AU2007100833A4 - A Rainwater Header for Preventing he Passage of Debris Such as Leaves - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

PA TENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT A RAINWATER HEADER FOR PREVENTING THE PASSAGE OF DEBRIS SUCH AS LEAVES The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to me: A RAINWATER HEADER FOR PREVENTING THE PASSAGE OF DEBRIS SUCH AS LEAVES FIELD OF THE INVENTION C The present invention relates to an apparatus for preventing the passage of leaves o00 and other debris in water collected from roof guttering.

r- BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION 0 Due to growing demand for water in cities, insufficient catchment areas and changing rain patterns, there has recently been a move towards encouraging households to install rainwater collection tanks.

The plumbing associated with the installation of a rainwater collection tank for a house typically includes piping from the house's guttering to the tank.

Since leaves and other debris are prone to fall into gutters a problem that arises in the use of a rainwater collection tank is that of leaves entering the piping and consequently the tank. Once in the tank the debris degrade the quality of the collected rainwater.

A number of approaches have been taken to overcoming this problem. For example, in Australian patent No. 629139 a downpipe rain head is described for separating debris from rainwater that includes a body having an upwardly facing inlet for receiving water from a downpipe. The inlet is covered with a sloping coarse mesh to prevent the ingress of large leaves. Water and fine debris pass through the coarse mesh and then encounter a secondary screen of smaller mesh spaced closely below the coarse mesh. A third horizontally arranged mesh, having an even finer mesh size is located below the secondary screen and over the rain head's outlet. This is so that a head of water forms over the third mesh during use in order to exclude the ingress of mosquitos.

A problem that arises with the use of the rainwater header is that the third mesh

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becomes covered with fine debris and after a period of time clogs. Once clogging

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t has occurred the rain head will overflow and water that should have been collected is lost.

The reader is advised that the above discussion of Australian patent No. 629139 Sshould not to be taken as any evidence or admission that it forms part of the common oo general knowledge amongst workers in the field of rainwater headers.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a rainwater header for preventing O the passage of debris, which is an improvement over those hitherto known in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a rainwater header including: a body having an upper inlet for receiving water from guttering and a lower outlet for egress of the water; an arcuate screen located between the inlet and the outlet for filtering fine debris; whereby, in use said fine debris slides down steeper portions of the arcuate screen thereby leaving said portions unobstructed for the continued passage of the rainwater.

In the preferred embodiment, said arcuate screen is downwardly convex Preferably the rainwater header further includes a coarse filtering means, such as a mesh, arranged about the inlet for preventing the ingress of leaves into the body.

In a preferred embodiment the arcuate screen is formed to hold its convex shape away from the body. Alternatively, the arcuate screen may be flexible and may be forced to hold the arcuate shape by positioning features such as protrusions, grooves, ribs or the like formed into the interior of the body.

Preferably the lower edge of the arcuate screen is located towards a front side of the rainwater header and the upper edge of the arcuate screen is located towards the rear of the rainwater header. Preferably the arcuate screen is steeper towards the rear and flatter towards the front.

In the preferred embodiment the arcuate screen includes a mesh having an

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aperture opening of 0.9mm.

b According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a

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rainwater dropper including an upper rectangular mouth surrounded by a lip for fastening to a dropper and a lower circular outlet; wherein a pair of opposing walls of the inlet slope downwardly and inwardly from the mouth to the circular outlet said r opposing walls being inwardly convex.

OO According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a rainwater O header system including the previously described rainwater header and water Sdropper.

SFurther preferred features of the present invention will be described in the following detailed description which will refer to a number of figures as follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a perspective view of the front and right hand side of a rainwater header according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a front plan view of the rainwater header of Figure 1 with coarse mesh 22 of Figure 1 removed.

Figure 3 is a cutaway plan view of the left side of the rainwater header.

Figure 4 is a top plan view of a water dropper according to a preferred embodiment of an aspect of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a plan view of a side of the water dropper of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a plan view of an end of the water dropper of Figure 4.

Figure 7 depicts the water dropper of Figures 4 to 6 and the rainwater header of Figures 1 to 3 in use.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Referring now to Figures 1 to 3, there is depicted a rainwater header 2 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. The rainwater header includes a body 4 having four vertical sides and an underside. The open topside forms an upper inlet 6 into which water from a downpipe or gutter dropper flows in use, as will be explained in more detail shortly. A lower outlet 8 extends from the underside of the body. The outlet is sized to fit snugly into a standard 90mm downpipe or a 100mm x rectangular downpipe. The outlet is for connection to a pipe for transferring water to a t- rainwater collection tank, for example. The rear side 16 of the body extends upwards

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0 in a plate 10 which can be screwed or otherwise connected to a mounting surface

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b such as a fascia of a roof. The upper edges of the right 12 and left 14 sides of the body slope downward from the rear side 16 so that the top edge of the front side 18 of the body is considerably lower than the rear edge A coarse mesh 22 is fitted over the top of the inlet to prevent the entry of rr leaves and other large sized debris into the body of the rainwater header. Mesh 22 is 00 formed with 5mm-6mm square holes.

