GB2102861A - Leaf guard for rainwater downpipe gulleys - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a leaf guard (1) for fitting around the gulley (2) of a rainwater downpipe (3) to inhibit clogging of the gulley by leaves. The guard comprises a screen member (7, 8, 9), preferably of plastics, having rows of mainly rectangular apertures defined by crossing sets of bars (10, 11). By cutting away some bars at the rear of the screen an opening (6) so formed to enable the screen (1) to be fitted around the downpipe (3). The screen is retained by a clip (13) which can be snapped on to the bars (10) behind the downpipe (3). The screen may include a series of overlapping circular or semi-circular bars (12) to enable the screen to fit more closely around a circular downpipe. The size of the screen may be adapted to the gulley by cutting away bars at its edges. The bars are preferably able to be cut by a domestic utensil. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Leaf guard for rainwater downpipe gulleys Rainwater downpipes extend from the guttering of a building and discharge into a gulley which is often surrounded by a shallow wall, normally formed by concrete or a few bricks, and known as a drainbox. At various times of the year, particularly in the autumn, the gulley becomes clogged, particularly if surrounded by a drainbox, with fallen leaves and other debris, which can result in undesirable over-flowing in heavy rain unless the gulley is regularly cleared of leaves and debris.

Such clogging can be inhibited by fitting wire netting around the downpipe over its discharge end and over the gulley or drainbox, but such a wire netting guard can be unsightly unless carefully made, and freeing it from the leaves which collect about it can be difficult.

The present invention has for its object to provide a leaf guard for the purpose indicated which can be cheaply produced industrially, can be adapted by simply cutting with a saw, scissors, secateurs or other domestic appliance to fit gulleys and drainboxes of different dimensions and with different dispositions of the downpipe, which resists unintentional displacement when in position, provides effective exclusion of leaves from the gulley or drainbox, is easy to remove and replace to permit access to the gulley, is easy to clean, and is of acceptable appearance.

From one aspect, the leaf guard according to the invention comprises a screen member of a size sufficient to cover gulleys or drainboxes within the normal range of sizes and having rows of mainly rectangular openings, defined by crossing sets of bars, and extending from adjacent an edge of the screen to include a zone embracing the locations across the width of the screen (parallel to said edge) corresponding to at least the normal positions which a downpipe can occupy relative to its gulley or drainbox, at least said bars being fabricated of plastics, metal or other waterresistant material of hardness and thickness such that the bars can be easily severed, for example, with a saw, domestic scissors or secateurs, whereby readily to adapt the screen size to the size of the gulley or drainbox and also to provide it with a cut-away opening at a location thereon and of a size permitting the downpipe to pass through the screen.

From another aspect the invention consists in a leaf guard for rainwater downpipe gulleys comprising a screen member preferably of a material which can be easily severed by a domestic utensil, of a size suitable to cover the gulley to be guarded, at least a zone of said screen member being defined by crossing sets of spaced apart substantially parallel bars, said zone extending along one edge of the member and inwards of said edge for a distance which is at least one and one half times the diameter of the downpipe with which the leaf guard is intended for use.

The screen may also include a series of circular or semi-circular bars, preferably in overlapping array, indicating positions where a cut-away opening could be made for a cylindrical downpipe.

Preferably the bars of the rectangular openings are substantially tangential to the circulr or semicircular bars, which latter preferably have a diameter which is an integral multiple of the spacing between the bars of a set of crossing bars.

From a further aspect, the invention consists in a leaf guard for rainwater downpipe gulleys comprising a screen member, preferably fabricated of material which can be cut by domestic utensils, at least a zone of which is defined by two crossing sets of substantially equally spaced linear bars, the bars of a set being parallel to each other, and on which are superimposed a series of overlapping circular or semi-circular bars each having a diameter equal to an integral multiple of the spacing between the linear bars and having at least two diametrically opposite points on its periphery coincident with or touching a linear bar, the centres of at least some of said circular or semi-circular bars lying on a line parallel to and spaced by more than one half the said diameter from the linear bar defining an edge of the screen member.

When the bottom of a downpipe is below the level of the top of the drainbox the screen may be flat and, after cutting to size and to receive the downpipe, simply rest on the top of the drainbox.

