Weather hood

A weather hood is disclosed having a housing and a plurality of hood segments each formed from a pair of spaced apart pivot arms joined by a shell portion. The hood segments are pivotally mounted on the housing for rotation about an axis passing through the ends of the pivot arms. The hood segments pivot between a retracted position, wherein the hood segments are nested one within another within the housing, and an extended position, wherein the hood segments extend from the housing and are positioned adjacent to each other. Hooks extend from edges of the shell portions, each hook interengaging a hook on an adjacent hood segment or the housing to interlock the hood segments in the extended position and limit their rotation. A spring is connected between the housing to the lowermost hood segment to bias the hood segments into the retracted or extended position.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a weather hood which can serve as a protective 
weather shield and more particularly to a hood which can be deployed from 
a compact, retracted position to an extended position as desired. 
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
Electrical junction boxes such as those used for telecommunications, cable 
television, control systems and power distribution are often mounted 
outdoors where they are constantly exposed to the elements. Such exposure 
is normally not a problem for the boxes or their contents as the boxes are 
designed to be weather proof. However, it is often necessary to perform 
maintenance on or make modifications to the contents of such boxes. For 
example, to add new lines to a telephone system or to trouble shoot the 
system for problems, the junction box must be opened and its contents 
exposed to the weather. If there is rain or snow during servicing, the 
internal components of the box can be damaged or rendered inoperable if 
water is allowed to contact the exposed components. For example, water can 
cause short circuits in telephone line connectors which disable individual 
phone lines; it can also cause surge protectors to malfunction and thereby 
compromise the safety and electrical protection of the entire system. 
Currently, technicians servicing junction boxes carry an umbrella to shield 
themselves and the box when working outdoors during inclement weather. 
This solution is impractical because the technician typically must hold 
the umbrella with one hand and work on the box with the other, reducing 
the efficiency of the technician and increasing fatigue. This solution can 
be dangerous when the technician must work on a ladder to access the box. 
Clearly there is a need for an improved means for protecting the contents 
of an electrical junction box from precipitation when the box is out of 
doors and being serviced. 
Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide an extendable 
weather hood useable as a shield to protect water sensitive items. 
It is another object of this invention to provide a weather hood which is 
movable from a compact retracted position into an extended position. 
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a weather hood which 
can be inexpensively fabricated from common materials. 
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from a 
consideration of the drawings and the detailed description of the 
preferred embodiment which follows. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
This invention provides an extendable weather hood which can be mounted 
above an outdoor junction box containing electrical equipment which is 
adversely affected by water. The weather hood is normally stowed in a 
compact, retracted position and is manually deployed to an extended 
position when required to shield the contents of the open box from rain, 
sleet or snow. 
The weather hood according to the invention comprises a support mountable 
on a permanent structure, such as a building wall. Preferably the support 
comprises a housing mounted above a junction box, such as a building entry 
protection unit. A plurality of hood segments are arranged above one 
another on the support. Each hood segment has a pair of pivot arms 
oppositely disposed in a spaced apart relationship. Each arm is hingedly 
connected to the support for rotation about a common axis. A shell portion 
is connected to and extends between each pair of pivot arms, the shell 
portion being spaced from the axis of rotation. The shell portion is 
bounded by two oppositely disposed edges and can have a cylindrical 
curvature, or a spherical curvature, but it is not limited to these shapes 
exclusively. 
The plurality of hood segments includes a first hood segment adapted to 
interengage the support to limit its rotation about the axis. Preferably 
the means for limiting the rotation comprises a hook extending from an 
edge of the hood segment. The hook engages a mating hook extending from 
the support which locks the first segment against further rotation. 
The plurality of hood segments further includes a second hood segment, 
which also has means for limiting its rotation. Preferably, the rotation 
limiting means comprises another hook positioned on an edge of the shell 
portion. The hook interengages a similar mating hook on an adjacent hood 
segment to prevent relative rotation of the second hood segment relative 
to the adjacent hood segment. 
Preferably one or more intermediate hood segments are positioned between 
the first and second hood segments. Means are provided to limit the 
rotation of each intermediate hood segment, preferably in the form of 
hooks extending from each shell portion edge. Each hook is designed to 
engage a corresponding hook on an adjacent hood segment which prevents 
further rotation of each segment relative to its adjacent segment. 
