AU750234B2 - Skylight assembly - Google Patents

Description

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AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: Details of Associated Provisional Application(s) No(s): THIRTIETH ACOL PTY LTD Trading as STATEWIDE SKYLIGHTS Gregory Laurence Mercier and Paul William Edwards

INTELLPRO

Patent Trade Mark Attorneys Level 7, Reserve Bank Building 102 Adelaide Street BRISBANE, QLD, 4000 (GPO Box 1339, BRISBANE, 4001) SKYLIGHT ASSEMBLY Australian Patent Application No. PP0063 filed 28 October 1997.

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 2 THIS INVENTION relates to a ventilating skylight assembly and in particular but not limited thereto to a ventilating skylight assembly having a base structure for fixing to an opening in a roof of a building and a top structure hingedly coupled to and thereby movable relative to the base structure.

The applicant has found that existing skylights are complicated in design and have a relatively large number of parts for assembly on site. The existing skylights are therefore relatively costly to manufacture and costly to install on site.

Furthermore, the existing skylights are designed to accommodate a particular type of glazing material only. In general they are not suitable for installation on buildings with roof pitch less than 17 degrees. The existing skylights are therefor inflexible in terms of the types of glazing materials that can be employed and are limited to buildings with a roof pitch of 17 degrees or greater.

An object of the present invention is to alleviate or to reduce to a certain degree one or more of the above prior art disadvantages.

15 In one aspect the present invention resides in a skylight assembly comprising a base structure for positioning in an opening in a roof of a building and a top structure movably coupled to the base structure so that the top structure can be moved between a closed position and an open position in relation to the base structure. The base structure has a base frame member with an upstream edge 20 section and a downstream edge section, and a soaker tray fixed to and extending around the base frame member. The top structure has a top frame member with an exposed face, an upstream edge section and a downstream edge section, a sheet of glazing material covering the exposed face of the top frame member and capping means sealing arranged on the sheet of glazing material for preventing water entry into the assembly. The top frame member and the bottom frame are configured with an overhang of the top frame member at their downstream edge sections. The soaker tray is formed to be compatible with the roof. In use, the base structure is positioned with its base frame member in the opening and the soaker tray extends at least to an adjacent roof material.

In an advantageous aspect of the assembly of the present invention, the top A frame member and the base frame member are arranged so that corresponding sections of their peripheries are in substantial vertical alignment. Where each of the frame members having opposed edge sections and side sections, said corresponding sections are typically the edge sections for installation at an upstream part of the opening in the roof.

The top frame member may be marginally larger than the base frame member so that when their upstream edge sections are in substantial vertical alignment, the top frame member have an overhang at the downstream edge section. The top frame member may also have a overhang at the side sections.

Coupling means for the top frame member and the base frame member are typically provided at the upstream edges thereof. It is preferred that the coupling means are hinges.

The capping means is conveniently configured to prevent water entry in between the sheet of glazing material and the exposed face of the top frame member, and in between the two frame members. A water proofing sealing 15 material is advantageously arranged between the capping means and the sheet of S* glazing material. In one form the capping means has a substantially L-shaped section which extends around the periphery of the top frame member. One arm of the L-section extends partially over the sheet of glazing material and the other arm of the L-section extends below the top frame member. The free end of the other 20 arm may be folded for preventing accidental injury to an installer.

The L-shaped capping means is spaced from the upstream edge sections of the frame members so that the top frame member can be rotated about the coupling .means.

A resilient material such as a foam strip may be applied across one of the upstream edge sections for preventing water overflow.

An opening means is conveniently fixed to the top frame member for opening and closing the assembly. Typically the opening means has a chain fixed to the top frame member at an end and a winding device connected at the other end thereof. The winding device operates to open the assembly when wound in one direction and to close the assembly when wound in the opposite direction.

AThe skylight assembly of the present invention can accommodate any type of glazing material as it is simply placed on the exposed face of the top frame member. For weather sealing purpose a bed of sealing material such as silicon can be arranged between the exposed surface and the glazing material. Suitable glazing materials are acrylic, polycarbonate and glass.

The skylight assembly of the present invention can be installed in any roof type including tile, corrugated iron, cliplock or deck profiles, by selecting a soaker tray suitable for the roof type.

The assembly functions reliably on roof pitches from 1 to 45 degrees.

In order that the present invention can be readily understood and put into practical effect the description will now refer to the following drawings which represent a preferred embodiment of the present invention and wherein:- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the skylight assembly according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a side view of the assembly shown in Figure 1; S 15 Figure 3 is a partial cross-section view of the upstream end of the assembly shown in Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a partial cross-section view of the downstream end of the assembly shown in Figure 1.

Referring initially to Figure 1 there is shown a skylight assembly 20 according to the present invention and the assembly is mounted over an opening in a tiled roof.

As can be seen the assembly 10 has a base structure comprising a base frame member 12 and a soaker tray 14 extending around the frame member 12 and fixed .**ethereto. It should be noted that the tray 14 as shown is for a tiled roof and for a different type of roof the tray 14 can be replaced by an appropriately designed soaker tray.

