Self cleaning gutter shield

Abstract

An elongated strip of extruded plastics material includes a vertical rear plane adapted to seat on the rear portion of a gutter-hanging bracket. The rear vertical plane integrally connects to a second forward extending plane that joins, by means of an underlying u-shaped channel, a v-shaped perforated third plane that forces water to pool and drop through the perforations. The third plane joins, by means of an underlying u-shaped channel, a flange that projects outwardly for retaining the strip to a gutter. A filter configuration comprised of a debris repelling membrane, overlying a skeletal structure of ellipsoid rods spaced and resting on vertical planes, serves to break the forward flow of water and to channel water onto and through its integral perforated horizontal plane. The filter configuration is readily inserted into the u-shaped channels existing on the forward and rear edges of the v-shaped perforated third plane.A filter assembly is provided including a filter membrane and a skeletal structure. The filter membrane defines a first surface and a second surface. The skeletal structure is provided beneath the filter membrane and is bounded by longitudinally extending ends. The skeletal structure includes a perforated plane spaced from the first surface of the filter membrane, and a first leg disposed on the perforated plane intermediate the longitudinally extending ends and extending along a length of the skeletal structure above the perforated plane. The first leg extends toward and contacts the first surface of the filter membrane, whereby when the filter assembly is installed in the open top of a rain gutter, water flowing across the filter membrane in a direction normal to the length of the skeletal structure is redirected downward by the first leg through the perforated plane and into the rain gutter. A gutter shield is provided for mounting in an open top of a rain gutter, the gutter shield including an elongated body adapted to receive the filter assembly.

1. A gutter shield device for mounting in an open top of a rain gutter attached to an edge of a roof, said gutter shield comprising:
 (a) an elongated sheet of extruded material having four interconnected planes wherein the sheet comprises:
 a first plane for resting on a front lip of the rain gutter, the first plane connected to a second plane by a u-shaped channel lying beneath the surface of the first plane 
 the second plane is perforated and angles downward and inward toward a center of the sheet in a manner to break a forward flow of water adhesive channeling paths for redirecting water downward and inward into the gutter; said second perforated plane terminating and adjoining at a lower most edge to a vertical leg that serves as a supporting structure for an insertable filtration configuration; said vertical leg additionally serving to join a third perforated plane that angles upward from said second perforated plane and upward and away from the center of the sheet in a manner for redirecting a forward flow of water downward to said vertical leg that also serves as a dam for the flowing water ensuring that the water will pool and drop through the perforations of said third perforated plane; said third perforated plane is joined, by means of an upward extending vertical wall that is capped by an integral u-shaped channel positioned at an uppermost edge of the vertical wall, a fourth plane angles slightly upward from the vertical wall, and said filtration configuration comprising a filter membrane resting on a skeletal structure that embodies ellipses resting on centered, underlying vertical legs, said legs resting on and extending above a perforated plane, said perforated plane having underlying vertical legs that are adapted to further direct the downward channeling of water into the rain gutter and also disallowing forward channeling of water due to the spacing and vertical downward extension of said vertical legs, whereby a forward rush of water is broken and redirected by said planes, ellipses, and vertical legs, wherein said ellipses and vertical legs are adapted to be separated by unbroken air space, in a manner that enables the sheet to self-clean clogging elements selected from a group consisting of scum, oils, pollen paste, matted silica, and other scum forming elements off said filter membrane to an extent that disallows said clogging elements from healing over and clogging water receiving areas of said filtration combination. 
   
     
     
       2. The gutter shield device according to  claim 1  wherein said fourth plane is embedded with a recessed scoring channel on its upper surface that facilitates a clean breaking of the fourth plane on a jobsite at the time of installation, for the purpose of rejoining the fourth plane in an overlapped manner that effectively narrows the width of said sheet to allow for installation in compressed rain gutters or in rain gutters with standard 4-inch or 3-inch openings. 
     
     
       3. The gutter shield device according to  claim 1 , wherein said fourth plane is adapted to receive a metal cover of the same material and color of the rain gutter. 
     
     
       4. The gutter shield device according to  claim 1 , wherein said filter membrane is comprised of a plurality of threads adjoining or passing through a plurality of larger threads at a centermost point of the larger threads. 
     
     
       5. The gutter shield device according to  claim 1  wherein said filter membrane resting on said oval ellipses is secured at the outer edges of said skeletal structure by means of sewn thread. 
     
     
       6. The gutter shield device according to  claim 1  wherein said filtration configuration is received in an upper top channel formed by said second and third planes by inserting edges of said filtration configuration into the u-shaped channels attached to the second and third planes. 
     
