US2363879A - Slant roof louver - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 28, 1944. H LEsLlE 2,363,879

SLANT ROOF LOUVER Filed Feb. 25, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet l @A4-iij- Nov. 28, 1944. F. H. LESLIE SLANT ROOF LOUVER Filed Feb. 2s, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fw /mj @y f@ e FW Patented Nov. 2s, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT oEFl'cE SLANT ROOF LOUVER Freeland H. Leslie, Chicago, Ill.

Application February 23, 1942, Serial No. 431,914

' (ci. sis-42) Claims.

This invention relates to louvers for ventilating attics in houses, and more particularly to louvers of the type shown in applicants copending application, Serial No. 326,369, now Patent #2,300,842, dated November 3, 1942, of which this application is a continuation in part. 'Ihese louvers have become known in the trade as slant roof louvers.

The first object of the present invention is to provide in a slant roof louver of limited dimensions and of a design adequate to resist water penetration from the outside a pitch for the louver roof such that it will slope downwardly when the louver is mounted on a roof having a pitch as low as one-sixth. It will be understood that the roofs of most private homes are pitched at one of a comparatively few commonly used slopes. The slope of a particular roof is spoken of in the construction trade as one-half pitch, one-third pitch, one-fourth pitch, etc. By the term one-half pitch roof, the trade means one wherein the height of the peak of the roof above the eaves is one-half of the horizontal distance at the eaves spanned by the roof. Similarly, a one-third pitch roof is one wherein the height of the roof peak above the eaves is one-third the distance spanned by the roof. In applicants concurrently led application, Serial No. 438,064 there is shown a slant roof louver to be used on a quarter-pitch roof.

Parenthetically, it may' be said that almost regardless of the pitch of a house roof, an outwardly and downwardly directed slope on a louver roof may be provided by merely lengthening the roof of the louver, thereby decreasing the angle between the louver roof and the house roof upon which it is to be mounted. As this lengthening of the louver roof increases the cost of the louver and renders it more conspicuous on a house roof, this solution is of no practical consequence.

In the present invention applicant provides a slant roof louver of limited dimensions whose roof will slant outwardly and downwardly when mounted on a one-sixth pitch roof. The feature which makes this possible is the positioning of the water baille or return drain which is within the louver behind the outlet opening below the peripheral ange which rests upon the slant roof. Referring to applicants copending case, Serial No. 326,369, the forward top of the baffle I6 must be slightly above the top of the screen over the outlet opening in order to exclude driving rain effectively. Inasmuch as the opening above the baille must be equal to the outlet opening, the height of the peak of the louver above the peripheral flange must be approximately twice the height of the screen above the same point. In the slant roof louver there shown, the angle between the louver roof and the peripheral ilashing is approximately thirty-one degrees. When this louver is mounted on a one-quarter pitch roof, which forms an -angle 'to the horizontal of approximately twenty-six degrees. the louver roof will slope inwardly toward the roof and in a driving rain, water from the louver roof may be blown beneath the shingles above.

In the present invention, applicant drops the baiile or drain below the peripheral flange and so relates the angle of the floor of the baffle or drain to the peripheral flange that when the louver is placed on a one-sixth pitch roof, the floor of the baille will still slope downwardly toward the external opening.

In the present invention, the outlet opening which is ordinarily covered by a screen is disposed at right angles to the roof of the louver and not at right angles to the peripheral flange. When actually mounted on a roof, the screen is more likely to be at approximately :right angles to the horizontal, which is desirable.

The forward edge of the baille is lower with respect to the peripheral ilange "and this makes it possible to lower the roof peak of the louver.

It will be understood that the invention here described will be useful only where there is vacant space beneath the house roof sheeting to receive the depending baille or drain. Such space ordinarily exists between the rafters of a private home roof because these rafters are usually two inches by six inches and the outer opening of one of applicants louvers is ordinarily only two inches high. The second object of this invention is to provide draining surfaces within the louver such that water resulting from condensation on the interior metal surfaces will be discharged on to the house roof. Applicants louvers are made of metal and experience has demonstrated that the highly conductive metal will precipitate moisture out of the air moving in the air passageway during a change in external temperatures. The precipitated moisture may gather as ice or run oli as liquid, depending principally upon the temperature of the louver. The moisture is precipitated on the metal surfaces along which there may be a flow of air, although to a much smaller degree along other metal surfaces.

