AU2007100763B4 - Gutter guard - Google Patents

Description

ABSTRACT IS PAGE NUMBERED AT 1 AND DESCRIPTION STARTS AT PAGE NUMBER 2 "z Field of Invention This invention relates to gutter guards, as a means for preventing the entry of leaves, C debris and vermin into the open gutter, which may cause blockages to the gutter system.

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Background of the Invention S Most buildings incorporate a gutter system in their design to assist in the diversion of rainwater from the roof surface. Essentially this prevents flooding and undermining of the foundations and also provides a means for channeling rainwater to a catchment facility.

As rainwater is becoming an increasingly valuable resource the harvesting and re-use of rainwater from the roofs of buildings is desirable both for its environmental and economical benefits.

!0 Australia's well publicized bushfire threat in populated regions is another area of major concern. Airborne embers from bushfires may ignite 'dry-leaf build up' in guttering, thereby creating a significant fire hazard.

In the past the use of many forms of woven and extruded plastic mesh inserted into the gutter has been a popular choice due to its low cost and ease of installation, however these plastic products have proven inadequate in most instances especially where a fire resistant product is required to meet council regulations. Also, due to the way some mesh is rolled concave convex to fit into the gutter it tends to act as a barrier accumulating leaf and debris. The unnecessarily large hole sizes used in many of these meshes also tend to entrap the leaf stem and twigs creating both an unacceptable appearance and potential fire hazard.

In recent times several perforated, expanded and woven metal products have appeared on the market, however many of these have retained inadequacies of the plastic mesh (i.e.

unnecessarily large hole sizes). As previously stated leaves and twigs are easily entrapped in large mesh openings, encouraging the build-up of leaf mulch. If left unattended this leaf mulch may promote premature breakdown of the metal mesh and guttering and reduce the overall effectiveness of the system.

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Whilst metal mesh may prove significantly more fire resistant than plastic it is however subject to atmospheric degradation, especially in coastal locations. Protective coatings such as painting and powder coating are generally employed to combat this problem, but due to some manufacturing processes many of these metal meshes are perforated and expanded after being coated and some woven mesh is coated after weaving, thereby I rendering some areas of the mesh unprotected. This inability to treat the total surface area of the mesh may lead to rust and corrosion problems, once again reducing mesh performance and life expectancy, and possibly creating an adverse reaction with the roof surface.

The size of the openings and shape of the mesh dramatically effect the way the system performs. Flattened smooth metal mesh whether perforated or expanded provides minimal resistance as water flows across it, therefore relatively large openings are required to break this water flow and direct water through the mesh. Also as wet leaves !0 dry they have a tendency to stick to flat surfaces creating a 'snag' for other debris.

Mesh has been cut, shaped, and fixed in many forms to correspond to the roof surface it attaches to, however most prior art examples have not worked very affectively. Some systems use double sided tape to adhere the mesh to the gutter and roof surface; however this method does not generally perform long term.

Other systems that fit inside the gutter generally fail as they tend to sit higher than the gutter tile bottom edge and create a barrier, conversely the mesh fits too low in the gutter sometimes sloping in the wrong direction (back towards the fascia) also the leading edge of the mesh is sometimes fitted into the roll of the gutter lip thereby creating a barrier, again accumulating debris.

This present invention seeks to alleviate at least one of the problems associated with prior art and provide a substantial contribution to the working of such prior art.

L-L LOOZ aeIB 6t9: (lu:H) aw!l :eileJlsnv dl Aq pa!9aoaI 09691.-SO8V :ON al SJOO0 0 0 S-4- 0 SSummary Of The Invention In one aspect the invention discloses a roll of flexible expanded raised metal mesh, said Cn I mesh being lormed by a plurality of hexagonally shaped apertures and elongated 0 protruding joints which are located between said apertures, are orientated along a direction across the width of said roll and are shaped to form a recessed surface for the 0 O mesh; said mesh when unrolled being adapted for use as a guard to exclude debris from a rain gutter of the type mounted to a building roof by titting at least one sheet thereof between the roof and an outer edge of said gutter with said elongated joints being orientated in a direction extending across a width of said sheet between the roof and said outer edge of the gutter whereby rainwater flow emanating from said roof is broken up by said recessed surface and directed into said apertures.

The aforementioned recessed surface arrangement breaks the surface tension as the rainwater flows across it reducing the likelihood of sheeting. This allows the mesh with openings of relatively small dimension to perform effectively in diverting the flow of rainwater into said openings. Sheeting is a phenomenon which occurs as liquid (water) passes at a particular flow mte over a substantially flat surifce comprising apertures which are of a dimension (size &/or shape) that tfil to direct the flow of water into said apertures.

