Patent Application
20140196400
This invention relates generally to brackets for hanging gutters from building roof structures to collect rainwater therefrom and, more particularly, to a gutter hanger with strength-reinforcing structure that receives a guided fastener to retain the gutter hanger from the building roof structure.
Gutters and downspouts are mounted on most residential and commercial structures along the lower edge of the roof of the structure to receive water draining off of the roof, such as during a rainstorm. Gutters come in many different styles, including K gutter, half round gutter, or commercial box gutter, but all are generally formed with an open top through which water is received into a trough or channel that delivers the water by gravity to a downspout for discharge away from the building structure. Gutters are often mounted on a plurality of gutter hangers that are spaced along the length of the gutter and fastened to fascia boards by nails or screws such that the gutter is suspended from the gutter hangers. The downspout is connected to an outlet of the gutter to provide a conduit to drain the collected rainwater from the gutter for discharge along the surface of the ground and direct the rainwater away from the building structure.
The design of gutter hangers has evolved over the recent past to provide hidden gutter hangers, which is attached to a fascia board by one or more fasteners, such as screws or nails, which may be placed through a fastener receiver built into the structure of the gutter hanger by a portable drill or automatic gun to secure the gutter hanger to the building roof structure. Utilization of the hidden gutter hanger reduces the amount of labor required to hang the gutter; however, the hidden gutter hanger hangs the front edge of the gutter in a cantilevered manner and, thus, requires structural strength to resist sagging of the gutter over a period of time. Over-screwing the fasteners into the fascia is a common problem with known hidden gutter hanger brackets, resulting in a distortion of the hanger bracket and possible damage to the fascia.
A variety of hidden gutter hanger devices have been developed over the years, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,826, issued on Apr. 3, 2001, to John M. Pratt, Jr., in which the gutter hanger has a pair of upright tabs formed with open notches to guide the fastener passing through a folded end structure to engage the fascia. U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,622, granted to A. B. Walters on Sep. 24, 2002, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,628, granted to Arnold B. Walters on Oct. 29, 2002, disclose a shaped hidden gutter hanger configuration in which the body portion curves downwardly toward the front end to accommodate the mounting of a formed gutter cover member. This cast gutter hanger includes a channel for guiding the passage of the screw fastener to engage the fascia of the building roof structure.
A hanger bracket having a main body with a secondary bracket that slides into locking engagement with the main bracket, in which the secondary bracket has a tubular guide member for receiving the fastener to align the fastener with an opening in the folded end clip to attach the hanger to the fascia of the roof building structure, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,729, issued to Heikki Ylonen on Apr. 8, 2003. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,631,587, granted to Kenneth Lynch on Oct. 14, 2003, discloses a supplemental gutter support bracket for use in conjunction with a conventional gutter hanger, wherein the supplemental bracket has a barrel and a tab. The barrel receives the fastener, while the tab engages a hole or slot in the conventional gutter hanger to support the barrel in a position to receive the fastener to pass through a hole in the end of the gutter hanger for connecting the hanger to the building fascia.
A hidden gutter hanger with a guided fastener structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,155, issued to Raymond Zimmerman on Apr. 27, 2004, in which the guided fastener structure is formed by a pair of formed ribs defining a channel for the passage of the guided fastener to engage the building fascia. U.S. Pat. No. 7,494,095, granted to Simon Walker on Feb. 24, 2009, and also U.S. Design Pat. No. D541,636, issued on May 1, 2007, to Simon Walker, disclose a cast gutter hanger having a formed fascia end structure including an upright member that has a hole formed therein, with a cross piece and depending attachment clip having a second hole formed therein, to guide the fastener through the formed end structure into the building fascia.
It would be desirable to provide a hidden gutter hanger having a guided fastener structure that can be formed by bending sheet metal, instead of casting, with sufficient mounting structure to resist gravity induced sagging of the mounted gutter.
It is an object of this invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a formed hidden gutter hanger with folded end structure that defines a guiding structure for the placement of the fastener to engage the fascia in the roof building structure.
It is another object of this invention to provide a hidden gutter hanger having a structural configuration that resists gutter sagging over the passage of time.
