The invention concerns a gutter with a coupling member, such as joining members designed to be longitudinally fixedly coupled with a length of gutter, and with sealing means between the length of gutter and the coupling member.

The coupling members may also be spout members, corner members or end bottoms, but it is peculiar in particular for the joining members that they serve to couple relatively large lengths of gutter which may exhibit considerable thermal longitudinal movement. Since the gutter is more or less secured by brackets, such longitudinal movement might cause mutual longitudinal displacement between the joining member and the gutter so that the mentioned sealing means, e.g. a sealing strip, are worn and get leaky. The latter drawback is remedied by the art taught by the Swedish Published Application 397 556 and the Danish Published Application 133 707, but in a manner which cause these structures to be inapplicable in practice. The reason is that in the prior art it is necessary to drill holes in the gutter after the gutter has been cut in the desired lengths, and these holes cannot in practice be drilled sufficiently accurately for the desired function to be obtained. This situation is additionally aggrevated by the circumstance that, usually, poor accessibility and inconvenient positions are associated with suspension of g.utters . . .

The object of the invention is to provide a gutter with coupling members, where the lengths of gutter and the coupling members are designed for longitudinally fixed coupling by means of such locking means as are considerably easier to handle than is the case with the prior art, and as also result in secure coupling which is not dependent upon accurate finishing of the objects at the building site.

This object is achieved in that the gutter is constructed as stated in the characterizing portion of claim 1. The mutual spacing between the mentioned locking means can be of the order of 1 cm, and it will therefore be appreciated that a length of gutter can be cut to a relatively rough measure and be caused to engage the coupling member within about 1 em's accuracy in the longi¬ tudinal direction. Since the locking means on the gutter and/or the coupling member are resilient, there is no need for loose components for the coupling of the parts.

Preferably, two rows of locking means are provided on the gutter, as stated in claim 2, and when these are positioned symmetrically around the said central plane, the coupling member can be turned 180°. The locking means are preferably positioned as stated in claim 3.

Claims 4 and 5 define alternative embodiments of the gutter of the invention which are particularly expedient because the coupling member and the edges of the gutter will engage with each other in such a manner that the locking means contribute additionally to the rigidity of the gutter structure against twisting, and the force which tries to urge the gutter and the coupling member apart during loading of the gutter is instrumental in additionally intensifying the engagement between the locking means.

As stated above, the invention provides secure fixing between a length' of gutter and a coupling member so that the sealing means between the parts are not worn and do not get leaky. However, in particular snow loads involve a risk of the gutter side walls being pressed in a direction away from each other, causing the parts to be affected in a direction away from each other at the bottom of the gutter. To avoid this, in particular in case of large or flimsy gutters, the connecting pieces mentioned in claim 6

are provided, which can advantageously be attached to a pair of longitudinal ribs in the gutter. When the cuts in the ribs are so arranged as stated in claim 7, a connect¬ ing piece will extend across a joint so that the engagement 5 between the longitudinal ribs and the connecting piece can contribute to the longitudinal fixing of the gutter parts.

In the embodiments described in the foregoing, the co- I Q operating gutter parts are to be pressed together and, while the locking means are outwardly deflected elastically, to be mutually longitudinally displaced until the locking means engage one another. Owing to the frictional force caused by the elastically outwardly deflected locking means, 15 there may be some resistance to said longitudinal displace¬ ment.

By means of the features defined in claim 8 the gutter parts, intended to be coupled, can be longitudinally

20 positioned correctly with respect to each other with extreme ease, so that their locking means readily engage one another by subsequent compression. The positioning means may be so arranged as to require no elastic outward deflection of the locking means, or be so arranged as to require quite

25 slight outward deflection which is significantly smaller than the outward deflection necessary for the locking of the gutter parts.

The embodiment of the gutter as defined in claim 9 is ex- 30 tremely easy to manufacture and also entails that the said positioning means can be shaped particularly expedient.

Claim 10 defines details in a preferred embodiment of the positioning means. Claim 11 defines other positioning means 35 which may be used separately as well as in combination with the means defined in claim 10. The features defined

in claim 12 provide for efficient transfer of force, in particular twisting, between the gutter and the coupling member.

The invention will be explained more fully by the following description of some embodiments with reference to the drawing, in which

fig. 1 shows a first embodiment of a length of gutter according to the invention,

fig. 2 shows a joining member for the embodiment of the invention shown in fig. 1,

figs. 3-5 show three situations to illustrate the engagement between the parts of figs. 1 and 2,

figs. 6 and 7 show fragments of a second embodiment of a length of gutter and a coupling member, respectively, according to the invention,

figs. 8 and 9 show an additional embodiment of a length of gutter and a coupling member, respectively, according to the invention,

fig. 10 shows an embodiment of a connecting piece for additional stabilization of the coupled gutter parts,

fig. 11 shows a length of gutter for another embodiment of the gutter according to the invention,

fig. 12 shows a joining member for the gutter of fig. 1,

fig. 13 is cross-section through the parts of figs. 1 and 2 in a coupled state,

fig. 14 shows still another embodiment containing position¬ ing means, while

figs. 15 and 16 show another embodiment of the positioning means for gutter parts which appear from the main patent.

