Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – Including component designed to receive a disparate article...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-21
2002-02-05
Canfield, Robert (Department: 3635)
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
Including component designed to receive a disparate article...
C052S058000, C052S060000, C052S072000, C052S126100, C052S200000, C248S148000, C248S237000, C248S678000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06343439
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a curb that is mounted on a roof of a building and is used to support air moving equipment such as an air conditioner or any other type of rooftop appliance.
2. Description of Background and Related Art
It is well known that roof curbs are used as a mounting structure for air moving equipment and other types of rooftop appliances which are located on a roof of a building. Traditionally, roof curbs where specifically designed and custom made to provide a relatively horizontal mounting structure for a particular rooftop appliance given the shape and pitch of a particular roof. Of course, designing and building these traditional roof curbs which were often one piece of metal that was custom fabricated to the particular roof pitch was a laborious and time consuming task for the manufacturers and installers of the rooftop appliances. Thus, adjustable roof curbs were developed to mount rooftop appliances on various types of roofs that have different pitches without custom making one piece roof curbs for each type of pitched roof. Two examples of known adjustable roof curbs are briefly described below with respect to
FIGS. 1 and 2
.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, there is illustrated a known adjustable roof curb
100
similar to one currently manufactured by MicroMetl Corporation. Generally, the adjustable roof curb
100
includes a bottom section
102
secured to a roof
104
and a top section
106
used to mount a rooftop appliance
108
. The top section
106
is designed to slide over the bottom section
102
in a manner such that the top section can be positioned to provide a relatively level support (e.g., horizontal support) for mounting the rooftop appliance
108
. After leveling the top section
106
, the bottom section
102
is secured to the top section by inserting screws into pre-punched holes
110
(ten shown) that are positioned around the lower portion of the top section
106
. This type of adjustable roof curb
100
can be a safety hazard because the screws are susceptible to failure due to the load (e.g., shearing load) of the rooftop appliance
108
. Failure of the screws can be accelerated due to weather degradation and vibration of the roof top appliance.
Referring to
FIG. 2
, there is illustrated another known adjustable roof curb
200
similar to one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,345. Generally, the adjustable roof curb
200
includes a base member
202
secured to a roof
204
and a support member
206
used to mount a rooftop appliance
208
. The base member
202
includes at least two slotted apertures
210
(three shown) and the support member
206
also includes at least two slotted apertures
212
(two shown) for alignment with the apertures
210
formed within the base member
202
. The apertures
210
and
212
enable the adjustable coupling of the support member
206
to the base member
202
to provide a level support for mounting the rooftop appliance
208
. After leveling the support member
206
, the base member
202
is secured to the support member
206
by inserting fasteners
214
(e.g., threaded bolts) into the aligned slotted apertures
210
and
212
. To further secure the base member
202
to the support member
206
, screws can be inserted into the base member
202
by passing them through apertures
216
(eleven shown) positioned around the lower portion of the support member
206
. This adjustable roof curb
200
can also be a safety hazard because the threaded bolts
214
can loosen (e.g., due to vibration of the rooftop appliance
208
) and slide-down the apertures
210
and
212
. Without the load bearing capacity of bolts
214
, the screws in aperture
216
now bear the load of the rooftop appliance
208
. The screws in apertures
216
may then fail due to shear loading. Failure may be accelerated by weather degradation and vibration of the rooftop appliance. Thus, there is a need for an adjustable roof curb and method of use that addresses the safety hazards and other problems associated with traditional adjustable roof curbs.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a method and an adjustable roof curb that addresses the deficiencies of the prior art by safely supporting a rooftop appliance. Additionally, the present invention can be quickly assembled on the job site, saving time and installation costs over customized roof curbs or known prior art adjustable roof curbs. More specifically, the adjustable roof curb includes a base curb section, a support curb section and at least one pin operating as a fulcrum to adjustably position the support curb section to a desired pitch relative to a pitch of the base curb section, and further operating to effectively bear a load of the rooftop appliance (e.g., fan, air conditioner) mounted on the support curb section.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3742659 (1973-07-01), Drew
patent: 4144681 (1979-03-01), Leffler
patent: 4202243 (1980-05-01), Leonhardt
patent: 4526091 (1985-07-01), Sharp
patent: 4895066 (1990-01-01), Carnahan
patent: 4917345 (1990-04-01), Czech
patent: 5148647 (1992-09-01), Rutledge
patent: 5257873 (1993-11-01), Abbat
patent: 5409266 (1995-04-01), Baker
patent: 5454538 (1995-10-01), Merideth
patent: 5570864 (1996-11-01), Flores
patent: 5687514 (1997-11-01), Gillispie
patent: 5791092 (1998-08-01), Strieter
patent: 6047513 (2000-04-01), Gibson
MicroMetl Corporation,Adjustable Pitch Curbs,Mar. 1999, 10-pages.
Canfield Robert
Jenkens & Gilchrist a Professional Corporation
Ro&dgr;ftop Systems, Inc.
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