AU702597B3

AU702597B3 - Window reveal system

Info

Publication number: AU702597B3
Application number: AU67058/98A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Antonio Ugo Mucci
Original assignee: Unitex Granular Marble Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Unitex Granular Marble Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1997-09-17
Filing date: 1998-05-18
Publication date: 1999-02-25
Anticipated expiration: 2004-05-18

Description

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AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 NOTICE OF ENTITLEMENT We, UNITEX GRANULAR MARBLE, of 22 Park Drive, Dandenong, Victoria, 3175, Australia, being the applicant in respect of Application No. 67058/98, state the following: 1. We are the Nominated Person to whom we request the patent be granted.

2. Antonio Ugo Mucci is the inventor and the Nominated Person would, on the grant of a patent to the said inventor, be entitled to have the patent assigned to it.

3. We are entitled to make a request under Section 113 in relation to the provisional application listed on the Patent Request form.

Address for service in Australia: CARTER SMITH BEADLE, 2 Railway Parade, Camberwell, Victoria, 3124, Australia. (Attorney Code CD) Dated 10 December 1998 A 1 Peter R. Smith CARTER SMITH BEADLE Patent Attorneys for the Applicant The Commissioner ofPatents #28064:PRS:AM Our Ref- -1- P/00/0011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A PETTY PATENT 0* *r

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ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for service in Australia: Invention Title: UNITEX GRANULAR MARBLE PTY. LTD.

Andrew Concannon CARTER SMITH BEADLE 2 Railway Parade Camberwell Victoria 3124 Australia Window Reveal System The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us -2- The present invention relates to a decorative surround for openings in building walls, particularly window openings and to a method for installing a decorative surround.

In the construction of new houses or other buildings or in the renovation of existing houses or other buildings it is frequently desired to use decorative elements around windows, for example, to provide improved aesthetic appearance to the windows and/or to integrate the appearance of the windows into the overall architecture of the house or other buildings. Current practice for placing decorative elements around windows basically involves fabricating and fitting together on the 10 building site a number of pieces that make up the decorative element around a window. This process is time consuming and increases the costs of providing decorative elements around a window.

o• The present invention therefore provides a decorative surround for windows in a building, said surround including a facia means for extending substantially i 15 around a wall opening in which the window is located, said facia means overlapping the outer wall surface of the building and having a rearwardly projecting flange depending from a rear surface of the facia means for extending into said opening and substantially into a gap provided between the wall and a frame of the window, said Ssurround being formed by a moulding process.

Preferably, said surround is formed as a single unitary piece.

Preferably, said flange extends completely around the inner periphery of the facia means.

The front surface of the facia means may include decorative elements. For instance, the decorative elements may be evocative of a particular style or period of architecture, and may include sculpted features, crease lines and the like. The rear surface of the facia means may be of plain finish. The flange depends from the rear surface of the facia means. In one embodiment, an inner wall of the facia means forms a continuous surface with the inner periphery of the facia means. The facia PRS:AM:28064.PP 10 December 1998 -3opening would be defined by the continuous surface in this embodiment.

In some embodiments, the rearwardly projecting flange may not depend from the inner periphery of the facia means. For example, the flange may project from a mid-portion of the rear surface of the facia means or from an outer peripheral portion of the facia means.

The decorative window surround of the present invention may be fully manufactured off-site, for example, in a factory and transported as a completed unit to the building site. This enables factory-standard quality to be achieved.

The decorative surround may be made from a number of materials, including light-weight concrete, foamed concrete, plastics or other suitable building materials.

This list is not exhaustive. It is preferred that the decorative surround is made by moulding. Lightweight or foamed concretes are especially preferred materials for construction. These materials are widely accepted in the building industry and allow .oe.

for the decorative surround to be easily installed by unskilled labour.

The rearwardly projecting flange preferably extends completely around the inner periphery such that the flange includes an inner periphery and an outer periphery. In use the uppermost horizontal surface of the outer periphery of the *flange may include drainage means to drain water reaching the flange from above.

The drainage means may comprise a groove formed in the uppermost surface. One or more grooves may be provided.

The decorative surround in an especially preferred embodiment, also includes a sill portion for forming a window sill once the decorative surround is positioned in a building.

