Abstract:
A gutter system has decorative ropelights held in a longitudinal groove in the face of the gutter. The groove is adapted to hold a ropelight without using clips or other separate attachment devices. The gutter can also have two or more longitudinal grooves, each holding a ropelight. The system is easy to install on a building and eliminates the need for annual installation and removal of decorative lights.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention pertains to gutter systems and exterior lighting systems for buildings. More particularly, it pertains to a system which combines a decorative lighting system in a rain gutter. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Decorative lights are commonly installed on the outside of houses and other buildings at Christmas time, often taking the form of strings of lights hung along the eaves. Since rain gutters are commonly installed around the eaves of buildings, adjacent to where seasonal decorative lighting is often installed, it is known in the prior art to associate the two together in some manner. Examples of this are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,488 (Hastings), U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,662 (Coates) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,204,090 (Kvarda, Jr.). 
   Putting up such lighting systems before Christmas and taking them down afterwards can be a substantial task, and one requiring the use of a ladder and needing to be done at a time of year when the weather is an obstacle to such outdoor work in many locales. It would be desirable to eliminate the requirement for seasonal installation and removal of the lighting system by means of a permanent installation. It would also be desirable to provide a lighting system in which the lights can be mounted easily and permanently adjacent to the eaves of a building. 
   SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
   The invention provides a gutter system having decorative ropelights held in a longitudinal groove in the face of the gutter. The groove is sized and configured to receive and retain a ropelight without using clips or other separate attachment devices. The system is easy to install on a building and eliminates the need for annual installation and removal of decorative lights, as the lighting system, though removable from the gutter if desired, is intended to be left in place permanently without the need for removal or for any maintenance other than simple cleaning. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a section of the gutter system according to the invention. 
       FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of the gutter of  FIG. 1 , attached to the fascia of a building. 
       FIG. 2A  is a close-up cross-sectional view of the ropelight in a groove of the gutter. 
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an inside corner gutter section. 
       FIG. 4  is a front perspective view of an outside corner gutter section. 
       FIG. 5  is a back perspective view of the outside corner gutter section of FIG.  4 . 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in the drawings by the same reference characters. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the gutter  10  is a longitudinal trough-like element having a configuration that, apart from the ropelight-retaining grooves, is similar to conventional rain gutters. It is preferably made of aluminum or vinyl and is of any desired length. The gutter has a back wall  12 , a front wall  14  and a flat bottom wall  16 . In other embodiments, the gutter profile can be a smooth curve from the back wall to the front wall, or V-shaped, without any discrete bottom wall. 
   Longitudinal grooves  18 ,  20  are formed in the outer face  22  of the front wall, extending along the length of the gutter and protruding into its inner volume. Grooves  18 ,  20  are preferably spaced apart. For example, on a five inch high gutter, the grooves could be spaced about two inches apart. 
   Referring to  FIG. 2 , in use, gutter  10  is attached to fascia  24  of a building roof, by screws  25  or other conventional means such as nails, with the roof membrane  26  extending over the lip  28  of the back wall  12  so as to permit the flow of rain water into the gutter. 
   As best seen in  FIGS. 2 and 2A , ropelights  30  are fitted in grooves  18 ,  20 , which are sized and configured to receive the ropelight and hold it by means of a snug, frictional fit. Ropelight  30  is preferably a conventional ropelight, comprising a translucent flexible plastic tube containing light-emitting diodes and associated wiring. The grooves  18 ,  20  are open at the outer face  22  of the gutter and have a depth such that the ropelight is held securely while still being clearly visible when looking at the face of the gutter, so its decorative lighting will be exposed to view. Preferably, the depth of the grooves  18 ,  20  is greater than the radius of the ropelight, so the ropelight is securely held, and less than the diameter of the ropelight, so the ropelight protrudes somewhat from the face of the gutter for greater visibility of the lights. 
   Gutter  10  is provided in longitudinal sections of suitable length and, in use, is installed around all or part of the eaves of a house or other building, with the ropelight connected to a source of electric power by conventional means. Lengths of the gutter are connected together by means of clips (not shown in the drawings) which match the profile of the gutter and hold abutting ends of adjacent lengths securely together. Clips for attaching lengths of gutter end to end are well known in the art and such clips, adapted to fit the particular profile of the gutter  10  and not interfere with the fit of the ropelights in the grooves, are used in the present invention. 
