US3648499A

US3648499A - Production of decorative tiles

Info

Publication number: US3648499A
Application number: US884385A
Authority: US
Inventors: Peter Norman Frederic Langmead
Original assignee: ZEALAND ENG CO Ltd
Current assignee: ZEALAND ENG CO Ltd; ZEALAND ENGINEERING Co Ltd
Priority date: 1969-03-28
Filing date: 1969-12-11
Publication date: 1972-03-14
Anticipated expiration: 1989-03-14
Also published as: GB1310103A

Abstract

The decorative tile formed from thin stainless steel and having a plurality of depressions on one face thereof is formed by a method comprising the steps of partially forming the depressions while the tile still forms part of a larger sheet of material, severing the partially formed tile from the sheet of material by means of a punch cooperating with a cutting die, and then completing the formation of the depressions while the tile is still in the cutting die, the periphery of the tile thereby being slightly withdrawn from the walls of the die so that subsequent removal of the tile from the die is facilitated.

Description

o i United States Patent [151 3 64,49

Langmead [45] or, 114 1197 [5 1 PRODUCTION OF DECORATIVE TILES rences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS [72] lnventor: Peter Norman Frederick Langmead, Ashfol-d Common, England 2,351,475 6/1944 Berger ..72/55 2,377,664 6/1945 Berger... ....72/55 [73] Assignee: Zealand Engineering Company Limited, 2,133,445 10/1938 Guerin... ....72/55 Ashford Common, England 2,308,998 1/1943 Misfeldt..... ..72/55 [22] Filed: 1969 Primary ExaminerRichard J. Herbst 21 APPLNQ; 34 3 5 Attorney-Mawhinney8z.Mawhinney [57] ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Apphcamn Pnomy Data The decorative tile formed from thin stainless steel and having Mar. 28, 1969 Great Britain ..16,517/69 a plurality of pr ion n ne face thereof is fomied by a method comprising the steps of partially forming the depres- 52 us. (:1 ..72/55 72/335 72/341 Sims while the file fmls Part material 11,3 16 severing the partially formed tile from the sheet of material by [51] In Cl B21 d 22 [10 means of a punch cooperating with a cutting die, and then Fieid l 6 I l 16 completing the formation of the depressions while the tile is still in the cutting die, the periphery of the tile thereby being slightly withdrawn from the walls of the die so that subsequent removal of the tile from the die is facilitated.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing PRODUCTION OF DECORATIVE TILES The invention relates to methods and apparatus for producing decorative tiles from sheet material and in particular relates to the production of tiles in which a plurality of depressions are formed on one face of the tile. Tiles of this kind may be formed from sheet material and may conveniently be cut from a larger sheet of material by employing a punch which cooperates with a cutting die. However in such a method it is found that after the tile has been severed its periphery firmly engages the walls of the cutting die. Some form of ejector is therefore required to remove the tile from the die. Hitherto such tiles have been formed from sheet metal of at least eighteen thousandths of an inch in thickness and in this case the force required to eject the tile from the die may not harm the tile. In the case where the tile is formed from thin material, for example thin sheet metal of less than ten thousandths of an inch in thickness, it is found that ejection of the tile from the die may damage, or at least deform, the edges of the tile and this is obviously undesirable.

According to the invention a method of forming a tile having a plurality of depressions on one face thereof comprises the steps of partially forming said plurality of depressions while the tile still forms part of a larger sheet of material, severing the partially formed tile from the sheet of material by means of a punch cooperating with a cutting die, and then completing the formation of said depression while the tile is still in the cutting die, the periphery of the tile thereby being slightly withdrawn from the walls of the die so that subsequent removal of the tile from the die is facilitated.

Said partial forming of the depressions in the tile may be effected by cooperation between the punch and a surface within the cutting die during movement of the punch to the position where it cooperates with the cutting die to sever the partially formed tile.

Similarly said completion of the forming of the depressions in the tile may be effected by cooperation between the punch and a surface within the die during movement of the punch after it has passed the position where it cooperates with the cutting die to sever the partially formed tile.

The invention also includes within its scope apparatus for carrying out the method referred to above, the apparatus comprising means for partially forming said plurality of depressions on one face of the tile, a punch and cutting die adapted to cooperate to sever the partially formed tile from the sheet of material, and means for completing the formation of said depressions whilst the tile is in the cutting die.

Said means for completing the formation of said depressions may comprise a surface within the die with which the punch cooperates during movement of the punch after it has passed the position where it cooperates with the cutting die to sever the partially formed tile.

Said surface may also comprise said means for partially forming said depressions, the punch cooperating with the surface during movement thereof to the position where it severs the partially formed tile. The punch may be shaped in accordance with the required depressions in the tile and said surface may comprise a resiliently flexible pad of material against which the tile is urged by the punch.

