A Roller for Pressing Layers in a Construction Process

Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns an apparatus for pressing a cover layer against a base, where the apparatus is provided with at least one roller, where the at least one roller is a rotary body with a rotary axis, and where the apparatus is adapted for rotating the at least one roller about its rotary axis, and where a roller surface is constituted by the curving surface of the roller, and where the roller surface is intended for contact with the surface of the cover layer at a line of contact, where the apparatus is provided with at least two conical rollers, preferably uniform frusto-conical rollers, where the lines of contact of the rollers are substantially parallel, and where the narrower end of the first roller faces the narrower end of the second roller.

Background of the Invention

During a building process, challenges often appear requiring a layer being pressed against a supporting base. This may e.g. be by flooring where a cover layer, such as carpets, vinyl or linoleum, is to be bonded to a prepared and solid supporting surface in order to obtain a floor surface with desired properties, where durability, wearability, sound attenuation, cleaning method and frequency may be decisive factors for the choice of flooring.

The cover layers may be a sheet material which, depending on the nature, is delivered in rolls or sheets, where the securing the cover layer to the building structure is effected by placing the layer on an adhesive mass. If the material rigidity is relatively small, it is required that the layer is squeezed or pressed against the base until the adhesive mass interacting with the cover layer has achieved the desired hardening and thereby stability of the cover layer. The cover layers may also be a moulding material with high viscosity, such as asphalt and some types of concrete mixtures with low water content. These layers are also to be squeezed or pressed against the underlying structure while observing the hardening process of the moulding material.

The above described necessary pressing of a cover layer against a base in large building constructions is effected by means of a roller. The prior art types of rollers consist of one or more cylinders that are provided on one or more parallel shafts.

The prior art roller types may, however, not be used on e.g. flooring close to an adjacent wall, e.g. a wall disposed vertically along a horizontal flooring. As the roller operator may easily get too close to the adjacent wall, the roller may easily scrape against this wall, causing damage to or unwanted marks on the wall. Therefore, it is common that the roller operator avoids the problem just by treading on the flooring along adjacent walls. This is inexpedient since a sufficiently even pressure cannot be produced by the operator and since this work is time-consuming.

Object of the Invention

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for pressing a cover layer against a base, where the apparatus can be used for rolling close to adjacent walls or similar without scraping against these.

Description of the Invention

According to the present invention, this purpose is achieved by an apparatus of the type specified in the introduction which is peculiar in that the apparatus is furthermore provided with at least one cylindric roller, where this cylindric roller is with a line of contact which is parallel with the lines of contact of the other rollers.

By the roller surface of the frustum of a cone is hereby enabled rolling close to a wall without touching the wall with the side of the roller, which by a frustum of a cone will be constituted by the largest circular end face of the frustum of a cone. The angle between the roller surface of the frustum of a cone and the largest circular end face of the frustum of a cone is less than 90°. If this angle e.g. is 80°, and the apparatus is moved tightly against an adjacent wall standing perpendicularly to the cover surface, the angle between the adjacent wall and the largest circular end face of the frustum of a cone will be 10°. If a traditional cylindric roller had been chosen for the work, the angle between the roller surface and the end face of the cylinder would be 90°, entailing contact between the end face of the roller and the adjacent wall if moving the cylindric roller right up to the said adjacent wall. This contact during the roller

movements will cause marking on the adjacent wall which is often finished by another contractor, such as a painter. The floor fitter operating the roller will therefore have to pay the painter for re-painting the adjacent wall, and the painter will most often have to demand overtime payment as in this stage of a construction the time is often close to the owner's moving in and starting using the building. It may thus be costly for the floor fitter and a nuisance to the plans of the painter and the owner if inadvertent damage to a painted wall surface occurs. Most often, the floor fitter therefore chooses not to perform the required pressing of the flooring close to the adjacent walls, but uses a technique of treading on the flooring at these places, meaning an uneven pressing of the flooring along adjacent walls. This may cause that the flooring is not bonded properly to the base, which may entail problems with the flooring becoming loose and uneven in these places. By floorings subjected to temperature and humidity fluctuations, this is particularly critical as the flooring may work itself loose over time. This entails short service life, repair costs and aesthetically unsuitable appearance of the surface covering.

In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus mentioned above may be provided with at least two uniform conical rollers, where the lines of contact of the rollers are substantially parallel and where the narrower end of the first roller faces against the narrower end of the second roller.

If just using one conical roller, this will have the tendency of running in a circular arc determined by the difference between the circumference of the largest circular end face of the roller relative to the circumference of the least circular end face of the roller.

By using two conical rollers it is achieved that the apparatus runs straight as the tendency of the two conical rollers to run in a circular arc is counteracted and they neutralize each other.