This recessed surface combined with the relatively small hexagon shaped apertures thereby substantially reduces the likelihood of fine debris entering through the mesh into the gutter as compared to flattened mesh with relatively larger apertures. Another 6GS298SG 0 dOMAUi St:ET L00S-T2-TT a -4asignificant advantage of the recessed surface as opposed to a flattened/smooth surface is z its enhanced leaf shredding capabilities. The leaf is suspended on the protruding joints V" making contact with only the high points of the recessed surface. This greatly assists natural wind action to flow more effectively under the leaf and increases the probability of the leaf being blown off the mesh to the ground. This high point suspension of the leaf also alleviates another problem whereby wet leaves as they dry tend to stick to flat/smooth surfaces due to their contact with the larger surface area. These leaves may Ci create snags which promote the accumulation of further debris on the mesh.

The aforementioned mesh is designed to easily correspond with roof materials currently used to provide a neat, close fitting junction between said mesh and the roof.

Metal Roof Using corresponding profile saddles the mesh is fixed (screwed /.riveted) through the 4 mesh to the high point of the corrugated roof profile securing and forming the mesh to the A roof. The outer gutter edge of the mesh is fitted to the top edge of the gutter lip roll using screws or rivets or 90 degree angle cover trims.

Tiled Roof To fit tie present invention to a tiled roof the mesh is firstly fixed to the gutter edge in the same manner as with a metal roof.

To fit the roof side the mesh is installed across the gutter opening extending across the first row of tiles then tucked under the second row of tiles which are pressed down firmly to form the mesh to the profile of the roof tile.

'0 Brief Description of the drawings The present invention will become more fully understood on viewing the following detailed description of a preferred but non-limiting embodiment thereof, described in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein, Fig.l Depicts a side cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the present invention installed across a gutter wherein an engagement portion is fitted to a corrugated profile 'metal roof, Fig.2 Depicts a side cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the present invention installed across a gutter wherein an engagement portion is fitted to a 'tiled roof.

Fig.3 Depicts an enlarged top-view perspective of a section of the present invention detailing the 'hexagonal' shaped openings Aand the large elongated protruding joints B Fig. 4 Depicts and end view perspective of a section of the present invention detailing the elongated protruding joints B and recessed surface C.

Claims (4)

1. A roll of flexible expanded raised metal mesh, said mesh being N0 formed by a plurality of hexagonally shaped apartures and elongated 0 protruding joints which are located between said apertures, are o orientated along a direction across the width of said roll and arc 0 shaped to form a recessed surface for the mesh, said mesh when unrolled being adapted for use as a guard to exclude debris from a rain gutter of the type mounted to a building roof by fitting at least one sheet thereof between the roof and an outer edge of said gutter with said elongated joints being orientated in a direction extending across a width of said sheet between the roof and said outer edge of the gutter whereby rainwater flow emanating from said roof is broken up by said recessed surface and directed into said apertures. -N

2. The roll of flexible expanded raised metal mesh as claimed in claim 1 wherein said mesh is not flattened subsequent to expansion thereby retaining a uniformly recessed surface on one side and a surface including said elongated protruding joints and said hexagonal shaped apertures on the other side. 23SUd 6ES2829BS680 dAUi k0:60 2002-6T-TT -I 6 L-ZOO (P-IA) 08Q 6L:OL ouWiL :e!leJsnv dl V Aq pAiaoao ZZ069L-SOaV :ON 01SIIOO 0 o -7- cx 0

3. The roll of flexible expanded raised metal mesh as claimed in claim 2 wherein the mesh is formed from aluminium. 2

4. The roll of flexible expanded raised metal mesh as claimed in claim 3 wherein the roof is a metal roof and said at least one sheet thereof is 0 (Ni adapted for attachment to an outer edge of the gutter using metal angle with rivets or screws and is further adapted to be formed to closely fit to said metal roof using correspondingly profiled metal saddles/clamps which are fixed to said metal roof using rivets or screws. The roll of flexible expanded raised metal mesh as claimed in claim 3 wherein the roof is a tiled roof and said at least one sheet thereof is adapted for attachment to an outer edge of said gutter using metal angle with rivets or screws and is further adapted to extend across a first row of roof tiles and fit under the ends of a second row of roof tiles which are subsequently pressed down to form said at least one sheet thereof to suit a tile profile. Dated this 31st day of October, 2007 All-Flow Technology P/L By Our Patent Attorney MICHAEL ANDERSON-TAYLOR £3EUd 6£S282S630 dOlAUi S0:60 t00S-6T-TT I