The hood segments are rotatable about the axis between an upward retracted 
position in which the segments are arranged in a substantially nested 
overlapping relation and a lowered extended position in which the segments 
are substantially unnested. 
In the extended position each of the hood segments is interengaged with an 
adjacent hood segment via the hooks. Preferably each hook is formed by an 
extension of the edge on which it is mounted. The extension can take the 
form of a simple flange projecting away from the shell section, or the 
extension can be curved, for example, into a "C" shape. Using the curved 
hooks the joints between adjacent segments in the extended position can be 
made relatively water tight by having a first downwardly curving hook on 
the support which interfaces with an upwardly curving hook on the first 
hood segment. Following this pattern of a downwardly curving hook on a 
segment engaging an upwardly curving hook on the next segment below, a 
series of joints will be created between the hood segments. Water 
impinging on the shell surface will tend to cascade over the downwardly 
curving hooks onto the next adjacent hood segment and not leak through the 
joints. 
A biasing member is used to hold the hood segments in either the retracted 
or the extended positions. Preferably, the biasing member comprises a 
spring fixed at one end, for example, to the support, with the other end 
attached to the second hood segment. The spring is arranged astride and 
offset from the axis of rotation when the hood segments are in either 
position. This spring arrangement assures that the spring exerts a torque 
about the axis which biases the hood segments in either position once they 
are established in a particular position. 
It is preferred to make the weather hood from lightweight, durable 
materials such as plastic or sheet metal such as aluminum.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIGS. 1-3 show a weather hood 10 according to the invention having a 
support in the form of housing 12 which is mountable on a permanent 
structure, such as a wall. FIG. 1 depicts the hood in its lowered, 
extended position with a first hood segment 14, an intermediate hood 
segment 16 and a second hood segment 18 substantially unnested and 
adjacent each other. In FIG. 2 the hood is shown in its upward, retracted 
position with the hood segments nested in overlapping relation within one 
another and within the housing 12. In the illustrated embodiment, the 
first hood segment 14 is the uppermost of the segments, the second hood 
segment 18 is lowermost, and the intermediate hood segment 16 is arranged 
between the first and second hood segments. 
As shown in FIG. 4, by way of intermediate hood segment 16, each hood 
segment has a pair of pivot arms 20 oppositely disposed in a spaced apart 
relation. Intermediate hood segment 16 is shown for illustrative purposes 
only and its structure generally represents all of the hood segments. Each 
pivot arm is hingedly connected to housing 12 by means such as bolts 22, 
well known in the art (see FIG. 1). Arms 20 all rotate about a common axis 
of rotation 24. A shell portion 26 is connected to pivot arms 20 and 
extends between them, spaced from the common axis 24. Although many shapes 
are possible, the shell portions preferably have the cylindrical curvature 
illustrated in FIG. 4 or alternately the spherical curvature of hood 
segment 16, as shown in FIG. 5. 
Each shell portion 26 has a first edge, generally denoted 28, and a second 
edge, generally denoted 30, oppositely disposed, the edges bounding the 
shell portion. The edges on each hood segment are distinguished by an 
appended letter, thus, 28a is the first edge on the first hood segment, 
28b is the first edge on the second segment and so forth. First edge 28 is 
defined as the inner most edge of each shell portion when the hood is in 
the retracted position. This is best illustrated in FIG. 2, where all of 
the first edges 28a, 28b and 28c are shown next to one another and 
innermost within housing 12 on the left side of the figure. 
As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, means are provided on the housing and each 
shell portion to limit rotation of each hood segment. The preferred means 
is to adapt the edges by shaping them to interengage either the housing 12 
or a mating edge, similarly shaped, on an adjacent hood segment. The 
preferred embodiment can be seen in FIG. 1 where the housing 12 has a hook 
32 disposed along an upper edge. First segment 14 has a mating hook 34 
arranged along its first edge 28a which interengages hook 34 when hood 
segment 14 is in the extended position shown in FIG. 1. The interengaged 
hooks prevent hood segment 14 from further rotation about axis 24. Another 
hook 36 is arranged on the second edge 30a. Hook 36 engages a mating hook 
38 extending from first edge 28b of the intermediate hood segment 16. 
