US2229396A - Thick butt shingle - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 21, 1941. B. swEEDLl-:R

THICK BUTT SHINGLE Original Filed Oct. 11, 1935 mm Nm. um

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a l. im.. @ANT NN INVENTOR FM/AM/A/ .Sn/550452 Patented Jan. 2l, 1941 THICK BUTT SHINGLE BenjaminA Sweedler, Larchmont, N. Y., assigner,

by mesne assignments, to The Patent and Licensing Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Massachusetts Original application ctober 11, 1935, Serial No.

Divided and this application August 2,

` 1938, Serial N0.'222,590

comme.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 44,495, led October 11, 1935.

This invention relates to shingle elements and more particularly. to the manufacture of thick butt strip shingles having tabs disposed along one longitudinal edge thereof, the edges of the shingles being sealed by suitable waterproofing material. The term shingle is used herein in a 0 broad sense and is intended to include elements employed for roofing, siding and other analogous construction purposes.

f Sealed edge thick butt shingle elements have heretofore been made by hand-dipping a granu- 5 lar surfaced coated felt base intov a bath of molten asphalt or other bituminous material, the elements allowed to drain and then surfaced with granular material. Such hand-dipping operal tions are expensive, since they involve time-con- 0 suming hand labor and waste of asphalt.

In Patents Nos. 1,842,448 of January 26, 1932, and`1,927,824 of September 26, 1933, there is disclosed a continuous process of making thick butt shingles with sealed edges. The invention herein 5 is in the nature of an improvement on the continuous process disclosed in these patents.

It is an object of this invention to provide a process of making sealed edge thick butt shingles which process can be carried out in existing roofi ing machines with little modification thereof, and which process involves no manual manipulative stepsuch as the dipping treatment of the prior practice. Another object is to provide a process of making thick butt shingles which results in a 5 novel product of enhanced architectural value.`

This invention comprehends both the process of making the shingle and the resultant shingle product.

In accordance with this invention, one or more i stripes of coating material, certain of which may be of a width suiiicient to coat the tab portions of two elements' cut tab-to-tab from the web, are applied to a web of roofing material. The number of stripes applied depends upon the width of i the starting roong web and the number of shingles it is desired to cut therefrom. For example, if a web of a width sufticient to produce four shingle elements cut longitudinally from the width thereof is employed, two stripes each of a Width suiiicient tov elements may be applied to the web, If a web of a width suiiicient to produce an oddvnumber of shingles cut longitudinally from the width thereof is employed, one of the stripes may be of a width such as to cover the tab portions of coat the `tab portions. of two only one element and the other stripes may be of a width to coat the tab portions of two elements cut'tab-to-tab. After the coating stripes are applied they may be surfaced with mineral grit such as crushed stone, talc, mica or other of the surfacing materials employed in the roofing art. If desired, before or after the application of stripes, coating material may be applied to one or both sides of the web and surfaced with mineral grit.

The thus coated and surfaced web may then be cut longitudinally substantially midway along the aforementioned stripes of coating material each of a width sucient to coat the tab portions of two elements to produce strips each having a relatively thick and thin portion and having tabdeiining cutouts formed in the thick portion. Coating material such as asphalt or other bituminous material may then be applied to each strip covering either the side containing the aforementioned stripe or the opposite side and extending over the entire area of said side and .also over the cut edges, sealing the same. Before the application of the last mentioned coating material, the cut strips may be separated to expose the cut edges, so that coating material may be readily applied thereto. 'I'he coating material thus applied may be surfaced with granular material and the strips cut transversely into shingle elements.

By applying coating-material to each cut strip after the tab-thickening stripes have been applied to the web and the web cut into strips each having tabs separated by tab-delining cutcuts along one longitudinal edge thereof, it is possible in one and the same operation to apply coating material to one side preferably the exposed side, and to all cut edges, including both longitudinal edges, thereby effectively protecting the elements against weather inuences. 7

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation, partially in section, oi"

an arrangement of apparatus which may be employed for carrying out the process of this invention; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the web as it travels through the apparatus of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic perspective view showing the cut web as it leaves the longitudinal cutters and indicating the path of movement of the cut strips resulting in the separation thereof; Fig. 4 is a vertical section partly in elevation of apparatus which may be employed for the application of the butt thickening coating to the strips;-

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the apparatus of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken through one of the tabs of a thick butt shingle resulting from the practice of the process diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 'l is a vertical section taken through `one of the tabs of a modied form of thick butt shingle which may result from the practice of the process of this invention, and Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken through one of the tabs of still another modified form of shingle ernbodying this invention.