The parallel lines of contact of the rollers may advantageously be offset as this provides the possibility of a double roller which pre- or post-rolls the part of the surface covering which the least circular end face of the roller is inclined in over. It

may thus be ensured that a pressing is effected everywhere on the rolled flooring surface.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the lines of contact of the two uniform conical rollers may lie in continuation of each other.

The parallel lines of contact of the rollers may have advantage of lying in continuation of each other. Hereby is achieved the possibility of making a simple construction of the apparatus where a common rotary device is disposed in the middle between the two rollers. Moreover, by this embodiment it is also ensured that the apparatus runs straight as the tendency of the two conical rollers to run in a circular arc is counteracted and they neutralize each other.

In a further and particularly preferred embodiment, the apparatus may furthermore be provided with at least one cylindric roller, where this cylindric roller is with a line of contact which is parallel with the lines of contact of the other rollers. By using one or more supplementary cylindric rollers is achieved that the apparatus is stabilised such that it will have less tendency of lurching due to different neutralization of the tendency of the two conical rollers to run in a circular arc. If the two conical rollers are with offset parallel lines of contact, a cylindric roller may advantageously be placed at the smaller circular end face of each of the conical rollers. These cylindric rollers will then provided pre- or post-rolling, respectively, of the part of the surface covering which the smaller circular end face of the conical roller is inclining in over. It is then to be ensured that the cylindric rollers are disposed at a safe distance to the sides of the apparatus such that the cylindric rollers do not get too close to the adjacent walls. By the embodiment described here, it may thus be ensured that a pressing is effected everywhere on the rolled flooring surface.

If the two conical rollers are with parallel lines of contact in continuation of each other, there may be provided a very usable roller apparatus with a width corresponding to the prior art cylindric rollers. This apparatus may possibly be supplemented by two cylindric rollers intended for pre- or post-rolling, respectively, of the part of the

surface covering which the smaller plane circular end face of the conical roller is inclining in over.

The roller according to one of the above mentioned embodiments may thus be used on the entire floor face, and the floor fitter may then not need to acquire several types of roller for the work with flooring. A minimal amount and weight of auxiliary tools are therefore to be carried by the floor fitter to the place where the flooring is to be made.

The flooring task with most often occur in a large building with several storeys, why the aspect of amount and weight of auxiliary tools is decisive for the working conditions of the floor fitter and thereby work environment conditions. Optimising the nature of the auxiliary tool will therefor lead to optimisation of used resources in the flooring work as a whole.

In an embodiment which is particularly preferable, at least one roller may be mounted on a shaft that continues in the rotary axis of the roller.

By through-going shafts is achieved great reliability as there will be a lesser tendency of play than if the rotary devices just attack and retain the end faces of the roller at the rotary axis of the roller, for example in that the rotary device is an embedded ball in a corresponding hollow in the end face of the roller. A shaft extending through a conical roller is to be disposed in the situation of use at an angle with the line of contact corresponding to the angle between the rotary shaft of the roller and the surface of the roller.

It may be particularly desirable with an embodiment where the apparatus is adapted for rotating the rollers of the apparatus by one composite shaft that continues through all rotary axes of the rollers of the apparatus.

Hereby is achieved a relatively rigid shaft construction that contributes to stabilising the apparatus. By a combination of rollers that involve a conical as well as a cylindric roller on the same shaft, the shaft would have to be made with a bend between the two rollers corresponding to the angle between the rotary shafts of the rollers.

In a special embodiment, the apparatus may be adapted for rotating at least one roller by a rotary device, such as a ball bearing, a disc or an axle bushing, which is rotationally fastened to an extension of the rotary axis of the at least one roller, and where the rotary device in connected with a flange, preferably two flanges connected by a transverse member.

By using a flange in connection with the rotary device, the roller apparatus is made usable for the flooring work, as the roller apparatus is to be handled by pushing or drawing the apparatus across the surface to be pressed.

The rotary device may e.g. be a disc or a bushing through which the apparatus shaft extends - disc or bushing may possibly be equipped with a ball bearing inside, and the shaft may be provided with a groove as guideway for the balls in the bearing. If a shaft construction is not used for roller rotation, the rotary device can be designed as a sphere, hemisphere, cone or other rotating member which is mounted in a corresponding hollow in the end face of the roller centred about the rotary axis of the roller.

By the above embodiments are achieved the possibility of pushing or drawing the roller across the surface covering to be pressed in a single movement. This is discussed in more detail by the description of Fig. 1.

Alternatively, handling can also be enabled by using an embodiment where the rotary device attacks the roller or the rollers at the end face, but offset relative to the rotary axis of the roller, corresponding to the drawbars on a steam locomotive. This handling solution may particularly be suited by a solution with two or more parallel and offset lines of contact for the rollers in the apparatus, where the action of force from the handling of a roller with one line of contact can be transferred to a roller with a line of contact displaced in parallel by means of a flange connected to a rotary device on end faces of both rollers, where the rotary device may attack both end faces of the rollers outside the rotary axis of the rollers.

