IES84781Y1 - A rubber tile - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT This invention relates to a rubber tile for a slatted floor of an animal housing, the slatted floor comprising a concrete base having a plurality of elongate apertures arranged in substantially parallel rows, the rubber tile comprising a substantially rectangular body having a plurality of downwardly depending plugs, each of the downwardly depending plugs being arranged to engage one of the elongate apertures and anchor the rubber tile in position relative to the concrete base

Description

A rubber tile Introduction This invention relates to a rubber tile for a slatted floor of an animal housing, the slatted floor comprising a concrete base having a plurality of elongate apertures arranged in substantially parallel rows, the rubber tile comprising a substantially rectangular body having a plurality of downwardly depending plugs, each of the downwardly depending plugs being arranged to engage one of the elongate apertures and anchor the rubber tile in position relative to the concrete base.

For many years, farmers have been housing their cattle indoors during the winter months on slatted concrete floors provided with an overlay of rubber tiles. The rubber tiles are more comfortable for the animals to stand on for long periods of time and have been shown to improve the productivity and development of the cattle. Furthermore, the rubber tiles have been shown to provide a more stable footing for the animals as opposed to a bare concrete slatted floor, particularly when the concrete slatted floor becomes wet, and this helps to prevent injury to the animals caused by slipping on the slatted floor.

Heretofore, numerous methods have been proposed for fixing the rubber tiles in position relative the slatted floor. This is necessary to ensure that the apertures in the concrete base do not become obscured by the rubber tiles which would prevent throughpassage of faeces and urine from the cattle through the apertures, away from the animals. One such method involves fixing the rubber tiles with nails to each individual slat of the concrete base. Although effective in holding the rubber tiles in place, this is relatively time consuming and labour intensive to perfonn. Another method involves providing a plurality of downwardly depending plugs on the rubber tile that are able to engage a portion of the apertures in the concrete base and hold the rubber tile in position relative the concrete base. This method is preferred as it usually allows the rubber tiles to be installed in a quick and efficient manner without the need for additional fixing members such as nails to be provided.

However, there is a problem with the preferred plug method of fixing the rubber tiles in position relative to the concrete base. This is due to the fact that there are literally dozens of suppliers selling slatted floors to farmers, each of which constructs the concrete base with the plurality of apertures to their own dimensions as opposed to a single uniform industry-wide standard. Therefore, the width of the apertures in particular will vary from slatted floor to slatted floor. Some of the slatted floors will have apertures as wide as 50mm whereas other slatted floors have apertures that are as narrow as 30mm in width. In order for the rubber tile to be held in position effectively, it is necessary that the plug fonns a snug fit in the aperture as movement of the tile relative the concrete floor will cause the rubber to wear and may also cause injury to the animals. Therefore, the manufacturer of the rubber tile must either produce a separate rubber tile for each different slatted floor suppliers product, which is not economically feasible. or they can provide one or more rubber tiles that the individual installing the rubber floor tiles can cut to size in order to fit the slatted floor on which the tiles are being placed. This often involves cutting part of the plugs so that they form a snug fit in the apertures which is time consuming and relatively difficult to carry out accurately.

It is an object therefore of the present invention to provide a rubber tile that overcomes at least some of the difficulties with the known rubber tiles that is relatively quick and simple to install.

Statements of Invention According to the invention there is provided a rubber tile for a slatted floor of an animal housing, the slatted floor comprising a concrete base having a plurality of elongate apertures arranged in substantially parallel rows, the rubber tile comprising a substantially rectangular body having a plurality of downwardly depending plugs, each of the downwardly depending plugs being arranged to engage one of the elongate apertures and anchor the rubber tile in position relative to the concrete base, and in which each of the downwardly depending plugs has a bore formed therein to permit compression of the plug inwardly about an axis substantially perpendicular to the main plane of the rubber tile body.