It is a feature of this invention that the end structure of the hidden gutter hanger adjacent the fascia is formed with multiple vertical folded portions.
It is another feature of this invention that the multiple vertical folded portions have aligned holes formed therein to define a guiding structure for the passage of a fastener into the building fascia.
It is an advantage of this invention that the folded end structure of the hidden gutter hanger defines a longitudinally harrow configuration for the guided fastener structure.
It is another advantage of this Invention that the folded end structure of the hidden gutter hanger allows a larger length of the fastener to be placed into the building fascia.
It is still another advantage of this invention that the folded end structure of the hidden gutter hanger allows the utilization of a shorter fastener than is known in the prior art to establish a satisfactory length of fastener into the building fascia.
It is yet another advantage of this invention that the folded end structure of the hidden gutter hanger allows a larger percentage of the fastener connecting the gutter hanger to the building fascia to be engaged within the fascia.
It is still another feature of this invention that the body portion of the hidden gutter hanger is formed with a central raised rib structure that increases the strength of the body portion in resisting gravity-induced sagging of the mounted gutter.
It is a further advantage of this invention that the overall body mass of the hidden gutter hanger is reduced to provide a more cost effective gutter hanger design configuration with decreased material commodity requirements.
It is still a further advantage of this invention that the compact folded configuration of the installation end of the gutter hanger prevents the fastener from distorting the structure of the gutter hanger.
It is a further feature of this invention that the upper and lower horizontally extending fold portions of the installation end butt against the fascia to prevent the fastener from being inserted too far into the fascia, resulting in distortion of the gutter hanger and damage to the fascia.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a hidden gutter hanger having a guided fastener structure for use in mounting rain gutters to a building roof structure, which is durable in construction, inexpensive of manufacture, carefree of maintenance, facile in assemblage, and simple and effective in use.
These and other objects, features and advantages are accomplished according to the instant invention by providing a hidden gutter hanger for mounting a rain gutter to the roof structure of a building in which the end of the gutter hanger adjacent the building fascia is formed with multiple vertically folded portions that establish a strong end mounting structure for fastening the gutter hanger to the fascia. The folded end portions are formed with aligned holes that create a guided fastener structure having minimal longitudinal depth that allows a greater percentage of the guided fastener to be inserted into the building fascia. The distal end of the gutter hanger is formed with a mounting tab that engages the forward lip of the rain gutter such that the gutter hanger is positioned internally of the rain gutter. The body portion of the gutter hanger extending between the distal end and the end adjacent the fascia is formed with a central longitudinal rib to strengthen the hanger against vertical sagging.
The advantages of this invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed disclosure of the invention, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
Referring now to the drawings, a hidden gutter hanger incorporating the principles of the instant invention can best be seen. The gutter hanger 10 generally includes an elongated body portion 12, a distal mounting end 14 and a proximal attachment end 20. The body portion 12 is configured to span across the open upper portion of a rain gutter (not shown) between curved front lip and the rearward side thereof. The longitudinally extending body portion 12 has a raised central reinforcing rib 13 formed therein to enhance the strength of the body portion 12 and resist a downward deflection of the distal mounting end 12 relative to the proximal attachment end, resulting in a downward sagging of the rain gutter over time. The body portion 12 is integrally formed with the distal and proximal ends 13, 20 and is preferably formed through sequential bending of sheet metal to create the structural configuration described in greater detail below.
The distal mounting end 14 includes a reverse curved mounting tab 15 that is engagable with the front mounting lip (not shown) of a conventional K-style rain gutter. The mounting tab 15, as will be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art, will slip under the front mounting lip of the rain gutter so that the front portion of the rain gutter is supported on the mounting tab 15. In this configuration, the mounting tab 15 is internally positioned with respect to the rain gutter and is not readily visible from below the rain gutter when mounted to the building roof structure, as is described in greater detail below.