In other cases the screen may be provided with downwardly extending side walls to raise the screen surface above the level of the bottom of the downpipe or its spout, if provided. To this end the guard may be fabricated, e.g. by moulding or stamping, with integral side walls. Alternatively it can be fabricated as a flat screen which is subsequently shaped for example by folding down edge zones, if necessary after cutting to facilitate the shaping. Preferably the lower edges of the side walls are provided or formed with inwardly or outwardly projecting flanges to resist buckling of said lower edges and to provide a greater bearing area on the top surface of the drainbox or around the gulley.

It will be appreciated that, in general, the side walls need only be provided around three sides of the screen since the fourth side will normally abut against the wall supporting the downpipe.

Where it is not possible to thread the downpipe through a cut-away opening in the screen, the cutaway opening can be generally U-shaped and extend from the side of the screen which abuts the wall. A feature of the invention consists in providing a retainer, conveniently in the form of a clip or other member which can be snapped on to or otherwise engaged with bars behind the downpipe, to restrain the guard from being pulled away from the wall to an undesirable extent but which can be readily removed or released when it is desired to remove the guard.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of leaf guard according to the invention, shown positioned on a drainbox and around a downpipe, Fig. 2 is a projected plan view of the leaf guard of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a section through the leaf guard taken along the line A-A of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the leaf guard, generally indicated by the reference 1, is shown in Fig. 2 resting on a drainbox 2 and positioned around a rainwater downpipe 3 secured to the wall 4 of a house by brackets, one of which forms part of the spout 5 at the lower end of the downpipe 3. As shown in Fig. 2, a portion of the guard has been cut away at 6 to enable it to be positioned around the downpipe 3. Before such cutting away, the guard has a projected plan view as shown in Fig. 1.

The guard comprises a screen member, generally rectangular in plan, having a flat top portion 7, sloping side walls 8 around 3 sides of the top portion 7 and outwardly extending flanges 9 around the lower ends of the side walls, which flanges rest on the top of the drainbox 2. The height of the side walls is preferably such that the top portion 7 will be positioned above the spout 5 when the leaf guard is resting on the drainbox.

The screen member comprises two sets of crossing linear bars 10, 1 the bars 10 being parallel to each other and extending from the rear side (nearest to the wall 4) to the front side of the screen member, and the bars 11 extending perpendicularly to the bars 10 to form rectangular, preferably square, openings over the top portion 7, side walls 8 and flanges 9.

The screen member also comprises a series of overlapping circular bars 12 having a diameter equal to an integral multiple, in the embodiment shown this multiple is 3, of the spacing between the linear bars and disposed so that some linear bars of both sets 10 and 11 are substantially tangential to a circular bar, as shown. The centres of the circular bars 12 are arranged on a line parallel to and spaced by more than one half the diameters of the circular bars from that one of the linear bars 11 which defines the rear side of the screen member. In the embodiment shown the said lines of centres is such that two rows of rectangular openings exist between a circular bar and the linear bar 11 defining the said rear side.

The series of circular bars 12 extends across the width of the top portion 7 and also part-way down to side walls 8.

The screen member is conveniently made of a plastics material, for example, by injection moulding or vacuum forming and punching, of a grade and thickness such that the bars can be readily severed, for example, by a saw, domestic scissors or secateurs. Some of each of the bars 10 and 11 may be made of increased thickness to constitute strengthening ribs for providing the desired rigidity to the screen member.

To fit the guard, it is rested on the top of the drainbox, preferably symmetrically, and offered up to the downpipe to determine the position where the cut-away is to be made. The bars 11 of the appropriate 3-opening group are severed, as are also the two intermediate bare 10 where they join the corresponding circular bar. If the base of the U-shaped cut-away does not lie sufficiently close to the downpipe, a portion of the screen member may be removed from its rear side by cutting through the bars 10, until the desired fit is achieved. If any of the flanges 9 then overlap the drainbox, it may be trimmed off by cutting through the appropriate bars.

To retain the guard in position, a U-shaped clip 1 3 (Fig. 1) may be positioned over the bars 10 defining the sides of the cut-away 6. The clip may be made of plastics material and may be retained in position by a snap-action produced by the resilience of the bars 10 and/or of the legs of the clip. To hold the clip against the downpipe, the bars 10 may be provided with projections 1 4 as shown in Fig. 2.

Instead of using a separate retainer, the guard may be kept in position by only cutting away part of those bars which can engage the pipe when located in the cut-away.

Where the lower end of the downpipe is plain, it may be sufficient to cut-away those bars 10 and 11 which lie within the elected circular bar 12.

When fitting the guard to a gulley having a downpipe of rectangular cross section, the circular bars 12 may be ignored.

