A RING FLOAT

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to trowels and floats for smoothing or leveling the surface of concrete or like materials.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Trowels and floats for finishing a concrete surface generally have a blade or tool portion with a flat undersurface and a handle for moving the tool. Bull floats are large rectangular plates moved about with long handles to finish a concrete surface. Surface tension formed between the float and the concrete surface provides resistance to the moving of the float about the concrete surface. Sufficient force must be applied to the handle of the float to overcome the surface tension. Because of the surface tension formed with the float, finishing a concrete surface is often tedious and time consuming.

Furthermore if the trowel or float is moved over the wet concrete too quickly, the surface tension created between the lower surface of the plate of the trowel and the surface of the concrete will cause the wet concrete to splatter. This provides an unfinished appearance to some sections of the concrete surface. In addition, the edges of the float will often leave marks on the wet concrete if the user is less experienced. Trowel marks left in the solidified concrete do not provide a finished appearance. Consequently, a substantial amount of time working carefully on the concrete surface to reduce the likelihood of marking the concrete surface can be spent to achieve a finished appearance.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternate float that overcomes in part at least one or more of the above mentioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect the present invention broadly resides in a float for leveling and smoothing a working surface of concrete or like material having a plate member with an internal aperture, said plate member has a substantially planar and smooth underside surface; and a handle means for moving the plate member over the working surface, wherein the internal aperture within the plate member enables the float to be moved over the working surface with minimal surface tension resistance.

The plate member preferably has inner and outer edges that are upwardly turned relative to the underside surface.

The member may be of any suitable shape including circular, oval, rectangular and triangular. The member is more preferably circular forming an annular ring.

In another aspect the present invention broadly resides in a ring float for leveling and smoothing a working surface of concrete or like material having an annular ring member with a substantially planar and smooth underside

surface; and a handle means for moving the plate member over the working surface, wherein the internal aperture within the plate member enables the float to be moved over the working surface with minimal surface tension resistance.

The annular ring preferably has a centrally positioned aperture. The aperture of the annular ring has the advantage of reducing the suction between the underside surface or lower ring surface and the working surface compared to a float without an aperture. Preferably, the annular ring has inner and outer edges that are upwardly turned relative to the lower ring surface.

Preferably the handle means is a handle spanning the aperture. In another embodiment the handle means includes a long handle for using the float at a distance. In another embodiment the float includes a level to assist with forming a leveled surface. More preferably the level is positioned with the handle.

The ring is preferably made of a material that produces minimal frictional forces between the lower ring surface and the working surface to enable the ring float to be readily moved about the working surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the present invention can be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings wherein: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a ring float according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is another diagrammatic view of the ring float of Figure 1 showing the planar lower ring surface;

Figure 3 is a sectional view of the ring float of Figure 1 ; and

Figure 4 is another diagrammatic view of the ring float of Figure 1 showing the attachment of an extension handle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to Figures 1 to 4, there is shown an annular ring float 10 with a central aperture 11. The ring float 10 has a ring plate portion 12 and a handle 13 attached to the ring plate portion 12 and spanning the aperture 11.

The ring plate portion 12 has a substantially planar lower surface 15. The substantially planar lower surface 15 is comparatively smooth for providing a finished surface. The substantially planar lower surface 15 has inner and outer edges 16, 17 respectively which are upturned towards the handle 13. The upturned edges 16, 17 substantially prevents the edges from leaving marks on the working surface and thus facilitate providing a smooth working surface.

The handle 13 can be gripped by a hand and used to smooth and level the immediate area of the working surface.

With particular reference to Figure 4, an extension handle 20 may be fitted to the handle 13 in order to finish a surface that is some distance from the person.

In another embodiment, the handle may incorporate a level to assist a person in smoothing and leveling an area of the working surface. The aperture 11 within the ring float 10 enables the annular ring float 10 to move about the working surface with minimal resistance. The surface tension created between the annular ring float 10 and the working surface is relatively minimal compared with floats with conventional plates because the aperture 11 breaks the surface contact. Consequently, the ring float 10 can be used at greater speed across the working surface without concern for problems of surface tension

and marking the working surface with the plate edges. Furthermore, the ring shape of the ring float 10 enables the float to be moved in any direction to finish the working surface.

The ring float 10 may be made of any suitable materials including metal and plastics.

ADVANTAGES

An advantage of the preferred embodiment of the ring float includes having an aperture to reduce the surface tension (suction) between the lower ring surface and the concrete or like surface. The reduction in suction in turn increases the speed by which the ring float can be moved over the concrete or like surface without compromising the quality of the work. For example, use of a ring float to level a concrete surface would enable the smoothing or leveling process to be sped up compared to use of a float without an aperture. Another advantage of the preferred embodiment of the ring float is that the upwardly turned inner and outer edges allow the ring float to be moved in any direction without leaving trowel marks.

A further advantage of the preferred embodiment of the ring float is that a pole is attachable to the handle bar to enable the ring float to be used from a distance. This allows more areas to be accessible to the ring float.

VARIATIONS

It will of course be realised that while the foregoing has been given by way of illustrative example of this invention, all such and other modifications and variations

thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of this invention as is herein set forth.

Throughout the description and claims this specification the word "comprise" and variations of that word such as "comprises" and "comprising", are not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps.