Field of technology

The invention falls within the field of stove building for the heating of homes and buildings, and relates to the new design of a stove tile intended both for stove lining and for the actual building of stoves using metalworking methods.

State-of-the-art

Currently, tiled stoves are made of ceramic tiles, the production of which is a predominantly manual process. The traditional procedure involves the pressing of handmade clay into a mould with the required tile relief. As an alternative, many producers currently use the method of casting thin and industrially produced mixtures into plaster moulds. Both the traditional and the modern process include subsequent drying. In order to produce quality tiles, the drying process must be slow and as long as possible. If tiles are exposed to faster drying at higher temperatures, the clay shrinks more rapidly, resulting in the deformation of the tile shape. Once they are dried, tiles are put in kilns at temperatures of 1000 °C. Subsequently, a liquid glaze solution is applied to the tile surface, using the traditional method of coating or a more modern method of spraying. During the final production stage, glazed tiles are fired again, and so the entire production process, including drying, takes between 4 and 6 weeks. Subsequently, it takes approximately one week to build a tiled stove within the customer’s premises using masonry procedures; the process produces a lot of noise, dust and building debris. It is, therefore, the objective of the addressed invention to present a new stove tile design which would greatly reduce the production time, simplify the tiled stove installation producer within the customer’s premises and avoid conventional building processes, while guaranteeing better utility properties.

Principle of the invention

This object is achieved by the invention, which consists of stove tiles designed for the building of tiled stoves for the heating of homes or interior public spaces, and for use in saunas, garden grills, smokehouses and comprising either a faceplate or a faceplate and an inner frame, where the nature of the invention is that it consists of a casting of ferrous or non-ferrous metals or their alloys, wherein the face wall of the tile faceplate has either an untreated raw surface or is formed by the combination of an untreated raw surface and a treated surface, or the entire face is treated mechanically or chemically, or treated thermally or by the application of other substances.

In a preferred version, the faceplate and the inner frame form a single unit, or the faceplate and the inner frame are formed by separately cast sets which are connected by screws or rivets, or alternatively welded or soldered together.

Furthermore, it is preferred that the inner frame is located in the central part of the back wall of the faceplate or that the inner frame is located at the perimeter of the back wall of the faceplate; with regard to the centre of the faceplate, it should be positioned symmetrically or asymmetrically and provided with a set of reinforcing and accumulating ribs.

Finally, it is preferred that the face wall of the faceplate is either mechanically polished, carved, engraved, sandblasted or incrusted with other materials, or that it is chemically treated by etching, chemical dyeing, chemical patination or electroplating, or that it is heat treated by heat plating, thermal dyeing by thermal patination, or treated by spraying or painting, or enamelling.

In an ideal situation the face wall of the faceplate is provided with one or more complementary elements.

The new design of the cast metal stove tile provides a new and higher efficiency, especially in that the production time can be reduced to 24 hours, by using various casting techniques, including sand moulds and the lost wax process. Thanks to the tile production by casting, it is possible to respond very quickly to the requirements of clients seeking the building of tiled stoves; with a simple change of the casting pattern, it is possible produce custom stoves for individual customers. Metal stoves are significantly more resistant to mechanical wear or damage compared to ceramic tiles, and if damaged they can be repaired directly within the stove without the need for dismantling damaged tiles or rebuilding the entire tiled stoves. These stoves do not become an integral part of the structure as is the case with ceramic tiled stoves, and if the home is sold or there is a need to operate stoves in a different location, they are easy to be moved. The thermal properties of grey cast iron, from which the tiles will be mainly cast, also allow for the use of fuels with higher calorific value than the commonly used wood, and are able to accumulate more heat energy in the stove casing thanks to the fact that their specific weight is four times higher compared to conventional tiles. These tiles also better withstand thermal changes over time.

Thanks to the mechanical properties of metals and the metalworking assembly method, it is possible to design and build tiled stoves in unlimited shapes and sizes. With the use of various welding methods, such as copper - brass brazing, screw joining or other metalworking methods, it is possible to carry out most of the assembly work in a workshop outside the final assembly site, thus shortening the final assembly time within the customer’s premises to just 1 or 2 days, avoiding standard building assembly procedures. Another advantage of cast metal tiles is the wide range of options for their outer surfaces, ranging from raw surface of the casting to the application of various coating, spraying or jeweller’s techniques.

