GB2197614A

GB2197614A - Adjustable gauge

Info

Publication number: GB2197614A
Application number: GB08724875A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Henry Joseph Cryan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1986-10-23
Filing date: 1987-10-23
Publication date: 1988-05-25
Also published as: GB8625388D0; GB8724875D0

Abstract

An adjustable gauge 10 for marking materials, eg. ceramic tiles, glass, panelling, flooring, skirting boards, to fit into or adjacent to irregular spaces comprises an elongate member 12 having two rollers 14, 15 at one free end 16 thereof. A sleeve 20 which is slideably mounted on the member 12 includes a first bolt 24 for securing the sleeve 20 to the elongate member 12 and a send apertured threaded bolt 32 provided with a locking ring for releasably holding a scribing tool for example, a pen, pencil or blade inserted through the hole 36. <IMAGE>

Description

ADJUSTABLE GAUGE This invention relates to an adjustable gauge for the marking of materials to fit into or adjacent to irregular spaces particularly for use in the building industry or DIY market.

A common task in building or DIY obs is to mark a material prior to cutting to fit into or adjacent to an irregular area or surface for example a piece of wood to fit against an uneven wall, tiles to fit in an irregular area or vinyl or linoleum to fit a floor abutting all the walls. In order to ensure that the material is a good fit it is important that the material is accurately marked so that it can be cut. One known method for doing this is to use a compass and a pencil.

By running the point of the compass along the uneven surface a pencil attached to the compass will draw the contour of the surface onto the desired material positioned close to the surface which material can then be cut along the pencil line. This method has the disadvantage that it is difficult to hold the compass in position and in order to ensure an accurate pencil line it is important that the pencil and the compass point are perpendicular to the surface which is difficult to judge accurately and to maintain. Further, if the wall has a rough or soft surface the compass point can scratch or dig into the surface resulting in an inaccurate pencil line and damage to either the compass or the surface. A further method involves the use of a strip of wood or batten which has either a nail driven through it or a pencil attached, for example by sticky tape.By running one end of the batten along the surface, keeping the batten perpendicular to the surface, a line can be scored or drawn on the desired material, again positioned closed to the surface, which may then be cut to fit against the surface. This method has the disadvantage that the batten will not accurately follow slight surface contours and consequently may not produce an accurate line on the material. Also the material must be positioned in relation to the nail or pencil which are not easily adjustable.

An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a gauge for the marking of material to fit into or adjacent to irregular spaces which is adjustable and will give an accurate contour line corresponding to an irregular surface.

With this object in view the present invention provides an adjustable gauge comprising an elongate member having slideably displaceable clamping means adapted to hold scribing means and capable of being rigidly attached to the member, said elongate member also having rolling means at one free end to enable the member to be progressed over a surface.

Advantageously the rolling means is a roller or a wheel pivotally attached to the member's free end.

Two such rollers or wheels are preferably provided to assist in ensuring that the member is substantially perpendicular to the surface.

Preferably the slideably displaceable clamping means is a sleeve adapted to fit over the elongate member and capable of being slideably displaced therealong, the sleeve having first and second screw fastening means, first screw fastening means being operable to clamp the sleeve rigidly to the member and prevent accidental slideable displacement and second screw fastening means operable to hold the scribing means rigidly to the sleeve.

Advantageously the scribing means is a pen or pencil.

Preferably the scribing means is a tile cutter allowing the gauge to be used to mark tiles or glass.

Advantageously the scribing means is a knife blade for marking or cutting of vinyl, cork, linoleum etc.

It can be understood from the foregoing that the gauge of the invention can be used for marking a variety of materials for example, wood, plastics, vinyl, ceramic tiles, glass, linoleum, cork etc. for a variety of jobs related to the building industry or DIY for example, panelling, skirting boards, joinery, cladding, roofing, fitting of kitchens or bedrooms, tiling, flooring etc.

