GB2262949A

GB2262949A - Ventilator for a tiled roof

Info

Publication number: GB2262949A
Application number: GB9200085A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mark Hesketh
Original assignee: ECT Ltd; STEETLEY BUILDING PRODUCTS LIM
Current assignee: ECT Ltd; STEETLEY BUILDING PRODUCTS LIM
Priority date: 1992-01-03
Filing date: 1992-01-03
Publication date: 1993-07-07
Also published as: GB9200085D0

Abstract

A ventilating apparatus for fitment in a tiled roof comprises a cowl (60) made from a material similar to that of the tiles, an apertured plate (30) located below the cowl and defining a passage therewith which passage leads to a conduit (32) fixed to the underside of the plate around the aperture (34), the conduit being deformable to ease its location between, for example, tiling battens. Lugs (70) on cowl (60) seat in apertures (52) and nibs (68) behind ridge (46); nibs of adjacent tiles fit into recesses (54). An expanded mesh (80) keeps out vermin; circular-section pipe (40) may be left as it is, or attached to a vent pipe. <IMAGE>

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO VENTILATING APPARATUS The present invention concerns improvements in or relating to ventilating apparatus, especially ventilators adapted for use in tiled roofs to provide ventilation to the space below the roof or to provide an outlet for vent pipes.

The are currently employed a number of roof ventilating systems, for example, roof tiles incorporating ventilators which are intended for use in the ridge of a pitched roof building. Other ventilators are provided for incorporation in the sloping roof alongside normal tiles but heretofore these have suffered certain disadvantages for example, they may require different fixing means, they may require modification to the roof battens and they may be difficult to blend in with the existing tiles, both constructionally and aesthetically.

It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate these and other disadvantages.

According to the present invention there is provided a ventilating apparatus comprising a cowl, a roof covering plate having an aperture therein and a conduit fixed to the plate and communicating with the aperture, the cowl being spaced from the side of the plate remote from the conduit to define a passage between the cowl and the plate in communication with said aperture, said aperture and the part of the conduit with which it communicates having a width substantially greater than its depth, and said conduit being manufactured from a deformable material.

Preferably said cowl is formed from a ceramic material and has an upper planar member and two downwardly depending sides, the depth of which decreases rearwardly.

A downwardly directed lip or lug is formed from the rear edge of the cowl. Outwardly transversely and downwardly projecting lugs are formed on each side of the cowl.

Holes for the reception of fixing nails are provided along the rear edge of the cowl. The cowl is preferably formed from a ceramic material by a slip casting technique and subsequent firing.

A ventilating grille may be provided on the underside of th cowl at its forward end. Preferably the grille is formed from expanded anodised aluminium sheet and extends between the under surface of the cowl and the upper surface of the plate.

Preferably the plate has a transverse dimension greater than the transverse dimension of the cowl and a front-to-back dimension less than the corresponding dimension of the cowl. The plate is a continuous sheet of plastics material preferably formed by vacuum moulding.

Preferably the aperture therethrough is generally rectangular.

Preferably the plate has an upwardly directed ridge formed therein, having two spaced parallel portions running in the front-to-rear direction and a portion extending between said parallel portions and running in the transverse direction. The spacing between the front to rear portions of the rib may be equal to the spacing between the facing faces of the walls of the cowl.

Preferably the plate includes also recesses to accommodate the transversely projecting lugs of the cowl.

Preferably a series of diagonal corrugations is impressed into the upper surface of the plate to direct any water falling thereon to its lower edge away from said aperture.

Preferably transversely extending corrugations are provided on the plate to provide a location for the lower edges of the grille member or members. The plate may have further recesses formed therein for receiving fixing lugs of adjacent tiles of the roof to which the ventillating apparatus is fitted.

Preferably the conduit is formed from a resillient plastics material and comprises an upper portion in communication with said aperture in the plate which is of generally rectangular hollow cross-section and merges into a hollow circular cross-section lower portion. The dimensions of said upper rectangular section are such that they can be accommodated without deformation between roofing tile battens without adjusting said battens. The lower circular cross-section portion can pass through said space while deformed and after passage there through can return to its normal condition so that it can receive the upper end of a circular cross-section vent pipe.

The present invention provides also a ventilating apparatus comprising a resiliently deformable conduit and a roof engaging plate defining an aperture about which the conduit is attached, to provide a passage from a roof space.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a tiled roof including a ventilator of the present invention; Fig. 2 shows an exploded perspective view of the ventilator Fig. 3 shows a cross-section through a roof at a ventilator; and Figs. 4, 5 and 6 show a roof at various stages of a tiling operation, the tiling incorporating a ventilator of the type shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

A roof to be tiled (see Figs. 3 and 4) has a layer of roofing felt fixed thereto such that the roofing felt extends continuously over the roof trusses. A plurality of parallel horizontally extending equi-spaced tiling battens 12 are then nailed to the roof trusses, the spacing between the battens being predetermined in accordance with the dimensions of the tiles being used.