, In the copending application, Serial No. 326,369, thetop wall of the baie is parallel to the louver` roof. A workman knows that, by positionlng the louver so that the louver roof slopes downwardly, this upper baille wall will likewise slope downwardly so that precipitated moisture will drain through the louver outlet opening onto the house roof. Moisture precipitated on those inside wall portions of the louver which are behind the baille and 'above the inlet opening will drip into the attic. One of the features of the present invention is the provision of a drain and baille members positioned beneath all interior walls of the louver which form the air passageway whereby all moisture precipitated in the air passageways will be discharged onto the house roof. An adaptor plate for effecting this same purpose in the slant roof louver wherein the baille or drain is entirely above the peripheral flange is shown in the concurrently filed case; Serial No. 438,064.

A third object of this invention is to further reduce the overall height of the louver by providing a plurality of passageways through the inside baille whereby'the cross sectional area of the passageway above the edge of the baille adjacent to the outlet opening need not be equal to the cross sectional area of the outlet opening.

These and such other objects as may hereinafter appear are attained in two embodiments of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings, comprising one sheet, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view partly cut away of the first embodiment of the invention mounted on a roof between the rafters;

Figure 2 iS a side view in section showing relative sizes of air passageways;

Figure 3 is an exploded perspective View of a slant roof louver dormer and those parts making up the combination drain 'and baille member which depends below the peripheral flange;

Figure 4 is a side view in section of the second embodiment of the invention; and

Figure 5 is a perspective View of the depending drain and baille member used in the second embodiment of the invention.

Like reference characters are used in the drawings and specification that follows.

Continuing to refer to the drawings and particularly to Figures 1, 2 and 3 showing the first embodiment of the invention, in Figure 3 the numeral I0 identifies a dormer. The dormer I8 is formed of two triangular side walls as I2, a roof I4, a screen I6 over a front opening and a visor I8 sloping forwardly from the roof I4 to a point below the upper edge of the screen I6. Flanges along the opposite sides of the roof I4 and the visor I8 are the means of assembling the roof'I4 to the side walls I2. The bottom edge of each side wall I2 carries an outwardly directed flange as and the upper edge of the roof I4 has an extended flange 22. These anges are assembled with a flat sheet 24 to form three sides of a peripheral flange generally identified by the Ynumeral 26 surrounding an opening which is covered by the dormer I0. The construction of the dormer follows closely the construction disclosed in the copending case, Serial No. 326,369.

The lower portion of the peripheral flange 26 is formed of a at sheet 28 into which has been pressed' a ramp 30. This sheet 28 is fastened beneath the flanges 20 by any suitable means in such a way that the line 32 where the ramp leaves the plane of the sheet 28 will be in alignment with the front vertical edges of the side walls I2. Ordinarily the screen I6 is not mounted over the outlet opening of the dormer until all other parts of the louver have been assembled.

Beneath the dormer I0 and beneath the peripheral flange 26 there is mounted a combination baille and. drainboard member, generally identified by the numeral 34. Referring to Figure 3, this member consists of a drainboard havlng two oppositely and upwardly directed side walls 38 and 40 which have the same general triangular shape as the dormer side walls I2. The side walls 38 and 40 are cut at 42 and 44 in order to terminate short of the front screen I6, see Figure 2. The outer or discharge end of the drain board -36 continues in the same plane beyond the vertical cut portions 42 and 44 and at the end carries a drip cap 46.

Before assembling the drainboard 36 with the dormer I0 and ramp 30, an angulate or pocket member 48, which consists of top wall 50, side wall 52 and bottom flange 54 together with suitable side flanges such as 56, is mounted on the inside end of the dralnboard 36 to form a. pocket which will stop any driving rain sweeping through the screen I6. Additionally, there is mounted between the side walls 38 and 48 a baille 58 having side edge flanges 68 for assembling purposes. The baille 58 is mounted, referring to Figure 2, so that its inward edge 62 will be lower than the forward edge 64 of the pocket member 48, and so that its outward edge 66 will be slightly above the top of the screen.

The combination baille and drainboard assembly 34 is mounted in the ramp 30 which slightly exceeds the width of the drainboard 36 and the upper edges of the walls 38 and 40 are fastened by any suitable means such as spot welds 68 to the lower inside portion of the dormer side walls I2. The ramp 30 is at the same angle with the sheet 28, see Figure 2, as ls the roof .I4 with the peripheral flange 26. The drainboard 36, therefore, is parallel to the roof I4. Moreover, continuing to refer to Figure 2, the angulate or pocket member 48 has itsr top wall 5I) parallel to the drainboard 36 so that its top wall 58 likesheeting. In-Figure 1, two rafters 12 and 14,

ordinarily disposed on sixteen-inch centers, are illustrated as covered by sheeting 16, tar paper 18 and shingles 80. A hole 82 may be cut in the sheeting and if it is of the exact size of the dormer area, the lower edge of the sheeting at 84 should be cut back to provide an air intake for the louver equal to the air outlet. More commonly, the hole in the sheeting is cut back to a point such as 86, see Figure 2, because the upper portion 24 of the peripheral flange 26 is amply wide and strong to provide firm support for the louver over the larger hole.