Referring to the drawing, a web A of roofing material such as felt of the desired width is led through the saturating tank 5, where it may be impregnated with a suitable waterproofing compound such as asphalt or tar. The saturated web then passes between the squeeze rolls il which remove excess saturant or, if desired, between rolls which do not remove saturant instead of through the squeeze rolls 6, to and through drying rack 1, which allows the saturated web to cool somewhat. The web is then fed through the coating rolls 8 and 9 by means of which a relatively thin coat of weatherproong compound such as tar or asphalt (usually of a higher melting point than that of the saturant) is applied to both faces of the impregnated sheet. Coating material may be applied to the sheet just before it passes between rolls 8 and 9 by means of a spout it, the roll 8 functioning to uniformly distribute the coating material over the face of the web, 'While the coating material on the web is still soft and tacky, the web passes under the hoppers il and i2 and about reversing rolls i3 and id.

The hoppers il and l2 may be of usual design, hopper i l containing crushed slate or other wearresisting granular material of any suitable color or mixture of colors, which may be showered upon the face of the coated web by means of a distributor roll il' to surface the web. Hopper l2 may contain talc, mica or other antistick material in iinely divided form. Distributor roll i2 in hopper I2 showers the antistick material therein onto the rear surface of the web as it passes about roll I3, thus rendering the rear surface of the web non-cementitious.

The thus coated and surfaced web now passes over guide-roll l5, cooling and calendering rolls IIE and i1, guide-roll I8 and over the plate I9 of coating appliance I9. Coating appliance l5 in the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 5 involves two containers 2i for coating material such as asphalt or other waterproofing material, each in communication with a coating roll 22 having selected portions 23 thereof, adapted to receive coating material from container 2l and apply the same in stripes to the surfaced web While the latter is maintained in contact with the portions 23 of roll 22 by plate i9'. The amount of coating material delivered by portions 23 may be controlled by doctor blade 24 so that any desired thickness of coating layer is applied to the surfaced web. In the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing, two coating stripes 25 and 26 are formed on the surfaced web, of a width sufficient to produce four shingles cut lengthwise therefrom, each stripe 4being of a Width sumcient to cover the tab portions of two elements cut tab-to-tab as indicated in the diagrammatic plan of Fig. 2, but it will be understood that if a wider or narrower web is employed more or less stripes respectively would be applied.

' The thus coated web then passes under'the hopper 21 containing mineral grit such as mica, crushed slate, etc., which is showered from the hopper onto the stripes of coating material by means of a distributing roll 21'. The hopper 2l may be provided with partitions forming compartments of a width corresponding to that of the stripes 25, 26. Mineral grit in these compartments is supplied only to the stripes 25, 26 and not to the remainder of the web. 'In the passage of the web about the reversing roll 28 the mineral grit is partially imbedded in the stripes of coating material and caused to adhere thereto.

From reversing roll 28 the web passes over guide rolls 29 and 30, between rolls 3i and 32 to the cutting cylinders 33. The cutting cylinders 33 slit the web longitudinally midway along the coating stripes 25 and 26, as indicated by the reference numerals 34 and 35 and also longitudinally along line 36 which occurs on the longitudinal median line of the web. Tab-defining severance of the web by means ofthe longitudinal cuts 3d, 35 and 36. These tab-defining cutouts, it will be noted, occur in the coating stripes 25 and 2S.

