Patent Application
20060037254
The present invention relates to an eavestrough or rain gutter, and more particularly, relates to an improvement in such structures.
Various types of gutters or eavestroughs are well known in the art as is the use of a cover member or gutter guard which is designed to protect the gutter or eavestrough from the entry of extraneous foreign matter such as leaves and the like.
There have been many attempts in the prior art to design a gutter which prevents the entry of the aforesaid foreign matter. One approach which has been commercialized is by installing an outer edge on the roof which curls downwardly and inwardly such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,404.
This arrangement causes the water flow to follow the curved edge to enter the eavestrough which is situated below the soffit. Leaves and other extraneous matter are supposed to fall exteriorly of the eavestrough. However, when a large volume of water flows, the surface tension is generally insufficient to direct all the water to flow into the eavestrough.
A popular approach taken by the prior art has been the use of a gutter guard which constitutes a physical barrier across the top of the eavestrough with apertures within the gutter guard to permit the passage of rainwater while simultaneously preventing the passage of extraneous material. While such gutter guards have been used for many years, they are not widely accepted as they have been disadvantages in the structural integrity of some of the gutter guards and their operability.
The configuration of eavestroughs generally comes in two different types. A first type is commercially known as a K type of eavestrough and constitutes a flat bottom wall, a substantially vertical rear wall and an arcuately configured front wall. A second type of eavestrough is known as the “half round” and utilizes an arcuate or semispherical bottom wall.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for an improved gutter guard suitable for use with half round eavestrough.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided, in an eavestrough of a half round configuration having a bottom wall, a front wall and a rear wall, a nose at a top of the front wall and wherein there is a gutter guard assembly, the improvement wherein the gutter guard assembly comprises at least one retaining member mounted on the rear wall of the eavestrough, a perforated gutter guard extending across the trough, a first side of the gutter guard being supported by the retaining member, and a second side of the gutter guard being attached to a nose of the eavestrough.
In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an eavestrough assembly comprising an eavestrough having a rounded bottom wall, a front wall, and a rear wall, the front wall, the rear wall and the rounded bottom wall defining a trough therebetween, at least a first retaining member, the retaining member having a base portion seated within the trough and being supported by the eavestrough, a retainer first side wall extending upwardly adjacent the eavestrough rear wall, a retainer second side wall extending upwardly adjacent the eavestrough front wall, a gutter guard extending across the trough above the retaining member, the gutter guard having a first side thereof supported by the retainer first side wall and a second side thereof being supported by the retainer second side wall.
According to both embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a retainer or a retaining member which is arranged to support a gutter guard. The first embodiment of the invention, wherein a relatively small retaining member is employed, it is specifically designed for new installations. The second embodiment is designed for arrangements wherein the gutter has already been installed.
In the first embodiment wherein the retaining member does not extend across the eavestrough, one may use either a continuously extending retaining member or a number of such members each having a relatively small width. In the embodiment wherein the retaining member extends across the eavestrough, a plurality of such retaining members are utilized.
The various components of the eavestrough assembly may be formed of any suitable material with a formed aluminum material being common.
Having thus generally described the invention, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating an embodiment thereof, in which:
a is a cross sectional view of the gutter guard portion of the eavestrough assembly of
b is a cross sectional view of a retainer member used in the eavestrough assembly of
c is a cross sectional view of the eavestrough;
a is a cross sectional view of the gutter guard member of the eavestrough assembly of
b is a cross sectional view of the retainer clip member of the eavestrough assembly of
c is a cross sectional view of the eavestrough.
Referring to the drawings in a greater detail and by reference characters thereto, there is illustrated in
Eavestrough assembly 10 includes a gutter or eavestrough 12 which is of the half round design and includes a rounded bottom wall 14, a rear wall 16, and a front wall 18. Eavestrough 12, at the upper portion of front wall 18, terminates in a spherical nose 20. On rear wall 16, there is provided an outwardly extending indentation or ridge 22.
A retaining member or retainer 24 is secured to rear wall 16. Retainer 24 is shown in
Eavestrough assembly 10 also includes a gutter guard generally designated by reference numeral 40 and which is illustrated in greater detail in
At the inner side 54 of generally planar portion 42, there is likewise provided an upwardly extending wall segment 56 which merges with a U-shaped portion 58 which in turn terminates in an upwardly extending wall segment 60.
As shown in
A further embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in
Eavestrough assembly 110 includes an eavestrough 112 of the half round type having an arcuate bottom wall 114, a rear wall 116, and a front wall 118. Front wall 118 terminates in a spherical nose 120.
A retainer or retaining member 170 has a central planar section 172 with ribs 174 provided for reinforcement. Retainer 170 has an outer wall 176 which terminates in a flange 178. An inner wall 181 is comprised of a lower section 180 and an upper section 182 and which terminates with an upwardly extending flange 184 which defines a recess or pocket 190.
Gutter guard 140, on its outer edge, has a structure similar to that of the first embodiment and hence will not be described in detail herein. However, at inner side 154 there is provided an upwardly extending wall 156 and a shorter U-shaped section 158. A separate sealing element 186 is secured within U-shaped section 158 by means of screws 188.
On the outer side 146, screws 160 are utilized to secure flange 150 of gutter guard 140 and flange 178 of retainer 124 to nose 120.
It will be understood that the above described embodiment is for purposes of illustration only and that changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from spirit and scope of the invention
