GB2140055A

GB2140055A - Tile panel

Info

Publication number: GB2140055A
Application number: GB08313403A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hisashi Maeda
Original assignee: Inax Corp
Current assignee: Inax Corp
Priority date: 1983-05-16
Filing date: 1983-05-16
Publication date: 1984-11-21
Also published as: GB8313403D0; GB2140055B

Abstract

A panel, covered with tiles, has a castellated edge in which the length of the indentations is greater than that of the projections, to assist assembly of adjacent panels. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Tile panel having convex and concave portions around substrate board, and method for production thereof This invention relates to a prefabricated tile panel and a method for the production thereof. More particularly, the invention relates to a tile panel consisting essentially of a flat rectangular or square substrate board having rectangular convex portions and concave portions of specified dimensions arranged alternately along its sides and a multiplicity of tiles arranged regularly and bonded onto the substrate board.

The advantages of ceramic tile walls and the like are well known especially for bathrooms, shower rooms, kitchens, etc. The setting of tiles at a construction site, however, is a painstaking, time-consuming and skilled task. With present high labour costs and accelerated rates of construction, the conventional methods for installing tiles are extremely costly and time-consuming. The recent trend toward modular housing construction, in which housing sections are factory built and joined together at the construction site, has further spotlighted the shortcomings of the traditional tile installation methods.

Thus, a variety of prefabricated tile panels including tiles bonded onto substrate boards or the like and having panel-securing means such as anchors have been proposed, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos.

3,646,180 and 3,817,012. These references show the state of art and the foundation works for installing the prefabricated tile panels.

Prefabricated tile panels having convex and concave portions around the substrate boards thereof have been known in the art, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Applications Nos. 37245/1971 and 37663/1972. The devices disclosed therein, however, seem to be impracticable paper plans, because they are difficult to install effectively and efficiently. More specifically, the devices are different from the tile panel of the present invention in both the dimensions and arrangement of the convex and concave portions.With reference to the accompanying Fig. 5 which is shown in the above-mentioned Application No. 37663/1972, the vertical sides of the panel start with a convex or concave portion and end with a convex or concave portion or the shapes at the opposite corners of the panel differ from each other and, moreover, a side-long length of the convex portion is substantially the same as that of the concave portion. Thus, at least two types of tile panels are needed to assemble and install the tile panels. This causes difficulty at a construction site and especially so when such tile panels with patterns or designs are to be installed. Moreover, it is difficult or even impossible to insert the convex portions of a tile panel in the concave portions of other tile panel for installation of the tile panels, especially when some deviations or warpages have occured before installation.In this connection, an approach to establishing a small clearance between convex portions and concave portions is not successful because, when one tries to insert the convex portions of a tile panel in the concave portions of another panel, the convex portions of the neighbouring side of the former panel overlap the convex portions of another adjacent tile panel as illustrated in Fig. 6. It has also been considered in the art that the clearance between the convex and concave portions of such a tile panel should be as small as possible to set assembled tile panels firmly.

To the best of our knowledge, the prefabricated tile panels described above are not on the market.

Thus, we have made intensive researches on such prefabricated tile panels to accomplish the present invention and found that the above described problems or troubles can be solved or eliminated substantially by the prefabricated tile panel of the present invention.

We have also accomplished an effective method for producing the present prefabricated tile panel.

We have sought to provide a novel prefabricated tile panel to be installed readily and rapidly by those unskilled in the art, and to provide a novel method for producing the present prefabricated tile panel.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a prefabricated tile panel consisting essentially of a flat substrate board having a right-angled tetragon (i.e. rectangular or square) shape having substantially rectangular side-long convex portions and substantially rectangular side-long concave portions of the same plane by turns around the sides of the tetragonal shape, and a multiplicity of tiles arranged in a right-angled tetragon fashion and bonded onto the substrate board; said bonded tiles constituting a fundamental rightangled tetragon form; said rectangular convex portion protruding by a given width W from the fundamental tetragon form and having a side length Lv; said rectangular concave portion being set back by a width of at least W from the fundamental tetragon form and having a side length Lc; the relationship between W, Lv and Lc being defined by the following expression, LcLv +2 x W, or Le = Lv + 2 x W + G.

