AU759812B2

AU759812B2 - Skylight arrangement improvements

Info

Publication number: AU759812B2
Application number: AU11291/99A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Lance Malcolm Vater
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-01-13
Filing date: 1999-01-13
Publication date: 2003-05-01
Anticipated expiration: 2019-01-13
Also published as: AU1129199A

Description

48635 HKS:ZS P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

*MALCOLM VATER *ooo LANCE MALCOLM VATER

G**

Address for Service: COLLISON C0.,117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 Invention Title: SKYLIGHT ARRANGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS Details of Associated Provisional Applications: 5*55 AUSTRALIAN Provisional Patent Application No. PP1301 dated 13th January 1998 •LANCE MALCOLM VATER Invention Title: The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 'r il 2 This invention relates to skylight improvements.

It is conventional to have as a part of the building, a portion having a translucent or transparent covering in the roof which will allow light to directly pass therethrough but otherwise to provide protection against entry into the building of rain.

Skylights can be either in the form of manufactured frames with glass, or they can be a translucent sheet of plastics material interleaved with covering sheets of opaque material in the roof of a building.

It is an object of this invention to propose means to assist in the effectiveness t 10 of skylights in the roof of buildings.

According to one form of this invention, there is proposed a cover arrangement in a building with a skylight including, as a part of the building, a portion having a translucent or transparent covering thereover to allow for transmission of light there through into the building forming a skylight, and an S1 5 external cover supported so as to be able to be moved to assume at least two different positions where one of the positions is above an outside surface of the transparent or translucent covering and such as to cover the skylight, at least substantially, from sunlight, and in a further position, is located such as not to be in a substantially covering position.

2 0 In preference, the covering is comprised of an opaque sheet or sheets of material and there are means to support such a sheet or sheets through a range of positions from a fully covering position to an uncovered position as far as the skylight is concerned.

One of the features of this arrangement is that the covering is on the outside of 2 5 the translucent or transparent covering so that sunlight intercepted, will not thereby have had the opportunity to pass through the covering and thereby heat some elements within the building which will then heat up in accord with the known greenhouse effect.

The problem hitherto however has been to be able to provide something 3 0 which in terms of being economic, and in terms of being practical, will answer the problem while at the same time not additionally add problems of its own.

One of these types of problems arises from the fact that locating anything outside of cladding of a building, exposes such external elements to the wind so that on the one hand, the external elements must be able to withstand the effect of high winds without either substantial damage, or causing unwanted effects such as noise.

In a preferred example then, it is proposed that the cover arrangement shall be held with respect to a skylight or skylights within a roof of a building, so that the sheets of the covering define a plane which is approximately parallel to a 1 0 plane of skylight or skylight portions for which the covering is providing cover for, and there are means to provide for support by reason of a carriage within a track so that the position of the covering is governed by the position of one or more carriages within one or more tracks.

There is a well known very well developed technology which includes 1 5 conveyor track having a track of U shape with inturned legs providing two oppositely positioned tracks within which the walls of a carriage move.

Carriages which can variously have two or four or more wheels are also well developed which provide support for a number of different items for instance doors which are hung from one or more of the carriages held in such a track, 2 0 conveyor lanes where items for manufacture are carried from station to station and so on.

In accord with this invention, in preference, there is therefore provided that there should be at least two conveyor tracks generally of a type described and at least one carriage in each where the covering is secured to one of either of the track or a carriage and the roof within which the skylight is located, supports the other of either the track or the carriage.

In preference, the covering itself is secured and supported by at least a carriage, and the track is directly supported by the roof.

There has been found in preference that the elements are advantageously 3 0 supported in a way where the track or tracks and the carriage or carriages are located beneath the covering and above the skylight.

This arrangement has the advantage that an uppermost surface can simply be the covering thereby providing a more streamlined face to any wind, and further, the mechanically operating parts are protected beneath the covering.