The present invention also extends to a method for fitting a decorative surround. In a second aspect, the present invention provides a method for fitting a decorative window surround to a window of a house or other building including the steps of: providing a decorative window surround including a facia means for extending substantially around the window and a rearwardly projecting flange depending from a rear surface of the facia means; PRS:AM:28064PP 18 May 1998 -4positioning the flange of the decorative window surround in a gap between an outer periphery of a window frame fixed to the building and an exterior surface of the building, and fixing the decorative window surround to the building.

Preferably, the gap between the outer periphery of the window frame and the exterior surface of the building is only slightly larger than a width of the rearwardly projecting flange of the decorative window surround.

Preferably, the flange includes an inner peripheral surface that defines an opening slightly larger than the outer periphery of the window frame. Preferably, the inner peripheral surface of the flange is coincident with the inner periphery of the facia means. In this case, it will be appreciated that the opening defined by the inner periphery of the facia means is slightly larger than the outer periphery of the ••or window frame.

When the flange is positioned in the gap, it is preferred that at least a portion of the rear surface of the facia means overlies or abuts the exterior surface of the •"building. This assists in obtaining an improved appearance because the facia means will then cover any imperfections in the exterior surface of the building around the opening provided for the window.

The decorative window, door or other penetration surround may be fixed to the building by any suitable fixing means known to persons skilled in the art. For example, adhesive may be placed on the rear surface of the facia means and/or on the outer periphery of the flange, which adhesive contacts the building wall surface and once set holds the surround in place. Alternatively, and preferably, the decorative window surround is fixed to the building by mechanical fixing means such as screws or nails. In this instance, the mechanical fixing means may pass through the flange and into the building. Holes may be formed in or drilled into the flange to facilitate fixing in this instance.

The gap between the outer periphery of the window frame and the exterior surface of the building may be achieved in a number of ways. In new buildings, the window frame may be fixed to the building and the external surface completed such PRS:AM:28064.PP 18 May 1998 that the gap is formed. In this case, the external surface will not be finished as closely to the window frame as would normally occur in prior art construction methods. Three examples of this are: i) In double brick houses, the window frame is fixed to the inner row of bricks and the outer row of bricks have an opening therein that is larger than the window frame to form the gap.

ii) in brick veneer houses, the window frame is fixed to the timber frame of the house and the outer layer of bricks have an opening therein that is larger than the window frame to form the gap.

iii) in timber framed houses having cladding such as weatherboards or :fibro-cement sheeting or planks, the window frame is fixed to the timber frame and the cladding positioned such that the gap is formed.

In houses having only thin cladding, it may be necessary to cut out a o, portion of the timber frame around the window frame to provide sufficient depth to allow full insertion of the flange into the gap such r that the rear surface of the facia means abuts the cladding material.

This also allows the decorative window surround to itself be fixed to the timber frame of the house.

Paragraph (iii) above also applies to houses having metal frames.

The method of the present invention also may be used when renovating or replacing windows on completed buildings.

In an alternative method, the present invention provides a method for fixing a decorative window surround to a building including the steps of: providing a decorative window surround including a facia means for extending substantially around the window and a rearwardly projecting flange depending from a rear surface of the facia means, positioning the decorative window surround such that an inner periphery of the flange is positioned adjacent or near an outer periphery of a window frame of the window, constructing an outer surface of the building such that at least an outer PRS:AM:28064.PP 18 May 1998 -6periphery of the facia means overlies at least a portion of the outer surface, and fixing the decorative window surround to the building.

The decorative window surround may be fixed to the building either before the outer surface is constructed or after the outer surface is constructed. In this embodiment, the decorative window surround acts as a formwork for construction of the outer surface.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood particular embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a front elevation view of a decorative window surround in accordance with the present invention; ooo* Figure 2 shows a rear elevation view of the decorative window surround of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a side elevation view of the decorative window surround of Figure 1; Figure 4 shows a plan view of the decorative window surround of Figure 1; Figure 5 shows a cross-sectional view taken along lines A-A of Figure 1; Figure 6 shows an elevational view of a building ready to accept fitting of a decorative window surround of the present invention; Figure 7 shows a schematic cross-sectional view along A-A of Figure 6 showing fitting a decorative window surround of the present invention to a double brick house; Figure 8 shows a schematic cross-sectional view along A-A of Figure 6 showing a fitting of a decorative window surround of the present invention to a brick veneer home; Figure 9 shows a schematic cross-sectional view along A-A of Figure 6 showing fitting of a decorative window surround of the present invention to a clad house; Figure 10 shows an alternative method of fitting a decorative window PRS:AM:28064.PP 18 May 1998 -7surround in accordance with the present invention to a clad house; and Figure 11 shows a cross-sectional view of the window head detail once the decorative surround has been fitted to a building.