Comments on attached images

Specific examples of the implementation of the invention are shown schematically in the attached drawings, where Fig. 1a) - 1d) schematically show four basic designs of tiles, with differently positioned inner frame, with respect to the contour of the faceplate; Fig. 2 provides a longitudinal section of a square tile faceplate, at an axonometric view shown at a rear angle, and Fig. 3 shows a longitudinal cross-section of a hexagonal tile faceplate at an axonometric view shown at a rear angle, Fig. 4a) - 4d) show longitudinal cross-sections of the tiles from Fig 1a) - 1d) at an axonometric view shown at a rear angle, where the faceplate and the inner frame form a single unit, Fig. 5a) - Fig. 5d) are longitudinal sections of the tiles from Fig. 1a) - Fig. 1d) at an axonometric view shown at a rear angle, where the faceplate and the inner frame are formed by separate and fixed construction components; Fig. 6a) - Fig. 6d) are schematically shown sets of four basic designs of the tiles from Fig. 1a) - Fig. 1 d), with an additional element overlapping more than one tile across the exterior surface; Fig. 7a) - Fig. 7d) show longitudinal sections of the tiles from Fig. 1a) - Fig. 1d) at an axonometric view shown at a rear angle, where the faceplate is provided with an additional component, and Fig. 8a) - Fig 8f) are schematically shown tiles of various possible design of the reinforcing and accumulating ribs of the inner frame.

The drawings illustrating the presented invention and the following examples of particular designs do not in any way limit the scope of protection stipulated in the definition, but merely illustrate the principle of the invention.

Examples of the invention designs

In the basic design of the invention shown in Fig. 1a) and Fig. 4a), the stove tile is a cast of ferrous or non-ferrous metals or their alloys, consisting of a square flat faceplate 1 and a square inner frame 2 forming a single unit, where the inner frame 2 is located on the back of the faceplate 1 symmetrically to the faceplate 1 centre. The lengths of faceplate 1 sides, the thickness or the depth of the inner frame 2 are optional, depending on the type of the tiled stove and the selected method in which the heater will be built. The inner frame 2 can then be provided with a certain number of differently located reinforcement- accumulation ribs 3, which help the accumulation and transfer of heat to the stove body, and their examples are shown in Fig. 8a) - Fig 8f).

As an alternative design, the tiles shown in Fig. 1b) and Fig. 4b) have a square faceplate 1 and a square inner frame 2 of the same perimeter dimensions, i.e. the inner frame 2 is positioned along the perimeter of the faceplates 1; the same applies to another tile alternative, i.e. a hexagonal tile shown in Fig. 1c) and Fig. 4c). Finally, the inner frame 2 can be mounted eccentrically with respect to the centre of the faceplate 1, as shown in Fig. 1d) and Fig. 4d). In other possible designs of the tiles shown in Figs. 5a) - Fig. 5d), the faceplate 1 and the inner frame 2 are cast as separate assemblies and subsequently connected by screws or rivets, or alternatively welded or soldered together, etc.

In addition, this type of tiles allows for the attachment of additional components 4 of different sizes to the face wall of the faceplate 1, as schematically shown in Fig. 6a) - Fig. 6d) or at an axonometric view in Fig. 7a) - 7d).

An integral part of the invention is the fact that the face wall of the tile faceplate 1 may, depending on the customer’s wishes, have either an untreated raw surface of cast metal or a combination of an untreated raw and polished surface. The face wall may also be treated by hot-dip plating, electroplating, manual engraving, mechanical or laser engraving, sandblasting or surface etching. Other possible surface finishes of the tiles include heating dyeing, chemical dyeing, colour painting, painting or enamelling, mechanical, chemical or thermal patination, or embossing with other metals. Finally, metal tiles can be decorated with Niello, where engraved or etched reliefs with a depth of 0.3 to 0.4 mm made in a metal surface are filled with a contrasting grey or black substance (not by hammering in other metals) and then polished, or using the inlaying technique, i.e. hammering in strips of silver, brass, gold or copper into engraved grooves.

Various decorative or technological accessories or accessory 4 can be attached to the surface of the metal tiles without any risk of damage, which can then be replaced or removed over time. All these and other arts and crafts techniques can be used in any combinations, and tiles can be arranged exactly according to the customer’s wishes.

The described designs of the tiles are not the only possible solution of the invention, but without any effect on its nature the faceplate 1 does not need to have a square or hexagonal shape, but can be formed by any regular or irregular n-gon, provided that when building a stove, various shapes and sizes of tiles can be combined. Also, the inner frame 2 does not need to copy the perimeter of the faceplate 1, but it can be designed as needed, according to the type of the stove design.

Industrial usability

The stove tiles made according to the invention by the casting of ferrous and non- ferrous metals, are intended not only for the building of tiled stoves for heating of homes or interior public spaces, but also for the building of tiled stoves for use in saunas, garden grills, smokehouses etc.