TEXT OF THE DESCRIPTION

SCOPE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns the field of devices used for the installation of tiles in any field, home and not.

In particular, this invention deals with an innovative positioning device for tiles, useful to obtain the correct alignment of the same tiles during the laying phase, obtaining any type of distance between the same, or gap, more or less pronounced, or wide, in a precise and stable way.

STATE OF THE ART

With reference now to the state of the art, it is well known by the skilled person that the laying of tiles involves the laying of an adhesive material on the surface to be covered and the subsequent arrangement of the tiles according to a desired geometry. In the vast majority of cases, space is left between adjacent tiles, commonly called "gap", as mentioned above.

One of the most difficult operations to perform during installation is to align the tiles correctly, namely to ensure the consistency of the gaps between adjacent tiles.

Moreover, another complex operation is to create a correct planar arrangement of the tiles, in order to guarantee a constant level of the covering surface.

For several years now, to facilitate installation, well-known devices have been used to ensure the constant width of the gaps between the tiles and, at the same time, to level out the tiles evenly.

Devices are known comprising a base with a cross-shaped appendix (or linear or half-cross appendix) on the inner sides of which the corner portions of four contiguous tiles are placed on top of each other. The thickness of the arms of the cross determines the width of the gaps between these tiles.

The height of the T-shaped or cross-shaped devices is usually considered at the level of the layer of glue that is used to fix the tiles, indeed, it is usually preferred that they remain drowned below the layer of glue so as not to be visible in the gaps.

A number of such devices are used, with the various bases to be placed in the intersections of groups of adjacent and facing tiles. In this way, the tiles are arranged parallel to each other and spaced consistently.

From the classic "cross- shaped" or T-shaped devices further variants have been created, to example in some variants from the center of the intersection of the cross appendix a threaded column or stem develops upward.

They are further known systems so called "self-levelling" that in addition to these bases include a sort of knob or clamping tie-rod, said element including at least a central hole to screw on said column or threaded rod.

By screwing this knob, it goes down to press on the corners of the tiles on the base, which therefore tend to assume a coplanar arrangement, bringing the tiles to a common level. This adaptation operation is done with all the various devices in the corner areas of all the tiles, which therefore assume an overall coplanar configuration. When the floor is finished, the knob and appendix are removed and the base remains in place incorporated in the covered surface, with the parts of the gaps hidden by the grout: in fact it is sufficient to kick the knob in the direction of the gap.

In order to facilitate the removal of the appendix, a number of models of appendices or rods connected or fixed in different ways to the base of the appendix have been proposed.

Normally these appendices are composed of a threaded stem and a possible connecting fin between said threaded stem and said base, such a fin normally has three main dimensions of length, height and thickness that will be defined for convenience thickness S, height A with respect to the base, defined orthogonal to the base and length of the fin itself and L intended as the length of the section of (Note that length L and thickness S define the contact surface between the base and the fin, this will be useful in the description at a later stage.)

To make it easier to remove the screw-fin assembly, namely said appendix from the base, various solutions have been proposed: including fins with zone of connection on the base made thinner than the thickness of the fin itself, or with reduced thickness S, or fins made with connection area with the base with reduced section with respect to the extension in the longitudinal direction L, solution also described in document EP 2549030B1 , in addition to a plurality of other very similar patents, or even fins made with windowed connecting areas in the center. (For clarity, example figures will be shown in the relevant description of the figures).

These solutions all have essentially the same purpose and technical effect. These solutions, although advantageous and used in the sector, still have disadvantages, in fact, once the central element has been removed, namely the appendix formed by from the threaded rod and fin, if this element is removed before the glue or fixing material for the tiles has dried, these tiles may lose their correct alignment with each other and the central element of separation and positioning may be missing.

This could cause some or many tiles to move, with the disastrous result of having to remove them all to do the job again, in case of both floor and wall. This can happen with the classic alignment devices including base, lug and threaded rod, as well as those devices including, in addition to the base, a cross or T-shaped element placed between said base and said lug: in fact, as said, even if the is a cross-shaped or "T-shaped" devices are advantageously suited to help for a correct positioning of the tiles, after the removal of the upper fin they remain drowned in the glue, so that it is disadvantageously useless to maintain the correct positioning of the tiles when removing the fin and pin/screw assembly before the glue is completely dry.

