ROOFING SHIELD AND EXTENSION THEREOF

Abstract: Rain water troughs need to be protected with a suitable screen in buildings located on a site with trees near the building. Leaves, twigs, needles and other undesirable material are washed by rain from the roof into the water trough which is thus filled and blocked so that water cannot flow in the trough. The object of the invention is to produce a new type of roof covering or its extension that allows leaves and rubbish to be guided along the roof covering or its extension over the water trough to the ground while water flowing down the roof covering is guided into the water trough through holes provided in the roof covering or its extension.

Description: ROOFING SHIELD AND EXTENSION THEREOF The present invention relates to a roof cove¬ ring or its extension as defined in the preamble claim 1. Rain water troughs need to be protected with a suitable screen in buildings located on a site with trees near the building. Leaves, twigs, needles and other undesirable material are washed by rain from the roof into the water trough, which is thus filled and blocked so that water cannot flow in the trough. In addition, often the water and rubbish freeze in the water trough, thus completely preventing water flow in the trough. Therefore, the water trough must be cleaned several times a year. However, the problem is that cleaning the troughs is a laborious and difficult job, which is why the cleaning of the troughs is rea¬ dily neglected, in which case the leaf material gets composted in the trough, the trough becomes full and the water no longer flows along the trough into the rain pipe and down through the pipe, but directly over the trough to the ground. To prevent water troughs from being filled and soiled with rubbish, a known solution is to use a net mounted on top of the water trough. A net is rela- tively easy to install, but it gets blocked by leaves and other material falling onto it. Moreover, the wa¬ ter flowing into the trough again carries leaves and rubbish from the roof onto the net, thus further in¬ creasing the mass of material on the net. In this ca- se, too, the material remains on the net and gets com¬ posted, thus blocking the net, so that water flowing down the roof will pass over the net to the ground instead of flowing into the water trough. Further, a perforated plate placed above the trough parallel to the roofing guides the leaves and other rubbish so that they pass over the trough, but due to surface tension the water also flows down over the trough to the ground instead of flowing through the perforations into the trough. Another prior-art water trough covering ar¬ rangement is known from patent specification US 4,876,827. According to the specification, the roof covering is extended to cover the water trough and bent vertically downwards roughly along the outer edge of the water trough. The vertical part of the roof co¬ vering is provided with successive holes in the verti- cal direction and the edge of the holes is so bent that water flowing downwards along the covering is guided along the lower surface of the bent edge into the water trough. A problem with this solution is that when the rate of water flow increases, the water no longer follows the lower surface of the edge but flows directly down without being guided into the water trough. A further problem in the solution according to the specification is that such a covering is difficult to retrofit on finished houses. The object of the present invention is to eliminate the problems referred to above. A specific object of the present invention is to produce a new type of roof covering or its extension which allows the above-mentioned problems to be eliminated. A further object of the present invention is to produce a roof covering or its extension which is easy to retrofit as an addition to a finished roof co¬ vering and water trough to protect the water trough from leaves and other rubbish. As for the features characteristic of the present invention, reference is made to the claims. The roof covering of the invention or its ex¬ tension, arranged on the eave of a sloped roof to ex¬ tend above the water trough, comprises a number of ho- les provided with water guides for guiding the water into the trough. The roof covering or its extension may be manufactured e.g. from a metal sheet or the li- ke. On the other hand, the roof covering may also be manufactured from brick or other corresponding materi¬ al, in which case the extension of the roof covering that extends over the water trough is still made of a sheet-like material. Further, according to the inven¬ tion, the roof covering or its extension is so dis¬ posed relative to the water trough that the holes lie above the water trough. Preferably the roof covering or its extension is so made that it extends over the roof edge far enough to cover the water trough at¬ tached to the verge board. As compared with prior art, the invention has the advantage that the roof covering or its extension in itself forms a sliding surface over the water trough at the eave, ensuring that the material falling down from trees and sliding along the roof covering will not stop over the trough but continues sliding over it while the water flows through the holes into the trough. A further advantage as compared with prior art is that, due to the water guides, even water flo¬ wing at a high rate will be guided through the holes into the trough and will not flow across them. In an embodiment, the water guide is a ton¬ gue-shaped element disposed below the hole and having a trough-like shape in the area of the hole. Prefera¬ bly the water guide is produced by making a cut in the roof covering and stamping the blank left from the ho¬ le into a suitable shape. The cut is so made that the blank will remain connected to the roof covering by one edge. This allows a simple and fast manufacture of the roof