WO2013023236A1

WO2013023236A1 - An improved tile spacer and a method of laying tiles using said tile spacer

Info

Publication number: WO2013023236A1
Application number: PCT/AU2012/000557
Authority: WO
Inventors: Salvatore CAPURSO
Original assignee: Sals Invention Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2011-08-18
Filing date: 2012-05-18
Publication date: 2013-02-21

Abstract

A tile spacer having a base plate positional on a bonding agent under the bottom of adjacent laid tiles with a central detachable shaft stemming from the base plate with lower and upper portions. The lower portion having a substantially flat and/or linear configuration of thickness of a required grout line to be established between the adjacently laid tiles. The upper portion having a threaded length. A tile spacer head that includes a threaded central bore so that the tile spacer head is rotatable up and down the threaded length of the upper portion of the central detachable shaft such that when the tile spacer is used the lower portion of the central detachable shaft establishes a consistent level grout line between adjacent laid tiles and the tile spacer head can be rotated down the threaded shaft to provide levelling of the elevation between the adjacent tiles so as to reduce lippage.

Description

AN IMPROVED TILE SPACER AND A METHOD OF LAYING TILES USING

SAID TILE SPACER

TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a tile spacer, which assists in separating tiles as they are being horizontally laid on flooring, or vertically upon walls. This invention also relates to the use of a tile spacer which can used with little skill or inconvenience and can also assist in levelling tiles thereby providing a substantially lippage tile free configuration. Lippage is the result of edges of adjacent tiles being laid at different elevation or height.

BACKGROUND ART DISCUSSION

It is well recognised in the trade when tiles have been laid there is the

requirement to separate them hence the application of the tile spacer that for the most part are placed inbetween two adjacently laid tiles as they are being pressed or laid down onto the substrate against fastening or bonding agents such as adhesives or mortar.

As the person skilled in the art will appreciate it is important to obtain a consistent line between rows of tiles as once the tiles have set within the substrate there will be a requirement to add grout to fill in the gaps of these spaces or lines between the adjacent tiles.

Traditionally the tile spacer is responsible for stopping the tiles from shifting laterally during the drying process of the adhesive or the mortar. Only the skill of the tiler determines the vertical (on a floor, horizontal on a wall) position of a tile.

As would be recognised if the tiles moved once laid there will be relevant movement between the edges of adjacent tiles thereby obstructing the consistency and uniformity of the grout line. The task therefore becomes more troublesome when a Tiler is faced with laying tiles on wails, because as is expected the general effects of gravity will tend to force the tile downwards and once again any relative movement of a tile in respect to an adjacent tile will disrupt the uniformity and consistency of the original established grout line that the Tiler has been able to achieve.

Recently granted United States Application No 7818923 introduces several Prior Art tile Spacers wherein stated for the most part Prior Art tile Spacers are cross shaped devices typically made of compressed rubber or a plastic frame. As stated there are some non compressible tile spacers but nonetheless to maintain the ability of removal by hand, such tile Spacers do not go into the grout lying deep enough to maintain a grout line of uniform width.

The tile spacer with the configuration of an irregular dodecagon has one of its projecting arms resting upon a corner of tile. In a time span between tiling and grouting, these rubber tile spacers may become compressed by the weight of a tile, compressed tile spacers can skew a grout line and may be more difficult to remove for grouting.

As stated hundreds or even thousands of tile spacers can be used in a single job and therefore the ability to conveniently position a tile spacer and also have it removed is an important consideration not only in respect to a quality finish of the laid tile, but also the time and skill required to lay the respective tiles.

As United States Patent Application No 7818923 states most Prior Art tile spacers need a separate hand tool, which means that two hands are required during the installation process which can make it particularly difficult for the Tiler as a steadiness of hand is also required to be placed or maintained upon the tile during the positioning of the tile spacer.

