Shingle with sharply defined tabs separated by slots and method of making
A shingle is provided and its method of manufacture, in which granules are applied to an upper surface of a hardenable coating on a layer of shingle-making material, with granules of different pre-selected visual aesthetics provided in different tab areas, separated by mixtures of granules from adjacent tab areas forming intermediate areas, and in which the intermediate areas are removed to yield slots separating adjacent tabs, leaving visually sharp, precise starting and ending delineations for the tabs of a given aesthetic, that can be the same as or different than the aesthetic of an adjacent tab.
Shingles of the type having a butt portion and a tab portion, with slots separating tabs of the tab portion of the shingle, are known in the art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,212,843 and 6,467,235 represent examples of such shingles and their method of manufacture.
It is also known to manufacture shingles, either of the single layer type or of the laminated type, comprising two or more layers of complete shingle material, wherein each layer of complete shingle material includes a base web of reinforcing material that is impregnated with and coated with an adhesive material, generally asphalt, which hardens, and with granules applied to an upper surface of the shingle material.
Generally, the shingles are made by having a base web, often of fiberglass construction, as a reinforcing material, impregnated with the bitumen or other adhesive material, as part of a continuous process, and in which the granules are dropped onto the continuous sheet of impregnated and coated material, to adhere thereto, with the granules being dropped from granule applicators. Often, there are a plurality of granule applicators, which apply granules of a certain preselected aesthetic onto different portions of the shingle-forming layer passing therebeneath. For example, the granule applicators may contain granules of different colors, different shadings of the same color, different blends of color or shading, etc.
It is desirable to have adjacent tabs separated by slots, wherein the tabs have some form of contrast or aesthetic from tab-to-tab. The contrast may be in the form of different shades of the same color, different colors from tab-to-tab, different blends of colors or shading from tab-to-tab, or of other variations.
Often, the goal of such manners of shingle manufacture is to provide shingles that, once they are laid up on a roof, give the appearance of individual tiles, or individual slates, as may be desired, rather than appearing as tabs of a manufactured shingle.
Because control of the dropping of granules from a given applicator may not be absolutely or precisely perfect, where shingles from a given hopper-type applicator may be intended to be dropped in a preplanned tab area of a shingle-forming layer passing therebeneath, and wherein granules from a different hopper applicator may be intended to be dropped on an adjacent tab area, there is often an intermediate zone or area, between adjacent tab areas, where there is a blend of granules from one applicator with granules from another applicator.
SUMMARY OF INVENTIONThe present invention is directed to providing a shingle and a method of making a shingle in which adjacent tabs can be sharply defined, in which granules of a given aesthetic are applied to one tab area and granules of another aesthetic are applied to an adjacent tab area, and which any mixture of granules from both of those areas that are applied to an intermediate area between those two tab areas, are removed by removing the entire intermediate area, to yield two distinct tabs.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a shingle and a method of making the shingle, in which granules of more than one aesthetic are applied to a shingle-forming layer, each in a different area, and wherein a mixture of granules of both aesthetics are applied in an intermediate area, which intermediate area is then removed to yield adjacent shingle tabs that are sharply defined, each having granules only of its own predetermined aesthetic.
It is another object to accomplish the above objects, wherein the removal takes place by cutting generally transverse slots between tab areas such that each remaining tab area yields visually sharp, precise starting and ending delineations of its own aesthetic.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent upon the reading of the following brief description of the drawing figures, the detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiments, and the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES
Referring to the drawings in detail, reference is first made to
The shingle-forming material 10 is horizontally conveyed along a conveyor formed by a plurality of rollers 11, being rotated in the clockwise direction shown by the arrows 12, such that the shingle-forming material is moved from left to right as shown in
It will be apparent that any number of granule applicators may be used as may be desired, depending upon the aesthetic illustration desired in the final shingle.
