GB2321069A

GB2321069A - Tile support system

Info

Publication number: GB2321069A
Application number: GB9700509A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Anthony James Capo-Bianco; Peter Litchfield Moseley
Original assignee: BIANCO TEAM Ltd; CAPO BIANCO ANTHONY JAMES
Current assignee: BIANCO TEAM Ltd; CAPO BIANCO ANTHONY JAMES
Priority date: 1997-01-11
Filing date: 1997-01-11
Publication date: 1998-07-15
Anticipated expiration: 2017-01-11
Also published as: GB2321069B; GB9700509D0

Abstract

A support system for similar, overlapping tiles (20,21,22) each having a nib (31) with a downstand (33) projecting from its rear face, comprises a plurality of rails (23,24,25) adapted to be fixed horizontally in equally vertically spaced relation, each rail having an upper, nib-support surface (31) terminating forwardly in an upstand (30), the arrangement being such that said tiles can be mounted on the rails one above another by passing the downstand (33) of an upper tile over the upstand (30) of a rail and lowering it until the downstand of said upper tile is supported by the support surface of said rail with a lower region of said upper tile overlapping an upper region of the tile next below and the upper edge of said next-below tile beneath the support surface (31) supporting said upper tile, wherein the maximum permitted separation between a said rail upstand (30) and the downstand (33) of the tile supported by said rail is less than the thickness of a tile (20,21,22) such that the upper of two superimposed tiles prevents movement of the lower of said two tiles to a position where its upper edge is no longer beneath the rail supporting said upper of the two tiles.

Description

"IMPOVEMENIS IEIATING To TILING" This invention relates to an improved method, and the equiprent used in carrying out the method, of constructing a wall or roof out of overlapping tiles. Our British Patent Application No. 9625488.3 is concerned with clayware wall cladding of the kind in which the upper edge of a clay plate or tile is received in a female formation at the bottam of the plate or tile above it, and addresses the problem of preventing the tiles lifting off the rails, battens or the like on which they are hung. The present invention addresses a similar problem in the case of overlapping tiles, whether of clay or some similarly fragile material. By an "overlapping" structure of tiles is meant one in which an upper portion of a tile is overlapped by a lower portion of the tile next above it, there being no mechanical connection between the tiles, so that each is supported solely by the batten or the like on which it hangs (or additionally by nails, clips or the like).

Typically an overlapping structure of tiles forms the side of a roof, although an ornamental rain screen constructed in this way can form a wall or a facing for a wall.

When tiles are simply hung (by means of nibs on their rear faces) on battens or the like there is a danger that an individual tile can lift off its batten (for example under the influence of a high wind or a water jet), slip between the tiles above and below it and thus expose a hole in the roof or wall. One way to combat this is to secure each tile with clips or nails, but this is a labour intensive operation and nails and clips are in any case subject to corrosion over time so that it is an imperfect solution.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a structure of overlapping tiles in which a given tile is prevented fram displacement off its support by the tile next above. The invention simplifiers the construction in that no additional fixing means such as nails is needed except in the case of the uppermost tile of a vertical row, so that labour and material costs are kept to a minimum.

According to the present invention a support system for similar, overlapping tiles each having a nib with a downstand projecting from its rear face, camprises a plurality of rails adapted to be fixed horizontally in equally vertically spaced relation, each rail having an upper, nib-support surface terminating forwardly in an upstand, the arrangement being such that said tiles can be mounted on the rails one above another by passing the downstand of an upper tile over the upstand of a rail and lowering it until the downstand of said upper tile is supported by the support surface of said rail with a lower region of said upper tile overlapping an upper region of the tile next below and the upper edge of said next-below tile beneath the support surface supporting said upper tile, wherein the maximum permitted separation between a said rail upstand and the downstand of the tile supported by said rail is less than the thickness of a tile such that the upper of two superimposed tiles prevents movement of the lower of said two tiles to a position where its upper edge is no longer beneath the rail supporting said upper of the two tiles.

Preferably each said nib has a spacing from the upper edge of the tile from which it projects equal to the vertical spacing between the support surfaces of vertically adjacent rails minus a measurarnt less than the height of an upstand, such that contact between the upper edge of a tile with the rail above the rail by which it is supported will occur before the downstand of the nib of said tile rises above the upstand of said supporting rail.