The setting tool for the tile spacer is often a requirement as the shaft which acts as the spacing between the adjacent tiles in order to establish the uniform and consistent grout line between adjacently laid tiles is also the support for the main head of the tile spacer which includes the protruding forearms that are adapted to fork and protrude out onto the face of the tile which as introduced above the ability of the arms of the head of the tile spacer can also assist then in establishing some degree of levelling of one tile relative to an adjacent tile.

Accordingly again as introduced above in a sense the tile spacer functions not only to establish a uniform and consistent grout line it can also assist in gently compressing or maintaining a levelling line of uniformed elevation between adjacent tiles and therefore avoiding any lippage.

However, as the spacer needs to be narrow or linear in design this then restrains the ability of how one will fasten the head of the tile spacer upon the same shaft, which acts as the spacer between adjacent tiles.

As the head of the tile spacer is supported on the linear flat shaft the only way in which controlled, fastenable leverage can be achieved is through a ratchet type mechanism wherein either a tool can be used to force the head down ratchets layer after ratchet layer or alternatively in primitive basic tile spacer

configurations hand action may be available but nonetheless this requires a degree of skill as any unexpected compression on the tile resting upon the bonding agent could see relative unacceptable movement leading to a shifting in the grout line or resulting in an altering of the elevation of one tile to that of an adjacent tile thereby exposing the laid tiles to lippage.

What would be advantageous would be to move away from the utilisation of a specialised setting tool gun to be able to bring down the mounting head of the tile spacer and also avoid the use of a ratchet type arrangement which requires a setting tool or at least the application of two hands.

It would be particularly advantageous to be able to simply laterally rotate down the head of the tile spacer in order for it to comfortably rest against the top level of the tile but with current designs as introduced above this would not be possible because the shaft in which the head would rotate down towards would no longer therefore be linear and the ability then to have adequate spacing in between adjacently laid tiles in order to establish the required uniform grout line would not be achievable.

Therefore it is an object of this invention to provide a tile spacer which will be able to tension to the required level laid tiles and establish the required space between adjacent tiles thus maintaining a consistent and uniform grout line whilst at the same time assist in the levelling the height of adjacent tiles to avoid any lippage.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a complete reading of this specification.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly in one form of the invention there is provided a tile spacer, said spacer including:

a base plate adapted to be positional on a bonding agent under the bottom of adjacent laid tiles;

a central detachable shaft stemming from said base plate;

said central detachable shaft having a lower portion and an upper portion;

said lower portion having a substantially flat and/or linear configuration of thickness of a required grout line to be established between adjacently laid tiles; said upper portion of the central detachable shaft including a

substantially cylindrical threaded length;

a tile spacer head that includes a threaded central bore so that the tile spacer head is adapted to be rotatable up and down the threaded length of the upper portion of the central detachable shaft;

such that when the tile spacer is used the lower portion of the central detachable shaft establishes a consistent level grout line between adjacent laid tiles and the tile spacer head can be rotated down the threaded shaft of the upper portion of the central detachable shaft so that the tile spacer head can rest upon at least two adjacently laid tiles thereby providing levelling of the elevation between said adjacent tiles so as to eliminate or reduce lippage.

An advantage of such arrangements is that for the first time those with very little tiling skills will be able to conveniently utilise this tile spacer to be able to without the use of a setting tool position it between adjacently laid tiles in order to establish the requisite uniformity and consistent grout line and at the same time also position one tile against the other so that the edges are levelled in order to avoid any lippage.

As the tile spacer head is able to be rotated along a "Threaded Shaft" there is no troublesome or cumbersome task of having to use a ratchet mechanism which could inadvertently cause too much force and stress to be placed upon the head thereby dislodging or compressing one tile relative to another, creating unacceptable points of elevation differences between respectively laid tiles resulting in lippage.

In preference the tile space head includes a lower portion and an upper portion wherein the lower portion is of a hollow barrel configuration and the upper portion includes the threaded central bore hole.

In preference the upper portion includes opposed flanged sides extending out from the threaded central bore hole.

