US1584054A - Roofing - Google Patents

Description

May 11 1926. 1,584,054

H. R. WARDELL ROOFING Filed Dec. 12, 1923 a /%%7//% WW /7 Patented May 11, 1926.

UNITED STATES 1,584,054 PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY R. WARDELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO JOHNS-MANVILLE, INO OF NEW YORK, N. Y-, A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ROOFING.

Application filed December 12, 1923. Serial No. 680,098.

This invention has to do with the provision of a composite waterproof, fire-reslsting roof covering of material adapted to be made, sold and erected in strips or separate units, and which, when erected, will produce a pleasing surface, in the aesthetic sense, reminiscent of the effect of wooden shingles, and adapted to resist deformation under wind stresses and great changes of temperature.

Sheet or roll roofing of satisfactory qualities has heretofore been produced. In the best form known to me, such sheet roofings comprise one or more (preferably two or three) layers of a water-laid felt or thick paper comprised of woolen or vegetable rag stock, or asbestos fibre, or cattle-hair, or appropriate admixtures of asbestos fibre and one or more of the other materials the laminae or sheets of this felt or paper compound being impregnated with a relatively hard asphalt, and the laminae being aggregated together with asphalt of the same or a harder consistency; the composite sheet so formed having upon it a layer of. asphalt, and mingled with, covering over and attached by this layer, having an armoring coating of a mineral grit, for example broken and graded slate, or broken and graded serpentine rock, or other suitable granulated weather-resisting or decorative substances such as granulated cork.

The materials alluded to form a wholly satisfactory roof in sheet form, but they are not well adapted without change for use in the form of small slabs, shingles, or shingle strips. In this .use',-"the lower free end of the slab or shingle is necessarily required to support itself, against wind stresses and against spontaneous curling, by the unaided stiffness of the projecting end of the slab or shingle; for this, the fabrics referred to are too fiexible'to be reliable under all conditions. Moreover, the single sheet or composite fabrics mentioned do not have enough thickness or enough irregularity of form to provide a surface pleasingly broken by perceptible cast-shadow lines. It is not exaggeration to say that the ornamental effect of the exposed ends of shingles is the sole justification for the employment of shingles, slates or separate-unit or strip-sheet composite shingles in preference to the employment of sheet or roll roofing. The utilitarian considerations are in favor of the large sheet or continuous roll, which possess continuity and sufier no damage from the actlon of wind or weather on free ends or corners, and which possess the advantage of capacity to be ered, in any recent practice in this country,

with any other kind of surface than one built up of assembled unit shingles, slates, tiles or slabs, except on temporary buildings or out-buildings in which architectural appearance is deliberately sacrificed to cheapness and utility.

Objects of this invention are to provide a shingle or tile unit or shinglestrip of composite waterproof and fire-resistant construction which shall resist curling, warping, disintegration, wind-damage, and damage by repeated alternations of high and low temperatures, the action of freezing water, ice and snow; to provide a composite water and fire-proof shingle, tile or shingle-strip having a structure such as in assembly to give the exposed and free ends of the units inherent resistance to deformation; and

which will provide in assembly a roof which shall have a shadow-casting structure adapted to replace as an element of architectural ornament the effect of the thick and varied ends of the familiar wooden shingle; and to provide a method of making shingles or tiles having these qualities.

The method and article of this invention will now be explained in connection with a typical species of the product selected for illustration and. constituting a single-unit composite shingle or tile, as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a fragment of a roof laid with the illustrated shingle;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of one shingle;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse section of a shingle under manufacture illustrating a step in the method;

'Fig. 4 is an enlarged left side elevation of the shingle of Fig. 2;

on line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively comparative cross-sections at lines 66 and 7-7 of Fig.

2; and

- gether by a layer or layers a gritty layer 9 of crushed and graded slate or other armoring, fire-proof mineral substance or substances is applied, and to which said layer adheres. Such material is no part of the present claimed invention except in so far as it contributes to the improved shingle and the roof made up of the improved shingle desirable qualities adapted to this use.

Preferably the units or shingles 1 are single as shown, but it is obvious that for some of the purposes of the invention a strip divided into separate projecting units slightly spaced apart, like the usual strip shingles, might be employed and have the remaining features of this invention.

The rectangular shingle blank 1, according to this invention, is provided, see Figs. 2 to 7 inclusive particularly, near its lateral margins and at one end only with a tapered or progressively rising ridge or rib 2. In length, the ribs 2 may merge with or become indistinguishable from the general plane of the upper surface of the blanks 1 at points 3 about one-third of the length of the shingle from the projecting or free end of the shingle in use. In a preferred form the ribs 2, as will be best perceived from Fig. 3, which illustrates a step in the manufacture, are rounded, somewhat more 1 compressed and thinner in respect to the remainder of the blank or shingle at the region 4, and have edge portions standing at a considerable angle approaching a right angle to the general plane of the shingle 1 at the points indicated at 5, 5. Through out the surface of the ribs 2 the armoring coat 9 is maintained relatively undisturbed, so that the texture of the surface of the ribs 2 does not differ materially from the texture of the surface of the shingles elsewhere.

At and near the points where the ribs 2 merge into the general plane of the body of the shingle 1, for example at the lines -77, Figs. 2 and 7, the ribs 2 differ in cross section from higher parts of the ribs 2 in defining a flatter curve, but preferably this part of these ribs is as broad at the surface of the shingle as is any part of the rib 2. The merging or disappearance of the rib 2 1nto the remainder of the shingle is thus characterized by the absence of any sharp bends or corners.

