EP0275809A1 - Cutting gauge for floor tiles or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

This template has the shape of a deformable frame composed of five flat bars fixed end to end, comprising: a) a support bar (1) provided with a positioning stop (10), b) two lateral bars (2 , 3) capable of sliding perpendicular to the support bar (1), c) a set of two cutter bars (4, 5) articulated to one another and to the end of the two lateral bars (2, 3) by means of an axis (21, 31) which allows their longitudinal sliding; blocking members 15, 16 being provided which make it possible to immobilize mutually all of the bars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) in the desired position. Instrument used to cut peripheral tiles when laying floor, wall or ceiling tiles, for example carpet tiles.

Description

The present invention relates to a cutting template for floor tiles and the like, that is to say carpet tiles, cork, thermoplastic or insulating material, these tiles being intended to be placed side by side for cover a floor, a wall, or a ceiling in a room.

These tiles are generally rectangular or square. The peripheral tiles must be cut before laying so that they can adapt to the more or less irregular contour of the surface to be coated. This is the longest and most delicate operation of laying paving. Indeed, a cut that is too short causes the assembly to loosen little by little. A cut that is too long leads to incorrect setting of the paving, which may curl and fall apart.

Currently, the peripheral slabs are cut in a very empirical and imprecise manner, after prior tracing on the back of the slab of the desired contour; this tracing is done using elementary instruments such as a square, a meter and a pencil. This results in risks of error and a waste of time which increases the cost of installation.

The invention aims to eliminate these drawbacks by proposing an instrument - called a cutting template - specially designed to be first conformed very exactly to the contour of the surface which the peripheral slab which one wishes to lay must occupy, then to be placed. on this slab and be used to guide the cutting tool, so that this contour is exactly reproduced on the cut slab.

Another object of the invention is to propose a cutting template which is of a simple and robust design, of a low cost price, of use and of an easy handling and which can adapt to varied contours.

• a) une barrette - dite d'appui - qui est munie d'une butée de positionnement apte à être engagée contre le bord d'une dalle ;
• b) deux barrettes latérales perpendiculaires à la barrette d'appui , qui sont montées à coulissement aux deux extrémités de celle-ci, des organes de guidage étant prévus qui assurent que ce coulissement se fasse perpendiculairement à la barrette d'appui ;
• c) un jeu de deux barrettes - dite de coupe - qui sont articulées, d'une part l'une à l'autre au moyen d'un axe, d'autre part chacune sur l'une des deux barrettes latérales, au moyen d'un axe qui autorise leur coulis­sement longitudinal,
        des organes de blocage étant prévus qui permettent d'immobiliser mutuellement l'ensemble des barrettes dans la position désirée.

These results are achieved in accordance with the invention, by the fact that the proposed cutting template in the form of a deformable frame composed of five flat bars fixed end to end:

• a) a bar - called support - which is provided with a positioning stop capable of being engaged against the edge of a slab;
• b) two lateral bars perpendicular to the support bar, which are slidably mounted at the two ends of the latter, guiding members being provided which ensure that this sliding takes place perpendicular to the support bar;
• c) a set of two bars - called cutting bars - which are articulated, on the one hand to one another by means of a pin, on the other hand each on one of the two lateral bars, by means an axis that allows their longitudinal sliding,
  blocking members being provided which make it possible to immobilize mutually all of the bars in the desired position.

These bars can be obtained simply by cutting from a metal plate.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each of the side bars has a longitudinal slot in which is engaged a threaded pin secured to the support bar, and a locking nut such as a wing nut is screwed onto this axis.

The guide members may consist of simple plates welded to the support bar, the side bars being applied by their edge internally against these platelets.

The support bar is advantageously provided with a handle which facilitates the handling of the instrument.

In the same preferred embodiment, the cutter bars each have a longitudinal slot in which is engaged a threaded axis integral with one of the lateral bars, and a locking nut such as a wing nut is screwed on this axis .

Thus, according to this embodiment, it is easy after unlocking all the nuts, to deform the template in the form of a frame to adapt it to the shape of the space intended to receive the cut slab, then to freeze the shape obtained by tightening the nuts.

The set of cutter bars has a total length (when the two bars are aligned in the extension of one another) which is substantially greater than the length of the support bar so that the ends of these bars cut out beyond the lateral bars.

It is advantageous to give the support bar and the side bars a length which is equal to the sides of the slabs to be cut, when dealing with square slabs.

The positioning stop can simply consist of the outer edge, folded at a right angle, of the support bar.

