End dam assembly for drainage channel

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to FIG.
1, end dam 10 of the present invention comprises: a vertical wall 12 having a front surface 14 and a rear surface 16 and a base edge 18; a first flange 20 extending at a right angle from rear surface 16 in the area of the vertical wall base edge 18 and integrally formed therewith, and having a distal edge 22 and a base edge 24; and a second integrally formed flange 26 having a base edge 28 abutting rear wall surface 16, spaced apart from first flange 20 and extending angularly away from rear surface 16 toward said first flange distal edge 22.
As can be seen in FIG.
1, first flange 20 and second flange 26 define a slot 27 that is wider at surface 16 and converges at distal end 22 of first flange 20.
Distal end 23 of second flange 26 may actually contact distal end 22 or be slightly removed therefrom so long as it is possible to insert the base portion of a generally U-shaped moisture management channel as described hereinafter.
FIG.
4 depicts one preferred embodiment of the end dam of the present invention.
In the embodiment depicted in FIG.
4, vertical wall 14 includes notches 30a and 30b cut therein, as well as removal of those portions of first and second flanges 20 and 26 that lie immediately therebehind, to provide vertical wall 14 with wings or extensions 32a and 32b.
The purpose of wings 32a and 32b are more readily understood by reference to FIG.
2.
FIG.
2 depicts end dam 10 of FIG.
4 assembled to a suitable, elongated, generally U-shaped moisture management channel 34 shown in phantom in FIG.
2 and comprising: a base 36, an upstanding front wall 38 and an upstanding rear wall 40 extending in parallel relationship to define the generally U-shaped channel 34.
When slot 27 as depicted in FIGS.
1, 3 and 4 is frictionally engaged over base 34 as shown in FIG.
2, wings or extensions 32a and 32b abut and overlap the ends 42 and 44 of upstanding front wall 38 and upstanding rear wall 40 of channel 34 respectively.
In this fashion, a tighter joint is formed between end dam 10 and channel 34 and it is more likely that water that has entered channel 34 will be diverted toward appropriate weep hole in channel 34 (not shown) than if the width of vertical wall W were the same as the internal width W' of channel 34