GB2103677A - Canopy - Google Patents

Abstract

A canopy (10) comprises elongate rigid panel members (13) having circular or rectangular section fold formation along each of two opposed edges, interengaging so that the panel members (13) are in side by side disposition. The panel assembly may be supported by top-hat section purlins (16) and rafters (17) and by a wall mounted bracket (12) having a pair of spaced flanges (14, 15) between which the ends of the panel members (13) are received. The other ends of the panel members (13) may be supported by posts (25). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Canopy This invention relates to canopies of the type which is secured to a wall or other supporting structure and disposed above a doorway, a window or to cover an area adjacent the supporting structure such as a patio or car parking area.

In the case of canopies provided above a doorway or window the canopy may be rigid or more usually flexible so as to be retractable when not required. In the case of a cover for a patio, carport or the like the canopy is usually rigid and rigidly supported at one or more points remote from the aforementioned wall or other supporting structure. In the former case the flexible material tends to deteriorate relatively quickly due to weathering and frequent extraction from and retraction into a folded or rolled configuration.

Also such an arrangement includes moving parts which require frequent maintenance if the canopy is to be operable in a satisfactory manner. In the latter case the canopy structure generally requires the use of skilled labour and costly materials for its installation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a canopy with which the above disadvantages are obviated or at least reduced to a considerable extent.

The invention provides a canopy for attachment to a wall or other supporting structure comprising a plurality of elongate panel members in side-byside disposition, each panel member being folded along its opposed longitudinally extending edges so as to provide a formation extending therealong, and adapted to interengage with a formation on an adjacent panel member, and securing means adapted to secure said plurality of panel members to said supporting structure. Preferably each formation comprises a fold of at least 2700.

The panel members may be of like form whereby the formation extending along one edge of one panel is adapted to interengage with a formation of another panel corresponding with the formation extending along the opposed edge of said one panel.

Alternatively the canopy may comprise first and second panel members, each first panel member having a formation extending along each of its opposed longitudinally extending edges adapted to interengage with the formation of an adjacent second panel member.

Each formation may be of circular or substantially circular cross-section, but preferably each formation is of rectangular or substantially rectangular cross-section. The formations, when interengaged may form an enclosed space therewithin. The panel members may be secured to each other by screw means extending through the interengaged formations into the space therewithin from that side of the canopy which in use is the underside thereof.

The securing means may comprise an angle member which may have a pair of parallel flanges spaced so as to accommodate a panel member therebetween.

The canopy may comprise one or a plurality of rafters, and the or each rafter may be of inverted top-hat section. The canopy may also comprise one or a plurality of purlins, the or each purlin also being of inverted top-hat section.

The invention will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a sectional end elevation of one embodiment, Fig. 2 is a detail of the canopy of Fig. 1 to an enlarged scale, Fig. 3 is a sectional end elevation of a second embodiment, Fig. 4 is an end view of one embodiment of two panel members used in the construction of a canopy in accordance with the invention, and, Fig. 5 is an end view of a second embodiment of two panel members.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2 there is shown a canopy 10 such as is suitable for providing a carport or the like covered space. The canopy 10 is secured to a wall 11 by means of a bracket 12, and comprises a plurality of panel members 13 disposed in side-by-side relationship. Each panel member 1 3 extends in a direction downwardly and away from the bracket 12, which has upper and lower flanges 14, 1 5 in which the uppermost ends of panel members 1 3 are retained and supported. The length of the canopy 10 is governed simply by the number of panel members 1 3 provided and retained by bracket 12.

The panel members 13 are of a form, and are secured to each other in a particular manner, to be described more fully hereinafter. However, the panel members 13 are also secured to purlins 16 (three being shown in Fig. 1) which are of inverted 'top-hat' cross-section and extend parallel with wall 11 from end to end of the canopy 10. The purlins 1 6 are themselves secured to a plurality of rafters 17 which are also secured to angle 12 by means of flanges 1 8.