In preference the threaded central bore hole has a cut out portion along the external circumferential peripheral edge thereby allowing a tiler to observe the degree of rotation of the tile spacer head along the cylindrical threaded length of the upper portion of the central detachable shaft. Advantageously the barrel portion of the tile spacer head provides a cylindrical type inner spacing which can accommodate the linear arrangement of the spacer but also provide a suitable contact area between adjacent tiles as its tensioned into position so as to level one tile against an adjacently laid tile.

As one can imagine if the tile spacer head was simply a rotatable washer with no hollow barrel or chamber there within as it was rotated down the threaded . length of the central detachable shaft once it hits the actual linear spacer no further rotation could take place which then takes away some of the degree of adjustability of the tile spacer it is also going to assist in levelling the respective elevation of edges of adjacent tiles.

As the tile spacer head in this invention has hollow barrel or chamber to which is supported by the fact that the central threaded bore of the "upper portion" of the tile spacer rests upon the threaded length of the central detachable shaft provides a very unique ability to be able to have a Tiler simply rotate the tile spacer head down upon the top of the adjacent tiles without the use of any required setting tool.

In preference the bonding agent is an adhesive or mortar.

In preference the central detachable shaft is detachable from the base of the tile spacer by a reduced thickness at the distal end of the lower potion of the central detachable shaft having contact with the base of the tile spacer.

In preference the distal end of the lower potion of the central detachable shaft includes a tear or slit across its breadth to reduce thickness at the lower potion of the central detachable shaft relative to the remaining lower portion of the central detachable shaft.

In preference a hammer or mallet is used to tap the tile spacer when the tile spacer is to be removed, such that the tear line or slit cuts the central detachable shaft having a lower portion and an upper portion way from the base due to the applied force of the hammer or mallet.

In preference the arrangement further includes a washer adapted to be placed between the end of the hollow barrel and the tiles.

An advantage of such an arrangement is that the barrel presses down on the washer as it is rotated down so it does not scratch the service of the tile, particularly stone and porcelain tiles.

In preference the tile spacer is made of resilient plastic.

In order now to describe the invention in greater detail a series of preferred embodiments will be presented with the assistance of a series of accompanying illustrations and texts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figures 1 a and 1 b show perspective views of the tile spacer in a preferred embodiment of this invention.

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the central detachable shaft upon the base plate of the tile spacer in a preferred embodiment of the invention

Figures 3a, 3b and 3c show a variety of perspective views of the space tile head in a preferred embodiment of this invention.

Figure 4 shows a schematic view of the application of the tile spacer in laying adjacent tiles in order to establish a uniform and consistent grout line and a leveling effect between the respective tiles in order to avoid unnecessary lippage. Referring to the drawings now in greater detail and particularly from Figures 1 through to Figure 3 wherein the tile spacer shown generally as 10 includes a base plate 12 to which a central detachable shaft shown generally as 14 stems out from the base plate 12.

This central detachable shaft 14 is divided into two portions that being the "lower portion" 16, which has a substantially linear or flat configuration, and the "upper portion" 18, which is a substantially cylindrical length rod with a threaded peripheral edge.

As will be explained in greater detail under the description for figure 3 the tear line 20 will allow the detachable central shaft 14 to be removed from the base plate 12 once the bonding agent has dried and the laid tiles are adequately secured.

The tile spacer head as best seen in Figures 3a, 3b and 3c is shown generally as 28 and includes the "lower portion" made up of the hollow barrel 30 which has a spacing there within 34 which is of dimensions enough such that once the barrel or hollow chamber portion 30 of the tile spacer head 28 is rotated down along the threaded length 18 of the central detachable shaft 14, the linear or flat portion 16 of the shaft 14 can easily be accommodated within and rotation is allowed to proceed over the linear "lower portion" 16 of the central shaft 14 by virtue of the hollow chamber and spacing 34 with the peripheral edge or rim 36 of the "lower portion" 30 then is adapted to rest upon the upper level of the laid tiles in order to adjust any elevation differences between adjacent laid tiles.

