Hangers for rain gutter devices

Embodiments of the present disclosure include deflector support means for supporting the underside of a rain gutter deflector, said deflector support means including fastening means for retainably positioning said deflector support means with respect to the gutter with which said deflector means is to be associated characterized by being formed from strips of rigid material, having a straight, downward-sloping upper section and an adjacent downward curved portion for supporting the underside of such a deflector, and a lower downward directed segment adapted for affixation to the top front lip of an associated gutter either directly or via an intermediate gutter support ferrule.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
It is known in the construction industry, particularly the building of 
dwelling houses and other buildings, to erect a rain gutter at roof edges, 
such gutters usually have associated down-pipes. By these means, water 
coming off the roof may be intercepted, collected, and diverted into 
desired locations. This avoids splashing, "trenching", flooding, and other 
undesired effects. A persistant problem with such gutters is that they 
collect leaves, sticks, roof granules, pine needles, and other debris as 
well. This causes the gutters and/or down-pipes to become blocked. As a 
result, water backs up, causing it to flood over the gutter edges and, 
sometimes down the side of the building, and permitting freezing in the 
gutter to occur. It may also or alternatively cause the gutter to 
accumulate pools of water which do not drain off rapidly or readily and 
cause weeping and/or rusting of joint areas, and sometimes freeze into ice 
in cold weather. 
In an attempt to overcome the necessity for manually clearing the gutters 
and/or down pipes periodically, usually by a scending a ladder, various 
proposals have been made. They range from applying screens to cover the 
gutter openings, to deflector means. The general experience has been that 
the installation of screens basically does little more than relocate the 
problem of debris blocking from the gutter to the screen, necessitating 
periodic manual removal anyway. From time to time, it has been proposed to 
use "deflector" type devices, by which it was contented it would be 
possible to redirect the flow of rainwater coming off of the top surface 
of a roof into a gutter, free of debris which will, in the meantime have 
been ejected off of the roof onto the ground. Some of such deflector type 
devices include a lower arcuate surface by which, theoretically, water 
coming down the roof will, by the effect of surface tension, be forced to 
follow around the arcuate surface. By this means, it was postulated that 
the water may be deposited in the gutter which is positioned inside and 
below the arcuate surface, while debris carried by the water is jettisoned 
off, more or less tangentially to the curved surface, and falls to the 
ground. In this connection, reference is made to the following U.S. 
Patents: Van Horn U.S. Pat. No. 546,042; Nye U.S. Pat. No. 603,611; Cassen 
U.S. Pat. No. 836,012; Cassen U.S. Pat. No. 891,405; Yates U.S. Pat. No. 
1,101,047; Goetz U.S. Pat. No. 2,672,832; Bartholemew U.S. Pat. No. 
2,669,950; Heier U.S. Pat. No. 2,873,700; Matthews et al U.S. Pat. No. 
2,935,954; Foster U.S. Pat. No. 3,388,555; Homa U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,396; 
and Zukauskas U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,951. 
Although the basic theory has been available for some time, as far as is 
now known, it has never actually been adopted or used in what might 
reasonably be described as a commerical embodiment. In part, this may be 
because there is little to impell builder-contractors to incur whatever 
extra cost or expense is involved in making such installation initially. 
Once a conventional system has been installed, to "retrofit" an existing 
installation involves troublesome, time-consuming, costly, basic and/or 
aesthetically undesirable structural alterations to the existing gutter 
installation and, in many cases, to the building with which it is 
associated. It also appears that a reason why the concept has not found 
significant or widespread use is because, as disclosed to date, it didn't 
work with a sufficient degree of reliability or effectiveness to make it 
practically feasible. That is, practicing the extant disclosures as 
taught, it has been found that surface tension of the water often is not 
sufficient to contain the water through an arcuate travel path against 
counter-forces typically encountered from factors such as a large volume 
of water, steep slopes, "rivuleting", etc. Whatever the particular 
reasons, the impressive fact is the lack of their adoption and use to 
date, in spite of the ovbious advantages which might occur if they could 
be used, in light of the costs and difficulty of obtaining maintenance 
labor, particularly in recent times. To overcome these difficulties, I 
have invented and disclosed certain deflector devices, which are 
particularly adapted for retrofitting existing gutter installations as 
well as for new installations, some embodiments of which are adapted for 
installation without the underside of their upper surfaces necessarily 
being contiguous with the upper surface of the associated roofing, so as 
to facilitate installation without having to remove or lower the gutters 
themselves and to produce a finished installation which is aesthetically 
more pleasing. 
The installation of such devices, as noted above, presents certain 
practical difficulties and typically has involved hardware that is not 
altogether satisfactory and is relatively complex structurally and 
difficult to install, often involving relocation of the associated gutter. 
Some such hardware is shown in the U.S. Pat. Nos. issued to Nye as 
836,012, to Goetz as 2,672,832, and to Matthews et al as 2,935,954. 
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide bracket means for 
rain gutter deflectors. 
Another object of this invention is to provide such means so structured as 
to be adapted for use with rain gutters of established design and 
construction. 
Still another object of this invention is to provide means for achieving 
the foregoing without requiring relocation of the associated gutter means. 
