Abstract:
An apparatus for serving as a cover for a window well associated with a window of a building and including a frame member having two vertically spaced apart inwardly extending projections, a retainer assembly that serves as a connection between the frame member and the building and also has a pair of vertically spaced apart outwardly extending projections, at least one support beam extending between and supported by the lower most projections, and a protective cover member overlying the support means and having edge portions received within the spaces between the projections of the frame member and the retainer assembly.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates in general to a cover for a window well associated with a window of a building and more specifically concerns a window well cover that can be semi-permanently attached to the side of the building so that the window well can be opened for access as desired. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     The use of window wells surrounding the exterior of below grade windows, such as a window in the basement wall of a building is widely known. Normally, such windows are near the upper side of the basement wall but are either partly or wholly below grade. To protect the window from backfill and other damage and to allow sunlight to be exposed to the window, it is customary for a window well to be placed around the full exterior of the window. 
     To comply with safety regulations concerning ingress and egress from below grade windows and to increase the amount of sunlight that is allowed therethrough, a trend has developed of providing relatively large window wells surrounding such windows. Although such enlarged construction has many advantages, it is also has the disadvantages of allowing for rubbish and other materials to collect in the window well areas and in times of intense rain can serve as a collecting basin for unwanted amounts of moisture. 
     To lessen the above noted disadvantages, it is known in the art to provide window well covers for below grade windows and a variety of different types of embodiments of such covers have previously been utilized. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,455 issued to Veazey discloses a window well cover that includes an extruded metal frame for receiving the perimeter portions of a plastic glazing sheet to serve as a cover member for a window well. Although such window well structure appears to provide a relatively lightweight cover apparatus for a window well, the specific structure it employs appears to be unnecessarily complicated and relatively expensive to manufacture. The present invention provides an improved structure for a window well cover apparatus that avoids the foregoing disadvantages. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides an apparatus for serving as a cover for a window well associated with a below grade window of a building and comprises a frame member conforming to the shape of the window well and has spaced apart inwardly extending projections, a retainer means that serves as a connection between said frame member and said building and has a pair of outwardly extending projections, beam means extending between the lower most projection of said frame member and the lower most projections of said retainer member, and a protective cover member overlying said beam means. 
     The protective cover member is designed to have edge portions receivable within the spaces between the frame member projections and the retainer means projections to secure said cover in a fixed position in said apparatus to close off the top of the window well. Furthermore, the frame member includes means for seating said member on the upper periphery of the window well. 
     Preferably, the retainer means provides a semi-permanent connection between said frame member and said building and also provides a pivotable connection therebetween so that the frame member can be pivoted with respect to the building to open the window well to the outside to readily enable ingress and egress if it is desired for safety reasons or other purposes. 
     Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated from the following description. Such description makes reference to the accompanying drawings, which are provided for illustration of the preferred embodiment. However, such embodiment does not represent the full scope of the invention. The subject matter which the inventor does regard as his invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of this specification. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a window well cover apparatus in accordance with the present invention associated with the side of a building and a window well; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1, but showing the window well cover apparatus by itself and in a partially exploded format; 
     FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 taken along the line  3 — 3  of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken across one of the inner ends of a frame member forming a portion of the embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is an end view a back plate that serves as a portion of a retainer means for pivotally attaching the embodiment of FIG. 1 to the building; 
     FIG. 6 is an end view of a support plate that coacts with the back plate of FIG. 5 to form the retainer means for the embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 7 is an end view of a beam member included in the embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 8 is a side view of the beam member of FIG. 7; 
     FIG. 9 is a front saddle member included in the embodiment of FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 10 is a side saddle member included in the embodiment of FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the drawings and with reference first to FIG. 1, a preferred embodiment of a window well cover apparatus of the present invention is shown at  10  and is designed to be utilized in association with a window well  12  and is preferably, semi-permanently affixed to the side of a building  14 . The window well  12 , as is commonly known, extends outwardly from the side of the building  14  to form a perimeter around a below grade window  16  that provides an open area  18  in front of the window  16  that not only provides exposure of the window  16  from above ground, but also permits ingress and egress through the opening of the window  16  in the event of the need for an emergency exit from the building  14 . 
     The periphery of the cover apparatus  10  as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is preferably formed by a somewhat arcuately shaped frame member  22 , a retainer means  24  that is formed from a back plate  26  and a support plate  28  to preferably provide a semi-permanent and pivotable connection of the cover apparatus  10  to the building  14 . The frame member  22  is preferably formed from extruded aluminum and is shaped to conform to the configuration of the window well  12 , whatever it may be. 