Preferably the shingle also contains a transverse rib along its free end or bottom, for example as shown at 6, Figs. 2, 4 and 5. This transverse rib or corrugation is preferably like the higher and more definite parts of the rib or corrugation 2, and may, as shown, merely continue the rib or corrugation 2 around the end or transverse edge of the shingle.

The ribs or corrugations 2 and 6, which are merely typical of other ribs or corrugations which may, if desired, be formed in the body of the blank or shingle 1, are relied upon to lncrease the efi'ective thickness of the edges of the shingle or blank 1 without distortion of the shape, illustrated as rectangular, of the blank or portion of the blank in which they are formed; this may be secured by forming them by compression between dies. Fig. 3, for example, is a vertical section through a female die member 9 andmale die member 10 suitable for forming the ribs 2, the female die member 9 having therein longitudinal depressions 12 not quite central with respect to the surface contours of the bending ridges l3 on the male member 10, whereby a blank 1 having the coated face g downward and placed in the die member 1s first gripped at about the regions 4, and 1s then subjected to progressive bending and compression toward the lateral edges 14, 14 of the blank 1 as the dies are forced together to form the ribs or corrugations. This Way of forming ribs or ridges or corrugations not only preserves the texture of the coating 9 and the surfaces of the ridges 2, but induces a maximum stretching, and therefore thinning, effect of the compression at the regions 4-.rather than at the regions 5, 14. The edges of the shingle are thus of full thickness and rigidity proper to the material of which the shingle is made. The ridge 6 may be formed in the same way at the same time by the same operations.

The die-bending may be carried out while the blank is hot or cold, but the preferred materials are all sufliciently plastic and flexible to permit die-bending as described at ordinary temperatures.

As so made, individual shingles or shingle strips will nest in packages for shipment, but it is impossible to avoid, and it is not desired to avoid, a considerable irregular accidental denting, flattening and irregularity of the contour of the corrugations 2, 6, going about the lower exposed ends of the shingles. Thus, when the shingles are in place on a roof, as illustrated in Fig. l, the several surrounding ridges 2, 6 of the shingles may be depended upon to vary one from the lll other -in height and in shape slightly so that the roof will present a pattern of castshadow lines due to the ridges 2, 6, which is everywhere slightly variable, and without the machine-like regularity sought to be avoided.

It is not necessary that the ridges 2, 6 for this or any purpose should very greatly exceed the thickness of the body of the shingles 1. It is sufiicient for the purpose of this invention to so increase the effective thickness at the edges of the shingle as to cause it to cast a materially larger shadow than would be the case if the shingle were only of the thickness of the blanks 1.

It has been determined by use and observation that the lateral corrugations or ridges 2 when overlapped and nailed or otherwise secured in the usual way by the systematic laying of shingles to form a roof such as that illustrated by the fragment shown in Fig. I contribute to an unexpected degree to the stifiness of the shingle and the resistance to deformation by temperature'warping, by the effect of wind, or the effect of moisture. Shingles with edge ridges of this character uniformly lie Hat, and uniformly resist great wind pressures which, if the shingles ..were ordinary cut slabs with flat edges, would cause marked bending and curling away from the laid position. I attribute this in part to the curved cross section of the corrugations which, particularly in relation to impinging air currents, provides a structure adapted to hold itself more firmly in the laid position the harder it is blown upon by an impinging wind.

I claim:

1. A composite waterproof fire-resisting slab for use as a shingle comprising a fibrous, asphaltic and surface-armored body having edges of a tree portion adapted to be exposed in use provided with an upwardly extending integral rib or corrugation. v

2. A composite waterproof fire-resisting slab for use as a shingle comprising a fibrous, asphaltic and surface-armored body having edges of a tree portion adapted to be exposed in use provided with an upwardly extending rounded integral rib or corrugation of variable height, the rib merging into the plane of the body at a point between the ends of the shingle.

3. A composite waterproof fire-resisting slab for use as a shingle comprising a fibrous, asphaltic and surface-armored body having edges of a free portion adapted to be exposed in use provided with an upwardly extending rounded integral rib or corrugation constituted by an upward bend of the material of the shingle progressively defining a flatter curve at greater distances from that end of the shingle exposed in use. p

4. A composite waterproof fire-resisting slab for use as a shingle comprising a fibrous, asphaltic and mineral-armored body having edges of a free portion adapted to be exposed in use provided with an upwardly extending rounded integral rib or corrugation, the material of the shingle and the structure of the said rib being such as to cause the said rib to be subject .to slight accidental variations of form in shipment and erection.

5. A composite waterproof fire-resisting slab for use as a shingle comprising a fibrous, asphaltic and mineral-armored body having edges of a tree portion adapted to be exposed in use provided with an upwardly extending rounded integral rib or corrugation extending around all of the edges of said exposed end, the lateral edge-ribs progressively diminishing in height with distance from the end edge-rib.

6. A composite waterproof fire-resisting slab for use as a shingle comprising a fibrous, asphaltic and mineral-armored body having edges of a free portion adapted to be exposed in use provided with an upwardly extending rounded integral rib or corruga tion extending around all of the edges of said exposed end, the lateral edge-ribs progressively diminishing in height with distance from the end edge-rib, the ribbed and plane portions of the shingle having the same lateral width throughout.

Signed byme at New York, N. Y., this 10th day of December,1923.

HENRY R. l/VARDELL.

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