One of the problems with locating anything above a roof cladding is that this will be vulnerable to inundation by rain and it also must allow for the effects of rain so that it will firstly ensure that water is not unnecessarily diverted from water gathering arrangements, and secondly it will not of its own, collect water which either will be kept in circumstances which might result in eventual fouling of the water or cause undue rapid deterioration or water induced corrosion of components.

In a further preferred form, the track supported by the roof is supported so that its open mouth is directed downwardly and a carriage or carriages within the track, support a bracket or brackets which in turn extend from below a respective carriage to a side of the track and support then the covering above 1 5 the track.

For a better understanding of this invention it will now be described with the assistance of drawings wherein: FIG 1 is a perspective view of a covering arrangement over a skylight according to the embodiment, 20 FIG 2 is a side elevation of the arrangement as in FIG 1, FIG 3 is a cross sectional view of a second embodiment, FIG 4 is an enlarged view of parts of the view as in Fig 3, FIG 5 is a perspective view of a slight modification of the second embodiment with part cutaway the embodiment being modified however in that the relative locations of the tracks with respect to the carriages is opposite to that shown in Figures 3 and 4, FIGS 6 10 are views of a carriage used in the second embodiment, and FIGS 11 and 12 are views of a support bracket used in the second embodiment.

Referring in detail to the drawings, and in particular to the first embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2 there is shown a roof of a building 1 which incorporates a skylight 2 which is comprised of translucent fibreglass sheeting interleaved with conventional opaque metal sheets.

In order to provide selected protection against direct sunlight passing through the translucent sheet 2 there is provided a covering 3 which is comprised of an opaque metal corrugated sheet 4 which is supported at both ends 5 in the one case and 6 in the other by a bracket 7 in the one case and 8 in the other which 1 0 is attached to a conveyor track 9 in the one case and 10 in the other which is secured to the sheet 4 by appropriate fixing means such as a screw shown at both 11 and 12.

The bracket typically 8 is a right angle member having a substantially vertical leg 13 and a cross leg 14 which is secured by nuts 15 and 16 to stem 17 of 1 5 carriage 18.

Carriage 18 is a traditional four wheel carriage where there are two wheels at a front and two wheels at a back and from within the middle of these depends the stem 17.

This is a conventional arrangement of a standard carriage which is used in 2 0 this particular case and is supported by a track 19 so that the open mouth of the track 19 is lowermost.

The track 19 is secured by reason of brackets 21, one leg of which is secured to the side of the track 19, to the roof 1 of the building by means of a bolt 22 passing through the sheeting 2 into a frame member 23 of the building 1. The same arrangement is substantially repeated at the end 5 so that there is a carriage 24 supported in a track 25 where the track 25 is supported by a bracket 26 to the building 1.

Likewise, the covering 3 is at this end supported by bracket 7 to the side of the track 9 which in turn is secured to the covering material 4.

3 0 The use of the additional tracks 9 and 10 provides both strengthening and stiffening of the sheeting of the covering 3 noting that the sheeting in this case is formed so that the flutes run from the higher to the lower side to enable easy shedding of water.

There is an additional track 28 to provide for additional strengthening.

The use of track in the case of 9, 10 and 28 also allows for the additional use of other carriages which can then interconnect with the covering described.

The second embodiment is now described with reference to Figures 3 through to 12.

There is accordingly shown a translucent sheet 30 forming a skylight 1 0 incorporated into the structure of a roof 31 of a building 32.

Attached to be above the sheet 30 is a cover arrangement 33 which includes an external cover 34 supported so as to be able to be moved to assume at least two different positions where one of the positions is above an outside surface of the transparent or translucent covering and such as to cover the 1 5 skylight, at least substantially, from sunlight, and in a further position, is located such as not to be in a substantially covering position.

This is achieved by having a carriage 35 supported by a bracket 36 which is fixed to the roof of the building 32 by screws 37.