Fig. 1 shows a length of gutter 1, which may be cut at the cut face 2. The embodiment shown is symmetrical around a vertical central plane, and, as shown in the figure, the sides of the gutter are upwardly bent at 3 and 4, and these bends terminate at an edge 5 and 6, respectively, facing the said central plane. As appears from the figure, the edges 5, 6 are provided with cuts, e.g. shown at 7, thereby producing a plurality of equidistantly spaced teeth 8. The gutter is preferably of plastics, and the cuts 7 can be provided by punching immediately after extrusion of the gutter.

Fig. 2 shows a coupling member, more particularly a joining member for cooperation with the length of gutter shown in fig. 1. As mentioned before, a coupling member may also be spout members, corner members, end bottoms, etc., but the invention will be described in the following under the assumption of the coupling member being a joining member.

The joining member in fig. 2 is designed to engage the external side of the length of gutter 1 and, to create

- hermetically water-tight connection with the length of gutter, the joining member has a pair of grooves 9, 10 designed to receive a sealing strip, e.g. in the form of silicone rubber. The coupling member is bent along the opposite edges as shown at 11 and 12, which have a down¬ wardly extending edge provided with cuts 13, 14 so as to define a plurality of equidistantly spaced teeth 15, 16.

The length of the teeth 15, 16 corresponds to the length of the cuts 7 in the length of gutter, while the length of the cuts 13, 14 in the coupling member corresponds to the length of the teeth on the length of gutter. The bends 11, 12 are shaped so as to be received in the channels defined by the bends 3, 4 on the length of gutter 1, which will appear more fully from the explanation of figs. 3-5.

Figs. 3-5 show three situations for the coupling of the length of gutter and the coupling member. It applies to all three figures that the section through the bend 3 is laid as shown at III in fig. 1, while the section through the bend 11 is laid in accordance with the broken lines A-C in fig. 2. Figs. 3-5 just show a fragment of the bends on one side of the gutter, but it will be appreciated that the locking effect described below is the same along the two opposite longitudinal edges of the gutter.

Coupling is typically effected by pushing the- joining member upwardly from below against two adjoining lengths of gutter to be joined. As the joining member is pressed upwardly to engage the underside of the length of gutter, the bend 3 will be urged outwardly because of the elasticity of the material, while the bend 11 will be pressed inwardly against the joining member. When the coupling member has been pressed fully home, the said cuts and teeth normally do not engage immediately, which is obtained by a relatively small mutually lengthwise displacement of the parts. It is shown in fig. 3 how a tooth 15 on the joining member will ride on a tooth 8 on the length of gutter. The same situation appears from fig. 4, though .the parts have now been displaced somewhat with respect to each other, which appears from the fact that the tooth 15 is not hatched now. When the parts are so displaced with respect to each other that teeth and cuts are disposed in registry, the bends 3 and 11 can return to their original positions owing to their ela¬ sticity, causing the said teeth and cuts to engage each

other, as appears from fig. 5.

It will thus be appreciated that the described embodiment enables very fast and secure coupling of the length of gutter and the joining member, without any accuracy having to be exerted by the artisan. In particular, the length of gutter 1 can be severed relatively roughly with a saw, and the parts can then be joined with a longitudinal accuracy which is within the pitch of the cooperating teeth and cuts. In other words, very secure mutual longitudinal fixing can be obtained without any accurate finishing of the parts. When the parts are fixed against mutual length¬ wise movement, a sealing effect having a long life can be obtained in a manner known per se because the thermal longitudinal movements of the gutter do not cause wear on the sealing means placed in the grooves 9, 10.

Figs. 6-9 schematically show some other embodiments of the gutter according to the invention. Fig. 6 shows a fragment of a length of gutter 21, and fig. 7 shows a frag¬ ment of an associated joining member 22. As appears from fig. 6, the upper edges of the length of gutter are bent inwardly at 23, and the free edge is provided with cuts 25 so as to define a row of teeth 27. Similarly, the joining member 22 is bent inwardly at the top at 24, and the free edge is additionally bent downwardly and provided with cuts 26 so as to define a row of teeth 28 so dimensioned as to engage the cuts 25 in the length of gutter 21. It will be appreciated that the embodiment shown in figs. 6 and 7 requires somewhat greater elastic outward deflection of the bends to couple the parts than is the case with the embodiment shown in figs. 1 and 2. Of course, the bends impart improved rigidity to the gutter to resist forces in the plane of the bend, which is important for the selection between the first or the second one of the described embodiments. The embodiment shown in figs. 1

and 2, however, has been found to exhibit particularly great rigidity in particular to twisting because of the tight fitting of the bend 3 around the bend 11. Figs. 8 and 9 show an additional embodiment where a length of gutter 31 has its exterior provided with a row of cuts 33 designed to receive projections 34 on the internal side of a joining member 32. The latter parts are kept in the coupled position in that a bend 35 on the joining member 32 extends across the upper edge of the length of gutter and a small distance down along the internal side of the length of gutter.