I wherein, Lv is larger than W, W is greater than the width of tile-joints, and generally in the range of about 5 mm to about 1 5 mm, and normally about 9 mm, and C is a clear ance generally in the range of O to 10 mm, said rectangular concave and convex portions being arranged regularly in turn around the sides of the substrate board in the shape of the fundamental tetragon form in such a fashion that each side starts with one rectangular portion and ends with the other portion, more specifically, in such a fashion that a side of the substrate board starts with the concave (or convex) portion, is followed by other portions in turn repeatedly and then ends respectively with the convex (or concave) portion, and the next side of the substrate board starts with the concave (or convex) portion and is repeated in the same way, and finally the fourth side of the substrate board ends with the convex (or concave) portion. Thus, the concave portions of a substrate board and the tiles bonded thereto constitute the spaces which are higher than the convex portions by the thickness of adhesive, where convex portions of other substrate boards can be inserted in and secured to. Each of the convex portions can have at least one and preferably two small holes for nailing.

In accordance with the present invention, there is also provided a method for producing the above-mentioned prefabricated tile panel which comprises the steps of: placing a multiplicity of tiles with the top surfaces thereof down on a frame having matrices for tiles arranged at a tile-joint interval in a right-angled tetragon form, each matrix preferably having an air vent or a hole for taking out the resulting tile panel easily, the frame having guide members around the frame for accepting a substrate board in a predetermined position; applying an adhesive for tiles onto the top surface of the substrate board to a substantially uniform thickness; and placing the adhesive-coated substrate board with the coated surface down on the back surfaces of the tiles according to the guide members such as crosspieces provided around the upper sides of the frame, and applying to the substrate board (e.g. with a roller) a pressure for facilitating the adhesion; and, if desired, placing a supporting plate on the substrate board and turning the frame upside down to receive the prefabricated tile panel on the supporting plate. The fundamental rightangled tetragon form of the bonded tiles and the shape of the right-angled tetragonal substrate board having substantially rectangular side-long convex portions and concave portions by turns around the side of the fundamental tetragon form are as defined above.

Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic top view showing an embodiment of the prefabricated tile panels of the present invention; Figure 2 is a sectional view of the prefabricated tile panel, taken along the line A-A of Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a schematic view showing installation of the prefabricated tile panels of the present invention; Figure 4 is a schematic sectional view showing a frame for producing the present tile panel, which has matrices for tiles and guide members for the substrate board; Figure 5 is a schematic top view of a conventional prefabricated tile panel which is different from the present tile panel in both the dimension and arrangement of the convex and concave portions; and Figure 6 is a schematic view illustrating the difficulty in installation of prefabricated tile panels which are outside the present invention.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are further explained in the following with reference to the drawings.

As described above, the substantially rectangular convex portions 6 and substantially rectangular concave portions 7 are arranged in regularly alternating fashion around the sides of the substrate board having the fundamental right-angled tetragon form 8 of bonded tiles. As shown in Fig. 1, the positions of the convex portions 6 and concave portions 7 on one side of the tetragonal form 8 fall under those of the concave portions and convex portions on the opposite side of the tetragonal form 8, respectively. In other words, when a position on one side of the tetragonal form 8 is a convex portion 6 (or concave portion 7), the opposite position on the other side of the tetragonal form comes under a concave portion 7 (or convex portion 6).Moreover, the shape of a corner of the present panel is substantially point-symmetrical with that of a diagonally opposite corner about the centre of the diagonal. Thus, the present prefabricated tile panels of the same type can be assembled without trouble for installation of the tile panels, whereas conventional tile panels of similar structures do not have the concave and convex portions arranged in regularly alternating fashion around the sides of the fundamental tetragon form (e.g. as shown in Fig. 5. one of the vertical sides of the conventional panel starts with a convex portion and ends with a convex portion and the other vertical side starts and ends with concave portions) and thus combination of the panels of two different structures is sometimes needed for installation of the tile panels.

Moreover, with reference to the above-mentioned expression I, Lc = Lv + (2 X W) + C (wherein C is generally O to 10 mm), we have unexpectedly found that the difference in side lengths between the concave portion and the convex portion is required to be at least 2 x W (i.e.

Lc- l-"2XW).

For example, the case where the difference (1) in the side lengths is W (i.e. 1 = Le - Lv = W) is shown in Fig. 6. In this case, when one tries to insert the convex portions of Panel C in the concave portions of Panel A, the convex portions of the neighbouring side (adjacent to Panel B) of the Panel C overlap the convex portions of the Panel B and impede the insertion. Also, some deviations and/or warpages may often take place at a construction site, which will make the installation of panels even more difficult. Thus, the abovedefined difference in side lengths between the concave and convex portions (i.e. Lc Lve2 x W) is needed to install the panels efficiently and effectively.