Each rail may be a channel-shaped metal extrusion, the web of the channel being adapted to be fixed to a support with a longer limb of the channel above a shorter limb thereof, said longer limb being bent upwardly at its free end to form the said upstand of the rail and the shorter limb being dimensioned so that in use it will hold an upper region of a tile next below said rail in an attitude such that the upper edge of said next below tile is fully beneath said longer limb with the outer face of said next below tile approximately in alignment with said upstand of said longer limb.

Alternatively each rail may be a generally L-shaped extrusion of a plastics material, the generally horizontal leg of the "L" being formed with a depending flange against which the upper edge region of a tile next-below one supported by said rail will rest. Between the upstand at the free end of said horizontal leg and the upright leg is a step, aligned with the depending flange, which together with the upright leg forms a seat in the upper surface of the horizontal leg in which the downstand of a tile supported by said rail will be located.

Preferred eetlxinents of the invention will now be described by way of nonlimitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a sectional elevation through three superimposed tiles and their associated support rails, and Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 illustrating the use of alternative rails.

Similar clay tiles 20, 21 and 22 are supported by respective rails 23, 24 and 25. The rails are channel-shaped metal extrusions, the web portion 26 of each of which is placed flat against a support surface 27, such as a wall or an open framework, and fixed to it for example with screws (not shown) so that each rail is horizontal and there is an equal vertical spacing between the rails. One limb 28 of the channel of each rail is shorter than the other, 29, and is positioned lcwermost. The longer limb 29 terminates in an upwardly-bent portion providing an upstand 30 of the rail.

Each tile 20-22 is formed with a nib 31 projecting from its rear face 32, the nib terminating in a downstand portion 33. Each tile is supported by the associated rail by hooking its nib 31 over the upstand 30 of the rail and moving it downward until the downstand 33 of the tile rests on the upper surface 31 of the limb 29 of the rail. The tile cannot now be moved horizontally outward from the rail because its downstand 33 will engage the upstand 30 of the rail. To remove the tile frcm its rail it must first be lifted, but in accordance with the invention this is prevented by the fact that so long as the upper edge 34 of the tile is below the limb 29 of the rail above it there is insufficient clearance for the downstand 33 to rise above the upstand 30. As long as the tile 21, for example, is in the attitude illustrated in full lines it cannot be lifted, for example by a high wind or a jet of water, to a position where it can come off the rail 24. It is kept in this attitude by the tile 20 above it, the lower portion of the tile 20 overlapping the upper portion of the tile 21. The tile 20 cannot move outwardly (i.e. to the right as shown) sufficiently for the upper edge 34 of tile 21 to clear limb 29 of rail 23 because the thickness of each tile is greater than the maxiltum possible separation between the confronting surfaces of downstands 33 and upstands 30. What this means is that the tile 21 can only be dismounted from its rail 24 after the tile 20 has first been dismounted from its rail 23. Likewise the tile 22 can only be dismounted after the tile 21 has been dismounted, and so on for whatever number of superimposed tiles makes up the vertical array of which the three tiles 20-22 form a part.

The length of the limb 28 of each rail is sufficient to prevent the upper region of the associated tile tending to fall inwards toward the wall 27, thereby stressing the tile above it, but it is spaced inward of the rail from the plane of its upstand 30 by approximately the width of a tile. In this way the tiles are held generally parallel but with the upper edge 34 of each tile fully beneath the support surface represented by the limb 29 of the rail above.

The tile 21 is illustrated (by cross-hatching) (in dotted lines) to show how a tile is mounted on or dismounted fran a rail. In the construction of the roof side or wall the tile 21 is mounted on its rail 24 after the nextbelow tile 22 is already on its rail 25. With the bottom, inside corner of tile 21 sliding down the outer face of tile 22 tile 21 is moved dksmnsard until its upper edge 34 clears the underside of limb 29 of rail 23, whereupon it can be rotated into the full-line attitude and lowered so that its downstand 33 rests on surface 31 of rail 24 and is trapped behind upstand 30. Once the tile 20 is positioned above it the tile 21 cannot be rotated back into the (cross hatched)(dotted line) position and so it cannot be lifted off the rail 24, because its top edge 34 cannot be moved out fran under limb 29 of rail 23 and the clearance between edge 34 and limb 29 is less than the height of upstand 30.

