Roof gutter

Abstract

 A gutter for use in industrial buildings is formed from commercial quality steel sheeting or aluminium sheeting so as to provide a wall (2) of trough form with a base (5) and side walls (6,7), and means such as additional flanges (8) are provided to facilitate securing of the gutter at a building roof. At least portions of the wall (2) are structurally embossed (11/12/13) to increase the strength of the gutter, and it is preferable that the gutter has sufficient strength to serve additionally as a walkway. A gutter assembly can be formed from a plurality of gutter sections arranged as above.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a roof gutter for use in industrial buildings.

[0002] Roof gutters are used in industrial buildings to channel rainwater to appropriate locations where the rain water can be drained away, and these gutters can take a variety of forms such as valley, boundary wall and eaves form. Gutter construction has been of plain metal material so as to define a base wall portion and upstanding side walls portions thereby forming a channel configuration for water flow. Examples of such roof gutters are shown in U.K. Patents 1130844 and 2081336B and the gutter may be of uninsulated form being made up essentially of the metal wall or may be insulated by the addition of insulating material with possibly a further metal lining skin located on the insulating material. The roof gutter has to have sufficient structural strength to withstand rainwater load and possibly also snow and ice loading, and additionally the gutter may be called upon to serve as a walkway, both during and after construc­tion of a building and this places increased load demands on the gutter. Consequently there is the problem of possible deformation of the gutter assembly due to excess loading or alternatively where the metal walls of the gutter are of increased thickness to cater for this loading there is the problem of the gutter becoming undesirably heavy and consequently more costly.

[0003] It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a roof gutter of improved construction for use in industrial buildings which obviates or mitigates the above problems.

[0004] According to the present invention a roof gutter for an industrial building includes a metal wall of substantially uniform thickness defining a base and side wall portions and comprised of aluminium or commercial quality steel, at least a portion of said wall being structurally embossed so as to increase the strength of the wall.

[0005] In the case of a steel wall, the steel is preferably treated for example by coating with zinc (i.e. galvanized). Further, synthetic coatings may be applied additionally, such as paint or a plastics coating.

[0006] The structurally embossed wall preferably has a strength property at least five per cent greater than a corresponding non-embossed plain wall of a thickness equivalent to the material before it is structurally embossed.

[0007] The precise embossment pattern created by the structural embossing can take a wide variety of forms. For example, the embossing could create an array of separate individual deformations on the gutter wall or alternatively a series of elongate continuous deformations or corruga­tions could be provided. Prefera­bly the array or said deformation axis is set at an angle to the longitu­dinal axis of the gutter. In particular, the deformation axis of the corrugations can be set transversely to the gutters' longitudinal axis. The individual deformations of the array pattern can have a variety of shapes in plan view. Thus these deformations could be of rectangular, circular, square or oblong shape in plan with other shapes possible. Further, deformations of different planar shape could be present in a particular array.

[0008] Thus the structural embossment of the gutter wall improves the structural strength property of the wall and hence of the complete gutter, enabling a thinner wall to be used with a consequent saving in material and hence in cost, or alternatively, for a given wall thickness, increased structural strength is imparted to the gutter.

[0009] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figs. 1A-1F show in end view various forms of roof gutter embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 shows in plan view a portion of one form of structural emboss­ing pattern suitably for use in the present invention;

Fig. 3 shows a sectional side view of a deformation of Fig. 2 through section x-x;

Fig. 4 shows an end view of a further embossment pattern suitably for use in the present invention; and

Fig. 5 is a side view of part of a gutter wall of coated form.

[0010] Referring to Figs. 1A-1F, various roof gutters 1 are shown all having a gutter wall 2 of commercial quality steel or of aluminium. Commercial (or profile) quality steel would be satisfied by designations S1 and S2 of British Standards 2989 (1982) i.e. defined as low grade commercial or profiling quality steel. The steel is preferably galvanised with zinc coatings 3 (Fig. 5). Further the wall 2 could have additional outer coatings 4 (Fig. 5) of synthetic material e.g. PVF2, polyester, polyester silicone or polyvinylchloride. In each of the gutters 1 shown in Figs. 1A-1F, the wall 2 constituting the girth of the gutter comprises a base 5 and side walls portions 6, 7, and at least one side flange 8 can be pro­vided to facilitate location and securement of the gutter 1 on a building, although these flanges 8 are not present in Fig. 1E and 1F. Figs 1A and 1B show valley gutters, these gutters being symmetrical about a vertical plane V-V, Figs. 1C and 1D show boundary wall gutters, while the gutter of Fig. 1E is an eaves gutter and that of Fig. 1F an ogee gutter. The gutters of Figs. 1A, 1C, 1E and 1F are of uninsulated type, while those of Figs. 1B and 1D are of insulated form including an insulating layer 9 bounded by the wall 2 and a lower lining tray or wall 10.

[0011] It is a particular feature of the present gutters 1 that structural embossing is applied to the wall 2 and preferably also to the lining wall 10 where present. This embossing has the function of strengthening the gutter wall 2(10) and also strain hardening the wall material. The embos­sing may be applied substantially over the full area of the wall 2(10), especially at base 5 and wall portions 6, 7, but it would be possible for the embossing to be applied at only selected areas of the wall 2(10).

