lower panel beyond the folded or enlarged portion thereof in vertically spaced relation thereto. The intermediate panel is folded inwardly at its outer end and merges with an upper panel extending inwardly over the intermediate panel in vertically spaced relation thereto. The upper panel has a depending tab at the inner end thereof that is positioned above the front panel.
In the use of the clip to removably connect the outer lip or portion of a gutter guard to the adjacent outer depending lip of a gutter, the clip is first positioned over the lip of the gutter such that the gutter lip is disposed between the separated lower and intermediate panels and is engaged by the inner end of the folded or enlarged portion of the lower panel to removably retain the clip on the gutter. Thereafter, the upwardly and outwardly extending lip of the gutter guard is inserted between the intermediate and upper panels to separate them until the depending tab of the upper panel engages the lip of the gutter guard to removably retain it in a position between the upper and intermediate panels and to removably connect the gutter guard to the gutter.
As shown in
The clip 10 comprises a lower panel 12 with an upwardly and inwardly extending folded or enlarged portion 14 at the outer end thereof. A front panel 16 extends upwardly and outwardly from the inner end of the lower panel 12 and merges with an intermediate panel 18 that extends downwardly and outwardly beyond the folded or enlarged portion 14 in vertically spaced relation thereto. The intermediate panel 18 is folded inwardly at its outer end and merges with an upper panel 20 extending inwardly over the intermediate panel 18 in vertically spaced relation thereto. The upper panel 20 has a depending tab 22 at the inner end thereof that is positioned above the inclined front panel 16.
Referring to
Thereafter, as shown in
Referring to
From the foregoing description, it will be readily seen that the new and improved clip 10 of the present invention provides a simple and inexpensive device for removably connecting the outer end portion of a gutter guard to the adjacent outer end portion of a gutter in a quick, reliable and simple operation.
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
