GUTTER SPIKE REMOVER

EXTRATEUR DE CLOUS DE GOUTTIERES

English Abstract

A B S T R A C T
An elongated approximately C-shaped frame with a
handle portion above an elongated hand hole has downwardly-
projecting arms depending from its forward and rearward ends.
The forward arm is bifurcated by being keyhole-slotted verti-
cally into a pair of laterally-spaced L shaped fingers which
straddle the spike and the tubular spacer surrounding it with-
in the gutter. The rearward depending arm is provided with
an impact abutment for receiving the hammer blows during use.
A strenghtening rib extending along the body between the de-
pending portions imparts rigidity to the frame. In the first
stage of its use. the forward depending arm is moved over the
top of the gutter and dropped around the tubular spacer,
then pulled toward the use until the flat ends of the fing-
ers engage the inner surface of the outer gutter wall directly
beneath the spike. A hammer blow on the abutment on the rear-
ward arm pulls spike, spacer and gutter bodily a short dist-
ance away from the building wall to which they are attached.
Thereupon the device is lifted out of the gutter, which is
then pushed back toward the building wall to space the head
of the spike and the adjacent portion of its shank away from
the forward wall of the gutter. The forward arm of the de-
vice is then dropped around this projecting portion of the
spike and pulled backward against its head, whereupon hammer
blows against the abutment cause the spike to be pulled com-
pletely out of the gutter and tubular spacer, which drops
into the gutter.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLU-
SIVE PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1.
A gutter spike remover for withdrawing the
supporting spike and a surrounding tubular spacer of
a gutter from a building wall, said remover comprising
a horizontal frame member having an elongated
intermediate portion with a depending forward arm and a
depending rearward arm disposed in horizontally spaced
relationship along said intermediate portion in down-
wardly offset relationship to said intermediate portion,
and a forwardly facing hammer blow impact
abutment disposed on said rearward arm and extending
below the lower end of said forward arm,
said forward arm having a slot therethrough
with an open lower end,
said slot extending upward from the lower end
of said forward arm and dividing said forward arm into
a pair of laterally spaced spike extracting fingers.
2.
A gutter spike remover, according to claim 1,
wherein said slot has a wider lower portion and a narrower
upper portion with the opposite sides thereof substantially
parallel to one another, wherein the lower portion of said
slot has a width greater than the diameter of the tubular

spacer, and wherein the upper portion of said slot has a
width less than the diameter of the tubular spacer but
greater than the diameter of the spike.
3.
A gutter spike remover, according to claim 1,
wherein said fingers are approximately L-shaped with
horizontal portions disposed at the bottom of said forward
arm and extending rearward toward said hammer blow impact
abutment.

Description

An elongated approximately C-shaped frame with a
handle portion above an elongated hand hole has downwardly-
projecting arms depending from its ~orward and rearward ends.
The forward arm is bifurcated by being keyhole-slotted verti-
cally into a pair of laterally-spaced L-shaped fingers which
straddle the spike and khe -tubular spacer surrounding it with-
in the gutter. The rearward depending arm is provided with
an impact abu~ment for receivin~ hammer blows during use. A
strengthening rib extending along the body between the depend-
ing portions imparts rigidity to the frame. In the first
stage of its use, the ~orward dèpending arm is moved~ver the
~op o the gutter and dropped around the tubular spacer,
then pulled toward the user until the ~lat ends of the fing-
ers engage the inner surface o~ the outer gutter wall directly
beneath the spike. ~ hammer blow on the abutment on the rear-
ward arm pulls spikeO spacer and gutter bodily a short dist-
ance away from the building wall to which they are attachedA
Thereupon the device is lifted out of the gutter, which is
then pushed back toward the building wall to space the head
of the spike and the adjacent portion of its shank away from
the forward wall of the gutter. The forward arm of the de-
vice is then dropped around this projecting portion of the
spike a~d pulled backward against its head, whereupon hammer
blows agai~st the abutment cause the spike to be pulled ~om-
pletely out of the gutter and tubular spacer, which drops
into the gutter~
The invention particularly resides in the elongated
frame with its bi~urcated ~-shaped keyhole-slotted forward
depending arm and its abutment-equipped rearward depending
a^m spaced longitudinally awa~ from the forward arm.
In the drawing,
Figure 1 is a perspective viewO looking downward
from above, of a gutter spike remover a~cording to a pre-
ferred form of the invention;- -
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the gutter spike
remover with the gukter in cross-seck~on showing in solid
-- 1 --