In this case, a compensating strip is advantageously associated with the template, this strip being adapted to be applied against the external edge of the cutter bars (for the purpose of cutting the slab), this strip having a thickness which is equal to the thickness of the folded edge forming the positioning stop. This slider compensates for the offset resulting from the fact that the engagement of the abutment against the slab is not made on the same side of this abutment at the time of the shaping of the template (for which the engagement is made against the adjacent slab already laid) and at the time cutting (for which the engagement is made against the slab to be cut).

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear from the description and the appended drawings which show a preferred embodiment thereof.

• - la figure 1 est une vue de dessus du gabarit ;
• - les figures 2, 3 et 4 sont des vues de détail, à échelle légèrement plus grande, correspondant aux plans de coupe II-II, III-III et IV-IV de la figure 1 ;
• - la figure 5 représente la zone périphérique d'une surface sur laquelle doit être posé un dallage ;
• - la figure 6 représente la mise en forme du gabarit dans une portion de cet espace périphérique, le gabarit étant représenté à échelle plus petite que sur la figure 1 ;
• - la figure 7 est une section de la barrette d'appui, qui montre l'engagement de la butée avec une dalle déjà posée lorsque le gabarit se trouve dans la position de la figure 6 ;
• - la figure 8 est une vue de dessus de la réglette compensatrice ;
• - la figure 9 est une section de la réglette compen­satrice coupée par le plan IX-IX de la figure 8 ;
• - la figure 10 représente le gabarit de la figure 6 mis en place sur une dalle en vue de sa coupe ;
• - la figure 11 est une section analogue à la figure 7 de la barrette d'appui, montrant cette barrette en butée contre la dalle qui doit être coupée ;
• - la figure 12 représente les deux parties de la dalle après la coupe ;
• - la figure 13 représente le gabarit dans une configuration différente de celles des figures 6 et 10, correspondant à une autre portion de l'espace périphé­rique de la figure 5 ;
• - la figure 14 représente une dalle coupée au moyen du gabarit conformé selon la figure 13 ;
• - les figures 15 et 16 représentent deux autres configurations possibles du gabarit.

In these drawings:

• - Figure 1 is a top view of the template;
• - Figures 2, 3 and 4 are detail views, on a slightly larger scale, corresponding to the section planes II-II, III-III and IV-IV of Figure 1;
• - Figure 5 shows the peripheral area of a surface on which a paving must be laid;
• - Figure 6 shows the shaping of the template in a portion of this peripheral space, the template being shown on a smaller scale than in Figure 1;
• - Figure 7 is a section of the support bar, which shows the engagement of the stop with a slab already laid when the template is in the position of Figure 6;
• - Figure 8 is a top view of the compensating strip;
• - Figure 9 is a section of the compensating strip cut by the plane IX-IX of Figure 8;
• - Figure 10 shows the template of Figure 6 placed on a slab for its section;
• - Figure 11 is a section similar to Figure 7 of the support bar, showing this bar in abutment against the slab which must be cut;
• - Figure 12 shows the two parts of the slab after cutting;
• - Figure 13 shows the template in a different configuration from those of Figures 6 and 10, corresponding to another portion of the peripheral space of Figure 5;
• - Figure 14 shows a slab cut by means of the template shaped according to Figure 13;
• - Figures 15 and 16 show two other possible configurations of the template.

The template shown in Figure 1 has the shape of a frame which is composed of five flat bars fixed end to end, namely a bar 1 called support bar, two side bars 2, 3, and a set of two bars 4, 5 articulated one on the other around an axis 7.

All of the bars are made of metal obtained by cutting from a plate, for example stainless steel.

The support bar 1 has an edge 10 folded down at 90 °, as can be seen more particularly in FIG. 3. The thickness of this folded part 10, which corresponds to the thickness of the metal, has been designated by (e).

The bar 1 is provided with a handle 12, which is attached to the bar itself by two attachment tabs 11; the assembly is obtained in one piece by cutting, pushing back and folding, the handle 12 having an approximately cylindrical shape obtained by folding.

At these two ends, the bar 1 is provided with two threaded rods 13, 14 which extend upwards, that is to say on the side opposite to the folded part 10, and on the same side as the handle 12.

The threaded rods 13, 14 are secured to the bar 1 by suitable means, for example by welding. Near these threaded rods, towards the inside of the bar, are fixed, also by welding, plates 6a, 6b, which have an external edge 60a, 60b disposed at right angles to the bar 1.

Each of the lateral bars 2, 3 has a through groove, or lumen, longitudinal median 20, 30. This lumen extends from one end of the bar, in this case from the end adjacent to the bar d 'support 1, over more than half the length of the bar.

At the opposite end, each bar 2, 3 carries a threaded rod 21, 31 directed upwards, similar to the threaded rods 13, 14 carried by the support bar 1.

Each of the bars 4, 5 - called the cutting bar - which constitutes the set of bars articulated on the axis 7, also has a median longitudinal lumen 40, 50.