[0012] The actual embossment pattern can be chosen from a wide variety of different forms, and Figs. 2 and 4 merely show two examples. Thus in Fig. 2, the embossment applies an array of separate individual deformations 11, 12. As can be seen in Fig. 2 the deformations 11 are of oblong form in plan view while the deformations 12 are of a smaller circular shape, the pattern arrangement being defined by an orthogonal series of lines K-K, L-L with each circular deformation 12 surrounded by four oblong deformations 11. The spacing of the lines K-K, L-L specify the pitch of the deformation array: pitch of 5 mm may be used for example. The structural embossing is achieved by a cold deformation using for example suitable embossment rollers (not shown), and it is a feature of the embossment that the orthogonal lines K-K, L-L are oblique to the rolling direction R.

[0013] Where the embossing of Fig. 2 is applied to the material forming the wall 2(10) of the gutter 1, the longitudinal axis of the gutter 1 (extend­ing vertically out of the plane of the paper in Figs. 1A-1F) will corre­spond with the rolling axis R so that the deformation array 11, 12 will be oblique to the longitudinal axis of the gutter 1 i.e. the orthogonal lines K-K, L-L will be oblique to this axis. It is also arranged that the thickness t (Fig. 3) of the wall material remains substantially uniform over the area of the wall even after the embossing process. It will be understood that deformations of other planar shape could be presented in the array of Fig. 2 for example deformations of rectangu­lar or square form could be used. Further, different patterns are possi­ble such as for example a uniform array of similar deformations, and an irregular (non-uniform) deformation array is also possible.

[0014] Fig. 4 shows a wall 2(10) embossed so as to be of corrugated form with nodes 13, 14 and the ratio of pitch P to valley depth H can be suitably chosen. Where the gutter 1 is provided with the corrugated embossment of Fig. 4, the axis of deformation (i.e. out of the plane of the paper in Fig. 4) of the profile can be arranged appropriately relative to the longitudinal axis of the gutter 1. For example, the profile deformation axis may be arranged transversely to the gutters longitudi­nal axis as shown in Fig. 1E.

[0015] In all cases it is preferred that the embossment has the effect of increasing a structural strength property e.g. bending resistance of the wall 2(10) by at least 5 per cent. Where coatings 3, 4 are to be applied to the wall 2(10) the embossment may be carried out before or after the coatings 3, 4 are applied.

[0016] The thickness of wall 2 may be within the range °25mm to 5mm for example while the gutter 1 may have a width (girth) in the range 100mm to 3 metres and can be in lengths of up to 25 metres, a gutter system being formed by joining up successive gutter sections or lengths.

[0017] The application of the embossment to the gutters 1 in accordance with the present invention provides two distinct advantages concerning structural and aesthetic enhancement. Thus, the embossment increases the strength of the gutter structure and this will enable a thinner wall 2(10) to be used thereby lightening the gutter structure and consequently giving rise to a possible saving in cost since less metal is required. Also varying quality of metal material may be utilised as the strain hardening and cold deformation of the material due the emboss­ment process mitigates against adverse effects created by the use of varying quality material. Further, the embossing deformations will in­crease the corrosion resistance of the metal wall 2(10).

[0018] The deformations 11, 12 can be arranged to project outwardly on the wall 2 as shown in Fig. 1A etc and this improves the aesthetic qualities of the gutter, especially where the internal faces of the gutter are visible from within the building. In the case of the corru­gated embossment of Fig. 4, the weather face of the profile, for example the surface with nodes 13, can be suitably coated with synthetic material.

[0019] The stronger structurally embossed gutter will enable the use of a lighter steelwork frame and few gutter support members for example straps.

Claims

1. A roof gutter for an industrial building including a metal wall of substantially uniform thickness defining a base and side wall portions and comprises of aluminium or commercial quality steel, at least a portion of said wall being structurally embossed so as to increase the strength of the wall.

2. A gutter as claimed in claim 1, including means to facilitate securing of the gutter to a building.

3. A gutter as claimed in claim 2, wherein said means comprises at least one additional flange.

4. A gutter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the wall comprises steel having a surface treatment coating, for example of zinc.

5. A gutter as claimed in claim 4, wherein an additional covering coating is applied to the sheet.

6. A gutter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and of composite form, including an insulating layer.

7. A gutter as claimed in claim 6, wherein the insulating layer is located between said wall and an additional covering sheet.

8. A gutter as claimed in claim 7, wherein said additional covering sheet is embossed.

9. A gutter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the embossing comprises an array of separate individual deformations.

10. A gutter as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the embossing comprises a series of elongate continuous deformations or corrugations.

11. A gutter as claimed in claim 9 or 10, wherein an axis of embossement deformation extends parallel to the longitudinal direction of the wall.

12. A gutter as claimed in claim 9 or 10, wherein an axis of the deformation array or corrugation deformation is set at an angle to the longitudinal direction of the wall.

13. A gutter as claimed in claim 12, wherein the deformation axis of the corrugated embossement is set transversely to the longitudinal direction of the wall.

14. A gutter as claimed in claim 9, wherein the deformations have a rectangular, square or oblong shape in plan view.

15. A gutter as claimed in claim 9 or 14, where the deformations have a substantially flat top.

16. A gutter as claimed in claim 4, 14 or 15, wherein the array of deformations comprises deformations of different size and/or configurations.

17. A gutter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the embossing of the wall causes the wall to have a structural property five per cent greater than a corresponding non-embossed plain wall of a thickness equivalent to the material before it is structurally embossed.

18. A gutter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, where the wall is adapted to support human weight, to enable the gutter to serve as a walkway.

19. A gutter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the gutter has a girth in the range 100 mm to 3 metres while the wall thickness lies in the range .25 mm to 5 mm.

20. A gutter substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in any one of Figs 1A to 1F of the accompanying drawings.

Drawing