OWithin the body of the header there is located a curved screen 24 having a Sframe which supports a stainless steel mesh having 0.9mm orifices. The curved screen is arcuate in profile and convex downwards as best seen in Figure 3. The screen is arranged so that it is convex downwards, i.e. steepest, (closest to vertical), towards the rear of the header and flattest, (closest to horizontal), towards the front of the header. There are a number of ways of forming the curved screen. For example, the frame of the screen may be rigidly formed with the desired curve and then placed within the body on support protrusions (not shown). The support protrusions are preferably formed integrally with the body of the rainwater header. Alternatively, the screen may be flexible and the support protrusions located to hold the screen in the desired curved state. Rather than making use of support protrusions, suitable grooves may be formed into the sides of the body to receive the edges of the frame if desired. The front of the frame is seated approximately 50mm below the upper edge of the front side of the body.

Referring now to Figures 4 to 6, there is depicted a water dropper 26 for use with the previously described header for collecting water from a gutter. The water dropper includes a large rectangular mouth surrounded with a lip 27 for riveting or otherwise fastening to the underside of a gutter. The opposing short sides of the rectangular mouth are formed by inwardly convex walls 30 which curve downwards to an outlet 28. The enlarged mouth is designed to allow leaves and other such matter to enter the dropper from the guttering. It is then fed and directed to flow down the dropper and out through outlet 28 by means of the inwardly convex walls 30. The wide mouth and convex walls reduces the likelihood of leaves and such matter accumulating and blocking the dropper and the gutter. The outlet 28 is preferably sized to fit snugly into a standard 90mm downpipe or a 100mm x 75mm rectangular downpipe.

r- Figure 7 depicts the dropper 26 and header 2 in use. Dropper 26 has been 0 O riveted to the underside of a gutter 32 into which rectangular hole, corresponding to the mouth of the dropper, has been cut. A pipe 36 is coupled to outlet 28 of the dropper. Water, indicated by arrows 43 flows out of the dropper, through pipe 36 and into the header as indicated by arrows 38. Large-sized debris such as leaf 41, that may have proceeded through pipe 36, is blocked by coarse mesh 22 and diverted t' away as shown. Fine debris 36, which is not filtered by the coarse mesh enters the oo body of the rainwater header and is blocked from proceeding to the outlet by fine 0 screen 24. The fine debris rolls down the screen to accumulate just inside the front r- wall 18 of the header as shown. Consequently, the steeper portions of the fine screen remain unobstructed and water is free to pass through and out of the header as indicated by arrows 40. A further pipe 42 is coupled to outlet 40 in order to transfer the collected water to a rainwater pipe, for example.

In the preferred embodiment described herein the body of the rainwater header has been fundamentally rectangular in shape. However, other embodiments having cylindrical or other-shaped bodies are possible. Furthermore, various dimensions of the mesh, screen and outlets have been stated however it will be understood that these are merely preferable and not essential to the invention.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention the curved screen may be located so that it is convex upwards, i.e. steepest, (closest to vertical), towards the front of the header and flattest, (closest to horizontal), towards the rear of the header The embodiments of the invention described herein are provided for purposes of explaining the principles thereof, and are not to be considered as limiting or restricting the invention since many modifications may be made by the exercise of skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the following claims.

Claims (4)

1. A rainwater header including: ;a body having an upper inlet for receiving water from guttering and a lower outlet for egress of the water; an arcuate screen located between the inlet and the outlet for filtering fine t' debris; 00 whereby, in use said fine debris slides down steeper portions of the arcuate 0 screen thereby leaving said portions unobstructed for the continued passage of the rainwater.

2. A rainwater header according to claim 1, including a coarse filtering means, such as a mesh, arranged about the inlet for preventing the ingress of leaves into the body.

3. A rainwater header according to claim 1 or claim 2 including positioning features formed into the interior of the body to retain the arcuate screen.

4. A rainwater header system including: a rainwater header according to claim 1 or claim 2 arranged to receive water from a rainwater dropper, said dropper including an upper rectangular mouth surrounded by a lip for fastening to a gutter and a lower circular outlet; wherein a pair of opposing walls of the inlet slope downwardly and inwardly from the mouth to the circular outlet said opposing walls being inwardly convex. A rainwater header substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1 to 3 and 7. Dated this 31 st Day of August 2007 HEATH RAINBOW and DEBBIE RAINBOW By our attorneys Eagar Buck Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys