US3067881A - Means for securing screening to building gutters - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 11, 1962 F. H. GOOSMANN MEANS FOR SECURING SCREENING TO BUILDING GUTTERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 14, 1959 v l k INVENTOR. F aeo ll. Qioasmnmv,

Dec. 11, 1962 F. H. GOOSMANN MEANS FOR SECURING SCREENING TO BUILDING GUTTERS Filed May 14, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 III! IIIIIII/ INVENTOR.

FRED H GaasMA/Wy BY l-0lkj United States r spacer MEANS FOR SECURING SCREENING T BUILDING GUTTERS Fred H. Goosmann, 5970 Oak Ridge Road,

, Hamilton, Ohio Filed May 14, 1959, Ser. No. 813,246 4 Claims. (Cl. 210-474) would be the case if the job could be more economically accomplished.

The chief purpose for applying screening to a building or roof gutter is to prevent the depositing of leaves in the gutter and which leaves find their way to the gutter drain opening or downspout and clogs the same. I The gutter screening generally employed is what is known as quarter inch wire cloth and it has been considered necessary and essential to reinforce or finish the edges of the screening and secure the screening in position on the upper edges of the gutter in such a way that a tool was required to effect both the securing of the screen in position as well as for releasing the screen from the gutter when access to the interior of the gutter was desired.

The present invention overcomes the objections to the screening heretofore employed and the rather expensive way of securing the said screening in position.

It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide a gutter screen and means for securing the same in operative position that is economical to produce, acquire and use. 7

It is also an object of this invention to provide a gutter screen together with means for securing the screen in position whereby said screen may be readily mounted and secured in position and just as readily demounted to permit access to the gutter.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention should be readily apparent by reference to the following specification considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof and it is to be understood that any modifications may be made in the exact structural details there shown and described, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from or exceeding the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of one form of gutter with which the screen and mounting or securing means of the present invention may be employed.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a second form of gutter with which the screen and mounting or securing means of the present invention may be employed.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view through the gutter of FIG. 1 showing the screen and its securing means of the present invention in operative position.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of a gutter and its mounted screen of the type and construction disclosed in KG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing on an enlarged scale the cross section of gutter of FIG. 2 with a screen secured in operative position by the securing means of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary horizontal plan view of a portion of a gutter such as disclosed in FIG. 5 with the screen secured in operative position.

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of a screen mounting and securing clip forming a detail of the present invention.

atent "ice fihlhhl Patented Dec. 11, 1962 FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 showing a. modification; in a screen mounting and securing clip.

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIGS. 7 and 8 showing a further modification in the screen mounting and securing clip.

Throughout the several views of the drawings similar reference characters are employed to denote the same or similar parts.

As somewhat diagrammatically illustrated in the drawings, a building, particularly at its upper end, is provided with uprights 9 and an exterior facing or surface construction including a member indicated at 10 which is at the upper end of the building and has the roofing rafters 11 extending, generally, at an upward, inward angle on which is secured the roof 12 which may take the form of sheeting or the like. Secured to the sheeting is the roofing material or visible roof 13 that may take the form of water proof and fire resistant shingles, generally referred to as asbestos shingles. The said shingles and even the roof sheeting 12 generally project outwardly of the upper end of the framing or exterior surface member 16 of the building.

Secured to the said upper end and exterior member 10 is the gutter, a standard form of which is illustrated in FIG. 1 at 14. This gutter 14 is generally referred to as a half round gutter and comprises a substantially semicircular bottom or body portion 15 from which upwardly xtends sides 16 and 17. The side 16 may have its upper end reinforced and is secured in any suitable or acceptable manner such as by nails 18 to the outer surface exterior member 10 of the building. The front side 16 of the gutter is likewise reinforced by having its free end rolled on itself as a head 19. The gutter is secured to the member it) of the housing at a point below the upper end thereof and with a space of the member 10 exposed, as indicated at 20 in the drawings, so that the lower free ends of the roof 12 and roofing material 13 project over the open upperend of the gutter but be in a plane upwardly of the upper end of the gutter sides 16 and 17.