   In order to connect lengths of gutter  10  at the corners of a roof, inside corner section  32  and outside corner section  34  are provided. Referring to  FIG. 3 , inside corner section  32  has ends  36 ,  38  which have a profile that is substantially the same as that of gutter  10 . The back wall  40  of the corner section forms a right angle (i.e. approximately 90°) between back wall section  56  and back wall section  58 . Likewise, front wall  42  forms a right angle between front wall sections  60  and  62 . The front wall  42  has a longitudinally curved section  44  that forms a radius of curvature sufficiently large that ropelights in the longitudinal grooves  18 ,  20  of the corner section can bend about the 90° corner turn while remaining in the grooves. 
   The edge portions of each end  36 ,  38  of corner section  32  are stepped inward by approximately the thickness of the gutter material to provide means for overlapping connection to lengths of gutter  10 . Referring to  FIG. 3 , an edge portion  64  of about one-half inch in length of the back wall sections  56 ,  58 , bottom wall  66  and front wall section  60 ,  62  is stepped inward. A length of gutter  10  can be connected to an end  36 ,  38  of the corner section  32  by fitting it over portion  64  and sealing with silicon the joint formed between the overlapping outer surface of portion  64  and the inner surface of a gutter length  10 . This forms a watertight sealed joint having a flush, contoured profile on the outside. It will be apparent that this mode of attaching a corner section and straight section of gutter can be used even if the gutter and corner sections do not include any ropelight-holding grooves, i.e. the mode of attachment is general in application and can be used to attach prior art gutters at abutting corners. 
   Outer corner section  34 , shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , has ends  46 ,  48  with a profile that is the same as that of gutter  10 , such that lengths of the gutter can be abutted to either end  46 ,  48  of the corner section and secured thereto by means of clips. The back wall  50  of the corner section forms an angle that is approximately 90°. The front wall  52  has a longitudinally curved section  54  that forms a radius of curvature sufficiently large that ropelights in the longitudinal grooves  18 ,  20  of the corner section can bend about the 90° corner while remaining in the grooves. 
   The edge portions of each end  46 ,  48  of corner section  34  are stepped inward, at portion  68 , by approximately the thickness of the gutter material, in the same manner as described above for corner section  32 , in order to permit the connection of the corner section to gutter lengths  10  by overlapping gutter  10  over portion  64 . Again, this mode of connection of lengths of gutter by means of a corner section having edges that are stepped inward does not require the presence of ropelight-holding grooves and is of general application to prior art gutters. 
   Corner sections  32 ,  34  are used where lengths of gutter  10  are to be installed at a 90° angle to each other. However, in some applications, other angles of connection, such as 30°, 45°, 60°, 120° and 150° may be required, depending on the roof design, or for applications such as gazebos in corner sections for such uses, the angle of the back walls and respective front walls is made to be whatever is required for a particular application, rather than the 90° corner illustrated in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . Corner sections according to invention can be provided, having any selected angle at its corner. 
   The embodiment of the gutter and lighting system described above and illustrated in the drawings has two longitudinal grooves for ropelights. However, the gutter may be made having only one longitudinal groove (for example, groove  18 ) in the face of the gutter, or with three or more grooves, depending on the amount of decorative lighting desired. In most cases, one, two or three grooves with ropelights will be preferred. 
   The gutter system of the invention can be installed when constructing a house or installed on an existing house to replace conventional gutters. If desired, a leafguard of types already known in the art can be optionally used in conjunction with the gutter system of the invention to minimize the entry of debris into to the gutter. Also, for roof configurations where a gutter does not extend around the entire roof, the light ropelighting can be continued through non-guttered segments of the fascia by means of a routered groove in the fascia, so the entire roof line can be illuminated. 
   The gutter system has a very streamlined appearance and is easy to clean, both on the outside of the gutter, since there are no clips or protruding elements attaching the ropelights to the gutter, and on the inside, since the longitudinal grooves do not interfere with the flow of water or debris through the gutter. 
   As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. For example, the gutter can have any practical trough-like profile, so long as it has a front wall portion for the ropelight-retaining grooves. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following claims.