Pipe flashing UV shield

Abstract

A simple, inexpensive device to protect pipe flashing components from the sun's damaging ultra violet rays. Also, a simple, inexpensive method for repairing damaged pipe flashing which keeps both the flashing and repair material protected from the sun.

Description

CROSS-RFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/533,544 filed Dec. 31, 2003, the entire disclosure and contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

3,313,559	April, 1967	Kifer
3,677,567	July, 1972	Gustafson
4,010,578	March, 1977	Logsdon
4,160,347	July, 1979	Logsdon
4,526,407	July, 1985	Kifer
4,864,782	September, 1989	Hasty
4,903,997	February, 1990	Kifer
5,226,263	July, 1993	Merrin
5,536,048	July, 1996	Orr

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the protection of roof components from the damaging effects of ultra violet rays from the sun, and, more particularly, a shield device for blocking out ultra violet rays from roof pipe flashing components that are susceptible to ultra violet ray damage.

Roofing in general deals with first sealing a structure from moisture and second protecting the sealing material from damage caused by the sun's ultra violet rays. For example, the standard built up roof (BUR) uses alternating layers of felt paper and tar (bitumen) with a final layer of pea gravel to protect the roofing material from the sun. Also, the standard composition asphalt shingle has an outer layer of mineral granules to block out UV rays. Other materials such as paint, wood, aluminum, steel, copper, and UV resistant plastic and rubber are also used for UV protection. However, UV protection has generally been ignored in the design and manufacture of modern pipe flashing that has elastomeric or caulking material as a seal between the flashing and the pipe.

Since the invention of the roof flashing with elstomeric collar, Kifer (U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,559), there has been a problem with the elastomeric portion of the flashing becoming brittle, cracking, peeling, and rotting away because of damage caused by the sun's ultra violet rays.

Although there have been many variations and improvements to roof pipe flashing such as Kifer (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,526,407 and 4,903,997) and Hasty (U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,782), these variations deal with methods of manufacture. Other improvements like Gustafson (U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,567), Logsdon (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,010,578 and 4,160,347), and Merrin (U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,263) deal with forming a better water tight seal between the pipe and flashing. Even the new and improved storm collar for venting high efficiency furnaces, Orr (U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,048), which is designed to seal onto PVC pipe with PVC glue, ignores the fact that PVC glue breaks down in the sun.

Perhaps the above design flaw is due to the fact that most of the inventors are plumbers or mechanical contractors who are unfamiliar with what happens to plastics and elastomeric materials after long term exposure to the sun. Only Merrin (U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,263)is manufacturing a pipe flashing component that is thick enough and made a material that maintains its sealing properties after 20 years in the sun. However, even this product will last longer if it is protected from the sun by the UV Shield.

In the last two years plumbing material manufactures such as Oatey and IPS Corporation started marketing a pipe flashing repair collar, known as a rain collar. This collar is the elastomeric portion of their pipe flashing without the base. Placing the rain collar over the damaged pipe flashing makes the repair. Just like pipe flashing, rain collars need protection from the sun.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the objective of this invention to shield all pipe flashing components that are prone to UV damage from the sun. It is a further object of this invention to provide a UV shield which may be applied by hand without the need of special tools.

Yet a further objective is to provide UV shields that fit snuggly to vent pipes so that they will not be blown away by the wind.

It is another objective of this invention to provide a simple, inexpensive, long lasting method to repair damaged pipe flashing or to prolong the life of existing repairs or repair methods.

A further object of this invention is to minimize the inventory of UV shields required by warehouses, shops, and roofers through a greater range of the UV shield's adaptability in the sizes of vent pipes. It is also an objective to reduce inventory by designing a UV shield that is reversible, thus providing two colors with one shield.

Another object of this invention is to reduce the cost of these UV shields through use of a design that is easy and inexpensive to manufacture and through use of a material with a long life and low cost.

These and related objectives may be achieved through the use of the preferred embodiment of the UV shield disclosed below.

Briefly, the preferred embodiment of this invention comprises a UV shield in the shape of a truncated cone which is composed of aluminum or other high durability material that is known to resist ultra violet ray damage. The truncated cone is formed by stamping out, from sheet metal with a punch press, a block letter “c” shape. A tab on one end of the “c” is designed to catch in one of two or more slots cut into the “c” on the other end, thus allowing one piece to fit multiple pipe sizes. Cut lines are also added so that the center of the truncated cone can be accurately cut away with hand held tin snips, allowing one piece to fit even larger pipes. The slots and cut lines are accurately placed so that the UV shield, when sized, will fit snuggly on standard sized pipes. Use of the UV shield as described in the preferred embodiment allows the shield to be easily installed by hand by sliding it down over the pipe until it covers the pipe flashing. It also ensures that the outer-lower diameter of the UV shield is larger than the elastomeric portion of the pipe flashing, thus completely shading the elastomeric portion of the pipe flashing from the sun.

In addition, for the repair of cracked or sun damaged elastomeric collars on pipe flashing, the UV shield is sealed to the pipe with caulk. Preferably for a repair, the UV shield is properly sized for the vent pipe, a bead of high durability caulk is applied completely around the pipe, and the UV shield slides down through the caulk. Thus, a weather-tight seal is formed to the vent pipe and a rain shed effect, like an umbrella, prevents water from entering through the cracks in the damaged pipe flashing. The caulk stays under the UV shield and is protected from the sun. Thus, the repair will last for many years.