The modified gutter illustrated in FIG. 2 is generally referred to as an ogeegutter and is substantially rectangular in cross-section including, however, the elements of the gutter in FlG. 1. The said gutter 21 in FIG. 2, therefore, includes a bottom 22 substantially horizontal or at right angles to the building frame and from the inner endof which bottom upstands a side 23 at right angles to the bottom 22. Upstanding from the other end of the gutter bottom 22 is the front side which includes a lower portionZ-i at right angles to the gutter bottom 22 followed by a reversely bent body portion 25 and top portion which includes an exterior vertical portion 26 and an inwardly projecting horizontal portion 27.

Insofar as this invention is concerned it makes no difference whether the half round gutter of FIG. 1 or the ogee gutter of FIG. 2 is employed, since, they are each mounted on the building with respect to the free end of the roof in the same manner so that the roof discharges into the gutter at a point, generally, above the horizontal plane of the gutter open upper end.

in the present invention and particularly in the method of applying a screen to the gutter advantage is taken of the space 20 above the back side or wall of the gutter and the upper end of the building member 10 for mounting the rear end of the screen. In other words, and as seen in FIG. 3, for example, the gutter screen 29 has its rear end 30 solidly abutted against the inner surface of the building front member llil and has the said inner end 36 as high up under the overhang of the roof 12-13 as possible and with the front end 31 of the screen 29 at the outer edge of the gutter, particularly the outer edge of the gutter head 19 in FIG. 1, and outer edge of the horizontal portion 27 of the gutter in FIG. 2.

It should be noted that the upper edges of the gutter back and front sides are in the same plane and, therefore, since the inner end of the screen 29 is elevated above the upper edge of the gutter back side or wall and the forward edge 31 of the gutter is on the upper edge of the gutter front side or wall, the screen 29 will be on a slight downward angle outwardly of the building, as clearly illustrated, for example, in FIG. 3. It remains now merely to secure the screen 29 in this position.

Specifically, the present invention contemplates clips readily formable of relatively stiff wire which can be applied at any point on the forward edge 31 of the screen and clipped in position to the upper edge of the gutter front wall, as shown for example in FIG. 3.

The securing clamp in FIG. 3 and more clearly illustrated in FIG. 7, comprises a pair of parallel arms 32 and 33 between which the forward edge of the screen is disposed and with said clip arms 32 and 33 each including a downwardly disposed portion, respectively, 34 and 35 that terminates in a circular connecting portion 36. The said circular portion 36 acts as a spring for tending to hold the arms 32 and 33 in their normal operative positions and which positions may be described as a clamping position for clamping between them the portion of the screen 29 including the forward edge 31 of said screen. In order to anchor the clip to the screen 29 the inner end of one of its clamp arms, clamp arm 32, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, for example, is downturned as at 37 to hook behind one of the longitudinal wires of the wire cloth screening. In this connection it is presumed that by wire cloth screening is meant that material formed of interlaced or woven longitudinal and transverse wires, disclosed in the drawings and which Wires are respectively identified by the reference numerals 33 and 39. In order to retain the securing clip to the gutter the inner end of the other clamp arm, 33, for example, is provided with a downwardly projecting spring finger 40 which, in the form of the invention illustrated in FIG. 3, is outwardly arched and secures the upper end or head 19 of the gutter front side 16 between itself and the spring arms 3435.

In practice it is contemplated that the screening 29 would be supplied in sections of four to ten feet in length, for example, and that a securing clip would be employed at approximately the ends of the said length of screen and at points approximately one foot apart between the ends.

In applying the screen 29 to the ogee type of gutter a slightly differently formed securing clip would be employed, such as that illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 8. The said clip in FIGS. 5 and 8 is substantially identical with the clip illustrated in FIG. 7 except that instead of having the depending spring arms 34 and 35 at the outer ends of the clamp arms 32 and 33, the said clamp arms 32 and 33 of FIG. 8 depend on the connecting bend 41 at their outer ends to supply the yieldable clamp pressure. The further difference in the securing clip of FIG. 8 over FIG. 7 is that instead of an arcuate spring arm 40, in FIG. 7, use is made, in FIG. 8, of a right angularly depending arm 42 from the clamp arm 33 and with an inwardly projecting lug or end 43 at the lower end of the depending arm 42.