The invention will be described further by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view illustrating a preferred embodiment of the adjustable gauge of the invention; and Fig. 2 is an end elevation to the same scale of the sleeve of the preferred embodiment.

Referring firstly to Fig. 1 a preferred embodiment of the adjustable gauge of the invention, referred to generally by the reference numeral 10 comprises an elongate member 12 having two pivotally mounted rollers 14, 15 at one free end 16. The member 12 has a scale 18 marked on it to aid in accurate measurement, in the preferred embodiment illustrated the scale is in millimetres but any convenient scale could be used instead, for example, inches or cm.

The elongate member 12 has a sleeve 20 which fits around the member 12 and is therefore slideably displaceable along the member 12. The sleeve 20 has a window 22 through which the scale 18 can be seen and aligned with the sleeve 20 for measurement purposes.

A screw threaded bolt 24 is provided on one side 26 of the sleeve 20, the threaded portion 28 of the bolt 24 locating in a hole 29 in the sleeve 20, the inner periphery of which hole 29 is correspondingly threaded to engage with the bolt 24. Rotation of the bolt 24 relative to the hole 29 will therefore cause part of the bolt 24 to project therethrough into the sleeve 20 and into contact with the elongate member 12. To facilitate the rotation of the bolt handle means 31 are provided at o end thereof, which in the preferred embodiment is in the shape of a wing nut having knurled grips. The elongate member 12 is held between the threaded portion 28 of the bolt 24 and the opposite side 30 of the sleeve 20 thereby locking the sleeve in position relative to the member 12.Sleeve 20 is provided with a further screw threaded bolt 32 which is fixed relative to the sleeve 20. A hole 36 is provided through the bolt 32 and is adapted to receive a scribing tool 38, for example, a pencil. A locking ring 34 displaceable along the screw threaded bolt 32 is provided to hold the marking tool 38 in positicn.

In use the ma-erial to be marked is placed a small distance away from the surface to which the material is to be fitted. For example, a vinyl sheet is laid on a floor a small distance away from a wall. The sleeve 20 is adjusted so that when the roller 14 is in contact with the wall (not showm), the scribing tool 38 is in contact with the material (not shown). The position of the scribing tool 38 can be adjusted relative to the material by use of the sleeve and bolt 24 so as to minimise waste material. With the gauge 10 held perpendicular to the wall the roller is progressed along the wall causing the scriber 38 to mark the material with a line conforming exactly to the surface of the wall. The material can then be cut so that it fits precisely to the wall.

It will be understood that the foregoing is illustrative and not intended to be limitative of the scope of the invention and variations may be made thereto.

For example, only one wheel or roller need be provided at the free end of the elongate member, however, such an arrangement is not easy to keep perpendicular to the wall surface. The clamping means need not be as described and any other convenient method may be used. A scale need not be provided on the elongate member or other units for the scale may be used. Other variations are possible.

Claims

1. An adjustable gauge comprising an elongate member having slideably displaceable clamping means adapted to hold scribing means and capable of being rigidly attached to the member, said elongate member also having rolling means at one free end to enable the member to be progressed over a surface.

2. An adjustable gauge as claimed in claim 1 wherein the rolling means is at least one roller or wheel pivotally attached to the elongate member's free end.

3. An adjustable gauge as claimed in calim 2 wherein two rollers or wheels are provided at the elongate member's free end.

4. An adjustable gauge as claimed in any of claims 1, 2 or 3 wherein the slideably displaceable clamping means is a sleeve adapted to fit over the elongate member and capable of being slideably displaceable therealong, the sleeve having first and second screw fastening means, first screw fastening means being operable to clamp the sleeve rigidly to the member and prevent accidental slidable displacement and second screw fastening means operable to hold the scribing means rigidly to the sleeve.

5. An adjustable gauge as claimed in claims 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein the scribing means is a pen or pencil.

6. An adjustable gauge as claimed in claims 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein the scribing means is a blade for cutting or scoring.

7. An adjustable gauge substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.