The slots 20, 30, 40, 50 have a width slightly greater than that of the threaded rods 13, 14, 21, 31, so that the latter can freely engage in the slots; as seen in Figure 1, the threaded rods 13, 14 of the support strip 1 are engaged in the slots 20, respectively 30 of the side bars, while the threaded rods 21, 31 of the latter are engaged in the lights 40, 50 respectively of the cutter bars.

After engagement, these threaded rods receive easily maneuverable locking nuts such as wing nuts 15, 16.

It will be noted that at the level of the articulation 7 of bars 4, 5, one of these bars, in this case the bar 5 has a recess 52, required by the fact that the rest of the bar 5 is in the same plane as the bar 4.

The outer edge of the bars 4, 5 has been designated respectively by the references 41, 51; the inner edge of the lateral bars 2, 3 has been designated respectively by the references 22, 32.

In the embodiment shown, the template is intended to be used for cutting square carpet tiles whose side is 50 cm. This is why the two lateral bars 2, 3 and the support bar 1 have identical lengths (L), equal to 50 cm.

The assembly formed by the aligned cutting bars 4, 5 has a length (Lʹ) substantially greater than 50 cm, for example 70 cm.

As an indication, the bars have a width (1) of 60 mm and the metal used has a thickness (e) of 3 mm.

As can be clearly seen in FIG. 1, the ends of the lateral bars 2, 3 are rounded, and the center of curvature of these ends coincides with the axis of the threaded rods 13, 21 and 14, 31 respectively; similarly, the outer ends of the cutter bars 4, 5 are rounded, and the inner ends (corresponding to the joint 7) are bevelled; these rounded parts prevent the ends from projecting relative to the adjoining bars when there is a relative pivoting of the bars, these projecting parts being liable to interfere with the cutting operations.

By observing FIG. 1, it is immediately understood that it is possible to deform the frame formed by bars 1 to 5, in several ways:
- By sliding one or the other of the bars 2, 3, or these two bars, perpendicular to the support bar 1; the course of this sliding corresponds to the length of the lights 20 and 30 respectively; the operator who performs this movement of the side bars 2, 3, can ensure that the movement is made in a safe manner perpendicular to the support bar 1, by lightly pressing these bars inwards so that their edge internal 22, respectively 32 is applied against the guide plates 6a, 6b respectively. This sliding occurs naturally after loosening the wing nuts 15.
- By rotating one and / or the other of the cutting bars 4, 5 around the threaded rods 21, respectively 31, and by sliding these bars along the slots 40, respectively 50; during these possible displacements, the two bars 4, 5 remain permanently connected by the hinge pin 7.

It is clear that after deformation of the frame composed of the five links 1 to 5, the outline of this frame can be immobilized in the position obtained, by simply tightening the wing nuts 15, 16.

Figures 8 and 9 show the compensating strip 8 which is associated with the template which has just been described; this strip has the shape of a sectional section in "L" having two wings 80, 81 of thickness (e) equal to the thickness of the folded edge 10 of the support strip 1. The function of this strip will be described later.

We will now explain, with particular reference to FIGS. 5 to 7 and 10 to 14, how the template which has just been described is used to cut the paving slabs for their installation on the periphery of a surface receiving a paving.

Figure 5 shows a top view, the corner of a room in which it is proposed to lay a pavement consisting of floor tiles, for example carpet; this paving consists of square side tiles (L). The plinth delimiting the periphery of the ground receiving the paving has a broken contour, and it is necessary to cut along this contour the slabs which must occupy the spaces designated by the letters A and B located opposite this plinth (P ). The complete slabs already placed opposite these spaces have been designated respectively by the references (D1, D2). To do this, the operator begins by loosening the wing nuts 15, 16 and sliding the side bars 2, 3 so as to reduce the frame formed by the template. Then, it applies the outer edge of the folded rim 10 forming a stop for the support bar 1 against the free edge of the slab (D1) already laid (see in particular Figure 7). It then deforms the frame again, in the direction of its enlargement, while ensuring that the lateral bars 2, 3 remain applied against the guide members 6a, 6b, perpendicular to the support bar 1, and by positioning the cutter bars 4, 5 against the plinth (P); as at this point the plinth (P) is straight, the bars 4 and 5 remain aligned.

It therefore conforms the frame to the outline of the space A which must receive the cut slab. Once this conformation is done, it tightens the wing nuts 15, 16, so as to immobilize each other all the bars, somehow freezing the shape of the space A.

Then, using the operating handle 12, he places the template on the slab (D) to be cut (see Figure 10). The positioning of the template on the slab (D) is made by abutment of the folded part 10 against one of the edges of this slab (see Figure 11). Then he places the compensating strip 8 against the bars 4, 5, and makes the cut using an appropriate tool of known type ("cutter") by guiding this tool along the strip 8.