By this construction the securing clip of FIG. 8, with the ogee type of gutter, has the depending arm 42 depending from the inner edge of the horizontal portion 27 of the gutter front side and with the inwardly projecting lug 43 projecting beneath said top horizontal portion toward the front vertical portion 26.

The securing clip illustrated in FIG. 9 is substantially identical with that in FIG. 8 except that the depending arm 42 is at the inner end of the clamp arm 32 while the inner end of the clamp arm 33 is provided with a short lug 44 taking the place of the hook 44 of the form in FIG. 8. The operation of the securing clip of FIG. 9 is the same as that of the clip of FIG. 8.

The improved method of applying the screen and securing the same in operative position consists in selecting desirable lengths of screen and of a width to extend from the outer surfaces of the building at substantially the highest point above the rear side or wall of the gutter to the outer edge of the forward side of the gutter. Secured to the said screen length at the desired points along its forward edge is a securing clip. The application of a securing clip consisting in working the forward edge of the screen between the clamp arms 32 and 33 thereof and which attachment can be readily effected by disposing the clip in the plane substantially parallel with the plane of the screen and with the clamp arm 32 above the screen and the clamp arm 33 below the screen and when the screen has been inserted into the clip the desired amount the clip is turned to be vertically or at right angles to the screen and which causes the anchoring arms 37 and 44 to engage behind a horizontal wire 38 of the wire cloth or screen and thereby prevent inadvertent disassociation of the clips and screen.

The screen lengths are then mounted in operative position with the inner edges 30 thereof against the aforementioned point of the building surface and whereupon the front edge 31 is brought down against the upper edge of the gutter front side or front wall using the said contact of the rear edge 30 of the screen with the building as a fulcrum point. At each point of the clips, the depending spring arms will be inwardly actuated and lock the said clips and therefore the forward edge 31 of the screen lengths in position. This locking of the parts with the clip as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7 consisting in clamping the bead 19 between the spring arm 35 and the spring arm 40, while in the form illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 8 this connection being effected by the spring arm 42 and inward projection 43 hooking beneath the front horizontal portion 27.

It was pointed out above the inner edge 30 of the screen 29 engages the building outer surface at the most desirable point upwardly of the gutter back or rear side or wall but, it should be noted, that so long as the width of the screen 29 is greater than the horizontal distance outwardly of the building exterior member 10 and the outer edge of the gutter outer side or wall the securing of the screen to the gutter will be accomplished due to the fact that the said mounting clips while fastening the outer edge 31 of the screen to the upper edge of the gutter outer side or wall also applies pressure through the screen to hold its inner edge 30 against the forward or outer surface of the building member 10 and thereby prevent displacement of the screen lengths 29.

It should be noted that, as implied above, the screen 29 upon being mounted as above set forth outwardly and downwardly inclines thereby having a tendency to clean itself of leaves as the said leaves are caught thereon. At the same time it will be obvious that due to this arrangement leaves that are temporarily retained on the upper surface of the screen can be readily blown from the screen, since, they will be in effect, biased to discharge themselves from the screen due to the downward, outward angle thereof.

It should also be noted that should it be desired to gain access to the interior of the gutter the same can be readily accomplished by merely applying a slight outward springing pressure to the clamp arms 3435 of the form of clip in FIGS. 3 and 7 and by applying a slight inward pressure to the arm 42, of the form of FIGS. 5 and 8, with said inward springing pressure on the said arm 42 being readily applied by lifting the arm 32 cansing an inward swinging action of arm 42.

Obviously the screen is returnable to its normal operative position by following method above set forth.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device of the class described the combination with a gutter having an open upper end between upstanding front and back walls thereof, of a length of wire screen of a width less than its length but greater than the distance between the upper ends of the gutter front and back walls and with said screen having its inner end anchored above the back wall of the gutter and its outer end on and contiguous with the upper end of the gutter front wall, and releasable spring means carried by the screen outer end yieldablyremovably securing said screen outer end to the gutter front wall comprising a clip formed of a length of wire folded on itself to include portions underlying and overlying one another with the outer edge of the screen therebetween, said overlying portron having at its inner end a depending hook extending through an aperture in the screen, said underlying portion having depending from its inner end an arm in engagement with the inner surface of said gutter front wall, and said overlying and underlying portions having their outer ends joined to one another to provide means for yieldably retaining said screen overlying and underlying portions in operative relation to one another, to yieldably clamp the screen between said overlying and underlying portions and to yieldably retain the arm against the inner surface of the gutter front wall.