Applicants louver depends below the sheeting by a distance a little less than the height of the louver above the roof. 'I'he rafters 12 and 'I4 provide ample room because even when they are only of the two-inch by four-inch size,

' the screened opening of the louver is only two drainboard $6 is to the left o! the point where the roof I4 meets the peripheral ilange.- It the sheeting is cut along the line 84, it is evident that all metal walls in the air passageway are mounted in such a way that precipitated moisture will reach the drainboard 36 if the louver is mounted so that its roof I4 4slopes outwardly and downwardly.. Y

An important feature contributing to the low overall height of applicants louver is the positioning of the haine 58 so that there will be passageways at both ends thereof. Referring to Figure 2, it will be understood that the inside opening 8B should have the same cross sectional area as the outside opening covered by the screen I6. Heretofore, applicant has carried the passageway forwardly over the front edge of the baffle, which necessitates raising the peak to a point above the baille equal to the height of the outside opening. In the present invention, the inside opening 88 is connected to the outside opening by two passageways 9|!4 and 92, the combined cross sectional area of which equals that of either the inside opening or the outside opening. It is evident that a series of spaced bafes could be positioned between the pocket member 48 and the outside opening and that the peak might be still further lowered.

Referring now to Figures 4 and 5, the second embodiment of this invention shows its application to that type of roof louver shown in the copending application. In Figure 4 there appears in dotted outline the structure shown in Figure 2 oi' the copending application, Serial No. 326,369, and in solid lines the present invention. The lower portion 94 of the peripheral ange has been provided with a ramp 96 similar to ramp 3D in Figure 3. The screen `98 is disposed at right angles to the ramp 96 and a single visor is employed. A drip cap and deep pocket bailie member are formed oi' a single sheet of metal and differ from the structure shown in the copending case principally in the fact that the opposite side wall flanges illu and H12, see Figure 5, are generally triangular and of a height suiiicient to make it possible to spot weld them to the lower inside walls of the dormer while holding the drainboard iioor 04 parallel to the top of the dormer, see Figure 4.

Comparsion of the solid line outline of Figure 4 with the dotted line outline gives a better understanding of how the peak of the louver is dropped lower toward the peripheral ange than could be obtained by a description. In applicants earlier invention, .the peak and general contour of the visor are determined by an Varc |06 having as its radius the height of the screen opening and as its center the forward edge H of the baille member i. In the present invention the peak H2 and the visor are dened by an arc H4 drawn on the same radius but with the edge IIB as a center.

By this arrangement the peak of the roof is dropped almost two inches and its overall height above the peripheral flange is dropped by about one-third. The louver is as effective as it was before, but when placed on a house roof is much less conspicuous.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A slant roof louver comprising a substantially dat member, an opening disposed centrally thereof, a dormer disposed above said opening, an air outlet through one .wall of said dormer,

' ing toward the air outlet.

2. A slant root louver comprising a dormer having side walls, a roof and a front wall, a

peripheral flange lying substantially in'a single plane passed through' the lower edge of the front wall and the rear edge of the roof of .the dormer,

an air outlet through the iront wall of the' dormer, and a drain board extending from the air outlet inwardly on the side of the peripheral flange opposite to the dormer side and parallel to the dormer roof.

3. A slant roof louver comprising a substantially iiat member, an opening disposed centrally thereof, a dormer having a substantially iiat roof disposed above said opening, an air outlet through one wall of said dormer, and. a drain board disposed beneath the whole of the flat roof of the dormer and beneath the plane of the nat member, the bottom of said drain board being substantially parallel to the iiat .roof of the dormer and discharging toward the air outlet.

4. A slant roof louver comprising a substantially ilat member, an opening disposed centrally thereof, a dormer including side walls, roof and front wall disposed above said opening, an air outlet through said front wall, and a drain member beneath the plane of the flat member extending inwardly from the bottom oi'. the air outlet to a point beneath the line -oit joinder where the roof of the dormer meets the at member.

l 5. A slant roof louver comprising a substantially iiat member, an opening disposed centrally thereof, a dormer including side walls, roof and front wall disposed above said opening, anair outlet in said front wall, and a drain, member beneath the plane of the ilat member extending inwardly from the bottom of the air outlet to a point beneath the line of joinder where the roof of the dormer meets the flat member, said drain member being substantially parallel to the roof of the dormer, whereby positioning the slant roof louver on a pitch roof so that the dormer roof will slope outwardly and downwardly will result in the drain member sloping toward the air outlet.