The tiles 14 are standard ceramic roofing tiles and, as can be seen in Figs. 1, 5 and 6, are laid in rows in staggered relationship, each tile at its upper edge having a dowardly directed lip or spaced lugs 16 so that the tile can be hooked over the batten 12 and fixed thereto by nails (not shown) passing through nail holes 18.

Current building regulations often require 5,000 mm2 ventilation per meter and as a result, at approximately 2 meter intervals across the tiles, roof ventilators are incorporated. It is desirable that the or each ventilator can be fitted without alteration of the roof battens 12, from the exterior of the building where the tiling operation is being carried out, with minimum disruption to the building, the ventilator being such that it blends aesthetically and mechanically into the tiling system being employed.

The present invention provides a ventilator which meets these requirements. Fig. 4 shows the first stage of fitting the ventilator and calls for the provision of a 300 mm wide gap in the roofing felt 10 between two battens 128 and 12C. The roofing felt forming the gap need not be removed but can be folded back over itself or the batten as shown by the reference numeral 20 in Fig. 4; The roof can then be tiled by fixing rows of tiles 22, 24 in staggered relationship. When the row 24 has been completed to either side of the aperture 26 through the roofing felt the plate 30 with the conduit 32 permanently fixed thereto by adhesive can be positioned.

The plate and conduit are best illustrated in Figs.

2 and 3. The plate comprises a sheet of plastics material cut into a rectangular shape. The front-to-rear dimension of the plate is greater than the front-to-rear dimension of a tile and the transverse dimension is slightly greater than the transverse dimension of three tiles. An aperture 34, the front-to-rear dimension of which is less than the spacing between two adjacent battens, is formed in the plate and is surrounded by a downwardly directed flange 36. The conduit 32 is fixed to the underside of the plate in communication with the slot 34, the conduit being formed from a soft plastics material by dip moulding and having an upper substantially rectangular hollow cross-section portion 38 which merges into a lower hollow circular cross-section second portion 40. An outwardly directed flange 42 is provided at the upper end of the conduit and it will be realised that this provides a surface for adhesive by which the conduit is attached to the underside of the plate with the aperture aligned with the opening 34 and the downwardly directed flange 36 penetrating into the upper portion of the conduit.

Because of the resilient nature of the conduit the circular cross-section 40 can be readily deformed and pushed through the space between adjacent battens. The length of the upper portion 38 is such that it penetrates through the battens and thereby, when the plate 30 lies on the row of tiles 34 and on the battens 12A and 12B, the lower portion 40 of the conduit is in the roof space and the upper portion 38 lies between the battens.

The plate 30 has upwardly directed ridges formed therein. There is provided a first pair of parallel spaced ridges 44 which extend in the front-to-rear direction to each side of the aperture 34. These are connected across their top by a transversely extending ridge 46. A further transversely extending ridge 48 extends between the ridges 44 and a still further ridge 50 parallel to the ridge 48 is provided at the forward end of the plate. A pair of spaced blind recesses 52, the purpose of which will be described later, are formed in the plate to each side of the ridges 44 at the level of the aperture 34 and a further pair of blind recesses 54 are provided at the level of the upper ridge 46. Once again the purpose of the recesses 54 will be defined later.

With the plate and conduit assembly positioned on the battens 12A, 12B and the row of tiles 34 as described above with particular reference to Fig. 5, a ceramic cowl 60, which is conveniently formed by slip casting and subsequent firing, is arranged over the plate. The external transverse dimension of the cowl is equal to two tile widths and its front-to-rear dimension 12 times the rear dimension of a tile. The cowl has an upper face 62 and two downwardly depending side walls 64, the side walls decreasing in depth from front-to-rear so that in use the tile defines an opening 66 at its forward edge. The cowl is located on the roof by means of downwardly directed lugs 68 at its rear edge, the inner faces of its side wall 64 locating against the outer faces of the ridges 44 of the plate.Each of the side walls 64 has a transversely directed lug 70 projecting therefrom, the lug projecting downwardly below the lower face of each wall. The lug 70 are accommodated in the blind recesses 52 in the plate.

To prevent the entry of leaves, animals, etc.

through the opening 66 defined by the cowl, a grille member 80 is set across the opening. The grille member is formed from a sheet of anodized aluminium expandedmesh and it is formed into the inverted U-shape illustrates in Fig.

2. It is fixed to the under face of the cowl 60 by adhesive 82 and its free lower edges abut the upper face of the plate 30, the rear edge being held against rearward movement by the ridge 48 of the plate. The cowl is finally fixed in position by nails which pass through nail holes 72 near its rearward edge and penetrate the batten 12A (but not the plate 30). The next row 25 of tiles can then be laid with the tiles 27 adjacent the cowl being tiles of 14 times the normal transverse dimension, such tiles being standard tiles normally employed at the end of a row of tiles, the lugs 16 of these tiles adjacent to the cowl being located in the blind recesses 54 formed in the plate.The row 25 of tiles is fixed to the batten 128 by nails in the normal manner although care is taken to ensure that no nails for the adjacent tiles 27 pass through the plate 30. The succeeding row of tiles 29 is then laid as normal, fully covering the plate 30, and the next upper row 31 will obviously overlie the row 29 and the upper third of the cowl.