2. In a device of the class described the combination with a gutter having an open upper end between upstanding front and back walls thereof, of a length of wire screen of a width less than its length but greater than the distance between the upper ends of the gutter front and back walls and with said screen having its inner end anchored above the back wall of the gutter and its outer end on and contiguous with the upper end of the gutter front wall, and releasable spring means carried by the screen outer end removably securing said screen outer end to the gutter front wall comprising a clip formed of a length of wire folded on itself to include portions underlying and overlying one another with the outer edge of the screen therebctween, said overlying portion having at its inner end a depending hook extending through an aperture in the screen, said underlying and overlying portions each having at its outer end a depending outer arm with said underlying portion outer arm against the gutter front wall outer surface, said underlying portion having depending from its inner end an arm in engage ment with the inner surface of said gutter front wall, and said overlying and underlying portions depending outer arms having their lower ends joined to one another to provide means for yieldably retaining said screen overlying and underlying portions in operative relation to one another, to yieldably clamp the screen between said overlying and underlying portions and to yieldably retain the lower portion inner and outer depending arms against the inner and outer surfaces of the gutter front wall.

3. In a device of the class described the combination with a gutter having an open upper end between upstanding front and back walls thereof, said gutter front wall having at its upper end an inwardly projecting horizontal portion, of a length of wire screen of a width less than its length but greater than the distance between the upper ends of the gutter front and back walls and with said screen having its inner end anchored above the back wall of the gutter and its outer end on the inwardly projecting horizontal portion at the upper end of the gutter front wall and means for securing the forward edge of the screen to the gutter front wall inwardly projecting horizontal portion comprising a clip formed of a length of wire folded on itself to include portions underlying and overlying one another with the outer edge of the screen therebetween and the said clip lower portion on the gutter inwardly projecting horizontal portion, said clip overlying portion having at its inner end a depending hook extending through an aperture in the screen, said clip underlying portion having depending from its inner end an arm in engagement with the inner edge of the said gutter front wall inwardly projecting portion, and said clip overlying and underlying portions having their ends joined to one another to provide means for yieldably retaining said clip overlying and underlying portions in operative relation to one another, to yieldably clamp the screen between said overlying and underlying portions and to yieldably retain the clip lower portion inner arm against the said inner edge of the gutter front wall inwardly projecting portion.

4. In a device of the class described the combination with a gutter having an open upper end between upstanding front and back walls thereof, said gutter front wall having at its upper end an inwardly projecting horizontal portion, of a length of wire screen of a width less than its length but greater than the distance between the upper ends of the gutter front and back walls and with said screen having its inner end anchored above the back wall of the gutter and its outer end on the inwardly projecting horizontal portion at the upper end of the gutter front wall, and means for securing the forward edge of the screen to the gutter front wall inwardly projecting horizontal portion comprising a clip formed of a length of wire folded on itself to include portions underlying and overlying one another with the outer edge of the screen therebetween and the said clip lower portion on the gutter inwardly projecting horizontal portion, said clip overlying portion having at its inner end a depending hook extending through an aperture in the screen, said clip underlying portion having depending from its inner end an arm in engagement with the inner edge of the said gutter front wall inwardly projecting portion, said clip overlying and underlying portions having their ends joined to one another to provide means for yieldably retaining said clip overlying and underlying portions in operative relation to one another, to yieldably clamp the screen between said overlying and underlying portions and to yieldably retain the clip lower portion inner arm against the said inner edge of the gutter front wall inwardly projecting portion, and said clip underlying portion depending arm having at its lower end a hook underlying the said gutter front wall inwardly projecting horizontal portion. 1

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,219,953 Fry Oct. 29, 1940 2,365,845 Schweda Dec. 26, 1944 2,841,100 Moller July 1, 1958 2,948,083 Steele Aug. 9, 1960 2,997,763 Serfass Aug. 29, 1961

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