The carriage 35 in this case is modified from the first embodiment by having 2 0 only three wheels, these being supported by a support plate 39 so that two of the wheels 40 are to one side and one of the wheels 41 is to the other side of the plate 39. The two lower wheels 40 support the carriage in the track 42 and the third wheel 41 limits upward lift of the carriage within the track 42 with removal thereby of potential noise or vibration in windy conditions.

Further however, the arrangement of the wheels also assists in providing bearing surfaces that can handle side thrust.

Accordingly, if the pitch of a roof is substantial, it can be expected that there will be a load vector that will cause significant side thrust between the carriage and the track within which it operates.

While not shown specifically, By having the wheels on one side of the carriage aligned to bear against a lower part of the track and a wheel on an opposite side bear against a top corner of the track has been found to provide the advantageous effect of slightly twisting the carriage and thus keeping rolling surfaces against track portions to minimise rolling resistance and wear.

For economic engagement of the track 42 this is captured by an interlocking shape which included a top tab 43 and a lowermost support tab 44. These engage with an interlocking effect the track 42 so as to support this. The bracket 36 also has bifurcate legs 45 which allows the bracket to straddle the 1 0 roof of undulations of the roof material and allow passage of water therethrough with debris.

900000 The carriage 35 further has interlocking tabs including an uppermost tab 47 I :and lowermost tabs 48 which are arranged to engage around and thereby interlock with a track 49. The track 49 is itself secured to the cover 34.

00999* 1 5 In this way there is provided a support arrangement that uses standard cross section track that is now mass produced together with two only different parts.

Further the arrangement of the tracks and their relative positioning is such that the tracks have their open mouth lowermost to thereby ensure water is not trapped therein. Further, the bracket and carriage can be easily connected or disassembled from interconnecting parts especially the tracks.

An advantage in locating the support mechanisms beneath the cover in each case as compared to this being above the cover is that this position allows for the track such as the track 49 to be positioned at any position along the length of the cover. This would not be realistically feasible if the support was positioned above the cover. For long covers of 2 meters or more it is expected that a middle support at least will be required to reduce potential sag.

In some applications a roof has a number of skylights which are spaced apart along a length of a roof. With such an arrangement it is useful to have continuous tracks positioned to extend along a roof with spaced apart covers 3 0 so that they are held at a similar spacing to the skylight respective spacings.

In this way then, there can be a set of covers held by respective carriages within a respective track or tracks which can be moved as a single unit. This 8 then allows for a single mechanism to be used to move the set of covers from a covering to a not covering position and vice versa.

While not shown specifically, each cover will be supported by two or more carriages in each track so that the covers can be kept aligned with the track providing support. This would mean that in a typical installation, there will be a length of sheet which is supported at an upper end by two carriages within a single track and likewise at a lower end by two further carriages within a further single track which together then ensure that the sheet of material will be more readily able to be kept square to a movable direction along the tracks.

10 Further not specifically described in the drawings is any means for moving the cover or covers. Moving can be achieved by either simple manual means or there can be provided automatic means to control the position either directly *through connected levers or cables or the like or indirectly by having for instance a pneumatic ram or rams which is or are connected to a supply of air 15 at pressure for occasional operation or a hydraulic arrangement and so on.

This second embodiment has the advantage of development of specialist parts especially the bracket and the carriage that make for easy installation and relatively low costs.

The invention then provides for the first time, a solution for skylights which are "2 0 otherwise open to sunlight through the year. Currently, these then require significant air conditioning in hot days and can possibly create intolerable conditions if there is no separate cooling. The answer has been to get a cover that is external to the skylight which in an economic and practical way will allow for selection of cover and this is what this invention achieves.

Claims

1. A cover arrangement in a building with a skylight including, as a part of the building, a portion having a translucent or transparent covering thereover to allow for transmission of light there through into the building forming a skylight, and an external cover supported so as to be able to be moved to assume at least two different positions where one of the positions is above an outside surface of the transparent or translucent covering and such as to cover the skylight, at least substantially, from sunlight, and in a further position, is located such as not to be in a substantially covering position.

