AU2005200933B2 - Adjustable rafter bracket - Google Patents

Description

Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT ORIGINAL Name of Applicant: Stratco (Australia) Pty Limited Actual Inventors: Mr Aaron Paul Williss Mr Peter Hocking Address for Service: C/- MADDERNS, 1st Floor, 64 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Invention title: ADJUSTABLE RAFTER BRACKET Details of Associated Provisional Application No: 2004901076 dated 2nd March 2004 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us.

1 ADJUSTABLE RAFTER BRACKET FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to attaching structures such as verandahs, patios, carports or 5 portal framed gables to the side of a house. In a particular form, the present invention relates to a rafter bracket assembly which can be attached to existing house rafters in order to facilitate installation of these structures. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 10 For the purpose of this specification, the word house should be interpreted as including any building of a similar size and or construction as a house, irrespective of whether this building actually serves as a dwelling. Most existing houses have a primary structure which has not been designed for the attachment 15 of other secondary house structures, such as verandahs, patios or portal framed gables to their side. Accordingly, when such a structure is being installed, the roof tiles or roof sheets are lifted to expose the roof frame, and steel rafter brackets and strengthening channels are then bolted along the pre-existing house rafters. These rafter brackets must extend partway along the house rafter, and project out past the house gutters to present a suitable mounting portion 20 to which the secondary house structure can be attached. Typically the mounting portion is a flat attachment surface. These rafter brackets not only present a flat attachment surface, but also serve to strengthen the existing rafters. Where the mounting portion is a flat surface, it is important that this 25 surface to which the secondary house structure is attached to be reasonably vertical, otherwise the secondary house structure will not be level and hence will consequently not be correctly supported by the pre-existing house rafter. Normally, the attachment surface to which the secondary house structure is attached to is 30 located beyond the house gutter, but close enough such that the natural roof line of the secondary house structure is able to drain into the existing house gutter. Clearly, the flat attachment surface or mounting portion of the rafter bracket must be positioned so as to provide a suitable mounting point for the secondary house structure. 35 However, as would be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the size and configuration of house rafters and gutters varies substantially between houses. In this manner, rafters can be angled more or less steeply depending on the house and furthermore house gutters can come 2 in varying widths. However, in spite of this variation, the position and alignment of the rafter bracket still needs to be precise in order to provide a suitable mounting portion or surface for the secondary house structure. 5 To address this issue, manufacturers produce a wide range of rafter brackets which are suited to differing house rafter angles and gutter widths. As part of the installation of the secondary house structure, the rafters and gutters of the house are measured and the most suitable rafter bracket is then selected. This procedure has a number of significant disadvantages. As the rafter bracket is often not made specifically for a given house and its associated rafter 10 configuration, the alignment of the mounting portion or attachment surface is often not accurate. This can place undue stresses on the supporting beams and rafters. Additionally, the mounting portion or attachment surface for attachment to the secondary house structure may be positioned too far from the house gutter thereby resulting in a lack of drainage for the secondary house structure or alternatively the drainage of water into inconvenient places. 15 The current installation method is also reliant on maintaining an inventory of differing types of rafter brackets appropriate to different types of houses. This adds to the cost of individual brackets due to the increased complexity of inventory management. Also, if the manufacturer or retailer does not have the correct rafter bracket in stock then there is no choice but to wait 20 until they are manufactured and as a result leading to delays in construction and installation with associated increased costs. Furthermore, current practices are not suitable for many non standard houses. For these houses, rafter brackets must be custom made, which also proves both costly and time-consuming. 25 It is an object of the present invention to provide a rafter bracket assembly capable of being attached to existing house rafters of varying configurations and providing a suitable mounting point for a secondary house structure. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 30 In a first aspect the present invention accordingly provides a rafter bracket assembly for attaching a secondary house structure to a rafter of a house structure, said assembly comprising: a first rafter bracket member including an elongate portion that extends part way along said rafter for attachment thereto; 35 a second rafter bracket member including an attachment portion for attachment to said structure; and 3 connection means for adjustably connecting said second rafter bracket member to said first rafter bracket member, wherein said connection means allows for the angle of the elongate portion of the first rafter bracket member relative to said second rafter bracket member to be adjusted to substantially match a pitch of the rafter. 5 As the position of the second rafter bracket member may be adjusted with respect to the first rafter bracket member this allows the attachment portion to be suitably oriented and located to form a mounting point for the structure that is to be attached to the rafter. As such, only a single rafter bracket assembly may be employed for a number of different rafter 10 configurations thereby addressing the need to have customised rafter bracket assemblies for different rafter angles and the like. Preferably, said connection means provides for angular adjustment of said second rafter bracket member with respect to said first rafter bracket member. 15 This allows the person attaching the structure to quickly and easily adapt the bracket assembly for the most likely type of variation between different types of rafters this being their angle of inclination. 