EP1201847B1 - Seamlessly applied leather covering - Google Patents

Abstract

The leather covering comprises leather panels (10) placed without any gaps so that the side faces (12) are in contact with each other with over practically their entire surface area whilst the surfaces of the individual panels are ground and polished so that they define a common plane. The covering is used to cover floors, walls, ceilings. The upper edges of the leather panels can be milled or rounded so that when placed seam free together they give the appearance of pseudo gaps which can be filled with a mixture of binder and/or dye.

Description

The present invention relates to seamlessly laid coverings of leather panels on the floor, wall and / or ceiling surfaces of an interior or a covering for stairs with the features of the preamble of claim 1, and a method for producing leather coverings with the features of the preamble of claim. 8

Leather floors, steps or wall coverings are still quite unusual, but have different benefits. Leather treads are amazingly durable, water and dirt repellent, easy to clean and repair. The natural material leather is extremely pleasant in direct contact, so that, for example, a leather floor invites almost to barefoot running.

From the DE-19634928 For example, a method of making a leather tile cladding is known. The leather tiles are each pressed with the back to form a joint gap on the floor and / or wall surface. The joint gap can be created, for example, by using a spacer such as a simple strip. The bonded leather tiles are then left alone for about 80 hours so that the leather tiles can acclimatize, ie they release excess moisture. Thereafter, the joint spaces are filled flush with a plastic-based filler. The filler is left to dry for about 8 hours, thereby shrinking. When shrinking creates a small groove on the outside of the joint. Thereafter, the grooves formed by the shrinkage are filled flush with the putty at least once more on the joint gaps. The putty is for drying about 8 hours at rest During this interim period, a little further shrinkage occurs. The protective layer on the top of the leather tiles is removed dry with a felt, which also eliminates the possible impurities thereon, and then the top of the leather tiles is polished dry by rubbing with a lambskin. Advantageously, it is provided that the joint interspaces are filled flush with putty three times in compliance with the drying break.
It is not always desirable for aesthetic reasons, that joint gaps are visible in the covering. In addition, that is from the DE-19634928 known method for filling the joints and the subsequent cleaning of the leather tiles extremely time consuming. The coverings, whose base material compared to other materials are already relatively expensive, are priced even more unattractive.

In the description to DE-19634928 It is stated that it is known to stick large-format leather tiles on a joint, ie without joints, to a floor in the room. However, due to the nature of the leather, the leather tiles would have thickness variations that range from 0.4 to 0.6 mm. In the known jointless bonding thereby resulting visible approaches that are not only aesthetically unpleasant, but also lead by lateral impact load to detach the tile edges.

It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a covering made of leather tiles on the floor, wall and / or ceiling surfaces of an interior or a covering for stairs and / or handrails of stairs, which does not have the above-mentioned disadvantages of the known coverings. It is also the object of the invention to provide a method for producing such a covering.

This object is achieved by a covering with the features of claim 1 and a method with the features of claim 8.

Figur 1

eine Draufsicht auf eine Lederverkleidung gemäss des Standes der Technik;

Figur 2

eine Draufsicht auf einen Bodenbelag gemäss einer Ausführungsform der vorliegenden Erfindung;

Figur 3a

einen Schnitt durch einen Lederboden gemäss der vorliegenden Erfindung vor dem Schleifen;

Figur 3b

den Schnitt gemäss Figur 3a nach dem Schleifen;

Figur 4a

einen Kontaktbereich zweier Lederplatten gemäss einer weiteren Ausführungsform der vorliegenden Erfindung; und

Figur 4b

den Bereich der Figur 4a nach dem Verfüllen.

In the following, embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Show it:

FIG. 1

a plan view of a leather covering according to the prior art;

FIG. 2

a plan view of a floor covering according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3a

a section through a leather bottom according to the present invention prior to grinding;

FIG. 3b

the section according to Figure 3a after grinding;

FIG. 4a

a contact area of two leather panels according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4b

the area of Figure 4a after filling.

In the figure 1, a leather bottom as it is known from the prior art is shown. The individual leather panels P are separated by grouted gaps F from each other. The leather bottom shown in Figure 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention, however, is laid without joints. In the following, the essential steps in laying the covering according to the invention on the basis of a floor covering to be laid are briefly described.