Yet another object of this invention is to provide means for achieving the 
foregoing which will support such deflector means while affixed to the 
gutter with which it is associated. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Desired objectives may be achieved through practice of the present 
invention, embodiments of which include deflector support means for 
supporting the underside of a rain gutter deflector, said deflector 
support means including fastening means for retainably positioning said 
deflector support means with respect to the gutter with which said 
deflector means is to be associated characterized by being formed from 
strips of rigid material, having a straight, downward-sloping upper 
section and an adjacent downward curved position for supporting the 
underside of such a deflector, and a lower downward directed segment 
adapted for affixation to the top front lip of an associated gutter either 
directly or via an intermediate gutter support ferrule.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring first to FIG. 1, there is depicted a cross-section of a device 18 
which embodies this invention. As shown, it is in the form of a strap made 
from metal, plastic or other suitable material, which has been so formed 
as to have a horizontal, ferrule contact segment 2, adjacent a riser 
segment 4 that is adjacent to a curved segment 6, with the latter adjacent 
to an upper support segment 8. The ferrule segment 2 is affixed to a 
ferrule 20 in the form of a cylindrical metal tube which may be positioned 
inside a standard rain gutter 10, with a bolt 22 extending through the 
ferrule 20 and through holes in the front and back of the rain gutter 10, 
and into the front 12 of a building. By this means, the device 18 is fixed 
positionally with respect to the gutter, the building, and the roof of the 
building. A number of such devices may be similarly affixed to the 
building along the length of gutter. Thereafter, a deflector 16, of the 
type which causes water to be deflected by surface tension into the gutter 
while leaves, debris, and the like are jettisoned over the edge, may be 
positioned on top of the devices 18 so that it is supported by the upper 
support segment 8 of each. So positioned, the deflector 16 may be affixed 
to the device 18 by means of a sheet metal screw 17 or other fastening 
means. 
It should be noted that with this invention, it is not necessary to remove, 
replace, or lower the gutter, in order to accomodate the installation of 
deflectors of the type hereinbefore described, particularly when they are 
installed with their upper flat surface at a shallower angle than the 
angle of the roof. This is advantageous as to cost as well as insofar as 
preserving the architectural aesthetics of the building. 
FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of this invention 28, made from a 
continuous strip of metal, plastic or other suitable material. It includes 
a front segment 32 and lip top segment 34 for affixation to the front and 
top of the front lip of the gutter 10 by means of sheet metal screw 30, a 
set-back segment 36, a riser segment 38, a curved segment 40 and a top 
flat segment 42. Several such devices may be arrayed down the length of 
the gutter, so as to have a deflector 16 positioned thereon and attached 
thereto by means of sheet metal screws 17. Since the gutter 10 is affixed 
to the side of the building 12 by means of lag bolts or screws 13 as is 
known per se, the effect is to provide a means for positionally fixing the 
deflector 16 without the necessity of relocating the gutter 10, again, 
particularly where the top surface of the deflector is at a shallower 
angle than is the line of the roof, at reduced cost and enhanced 
preservation of the architectural aethetics. 
Similar results are achievable with the embodiment of this invention shown 
in FIG. 3 which corresponds in structural segments substantially to the 
embodiment shown in FIG. 2, except that the front lip segment 46 is 
adapted to being affixed to the inside of the front lip of the gutter 10 
by a sheet metal screw 26, rather than around the top and outside front of 
the front lip of the gutter 10. 
From the foregoing, it will be apparent that it is possible through 
practice of this invention to provide a variety of effective, relatively 
simple structurally, and inexpensive means for positionally fixing rain 
deflectors of the type described to their associated rain gutters. 
Similarly, utilizing the embodiment of this invention shown in FIG. 4, the 
aforementioned advantages may also be achieved, with the additional 
advantage that it may be temporarily positioned atop the front edge of the 
associated gutter before it is finally affixed thereto, to facilitate 
attaching the deflector, making installation adjustments, etc. In this 
embodiment, the hanger, in addition to a deflector supporting top straight 
section 42 and an adjacent curved segment 40, has an outward extending 
reverse curve section 58 which extends to a substantially horizontal leg 
56 and ends in a downward facing outermost portion 54. In use, the support 
may be positioned with the upperside of the leg 56 under the lip of the 
associated gutter 10, with the outer side of the downward segment 54 more 
or less abutting the inner surface of the front wall of the gutter 10. 
Later, for example, after other desired installation tasks are complete, 
the downward segment 54 may be affixed to the gutter 10 by means of a 
sheet metal screw 52 or other known per se affixation means. 
Alternatively, the leg 56 may be positioned atop the lip of the gutter, 
for example, if it is wooden. It should be noted that the embodiments 
which have been disclosed and discussed are all characterized by having an 
upper segment and an adjacent curved segment for supporting contact with 
the underside of the deflector, a riser segment to retain the deflector 
supporting segments in elevated position, and affixation means for 
affixing the portion below the riser segments of the associated gutter, 
either directly or via an intermediate support member such as a gutter 
support ferrule. Thus, a number of other variants may be incorporated into 
embodiments of this invention. 
Additionally, a wide variety of materials may be utilized to produce 
devices according to the present invention. Galvanized steel is useful, as 
also is aluminum, particularly since it may be anodized to give it desired 
surface characteristics. Various plastics may also be used to particular 
advantage since they are easily formed according to technology which is 
known per se into complex and intricate shapes and configurations, are 
durable and weather resistant with minimum maintenance requirements, and 
may be made inherently to have desired surface characteristics. All of the 
foregoing are within the skills, competance and knowledge of the person 
with ordinary skills in the cognizant arts. 
Accordingly, it is to be understood that the embodiments of this invention 
herein described are by way of illustration and not of limitation, and 
that a wide variety of embodiments may be made without departing from the 
spirit or scope of this invention.