20 Preferably, said connection means provides for horizontal adjustment of said second rafter bracket member with respect to said first rafter bracket member. As space often has to be left for gutters which are located on the edge of a roof, this allows for the attachment portion to be positioned at the correct distance from the edge of the roof to 25 take this into account. Preferably, said connection means consists of one or more apertures in the first and second rafter bracket members, with bolt and nut assemblies arranged to pass through these apertures thereby connecting the second rafter bracket member to the first rafter bracket member. 30 35 4 This provides a convenient and effective way to allow the rafter bracket members to be repositioned with respect to each other. 5 Preferably, the configuration of the apertures includes two horizontal slots located on the first rafter bracket member, one round hole located on the second rafter bracket member, and a substantially vertically positioned arcuate slot on the second rafter bracket member, and wherein the second rafter bracket member can be adjusted by altering the position of one or more bolts within their respective slots. 10 Preferably, said bracket assembly further includes a rafter strengthening member, said rafter strengthening member secured to said rafter by said first rafter bracket member. 15 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be discussed with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: FIGURE 1 is a front perspective view of a rafter bracket assembly as assembled 20 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIGURE 2 is a front perspective view of the rafter bracket assembly illustrated in Figure 1 in an unassembled state; FIGURE 3 is a top view of the rafter bracket assembly illustrated in Figure 1; FIGURE 4 is a side view of the rafter bracket assembly illustrated in Figure 1 25 depicting the attachment of a multispan gable to the side of a house; FIGURE 5 is a side view of the rafter bracket assembly illustrated in Figure 1 adjusted for a rafter angled 15 degrees above horizontal; FIGURE 6 is a side view of the rafter bracket assembly illustrated in Figure 1 adjusted for a rafter angled 30 degrees above horizontal; 30 FIGURE 7 is a side view of the rafter bracket assembly illustrated in Figure 1 adjusted for a gutter that is 150 mm wide; FIGURE 8 is a side view of the rafter bracket assembly illustrated in Figure 1 adjusted for a gutter that is 200 mm wide; 5 FIGURE 9 is a side view of the rafter bracket assembly illustrated in Figure 9 adjusted for a gutter that is 150 mm wide; FIGURE 10 is a side view of the rafter bracket assembly illustrated in Figure 9 adjusted for a gutter that is 200 mm wide; 5 FIGURE 11 is a side view of the rafter bracket assembly illustrated in Figure 9 adjusted for a rafter angled 30 degrees above horizontal; FIGURE 12 is a side view of a second embodiment of the rafter bracket adjusted for a rafter angled 15 degrees above horizontal; FIGURE 13 is a sectional end view of the rafter bracket assembly attached to a house 10 rafter as illustrated in Figure 4; and FIGURE 14 is a side view of a rafter bracket assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention in an unassembled state. In the following description, like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings. 15 DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Figure 1 shows a rafter bracket assembly 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Rafter bracket assembly 10 includes a rafter bracket arm 11 and a rafter bracket T-piece 12. Clearly shown in this figure are six round holes 13 20 along rafter bracket arm 11 for attachment of bracket arm 11 to a rafter. Bracket T piece 12 includes a substantially flat mounting or attachment portion 18 to which a structure may be attached to. Whilst in this embodiment bracket assembly 10 is manufactured from steel, clearly it could be manufactured from any other suitably rigid material. 25 Figure 2 shows rafter bracket assembly 10 as illustrated in Figure 1 in an unassembled state. Horizontal slots 14, 15 can be seen on the rafter bracket arm 11. On the rafter bracket T-piece 12 is shown a round hole 16 and a substantially vertical arcuate slot 17. On assembly, M12 cup head bolts 20 are inserted through horizontal 30 slots 14, 15 and associated hole 17 and arcuate slot 17 with M12 nuts 21 being used to join and secure rafter bracket arm 11 and T-piece 12 together. Standard M12 washers 22 are shown in Figure 2, to be located between nuts 21 and rafter bracket T piece 12. In an alternative embodiment, spring washers may be located between M12 6 washers 22 and M12 nuts 21 to prevent nuts 21 from loosening. Figure 3 provides a top view of the assembled rafter bracket assembly 10 illustrated in Figures 2. Figure 4 illustrates diagrammatically the manner in which rafter bracket assembly 10 5 is used to adapt the side of a house 27 for the attachment of a secondary house structure 35, in this instance a multispan gable. Rafter bracket arm 11 is bolted to house rafter 28 with six M12 bolts, passing through round holes 13 in rafter bracket arm 11 as depicted in Figure 1. Also shown in Figure 4 is steel strengthening channel 24 fixed between the rafter bracket arm 11 and house rafter 28. Steel strengthening 10 channel 24 is also shown in Figure 9, which illustrates a pair of steel channels 24 fixed to opposed sides of house rafter 28. Clearly, other means of fixing rafter bracket arm 11 to house rafter 28 are envisaged to be within the scope of the invention. As best seen in Figure 4, rafter bracket assembly 10 extends past the lower end of the 15 house rafter 28, beneath the house gutter 29. Secondary house structure 35 is then attached to attachment surface 18 located at the outward facing end of rafter bracket T-piece 12. The rafters 36 of multispan gable 35 are then connected to the existing house rafters 28 through an attachment beam 40 which is further connected to other rafter bracket assemblies 10 located at the end of rafters which are spaced apart along 20 the side of the house. However, before the secondary house structure 35 can be attached, the rafter bracket T-piece 12 needs to be positioned to provide a suitably oriented and located mounting point just beyond the end of the house gutter 29. In this preferred 25 embodiment, mounting portion 18 is positioned to present a substantially flat vertical surface. This adjustment is achieved by changing both the angular and horizontal position of rafter bracket T-piece 12 with respect to bracket arm 11 by manipulating rafter bracket T-piece 12 to the desired orientation and location within horizontal slots 14, 15 and associated arcuate slot 17 and then fixing bracket assembly 10 in this 30 position by tightening bolts 20 and nuts 21. Whilst in this embodiment the position of the rafter bracket member is re-adjustable by loosening the associated bolt assemblies it would be clear to those skilled in the art that bracket assemblies which were welded or otherwise permanently fixed in place after correct positioning would also fall within the scope of the invention.