For purposes of this application, the granules being dispensed from each of the applicators 14, 15 and/or 16 will be referred to as granules of a given “aesthetic”. It will be understood that as used herein “aesthetic” can mean that the granules dispensed from the various applicators may be granules of a different color or appearance, or may be granules of different shades of the same color, or components of either of them. Similarly, they can be granules of different sizes or shapes, textures, or a given granule applicator may contain a blend of granules of predetermined colors and/or shadings, and that the other granule applicators may contain granules of a different blend of colors, shadings, sizes, etc. Granules of different materials and compositions may be used, such as, for example, including but not limited to, natural rock, slag, ceramic coated rock or mineral particles, or granules of various mineral content.
Thus, as used herein, the term “aesthetic”, will mean a given, predetermined array of granules that will yield a certain visual impression, which will often be different than an array of granules that yields a different visual impression from that of an adjacent tab area. Alternatively, some adjacent tab areas could have the same aesthetics, to give the same visual impression, if desired.
Accordingly, with reference to
The butt portion 17 will generally be provided with granules that are adapted to be covered when shingles are laid-up on a roof, and such granules can be as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,843 or U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,235, or of any other type, in that such are not the granules to which the present invention is directed. The granules that are applied from the applicators 14, 15 and 16 of
Because the deposit of granules from the applicators 14, 15 and 16 can be stopped or started by various techniques, well known in the art, such as openable doors (not shown), the aesthetic areas A, B, and C will not necessarily always follow each other, in that various aesthetic areas can be controlled by conventional granule drop techniques, such that a B area can follow a C area, an A area can follow B area, etc, as shown in
In any event, between the various A, B and C aesthetic areas, it will be seen that there are intermediate areas in the tab portion 18, such as, as viewed from right-to-left as viewed in
For ease of understanding, in the course of this application, the tab areas A, B and C will be considered “primary” areas, and the areas BA, CB, BC, AB, BA, CB and BC will be considered intermediate or transitional areas.
It will also be understood that the intermediate or transitional areas are comprised, in each case, of some blend or mixture of granules from each of the primary areas on each side of the transitional area, and that such occurs because of the limitations on precision with regard to the dropping of granules; that is, that it is not always possible to precisely stop the application of granules, or to precisely start the application of granules when they are being delivered via gravity drop from a hopper-type granule applicator, roll- or belt-type granule applicator, or any other type of applicator. Application may also be provided with pneumatic assist, contact adhesion, or particle placement devices.
With reference now to
The shingle-forming layer 10 is then delivered to a cutter mechanism 23, which also can be of the type that moves vertically upwardly and downwardly in the direction of the double headed arrow 25, such that its lower edge 24 can cut through the shingle-forming material 10 when desired, to separate the shingle-forming material 10 into separate discrete shingles, each comprising a plurality of tabs, such as the four-tab shingle of
With reference now to
Referring now to
With reference now to
While the embodiments discussed above have three aesthetic areas, A, B, and C, it will be understood that the invention could be applied to a roofing material having a plurality of aesthetic areas. For example, two, three, or four, or more different aesthetic areas may be present on a shingle of the invention.
It will be apparent from the forgoing that various modifications may be made in the details of construction, the manner of manufacture, and the sequence of steps in connection with the manufacture, to yield various aesthetic presentations for a completed shingle, as is embraced within the appended claims.
Claims
1. A method of making a shingle having a butt portion and a tab portion with tabs of desired aesthetic in the tab portion being spaced apart by slots, and with adjacent tabs being sharply defined, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a base web of reinforcing material impregnated with and coated with an adhesive material as a hardenable coating, to an upper surface and a lower surface thereof;
- (b) conveying the impregnated reinforcing material in a longitudinal direction;
- (c) applying granules of a first aesthetic onto the hardenable coating on the upper surface in first primary areas, each of a first width, in the tab portion of the continuous strip of shingle material, to cover said first primary areas;
- (d) applying granules of a second aesthetic onto the hardenable coating of the upper surface in second primary areas, each of a second width, in the tab portion of the continuous strip of shingle material, to cover said second primary areas; and
- (e) applying granules of a mixture of those applied to adjacent primary areas, onto the hardenable coating in intermediate areas between said adjacent primary areas, each intermediate area being of an intermediate width; and
- (f) cutting generally transverse slots of a predetermined size in said tab portion so that each said slot is at least as wide in the longitudinal direction as the width of the entire intermediate area in which it is located, to remove said intermediate areas, leaving visually sharp, precise starting and ending delineations at each longitudinal end of each of said primary areas, with granules of a given aesthetic in each primary area being spaced apart on longitudinally opposite sides of a said slot.