By having such a rubber tile, the plug will be sufficiently compressible so that it is able to form a snug fit with a wide range of aperture widths. Therefore, the rubber tile will be able to be used with a number of different slatted floors provided by different suppliers.

Furthermore, the individual charged with installing the rubber tiles will not have to cut the plugs in order to allow them to form a snug fit in the apertures of the concrete base which will speed up and simplify the installation of the rubber tiles.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a rubber tile for a slatted floor of an animal housing in which the bore is one of a blind bore and a through bore. It is envisaged that a blind bore may provide a more rigid plug that will prevent movement of the rubber tile. However, a through bore may allow for the throughpassage of faeces and urine away from the animals. The choice may depend on the weight of the animals on the rubber tiles and whether there is a tendency for the tiles to move caused by the movement of the animals.

In another embodiment of the invention there is provided a rubber tile for a slatted floor of an animal housing in which the bore extends upwardly towards the rubber tile body from an open mouth located at the extremity of the plug and in which the bore is one of conical, frusto-conical, pyramidal, frusto-pyramidal, all of which tapering inwardly from the open mouth, cylindrical and box-shaped in cross-section. In particular, the conical and frusto conical bores are seen as useful as they will allow the plug compress inwardly in a predictable manner.

In a further embodiment of the invention there is provided a rubber tile for a slatted floor of an animal housing in which the plug is dimensioned to form a snug fit in an aperture of the order of 50mm wide and the bore is arranged to permit inwardly compression of the plug to fit apertures of the order of down to 30mm in width. This is seen as a useful amount to allow the plugs compress to permit insertion of the plugs in a variety of sizes of apertures.

Detailed Description of the Invention The invention will now be more clearly understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof given by way of example only in which:- Figure 1 is a cross-sectional end view of a rubber tile according to the invention; Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the circled portion of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of an alternative construction of plug for use with the rubber tile according to the invention; Figure 4 is a plan view of a slatted floor; Figure 5(a) is a top plan view of the rubber tile shown in Figure 1; Figure 5(b) is a bottom plan view of the rubber tile shown in Figure 1; Figure 6(a) is a top plan view of an alternative construction of rubber tile according to the invenfion; Figure 6(b) is a bottom plan view of the rubber tile shown in Figure 6(a); Figure 7(a) is a top plan view of an alternative construction of rubber tile according to the invention; Figure 7(b) is a bottom plan view of the rubber tile shown in Figure 7(a); Referring to the drawings, an initially to Figures 1 and 2 thereof, there is shown a rubber tile, indicated generally by the reference numeral 1. comprising a substantially rectangular body 3 and a plurality of downwardly depending plugs 5, only one of which is shown. The downwardly depending plugs 5 each have a bore 7fom1ed therein to permit compression of the plug 5 inwardly about an axis, A, substantially perpendicular to the main plane of the rubber tile body. The bore 7 is conical is shape.

In use, the rubber floor tile 1 is laid on a concrete base (not shown) of a slatted floor having a plurality of elongate, substantially parallel apertures therein. The plugs 5 are inserted into the apertures of the concrete base so that the rubber tile is held in position relative to the floor. The plugs are compressible inwardly about the axis A to allow insertion of the plug 5 into a variety of different sized apertures.

Referring to Figure 3 of the drawings, there is shown a bottom plan view of an alternative construction of plug 5 for use with the rubber tile according to the invention. The plug 5 is frusto-pyramidal in shape, having four sides 9, each of which tapers inwardly from the rubber tile body (not shown) to the extremity or base 11 of the plug 5. The bore 7 is also frusto-pyramidal in shape, and tapers inwardly from an open mouth 13 formed in the extremity 11 of the plug 5. Therefore, the plug 5 and the bore 7 taper in opposite directions with respect to each other.

