The interiors of enclosures of various kinds will commonly require ventilation, and when they are intended for human use it is often important that privacy screening against visual intrusion be afforded as well. Leaving doors and windows open to permit air flow may compromise privacy, however, as may the provision of natural light-admitting skylights.
While it is of course old and well known to mount louver boards in windows and other openings for the purpose of enabling air flow and light admittance (while also serving to shed rainwater), considerable effort and skill is required for making such installations, particularly if they are to be functionally optimal and aesthetically pleasing. As far as is known, no wall structure for ventilating an enclosure, while also affording privacy against visual intrusion, has heretofore been provided, such structure being facile and economical to construct, aesthetically attractive, and highly effective for its intended purposes.
Accordingly, objects of the present invention are to provide an enclosure that includes wall structure that enables ventilation of the interior while affording privacy against visual intrusion, and also to provide such a wall structure.
More specific objects are to provide an enclosure and a wall structure having the foregoing features and advantages, wherein the wall structure is facile and economical to build and manufacture, is aesthetically attractive, and is highly effective for its intended purposes.
It has now been found that certain of the foregoing and related objects of the invention are attained by the provision of an enclosure comprised of a multiplicity of walls, at least one of the walls being constructed for visual screening and ventilation of the interior of the enclosure. The “one” wall is generally planar, and is comprised of a first multiplicity of slats; a plurality of substantially rectilinear support beams spaced laterally from one another; a second multiplicity of identical slat-mounting brackets; and means for fastening the slats to the brackets and the brackets to the beams. Each of the slat-mounting brackets is comprised of a generally planar panel portion of parallelogrammic configuration, and has first and second edges that form supplementary acute and obtuse angles, respectively, with a common third edge to which the first and second edges are adjacent. Each bracket also has at least one flange element that extends perpendicular to the panel portion along each of the first, second, and third edges thereof. First and second pluralities of the brackets are fastened by the means for fastening, coacting with the at least one flange element along the third edges of the brackets, to first and second ones of the support beams, respectively, with the panel portions of the first plurality of brackets lying substantially in a first common plane with the first support beam and with the panel portions of the second plurality of brackets lying substantially in a second common plane with the second support beam, each of the brackets on the first beam being aligned laterally with a bracket on the second beam to provide a multiplicity of pairs of brackets spaced laterally from one another. Each of the bracket pairs is fastened by the fastening means, coacting with the at least one flange elements along the first and second edges of the brackets, to two transversely adjacent, parallel slats disposed against the at least one flange elements along the first and second edges of the brackets. As a result, the slats are affixed in mutually parallel assembly extending transversely to the rectilinear axes of the support beams and with an interior angle between the slats and the support beams having the value of the acute angle, and overlapping one another as viewed in a direction normal to the plane of the wall. Normally, the support beams will be substantially coplanar, and parallel to one another.
In preferred embodiments, each bracket will be integrally formed, as a single piece, and the at least one flange elements, along both the first and second edges of the bracket, will extend in the same direction from the panel portion thereof, as will the at least one flange element that is provided along the third edge of the bracket; a second flange element along the third edge of the bracket will desirably extend from the panel portion in the opposite direction as well. A brace piece will advantageously be affixed to each of the support beams and fastened interiorly to an endmost one of the multiplicity of slats comprising the one wall, on a face thereof opposite to the face against which the mounting brackets bear. The slats will typically be about three to six inches in width, but can be wider or narrower as appropriate to suit a given application or structural requirement. The slats and the beams will typically be made of wood, but plastics, composite materials, and the like can be utilized as well. The brackets will typically be of stamped metal construction; the acute angle at which the “first” edge of each bracket is formed will normally have a value of about 30° to 60°.
Additional objects of the invention are attained by the provision of a screening and ventilating wall unit, constructed as hereinabove and hereinafter described.
Turning now in detail to the appended drawings,
As can best be seen with additional reference to
As best seen with additional reference to
A multiplicity of brackets 26 (three are depicted in
The slat 24′, at what might be considered the forward end of the unit, is attached on its back face only and to just a single pair of laterally aligned brackets 26 at its opposite ends; the slat 24″ at the opposite end of the unit is similarly attached on its front face only. Added support for the array of slats is provided by attaching a pair of right-angle braces 42 to the beams 22 and to the back face at the opposite ends of the other endmost slat 24″, the tops of the braces 42 being bent to accommodate the angular slat orientation.
As will be appreciated, the roof unit 16 will provide privacy to the interior of the enclosure when viewed from above, while affording good ventilation and permitting light to enter the enclosure. It will also be appreciated that one or more of the sidewalls 12 and the door 14 of the enclosure (as well as, or instead of, the roof) may be constructed using similar units or assemblies, and employing a privacy wall structure as a vertical (e.g., sidewall or door) component will often provide more practical benefit than employing it as a top wall. In any event, the slats will be dimensioned and oriented to provide substantial privacy when viewed in a direction normal to the plane of the wall (i.e., in the direction depicted by the open arrow in
As noted above, the slats, supporting beams, and headers will usually be made of wood, albeit other materials of construction, such as plastics and composites, may be employed if so desired. The slats will usually be about three to six inches in width (more or less, as mentioned above) and, needless to say, they may be of any desired length; additional members may be necessary however to provide intermediate support if the slats exceed a certain length. The brackets will conveniently be of stamped-metal construction, but here again fabrication may vary, as desired (e.g., the brackets may be molded plastic pieces); angle α will typically have a value of about 30° degrees to 60° (the supplemental angle β therefore having a typical value of 150° to 120°).
As will be appreciated, the facility, convenience, and economy of assembly and manufacture of the walls and wall units described herein is attributable largely to the structure of the brackets, which are not only readily attached to the slats and supporting beams, to automatically position the slats at a desired angular orientation, but are moreover all identical to one another (within manufacturing tolerances and other insignificant variations). Economy and convenience are also afforded by enabling the mass-production of the privacy walls as units and in modular form, for on-site incorporation into enclosure structures.
Thus, it can be seen that the present invention provides an enclosure comprised of wall structure that enables ventilation of the interior while affording privacy against visual intrusion; the invention also provides such a privacy wall, per se. The wall structure is facile and economical to build and manufacture, it is aesthetically attractive, and it highly effective for it intended purposes.
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