The cut web now passes onto conveyor bands e2 and 33. Strips 38 and Ml are carried by bands 62 in a downward direction while strips 39 and il are carried by bands 43 in an upward direction, as appears clearly from Fig. 3. Strips 38 and di? are thus moved in the same longitudinal direction as the direction of movement of the portions of the web from which they are cut but in a different horizontal plane from that in which strips 39 and lli are moved. Strips 39 and il also travel in the same longitudinal direction as the direction of movement of the portions of web A from which they are cut and pass over idler roll M while strips 38 and 4i! pass over idler roll 65. Thus the strips are separated without distortion to give ready access to the cut edges, permitting effective sealing of the cut edges.

The strips are now ready to have applied thereto the coating of weather-resisting material such as asphalt, tar or other bituminous material covering the entire face thereof, and which coating. is preferably extended to seal the out edges including both longitudinal edges and the edges of the tab-defining cutouts. This coating material maybe applied by means of any suitable coating mechanism, there being one such coating mechanism for each strip. The coating mechanism may comprise a container 46 which supplies the coating material to the coating roll 41 and which may have a doctor blade such as that shown in Fig. 4 for controlling the amount -of coating material delivered by the coating roll 41. This coating roll is designed to supply a slight excess of coating material to the strip, the excess of coating material owing over the longitudinal edges onto the cut edges. Instead of the coating apparatus of Fig. 4, coating material may be sprayed onto the face' and the edges of each strip.

Y While the last mentioned coating material is still soft and plastic, the strips pass under crushed slate hoppers 48, one for each strip. These hoppers are equipped with distributor rolls 48' for showering crushed slate or other wear-resisting material upon .the coating layer covering the strip. The strips then pass over the reversing rolls 49 and 50 which press the crushed slate or other mineral grit into the plastic coating. From reversing rolls 50 the strips are conducted over the cooling rolls 5| between the feed rolls 52 over the timing rolls 53 and between the feed rolls 54. Projections upon the periphery of timing rolls 53 engage in the. notches between the tabs upon the strips. Transverse cutters 55 are so -synchronized with the timing rolls 53 that the strips are cut along a line of severance between the rtabs to form a nished thick butt shingle strip or element, as indicated in Fig. 2. From the transverse cutting mechanism` 55 the strips may be fed through a chute or slide 55 to a suitable packing mechanism (not shown).

Fig. 6 discloses the element resulting from the process hereinabove described. From this figure it will be noted that the element involves a. felted fibrous foundation 56 which may be and preferably is the usual roofingfelt. This felt, as hereinabove described, is saturated with bituminous material and then both sides are completely coated with bituminous material forming coating layers 51 and 58. Mica, Italc, or other antistick material, layer 59, is partially imbedded in the coating layer 51 and mineral grit layer 60, such as crushed-slate, is partially imbedded in the coating layer 58. Afurther coating 6I is supplied to the back of the element covering only that portion of the back corresponding approximately to the area of the element intended -to be exposed. In the case of a shingle intended to be laid with the thick butt portions in lapping relartion, the coating on the back may cover that portion of the area intended to be exposed plus the lap between the thick butt portions of contiguous courses. In the case of a siding element layer 6| may cover an area somewhat less than the area intended to be exposed to rthe weather. Mineral grit layer 62 is: partially imbedded in the coating layer 6|. A further coating layer 63 extends over the surfacing layer and covers the entire'face of the element and is extended rto seal both longitudinal edges 64 and 65 as well as all edges of the cutouts. Mineral grit layer 66 is partially imbedded in the coating layer 63.

The element of Fig. 7 differs from that of Fig. 6 chiefly in the omission of the 'coating layer 51 and the grit layer 59. This element,`as will be understood, can readily be made by passing a roong web through the roof-lng instrumentalities hereinabove described, omitting coating roll 9 which applies the coating material to the back of the web and also the surfacing hopper |21from which surfacing material is applied to the coating layer produced bycoating roll 9.