It will be understood that numerous tiles can be positioned side-by-side on each rail. A roof side or wall is built by arranging one horizontal row of tiles on a rail from the bottom upwards, each successive row of tiles overlapping the one below it. The uppermost row is not, of course, overlapped and upper portions of uppermost tiles may be secured by nails, clips or in any other suitable way. Disassembly of the roof side or wall is of course carried out in the reverse order fran the top downward, As each upper tile such as 20 is removed it frees the tile 21 below it to be lifted and rotated until its downstand 33 clears the upstand 30, whereupon it may be moved horizontally away fram its rail and discarded.

The example illustrated is of rectangular tiles 250 mm square with a thickness of 13 itin. The rails are fixed with their support surfaces 29 at 100 mm vertical intervals and the measurement from the top edge 34 of a tile to the bottom surface of the downstand 33 of its nib 31 is such that there will be a clearance of about 3.5 rrut between the top edge 34 and the rail above it. This clearance is less than the height of an upstand 30, which is about 8 imi.

To facilitate mounting and dismounting operations the corners of the nibs 31 and their downstands 33 are preferably rounded, as well as the corners between the top and bottom edges of a tile and its front and rear surfaces.

Figure 2 illustrates three tiles 20-22 held relative to support structure 27 and like parts have like reference numerals, but the metal rails 23-25 of Figure 1 are here replaced by rails 35, 36 and 37 of plastics material formed by extrusion. In cross-section, as shown, each rail 35-37 is Lshaped and the longer, upright leg 38 of the "L" is secured flat against the support structure 27 so that the shorter leg 39 projects from it. Spaced along leg 39 fran leg 38 a distance a little greater than the width of a downsttad 33 is a step 40, and this provides a seat for downstand 33 which will positively locate it and prevent rattle. Below step 40 and in alignment with it is a flange 41 against which rests the upper edge region of the tile next below the rail. The upstand 42 of the rail is an enlarged, rounded formation spaced outwardly from step 40 approximately by the length of nib 31.

Rails 35-37 of plastics material offer more resilient support surfaces to the tiles than those of the metal rails and the configuration of rails 35-37 is better adapted to seat and support the tiles with less freedom for unintended movement.

Claims

CLEMS:

1. A support system for similar, overlapping tiles each having a nib with a dawnstand projecting fran its rear face, comprises a plurality of rails adapted to be fixed horizontally in equally vertically spaced relation, each rail having an upper, nib-support surface terminating forwardly in an upstand, the arrangement being such that said tiles can be mounted on the rails one above another by passing thedawnstand of an upper tile over the upstand of a rail and lowering it until the downstand of said upper tile is supported by the support surface of said rail with a lower region of said upper tile overlapping an upper region of the tile next below and the upper edge of said next-below tile beneath the support surface supporting said upper tile, wherein the maximum permitted separation between a said rail upstand and the dawnstand of the tile supported by said rail is less than the thickness of a tile such that the upper of two superimposed tiles prevents movement of the lower of said two tiles to a position where its upper edge is no longer beneath the rail supporting said upper of the two tiles.

2. A support system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each said nib has a spacing fran the upper edge of the tile fran which it projects equal to the vertical spacing between the support surfaces of vertically adjacent rails minus a measurement less than the height of an upstand, such that contact between the upper edge of a tile with the rail above the rail by which it is supported will occur before the downstand of the nib of said tile rises above the upstand of said supporting rail.

3. A support system as claimed in either one of the preceding claim, wherein each rail is a channel-shaped metal extrusion, the web of the channel being adapted to be fixed to a support with a longer limb of the channel above a shorter limb thereof, said longer limb being bent upwardly at its free end to form the said upstand of the rail and the shorter limb being dimensioned so that in use it will hold an upper region of a tile next below said rail in an attitude such that the upper edge of said next below tile is fully beneath said longer limb with the outer face of said next below tile approximately in alignment with said upstand of said longer limb.

4. A support system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each rail is a generally L-shaped extrusion of a plastics material, the generally horizontal leg of the "L" being formed with a depending flange against which the upper edge region of a tile next-below one supported by said rail will rest.

5. A support system as claimed in claim 4, wherein between the upstand at the free end of said horizontal leg and the upright leg is a step, aligned with the depending flange, which together with the upright leg forms a seat in the upper surface of the horizontal leg in which the downstand of a tile supported by said rail will be located.

6. A support system for similar, overlapping tiles each having a nib with a dawnstand projecting fran its rear face substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2 of the acccpnying Drawings.