AU683721B2

AU683721B2 - Internal gutter bracket

Info

Publication number: AU683721B2
Application number: AU16296/95A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Peter Bruce Ariel; Neil Raymond Murray
Original assignee: ROOFING CENTRE Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Roofing Centre Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1994-04-06
Filing date: 1995-04-05
Publication date: 1997-11-20
Anticipated expiration: 2015-04-05
Also published as: AU1629695A

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

n o.

D

eo o r COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: INTERNAL GUTTER BRACKET The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us.

B e leC 11 sq ~srp~e~ss This invention is concerned with improvements in brackets for supporting rain water gutters and in particular to brackets for supporting rain water gutters on a fascia trim.

There have been many attempts over the years to provide improvements in rain water gutter support brackets, particularly to reduce installation time and to permit adjustment of drainage inclination prior to final fixing.

Typical of such brackets are Australian Registered Designs 94858 and 95877 which comprise a U shaped bracket with a rear wall for fixation to a fascia, a floor member to support a gutter and a front wall terminating in an upper tab. The rear wall also S 15 was provided with a pair of upright tabs, one for bending over the top of a fascia to secure the bracket thereto, the other rib being bent inwardly over the 9.e a rear wall of the guter. The front portion of the gutter was secured by bending the front bracket tab over the reinforcing rib at the upper front portion of the gutter.

While effective from a mechanical point of view, these brackets are unsightly and with more than twenty colours to choose from in Colorbond (Trade Mark) prepainted steel used in manufacture of rainwater gutters and fascias, this means that manufacturers must maintain a very large stock of brackets of all colours. Moreover, these brackets must be fabricated I-L ~C~L~RI 3 to suit a particular gutter profile.

In order to improve the appearance of gutter/fascia assemblies, internal gutter support brackets have been employed. Typical of such an internal bracket is Australian Registered Design No.

89771 This bracket comprises an upright mounting member for attachment to a fascia and a short outwardly extending base member to support a rear portion of the gutter floor. A reinforced arm extends downwardly for a short distance from the upper part of the nounting member then outwardly and upwardly to terminate in an enlarged end which engages in the hollow stiffening rib at the upper front portion of the gutter. Like S 15 Registered Designs 94858 and 95878, the mounting member of this bracket includes a pair of upright tabs for attachment, by bending, to the rear wall of the gutter and over the top of the fascia respectively.

:i As the major part of the bracket of Registered Design No. 89771 is hidden inside the gutter, this has *00 permitted the bracket to be manufactured from galvanised steel rather than a multiplicity of colours to match the gutter/fascia colour.

The main disadvantage of this bracket however is that the short base member, although small is still visible and requires painting to match the gutter colour. Furthermore, to secure the gutter against disengagement from the bracket, it is customary to -I Iinsert a pop rivet through the base member into the floor of the gutter.

Apart from adding substantially to labour content, there exists the possibility of leaks and corrosion in the region of the pop rivet penetration.

It is an aim of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate at least some of the disadvantages of prior art gutter brackets.

According to the invention there is provided a mounting bracket for a rain water gutter, said mounting bracket comprising:a mounting member adapted for mounting on a front face of a fascia member; and, :a support arm attached to an upper portion of said mounting member, said support arm including an enlarged free end adapted to engage within a hollow rib associated with a front upper edge of a gutter and an inner upright member adjacent said mounting member, said inner upright member and said mounting member together defining a recess adapted to receive a rear wall of a gutter, said inner upright member including a projection extending into said recess whereby in use, said projection engages with a rib formed in an upper portion of a rear wall of said gutter to support said rear wall.

Suitably said projection may comprise an inwardly deformed wall portion.

Preferably said projection coi,,:ises one or more I PI ~II~ inwardly directed tab like projections having an upwardly directed free edge.

If required, said mounting member may include one or more upwardly directed deformable mounting tabs.

The mounting member may have a plurality of mounting apertures formed therein.

Suitably said support arm includes one or more reinforcing ribs.

