Adjustably louvered roof plate assembly

Claim 1

A louver-type roof assembly, comprising: a plurality of elongated roof plates arranged side-by-side and each having shaft means extending from each end thereof; a pair of frames, each with a series of openings for receiving the respective shaft means of said roof plates, means retaining the shafts in the respective openings for rotation in a sense to open and close the roof; a crank secured on each said shaft at a respective one end of each roof plate; connecting rod means extending along one of said frames; each crank being pivotally connected to the connecting rod means; a ratchet gear; means journalling the ratchet gear for rotation on said one frame; a drive pawl; means mounting the drive pawl adjacent the ratchet gear for engagement therewith for actuation to rotate the ratchet gear in a stepwise fashion; a check pawl; means mounting the check pawl adjacent the ratchet gear for engagement therewith to prevent undesired counter rotation of the ratchet gear; a crank shaft pivotally interconnecting the ratchet gear and the connecting rod means so that each time the drive pawl is actuated to rotate the ratchet gear one step further, the crank shaft moves the connecting rod means a corresponding step longitudinally, thus turning said cranks one step further and correspondingly rotating the roof plates one step further; one of said frames including upwardly open channel means arranged to catch rainwater draining along the roof plates, as a gutter, and opening means therein to provide a downspout therefor; said one frame including a C-shaped sub-frame having an open side, an L-shaped sub-frame with a vertical flange and a horizontal flange; the vertical flange closing the open side of the C-shaped sub-frame and extending thereunder and the horizontal flange forming said gutter.