6. A slant roof louver comprising a dormer having side walls, a roof and a front wall, a

peripheral iiange lying substantially in a single plane passed through the lower edge of the front wall and the rear edge of the roof of the dormer,

an air outlet through the front wall, a drain board beneath the plane of the peripheral flange extending from the air outlet inwardly and parallel to the dormer roof to a point near the rear edge oi the dormer roof, thence upwardly to a point short of the dormer roof by a distance approximately equal to the height of the air outlet, and thence forwardly toward the :air outlet parallel to the dormer roof.

7. A slant; roo! louver comprising a peripheral flange dening an opening centrally thereof and adapted to rest on a flat surface, a dormer comprising oppositely disposed side walls and roof disposed above said opening, a visor depending from the outer edge of the dormer roof to define an outlet opening between itself and ra portion of the peripheral flange, a drain board beneath the plane of the peripheral ange and extending substantially parallel to the dormer roof from the base of the outlet opening to a point beneath the line of joinder where the roof of the dormer` adapted to engage a dat surface, a dormer com-` prising oppositely disposed side walls and root disposed above said opening, a visor depending from the outer edge of thedormer roof to deflne an outlet opening between itself and a portion of the peripheral iiange, a drain board beneath the plane oi the peripheral iiange and extending substantially parallel to the dormer roof from the base of the outlet opening to a point beneath the line of Joinder where the roof of the'dormer meets a portion of the peripheral' iiange, and\\ an angulate member mounted at the inner end oi the drain and directed toward the outlet opening to form a pocket, there being an air passageway between the dormer roof and the top oi the angulate member. v

9. A slant roof louver comprising a peripheral' flange deining an opening therein and adapted to rest upon -a flat surface, a dormercomprising oppositely disposed side walls and roof disposed above said opening, a visor depending from the outer edge of the dormer roof to denne an out the lower ilange, said ramp being substantially parallel to the roof of the dormer, a drain board having one end positioned in said ramp and extending inwardly beneath the plane of the side anges, and upwardly directed walls along opposite sides of the drain fboard, said walls being so fastened to the dormer that the drain board will .be substantially parallel to the dormer roof.

12. A slant roof louver comprising a peripheral flange forming a. sloping flat base, a dormer hav-- ing an outlet opening, said dormer being mounted above said peripheral ange. 9, deep pocket fbaiile disposed beneath the dormer and beneath :the plane of the peripheral iiange, said baiiie facing the outlet opening, and a secondv baiiiel disposed 'between the air pocket and the outlet opening.

13. A- slant roof louverhaving a peripheral iange, a dormer mounted thereabove with an outlet opening, a drain board beneath the dormer extending from the bottom of the outlet openlet opening lbetween itself and a portion of the' peripheral ilange, a drain board beneath the plane of the 'peripheral flange and extending substantially parallel to the dormer roof from the base oi the outlet opening to a point beneath the line of ,'loinder where the roof of the dormer meets a. portion of the peripheral ange, an angulate member mounted at the inner'end of the drain board and directed toward the outlet opening to form a pocket, and a barile spacedly positioned between the outlet opening and the angulate member. f

10. A slant roofA louver comprising a peripheral ange, a dormer having an outlet opening adjacent the rperipheral ange mounted thereabove, and a drain board positioned beneath the plane l l of the peripheral iiange and having along each of two opposite sides anges of generally triangular shape, said drain Iboard being positioned. be-

neath the dormer with the triangular anges fassurface, a depressed ramp in the inner sidel of ing inwardly beneath the plane ofthe peripheral flange, a plurality of bailies above the drain with openings therebetween, the total cross sectional areas of the openings between the bafiies substantially equalling the cross sectional area of the outlet opening.

14. A slant roof louver comprising a flat member, an opening in said ilat member, a housing over said opening on one side of the plane of the ilatmember and positioned over said opening, an outlet in one wall of the housing, and means disposed on that side ofthe plane of the at member opposite to the housing for returning water toward the outlet, whereby when the slant roof louver-.is positioned with the outlet low and the flat member sloped, said last named means will-slope toward the outlet.

v15. A slant roof louver comprising a dormer having side walls, a roof and a front wall disposed at substantially right angles to the roof,

a. peripheral ilange lying substantially in a single plane passed through the lower edge of the front wall and the rear edge of the roof of the dormer, an air outlet through the front wall, a, drain board beneath the plane of the peripheral iiange and extending from the air outlet inwardly and parallel to the dormer roof, and a baille member extending upwardly from the drain to a point above the top of the air outlet' and then forwardly .parallel to the dormer roof to a point distant from the air outlet by approximately the height thereof. l y FREELAND H. LESLIE.

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