7 Mounting portion 18 for each bracket assembly 10 located along the side of a house must be aligned before attachment of the secondary house structure 35. Each rafter bracket T-piece 12 is adjusted to extend just past house gutter 29 and to further present a substantially flat vertical surface for attachment to the secondary house structure 35. As would be apparent to 5 those skilled in the art, attachment portion 18 need not be necessarily flat or vertical but may be of a suitable shape and configuration to provide a suitable mounting point. Rafter bracket assembly 10 according to this preferred embodiment is suitable for house gutters 29 ranging in width from 150 mm to 200 mm and for house rafters 28 ranging in angle 10 from 15 degrees to 30 degrees. Figures 5, 6, 7 and 8 show rafter bracket assembly 10 adjusted to suit the extremes of the ranges set out above. Figure 5 shows a rafter bracket assembled to suit a rafter angle (ie pitch angle) of 15 degrees, whilst the configuration shown in Figure 6 will suit a rafter angle (ie 15 pitch angle) of 30 degrees. As described previously, T-piece 12 can be angularly adjusted by altering the position of bolt 20 within substantially vertical arcuate slot 17. The configuration in Figure 7 will ideally suit a gutter 150 mm in width, whilst in Figure 8 the rafter bracket assembly is configured to suit a gutter 200 mm in width. Again as described 20 previously, T-piece 12 can be horizontally adjusted by altering the position of bolts 20 within horizontal slots 14, 15. Figures 9, 10, 11 and 12 all show a second rafter bracket assembly I Ga according to a second embodiment of the present invention adjusted to suit the extremes of ranges as depicted in 25 Figures 5 to 8. Rafter bracket assembly IOa includes modified T-piece 12a which incorporates additional arcuate slot I 7a and round hole I 6a for added flexibility in adjusting the positioning of the rafter bracket members with respect to each other. In other embodiments, arcuate slot 17 could be located closer to mounting portion 18 of rafter 30 bracket T-piece 12 than round hole 16. In such an arrangement, arcuate slot 1 7 would still curve such that all points were substantially equidistant from round hole 16. Another possible embodiment would include two substantially vertical slots 8 on bracket T-piece 12. In such an embodiment, the angle of rafter bracket T-piece 12 could be easily changed by placing bolts through different positions in the vertical slots. Another modification still in accordance with the present invention would be to place substantially vertical slots on the rafter bracket arm 11 and substantially 5 horizontal slots on the rafter bracket T-piece 12. Another alternative embodiment of the present invention is shown in Figure 10, which shows a rafter bracket assembly 100 where the bracket T-piece includes a plurality of holes 110 and the rafter bracket arm includes a plurality of horizontal 10 slots 120. Repositioning rafter bracket assembly 100 involves aligning each bracket member to the desired orientation and location and then bolting them together. Whilst the connection means described here for connecting the first and second rafter bracket members have essentially involved variation of bolt and slot arrangements, 15 the connection means need not be direct and accordingly may include one or more additional components between the first and second rafter bracket members. It will be understood that the term "comprise" and any of its derivatives (eg. comprises, comprising) as used in this specification is to be taken to be inclusive of 20 features to which it refers, and is not meant to exclude the presence of any additional features unless otherwise stated or implied. Although a number of embodiments of the present invention have been described in the foregoing detailed description, it will be understood that the invention is not 25 limited to the embodiment disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the scope of the invention. Modifications and variations such as would be apparent to a skilled addressee are deemed within the scope of the present invention as set forth and defined by the following claims.