The following is a more detailed description of one embodiment of the invention, reference being made to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a front elevation of a tile;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section along the line 2-2 of FIG. ll showing the tile attached to a vertical wall surface;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section through part of a punch and die showing the beginning of the partial forming of a tile;

FIG. 4 is a similar view to FIG. 3 showing the severing of the tile after it has been partially formed, and v FIG. 5 is a similar view showing the completion of the forming of the tile.

The tile is generally rectangular in shape and is formed from sheet stainless steel having a thickness of up to ten thousandths of an inch, for example about five thousandths of an inch. The tile I shown in FIGS. l and 2 is by way of example only and it will be appreciated that: many different designs and configurations of tile may be used. The tile is formed, in the manner to be described below, so that a plurality of depressions 2 are formed in the rear surface of the tile.

Hitherto such tiles, to provide the necessary rigidity, have generally been formed from sheet metal of at least eighteen thousanths of an inch in thickness, the tiles being mounted on a surface by means of a number of double-sided self-adhesive pads or by means of an impact adhesive.

Where the tile is about five thousandths of an inch in thickness the necessary rigidity may be imparted to the tile by the depressions formed in it and in this case the tile may be stuck to a'surface, such as is indicated at 3 in FIG. 2, by an impact adhesive. Also, however, a settable adhesive material may be used which fills at least the majority of the depressions 2 in the rear surface of the tile and the adhesive, when set, will then serve to support the relatively thin sheet metal of the tile. Preferably all the depressions are filled with adhesive so that the tile is supported over its whole area. The adhesive used may be any suitable gap filling adhesive which will adhere to the metal of the tile. For example it may be a rubber, neoprene, or epoxy resin based adhesive or rubberized mastic.

In the case where sufficient rigidity is imparted to the tile by the depressions formed in it an adhesive may merely be applied to those parts of the tile which contact the surface on which it is to be mounted, without necessarily filling the depressions. An impact adhesive is suitable for this purpose, for example an impact adhesive having toluene as a solvent.

Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 the apparatus for forming a tile comprises a cutting die 10 having a rectangular aperture one wall of which is indicated at ill and] the upper cutting edge of which is indicated at 112.

A vertically reciprocable punch 13 which is also rectangular in cross section cooperates with the die. The lower end of the punch is shaped as indicated at 14 in accordance with the required design of the depressions in the tile and around its periphery the punch is chamfered at 15 to form a peripheral depression on the tile and to provide on the punch a cutting edge 16. A pad 17 of resiliently flexible material, for example of hard rubber, is disposed within the cutting die aperture.

In operation a sheet of stainless steel 118 is laid over the die aperture and a pressure pad 19 which encircles the punch 13 is brought down to clamp the sheet to the upper surface of the die. The punch 13 is then brought downwards and traps the sheet steel 18 between its lower end and the flexible pad 17 so that the sheet metal begins to be formed, according to the shape of the punch, as shown in FIG. 3.

As the punch continues to move downwards the forming of the tile continues until the punch reaches the position shown in FIG. 4 where its cutting edge 16 cooperates with the cutting edge 12 of the die 10 to sever the tile 20 from the metal sheet 18. It will be seen from FIG. 4 that at the moment the tile is severed from the sheet around its periphery the tile is still only partially formed the metal of the tile still not having been forced fully into the depressions in the lower end of the punch 13.

Continuing downward movement of the punch 13 completes the formation of the depressions in the tile as shown in FIG. 5. Also as seen in that Figure the completion of the forming of the tile causes the peripheral edge 21 of the tile to be drawn inwardly away from the walls 11 of the die 10 so as to provide a gap 22. The punch 13 is then withdrawn upwardly away from the formed tile. The resilient pad 17 automatically frees the formed tile springing it upward due to the resilience of the pad. The formed tile may then readily be removed either by hand or by an automatic device such as a suction arm arranged to move across the die and pick up the formed tile.

It will be appreciated that the above apparatus may be automatically operating and may form part of an automatic assembly in which sheets of stainless steel are fed continuously across a number of die assemblies for the continuous production of tiles.

In the example given the depth of the depressions formed in the tile may be, for example, up to thirty thousandths of an inch in depth and it is found that the withdrawal of the periphery of the tile to form the gap 22 is likely to be up to five thousandths of an inch depending on the nature and depth of the depressions formed in the surface of the tile.

The use of a flexible pad l7within the dies is preferable since it is found that the tiles may then be formed without any deterioration of the surface finish of the metal. However it will be appreciated that the flexible pad 17 could be replaced by a shaping die shaped to cooperate with the depressions in the punch 14.