The "upper portion" 32 of the tile spacer head 28 includes the central bore 40 to which opposing flanges 38 and 39 extend there out from and wherein the central bore 40 includes the inner thread 42 which is compatible with the threads of the central detachable shaft 18 so as to allow the tile spacer head 28 to be rotated up and down the shaft as required in order to get the circular peripheral edge 36 of the hollow chamber portion 30 of the spacer head 28 appropriately tensioned up against the laid tiles during application.

There are also cutaway portions 44 and 45, which will allow a degree of visual accessibility for a Tiler to appreciate how many rotations, have been made down through the detachable shaft.

Figure 4 shows the application of the tile spacer 10 wherein a series of adjacently laid tiles 50, 52 and 54 requires the establishment of a uniformed grout line 56 to which is achieved by the fact that the tile spacer 10 includes the linear or flattened portion 16 of the main detachable shaft 14.

Advantageously as the tile spacer head 28 is able to be rotatable down the central detachable shaft 14 by the fact that there are two separate portions and to which the "lower portion" of the flattened configuration to establish the spacing between adjacent tiles is able to then be accommodated within the hollow chamber or barrel 30 of the tile spacer head 28, as it is rotated along the threaded length 18 of the central detachable shaft 14.

Once the tiles 50,52 and 54 are laid and positioned and spaced by virtue of the linear spacing arrangement 16 of the central detachable shaft 14, it is then possible for a user to simply rotate down the tile spacer head 28 so that the peripheral rim 36 is able to then rest upon the respective edges of adjacent tiles so as to establish appropriate elevation leveling to avoid any lippage.

Once the bonding agent has set to dry and the tiles then become permanently fixed the user can simply grab the tile spacer head 28 and pull the detachable shaft from the base platform 12 by virtue of the tear line 20.

In order to speed up the removal of the tile spacers once the tiles have set a hammer or mallet (not shown) maybe used to tap the tile spacer such that the tear line or slit 20 cuts the central detachable shaft 14 away from the base 12 of the tile spacer 10 due to the applied force of the hammer or mallet.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A tile spacer including:

a central detachable shaft stemming from said base plate;

said central detachable shaft having a lower portion and an upper portion;

substantially cylindrical threaded length;

2. The tile spacer of claim 1 wherein the tile spacer head includes a lower portion and an upper portion wherein the lower portion is of a hollow barrel and the upper portion includes the threaded central bore hole.

3. The tile spacer of claim 2 wherein the upper portion of the tile spacer head includes opposed flanged sides extending out from the threaded central bore hole.

4. The tile spacer of claim 3 wherein the opposed flanged sides extending out from the threaded central bore hole of the upper portion of the tile spacer head are graspable by a user so as to rotate the tile spacer head down upon adjacently laid tiles when in use.

5. The tile spacer of claim 4 wherein the threaded central bore hole of the upper portion of the tile spacer head has a cut out portion along the external circumferential peripheral edge thereby allowing a tiler to observe the degree of rotation of the tile spacer head along the cylindrical threaded length of the upper portion of the central detachable shaft when in use.

6. The tile spacer of anyone of claims 2 to 5 wherein the central detachable shaft is detachable from the base of the tile spacer by a reduced thickness at the distal end of the lower potion of the central detachable shaft having contact with the base of the tile spacer.

7. The tile spacer of claim 6 wherein the distal end of the lower potion of the central detachable shaft includes a tear or slit across its breadth to reduce thickness at the distal end of the lower potion of the central detachable shaft relative to the remaining lower portion of the central detachable shaft.

8. The tile spacer of claim 7 wherein a hammer or mallet is used to tap the tile spacer when the tile spacer is to be removed from laid tiles, such that the tear line or slit cuts the central detachable shaft away from the base of the tile spacer due to the applied force of the hammer or mallet.

9. The tile spacer of claim 2 further including a washer adapted to be placed between the end of the hollow barrel and the tiles.

10. The tile spacer of anyone of the above claims wherein the tile spacer is made of resilient plastic.

11. The tile spacer of anyone of the above claims wherein the bonding agent is an adhesive or mortar.