~3~
lines the beginning of i.ts first stage of application to the
gutter, tubular spacer and spike and in dotted lines ~he posi-
tions of these parts at the end of i.ts first stage of use,
F~gure 3 is a left-hand end elevation of the gutter
spike remover with the spike and tubular spacer in cro~s-sec-
tion, taken along the line 3--3 in Figure 2,
Figure 4 is a vertical section through the frame of
the guttex spike remover taken along the line 4--4 in Figure
2; and
Figure 5 is a fragmentary central vertical section
through the forward end portion of the gutter spike remover
shown in Figures 1 and 2, but with the forward depending arm
disposed at the beginning of its second stage of use with the
gutter pushed back against the building wall, and with the
gutter spike extracted from the building wallbut ~ot yet re-
moved from its tubular spacer and with an arrow indicating
the direction of pull; and
i Figure 6 is a horizontal section through the hammer
blow impact abutment and rearward depending arm, taXen along
the line 6--6 in Figure 2.
Referring to the drawing in detailO Figures 1 and
2 show a ~utter spike remover, generally designated 10, whichJ
as its name indicates, is used by gutter and downspout install-
ing workmen to remove gutter-holding spikes S and their tubu-
lar spacers T from the building wall W to which the trough-
shaped gutters are normally attached. The gutter spike remo-
ver 10 consists of an elongated ~rame 12 with a rearward por-
tion 14~-a forward portion 16 and an intermediate portion 18
with an elongated hand hole 20 and handle portion 21 for re-
ceiving the ingers and hand respectively of the user during
use. Depending from the rearward and forward portions 14 and
16 are downwardly-projecting rearward and forward arms 22 and
24 respectively.
Mounted on and preferably integral with the rearward
arm 22 is a hammer blow impact abutment ~6 whicho as its name
signifies, is for the reception of hammer blows imparted to

it during its use. The forward arm 24 includes a pair of L-
shaped fingers 28 provided with rearwardly-extending flat-
ended horizontal portions 30. The fingers 28 are separated
and spaced laterall~ apart from one another by a keyhole slot
32 having a wider lower portion 34 and a narrower upper portion
36 terminating in a round top portion 38. The intermediate
portion 18 o~ the frame 12 is o~ T-shaped cross-section (Fig-
ure 4) with a rib 40 extending along the lower edge thereof
between the rearward and ~orward po~tions 14 and 16.
In the use o~ the gutter spike remover 10 (Figure 2)
the user grasps the intermediate portion 18 of the frame 12 in
his hand with his fingers extending through the elongated hand
hole 20 and around the ha~dle portion 21, He then raises the
forward end portion 16 so that it passes over the forward wall
F of the gutter G having bottom and rearward walls B and R
respectively. ~Ie now drops the forward depending arm 24 so
that its fingers 28 lie on opposite sides of the tubular spac-
er T which occupies the wider lower portion 34 of the slot 32
(Figure 3)~ He then pulls backward upon the frame 12 so that
the horizontal portions 30 of the fingers 28 move beneath the
flange on the gutter forward wall F until the flat ends of
the horizontal portions 30 of the L-shaped fingers 28 press
against the inner side of the forward wall F of the gutter G
(Figure 2). He then strikes a blow or a series of blows with
his hammer head against the abutment 26, thereby moving the
spike remover 10 backward and consequently .moving the spike
S, its tubular spacer T and gutter G a short distance backward
away from their solid-line positi~ns to their dotted-line pos-
itions in Figure 2. This action removes the pointed end o~ the
spike S from the building wall W.
The user now raises the forward portion 16 of the
gutter spike remover 10 out of the gutter G, ~hereby removing
the forward arm 24 and its laterally-spaced fingers 28 and
their slot 32 from their initial position spanning the tubular
spacer T. The user then drops the slot 32 between the spaced
L-shaped fingers 28 downward around the now-exposed shank por-
...

3~
tion of the spike S between the head of the latter and the for-
ward wall F of the gutter G. The round upper portiun 38 of ~he
keyhole slot 32 now comes to rest upon the now exposed shank
portion of the spike S immediately behind its head, after its
wider and narrow partions 34 and 32 thereof have pased by it.
Wihh`the parts in the positions shown in Figure 5, ~he user
then applies additional strokes of the hammer head upon the
impact abutment 26, thereby extracting the spike S fully from
both its tubu~ar spacer T and the forward wall F of the gutter
G. The tubular spacer T then drops to the bottom B of the
gutter G as soon as the pointed tip of the spike S passes
through the forward wall F of the gutter G~ whence the spacer
T may then be removed by the hand of the user.