In a preferred embodiment, the flange may furthermore be connected with a handle or stick.

Thus it is made easy to work manually with the roller in upright working position. The stick may have different shape depending on ergonomic conditions and possibly be provided with one or more handles.

Description of the Drawing

The invention will be explained below with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a possible embodiment of the roller apparatus according to the invention; and

Figs. 2a-c are schematic plan views of different groupings of rollers according to the invention.

Detailed Description of the Invention On Fig. 1 appears an apparatus 1 for pressing a cover layer 2 against a base 3. The apparatus 1 is with four rollers 4, each with a rotary body 5 with a rotary axis 6 about which the roller 4 can rotate.

Each roller 4 has a roller surface 7 constituted by the curving surface of the roller, and where the roller surface 7 is intended for bearing against the surface 8 of the cover layer 2 at a line of contact 9.

Two of the rollers 4 are designed as a conical rotary body, in this case a frustum of a cone 10.

The angle 11 between the roller surface 7 of the frustum of a cone 10 and the largest circular end face 12 of the frustum of a cone 10 is less than 90°.

The apparatus 1 is disposed close to an adjacent wall 13 standing at right angles to the cover surface 9. The angle 14 between the adjacent wall 13 and the largest circular end face 12 of the frustum of a cone 10 is larger than zero. By using the apparatus 1, the line of contact 9 of the frustum of a cone 10 can be brought right up to the corner 15

between the base 3 and the adjacent wall 13. This means that the larger circular end face 12 of the frustum of a cone 10 only touches the adjacent wall 13 in the corner 15 and not farther up on the adjacent wall 13, where contact will cause damage to the wall 13.

The apparatus 1 is shown here with a through-going shaft 16 disposed in all of the four rotary axes 6 of the rollers 4. The through-going shaft 16 is provided with two bends 17 that can be made by welding or bending.

The apparatus 1 is adapted for rotating the rollers 4 by two rotary devices 18. Each of the rotary devices 18 is a disc 19 which is rotatably fastened to the through-going shaft 16. The discs 19 are both connected with a flange 20. hi order to hold the roller apparatus 1 for manual or machine handling, it is necessary with a flange 20 enabling handling. Thereby is ensured that the rollers 4 in the apparatus 1 may rotate as the flange 20 is fastened to the rotary device 18 attacking the roller or rollers at their rotary axis 6. As the rotary device 18 thereby is provided fixed distance to the surface 8 of the cover layer 2, this provides an even and stable handling of the roller apparatus 1.

The two flanges are connected by a transverse member 21 on which is mounted a stick 22 with a handle 23.

As the rotary devices 18 are rotationally fastened to the through-going shaft 16, and the transverse member 21 thus is freely movable around the shaft 16, the stick 22 may be turned to a comfortable working height and position for the operator, without changing the contact of the roller surfaces 7 of the frustums of a cone 10 against the surface 8 of the cover layer 2.

The rollers 4 designed as a frustum of a cone 10 are mounted on the through-going shaft 16 with a countersunk fastening 24 at the largest circular end face 12 of the frustum of a cone 10. Between the rollers 4 is shown the option of placing spacer discs 25, partly for keeping distance, and partly for reducing unwanted sounds during use of the apparatus.

Fig. 2a shows in principle how the apparatus 1 according to the invention in its simplest embodiment consists of one conical rotary body which is a frustum of a cone 10. The roller surface 7 of the frustum of a cone is intended for bearing on the surface 8 of the cover layer 2 at the shown line of contact 9.

Fig. 2b shows in principle a plan view where the apparatus 1 is provided with two unifrom conical rollers 10, where the lines of contact 9 of the rollers are substantially parallel. The narrow end 26 of the first conical roller 25 faces the narrow end 28 of the second conical roller 27. The apparatus 1 is furthermore provided with two cylindric rollers 29 with each their lines of the contact 30 that are parallel with the lines of contact 9 of the other rollers 10. Thereby is ensured that the entire surface 8 of the cover layer 2 is rolled.

Fig. 2c is a plan view which in principle shows the embodiment indicated on Fig. 1. Here, the lines of contact 9 of the two uniform conical rollers 10 lie in continuation of each other.

The apparatus 1 is furthermore provided with two cylindric rollers 29 with each their lines of contact 30 that are parallel and in continuation of the lines of contact 9 of the other rollers 10.

This embodiment may furthermore be added one or more cylindric rollers with lines of contact that are parallel and offset relative to those of the other rollers. This addition may provide the advantage that the gap between a conical roller and a cylindric roller disposed with parallel lines of contact and in continuation of each other may be pre- or post-rolled in one and the same procedure.

The shown variants are not limiting to the scope of the invention but are only examples of how the invention can be practised, as a skilled in the art will be able to apply the invention in many other ways and in several other valiants after reading the present description.