P/00/012 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Invention Title: "SPACER CLIP FOR A GUTTER" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 1 TITLE "SPACER CLIP FOR A GUTTER" FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a spacing apparatus for gutter 5 channels around buildings. In particular, the invention relates to a spacer clip for spacing a gutter channel from an adjacent fascia so as to provide a flow channel for water flooding when the gutter channel is at capacity. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Gutter channels have traditionally been used to collect and direct 10 water flow off roofs. Gutter channels are arranged around a periphery of a roof and are installed with a selected fall towards an outlet such as a downpipe. Control and direction of the water flow avoids damage to surrounding property, provides the opportunity for collecting and storing water, and maintains a system of orderly flow characteristics around a 15 building, be it a residence or a commercial property. Gutters provide a highly significant visual feature to a building, particularly one in which there is an emotional involvement, such as a residence. Gutters provide an aesthetic element to the outward appearance of the building as well as providing an owner or decorator with the 20 opportunity to define a colour contrast to both the roof and walls of the building. In keeping with this gutter aesthetic, there has evolved a trend to provide gutters with high front walls to avoid any mismatch in the visual appearance between the gutter and the line of the roof.
2 One of the problems that arise from this trend is the fact that the front upper edge of the gutter is higher than the back upper edge of the gutter. There have been some attempts to avoid problems with this by providing longitudinal slots in the front gutter wall to thereby disperse any excess water 5 content from the gutter channel during heavy downpours. However, this has not proved effective in all circumstances. The end result is that in heavy rainfall periods, water accumulates in the gutter channel to a depth that overwhelms the combined back edge of the gutter and the fascia to which it is attached. This damming effect leads to an inflow of water over the top of 10 the fascia and into eaves and even into the building surrounded by the particular gutter arrangement. This may lead to flooding and damage to both ceiling panels and walls in the building. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 15 In a first aspect, although it need not be the only other broadest aspect, the invention resides in a spacer clip for a gutter, the spacer clip comprising: an anterior finger; a posterior finger; 20 a bridge connecting corresponding ends of the fingers; an intermediate tongue positioned between the fingers; a first slot defined by the anterior finger and the tongue, the first slot adapted to receive a rear wall of the gutter; and a second slot defined by the tongue and posterior finger, the second 3 slot adapted to locate over a fascia; wherein: the tongue is dimensioned to space the rear wall from the fascia. Fingers are preferably resilient in order to clamp either one or both the 5 rear wall or fascia against the tongue. The posterior finger is preferably shaped to conform to a profile of a corresponding fascia. The anterior finger preferably has one or more teeth adapted to enhance grip on the rear wall. The one or more teeth may also function to 10 allow adjustment of height of a top edge of the rear wall. The tongue preferably has one or more teeth on either or both forward and rearward surfaces, the teeth adapted to enhance grip on either the rear wall or fascia. The one or more teeth may be adapted to allow adjustment of the height of a top edge of the rear wall when located on the forward surface. 15 The tongue preferably extends downwardly from the bridge. The tongue may include one or more apertures. The tongue may be any suitable preferred dimension that is preferably in the range of 5mm to 20mm. More preferably the range would be 10mm to 15mm wide. The spacer clip may be formed from any suitable material. One 20 preferred material is nylon and preferably an ultraviolet resistant and hard wearing composition. Alternative materials include metal or fiberglass. In a further aspect, the invention resides in a gutter system comprising a gutter channel mounted to a fascia and one or more spacer clips positioned on the fascia and the gutter channel, the spacer clips substantially 4 as described above and located to space a rear wall of the gutter channel from the fascia. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a spacer clip of 5 the present invention; FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the spacer clip of FIG. 1 positioned on a fascia with a gutter; FIG. 3 is a closer view of the arrangement of FIG 1; FIG. 4 is a side view of a second embodiment of a spacer clip of the 10 present invention; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the invention; FIG. 6 is a side view of a fourth embodiment of the invention; FIG. 7 is a sectional view of FIG. 6 taken through the line AA; FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 6; and 15 FIG. 9 shows a view of a further embodiment of a clip. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present applicant has filed an application for protection of a gutter bracket with a capacity to stand off or space the rear wall of a gutter channel from a support fascia. In some situations and in order to maintain an even 20 spacing between the wall and fascia, it may be necessary to use a density of brackets higher than is normal without a subsidiary stand off support arrangement. The present invention provides the ability to locate one or more clips between adjacent brackets to thereby brace the rearward wall and maintain its stability in relation to the fascia.
