Filtered roof ridge ventilator

Claim 1

In roof edge ventilator adapted to be installed overlying the open ridge of and along the length of the roof of a building, said ventilator including an integral, elongate member providing a top part, a pair of outer side walls depending from the top part, a pair of panels with louvered openings extending from said side walls inwardly toward each other and spaced below the top part, wall means on said; panels forming a throat in registry with the open ridge, flashing parts spaced below the panels extending outwardly from said wall means and protruding beyond the outer side walls, and baffle means upstanding from ends of the flashing parts and spaced from said outer side walls; the improvement comprising: means for filtering moisture from any air which passes inadvertently from said space between the baffles and side walls to enter the space below the roof through said louvered openings as a result of external winds impinging against the ventilator from a direction which is at a small angle relative to the length of the ventilator, comprising: (a) a moisture filter medium located between the louvered openings and the space below the roof in the path of air extending from the louvered openings through the throat and open ridge to the space below the roof, so that all air passing through the elongate member to and from the space below the roof must pass through the filter medium; and (b) the filter medium being a porous, resilient, nonwoven member having a high impedance to moisture and a low impedance to air flow and having a substantial thickness selected so that air passing into the filter medium from the space below the roof and striking said moisture may move laterally of and around the trapped moisture and through the ventilator for exhausting to ambient atmosphere, whereby in freezing conditions any moisture collected in said filter medium may freeze, thereby closing off or restricting inflow through the louvered openings.