End-ventilating adjustable pitch arcuate roof ventilator

• US 6,149,517 A
• Filed: 11/23/1999
• Issued: 11/21/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Air Vent Incorporated (Gibraltar Steel Corporation of New York)
• Original Assignee: CertainTeed Corp. (Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA)
• Inventors: Hansen, Jeffery E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Joyce, Harold
• Application Number:
  US09/447,666
• Time in Patent Office: 364 Days
• Field of Search: 52/199, 454/365, 454/366, 454/367
• US Class Current: 454/365
• CPC Class Codes: E04D 13/174 on the ridge of the roof
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 7/02 Roof ventilation ventilation of roof coverings E04D

Abstract

A roof ridge ventilator is provided, comprising preferably a molded ventilator, with openings along the sides thereof for passage of air therethrough and with openings at ends thereof for passage of air therethrough via gaps provided in pluralities of rows of tabs, with a plurality of tabs being in each row, to define circuitous paths for air passage through end walls of the ventilator, with the ventilator being arcuately bendable to accommodate roofs of different pitches and resistance to fold lines being formed in its upper surface when it is arcuately bent, and with a filter medium provided beneath the ventilator.

Claims

1. A roofing ridge ventilator for venting a roof for air passage between the interior of a roof and the outside ambient through sides of the ventilator and through ends of the ventilator;

the ventilator being adapted to be installed longitudinally overlying an open ridge of a roof;

the ventilator being sufficiently flexible to be arcuately bent to accommodate a variety of different roof pitches;

the ventilator comprising;

(a) an elongate top wall having a predetermined length and width and top and bottom surfaces;

(b) a pair of outer side walls, each one integrally formed along the longitudinal length of and depending from a respective bottom surface of said top wall and at a predetermined angle with respect to said top wall, with each of said side walls including a plurality of apertures extending therethrough for air passage therethrough;

(c) a pair of upturned edge members, each one integrally formed with and extending from a respective distal end of said outer side wall opposite said top wall and extending along the longitudinal length of, and at a predetermined angle with respect to, a said side wall, said upturned edge members extending toward said top wall a predetermined distance to effectively shield at least a portion of said apertures;

(d) a plurality of brace members positioned at predetermined intervals along the length of said bottom surface of said top wall, for engagement with a roof surface;

(e) a pair of transverse end walls, one each integrally formed along opposite ends of the ventilator, with each end wall being discontinuous at a center section thereof and comprised in said center section of a plurality of tabs depending from the bottom surface of the top wall and disposed in a first transverse row, with said tabs in said first transverse row at each end wall being transversely spaced apart from each other to define first gaps for air passage therebetween when the ventilator is installed on a roof;

(f) with tabs in said first row being generally V-shaped, with the apex of the V-shape facing outwardly of the ventilator in the longitudinal direction;

(g) a second transverse row of tabs at each end of the ventilator, depending from and integrally formed with the bottom surface of the top wall and longitudinally spaced apart from the paths in said first row to define second gaps for air passage between said first and second rows of tabs when the ventilator is installed on a roof, with said tabs in said second transverse row being spaced apart from each other to define third gaps for air passage therebetween when the ventilator is installed on a roof;

(h) with tabs in said second row being generally V-shaped, with the apex of the V-shape facing inwardly of the ventilator in the longitudinal direction;

(i) whereby said first, second and third gaps cooperatively comprise means providing circuitous paths for air passage between the interior of a roof and the outside ambient, across ventilator end walls, when the ventilator is installed on a roof; and

(j) whereby said first and third gaps permit arcuate bending of the ventilator without providing end wall resistance to arcuate bending resulting from end wall continuity.

2. The ventilator of claim 1, wherein the apex of each of the tabs in each said second row is longitudinally aligned with a said first gap in said first row.

3. The ventilator of claim 1, wherein a sheet of filter material is carried by the ventilator, underlying said rows of tabs, underlying portions of said brace members and underlying a center section of the ventilator and extending longitudinally of said ventilator.