The thick butt shingle of Fig. 8 differs from that of Fig'. 6 chiey in that it has coating layer 6| and surfacing layer 62 on the face instead of on the back and has the co'ating layer 63 extending over the surfacing layer 62 as well as the remainder of the face of the element. 'I'he shingle of Fig. 8 may be made employing the roofing instrumentalities of Fig. 1 modied so that instead of applying a coating layer directly to y the saturated web extending over the entire face thereof, the coating stripes 2'5 and 26 are applied directly to the face of the saturated felt web, while the back of the web is coated throughout the entire extent thereof. In other words, the apparatus of Fig. 1 is modified so that instead of the coating roll 8, the coating delivery spout l0 and surfacing hopper Il, coating apparatus I9 and surfacing hopper -26 are em-V ployed. Hence, when the saturated web passes through the first coating step, the back thereof will be completely covered and stripes of coating material corresponding, to y25 and 26 will be applied to the face of the web. As the'thus coated web passes through the surfacing equipment the coating material is surfaced with mineral grit and the surfaced web is then passed through the cutting cylinders 33' andthe other roofing instrumentalities following the cutters 33 shown on Fig. 1.

By theterm mineral grit as `used in the claims herein, it is intended to include surfacing materials such as mica, talc, soapstone, crushed rock, slate and other granules employed to cover the back or face of rooflng.

It will be noted that the thick butt shingles of this invention may be made in 'a continuous operation employing existing roong equipment and requires substantially no manuallabor in the carrying out of any of the steps thereof. Moreover, it wi'll be noted that the process of this invention involves the manipulation, first, of a wide' web 4through coating and surfacing appliances, then of narrower webs produced by the cutting of the wide web into strips, which wide and narrow webs are inherently of such character that they require little or no support. That is to say, the final step in `applicants process is the transverse cutting of the strips yinto shingles; prior to this step the base from which the elements are produced is in web form so that the inherent strength thereof may be utilized to e'ect its conveyance through the roofing instrumentallties, and manual manipulation or use of conveyors for handling short strips is not necessary. Although the process has been described as being applicable to the production of thick butt shingles continuously from the raw felt, it is'obvious that the process may be employed to make thick butt shingles from felt which has previously been saturated or from felt which has been saturated, coated and surfaced.

It is to be understood that this invention is not restricted to the present disclosure votherwise than as defined by the appended claims. For eX- ample, instead of having the tab-defining cutouts extend to a point shont of the edges of the coating stripes 25, 26 as shown in Fig. 2, these cut-outs may extend Ibeyond the edges of the coating stripes and serve as aligning guides to indicate the desired position of overlying elements. Siding elements are preferably made with the cutouts extending slightly abo-ve the tab thickening stripes of coating material.

I claim:

1. A thick butt composition shingle intended to be laid with other like shingles in overlapping courses constitu-ted of a saturated fibrous base having on the side inten-ded to Ibe exposed to the weather two layers of coating material covering the entire face thereof each of said layers having miner-al grit imbedded therein and the back of said felt base having a layer of coating material covering the entire back thereof, grit'l partially imbedded in the layer of coating material, and having fa stripe of coating material overlying said grit and .covering only the portion of the area of the element intended to be exposed to the weather, mineral grit partially imbedded in the said stripe of coating material, the top coating layer on -the face of the element being extended to cover the out edges of the element and to seal the same. l

2. A roong element comprising a strip of saturated fibrous material having a coating of adhesive material and granules applied to the upper surface thereof and entirely covering the same, a second coating of adhesive material and graning and entirely covering the same, a third coating of adhesive material and finely divided granular material applied te and 'entirely covering the low-er surface of `the said strip, and a fourth vcoating of adhesive and granular material applied to the third coating and extending from thebottom of the strip `toward but terminait-ing short of the top thereof.

'3. A roong element comprising a strip off siaturalted fibrous material having a coating of adhesive material and granules entirely c'overingthe upper surface thereof, a Iseeond coating of adhesive material and granules applied to the upper surface of the rst coating and entirely covering the same, a third coating of adhesive material and finely divided granular material applied to and entirelyv covering the lower surface of Ithe said strip, and a fourth coating of adhesve and granulvarnaterial applied to the third coating and extending from the bottom of the strip toward but termin-ating short of the top thereof, the said strip being provided with slots extending upwardly from the bottom edge there- 1()v of :to form tabs, the tops of the slots being located below the top of the iourth coating.

BENJAMIN SWEEDLER.

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