Usually, the substrate must be pretreated in a first step. The edge zones of the surface to be covered are ground, for example with a slide mill, and then the substrate is primed with a fiber roller. To close the pores and to compensate for bumps, a good leveling is done with a common filler once. The resulting underlay floor is ground, for example, with a 60 grit.
The resulting smooth, even and absorbent substrate for receiving the adhesive can either be stuck directly to the leather panels, or various substructures can be applied.
Cork or other known insulation underlays can be used for additional impact noise and / or thermal insulation.
The to be laid leather panels come, as a floor is occupied, preferably of resilient animal skins such as beef, horse, buffalo or the like. The plates can be produced in a wide variety of shapes, colors and thicknesses. Vegetable is preferably vegetable, vegetable chromium or only chromium, but it can also be used any other tanned leather. The plates to be laid are preferably punched out in predetermined shapes. The size of the plates is limited by the size of the animal skins in a natural way. The natural material leather can be easily and precisely cut during laying as needed. Even complicated edges or corners can be laid with standard panels. Since the plates are relatively flexible, for example, stairs or other paragraphs or door sills can be occupied.
When laying the prefabricated leather panels are glued with a low-dispersion dispersion adhesive over the entire surface of the substrate and pressed with a metal roller. The base is made with strips of leather in the desired width. These strips can be pure leather strips or leather-covered or occupied wooden strips.

After the adhesive has hardened sufficiently, it is sanded for the first time diagonally in the room with a 40 or 50 grit. The first cut is then sanded a second time with a 60 or 80 grit.
A marginal cut with a 60 grit is followed by a marginal cut with a 100 to 120 grit. Then the corners are ground and finally a final polishing with a special plate, for example a five-disc plate, is carried out.
After grinding, as shown in FIG. 3b, a smooth, stepless transition is created between the plates placed on the joint. There are no longer any supernatants that could be aesthetically disturbing or could lead to lateral detachment of the plate edges.

Since the panels made of natural leather can not be cut or punched with 100% straight edges, small gaps between individual panels may occur during laying. These may be filled after the first and / or second sanding with a mixture of sanding dust and an alcohol-based binder which gives a cementitious paste.

If it is desired for optical reasons, so-called pseudo-joints can be produced by laying plates with a broken or chamfered upper edge 18, as shown in FIG. In this embodiment of the invention, by adding color pigments to the grinding dust-binder mixture, a pseudo joint 20 can be produced, as shown in FIG. 4b. On the surface 11 of the leather floor 1, a joint 20 is visible, although the floor is laid without joints, i. the individual plates 10 are in direct contact with each other via their side surfaces 12.

After laying and sanding, the surface produced in this way can be treated according to the customer's wishes and purpose become. Without aftertreatment, the leather retains its raw, natural character particularly well. It can also be sealed, waxed or oiled. When sealing is primed in a first step with an alcohol-based primer and then sealed with water-based paint. With a 120 to 150 mesh is ground, sealed a second time and finally polished.
As an alternative to sealing, it is also possible to wax or oil it with known means and then to polish it.

The inventive leather floor allows completely new design possibilities. The leather panels can preferably be provided with patches before installation by baking or punching. By the subsequent grinding any disturbing elevations, which are caused by the baking or punching, completely removed. The ornament remains easily visible and may even be particularly highlighted by filling with a different color grinding dust-binder mixture.

If so desired, individual sheets of a non-leather material, for example of a parquet wood, can be laid seamlessly between the leather panels. Grinding and subsequent surface treatment are not significantly different from the methods described above.

Since the inventive leather cover is laid without joints and has a closed surface, it is extremely easy to maintain and clean. If the coating has become unattractive after prolonged mechanical stress or permanent contamination, it can be reground one or more times, depending on the thickness of the plates. the life of the coating according to the invention is thereby extended by decades.

Claims (10)

1. A covering (1) of leather tiles (10), which is applied in a seamless manner, wherein the individual leather tiles (10), with their side surfaces (12), are in contact with one another approximately in a complete-surfaced manner, characterised in that the surfaces (11) of the individual tiles (10) are sanded in a manner such that they define a common plane (2).
2. A covering (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that upper edges (18) of the leather tiles (10) are edged, chamfered or rounded, so that pseudo-seams (20) arise when applying in a seamless manner.
3. A covering (1) according to claim 3, characterised in that the pseudo-seams (20) are filled with a mixture of binder and sanding dust and/or colour.
4. A covering according to claim 1, characterised in that patterns are punched and/or burnt in one or more of the leather tiles (10).
5. A covering according to claim 1, characterised in that an insulation underlay is incorporated between the leather covering and the under-ground.
6. The use of the covering (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that it serves as a floor-, wall-, ceiling- or stair covering for inside rooms.
7. A method for manufacturing leather coverings, characterised in that leather tiles are bonded onto a pretreated under-ground in a seamless manner, and subsequently the surfaces of the individual tiles are abrasively treated in at least one sanding procedure, until they form a common plane.
8. A method according to claim 7, characterised in that following sanding procedures are carried out:

   - first sanding procedure with 40-grit or 50-grit

   - second sanding procedure with 60-grit or 80-grit

   - third sanding procedure with 60-grit

   - fourth sanding procedure with 100-grit to 120-grit

   - end sanding with special disk.
9. A method according to claim 8, characterised in that the edge is sanded in the third and fourth sanding procedure.
10. A method according to claim 7, characterised in that small gaps between individual tiles (10) are filled after the first and/or second sanding procedure, with a mixture of sanding dust and binder.

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