5 Referring to FIG. 1, there is a seen a spacer clip 10 with an anterior finger 20 and spaced posterior finger 30. A tongue 40 extends downwardly from a bridge 50, the latter connecting corresponding or respective ends 21 and 31 of the fingers. 5 The anterior finger 20 deviates outwardly at its outer end 22 to provide a throat or guide 23 to better receive a rear wall of a gutter channel into slot 51. A series of teeth 24 are arranged along a backward face of the anterior finger 20. The teeth shown allow passage of the wall but tend to 10 engage it and resist its removal once positioned. This is particularly effective if the upper edge of the rear wall has a thickened edge which clicks pass the teeth in a ratchet fashion. The shape of the teeth facilitates passage of the edge to a suitable depth and then locks it in place. The tongue 40 has forward facing teeth 41 arranged to cooperate with 15 the rear facing teeth 24 of the anterior finger 20. When the clip is formed from a resilient material, a wall of a gutter channel may be urged into the slot 51 therefore by distorting the anterior finger 24 and/or tongue 40 to the extent they pressurise contact between the teeth and the wall to better hold the gutter in place. 20 A series of apertures 42 are formed in the tongue to reduce weight, enhance flexibility and decrease the amount of material used. The apertures traverse the tongue laterally. One preferred material is nylon. One example of such a material is AMIPENE M23GP which is a universal general purpose unreinforced nylon 6. It has low viscosity and exhibits easy moulding and fast 6 cycling characteristics. The posterior finger 30 is shaped with a recess 32, shoulder 33, arm 34 and an outward directed tab 35. This shape is selected to match, or at least engage, a corresponding fascia. This may be considered as "conform 5 to" in relation to the fascia. The shape may be varied as required. Again the outer tab 35 is adapted to better guide the posterior finger over its mounting position on a fascia. The arrangement is better shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 where the gutter 60 and fascia 70 are shown in cross section. The spacer bracket 10 is 10 positioned with rear wall 61 of the gutter 60 in position between the anterior finger 20 and tongue 40. The posterior finger 30 is located over the upper edge 71 of the fascia 70 and the arm 34 compresses the fascia against the tongue. This arrangement provides a gap 52 between the fascia 70 and rear wall 61 so that any water that flows over the upper edge 62 of the gutter may 15 be channeled between the fascia 70 and gutter 60 to thereby run down outside the building and discharge safely away from the internal structure of the building. It is preferred that approximately 10 mm of space is provided between the fascia and the rear wall although this is not limiting. Any suitable spacing may be used providing the gutter is mounted in a stable fashion. The 20 downward length of the clip may be approximately 60 mm although again this is variable depending on location and application. The gap provided between adjacent teeth may be around 2-3 mm and the clip itself may be around 40 mm from front to back at its widest. Again it is stressed that these dimensions are not limiting and may be varied as required.
7 The upper edge 62 is lipped to provide a lateral thickening of the edge. This lip "clicks" past the teeth and may be positioned at various depths. If the wall is urged down, the lip locks with the next lower tooth and resists withdrawal. 5 FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a spacer bracket 110 with a tongue 140 which converges slightly towards its outer end 142. The distribution of the anterior finger 120 and posterior finger 130 is more symmetrical around a semi-centralised tongue. FIG. 5 shows a spacer clip 210 which is formed with thicker elements 10 and can be expected to be somewhat stronger. The tongue 240 has a series of recesses 243 formed in it to minimise use of material. In this embodiment the teeth 224 are formed on the anterior finger 220 and on the tongue 240. In some embodiments, the teeth may not be used at all. The tongue itself may be formed with any suitable configuration to 15 provide the desired function. FIGS. 6 to 8 show a further embodiment in which the spacer clip 310 has only one array of teeth 324 on the anterior finger 320. This again saves material and complexity while still allowing adjustment of a gutter channel. The sectional view of FIG. 7 highlights a saving of material with an "H" cross 20 section providing biasing in the tongue 40. Rather than apertures, slots 342 are formed and extend longitudinally. FIG. 9 shows a side view of a further embodiment of a clip 410. The clip 410 has a bridge 450 which has two sections 451,452 which connect at an angle. The front section 452 is angled downwards in an anterior direction.
8 This embodiment shows the bridge may be of any suitable configuration. The present invention provides a useful cheap and effective means of providing a spaced gutter arrangement wherein water is prevented from entering into a building by discharge through the created space. The spacer 5 clip may be used in conjunction with a spacer bracket to better strengthen, stabilise and align a gutter in relation to the building to which it is attached. This provides an even spacing between a fascia and a rear wall of a gutter and also provides additional support of a gutter so it has less tendency to distort when in position. 10 The spacer clip may be produced cheaply in a long wearing and hardy version such that it would be expected to last as long as a gutter channel with which it is used. Throughout the specification the aim has been to describe the preferred embodiments of the invention without limiting the invention to any 15 one embodiment or specific collection of features. It will therefore be appreciated by those of skill in the art that, in light of the instant disclosure, various modifications and changes can be made in the particular embodiments exemplified without departing from the scope of the present invention.