The base frame member 12 in this embodiment is rectangular in shape and has an upstream section 16, a downstream section 18 and side sections 20 and 22.

The upstream section 16 is rotatably coupled to a top structure which in this case is by spaced hinges 36 (one only shown in Figure 3) and has a top frame member 24 (also see Figures 3 and 4) and a sheet 26 of a glazing material, which is glass in this case, positioned on a bed of sealant material at the exposed face of the frame member 24 and capping means 28 fixed to the top frame member 24.

In the Figure 1 embodiment the assembly 10 has a skylight operating device in the form of a winder 30 fixed to the base frame 12 and a chain 32 fixed at one end thereof to the top frame member 24. The chain 32 can be extended or retracted by operating the winder 30. This Figure shows the skylight assembly in an open position.

Figure 2 shows that the assembly 10 is fixed to a roof support structure 102 by metal strips 34. In this embodiment, each of the side sections 20 and 22 (only one shown) is fixed to the support structure 102 by two spaced strips 34.

As can be seen clearly in Figures 2 and 3 the capping means 28 is a sheet metal angle capping which is fixed to the top frame member 24 at its downstream edge section 18A and side sections 20A and 22A (not shown) and is spaced from its upstream edge section 16A by a distance of between 10 to 15mm so that the top 15 structure can rotate about the coupling means 36 (hinges in this case). A resilient material 38 such as a self adhesive foam is applied across the section 16 in order to prevent water overflow during heavy rain. A sealant material 40 such as silicon is applied between the sheet of glass 26 and the capping means 28 for preventing water entry into the assembly 20 Figure 3 clearly shows that the sections 16 and 16A of the respective base "."frame member 12 and the top frame member 24 are in vertical alignment. The :capping means 28 is spaced from the sections 16 and 16A by about 10 to As the top frame member 24 is slightly larger than the base frame member 12 it has overhangs of abut 15mm at the downstream edge section 18A and by about 10mm at each of its side sections (20A and 22A not shown) The base frame member 12 and the top frame member 24 can be made of any suitable material including aluminium sections, steel sections and timber.

In a typical application, the base frame sections 15, 18, 20 and 22 are 100 x 25mm RHS of aluminium material and the top frame sections 16A, 18A, 20A and 22A are 50 x 25mm RHS of aluminium material.

4Whilst the above has been given by way of illustrative example of the present invention many variations and modifications thereto will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the broad ambit and scope of the invention as set out in the appended claims.

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Claims (8)

1. A skylight assembly comprising a base structure for positioning in an opening in a roof of a building and a top structure movably coupled to the base structure so that the top structure can be moved between a closed position and an open position in relation to the base structure, the base structure having a base frame member with an upstream edge section and a downstream edge section and a soaker tray fixed to and extending around the base frame member, the top structure having a top frame member with an exposed face, an upstream edge section and a down stream edge section, a sheet of glazing material covering at least part of the exposed face of the top frame member and capping means sealing arranged on the sheet of glazing material for preventing water entry into the assembly, the top frame member and the bottom frame being configured with an overhang of the top frame member at their downstream edge sections, the soaker tray being formed to be compatible with the roof and, in use, the base structure is 15 positioned with its base frame member in the opening and the soaker tray extends at least to an adjacent roof material of the roof.

2. The skylight assembly according to claim 1 wherein the top frame member and the base frame member are arranged so that corresponding upstream edge sections of their peripheries are in substantial vertical alignment. 20 3. The skylight assembly according to claim 2 wherein the top frame member *is marginally larger than the base frame member so that when their upstream edge sections are in substantial vertical alignment, the top frame member has said overhang at the downstream edge sections. a a The skylight assembly according to claim 3 wherein each of said frame members having opposed side sections, and the top frame member having an overhang at each said side sections. The skylight assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 4 wherein coupling means for the top frame member and the base frame member are provided at the upstream edge sections thereof.

6. The skylight assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the Scapping means is configured to prevent water entry in between the sheet of glazing material and the exposed face of the top frame member, and in between the two frame members.

7. The skylight assembly according to claim 6 wherein a water proofing sealing material is arranged between the capping means and the sheet of glazing material.

8. The skylight assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the capping means has a substantially L-shaped section which extends around the periphery of the top frame member, one arm of the L-section extends partially over the sheet of glazing material and the other arm of the L-section extends below the top frame member and said other arm of the L-shaped section is spaced from the upstream edges of the frame members so that the top frame member can be rotated about the coupling means.

9. The skylight assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein a resilient material is applied across one of the upstream edge sections for preventing water overflow.

10. The skylight assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein an opening means is fixed to the top frame member for opening and closing the assembly.

11. A skylight assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings. DATED this 21st day of May 2002 THIRTIETH ACOL PTY LTD Trading as STATE WIDE SKYLIGHTS By their Patent Attorneys INTELLPRO