US1605573A

US1605573A - Building element

Info

Publication number: US1605573A
Application number: US13518A
Authority: US
Inventors: James H Stedman
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1925-03-06
Filing date: 1925-03-06
Publication date: 1926-11-02
Anticipated expiration: 1943-11-02

Description

Nov. 2 1926.

J. H. STEDMAN BUILDING ELEMENT Filed March 6l 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 2 1926. 1,605,573

J. H. STEDMAN BUILDING ELEMENT Filed lfaroh 6, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 2, 1926.

UNITED STATES JAMES H. STEDMAN, F BRAINTREE, MASSACHUSETTS.

BUILDING ELEMENT.

Application filed March 6, 1925. Serial No. 13,518.

This invention relates to a building element and has for its object to provide a building element of novel construction which is particularly adapted to be used as a finishing member, for example as a chair rail, a beading, a corner piece, a threshold, or a cove base, which is durable, attractive in appearance, and whose inherent resiliency renders its use for such purposes particularly advantageous.

The improved building element embodying the features of the present invention comprises an elongated strip of rubber or rubber composition and which is preferably although not necessarily formed of the rubber composition reenforced with cotton fiber, of the character described in the United States patentto James H. Stedman, No. 1,482,952,'dated February 5, 1922, and which possesses an attractive mottled or marbleized -appearance or design in its surface. The elongated strip is preferably provided upon one surface with a groove ory depressed portion for fitting over the lattice when the eler ment is used as a chair rail, and which groove or depressed portion serves to enable the strip or element to be used for a number of dierent purposes among others in finishing the corners of Walls, as a cove base, as a beading, and as a threshold. The strip or element is preferably formed with one of its lateral surfaces curved and with its opposite lateral surface plane or substantially flat, and the depressed portion or groove may conveniently be formed in the substantially fiat surface to extend centrally and longitudinally of the strip to thereby form bearing surfaces upon opposite sides of the groove for engaging the surfaces to which the element is applied, such as the wall when the element is applied thereto. When the yelement is to be used as a corner finishing piece, the strip may and preferably will be molded into a permanent angular shape to conform to the angle of the corner to be finished.

` These and other features of theinvention will be hereinafter described 'and particularly defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings, illustrating the preferred embodiments of the invention, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view illustrating the manner of use of the building element as a wainscot beading; Fig. 2 is a perspective of a portion of the building element illustrated in Fig. l; Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of a portion of the building element shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1 illustrating the use of the element as a chair rail in connection with al plastered wall; Fig. 5 1s a perspective of the building element in the form preferably assumed whenused as a chair rail in connection with a plastered Wall; Fig. 6 is a perspective illustrating the use of the building element as a corner finishing piece; and Fig. 7 is a sectional detail illustrating its use as a cove base.'

Referring to the drawings, the building element therein illustrated comprises a strip 10 of rubber or rubber compound the surface of which may present an attractive mottled or marbleized appearance. The rubber strip 10 is provided in one of its lateral faces with a groove or depressed portion 12, and in the preferred form of building element the strip 10 is formed with a curved outer surface and a substantially fiat surface 16, and the groove or depressed portion 12 is formed in the substantially flat surface 16 in the manner illustrated in Figs. 2 and 5, extending centrally of the elongated strip 10 to provide substantially flat bearing surfaces 17 18 upon opposite Asides of the groove or depressed portion 12.

Referring to Fig. 1, a section of a building construction is therein illustrated in which the ioor of the room is illustrated as provided with rubber tile 20 and the wall composed at its upper part of plaster 22 and the lower portion 24 composed of rubber wainscot. The cove base 26 shown in Fig. 1 may comprise the standard solid rubber cove base now upon the market. The ,standard wooden lattice 30 is provided between the plastered portion 22 of the Wall and the rubber wainscot, and the improved building element, preferably molded into the form illustrated in Fig. 2, may be used as a Wainscot bead to complete the finish of the wall. The groove or depressed portion 12 in the building element fits over the wooden lattice 30 and the bearing surfaces 17, 18 engage the plastered wall and the rubber wainscot. The building element may be secured in the position illustrated in Fig. 1 in any convenient manner, and in practice the bearing surfaces 17, 18 may be rilled with small recesses 32 by which a su cient bond to the plastered wall may be obtained to retain the beading in place without ref quiring the use of additional fastening devices.

Then the building element is to be used as a chair rail, instead of the usual wooden chair rail heretofore used, the side portions of the strip 10 are preferably arranged to taper outwardly to comparatively thin edges, as illustrated in Fig. 5, and such a strip may be ,fitted over a standard wooden lattice 30 upon the plastered wall to provide an attractive and efficient chair rail. The flat bearing surfaces 17, 18 of the strip l0, when the latter is used as a chair rail, may be provided with a quadrille of the small recesses 32 to enable the -strip to be firmly bonded to the plaster.