An outer portion of said support arm may incline upwardly from a lower portion of said inner upper member.

If required said support arm may include a oe e transverse portion between said lower portion of said inner upright member and said upwardly inclined outer 15 portion of said support arm.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided, in combination:a gutter having a nollow rib associated with an upper edge of a front wall thereof, said gutter including a reinforcing rib located in a rear wall of said gutter; and a mounting bracket comprising a mounting member adapted for mounting on a front face of a fascia member and a support arm attached to an upper portion of said mounting member, said support arm including an enlarged free end adapted to engage within the hollow rib of the gutter, and an inner upright member adjacent said mounting member, said inner upright member and said mounting member together defining a recess adapted to receive the rear wall of the gutter, said inner upright member including a projection extending into said recess whereby in use, said projection engages the reinforcing rib to support the rear wall of the gutter.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of securing a gutter to a fascia including the steps of:securing to a front face of a facia one or more mounting brackets according to a first aspect of the invention; coo• supporting a pre-cut length of said gutter on the support arm of the mounting brackets by locating a S 15 hollow rib associated with an upper edge of a front wall of the said gutter over the enlarged free end of each support arm; rotating said gutter about a longitudinal axis located approximately in the centre of the hollow rib such that a rear wall of the said gutter located in the recess formed by the inner upright members and the mounting members of the mounting brackets; continuing to rotate the gutter until a reinforcing rib located in the rear wall of the said gutter resiliently deforms to engage the projection extending into the recess from the inner upright member.

In order that the invention may be more readily b d_~-h~SI~ understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to a preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:- FIG 1 is a perspective of a gutter mounting bracket, and, FIG 2 is a side elevational view of the bracket of FIG 1.

In the drawings, the bracket 1 comprises a mounting member 2 having a plurality of mounting apertures 3 therein to facilitate mounting to the front surface of a fascia (not shown) by screws, pop rivets or the like.

a Attached to the upper portion of mounting member 2 is a support arm 4 comprising an inner upright member 5, a transverse portion 6 and an upwardly inclined outer portion 7.

The free end of support arm 4 is formed with an enlarged portion 8 adapted to engage with a hollow reinforcing rib associated with an upper edge of the front wall of a rain water gutter (not shown).

Support arm 4 is reinforced by pressed ribs 9.

A tab-like projection 10 is formed in the upright portion 5 of support arm 4 and the free edge of projection 10 extends into the recess 11 formed between mounting member 2 and upright portion An optional mounting tab 12 is provided at the upper end of mounting member 2.

In use, the gutter brackets are secured to a 8 steel, timber or other fascia via screws or other fasteners through apertures 3. The brackets are secured to the fascia after alignment by conventional means, eg. string line or the like, to obtain a desired drainage inclination.

If required the optional tabs 12 may provide a temporary support on a fascia by bending the tab over the top edge thereof. In this manner, a plurality of brackets may be temporarily positioned at a desired spacing along the fascia prior to fixing in alignment with a string line or other level determining means.

After the brackets have been positioned on the to. fascia, a pre cut length of guttering is supported on "the support arms 4 with the enlarged end portions 8 located in the hollow interior of the front upper rib of the gutter.

gee• To secure the gutter, the rear wall of the gutter section is slid into the recess 11 formed between mounting member 2 and upright portion 5 by rotating the gutter about a longitudinal axis located approximately in the centre of the hollow upper front reinforcing rib.

The floor of the gutter is then pushed firmly upwards so that the reinforcing rib located in the upper rear wall of the gutter resiliently deforms to allow the rib to pass between the free edge of tab and the face of mounting member 2.

Once the rib in the rear wall of the gutter is 9 located above tab 10, the sharp edge between the rear face of the tab and its upper edge wall formed by the tab perforation securely grips the rib in a cam like wedging action.

Accordingly, the gutter is supported by bracket 1 entirely from within the gutter channel without any portion of the bracket being visible from ground level. Not only is the gutter securely supported for all normal rain water and wind loading requirements, no additional labour is required for fixing or painting of exposed portions of the bracket.

