Abstract:
The apparatus of this invention includes a long rod and a short rod, each of desired length, and each with a rake on one end and a hoe on the other end. Both rakes are of the same novel construction with three tines uniquely arranged to enable a workman mounted on a ladder to pull leaves in a conventional gutter toward himself and beneath spikes holding the gutter to a roof. The method of this invention enables a workman to draw leaves toward himself from both sides of the ladder without having to move the ladder.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     This invention relates to the cleaning of gutters.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     It is well known that gutters collect a variety of debris such as bird droppings, sand, dirt, twigs, and leaves and that debris can become a blockage that clogs gutters and interferes with their conveyance of rainwater. It is also well known that gutters must be periodically cleared of debris in order to perform their function of conveying rainwater.  
         [0003]     There are several gutter cleaners in the prior art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,553 issued Sep. 24, 1985 to Cary for DEVICE FOR REMOVING DEBRIS FROM GUTTERS; U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,090 issued Feb. 23, 1988 to Kilpatrick for GUTTER CLEANING DEVICE; U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,818 issued Jul. 18, 1989 to Smith for GUTTER CLEANING TOOL, WITH A MULTI-POSITIONAL AND SELF-LOCKING JOINT, THAT CAN BE REMOTELY OPERATED BY HAND FROM AN OBLIQUE ANGLE; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,715 issued Nov. 23, 1999 to Mason for APPARATUS FOR CLEANING DRAIN GUTTERS. None of these patents disclose applicant&#39;s invention, and a search of the prior art has failed to reveal any teaching of the applicant&#39;s novel apparatus and method.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     The present invention comprises several components to be used in a novel method for the effective cleaning of gutters. The components include a long rod with a rake on one end and a hoe on the other end for cleaning long gutters, a short rod with a rake on one end and a hoe on the other end for cleaning short gutters, and a scoop. All of the components are preferably made of steel, but may be made of any suitably strong and durable material.  
         [0005]     The maximum length of the rods is not critical and the rods can be of any desired length within the spirit of the invention. In the preferred embodiment the long rod is telescopic and has a maximum length of 12 feet because the difficulty of manipulating the rod and handling the rake and hoe at the ends of the rod increases with the length of the rod. The short rod is for cleaning short gutters and short distances in long gutters and may be of any desired length. The short rod has a clip for attachment to the workman&#39;s belt to make it readily available to the workman when needed.  
         [0006]     The rake that is attached to both the long rod and the short rod is a novel structure designed especially for being moved through gutters, and beneath spikes that attach the gutter to the roof, as the rake is used to accumulate pine straw and other debris within the gutter.  
         [0007]     The hoe on the end of the rod opposite the rake is used to accumulate granular debris in a gutter as by pulling the hoe against the debris in the gutter.  
         [0008]     The scoop is used by the workman to lift accumulations of pine straw and debris from the gutter and discard such accumulations as by throwing them to the ground or placing them in a bag.  
         [0009]     The rods, the rake, the hoe, and the scoop are all dimensioned to pass easily beneath the spikes that extend through the gutter at spaced intervals.  
         [0010]     It is intended that the entire apparatus, both of the rods and the scoop, be carried to the top of the ladder by the workman to be readily available for use.  
         [0011]     The novel method of this invention includes the steps taken by the workman with the aforesaid apparatus to accumulate leaves in a gutter and to clean a longer length of gutter from each position of the ladder than has heretofore been possible. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]      FIG. 1  is an environmental perspective view, with parts broken away, showing a workman pushing the rake on the long rod over debris and beneath spikes in a gutter to a desired position, with the teeth in the rake turned up to the glide position;  
         [0013]      FIG. 1   a  is an enlarged view of the rake in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is an environmental perspective view similar to  FIG. 1 , with parts broken away, showing the workman pulling in the rake with its teeth turned down to the raking position to accumulate debris from the desired position;  
         [0015]      FIG. 2   a  is an enlarged view of the rake in  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is an enlarged perspective view of the rake at one end of the rod, with part of the rod broken away;  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  is an enlarged side view of the rake at one end of the rod, with part of the rod broken away;  
         [0018]      FIG. 5  is a side view of the hoe on the short rod, with part of the short rod broken away;  
         [0019]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the hoe on the short rod being used to clean debris from a short gutter, with part of the rod being broken away; and  
         [0020]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view illustrating handling of the scoop beneath a spike in a gutter while removing an accumulation of debris, with portions of the gutter being broken away.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0021]     Referring more specifically to the drawings,  FIGS. 1 and 2  show a workman W appropriately positioned on a ladder L to clean a gutter G in accordance with the invention. It is significant for the effective cleaning of gutters in accordance with the invention that the workman&#39;s position on the ladder be as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . As shown, the workman stands on the ladder with his chest pressed against the ladder L and with his arms extending around the sides of the ladder.  
         [0022]     Standing in this position the workman is able to use both hands to grasp and manipulate a long rod  10  and its rake  11  on one end of the rod to effectively clean a portion of the gutter on each side of the ladder. The long rod is telescopic and can be adjusted to a desired length. The difficulty of handling the rake  11  in a gutter increases with the length of the rod. The preferred maximum length of the rod  10  is twelve feet.  
         [0023]     The rake  11  is small enough to be manipulated through a gutter beneath spikes S commonly placed about every four feet along a gutter to attach the gutter to a roof, and to rake pine straw and other debris D beneath the spikes in the gutter. Part of the debris in the gutter G has been broken away in  FIGS. 1 and 2  for the purpose of illustrating the rake  11  and spikes S.  
