Most houses built in the United States today include gutters, which are secured to the fascia board of the structure, usually just below the roof line. These gutters are necessary to protect the siding or paint on the structure from damage from rain, snow and the like by catching the rain, snow and the like and causing it to flow to down spouts and away from the building with minimal contact with the front, back and sides of the house. The construction of gutters and the placement thereof against the fascia board of a structure is well known in the art. As is well known in the art, gutters are generally made of a thin sheet of aluminum or plastic, which are light in weight.
The presence of thin aluminum or plastic gutters along the fascia board of a structure is a source of difficulty when one needs to access the roof or upper portions of the structure. Usually, a ladder is placed and supported against the structure, and the worker or homeowner climbs the ladder to access, for example, the roof. However, since the gutters must stick out beyond the lower roof line to be effective in trapping rain and the like, the ladder must be placed against the gutters. As is well known to those skilled in the art, aluminum gutters cannot withstand much pressure before bending. Therefore, pressure of a ladder with a person climbing it will easily bend a conventional gutter. Thus, when placing a ladder against a house, one must carefully and exactingly evaluate the location and angle of the ladder to avoid placing pressure on the gutter, thereby avoiding bending the gutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,421, to Robinson, relates to a gutter protector assembly. However, the protection desired by Robinson is to prevent slippage of the ladder while in use. The H-shaped structure of the device of Robinson is secured to the fascia board of the house, directing the load of the ladder directly to the fascia board, and prohibiting any part of the load frown being transferred to the gutter. Such a protector is entirely different frown that of the present invention, as discussed below.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds