System for maintaining gutter debris free

• US 20050045738A1
• Filed: 08/27/2003
• Published: 03/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David Baxter
• Original Assignee: David Baxter
• Inventors: Baxter, David
• Granted Patent: US 6,926,210 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 239/208
• CPC Class Codes: E04D 13/0765 Cleaning tools

Abstract

An automatic gutter cleaning system for cleaning a rain valley, gutter or drainage channel with a medium, such as air or water. The system includes carrying apparatus for carrying the medium through nozzles into the gutter or channel. The medium flushes the debris located in the valley or gutter either out of the valley or gutter or down the gutter through the down spouts. The system is automatically operated by a controller that either controls the frequency the medium is sent to the nozzles or turns on the system due to inputs from a monitoring means that monitors whether debris is or isn'"'"'t present in the valley or gutter.

Claims

1. A system for removing debris from a valley/gutter of a residential or commercial building or other structure having a drainage channel, comprising:

at least one orifice for directing a medium there through being located along the valley/gutter;

a carrying apparatus for caring the medium;

a system to pressurize and force the medium through the carrying means and to the orifice;

a controller for controlling the flow of the medium through the carrying apparatus to the orifice into the valley/gutter such that the medium is forced through the orifice into the valley/gutter removing any debris that is located in the valley/utter thereby having the gutter substantially free from debris.

2. The system according to claim 1 further comprising:

more than one orifice for directing the medium there through, wherein the plurality of orifices being located along the gutter a distance from each other in order to provide even distribution of the medium into the gutter to remove substantially all the debris from the gutter where the orfices are located.

3. The system according to claim 2 where the orifices spray the medium at an angle perpendicular to a longitudinal axis define by the gutter.

4. The system according to claim 1 wherein the medium is select from one of the group comprising liquid or gas.

5. The system according to claim 4 wherein the medium is select from one of the group comprising air or water.

6. The system according to claim 1 wherein the controller controls a frequency the medium flows to the orifice based upon a predetermine time interval so as to maintain the gutter substantially clear of debris.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the controller controls the amount of medium that flows through the orifices.

8. A system for removing debris from a valley/gutter of a residential or commercial building or other structure comprising:

a plurality of orifices for directing a clearing medium there through being attached and positioned located along the valley/gutter in order to direct the medium into the valley/gutter;

a pipe for transporting the medium being pressurized into the orifices;

a system to pressurize and force the medium through the pipe and to the orifices;

a automatic controller for controlling when and how long in time the medium is forced through the pipe into the valley/gutter flushing any debris located in the valley/gutter down the valley/gutter into a down spout attached to the gutter thereby having the valley/gutter substantially free from debris and allowing any rain caught therein to flow freely through the valleyt/gutter and the down spout.

9. The system according to claim 8 further comprising a monitoring apparatus for monitoring the gutter to determine if any debris is located in the valley/gutter in order to trigger the controller to run the system to clear the valley/gutter from any debris located in the gutter.

11. The system in accordance with claim 8 wherein the medium is water which is provided by a water supply being under a pressure between 20 psi and 3500 psi.

12. The system of according to claim 11 wherein the orifices have openings with a diameter and shape to provide a sufficient spray of the water into the valley/gutter to clear and flush the debris along the valley/gutter and down spout to flush the valley/gutter of any debris located therein and prevent clogging of the valley/gutter and down spout.

13. The system according to claim 8 wherein the valley/gutter defines a longitudinal axis and the orifices being nozzles positioned in order to spray the water substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis in order to flush the debris down the valley/gutter into the down spout.

14. The system in accordance with claim 8 wherein the medium is air which is pressurized by an air compressor having a pressure of 20 psi and 500 psi.

15. The system according to claim 14 wherein the valley/gutter defines an axis and the orifices being position at and angle from the axis into the valley/gutter in order to spray the air substantially parallel to the axis in order to flush the debris located along the valley/gutter out of the valley/gutter.

16. The system of according to claim 14 wherein the orifices have openings with a diameter and shape to provide a sufficient spray and force of the air into the valley/gutter to clear the debris located in the valley/gutter.

10. The system according to claim 10 wherein the controller is set at a predetermine frequency to operate the system automatically based upon the amount of time and the intervals in order to substantially maintaining the valley/gutter clear of any debris.

17. An method of removing debris from a valley/gutter of a residential or commercial building or other structure comprising the steps of:

providing at least one nozzle attached to the valley/gutter for directing a medium there through;

providing a carrying means for caring the medium;

forcing the medium through the pipe to the nozzle;

controlling the frequency the medium is forced through the nozzle into the valley/gutter,

whereby any debris that is located in the valley/gutter is flushed out of the valley/gutter thereby having the valley/gutter free from debris.

18. The method according to claim 17 further comprising the steps of:

providing more than one nozzle for directing the medium there through, wherein the nozzles being located along the valley/gutter a distance from each other in order to provide even distribution of the medium into the valley/gutter to remove substantially all the debris from the valley/gutter where the nozzles are locating.

19. The method according to claim 17 wherein the medium is one select from the group comprising water or air.

20. The method according to claim 17 wherein the valley/gutter defines an axis and the nozzles being position at and angle from the axis into the gutter in order to spray the medium substantially parallel to the axis in order to flush the debris located along the valley/gutter out of the gutter.

21. The method according to claim 19 wherein the medium is air that is supplied by a leaf blower.