2. A cover arrangement as in claim 1 further characterised in that the cover is an opaque sheet or sheets of material.

3. A cover arrangement as in claim 1 further characterised in that there are means to support a sheet or sheets to act as the cover through a range of positions from a fully skylight covering position to a fully skylight uncovered position.

4. A cover arrangement held with respect to a skylight or skylights within a roof of a building, so that the sheets of the covering define a plane which is approximately parallel to a plane of skylight or skylight portions S. 20 for which the covering is providing cover for, and means to provide for support by reason of a carriage within a track so that the position of the covering is governed by the position of one or more carriages within one or more tracks. A cover arrangement as in any one of the preceding claims further characterised in that there are at least two conveyor tracks and at least one carriage in each where the covering is secured to one of either of .the track or a carriage and the roof within which the skylight is located, supports the other of either the track or the carriage.

6. A cover arrangement as in any one of the preceding claims further characterised in that the covering itself is secured and supported by at least a carriage, and the track is directly supported by the roof.

7. A cover arrangement as in any one of the preceding claims further characterised in that the cover is supported in such a way that the track or tracks and the carriage or carriages are located beneath the covering and above the skylight.

8. A cover arrangement as in any one of the preceding claims further characterised in that the track supported by the roof is supported so that its open mouth is directed downwardly and a carriage or carriages within the track, support a bracket or brackets which in turn extend from below a respective carriage to a side of the track and support then the covering above the track.

9. A cover arrangement as in any one of the preceding claims further characterised in that the carriage has at least one wheel which is arranged to engage against an upper side of the track. A cover arrangement as in any one of the preceding claims further characterised in that a support arrangement supporting the cover or covers with respect to the roof is between the cover or covers and the roof.

11. A cover arrangement substantially as described in the specification with reference to and as illustrated by any one or more of the accompanying .:ooei drawings.

12. A roof of a building incorporating a cover arrangement as in any one of the preceding claims.

13. A roof of a building which incorporates a skylight and a covering for the skylight which is comprised of an opaque member which is supported, at least at both ends of the member, by a bracket which is movably attached to a conveyor track supported relative to the roof by a carriage *adapted to move within and be restrained by the track.

14. A roof as in claim 13 further characterised in that the bracket has two ::approximately vertical legs which are each secured by screws to the roof of the building. 11 A roof as in any one of preceding claims 13 or 14 further characterised in that each track is positioned so that its open mouth is lowermost.

16. A roof as in any one of preceding claims 13,14 or 15 further characterised in that the track is secured by reason of brackets, one leg of which is secured to the side of the track, and a further part to the roof of the building by means of a screw or screws passing through the sheeting into a frame member of the building.

17. A roof as in any one of preceding claims 13,14,15 or 16 further characterised in that the covering is supported by a bracket which is connected to the track by interlocking tabs.

18. A roof as in any one of preceding claims 13,14,15,16 or 17 further characterised in that there are additional tracks providing both strengthening and stiffening of the sheeting of the covering flutes of which are aligned run from a higher to a lower side to enable shedding of water.

19. A roof as in any one of the preceding claims 13 through 18 further characterised in that there are a plurality of skylights at spaced apart locations along the length of a roof, and there are a plurality of covers supported by respective carriages within tracks which are coupled so as to be movable together between a covering position to a not covering position of the respective skylights. .I l• A roof as in the immediately preceding claim further characterised in that at least two of the covers are spaced apart one from the other but are supported by carriages which are retained within for each support location a continuous length of track.

21. A building having a cover arrangement as in any one of the preceding claims 1 through 12. 12

22. A building having a covering arrangement substantially as described in the specification with reference to and as illustrated by any one or more of the accompanying drawings. Dated this 20th day of February 2003 LANCE MALCOLM VATER By his Patent Attorneys COLLISON CO. **e r