Referring to Figure 4 of the drawings, there is shown a plan view of a slatted floor, indicated generally by the reference numeral 15, comprising a concrete base 17 and a plurality of elongate, substantially parallel apertures 19 arranged in rows and columns on the floor. The slatted floor 15 may be formed from a single concrete section as shown or a number of concrete sections and it will be understood that a number of the slatted floors 15 may be combined together to form a larger slatted floor. A number of rubber tiles (not shown) are laid on the slatted floor 15 with the rubber tiles being held in position by plugs engaging the apertures. The apertures may vary in width depending on the supplier of the concrete base 17.

Referring to Figures 5(a) and 5(b) of the drawings there is shown a rubber tile according to the present invention. The rubber tile 1 comprises a substantially rectangular body 3 having a pair of slots 21 arranged along the centreline thereof. The rubber tile is provided with a plurality of plugs 5, in this case three plugs, for engagement of an aperture in the concrete base of the slatted floor. Taking the example of the concrete base as shown in Figure 4, the rubber tiles 1 would be laid on each alternate aperture 19 across the concrete base 17 so that a separate rubber tile would be mounted by way of a plurality of plugs in the first, third, fifth and seventh apertures, taken from left to right. in this way, the first aperture 19 would be exposed through the slots 21 in the rubber tile and the next adjacent aperture across, the second aperture, would be exposed between the edges of adjacent rubber tiles 1 mounted in the first and third apertures. Similarly, the fourth aperture would be exposed between the edges of the rubber tiles mounted in the third and fifth apertures and the sixth aperture would be exposed between the edges of the rubber tiles mounted in the fifth and seventh apertures. The third, fifth and seventh apertures would be exposed by the slots 21 in the rubber tiles 1 mounted therein. The rubber tiles’ plugs 5 are able to compress in order to allow the plugs be inserted into a range of different width apertures.

Referring to Figures 6(a) and 6(b) of the drawings, there is shown an alternative construction of rubber tile 22 according to the present invention in which like parts have been given the same reference numeral as before. In this embodiment. the rubber tile body 23 is dimensioned so that the slots 21 are offset to one side of the body. In this way, the width of the body on one side of the slots is approximately twice the width of the body on the other side of the slots. Therefore, the rubber tiles will be laid in two out of three apertures. Using the example of the concrete base shown in Figure 4 once more, a rubber tile 22 is laid with its plugs 5 engaging the first aperture 19. The next rubber tile is rotated about 180 degrees and laid in the second aperture so that the edge of the first rubber tile abuts against the edge of the second rubber tile intermediate the first and second apertures. The third aperture 19 does not have a rubber tile mounted therein and is exposed by the gap between the edge of the tile mounted in the second aperture and the edge of the tile mounted in the fourth aperture. Both the fourth and fifth apertures have a rubber tile 22 mounted therein in the same manner as described for the first and second apertures above. The sixth aperture is again left without a rubber tile mounted therein and a rubber tile 22 is mounted in the seventh aperture.

Of course, it will be understood that strictly speaking, this would leave a gap of approximately half the distance between adjacent apertures to one side of the seventh aperture but the construction of floor shown in Figure 4 is only indicative of the number of apertures that will be provided in the floor and there may for example be eight apertures instead of seven in which case a further rubber tile 22 would be provided covering the floor in its entirety. The construction of rubber tile provided may depend on the particular requirements of floor and also the number of apertures to be covered.

Alternatively, a mixture of the different constructions of rubber tiles may be used and in the embodiment described above, instead of placing the same rubber tile 22 in the seventh aperture, a rubber tile described in Figures 5(a) and 5(b) may be inserted in the seventh aperture to cover the floor if need be. Again, this may depend on the individual requirements of the floor. What is important is that fact that the tiles may be held in position relative the floor by the plugs 5 on the underside of the floor tile engaging the apertures 19 in the concrete base.