The prefabricated tile panel according to the present invention is generally of such size and weight as can be readily handled by a single working man, and normally has a weight of about 2 to about 8 kgs. The panel may be of a rectangular or square shape. For example, a rectangular panel having 3 x 9 pieces of 100 mm square tiles bonded to the substrate board has dimensions of about 300 x 900 mm, a weight of about 4 kgs and a thickness of about 9 mm. A panel having 4 x 1 2 pieces of 75 mm square tiles has dimensions of about 312 x 936 mm. The tiles may be ceramic tiles, plastic tiles and the like which are commercially available, and ceramic or porcelain tiles are preferred from the viewpoint of resistance to fire, moisture, chemicals and the like.The substrate board is not especially restricted as far as it has rigidity and mechanical strength sufficient to be practicable in actual use, and is exemplified by an asbestos board having a thickness of about 2 to about 5 mm. Mineral or inorganic material boards are preferred from the viewpoint of resistance to fire, moisture, chemicals and the like.

The side lengths of the convex portions or the concave portions can be substantially of the same length, but distribution of these lengths may be controlled at the corners of the substrate board as necessary. When it is difficult to give identical side lengths to the convex or concave portions, for example, in the manufacture of a mould or die for production of a substrate board, the side length of the convex portion can be made shorter and that of the concave portion can be made longer at the corners of the substrate board.

For example, in Fig. 1 the side lengths of the convex portions (6a) and the concave portions (7a) at the four corners can be set at 59 mm and 87 mm, respectively, whereas the side lengths of the convex portions 6 and the concave portions 7 at intermediate regions of the substrate board are set at 65 mm and 85 mm, respectively.

The prefabricated tile panel of the present invention can be installed at a construction site on substructures such as walls, studs or frames, and the like by those unskilled in the art, by securing the tile panel onto the substructure with an adhesive and/or nails, inserting the convex portions of the next tile panel in the concave portions of the secured tile panel, setting the tile panels at a predetermined interval of tile joint and securing the tile panel in the same fashion, and so on, and then filling a joint compound into the joints 10 of the tiles (Fig. 2). The tile panels can be readily secured onto the substructure by applying an adhesive (e.g. an epoxy resin type) partially to the surface of the substructure or the back surface of the tile panel.When the substructure accepts nails without trouble, it is preferred to nail the tile panels to the substructure through the nailing holes 9 in the rectangular convex portions of the tile panel (Fig. 3). Conventional waterproof boards or sheets and other conventional foundation works can be utilized as necessary for installation of the present tile panels. Moreover, along the edges of the substructure on which the tile panels are to be installed, there are used special tile panels having no convex and concave portions on their corresponding side or sides or similar tile panels wherein the corresponding convex portions are cut off.

The prefabricated tile panel can be fabricated according to the foregoing method for producing the tile panel. The method is further explained in the following with reference to Fig. 2.

The substrate board 3 for the tile panel generally has more or less moisture-absorbing properties, and thus it is preferred to apply a thin layer 5 of a waterproofing agent (e.g comprising synthetic rubber dissolved in toluene and a filler) to the back surface of the substrate board 3 before or after the production of the tile panel, which will prevent the tile panel from absorbing moisture and warping of the panel. Application of an adhesive 4 for tiles 2 onto the top surface of the substrate board 3 to a uniform thickness can be satifactorily conducted by applying the adhesive 4 in the form of side-long stripes with a comb-edged tool or trowel, wherein the width and interval of the stripes will be generally in the range of about 2 mm to about 5 mm and the thickness of the adhesive applied will be generally about 0.5 to about 2 mm.

Adhesion between the tiles 2 and the substrate board 3 can be facilitated by pressing the substrate board 3 with a hand roller and preferably with a twin roller. The adhesive is applied to the surface of a substrate board except that of the convex and concave portions thereof. The adhesive to be used is of a rapidly setting type and can be an adhesive of epoxy resin, acrylic resin or synthetic rubber base.

The resulting prefabricated tile panel normally has a unit weight of 10 to 20 kgs/sq.metre, an adhesion strength between tiles and substrate board of at least about 5 kgf/sq. cm and an impact strength of at least about 6 kgf.cm/sq.cm.

The frame for producing the present tile panel is schematically illustrated in Fig. 4, wherein the frame 11 is provided with matrices 1 2 for tiles 2 arranged regularly at a tile-joint interval in a rectangular or square form and guide members 1 3 such as crosspieces around the upper side of the frame for accepting a substrate board 3 in a predetermined position, each of the matrices preferably having an air vent or a hole for taking out the resulting tile panel readily at the bottom of the matrix.