At the edge of the canopy 1 0 parallel with but remote from the wall 12 the panel members 1 3 are bent as at 19 so as to extend vertically downward and form a pelmet 20. A further purlin 21 extends along the pelmet 20, being of top-hat section with its flanges secured to the panel members 13.

At each end of canopy 10 further panel members 22 are provided in side-by-side vertical disposition to form end fillets 23, the panel members 22 being chamfered at their upper edges to correspond with the slope of the canopy 10. The panel members 23 are secured to each other in a manner to be described and are also secured to purlins 24.

The canopy 10 is supported at the edge remote from the wall 12 by posts 25 located at the corners and spaced along the length of the canopy as required. At one end at least of the canopy 10 a further post 26 may be provided as shown in Fig.

1 , the provision of such post or posts being dependent upon the purpose of canopy 10, its size and the requirement of access thereunder, for example by a motor vehicle in the case of a carport.

Referring now to Fig. 3 there is shown a canopy 30 which is of a type suitable for placing above a door or window to screen the same from the sun or rain. The construction of canopy 30 is similar to that of the canopy 10 of the Fig. 1 embodiment, but in this case the panel members 13 are bent at several locations 31 to 34 to provide sections of increasing slope away from wall 12. Since canopy 30 is smaller than canopy 10 only one purlin 16 is provided and for the same reason and on account of the shape of canopy 30 no rafters 1 7 or posts 25, 26 are provided in the embodiment shown.

However posts 25 may be provided if desired, particularly in the case of a canopy mounted above a door so as to give a porch effect.

Referring now to Fig. 4 there is shown two forms 41,42 of panel member 13 which cooperate with each other to form the canopy 10 or 30. Panel member 31 comprises a generally rectangular sheet of material, preferably of aluminium, which has folds along lines parallel with its longer edges. In this case panel member 41 has five fold lines at which the sheet material is bent through an angle of 900, the fold lines being spaced so that a rectangular spiral box 43 is formed along each longitudinal edge of the panel member 41. Panel member 42 is formed of the same material as and in a similar manner to panel member 41, except that the boxes 44 formed along each longitudinal edge of panel member 42 are formed by three spaced parallel folds, each of 900.The spacing of the fold lines of boxes 44 is, relative to the spacing of the fold lines of boxes 43, such that a box 43 and a box 44 are sliding fits one within the other. In this way a panel member 41 and a panel member 42 may be joined together by sliding one panel member from end to end relative to the other panel member. A plurality of panel members 41 and 42 may be joined together in alternative disposition so as to form a canopy 10, 30 of the required length.The panel members 41, 42 may be further secured to each other by means of screws 45, preferably of the self-tapping type, which are inserted from the side of the canopy which in use is to be the underside thereof, the screws 45 extending into the enclosed space formed within boxes 43, 44. This provides a sealing between the boxes 43, 44 to prevent the ingress of water and also avoids the provision of holes in the upper surface of the canopy through which water could penetrate.

In the embodiment of Fig. 5 the panel members 51, 52 are of similar material to panel members 41,42 and are formed in like manner except in so far as the folding along each longitudinal edge thereof is of substantially circular form. In this way 'cylinders' 53 and 54 are formed on panel members 51,52 respectively. 'Cylinder' 53 is formed as a spiral of 4500 and 'cylinder' 54 is formed as a spiral of 2700, the sizes of the two spirals being such that the panel members 51, 52 may be slid into engagement with each other in the same manner as panel members 41,42. Again a plurality of panel members 51,52 may be joined together in alternate disposition so as to form a canopy 1 0, 30 of the required length.

The angles 12, purlins 1 6, 21, 24, rafters 17 and posts 25, 26 are also preferably of aluminium although other weather resistant materials, such as plastics material or treated steel, may be used in certain contexts if desired, and the various parts of the canopy are readily extruded and cut to the desired length. As a consequence a canopy of any desired shape and size is readily constructed from a relatively few basic parts, thus providing a simple and inexpensive means for supplying any number of canopies of differing sizes and shapes but of matching appearance.