If the ventilator is required to perform simply as a ventilation opening for the roof space no further work is required. It may, however, be utilised as the outlet from a vent pipe in which case the vent pipe is fitted in the roof space into the lower portion 40 of the conduit.

To ensure that any water finding its way to the underside of the tiles is directed away from the opening 26 in the roofing felt, the plate 30 which surrounds said opening is formed with drainage channels in at least its upper face. The drainage channels are provided by a plurality of spaced parallel diagonally arranged corrugations 86, which are shown only diagrammatically in Fig. 2, projecting upwardly from the plate. They are directed towards shallow channels 86 surrounding the ridges 44,46. The projections 84 between the parallel ridges 48 and 50 are arranged parallel to said ridges and provide restraint for the other lower edge of the ventilator grille 80.

Various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention, for example, the conduit can take any desired shape such that it can accommodate vent pipes of differing cross-sections. The plate can assume a number of different configurations, provided it provides location for the cowl and adjacent roof tiles and ensures a waterproof layer around the opening 26 through the roofing felt. The cowl can also take many different forms but the form described and illustrates is most aesthetically pleasing and mechanically interfits with standard roofing tiles.

Whilst endeavouring in the foregoing specification to draw attention to those features of the invention believed to be of particular importance it should be understood that the Applicant claims protection in respect of any patentable feature or combination of features hereinbefore referred to and/or shown in the drawings whether or not particular emphasis has been placed thereon.

Claims

1. A ventilating apparatus comprising a cowl, a roof covering plate having an aperture therein and a conduit fixed to the plate and communicating with the aperture, the cowl being spaced from the face of the plate remote from the conduit to define a passage between the cowl and the plate in communication with said aperture, said aperture and the part of the conduit with which it communicates having a width substantially greater than its depth, and said conduit being manufactured from a deformable material.

2. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, in which said cowl is formed from a ceramic material and has an upper planar member and two downwardly depending sides, the depth of which decreases rearwardly.

3. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which a downwardly directed lip or lug is formed from the rear edge of the cowl.

4. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, in which outwardly transversely and downwardly projecting lugs are formed on each side of the cowl.

5. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which holes for the reception of fixing nails are provided along the rear edge of the cowl.

6. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the cowl is formed from a ceramic material by a slip casting or pressing technique and subsequent firing.

7. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which a ventilating grille is provided on the underside of the cowl at its forward end.

8. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in Claim 7, in which the grille is formed from expanded aluminium sheet and extends between the under surface of the cowl and the upper surface of the plate.

9. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the plate has a transverse dimension greater than the transverse dimension of the cowl and a front-to-back dimension less than the corresponding dimension of the cowl.

10. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the plate is a continuous sheet of plastics material preferably formed by vacuum moulding.

11. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the aperture through the plate is generally rectangular.

12. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the plate has an upwardly directed ridge formed therein, having two spaced parallel portions running in the front-to-rear direction and a portion extending between said parallel portions and running in the transverse direction.

13. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in Claim 12, in which the spacing between the front to rear portions of the rib is equal to the spacing between the facing faces of the walls of the cowl.

14. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the plate includes also recesses to accommodate tjle transversely projecting lugs of the cowl.

15. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which a series of diagonal corrugations is impressed into the upper surface of the plate to direct any water falling thereon to its lower edge away from said aperture.

16 A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which transversely extending corrugations are provided on the plate to provide a location for the lower 4 edges of the grille member or members.

17. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the plate has further recesses formed therein for receiving fixing lugs of adjacent tiles of the roof to which the ventilating apparatus is fitted.

18. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the conduit is formed from a resillient plastics material and comprises an upper portion in communication with said aperture in the plate which is of generally rectangular hollow cross-section and merges into a hollow circular cross-section lower portion.

19. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in Claim 18, in which the dimensions of said upper rectangular section are such that they can be accommodated without deformation between roofing tile battens without adjusting said battens.

20. A ventilating apparatus as claimed in Claim 18 or Claim 19, in which the lower circular cross-section portion can pass through said space while deformed and after passage therethrough can return to its normal condition so that it can receive the upper end of a circular cross-section vent pipe.

21. A ventilating apparatus comprising a resiliently deformable conduit and a roof engaging plate defining an aperture about which the conduit is attached, to provide a passage from a roof space.

22. A ventilating apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.

23. Any novel subject matter or combination including novel subject matter herein disclosed, whether or not within the scope of or relating to the same invention as any of the preceding claims.