The integral proximal attachment end 20 of the gutter hanger 10 is formed by bending the sheet metal blank from which the gutter hanger 10 is formed into a folded configuration having multiple vertically folded portions. From the body portion 12, the proximal attachment end 20 includes a first folded portion 21 bent upwardly through an acute angle into a vertical orientation. To position the mounting tab 15 at a location that is in horizontal opposition to the top of the first folded portion 21, the angle of repose between the first folded portion 21 and the body portion 12 is less than ninety degrees. Because of the cantilevered nature of the mounting of the front lip of the standard K-style rain gutter from the mounting tab 15 at the distal end 14 of the gutter hanger, the bend between the body portion 12 and the first folded portion 21 is preferably formed with raised reinforcement ridges 27 on opposing sides of the central reinforcing rib 13. For the same reasons, the central reinforcing rib 13 extends onto the first folded portion 21 to form a central raised reinforcing ridge between the side ridges 27. Also, for enhanced strength of the distal mounting end 14, the central reinforcing rib 13 extends partially into the reverse curved mounting tab 15 to create a raised central reinforcing ridge at the bend between the body portion 12 and the distal mounting end 14.
From the upper end of the first folded portion 21, the second folded portion 22 is bent at approximately ninety degrees to form the upper longitudinally extending second folded portion. The third folded portion 23 is reverse folded back toward the first folded portion 21 through a bend angle of approximately 45 degrees to form a downwardly and forwardly extending third folded diagonal portion 23 that bends into the fourth folded portion 24 prior to reaching the first folded portion 21. The fourth folded portion 24 then reverse bends again from the third folded diagonal portion 23 to form the lower longitudinally extending fourth folded portion 24. The elevationally viewed shape of the second, third and fourth folded portions, as seen in the elevational view of
From the fourth folded portion 24, the proximal attachment end 20 then bends through approximately ninety degrees to create another vertically oriented fifth folded portion 25 spaced rearwardly from the first folded portion 21, separated therefrom by the Z-shaped second, third and fourth folded portions 22, 23, 24. Lastly, the sixth folded portion 26 is bent from the uppermost end of the fifth folded portion 25 through approximately one hundred eighty degrees to create the third vertically oriented sixth folded portion 26, which terminates in general alignment with the fourth folded portion 24.
The above-described folded configuration of the proximal attachment end 20 of the gutter hanger 10 establishes a strong base from which the front end of the rain gutter can be supported in a cantilevered manner on the distal mounting end 14. The reinforcing side ridges 27 and the central reinforcing ridge formed by the central reinforcing rib 13 at the bend between the body portion 12 and the first folded portion 21, resist downward deflection of the body portion 12 and the integral distal mounting end 14 relative to the proximal attachment end 20. The compact folded configuration of the proximal attachment end 20, particularly the horizontal orientation of the second fold portion 22 and the fourth fold portion 24, prevents the fastener from distorting the shape of the proximal attachment end 20 and allowing the fastener 30 to be inserted too far into the fascia. Specifically, the horizontally disposed second and fourth fold portions 22, 24, butt against the fascia and stop any progression of the fastener 30 into the fascia.
To secure the proximal attachment end 20 to the fascia of the adjacent building roof structure (not shown), the proximal attachment end 20 is secured by a fastener 30, shown in phantom in
By properly locating the respective holes 31-34 before bending the sheet metal blank into the above-described vertically folded configuration, the holes 31-34 become aligned from the first folded portion 21 to the sixth folded portion 26 in a downwardly inclined configuration. Thus, as is depicted in
Because of the compact formation of the vertically folded proximal attachment end 20, the longitudinal depth from the first folded portion 21 to the sixth folded portion 26 is less than has heretofore been utilized in the known prior art formed sheet metal gutter hangers. As a result, the fastener 30 can be effectively secured into the fascia because the compact formation of the proximal attachment end 20 allows a greater percentage of the fastener 30 to be engaged with the fascia. Accordingly, an installer can optionally utilize a shorter and less expensive fastener 30, to install the gutter hanger 10, than is known in the art, and still provide the same effective length of fastener engagement into the fascia, thereby reducing costs of installation.
It will be understood that changes in the details, materials, steps and arrangements of parts which have been described and illustrated to explain the nature of the invention will occur to and may be made by those skilled in the art upon a reading of this disclosure within the principles and scope of the invention.