2. The method of claim 1, including the step of:
- (g) applying granules of a third aesthetic onto the hardenable coating of the upper surface in third primary areas, each of a third width, in the tab portion of the continuous strip of shingle material, to cover said third primary areas.
3. A method of making a shingle having a butt portion and a tab portion with tabs of desired shading in the tab portion being spaced apart by slots, and with adjacent tabs being sharply defined, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a base web of reinforcing material impregnated with and coated with an adhesive material as a hardenable coating, to an upper surface and a lower surface thereof;
- (b) conveying the impregnated reinforcing material in a longitudinal direction;
- (c) applying granules of a first aesthetic onto the hardenable coating on the upper surface in first primary areas, each of a first width, in the tab portion of the continuous strip of shingle material, to cover said first primary areas;
- (d) applying granules of a second aesthetic onto the hardenable coating of the upper surface in second primary areas, each of a second width, in the tab portion of the continuous strip of shingle material, to cover said second primary areas; and
- (e) applying granules of a mixture of those applied to adjacent primary areas, onto the hardenable coating in intermediate areas between said adjacent primary areas, each intermediate area being of an intermediate width; and
- (f) removing said intermediate areas.
4. The method of claim 3, including the step of:
- (g) applying granules of a third aesthetic onto the hardenable coating of the upper surface in third primary areas, each of a third width, in the tab portion of the continuous strip of shingle material, to cover said third primary areas.
5. A method of making a shingle having a butt portion and a tab portion with tabs of desired shading in the tab portion being spaced apart by slots, and with adjacent tabs being sharply defined, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a base web of reinforcing material impregnated with and coated with an adhesive material as a hardenable coating, to an upper surface and a lower surface thereof;
- (b) conveying the impregnated reinforcing material in a longitudinal direction;
- (c) applying granules of a first aesthetic onto the hardenable coating on the upper surface in first primary areas, each of a first width, in the tab portion of the continuous strip of shingle material, to cover said first primary areas;
- (d) applying granules of a second aesthetic onto the hardenable coating of the upper surface in second primary areas, each of a second width, in the tab portion of the continuous strip of shingle material, to cover said second primary areas; and
- (e) applying granules of a mixture of those applied to adjacent primary areas onto the hardenable coating in intermediate areas between said adjacent primary areas; and
- (f) removing said intermediate areas.
6. The method of claim 5, including the step of:
- (g) applying granules of a third aesthetic onto the hardenable coating of the upper surface in third primary areas, each of a third width, in the tab portion of the continuous strip of shingle material, to cover said third primary areas.
7. The method of any one of claims 1, 3 or 5, including the step of cutting the impregnated web with granules into separate shingles of predetermined lengths.
8. The method of claim 7, including the step of applying a second layer of impregnated reinforcing material with granules thereon to the base web of impregnated reinforcing material with granules thereon, to make a laminated shingle.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second layer of impregnated reinforcing material with granules thereon is applied after said intermediate areas are removed.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the second layer of impregnated reinforcing material with granules thereon is applied before said intermediate areas are removed.
11. The method of claim 7, wherein said tabs of desired aesthetic have a varied parameter from one tab to another, said varied parameter being selected from the group of tab shape, tab length, tab width and slot width.
12. A shingle made according to the method of claim 7.
13. A shingle made according to the method of claim 8.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 23, 2004
Publication Date: Oct 27, 2005
Inventors: Husnu Kalkanoglu (Swarthmore, PA), Robert Jenkins (Honey Brook, PA)
Application Number: 10/807,018