It wili be clear to a skilled addressee that many modifications and variations may be made to the 0* 0 !invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

0*0 000 0

II

Claims

1. A mounting bracket for a rain water gutter, said mounting bracket comprising:- a mounting member adapted for mounting on a front face of a fascia member; and a support arm attached to an upper portion of said mounting member, said support arm including an enlarged free end adapted to engage within a hollow rib associated with a front upper edge of a gutter and an inner upright member adjacent said mounting member, said inner upright member and said mounting member together defining a recess adapted to receive a rear wall of a gutter, said inner upright member including a projection extending into said recess whereby in 1 5 use, said projection engages with a rib formed in an upper portion of a rear wall of said gutter to support said rear wall.

2. A mounting bracket as claimed in claim 1 wherein :i said projection comprises an inwardly deformed wall portion.

3. A mounting bracket as claimed in claim 2 wherein said projection comprises one or more inwardly directed tab like projections having an upwardly directed free edge.

4. A mounting bracket as claimed in claim 1 wherein said mounting member includes one or more upwardly directed deformable mounting tabs.

A mounting bracket as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said mounting means includes a plurality of mounting apertures formed therein.

6. A mounting bracket Ps claimed in claim 1 wherein said support arm includes one or more reinforcing ribs.

7. A mounting bracket as claimed in claim 1 wherein an outer portion of said support arm inclines upwardly from a lower portion of said inner upright member.

8. A mnounting bracket as claimed in claim 1 wherein said support arm includes a transverse portion between said lower portion of said inner upright member and said upwardly inclined outer portion.

9. In combination:- S.a gutter having a hollow rib associated with an *00* upper edge of a front wall thereof, said gutter 0 including a reinforcing rib located in a rear wall of Ssaid gutter; and a mounting bracket comprising a mounting member adapted for mounting on a front face of a fascia member and a support arm attached to an upper portion ee of said mounting member, said support arm including an enlarged free end adapted to engage within the hollow rib of the gutter, and an inner upright member adjacent said mounting member, said inner upright member and said mounting member together defining a recess adapted to receive the rear wall of the gutter, said inner upright member including a projection extending into said recess whereby in use, said I projection engages the reinforcing rib to support the rear wall of the gutter.

A method of securing a gutter to a fascia including the steps of:- securing to a front face of a fascia one or more mounting brackets according to any one of claims 1 to 8; supporting a pre-cut length of said gutter on the support arm of the mounting brackets by locating a hollow rib associated with an upper edge of a front wall of the said gutter over the enlarged free end of each support arm; rotating said gutter about a longitudinal axis S* located approximately in the centre of the hollow rib such that a rear wall of the said gutter located in 0 the recess formed by the inner upright members and the mounting members of the mounting brackets; continuing to rotate the gutter until a reinforcing rib located in the rear wall of the said gutter resiliently deforms to engage the projection extending into the recess from the inner upright member.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10 further including the steps of:- temporarily supporting the mounting brackets on a fascia by bending an upper portion of an upwardly directed deformable mounting tab over a top edge of the said fascia. 13

12. A mounting bracket substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

13. A method of securing a gutter to a fascia substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this Fourth day of April 1995 THE ROOFING CENTRE PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys FISHER KELLY *e g* *e *ee o *N p~aa

14 ABSTRACT A bracket for mounting a rain water gutter comprises a mounting member and a support arm. The mounting member is adapted for mounting on a front face of a fascia and may include one or more upwardly directed deformable mounting tabs to facilitate temporary mounting on the fascia. The support arm includes an enlarged free end adapted to engage within a hollow reinforcing rib associated with a front wall of the gutter. The other end of the support arm and the mounting member together define a recess adapted to receive the rear wall of the gutter. A projection extends into the recess to engage a reinforcing rib formed in the rear wall of the gutter. The front and 0 rear walls of the gutter are supported respectively by *9 the enlarged end of the support arm and the projection. **S ~U