Louver assembly having improved weatherproofing and air flow characteristics

Claim 1

A louver assembly comprising: a pair of spaced apart side jambs, a plurality of spaced apart louver blades mounted between said jambs and sloping downwardly from back to front to form a louver assembly extending uninterruptedly between said jambs, each of said louver blades having an elongated open-topped trough having a rhombodial cross section extending along the lower edge thereof and comprising an overhanging lip and a bottom both extending generally parallel to the slope of the blades whereby laminar air flow across the blades is facilitated, each of said louver blades including a vertical rise along the mid-region thereof such that the lower half of each blade is offset but parallel to the upper Half of each blade, a lip portion extending along the upper edge of each of said blades and characterized by a relatively small vertical dimension thereby simultaneously preventing water flow up the blade and facilitating laminar air flow across the blade, cutout sections formed in the ends of the bottom of each said trough and extending inwardly from the ends of said blades to allow water to drain therefrom, and a slope water-diverting sill mounted between said jambs below said blades, wherein said assembly tends to reduce water from cascading downwardly upon lower blades and reduces water accumulation and subsequent water atomization from said blades.