Referring to Figures 7(a) and 7(b) of the drawings, there is shown an alternative construction of rubber tile 25 according to the present invention in which like parts have been given the same reference numeral as before. In this embodiment, the rubber tile body 27 is dimensioned so that there are provided a pair of slots 21 arranged in substantially parallel columns. Therefore, the rubber tile 25 will be mounted across two adjacent apertures 19 in the concrete base with each third aperture being exposed by the gap between the edges of adjacent rubber tiles 25. Once again, it will be understood that in the embodiment of floor shown in Figure 4, a first rubber tile 25 would be mounted with plugs engaging the first and second apertures 19. The second rubber tile 25 would be mounted with the plugs engaging the fourth and fifth apertures 19 with the third aperture 19 being exposed between the first and second rubber tiles 25. Similarly, it will be understood that the construction of slatted floor shown is not limiting and strictly speaking if the rubber tiles 25 were used, a tile would have to be cut to size in order to cover the seventh aperture 19 or a rubber tile as shown in Figures 5(a) and 5(b) would have to be used in order to cover the floor adjacent the seventh aperture. Of course, if the floor had eight apertures. another tile 25 would suffice to cover the floor. The choice of rubber tile will depend on the number of apertures and the requirements of the floor itself and is not of particular interest in this specification. What is important is the fact that the rubber tile may be secured in place in a variety of different constructions of slatted floors by having a plug that is compressible if need be to match the dimensions of the apertures in the floor.

In the embodiment shown, a conical aperture and a frusto—pyramidal bore have been shown. Furthermore, each bore shown has been a blind bore. It will be understood that a frusto-conical, pyramidal, cylindrical or box shaped bore may also be used. Furthermore, it will be possible to provide a throughbore instead of the blind bore so that faeces and urine may pass through the bore and through the slatted floor below, away from the animals. The main advantage of the present invention however is the fact that by providing a bore as described, the plug, often referred to as a wedge, will essentially be hollow allowing the plug or wedge to be squeezed so that it can be inserted in a number of different sized gaps or apertures in the concrete base of a slatted floor. Furthermore, the typical dimensions of the rubber wedge or plug will be 50mm long, 50mm wide and approximately between 40mm - 50mm deep. The remainder of the rubber tile body may be between 15mm and 20mm thick and may taper in places towards the nearest aperture to facilitate drainage. The rubber will be hard wearing thick rubber with a shore hardness sufficient to withstand the weight of the cattle over time.

In this specification the terms “comprise, comprises, comprised and comprising" and the terms “include, includes, included and including” are all deemed totally interchangeable and are to be afforded the widest possible interpretation.

The invention is in no way limited to the embodiment hereinbefore described but may be varied in both construction and detail within the scope of the claims.

Claims (1)

1. Claims A rubber tile for a slatted floor of an animal housing, the slatted floor comprising a concrete base having a plurality of elongate apertures arranged in substantially parallel rows, the rubber tile comprising a substantially rectangular body having a plurality of downwardly depending plugs. each of the downwardly depending plugs being arranged to engage one of the elongate apertures and anchor the rubber tile in position relative to the concrete base, and in which each of the downwardly depending plugs has a bore formed therein to permit compression of the plug inwardly about an axis substantially perpendicular to the main plane of the rubber tile body. A rubber tile for a slatted floor of an animal housing as claimed in claim 1 in which the bore is one ofa blind bore and a through bore. A rubber tile for a slatted floor of an animal housing as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which the bore extends upwardly towards the rubber tile body from an open mouth located at the extremity of the plug and in which the bore is one of conical, frusto-conical, pyramidal, frusto-pyramidal, all of which tapering inwardly from the open mouth, cylindrical and box-shaped in cross-section. A rubber tile for a slatted floor of an animal housing as claimed in any preceding claim in which the plug is dimensioned to form a snug fit in an aperture of the order of 50mm wide and the bore is arranged to permit inwardly compression of the plug to fit apertures of the order of down to 30mm in width. A rubber tile for a slatted floor of an animal housing substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.