Vhen used as a corner finishing member, it is desirable that the elongated strip 10 comprising the building element should be pre-formed into the angular shape corresponding to the angularity of the corner to be finished and this may be conveniently accomplished during, the manufacture of the improved rubber building element by first molding and vulcanizing the strip in a flat shape, such as is illustrated in Fig. 5, and then placing the hot vulcanized strip in a wooden or other shaping mold of the desired angular sha e, the weakened central area produced by t e groove permitting the marginal portions to be folded toward each other, and permitting the strip to cool. When thus produced the strip assumes a permanent angular shape. The central groove or depressed portion 12 in the angular strip serves to afford space into which the corner of the wall, whether right-angular or otherwise shaped, may extend in order that the bearing surfaces 17 18 may bear upon the surfaces of the walls and thus avoiding ridges or other objectionable appearance in the finished corner piece and enabling -the corner piece to be rounded in the manner illustrated in Fig. 6. When so used the building element may be nailed or otherwise secured to the walls, or in some instances it may be temporlarily nailed until the recessed bearing surfaces 17, 18v become firml bonded in the plaster.

en the improved building element is used as a cove base or a finishing member for finishing the space between the wall and the Hoor, the groove or depressed portion 12 provides a longitudinal weakened area which imparts lateral flexibility to the strip and enables it to be bent along said area into the shape illustrated in Fig. 7, and in which the fiat bearing members 17, 18 rest against the iioor and wall respectively. The strip may be secured in this position by nailing or in any other convenient manner. When the fioor is to be composed of rubber tiling, the building element or strip will preferably taper sufficiently to provide end surfaces of the thickness of the rubber tiling, so that a smooth and continuous joint and curve may be secured from the tiled floor to the wall.v

From the description thus far it will be observed that the improved rubber building element is of a construction which readily adapts itself to use as a finishing member capable of being employed for a number of purposes. The longitudinal groove 12 not only serves to permit the element to 7 be used as a chair rail or wainscot beading, fittings over the standard wooden lattice, but also it serves to enable the element to be shaped for use as a corner piece and impart a rounded and nicely finished appearance to the corner. In addition the groove 12 imparts sufficient lateral flexibility to the element to permit its use as a cove base. It will therefore be seen that the single construction of element is capable of a multiplicity of uses, enabling the manufacture thereof to be standardized and roviding a minimum manufacturing cost or the various finishing members.

The improved building element being composed of rubber or of rubber composition, because of the inherent qualities of the rubber, possesses important practical advantages over the usual wooden building elements which have heretofore been employed as finishing strips or members in building construction. The resiliency of the rubber element protects not only the walls or other portion of the building to which it is applied, but also serves to prevent the chairs, and other. furniture and household appliances from injury. and from being marred.

By the term rubber as used in the specification and claims, it is intended to include not only pure rubber but'also compounds and compositions thereof which are capable of being molded to form the building element.

While the preferred form of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the following claims:

1. A building element for use as a protective corner iece or corner filler comprising an elongate rubber strip having its central longitudinal section grooved so as to be of less thickness than the immediately adjacent portions of the margins at either side of said groove, and having said margins bent from said groove as a longitudinal `axis to stand substantially at right angles to each other and form a trough-like structure adapted to fit either a protruding or recedingcorner.

2. A building element comprising an elongated rubber strip the thickness dimension of which is small compared to its width dimension, having a. weakened central portion formed by an open and unobstructed longi- 130 tudinal groove of substantially rectan lar cross-section and providing a readily xible longitudinal joint, marginal portions that are thinner at their edges than adjacent\ said flexible joint, having flat inner bearing surfaces both in the same plane that are spaced apart by said groove, said marginal portions being freely foldable toward or away from each other through an angular 'distance of at least 90 to either side of the strip along said longitudinal groove a's a heel.`

3. A building element for use as a corner piece or the like comprising an elongated rubber strip having a central area throughout its length of less thickness than the adjoining marginal portions and bent laterally along the longitudinal axis formed by said thinned central area as a heel to present said marginal portions at an angle to each other and shape the element to lit the corner.

4. A building element for use as a reinforcement for protruding Wall corners comprising an elongated trough-like strip of rubber having a central longitudinal groove in one face providing bearing surfaces at each side of the groove, and having said' bearing surfaces folded toward each other along said groove as a longitudinal axis to an angular relation for embracing a protruding Wall corner and presenting a convexly rounded longitudinal corner surface at the fold and about the angle of the Wall corner.

JAMES H. STEDMAN.