In one particular arrangement (not shown) the shaping die comprises a layer of flexible material disposed over a fixed base in which are arranged a number of vertical adjusting screws so that by suitably adjusting the screws the upper surface contour of the flexible layer of material may be varied according to the shape of the tile required. If required this variable die can be used, once having been set, for the casting of a solid die from a suitable rigid casting material.

It will be appreciated that in the above arrangement the withdrawal of the peripheral edge of the tile from the walls of the die means that there is no difficulty in removing the formed tile from the die and that removal also does not cause any damage or deformation to the edge of the tile.

The use of a thin sheet metal for the tiles means that the required definition of the pattern or design on the face of the tile can be obtained using the apparatus described above whereas the thicker materials previously used for tiles can only be embossed with a design of sufficient definition by employing matching male and female die elements. This has the disadvantage, inter alia, that the embossed design requires polishing to obtain the desired surface finish.

To obtain the shaped punch 13 for forming tiles a master tile may first be formed from sheet metal by hand or other means. Two or more casts are then taken from the master tile. One or more shaped punches are then formed from one of these casts for use in forming further tiles and the other cast or casts are kept as a safeguard, to ensure that at any time, after the punch wears out, it is possible to manufacture fresh punches and to produce tiles which match exactly with the original tile.

The invention is particularly applicable to wall tiles which are conventionally square or rectangular and are produced in standard sizes. For example one common form of square tile has a side length of 4 /4 inches. The tiles are preferably formed individually but a plurality of tiles arranged side by side may be formed from a single large sheet, the sheet being formed and mounted as a whole.

lclaim:

. 1. Apparatus for forming from sheet material a tile having a plurality of depressions on one face thereof. and comprising:

a. a punch,

b. a first surface on the punch shaped in accordance with the required depressions in the tile,

0. a first peripheral shearing edge on the punch, surrounding the first surface and shaped in accordance with the required peripheral shape of the tile,

d. a cutting die with which the punch cooperates,

e. a second peripheral shearing edge on the cutting die shaped in accordance with the required peripheral shape of the tile,

f. the first and second shearing edges being disposed to cooperate with one another to sever the tile from the sheet material,

g. a second surface on the die and within the second peripheral shearing edge on the die,

h. the second surface cooperating with the first surface, on

the punch; to form the plurality of depressions in the tile,

j. the second surface being disposed to cooperate partially with the first surface, so as partially to form the depressions in the tile, before the punch reaches a position where the first and second shearing edges cooperate to sever the tile from the sheet material, and to cooperate fully with the first surface, to complete the formation of the depressions in the tile, after the punch has passed said position and has severed the tile from the sheet material.

2. Apparatus for forming a tile according to claim 8, and further comprising:

k. a pressure element movable with the punch and surrounding the first peripheral shearing edge on the punch,

l. a support surface surrounding the second peripheral shearing edge on the die and with which support surface the pressure element cooperates,

m. the punch being capable of movement relative to the pressure element,

11. a first part of the movement of the punch and pressure element together bringing the pressure element to a position where it presses the strip material against the support surface, and a second part of the movement of the punch, relative to the pressure element, bringing the punch into cooperation with the cutting die.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the said second surface comprises a resiliently flexible pad of material against which the tile is urged by the punch.

Claims

1. Apparatus for forming from sheet material a tile having a plurality of depressions on one face thereof, and comprising: a. a punch, b. a first surface on the punch shaped in accordance with the required depressions in the tile, c. a first peripheral shearing edge on the punch, surrounding the first surface and shaped in accordance with the required peripheral shape of the tile, d. a cutting die with which the punch cooperates, e. a second peripheral shearing edge on the cutting die shaped in accordance with the required peripheral shape of the tile, f. the first and second shearing edges being disposed to cooperate with one another to sever the tile from the sheet material, g. a second surface on the die and within the second peripheral shearing edge on the die, h. the second surface cooperating with the first surface, on the punch, to form the plurality of depressions in the tile, j. the second surface being disposed to cooperate partially with the first surface, so as partially to form the depressions in the tile, before the punch reaches a position where the first and second shearing edges cooperate to sever the tile from the sheet material, and to cooperate fully with the first surface, to complete the formation of the depressions in the tile, after the punch has passed said position and has severed the tile from the sheet material.

2. Apparatus for forming a tile according to claim 8, and further comprising: k. a pressure element movable with the punch and surrounding the first peripheral shearing edge on the punch, l. a support surface surrounding the second peripheral shearing edge on the die and with which support surface the pressure element cooperates, m. the punch being capable of movement relative to the pressure element, n. a first part of the movement of the punch and pressure element together bringing the pressure element to a position where it presses the strip material against the support surface, and a second part of the movement of the punch, relative to the pressure element, bringing the punch into cooperation with the cutting die.