Fig. 10 shows a section through an additional embodiment of the gutter according to the invention. It has been found that the length of gutter and the joining member may tend to move away from each other at the bottom of the gutter when the opposite sides of the gutter are affected strongly in a direction away from each other, which can e.g. happen under snow loads. To avoid this risk of leakage, some connecting pieces, such as the connecting piece 40 which is shown in fig. 10, may be provided with some mutual spacing, which prevent the opposite sides of the gutter to be moved away from each other. In case of the embodiment shown in figs. 6 and 7, the connecting pieces can be coupled directly with the toothed edges of the gutter, but in case of the embodiment shown in figs. 1 and 2 the connecting pieces can be attached to a pair of longitudinal ribs 41, 42 which are integral with the internal side of the gutter.

As appears from fig. 10 the connecting piece-40 comprises a pair of downwardly facing edges 43, 44 which are each provided with cuts 45, 46. The ribs 41, 42, which are integral with the length of gutter along the entire length thereof, are each provided with a plurality of recesses or holes, some of which are shown at 47, to receive the teeth defined by the cuts 45, 46. In this way it is possible to obtain effective attachment of the connecting piece 40,

so that in cooperation with the ribs 41, 42 it retains the sides of the gutter against outward deflection away from each other. The use of the described attachment method for the connecting piece 40 provides the additional ad- vantage that the connecting piece can contribute to the longitudinal fixing of two lengths of gutter when a con¬ necting piece 40 extends across a joint between two lengths of gutter. The prerequisite for this to be feasible is just that the pitch of the cooperating teeth and cuts in the connecting piece 40 and the ribs 41, 42, respectively, corresponds to the pitch of the teeth and cuts in the bent edges of the gutter parts.

The embodiment shown in fig. 11 of the gutter according to the invention has an upwardly facing edge 5, in which there is provided a row of equidistantly spaced cuts 52 designed to receive some downwardly directed projections on a coupling member, as appears more clearly from fig. 12. Preferably, both opposite sides of the gutter are provided with a row of cuts 52. The shown embodiment has moreover a bent rim portion with walls 53-55 defining a channel, open along the edge 51, to receive a longitudinal projection on a coupling member.

Fig. 12 shows an embodiment of a joining member for co¬ operation with the gutter shown in fig. 11. As explained before, the joining member has recesses 56, 57 to receive elastic sealing means and has moreover some downwardly extending projections 58 designed to be received in the cuts 52 in the gutter of fig. 11. The joining member is attached to the gutter in a manner similar to the one explained in the foregoing, the projections 58 engaging the cuts 52 after preceding elastic outward deflection. Of course, the cuts 52 are shaped to receive the pro- jections 58, but, in addition, the cuts may be shaped with a view to changing the effect, such as manufacturing or

strengthwise advantages. For example, the cuts may have rounded inner corners to avoid slot effect when the gutter is subjected to loads.

The mechanical coupling can be additionally strengthed in that the joining member in fig. 12 has a pair of upwardly extending, longitudinal edges 59, 60 to be snugly received in the respective channels in the gutter from fig. 11, as appears from fig. 13.

It will be appreciated that the embodiment of figs. 11-13, which is particularly easy to manufacture, provides a rather great frictional force against mutual displacement of the cooperating parts if the projections 58 and the cuts 52 are not positioned correctly with respect to each other, but are to be mutually lengthwise displaced. This drawback can be avoided in that the projections 58 are upwardly wedge-shaped, as appears from fig. 12, the projections partly being tapering and partly having a wedge-shaped edge 61. These wedge-shaped projections enable the joining member from fig. 12 to be moved up under the gutter from fig. 11, and a quite slight compression will cause the wedge-shaped portions of the projections 58 to mark the position of the cuts 52 so that the joining member and the gutter can be lengthwise positioned correctly with respect to each other without any noticeable force, and the joining member can be pressed strongly into position, causing the projections 58 to immediately engage the cuts 52.

Fig. 14 shows a variant of the embodiment in fig. 11, where an additional depression 62 is provided in the external side of the gutter in registry with each of the cuts 52. This enables very easy lengthwise positioning of the gutter and the coupling member.

Figs. 15 and 16 show a gutter and a joining member, respectively, which are identical with those in figs. 1 and 2, except that the elastic flap 63 has a plurality of wedge-shaped projections 64 in registry with the teeth 65. The projections 64 are wedge-shaped upwardly where they protrude just slightly beyond the surface of the flap 63. It will then be appreciated that in cooperation with the cuts 66 in the gutter the projections 64 position the parts so with respect to each other that the teeth 65 immediately engage the cuts 66 when the joining member is squeezed into position below gutter.