US3053393A - Drain shield for gutters - Google Patents

Description

Filed Nov. 6, 1958 l l D 3,053,393 DRAIN SHIELD FOR GUTTERS Louis A. McLean, 174 Woodland, Winnetka, lll. Filed Nov. 6, 1958, Ser. No. 772,350 Claims. (Cl. 210-474) This invention is concerned with a drain shield for rain gutters or eaves troughs such as is commonly employed for excluding leaves or other debris from the gutter while permitting rain water to freely enter the gutter and, more particularly, is concerned with providing a drain shield of novel, one-piece construction that is adaptable for mounting on a variety of gutters of different shapes and constructions.

The principal object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a gutter drain shield of a uniform, one-piece construction having a versatile arrangement of integral fastening fingers that are conveniently adaptable for secureF ment on a variety of gutters.

A further object of this invention is to provide a gutter drain shield of the above type that lends itself to economical fabrication and to convenient handling, storing, and display.

Another object of this invention is to provide a gutter drain shield requiring no separate fasteners such as special mounting clips or attachment hinges.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

FIG. l is a plan view of a typical length of the gutter drain shield of this invention after fabrication thereof;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective View illustrating the drain shield installed on a gutter of the type having an outwardly rolled lip constituting its outer rim;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken approximately on the line 3---3` of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view corresponding to that of FIG. 3 and illustrating the present drain shield mounted on a gutter of the type having an inwardly bent-over lip constituting its outer rim.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG. l, the gutter drain shield is shown in the form in which it is originally fabricated, and it preferably remains in this form until it is actually ready for installation and fastening on the gutter which it is to cover. In its fabricated form, the drain shield consists of a suitably punched, elongated strip of semi-rigid metallic material such as copper, aluminum or other suitable materials known to those skilled in this art.

'Ihe strip consists of a lengthwise extending perforate central drain section 11 flanked by lengthwise extending inner and outer marginal edges 12 and 13, respectively, that are preferably imperforate and integrally connected to the drain section. The shield has a plurality of transversely, inwardly extending attachment fingers 14 integrally hinged to the shield along the outer marginal edge thereof at regularly spaced points therealong, with these fingers being manually manipula-ble for folding them either upwardly or downwardly from the plane of the shield and into engagement with the outer rim of the gutter on which the shield is applied. The outer marginal edge section 13 may also be formed at regularly spaced points therealong with integrally hinged, transversely, outwardly extending abutment lingers 15 that are manually manipulable for bending them downwardly from the plane of the shield to provide depending positioning stops for abutting engagement with the inside edge of the outer rim of the gutter.

In the disclosed form, the shield may be formed with 3,53,393 Patented Sept. 11, 1962 attachment fingers 16 integrally hinged to the shield adjacent its inner marginal edge and extending transversely outwardly, with these fingers being manually manipulable to facilitate their engagement around the structure on which the inner edge of the shield is supported. In addition, this inner edge of the shield may be provided with integrally hinged, manually manipulable abutment lingers An important feature of this invention resides in the economy of manufacture of the present drain shield construction. The one-piece shield is adapted to be formed from a continuous strip that may be wound on a suitable spool for storage prior to fabrication, with the strip being fabricated by continuously feeding it through a rolling die of the desired die configuration to repeatedly punch out a desired perforation pattern defining consecutive sections of the strip. In the repeating perforation pattern that is apparent in the disclosed arrangement of FIG. 1, each section of the strip has one attachment finger and one abutment finger along each of its marginal edges.

Another important feature of the invention resides in the fact that the strip-like drain shield may be wound on a storage spool following its fabrication for convenience in handling, shipping, and stocking of the item. Appropriate lengths may then be cut from the storage spool in accordance with the require-ments of each particular application. This eliminates waste. The versatility of the mounting finger arrangement permits a single drain shield construction to serve the needs of a variety of gutter configurations and thus greatly reduces inventory problems. The relatively thin sheet metal strip from which the gutter is formed may be conveniently cut out F along its outer edge if this becomes necessary in fitting the shield to gutters that are supported by metal straps running from the roof to the outer edge of the gutter.

To illustrate the versatility and utility of the integral, deformable mounting finger concept, the drain shield is shown mounted on two different gutter arrangements in FIGS. 2 4.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, the 4drain shield is shown applied to a gutter construction 20 of the type that has an outwardly rolled-over lip 2.1 constituting its outer support rim and an angular-ly, inwardly extending fiange 22 forming an inner rim for attachment to the roof R. The gutter is shown with its flange 22 sandwiched between the overhanging edge of a roofing plank 23 and the roof shingles 24. In applying the drain shield to this gutter arrangement, it is positioned over the gutter with the outer abutment fingers 15 deflected downward-ly and forming positioning stops that abut againstthe outer rim of the gutter to hold the shield from sliding olf the gutter. 'Ilhe outer attachment finger 14 is bent upwardly and reversely for folding around the outer edge of the shield to extend underneath 'and grip the `outer rim 21 of the gutter. It will be apparent that the fingers 1'5 may be omitted as their function can be fulfilled by bending alternate ones of the attachment fingers 14 downwardly. The inner attachment finger 16 is folded downwardly and reversely to engage underneath the overhanging edge of the shingles 24. If desired, the inner margin of the shield may be pierced to accommodate rooting nails 25 for firmly securing the inner edge of the shield to the edge of the roof.