In order to form the canopy 10, 30 to the shape required as seen in end elevation, V-shaped grooves are formed in boxes 43, 44 or 'cylinders' 53, 54 at the appropriate bend line 19, 31 to 34 prior to assembiy of the panel members, which are then bent to the required shape and secured to each other. The purlins 1 6, 21, 24 are secured to the boxes 43, 44 or 'cylinders' 53, 54 so that again no holes appear in the upper surface of canopy 10, 30 through which water could gain access.

Alternative embodiments of canopy in accordance with the invention will be readily apparent to persons skilled in the art. For example, instead of providing two forms of panel member 41 and 42 or 51 and 52 a single form may be provided having a box 43 or 'cylinder' 53 at one edge and a box 44 or cylinder 54 at the other edge. In such a case one panel member would always overlie the adjacent panel member in a given direction so that the panel members could be disposed parallel with the wall structure instead of transversely thereto as in the cases illustrated herein. Also in such a case the length of the canopy would be governed by the length of each panel member and the width of the canopy by the number of panel members joined together.

As a further alternative the fold formations along the longitudinal edges of the panel members could be of sections other than rectangular or substantially circular and could be formed through angles other than those shown in Figs. 4 and 5, although angles of at least 2700 are preferred since in that case separation of adjacent panel members in any direction other than by relative longitudinal sliding is prevented.

As an alternative to the use of self-tapping screws 45, 55 other securing means may be used, for example adhesive or screws engaging with captive nuts located within box 43 or 'cylinder' 53.

The pitch of the canopy of Figs. 1 and 2 is indicated as being 100. However greater or lesser pitches may be used if required by the particular circumstances in any case. For example for a relatively small canopy of the type shown in Figs.

1 and 2, such as may be used above a door or window, a pitch of 20 may be preferred.

Claims (16)

1. A canopy for attachment to a wall or other supporting structure, comprising a plurality of elongate panel members in side-by-side disposition, each panel member being folded along opposed longitudinally extending edges so as to provide a formation extending therealong, and adapted to interengage with a formation on an adjacent panel member, and securing means adapted to secure said plurality of mutually engaged panel members to said supporting structure.

2. A canopy according to claim 1 wherein each formation comprises a fold of at least 270 .

3. A canopy according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein each panel is of like form, whereby the formation extending along one edge of any one panel is adapted to interengage with a formation of another panel corresponding with the formation extending along the opposed edge of said one panel.

4. A canopy according to claim 1 or claim 2 comprising first and second panel members, each first panel member having a formation along each of its opposed longitudinally extending edges, each adapted to interengage with the formation of an adjacent second panel member.

5. A canopy according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein each formation is of substantially circular cross-section.

6. A canopy according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein each formation is of substantially rectangular cross-section.

7. A canopy according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the interengaged formations form an enclosed space therewithin.

8. A canopy according to claim 7 wherein the panel members are secured to each other by attachment means extending through the interengaged formations into said enclosed space from that side of the canopy which in use is the underside thereof.

9. A canopy according to claim 8 wherein the attachment means comprises screws.

10. A canopy according to any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein the securing means comprises an angle member having a pair of opposed flanges spaced so as to accommodate a first end of each of said panel members therebetween.

11. A canopy according to any one of claims 1 to 10 comprising at least one rafter.

1 2. A canopy according to claim 11 wherein the or each rafter is of inverted top-hat section.

13. A canopy according to any one of claims 1 to 12 comprising at least one purlin.

14. A canopy according to claim 13 wherein the or each purlin is of inverted top-hat section.

15. A canopy according to claim 10 or any claim dependent thereon comprising at least one support post adapted to support said plurality of panel members at locations thereof remote from said first ends.

16. A canopy according to any one of claims 1 to 1 5 wherein each panel member is of aluminium sheet material.

1 7. A canopy substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 or Fig. 3, and comprising panel members as illustrated in Fig. 4 or Fig. 5 of the accompanying drawings.