The majority if not all houses require the construction of a bricked-in-gable under the roof. In constructing such gables, it is common practice to use a guide line suspended above the bricks that are being mortared into place under the gable. By following the guide line, the brick mason is assured that the stacked bricks and mortar remain even and level as the stack is built up even with the guide line suspended under the gable. Over the years, many devices have been utilized to suspend this guide line. Such a device is commonly referred to as a mason's guide line holder. In a classic arrangement for such a device, a pair of clamps suitable for holding a suspended line are attached to opposite ends of the gable face boards under the roof.
Over the years, various improvements have been made to the classic arrangement with respect to having to un-fasten and move, and re-set and re-fasten the pair of clamps as the stack of bricks becomes taller.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,571,931 (Williams) uses a pair of clamps suitable for holding a mason's guide line and can be affixed to the gable face boards on the opposite sides of the roof. The problem is that the clamps must be adjusted and moved over and over and they are attached at the gable face boards farthest apart. Constructing a bricked-in-gable under a large roof overhang becomes quite time consuming and labor intensive because of the all the un-fastening, re-fastening, and adjustment of the clamps and guide line.
Obviously, having to move the clamps and re-adjust and re-fasten them takes time and creates an inefficiency in the task of building a bricked-in-gable. U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,042 (Carper) shows a device for holding a mason's guide line that utilizes a pair of clamps and a pair of angle irons. The angle irons are attached to the underside of the gable and the clamps are slid up and down the angle irons and provide an alternative clamping surface and trackway. Unlike the present invention, when the gable overhang is greater than 4.5 inches, this device requires that angle irons be affixed to the underside of the gable by screwing or nailing the angle irons under the gable, thus adding additional labor to the task of building a bricked-in-gable. Also, additional expense is added to the manufacture and ultimate purchase price of the device because additional metal and fabrication must take place to produce the appropriate angle irons to be used with the clamps.
Accordingly, the present invention describes an adjustable gable end line puller that solves all of the above problems.