covering. In an embodiment, the holes are disposed in an interlapping pattern relative to each other so that water flowing down the roof covering is guided into one of the holes. Further, preferably the holes are made into a suitable size and shape, e.g. an elongated shape, so that even water running at a high rate will be guided into the hole while leaves and rubbish will flow over the roof covering. An elongated hole need not necessarily be provided with a water guide because a suitably shaped hole will reduce the surface tension of the water, thus contributing towards guiding the water into the hole. In a preferred embodiment, the water trough is formed from the roof covering or its extension by bending the end of the roof covering or its extension that extends over the roof edge into a tubular shape. This makes it possible to install both the roof cove¬ ring or its extension and the water trough at the same time. Moreover, mounting a verge board becomes super¬ fluous because the water trough is a tubular element and also acts as a verge board. The roof covering pre¬ ferably comprises fixing elements for the mounting of the roof covering. In the following, the invention is described in detail by the aid of an example by referring to the attached drawings, in which Fig. 1 presents a top view of a roof covering or its extension as provided by the invention; Fig. 2 presents a side view of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 presents another embodiment in side view. The roof covering 1 presented in Fig. 1 is provided with a number of holes 3 arranged in two rows in an interlapping pattern so that water flowing down the roof will pass through one of the holes. The roof covering or its extension may be e.g. a brick- patterned metal sheet or equivalent. Fig. 2 shows the structure of Fig. 1 in side view. The structure furt¬ her comprises a water guide 2, which is made by sha- ping from the sheet portion left over in connection with the cutting of the hole 3. The roof covering 1 or its extension la is mounted on a sloped roof 5 so that it extends over the water trough 5. Water flowing down the roof covering is guided by the water guide 5 into a water trough below the hole 3 while leaves and other rubbish moving with the water slide past the hole and further to the ground. In Fig. 2, the roof covering 1 or its extension la is shown as sectioned along secti¬ on line II-II in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 presents another embodiment of the roof covering. In this embodiment, the extension la of the roof covering is also used to form a water trough 4 by bending one end of the extension of the roof co¬ vering into a tubular shape. Further, the extension la of the roof covering is attached by means of fixing elements 6 to the underside of the roof covering 1 and to the roof structure 5. The fixing elements used may be any conventional fixing elements, such as screws or nails. Let it be further noted that the roof cove¬ ring presented in Fig. 2 can also be formed by adding, according to the invention, an extension la of the roof covering of a suitable length to the existing roof covering, e.g. under it, so that the additional part together with the existing roof covering 1 will form a roof covering assembly as provided by the in- vention. The invention is not restricted to the examples of its embodiments described above, but many variations are possible within the framework of the inventive idea defined by the claims.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Roof covering (1) or its extension (la), arranged on the eave of a sloped roof (5) to extend above a water trough (4), c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the roof covering or its extension comprises a number of holes (3) provided with water guides (2) for guiding the water into the water trough (4); and that the roof covering or its extension is so disposed with respect to the water trough that the holes (3) lie above the water trough. 2. Roof covering or its extension as defined in claim 1, c h a r a ct e r i z e d in that the water guide (2) is a tongue-shaped element disposed below a hole (3) and having a trough-like shape in the area of the hole (3) . 3. Roof covering or its extension as defined in claim 1 or 2, ch a r a c t e r i z e d in that the holes are so arranged with respect to each other that water flowing down the roof covering will be guided into one of the holes. 4. Roof covering or its extension as defined in any one of the preceding claims 1 - 3, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the water trough (4) has been formed from the roof covering (1) or its extension (la) by bending the end of the roof covering or its extension that extends over the roof edge into a tubu¬ lar shape. 5. Roof covering or its extension as defined in any one of the preceding claims 1 - 4, c h a r a c - t e r i z e d in that the roof covering (1) or its ex¬ tension (la) comprises fixing elements (6) for the mounting of the roof covering or its extension. 6. Roof covering or its extension as defined in any one of the preceding claims 1 - 5, c h a r a c - t e r i z e d in that the water guide (2) is an elonga¬ ted element and is connected by its one end to the up¬ per edge (7) of the hole as seen in the direction wa- ter flow. 7. Roof covering or its extension as defined in any one of the preceding claims 1 - 5, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the hole (3) is substantially longer than its width as seen in the direction of wa¬ ter flow. 8. Roof covering or its extension as defined in any one of the preceding claims 1 - 5, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the extension (la) of the roof covering is disposed below the roof covering (1) .

Inventors: RINTA-JOUPPI YRJOE, RINTA-JOUPPI, YRJOE
Applicants: RINTA JOUPPI YRJOE, RINTA-JOUPPI, YRJOE
Application year: 1997
Main classification: E04D13
IPC codes: E04D13