In one particular embodiment the leaf guard could be about 50 cm wide and 30 cm from front to back, the linear bars being spaced by about 2.4 cm, centre to centre.

By making the bars about 0.3 cm wide, a cutout 3 openings wide would accommodate a conventional 22" (6.35 cm) diameter downpipe.

By either leaving or wholly or partly removing the flanges 9, the leaf guard could be adapted for drainbox widths of 40 to 50 cm and back to front depths of 30 to 35 cm (disregarding any removal of a portion of the back edge of the screen).

While a particular embodiment has been described, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus the bars may be spaced differently. The circular bars 12 may be omitted, if desired, since the small spaces which would remain between a rectangular cut-out and a cylindrical downpipe are insufficiently large to permit leaves which could cause clogging to pass through the screen members. Series of circular bars of different diameters may be included in the screen pattern. Further, since one half of the periphery of a circular bar is removed in a cutaway, these parts may be omitted from the screen pattern, thus leaving semi-circular bars.

Claims (14)

1. A leaf guard comprising a screen member of a size sufficient to cover gulleys or drainboxes within the normal range of sizes and having rows of mainly rectangular openings, defined by crossing sets of bars, and extending from adjacent an edge of the screen to include a zone embracing the locations across the width of the screen (parallel to said edge) corresponding to at least the normal positions which a downpipe can occupy relative to its gulley or drainbox, at least said bars being fabricated of plastics, metal or other waterresistant material of hardness and thickness such that the bars can be easily severed, for example, with a saw, domestic scissors or secateurs, whereby readily to adapt the screen size to the size of the gulley or drainbox and also to provide it with a cut-way opening at a location thereon and of a size permitting the downpipe to pass through the screen.

2. A leaf guard for rainwater downpipe gulleys comprising a screwn member fabricated of a material which can be easily severed by a domestic utensil, of a size suitable to cover the gulley to be guarded, at least a zone of said screen member being defined by crossing sets of spaced apart substantially parallel bars, said zone extending along one edge of the member and inwards of said edge for a distance which is at least one and one half times the diameter of the downpipe with which the leaf guard is intended for use.

3. A leaf guard according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the screen also includes a series of circular or semi-circular bars, in overlapping array, indicating positions where a cut-away opening could be made for a cylindrical downpipe.

4. A leaf guard according to claim 3, wherein the circular or semi-circular bars have a diameter which is an integral multiple of the spacing between the bars of a set of crossing bars.

5. A leaf guard according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the bars of the rectangular openings are substantially tangential to the circular or semicircular bars.

6. A leaf guard for rainwater downpipe gulleys comprising a screen member at least a zone of which is defined by two crossing sets of substantially equally spaced linear bars, the bars of a set being parallel to each other, and on which are superimposed a series of overlapping circular or semi-circular bars each having a diameter equal to an integral multiple of the spacing between the linear bars and having at least two diametrically opposite points on its periphery coincident with or touching a linear bar, the centres of at least some of said circular or semi-circular bars lying on a line parallel to and spaced by more than one half the said diameter from the linear bar defining an edge of the screen member.

7. A leaf guard according to any preceding claim, wherein the screen is provided with downwardly extending side walls.

8. A leaf guard according to claim 7, wherein the lower edges of the side walls are provided or formed with inwardly or outwardly projecting flanges to provide a bearing area for resting on the drainbox or around the gulley.

9. A leaf guard according to any preceding claim, in combination with a retainer in the form of a clip or member which can be snapped on to or otherwise engaged with bars at opposite sides of a cut-away opening in the screen for receiving the downpipe.

10. A leaf guard substantially as described with reference to the drawings.

1 The combination of a rainwater downpipe fixed to the wall of a building and a rainwater gulley or drainbox into which the outlet of the downpipe discharges, wherein the gulley or drainbox is covered by a leaf guard comprising a screen member at least a zone of which along its edge adjacent to the wall is defined by crossing sets of spaced apart parallel bars, said zone extending inwards of said edge for a distance which is at least one and one half times the dimension, perpendicular to the wall of the downpipe, some of said bars being cut to provide an opening, extending from said edge, of a size allowing the screen member to be positioned around the downpipe with its said edge touching or closely adjacent the wall.

12. The combination according to claim 11 and including a retainer attached to the bars and extending across the opening between the downpipe and the wall.

1 3. The combination according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the screen also includes a series of circular or semi-circular bars in overlapping array, one of which forms a curved inner end to the cutout opening.

14. The combination according to claim 11, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.