Referring now to Figures 1 to 5, the decorative window surround 10 of the present invention includes a facia means 11 having a front surface 12 and a rear surface 13. The facia means 11 has an inner periphery 14 that defines an opening The facia means 11 also includes an outer periphery 16. The facia means further has a window sill 17 formed at a lower part thereof.

Depending from rear surface 13 is a rearwardly projecting flange 18. The inner periphery of flange 18 is preferably coincident with the inner periphery 14 of facia means 11. Therefore, the inner periphery of flange 18 further defines opening 15. As can best be seen from Figures 1 and 2, the opening 15 in facia means 11 may be of rectangular or square shape but any shape can be incorporated. Flange 18 extends completely around the inner periphery 14 of the facia means 11.

The decorative window surround 10 shown in Figures 1 to 5 is preferably made from a light weight concrete product to facilitate easy site use of the product.

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~Turning now to Figure 6, which shows a building in a state ready to have a decorative window surround in accordance with the present invention fitted thereto, the building includes a brick wall 20 having a window frame 21 fitted in an opening in the brick wall 20. The brick wall 20 comprises an exterior surface of the building.

The window frame has a width denoted by the letter R (this is the width of the outer periphery of the window frame) and a height (again the height of the outer periphery of the window frame) denoted by the letter Y. The window frame is fitted in a cavity formed in the brick wall 20 that has a width T and a height U. It will be appreciated that the width T of the cavity in the brick wall is slightly larger than the width R of the outer periphery of the window frame. Similarly, the height U of the cavity is slightly larger than the height Y of the outer periphery of the window frame. This leaves a gap 22 between the outer periphery of the window PRS:AM:28064.PP 18 May 1998 -8frame and the cavity in the brick wall In order to fit a decorative window surround in accordance with the present invention to the building shown in Figure 6, a decorative window surround is constructed that has an opening 15 having a width that is slightly greater than the width R of the outer periphery of the window frame 21. Similarly, the height of the opening 15 in the decorative window surround is slightly larger than the height Y of the window frame 21.

As will be appreciated from simple mathematics, the width of the gap between a vertical edge of the window frame 21 and a vertical edge of the cavity in the brick wall 20 is determined from the equation Similarly, the distance between a horizontal edge of the outer periphery of window frame 21 and a corresponding horizontal edge of the cavity in brickwork 20 is determined from the formula The flange 18 of decorative window surround 10 fits into the gap between the outer periphery of the window frame 21 and the inner walls of the cavity formed in ~brickwork 20. Therefore, the flange 18 must have a width that is slightly smaller than the width of the gap, as determined from the formula mentioned above.

".In order to fit the decorative window surround 10 to the building, the decorative window surround 10 is positioned such that the flange 18 is in substantial alignment with the gap 22. The decorative window surround is then inserted such that the flange 18 enters into the gap 22. Once the flange 18 of the decorative window surround 10 has been inserted sufficiently far into the gap 22 so that the rear surface 13 of facia means 11 lies in abutment with the brick wall 20, the decorative window surround 10 is fixed in place. This is preferably achieved by inserting screws through the flange 18 and into the brickwork of brick wall However, adhesive may also be used to fix the decorative window surround 10 into place.

Turning now to Figure 7, which shows a cross sectional view of the method of fitting a decorative window surround to a double brick house, the building includes an inner row of bricks 30 and an outer row of bricks 31. The window PRS:AM:28064.PP 18 May 1998 -9frame 32 is fixed to the inner row of bricks by any suitable means known to the man skilled in the art (not shown). The flange 18 of the decorative window surround is inserted into a gap between the outer periphery of the window frame 32 and a cavity formed in the inner and outer rows of bricks 30, 31. The dimension of this cavity is denoted by the letter S. The window surround is inserted sufficiently far into the gap S such that the rear face of the facia means 11 Ilies substantially in abutment with the outer surface of the outer row of bricks 31. One or, more preferably, a plurality of screws are then passed through flange 18 of the decorative window surround and into the outer row of bricks 31 in order to fix the decorative window surround to the building.

