AU8956798A - Skylight assembly - Google Patents

Description

L I _I I_ P/00i 11 Regulation 3.2 o

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION-FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: j

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It 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) Invention Title: SKYLIGHT ASSEMBLY Details of Associated Provisional Application(s) No(s): Australian Patent Application No. PP0063 filed 28 October 1997.

1 r i The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: i ,r i -i i I D *c 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 S..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.

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 I- 20 base structure. The base structure has a base frame member and a soaker trav fixed to and extending around the base frame member. 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.

Preferably the top structure has a top frame member, a sheet of glazing material covering the exposed face of the top frame member and capping means arranged on the top frame member for preventing water entry into the assembly.

In an advantageous aspect of the assembly of the present invention, the top frame member and the b frame member are arranged so that corresponding sections of their peripheries arP 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.: 'i~P~--sazF~I The top frame member may be marginally larger than the base frame member so that when their upstrean edge sections are ubsantial vertical alignment, the top frame member have an overhang at the downstream edo 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 typically provided at the upstream 1 eeo means are hinges. et water entry i The capping means is conveniently configured to-preve ate r entry in he capping means exposed face of the top trame between the sheet of glazing material and the epoed fae of e e member, and in between the two frame members. A water proofing sealing material is advantageously arranged between the capping mesans nd ti shee f glazing material. In one form the capping means hs a substantially Lsha section which extends around the periphery of the top frame member. One arm section which extends around the periphe gz material and the other of the L-section extends partially over the sheet of glazing material and e other arm of the L-section extends below the top frame member. The free end of the other arm may h e folded for preventing accidental injury to an installer.

other arm may be o the upstream edges of the The L-shaped capping means is spaced from the upstream edges of tle frame members so that the top frame member can be rotated aboutthe coupling meansA resilient material such as a foam strip may be applied across one of the upstream edges for preventing water overflow.

An opening means is conveniently fixed to the top frame member for An opening seans has a chain fixed opening and closing the assembly. Typically the opening means as a chin e 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.

The skylight assembly of the present invention can accommodate any type of glazing material as it is simp!y 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 s~L' ~CI ~sl 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 herein:- 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; 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 downstreaend of te assembly shown in Figure

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Referring initially to Figure I there is shown a skylight assembly according to the present invention and the assembly is mounted over an opening 100 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 i 2 and fixed thereto. 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 upstrean section 16 is rotatably coupled to be a top structure which in this case by spaced hinges 36 (one only shown in Figure 3) and has a top ame mmber 24 (also see igues 3 and 4) and a sheet 26 of a glazing material, glass in this case, positioned on a bed of sealant material at the exposed face of the fame 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 S 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 24. The chain 32 can be extended or -i.

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i' retracted by operating the winder 30. This Fiure shos the sliht anblv

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in an open position. assembl Figure 2 shows that the assembl 10 is o a roo upport trtre 102 by metal strips 34. In this embodiment, each of te sid secorts 20 andtr 5 o nl y o n e s h 'own) is fie ,h ,o I e s ide ec tions 20 ad 2 2 (only one shownj is fixed to the support Structure 102 by two spaced strips 34.

As can be seen clearly in Figures 2 and 3 the i means 28 is 3 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 irom its upstream edge section 16A by beteen 10 t so that the top structure can rotate about the c plino 15 m m so t ha t t h e top structure 1 38 suc h rta abo s he coupling means 36 (hinges in this case). A resilient nalerial prevent water overflow oam s applied across the section 16 in order to s applied betwe enrw he 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 I 1 5 igure 3 lerly show tt 15Figure 3 clearly shows that the sections 16 and 1 6A of the respective base rae member 12 ad the top rame member 24 are in vertical align The capping means 28 is spaced from the sections 16 anrd 16A by abolign 10 to "i 6 0 As the top frame member 24 is slightly larger than the base frame iember 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 nember 24 can be made of any suitable material including aluminium sections steel sections and timber.

i| In a typical application, the base frame section 15, 18, 20 and 22 are 1 minium material and he top rame sections A, 1A, -A 25 and 22A are 50 x 2 5mm RHS of aluminium material.

Whilst the above has been given by ay f 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.

Claims (13)

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 and a soaker tray fixed to and extending around the base frame member, in use the base structure is positioned with its base frame member in the opening and the soaker tray extends at least to an adiacent roof material of the roof.

2. The skylight assembly according to claim 1 wherein the top structure has a top frame member with an exposed face, a sheet of glazing material covering at least part of the exposed face of the top frame member and capping means arranged on the top frame member for preventing water entry into the assembly.

3. The skylight assembly according to claim 2 wherein the top frame member and the base frame member are arranged so that corresponding sections of their peripheries are in substantial vertical alignment.

4. The skylight assembly according to claim 3 wherein each of said frame i:i members having opposed edge sections and side sections, the edge sections forming said corresponding sections and are adapted for installation at an 20 upstream part of the opening in the roof.

5. The skylight assembly according to claim 4 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 an overhang at the downstream edge section.

6. The skylight assembly according to claim 5 wherein the top frame member also has an overhang at each said side sections.

7. The skylight assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 6 wherein coupling means for the top frame member and the base frame member are provided at the upstream edges thereof.

8. The skylight assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 7 wherein the capping 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 7 the two frame members.

9. The skylight assembly according to any one of claim 8 wherein a water proofing sealing material is arranged between the capping means and the sheet of glazing material.

10. The skylight assembly according to any one of claims 3 to 9 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 the L-shaped capping means is spaced from the upstream edges of the frame members so that the top frame member can be rotated about the coupling means.

11. The skylight assembly according to any one of claims 3 to 10 wherein a resilient material is applied across one of the upstream edges for preventing water overflow. Si:: 15

12. The skylight assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 11 wherein an opening means is fixed to the top frame member for opening and closing the S.assembly.

13. A skylight assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings. DATED this 28th day of October 1998 THIRTIETH ACOL PTY LTD Trading as STATE WIDE SKYLIGHTS By their Patent Attorneys SINTELLPRO S\