Abstract

Leader filter for being mounted at the top of a leader extending down the side of a building and below the discharge opening formed in the bottom of a rain gutter attached to the building adjacent the edge of a roof upon which rain falls, said leader filter for preventing entrance thereinto of leaves and other debris which cause leader clogging and the stoppage of rain flow through the leader, including a generally closed hollow leader filter including a top, two sides, a bottom, front and back, the sides are provided with a plurality of longitudinally extending, generally horizontally disposed rows of slots such that there is no generally vertical path of rain flow down said sides which is not interrupted by at least one of the slots, the slots are of a predetermined size sufficiently small to generally prevent the entrance thereinto and into the generally closed hollow leader filter of the leaves and other debris, the top is for receiving rain from the rain gutter discharge opening and for diverting the rain down the sides and the slots for receiving rain flowing across the sides and for diverting the rain into said hollow leader filter means, and the bottom is provided with a discharge opening for communicating with the leader and through which discharge opening rain flows from the leader filter into the leader; in one embodiment the slots are a plurality of longitudinally extending, generally horizontally disposed rows of interrupted slots, wherein the interruptions between the slots in each row are displaced horizontally with respect to the interruptions between the slots in the next adjacent row of slots; and in another embodiment the slots are a plurality of longitudinally extending, generally horizontally disposed rows of slots extending across the entire width of the sides.