         [0024]     With the workman positioned as described, and with a rod twelve feet in length, the workman can rake in pine straw and debris twelve feet away from his left side and twelve feet away from his right side without moving or leaving the ladder.  
         [0025]      FIGS. 1 and 2  show the workman W positioned on the ladder L as described and manipulating the long rod  10  with its rake  11  in accordance with the invention to rake in an accumulation of pine straw and debris, broadly indicated at D, within gutter G. The gutter G is full of debris D but the gutter is shown with a clear space for the purpose of illustrating the rake  11  and a spike S.  
         [0026]     There are gutters having bottom walls of different widths and side walls of different heights extending from the bottom walls. The invention is described for use in a gutter having a bottom wall three inches wide, side walls extending three inches up from the bottom wall and fastened to a roof with spikes spaced along the gutter and extending through the upper portions of the side walls. When the apparatus is used with gutters of different sizes, the dimensions of the apparatus must be modified as appropriate to gain the benefits of the apparatus.  
         [0027]      FIG. 1  shows the workman W pushing the rod  10  and its rake  11  outwardly from the ladder L in the gutter G to a desired position P. The desired position P was selected by the workman as being the most beneficial position to begin raking in some of the pine straw and debris D within the gutter on the left side of the ladder.  
         [0028]     Before pushing the rake toward the desired position P in  FIG. 1 , the workman has rotated the rod  10  to turn the teeth of the rake  11  upwardly to the glide position, as seen in  FIG. 1 , so the rake will glide over the debris D as the rake is pushed to position P to begin raking in the debris.  
         [0029]     In  FIG. 2  the rake  11  has reached the desired position P. At that point the workman rotates the rod  10  to turn the teeth of the rake downwardly to the raking position. The rake is then pulled in to provide close to the ladder an accumulation of the same debris that the rake glided over when the rake was pushed out to position P.  
         [0030]     The workman then uses a scoop  40  ( FIG. 7 ) to remove that accumulation of debris, and successive accumulations of debris, from the gutter. The scoop may be used to throw accumulations of debris to the ground or to deposit accumulations of debris in a bag, as desired.  
         [0031]     The diameter of the rod  10  is small enough for the rod to easily pass under one or more spikes while the workman holds the rod at a convenient angle, as seen in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The diameter of the rod  10  is preferably no more than ½ inch.  
         [0032]     As most clearly seen in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the rake  11  includes a shaft  12  extending in axial alignment from its rod  10 . The shaft  12  terminates in three teeth, a center tooth  13  and two side teeth  14  and  15 . The center tooth  13  extends in axial alignment from the shaft  12  to a downturned end portion  16 . The side teeth  14  and  15  extend from the shaft  12  in diverging relation to the center tooth  13  to their respective downturned end portions  16 . The length of each tooth  13 ,  14  and  15  is preferably no more than three inches. The length of each end portion  16  is preferably no more than half an inch, terminating in a rearwardly extending lip  17  to scrape the bottom of gutters.  
         [0033]     The small dimensions of the rake facilitate the manipulation of the rake within a gutter while the rake is being used to rake in and accumulate pine straw and debris, and enable the rake to pass freely beneath the spikes that attach gutters to roofs.  
         [0034]     As seen in  FIGS. 1 and 2  there is a hoe  20  on the end of the rod  10  opposite the rake  11 . Referring to  FIG. 5 , the hoe  20  comprises a rectangular sheet of material, such as steel, with preferred measurements of one inch in height and three inches in width. A shaft  21  extends axially from the rod  10  and is fastened to the center of the hoe  20 . A conventional hoe has a handle attached to the top of the hoe, but fastening the shaft  21  to the center of the hoe  20  is advantageous for the hoe  20  to be used in gutters because the center connection of the shaft  21  enables the bottom edge of the hoe to be higher from the bottom of the gutter when the rod  10  has pushed the hoe under a spike in the gutter, enabling the hoe  20  to be pushed further beyond the spike than would be possible if the shaft  21  were connected to the top of the hoe.  
         [0035]     The apparatus of this invention also includes a short rod  30  ( FIG. 6 ). The short rod  30  is identical to the long rod  10 , except for its length and except for a clip  31  on the short rod, enabling a workman to have the short rod readily available by using the clip  31  to attach the short rod  30  to his belt or elsewhere. Both rods are preferably telescopic. Both rods have the same rake  11 . Both rods have the same hoe  30 .  
         [0036]     The function of the short rod  30  is to clean gutters that are too short to be effectively cleaned with the long rod  10 , and to accumulate debris close to the ladder L in long gutters.  
         [0037]      FIG. 7  illustrates the structure and use of a scoop  40 . The scoop is formed from steel, or other suitably hard and durable material, with a bottom wall  41 , side walls  42  and  43 , a rear wall  44  and a handle  45  extending from the rear wall  44 . As seen in  FIG. 7 , the attachment of the handle  45  to the rear wall  44  is above the center of the rear wall, and the handle extends rearwardly above the top of the rear wall. This arrangement provides space for the workman&#39;s hand between the handle and the bottom of a gutter. The preferred measurement of the scoop is four inches in length, three inches in width, and of a height short enough to pass under the spikes S.  
         [0038]     The foregoing apparatus is tailored to the cleaning of gutters in an effective and efficient manner. The two telescopic rods allow the workman to quickly and easily have at hand the length of rod that is compatible with the length of the gutter, and with the length of the debris to be cleared.  
         [0039]     The described method of first accumulating debris on one side of the ladder and then accumulating debris on the other side of the ladder without moving the ladder is a novel method that results in a significant decrease in labor and saving of time.