Interengagement of hooks 36 and 38 limits rotation of the intermediate 
hood segment relative to first hood segment 14 and housing 12. Lastly, 
hook 42 on the second hood segment 18 interengages a mating hook 40 on the 
second edge 30b of the intermediate hood segment 16. In this manner the 
hood segments are locked in the extended position with each hood segment 
engaging an adjacent hood segment in succession. 
Preferably, as seen in FIG. 1, hooks 32, 36 and 40 curve downwardly and 
mate respectively with hooks 34, 38 and 42, which curve upwardly. The 
preferred hook configuration shown provides a seal between each hood 
segment which prevents water from leaking through the hood when extended. 
The water tends to cascade down over the hooks on the housing and the 
second edges of the hood segments and flows naturally off of the extended 
hood. The hooks can extend along the entire width of a segment or can be 
disposed over a portion thereof. 
Any number of shapes are possible for the hooks, with the "C" shaped hooks 
shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 being preferred. FIG. 6 illustrates hooks 36a and 
38a as an alternate hook embodiment wherein the hooks are formed from a 
simple outward right angle extension of the respective edges 30a and 28b 
on which the hooks are disposed. 
As seen in FIGS. 1-3 a lip 44 is preferably disposed along edge 30c of the 
second hood segment 18. The lip 44 serves two functions. When the weather 
hood is in the retracted position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 the lip 44 
provides a manual means for grasping the hood segments and rotating them 
into the extended position seen in FIG. 1. When the second hood segment 18 
is grasped by lip 44 and rotated about axis 24 hook 42 engages hook 40 and 
intermediate segment 16 is then rotated. Further rotation causes hook 38 
to engage hook 36, which in turn causes the first segment 14 to rotate. 
Finally when all of the segments are in the extended position hook 34 
engages hook 32 and the rotation of the hood segments is limited by the 
interengagment of each hood segment with an adjacent hood segment and the 
housing 12. 
Lip 44 also functions to engage all of the hood segments and move them from 
the extended to the retracted position. As best seen in FIG. 3, the lip 44 
preferably has sufficient height that it will contact edges 30a, 30b and 
30c of each hood segment as the second hood segment 18 is rotated from the 
extended position of FIG. 1 to the retracted position of FIGS. 2 and 3. 
The segments and the housing are preferably fabricated from lightweight, 
durable materials, plastic or aluminum sheet metal being preferred. 
A tensioning means or biasing member 46 is provided, as best illustrated in 
FIGS. 1 and 2. Preferably, biasing member 46 comprises an elastic member, 
such as a coil spring, having one end 46a fixed to the housing 12 and the 
other end 46b, fixed to the second hood segment 18 and movable therewith. 
Biasing member 46 is positioned astride axis 24, having ends 46a and 46b 
positioned on either side of the axis. Additionally, the biasing member is 
positioned offset from the axis 24 as seen by the offset distances d1 and 
d2 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, d1 being on an opposite side of axis 24 
from d2. It is seen that the biasing member moves with the second hood 
segment 18 from a first position offset the common axis 24 when the hood 
segments are in the upward, retracted position (FIG. 2) to a second 
position offset the common axis 24 on a side of the common axis 24 
opposite from the first position when the hood segments are in the 
lowered, extended position (FIG. 1). 
By positioning biasing member 46 astride axis 24 the biasing member biases 
the hood segments into either the extended or retracted positions, 
depending on the position of the biasing member 46 relative to the common 
axis 24. This can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 where the line of action of the 
biasing forces acts to keep the hood segments extended, as seen in FIG. 1, 
or retracted, as shown in FIG. 2. 
By positioning the biasing member 46 at an offset distance, shown as d1 or 
d2, the biasing member exerts a torque about the axis 24. This torque 
keeps the hood segments in either of the two positions once the hood 
segments are rotated from one position to the other. 
The weather hood according to the invention is used by mounting the housing 
12 above a junction box 48, shown in phantom line in FIG. 3. The Junction 
box could be a building entry protection unit for example, which is 
mounted out of doors. When servicing the box in inclement weather the 
technician can afford the box protection from the elements by rotating the 
hood segments into the extended position, thereby providing a relatively 
dry environment in which to work. The segments can be rotated into the 
retracted position when not needed, thus forming a compact structure which 
conveniently stores out of the way, but is immediately ready for use.