The existence of this strip makes it possible to compensate for the dimensional offset, of the value (e), which results from the fact that the positioning of the stop 10 against the slab (D) is not made on the same side of the stop as the positioning previously performed against the already laid slab (D1), as is clear from the comparison of FIGS. 7 and 11.

After cutting, we obtain two parts of slabs designated by the references (Da) and (Daʹ) in Figure 12; the contour of the slab (Da) corresponds to that of the space A and this cut slab is therefore ready to be placed very exactly next to the slab (D1); the piece of slab (Daʹ) is a waste.

The operation is repeated for cutting the slab intended to be juxtaposed with the slab (D2) in FIG. 5, in order to fill the space B; Figure 13 illustrates how the template is shaped for this purpose; as will be seen the cutting bars 4, 5 are angularly offset to present a configuration which corresponds to the broken part (P1) of the plinth at this location. For cutting, the compensating strip 8 is successively applied against the two bars 4 and 5; it will be noted that the bevelled edges of these links at their mutual articulation do not interfere with the cut.

FIG. 14 represents the two pieces of slab (Db) and (Dbʹ) which have been separated by the cut, the part (Db) being adapted to fill the space B of the ground to be covered, while the part (Dbʹ) corresponds to a scrap.

When dealing with a slab to be placed in a corner, it is naturally possible to use this template twice by positioning it differently on the slab, that is to say by successively abutting it against two adjacent edges of the slab.

FIG. 15 represents a configuration of the template which is intended for cutting a slab at a re-entrant angle. FIG. 16 shows that it is possible to tilt the lateral bars 2, 3 outwards by pivoting around the rods 13, 14 respectively, these then playing the role of articulation axes; in the figure, the bar 2 has pivoted outwards around the axis 13 (arrow f); the bars can also pivot inwards, provided that they have been slightly raised beforehand so that they can pass over the guide plates 6a, 6b; this possibility of pivoting inward is shown in Figure 16, where the bar 3 has been shown in broken lines, and designated by the reference 3ʹ.

The pivoting of the side bars can be useful for particular cuts, in particular for cutting pieces of whole carpet.

It goes without saying that the invention is not limited to the preferred embodiment which has just been described by way of example; on the contrary, it encompasses all variants.

Claims (10)

1. Cutting template for floor covering tiles and the like characterized in that it has the shape of a deformable frame composed of five flat bars fixed end to end: a) a bar (1) - called support - which is provided with a positioning stop (10) capable of being engaged against the edge of a slab; b) two lateral bars (2, 3) perpendicular to the support bar (1), which are slidably mounted at both ends of the latter, guide members (6a, 6b) being provided which ensure that this sliding is made perpendicular to the support bar (1); c) a set of two bars (4, 5) - called cutting bars - which are articulated, on the one hand to one another by means of an axis (7), on the other hand each on the one of the two lateral bars (2, 3), by means of an axis (21, 31) which allows their longitudinal sliding,
blocking members (15, 16) being provided which make it possible to immobilize mutually all of the bars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) in the desired position. 2. Cutting template according to claim 1, characterized in that all of the bars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are obtained by cutting a metal plate. 3. Cutting template according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that each of the side bars (2, 3) has a longitudinal slot (20, 30) in which is engaged a threaded axis (13, 14) integral with the support bar (1), a locking nut such as a wing nut (16) being screwed on this axis. 4. Cutting template according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said guide members (6a, 6b) of the side bars (2, 3) are plates welded to the support bar (1) , against which the internal edges (22, 32) of the lateral bars (2, 3) are applied. 5. Cutting template according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the support bar (1) is provided with a handle (12). 6. Cutting template according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that each of the cutting bars (4, 5) has a longitudinal slot (40, 50) in which is engaged a threaded axis (21, 31 ) integral with one of the side bars (2, 3), a locking nut such as a wing nut (16) being screwed on this axis. 7. Cutting template according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the set of cutting bars (4, 5) has a total length (Lʹ) substantially greater than the length (L) of the bar d 'support (1), so that their ends project outwards from the side bars (2, 3). 8. Cutting template according to one of claims 1 to 7, intended for cutting square slabs, characterized in that the support bar (1) and the side bars (2, 3) have a length (L ) equal to the side of the tiles to be cut. 9. Cutting template according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that said positioning stop (10) is constituted by the outer edge, folded at a right angle, of the support bar (1). 10. Cutting template according to claim 9, characterized in that a compensating strip (8) associated therewith, which is adapted to be applied against the outer edge (41, 51) of the cutter bars (4, 5) for cutting, this strip having a thickness (e) equal to the thickness of the folded edge forming the positioning stop (10).

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