In Fig. 2, the width Wa of the concave portion 7 has a width of at least W, which is the width of the convex portion 6. The width Wa is normally the same as W or larger by several millimetres.

Description on the difference between the present tile panel and the conventional panel as illustrated by Fig. 5 is supplemented in the following. The present prefabricated tile panels of the same type can be assembled without trouble in the combination of lengthwise and sidewise arrangements, because they have no directional property as described above. On the other hand, the conventional panel as illustrated by Fig. 5 has a directional property as described above and can hardly be used in such combination of lengthwise and sidewise arrangements. In such a case, there will be needed an additional tile panel having the convex and concave structures which correspond to the configurations of the tile panels assembled and installed previously.

Claims

1. A prefabricated tile panel comprising a flat substrate board having a right-angled tetragonal shape with substantially rectangular convex portions and substantially rectangular concave portions arranged in alternating fashion around the sides of the tetragonal shape, and a multiplicity of tiles arranged in a rightangled tetragonal fashion and bonded onto the substrate board; said bonded tiles constituting a fundamental right-angled tetragonal form, said rectangular convex portions protruding by a given width W from a fundamental tetragonal form and having a side length of Lv; said rectangular concave portions being set back by a width of at least W from the fundamental tetragonal form and having a side length of Lc; the relationship between W, Lv and Lc being defined by the following expression, Lc'Lv + (2 x W); said rectangular concave and convex portions being arranged regularly in turn around the sides of the substrate board having the shape of the fundamental tetragonal form in such a fashion that each side of the substrate board starts with one of the concave and convex portions and ends with the other portion.

2. A tile panel according to claim 1, in which the relationship between W, Lv and Lc is defined by the following expression, Le = Lv + (2 x W) + C wherein, Lv is larger than W, W is in the range of 5 to 1 5 mm, and C is a clearance in the range of O to 10 mm.

3. A tile panel according to claim 1 or 2, in which the shape of a corner of the tile panel is substantially point-symmetrical with that of a diagonally opposite corner about the centre of the diagonal.

4. A tile panel according to any of claims 1 to 3, in which the tile is a ceramic or porcelain tile and the substrate board is a mineral or inorganic material board.

5. A tile panel according to any of claims 1 to 4, in which each of the convex portions of the substrate board has at least one small hole for nailing.

6. A tile panel according to any of claims 1 to 5, in which the side lengths of the convex portions at the corners of the substrate board are made shorter and those of the concave portions at the corners are made longer than the side lengths thereof at the intermediate sides of the substrate board.

7. A tile panel according to any of claims 1 to 6, in which the tile panel is of a rectangular shape.

8. A tile panel according to any of claims 1 to 7, in which the back surface of the substrate board is treated with a waterproofing agent.

9. A tile panel substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.

10. A method for producing a prefabricated tile panel according to claim 1, which comprises: placing a multiplicity of tiles with the top surfaces thereof down on a frame having matrices for tiles arranged at a tile-joint interval in a right-angled tetragon form, said frame having guide members for accepting a substrate board in a predetermined position; applying an adhesive for tiles onto the top surface of the substrate board having substantially rectangular convex and concave portions as defined in claim 1 to a substantially uniform thickness; and placing the adhesive-coated substrate board with the coated surface down on the back surfaces of the tiles in accordance with the guide members provided around the upper sides of the frame, and applying to the substrate board a pressure for facilitating the adhesion between the substrate board and the tiles.

11. A method according to claim 10, which further comprises the final step of plac ing a supporting plate on the substrate board and turning the frame upside down to receive the resulting tile panel on the supporting plate.

12. A method according to claim 10 or 11, in which each of the matrices for tiles has an air vent or a hole.

1 3. A method according to any of claims 10 to 12, in which the adhesive for tiles is applied onto the substrate board in the form of stripes.

14. A method according to any of claims 10 to 13, in which the tile is a ceramic or porcelain tile and the substrate board is a mineral or inorganic material board.

1 5. A method according to any of claims 10 to 14, in which the back surface of the substrate board is treated with a waterproofing agent before or after the production of the prefabricated tile panel.

1 6. A method for producing a prefabricated tile panel substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Fig. 4 of the accompanying drawings.

1 7. A prefabricated tile panel produced by a method according to any of claims 10 to 16.