Claims (9)

1. A rafter bracket assembly for attaching a secondary house structure to a rafter of a house structure, said assembly comprising: 5 a first rafter bracket member including an elongate portion that extends part way along said rafter for attachment thereto; a second rafter bracket member including an attachment portion for attachment to said structure; and connection means for adjustably connecting said second rafter bracket member to said 0 first rafter bracket member, wherein said connection means allows for the angle of the elongate portion of the first rafter bracket member relative to said second rafter bracket member to be adjusted to substantially match a pitch of the rafter, and said connection means further provides for horizontal adjustment of said second rafter bracket member with respect to said first rafter bracket member. 5

2. The rafter bracket according to claim 1, wherein said connection means further provides for angular repositioning of said second rafter bracket member with respect to said first rafter bracket member. 0 3. The rafter bracket assembly according to either of the preceding claims, wherein said connection means further provides for horizontal repositioning of said second rafter bracket member with respect to said first rafter bracket member.

4. The rafter bracket assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said 25 connection means consists of one or more apertures in the first and second rafter bracket members, with bolt and nut assemblies arranged to pass through these apertures thereby connecting the second rafter bracket member to the first rafter bracket member.

5. The rafter bracket assembly according to claim 4, wherein at least one of the apertures is a 30 slot.

6. The rafter bracket assembly according to claim 5, wherein the second rafter bracket member can be adjusted by altering the position of one or more bolts within their respective one or more slots. 35 7. The rafter bracket assembly according to either of claims 5 or 6, wherein at least one of the apertures is a substantially horizontal slot. 10

8. The rafter bracket assembly according to claim 7, wherein the second rafter bracket member can be horizontally adjusted by altering the position of one or more bolts within their respective one or more slots. 5 9. The rafter bracket assembly according to either of claims 7 or 8, wherein at least one of the apertures is a substantially vertical slot.

10. The rafter bracket assembly according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the substantially vertical slots is arcuate in shape. 0 I I. The rafter bracket assembly according to either of claims 9 or 10, wherein the second rafter bracket member can be angularly adjusted by altering the position of one or more bolts within their respective one or more slots. 5 12. The rafter bracket assembly according to claim 4, wherein the configuration of the apertures includes two or more horizontal slots located on the first rafter bracket member, one or more round holes located on the second rafter bracket member, and one or more vertically positioned arcuate slots on the second rafter bracket member, and wherein the second rafter bracket member can be adjusted by altering the position of one or more bolts within their respective slots. 0

13. The rafter bracket assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further including a rafter strengthening member, said rafter strengthening member secured to said rafter by said first rafter bracket member. 25 14. A rafter bracket assembly for attaching a secondary house structure to a rafter of a house structure, said assembly comprising: a first rafter bracket member; a second rafter bracket member including an attachment portion for attachment to said structure; and 30 connection means for adjustably connecting said second rafter bracket member to said first rafter bracket member, wherein said connection means allows for both: adjustment of the angle of the first rafter bracket member relative to said second rafter bracket member; and horizontal adjustment of said second rafter bracket member with respect to said first 5 rafter bracket member. 11

15. A rafter bracket assembly substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to the accompanying drawings.