     
       7. The gutter shield device according to  claim 1 , wherein said ellipses are optimally spaced end-to-end at approximately 0.19 inch intervals, wherein sufficient support is provided to prevent extensive sagging of said filtration membrane while simultaneously ensuring sufficient open space exists between said ellipses to accommodate large amounts of rain water passage. 
     
     
       8. A filter assembly, comprising:
 a filter membrane defining a first surface and a second surface; and   a skeletal structure beneath the filter membrane and bounded by longitudinally extending ends, the skeletal structure including:
 a perforated plane spaced from the first surface of the filter membrane; and 
 a first leg disposed on the perforated plane intermediate the longitudinally extending ends and extending along a length of the skeletal structure above the perforated plane, wherein the first leg extends toward and contacts the first surface of the filter membrane, whereby when the filter assembly is installed in the open top of a rain gutter, water flowing across the filter membrane in a direction normal to the length of the skeletal structure is redirected downward by the first leg through the perforated plane and into the rain gutter. 
   
     
     
       9. The filter assembly of claim 8, wherein the first leg comprises a plurality of first legs disposed on the perforated plane wherein each of the first legs extends toward and contacts the first surface of the filter membrane. 
     
     
       10. The filter assembly according to claim 9, wherein each of the first legs includes a first end contacting the first surface of the filter membrane. 
     
     
       11. The filter assembly according to claim 8, further comprising:
 a second leg disposed on the perforated plane and extending in a direction away from the filter membrane, opposite the first leg, the second leg comprising a free end, wherein the second leg extends along the length of the skeletal structure below the perforated plane.   
     
     
       12. The filter assembly according to claim 11, wherein the second leg comprises a plurality of second legs extending along the length of the skeletal structure below the perforated plane. 
     
     
       13. The filter assembly according to claim 8, wherein the skeletal structure further comprises first and second additional planes arranged along opposite sides of the perforated plane and defining the longitudinally extending ends, wherein the first and second planes are arranged above the perforated plane. 
     
     
       14. The filter assembly according to claim 13, wherein the first and second additional planes are connected to and arranged parallel to the perforated plane, and wherein longitudinally extending edges of the filter membrane are attached to the first and second additional planes. 
     
     
       15. A gutter shield for mounting in an open top of a rain gutter, the gutter shield comprising:
 an elongated body, wherein the filter assembly according to claim 8 is received in the elongated body.   
     
     
       16. The gutter shield according to claim 15, wherein the elongated body is extruded. 
     
     
       17. The gutter shield according to claim 15, wherein the elongated body comprises:
 a first portion adapted to contact a front lip of the rain gutter;   a second portion coupled to the first portion and including a plurality of perforations; and   a third portion coupled to the second portion, wherein the filter assembly is received between the first and third portions and positioned over the second portion.   
     
     
       18. The gutter shield according to claim 17, wherein the third portion includes a recessed scoring channel on an upper planar surface for facilitating a clean breaking during installation of the gutter shield. 
     
     
       19. The gutter shield according to claim 17, further comprising:
 a cover configured to be attached over the third portion, whereby when adjacent gutter shields are mounted side-by-side in the open top of the rain gutter, the cover spans a joint between the gutter shields.   
     
     
       20. The gutter shield according to claim 19, wherein the cover comprises aluminum, zinc, or copper. 
     
     
       21. The gutter shield according to claim 20, wherein the cover comprises zinc, whereby the zinc cover includes fungicidal properties and discourages moss, mold, or mildew growth. 
     
     
       22. The gutter shield according to claim 20, wherein the cover provides color and material matching of the gutter shield to the rain gutter. 
     
     
       23. The gutter shield according to claim 19, wherein the cover comprises a slide-on or clip-on metal cover. 
     
     
       24. The gutter shield according to claim 17, further comprising:
 a cover configured to be attached over the first portion, whereby when adjacent gutter shields are mounted side-by-side in the open top of the rain gutter, the cover may span a joint between the gutter shields.   
     
     
       25. The gutter shield according to claim 24, wherein the cover comprises aluminum, zinc, or copper. 
     
     
       26. The gutter shield according to claim 25, wherein the cover comprises zinc, whereby the zinc cover includes fungicidal properties and discourages moss, mold, or mildew growth. 
     
     
       27. The gutter shield according to claim 25, wherein the cover provides color and material matching of the gutter shield to the rain gutter. 
     
     
       28. The gutter shield according to claim 24, wherein the cover comprises a slide-on or clip-on metal cover. 
     
     
       29. The gutter shield according to claim 17, wherein the third portion includes a recessed receiving channel arranged adjacent to the second portion and configured to receive one of the longitudinally extending ends of the skeletal structure, and wherein the recessed receiving channel includes an upper extension extending over the longitudinally extending end of the skeletal structure and over a longitudinally extending edge of the filter membrane.