The drain shield is shown applied to another gutter 4construction 30 in FIG. 4 wherein the outer rim of the 'gutter has an inwardly bent-over flange 31 for supporting the shield, with the inner edge 32 being secured to lie alongside the vertical face of the wall W and underlying the overhanging edge of the roof R. With this arrangement, the outer attachment finger 14 is bent downwardly and reversely to engage under the flange 31 of the gutter and the inner attachment finger 16 is bent downwardly and reversely to grip against the roofing plank 33. It will be noted that in the FIG. 4 arrangement the inner marginal edge of the drain shield is Asandwiched between the roof plank 33 and the roofing shingles 34, though obviously, it could overlie Ithe shingles, as is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. As is suggested in the FIG. 4 arrangement, the abutment finger need not be used in applications where the attachment finger 14 is bent downwardly to form an internal stop. With a gutter arrangement such as is shown in FIG. 4, it -is also convenient to position the gutter drain shield so that its outer edge underlies the lip 31 with the yfingers 14 being bent upw-ardly and around the outer rim of the gutter.

There are numerous other gutter mounting arrangements differing `somewhat in the configuration of the outer rim of the gutter and the mounting arrangement for the inner rim of the gutter. For example, the inner rim mounting arrangement shown in the gutter construction of FIG. 4 might be employed with a gutter having an outer rim of the type shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and vice versa. The present drain shield construction is directly applicable to such arrangements, as should be apparent. While it is undoubtedly possible that a somewhat different specific arrangement of mounting fingers may offer advantages in other types of gutter constructions, the present arrangement is preferred because of its general versatility. However, the invention contemplates that other integral finger arrangements may be necessary in particular installations.

It should be noted that the central drain section is shown for purposes of disclosure as comprising a suitable number of punched-out holes; however, other forms of drain sections utilizing embossed domes or other special drain hole configurations may obviously be employed in the one-piece drain shield of Ithis invention.

Thus, the objects of the invention have been accomplished in that a gutter drain shield of sturdy, one-piece construction is provided with a versatile arrangement of integral fastening fingers to permit an economical, massproduction, continuous fabrication operation to be employed. The final product is conveniently stored and finds `use on a variety of different gutter constructions for simplifying the inventory and supply problem. The drain shield is also self-contained and requires no separate mounting clips or attachment hinges.

It should be understood that the description of the preferred form of the invention is for the purpose of complying with section 112, title 35, of the U.S. Code and that the claims should be construed as broadly as prior art will permit.

I claim:

1. A substantially planar, one-piece gutter shield adapted to be formed from a continuous length of deformable, semi-rigid, metallic strip material, said shield having a lengthwise extending perforate central drain section and lengthwise extending marginal edge sections flanking and integrally supporting the drain section, said shield having transversely, inwardly extending deformable attachment fingers in the plane of the shield and integrally connected to the shield adjacent the outer marginal edge thereof for manual manipulation from the plane of the shield.

2. The drain shield of claim 1 wherein said shield includes a plurality of transversely, outwardly extending deformable attachment fingers in the plane of the shield and integrally connected to the shield adjacent the inner marginal edge thereof for manual manipulation from the plane of the shield.

3. The drain shield of claim 1 wherein said shield includes a transversely, outwardly extending deformable abutment finger integrally hinged to the shield adjacent the outer marginal edge thereof for manual manipulation from the plane of the shield.

4. A substantially planar one-piece gutter shield formed from a continuous length of deformable semi-rigid metallic strip material, said shield having a lengthwise extending perforate central drain section and lengthwise extending marginal edge sections flanking and integrally supporting the drain section, said shield having deformable attachment fingers extending transversely between said marginal edge sections and in the plane thereof, each finger being integrally connected to the shield adjacent a marginal edge thereof, and being manually manipulable from the plane of the shield to locatingly engage and rctain the shield on a rain gutter.

5. A substantially planar, one-piece gutter drain shield adapted to be formed from a continuous length of deformable, semi-rigid, metallic strip material, said shield having integrally connected lengthwise successive main sections having identical perforation patterns, each main section having a lengthwise extending perforate central drain section and imperforate lengthwise extending marginal edge sections flanking and integrally supporting the drain section, each main section of said shield having a deformable mounting finger coplanar therewith and extending transversely therein between said marginal edge sections, said finger having one end integrally connected to its main section adjacent its outer marginal edge section and having its remainder free for manual manipulation from the plane of said main section and having a second deformable mounting finger coplanafi therewith and extending transversely therein between its outer and inner marginal edges, said second finger having one end integrally connected to said section adjacent its inner marginal edge and having its remainder free for manual manipulation from the plane of said section.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,674,210 Loucks June 19, 1928 2,271,081 Layton Ian. 27, 1942 2,336,713 Bunker Dec. 14, 1943 2,816,623 Wong Dec. 17, 1957

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