     As indicated best by FIGS. 1 and 2 the frame member  22  has a relatively large cross-section at its inner ends  30  and tapers downwardly toward the outer perimeter of the cover apparatus  10  to provide it with a downwardly slanting top surface to direct moisture from the side of the building  14 . 
     As indicated by FIG. 4, the frame member  22  is formed with a thin body portion  32  and two vertically spaced apart inwardly extending projections  34  and  36 , with the projection  34  serving as the top of the frame member  22 . As further indicated in FIGS. 1 and 3, the back plate  26  of the retainer means  24  extends between the opposite inner ends  30  of the frame member  22  to serve as a connecting member therebetween. 
     The back plate  26  has an upper screw boss  40  and a lower screw boss  42  at each end preferably for receiving screws (screws are well known in the art and are not shown) for attaching the frame member  22  to the back plate  26 . Additionally, in a somewhat similar fashion to the frame member  22 , the back plate  26  has outwardly extending projections  44  and  46  that are vertically spaced apart, with the upper projection  44  serving as the top of the plate  26 . Extending outwardly from the opposite side of the plate  26  are a relatively long arcuately shaped finger  48  and a lower, shortened finger  50  that serve as one-half of a pivotal connection between the back plate  26  and the support plate  28 . 
     Referring now to FIG. 6, the support plate  28  has an elongated flat body portion  52  that is attachable to the side of the building  14  by screws or the like. Extending outwardly from the body portion  52  is an arm  58  that terminates in arcuately shaped ends  60  that form a “C” shape sized to be received within the space between the fingers  48  and  50  of the back plate  26 , all as shown best in FIG. 3 to provide a semi-permanent attachment of the back plate  26  to the support plate  28  in a pivotable relationship. 
     The projections  34  and  36  on the frame member  22  and the projections  44  and  46  on the back plate  26  are vertically spaced apart equal distantly for receiving a stiff sheet of protective transparent plastic material  62  that acts as a top for the cover apparatus  10 . Also, the lower projections  36  and  44  serve as supports for preferably two beams  64  that extend between the back plate  26  and the frame member  22  and are overlaid by and maintain the sheet  62  in position. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the central portion of the support beams  64  are each formed in somewhat of a “T” configuration with a horizontally aligned top section  66  and a leg section  68  that is orthogonal to the top section  66 . However, as shown in FIG. 8, the leg section  68  of each beam  64  does not extend the full length of the top section  66  so that the ends  70  of the top section  66  are flat to permit them to extend into the spaces between the projections  34  and  36  and  44  and  46  to be supported thereby and in turn support the plastic sheet  62 . 
     In view of the fact that the side wall of the frame member  22  is relatively thin it is highly advantageous to provide the frame member  22  with some type of seating means that will readily accept and engage the top of the window well  12  in a satisfactory manner so as to provide a proper alignment therebetween. Referring now to FIG. 9, a generally U-shaped saddle member  74  is shown that serves as an appropriate type of seating means for the front portion of the cover apparatus  10  as indicated in FIG.  3 . 
     The saddle member  74  has a straight midsection  76  and downwardly extended legs  78  and  80  to form a pocket for receipt of the top of the window well  12 . The particular length of the member  74  is not critical but preferably is 6-12 inches long to provide substantial surface contact with the window well  12 . To secure the saddle member  74  to the frame member  22 , the leg  78  has an upwardly bent end  82  that fits around the bottom edge of the frame member  22  and the leg  78  can be affixed to the frame member either by bolts, welds or screws at  84 . 
     Turning now to FIG. 10, a second type of saddle member  86  is shown for use near the inner ends  38  of the member  22  where it is at its widest. The saddle member  86  is substantially similar in configuration to the member  74  with a midsection  76 , legs  78  and  80  and a bent end  82 . However, the saddle member  86  further includes an upper brace portion  88  that can be fastened to the frame member  22  to increase the securement between the saddle member  86  and the frame member  22 . 
     Thus, the present invention provides a durable and efficient cover for a variety of shapes of window wells and yet has a structure that is relatively simplistic and inexpensive to manufacture. The foregoing description of the present invention is solely for illustrative purposes only. It is to be understood that the terminology that has been used is intended to be in the nature of words of description rather than of limitation. Many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. For example, there are many different alternatives for providing a seating means for the cover to coact with a window well as well as other types of pivotal connections between the bracket members of the cover. Also, instead of semi-permanently connecting the cover apparatus to a building, it could be permanently fastened thereto and instead of using two support beams  64  one or more beams can be utilized depending upon the amount of support desired for the plastic sheet  62 . Therefore the foregoing description is not to be taken as definitive of the scope of the invention, but rather that which is regarded as the invention is set forth in the following claims.