Another method of permanent repair is to place a rain collar over the damaged pipe flashing and then install the UV shield to protect the rain collar and flashing from further UV ray damage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the UV shield, showing that it slides down the pipe to completely shade the elasomeric portion of the pipe flashing.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the preferred repair method of damaged pipe flashing using caulk to seal the UV shield to the pipe.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the UV shield that is stamped out of sheet metal with a punch press. A small side view shows the notch in the tab that that catches in the desired slot to size the UV shield for a given pipe diameter.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the reversible design of the UV shield that is stamped out of sheet metal.

DETAILED DISCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention consists of an ultra violet ray shield that fits around pipe vents and slides down to completely shade or cover pipe flashing components that are prone to ultra violet ray damage.

With reference to FIG. 1, a UV shield is illustrated. The UV Shield (1) has a truncated conical shape with an outside diameter (2), which is larger than the diameter of the elastomeric portion (3) of the pipe flashing (4). The upper lip of the UV shield (1) is sized so that it fits snuggly onto vent pipe (5). The downward arrows show that a properly installed UV shield (1) slides down the pipe to completely cover and shade the elastomeric portion (3).

FIG. 2 illustrates the preferred method to repair ultra violet ray damaged pipe flashing. The UV shield (1) slides down vent pipe (5) through continuous caulk bead (6) to form a weather tight seal between the pipe (5) and the UV shield (1). Thus, the caulk is protected from the sun by the UV shield. The watershed effect of the UV shield (1) works like an umbrella preventing water from entering cracks in the elastomeric portion (3) of the pipe flashing (4).

Referring now to FIG. 3, a simple design of the UV shield is shown. The UV shield (1) is a “c” shape stamped out of sheet metal with a punch press. A tab (2) is cut so that it fits snuggly into either one of the slots (3). Slots (3) are accurately placed so that when the tab (2) slides into a slot (3) and catches in place by the notch (5), the truncated conical shape created fits snuggly on a standard pipe size. The line (4) is an optional cut line allowing the inside portion of UV shield (1) to be accurately cut away with hand-held tin snips to fit an even larger pipe size.

Finally, in FIG. 4, another design for the UV shield is illustrated where the piece is reversible. This design is also stamped out of sheet metal with a punch press. The UV shield (1) is cut out of sheet metal that has a different finish color on each side. Preferably one side has a black finish and the other side has a mill finish. (The base piece on most pipe flashing is either black or mill finish.) The winged tab (2) will catch in either slot (3) no matter which side is up. Thus, one UV shield piece can be fashioned to match either a black or a mill finish pipe flashing base. When winged tab (2) is locked into place in one of the slots, (3) the truncated conical shape created fits snuggly on a standard pipe size. The line (4) is an optional cut line allowing the inside portion of UV shield (1) to be accurately cut away with hand-held tin snips to fit an even larger pipe diameter.

Claims

1. An ultra violet ray shield (UV shield) to shield away ultra violet rays from the portions of pipe flashing which are prone to sun damage.

2. The UV shield of claim 1 is made of any material that is ultra violet ray and weather resistant, such as: metal; wood; ceramic; and ultra violet ray resistant cloth, plastic, rubber, paint, granules, flakes, or any other material, which will not deteriorate much in the sun and weather.

3. The UV shield of claim 1 is made in a truncated conical shape where the top end of the cone fits snuggly onto the vent pipe and the lower or outside diameter is larger than portion of the pipe flashing that needs protection.

4. The UV shield of claim 3 is made with cut lines or tear lines, which allow the top of the UV shield to be accurately sized to fit standard pipe diameters.

5. The UV shield of claim 3 is further comprised of the following steps: (a) cutting a block letter “c” out of sheet metal, (b) cutting in a tab on one end and cutting several slots in the piece towards the other end, (c) by locking the tab into different slots, various sized truncated cones may be formed, each of which fits a standard pipe size.

6. The UV shield of claim 5 also has cut lines as in claim 4 that allows the center of the truncated cone to be accurately cut away with hand-held tin snips, resulting in one piece fitting even larger pipe diameters.

7. The UV shield of claim 5 or 6 that is reversible has a winged tab that catches in a slot no matter which side of the sheet metal is up, allowing two color choices from one metal piece.

8. The UV shield of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7, is installed to protect a repair of damaged elastomeric portions of pipe flashing.

9. The UV shield of claims 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7, is used as a repair of damaged elastomeric portions of pipe flashing, by using caulk to seal the underside of the UV shield to the vent pipe, forming a weather tight UV protected cover over the damage.

10. The UV shield of claims 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 where an elastomeric sealing collar attached to the underside of the UV shield forms a UV protected repair collar without the use of caulk.

11. The UV shield of claim 1 or 7 uses UV resistant paint, which is applied to elasotmeric portions of the pipe flashing.

12. The UV shield of claim 1 or 7 has metal flakes or mineral granules, which are attached to elasotmeric portions of the pipe flashing.