Expanded Metal LWO

Abstract

A filter assembly that has a filtering method overlying an expanded metal skeletal structure, said expanded metal employing sidewalls that are Long Way of the Diamond having their greatest length parallel to a roofs edge and whose sidewall members have a top edge facing oncoming water flow that is narrow than a corresponding bottom edge.

Description

[0001]This application is related to U.S. Ser. No. 13 / 400,229 Abandoned[0002]When considering any prior art in field 52 / 12 it is notable that some inventors, myself among them, who taught the use of expanded metal as a water receiving area of a gutter guard, illustrated that the expanded metal was positioned so that, what is known in the expanded metal industry as the LWD: “long way of the diamond” is parallel to water flow off of a roof structure. I taught, by illustration, this in U.S. Pat. No. 6,951,077, Hileman taught this in U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,174 (FIG. 5), and Jones taught this in U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,783 (FIG. 3). A product currently on the market: Leaf Solution®, invented by this applicant, employs expanded metal overlain my micro mesh and in this product the expanded metal's diamond shaped openings are also positioned so that their LWD is parallel to water flow. Not every type of expanded metal employs diamond shaped openings but the same changes in water directing properti...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a gutter guard system with an expanded metal area and a filtering membrane. The metal is expanded in a special way to create strong water flow paths and the membrane is overlaid on top. This results in a more effective and efficient system for preventing water from leaking into the gutter and potentially damaging the structure.

Problems solved by technology

The manufacturers and installers are very likely aware that such products fail at taking water when installed in-line with roof pitch.

LWO patterns / overlain by screen will always yield poor performance .

I am not saying some folks don't manufacture LWO patterned / overlain by screen gutter guards anyway, but I am saying that such gutter guards don't work very well.

People buy gutter guards on wishes and hopes that the sales pitch they heard is true but most of what is bought turns out to be a major disappointment.

The sad news (for me) is that I sold the company before Consumer Reports tested gutter guards and rated it Number One and I don't even get a Christmas card from my old friends at Leaffilter anymore.

Still, I, as the “Father of Micro-Mesh gutter guards” wasn't able to glean or confidently predict the “correct” position an LWO segment should be in from Prior Art or from intelligent conjecture: I just kept flipping and turning and bending sidewalls and observing and eventually “accidentally” discovered what is now taught in this application.

Prior Art teaching in 52 / 12 and products in the field cannot achieve that.

However, what no other prior art has taught and no product presently on the market, that I am aware of, employs is a gutter guard that utilizes expanded metal openings in combination with overlying micromesh filtration in which you would find that LWO expanded metal openings are both perpendicular to oncoming water flow and whose majority of sidewall members are angled upward and toward oncoming water flow and whose sidewalls present their narrow edge, rather than their broader edge, toward oncoming water flow while ensuring the LWO pattern used positions longer or the longest sidewall member perpendicular to oncoming water flow.

Prior Art teaching in 52 / 12 and products in the field utilizing Expanded Metal / overlain by micro-mesh or fine screen cannot achieve that.

I am fairly confident, before testing, that an “inverted pyramid” shaped sidewall will not perform as well as having a narrower type and wider bottom edge or a consistently narrow sidewall.

For example: if the sidewall is at a 90 degree angle, oncoming water “sees” and readily contacts the top narrow plane of the sidewall and only has to dip slightly to adhere to the downward extending face of the sidewall facing it, but the backside of the sidewall which is “hidden” from the view of the oncoming water does not present such a readily available or alternative water flow path so any water not captured an redirected downward by the top and front side of the sidewall tends to remain clinging to the sheer cloth and keep flowing forward.

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