Referring now to Figure 8 which shows a schematic view generally similar to that of Figure 7 except that the decorative window surround is being fitted to a brick veneer house, the building includes a timber frame 40 having an outer row of bricks 41. The window frame 32 is fixed by any suitable known means (not shown) to the timber frame 40. A gap is left between a cavity in the outer row of bricks 41 ."and the outer periphery of window frame 32. In common with Figure 7, fitment of the decorative window surround involves inserting flange 18 into the gap between the outer periphery of window frame 32 and the cavity in the outer bricks 41 until the rear surface of facia means 11 comes into substantial abutment with the outer surface of the outer layer of bricks 41. The decorative window surround is then fixed to the outer row of bricks 41.

Turning now to Figure 9, which shows fitment of a decorative window surround in accordance with the present invention to a house that is clad with a cladding material such as fibro-cement sheets or planks or polystyrene foam sheeting, etc. In this case, the house comprises a timber frame 50 and cladding material 51 fixed to the timber frame. Cladding material 51 comprises the outer surface of the building. As can be seen from Figure 9, window frame 32 is fixed to the members 50 of the timber frame that define a cavity for the window.

Cladding 51 does not extend to the inner periphery of timber members 50 that form the cavity. In the embodiment shown in Figure 9, the flange 18 of the decorative PRS:AM:28064.PP 18 May 1998 window surround is somewhat shorter than the flange 18 shown in Figures 7 and 8 because the flange 18 only has to be inserted a short distance before the rear surface of facia means 11 comes into contact with the outer surface of cladding 51.

If the width of the cladding material 51 of Figure 9 is not sufficient to enable the flange 18 of the decorative window surround to be firmly affixed thereto, the embodiment shown in Figure 10 is preferably used. In Figure 10, flange 18 is somewhat longer than the flange 18 shown in Figure 9. In order to accommodate the longer flange 18 of Figure 10, cut outs or rebates are formed in timber members in order to enable the longer flange 18 to be accommodated. The embodiment shown in Figure 10 does provide the opportunity to more firmly fix the decorative :*window surround than the embodiment shown in Figure 9.

It is preferred that the decorative window surround is sealed such that a seal oooo is formed between the outer periphery of the window frame 32 and the inner *fl.

periphery of flange 18. It is also preferred that a seal is placed between the outer periphery of the facia means 11 and the exterior surface of the building, or between the rear surface of the facia means 11 and the exterior surface of the building. It is also preferred that the uppermost horizontal surface of the flange 18 includes a run off groove 19 formed therein in order to allow any water which may collect on the 0o o upper surface of flange 18 to run off (see Figure 11).

As can also be seen from Figure 11, a mastic sealant 60 (or any other suitable sealant) may be positioned between the facia means 11 and the exterior surface of the building shown in dotted outline 61.

The decorative window surround of the present invention provides an attractive, lower cost window surround that is much simpler and cheaper to fit to a window. Indeed, trials conducted by the present applicant have shown that the time required to fit a decorative window surround to a window has been reduced from approximately 1'/2 hours for traditional decorative window surrounds to as little as five minutes for the decorative window surround of the present invention.

PRS:AM:28064 PP 18 May 1998 11 THE CLAIMS DESCRIBING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1. A decorative surround for windows in a building, said surround including a facia means for extending substantially around a wall opening in which the window is located, said facia means overlapping the outer wall surface of the building and having a rearwardly projecting flange depending from a rear surface of the facia means for extending into said opening and substantially into a gap provided between the wall and a frame of the window, said surround being formed by a moulding process.

10 2. A decorative surround as defined in Claim 1 and formed as a single unitary piece.

**0 3. A decorative surround as defined in Claim 1 or 2, wherein said flange extends completely around the inner periphery of the facia means.

DATED: 10 December 1998 0u CARTER SMITH BEADLE Patent Attorneys for the Applicant: UNITEX GRANULAR MARBLE PTY. LTD.

PRS:AM:28064.PP 10 December 1998