To date, no valid technical solutions have been proposed to this problem.

One purpose of this invention is to solve all the above known art problems.

A further purpose of this invention is to describe a positioning device for tiles that guarantees the correct positioning of the same even after removal of the appendix.

One more purpose of this invention is to describe an easy-to-use device.

A further purpose of this invention is to describe a tile positioning device suitable for use with any type of cap, knob or similar suitable for the purpose.

One more purpose of this invention is to describe a device that is easy to implement and economical.

A further purpose of this invention is to describe a device that guarantees greater safety and precision in the laying of the tiles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

These and other purposes will be obtained by virtue of the innovative device for the positioning of tiles described by the present invention, said device in particular comprises at least a levelling base for the positioning of tiles, at least an appendix connected to said base, said appendix comprising at least a fin connected from a first side to said base orthogonally to the base itself and at least one stem connected to said fin on a second side, characterized by the fact that said fin is divided into at least one upper part and at least one lower part, said fin further including side notches separating said at least one upper part connected to said stem and said at least one lower part connected to said base, said at least one lower part of said fin while remaining connected to said base, said lower part further including at least lips raised above the height H of the lower part above the base, said lips raised above the height H of the lower part above the base, said lips remaining always advantageously outside the glue laying plane

Therefore, in a particularly advantageous and innovative way, these lips are a separating and aligning element for these tiles at the detachment of the upper part of the appendix, the tiles remaining particularly and correctly positioned even if the glue is not yet dry, both with respect to the support surface and between them. Note that said lateral notches forming said lips will obviously be at the same height H with respect to the base, said notches originate on the external side of the fin and end in correspondence of the upper surface of the lower part of the fin, the surface along which the upper part of the fin is detached from the lower part.

These notches identify or form the separation lips on the bottom.

This lower part of said fin essentially acts as a separation element between the tiles, the lower part of height H, however, could be drowned by the glue, similarly to the T-shaped or cross-shaped separating elements, (as it happens also as it regards the realization variants described in the above mentioned patent), thanks instead to the protruding lips from the inferior part of the fin, of height HI, that will remain on the inferior part of the fin also to separation of the inferior part of the same, the correct alignment of the tiles is always guaranteed.

It should be noted that in a particularly advantageous way, this innovative device not only makes the laying of the tiles completely safe and precise, acting as a safety element, but also makes it possible to speed up the laying process itself, since it is possible to remove the upper part of the appendix without waiting for the glue used to fix the tiles to the floor/wall/ceiling to dry completely.

Still, in a particularly advantageous way, this element of separation, or said lips, can have any length (height) useful to keep the tiles in place and/or separate, preferably having a height of a greater than 0,5 mm. Depending on the format/thickness of the tiles to be installed, various sizes of devices with a lower part will be available in an advantageous way of fins with any height and thickness suitable for the purpose.

Note that in general cross-shaped or T-shaped devices have a maximum height compared to the base of 1 - 1.5 mm, the lips instead will stretch from that height up, for at least another 0.5-1 mm, and/or more, any expert in the field knowing that these thicknesses are sufficient and functional to the innovative purposes described.

Furthermore, this device is suitable for use with any knob suitable for the purpose, the stem can be of any type suitable for the purpose.

In a further advantageous way, said lower part of said fin can have any thickness depending on the type/thickness of gap to be made, similarly, said lips can have any thickness suitable for the purpose.

Again, in an advantageous way, between said upper part and said lower part of the fin, the separation surface identified by said lateral notches, can be of reduced thickness to facilitate the breakage between the upper and lower part of the fin. In a form of realization said lower part of fin and said base are made in a single piece.

In other forms of construction, on said base are included elements of separation to form a cross or a T (see attached figures).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

These and further advantages obtained by means of the innovative device for the safe and precise positioning of tiles described by the present invention, will be further investigated and clarified with reference to the description of the attached figures in which:

Fig. 1 a, 1 b, 1 c shows common laying devices of the know art

In fig. 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e various views of a particularly preferred form of realization of said precision and safety positioning device are represented; Figs. 3a and 3b show views of another particularly preferred form of construction of the device of the invention;

in fig. 4a, 4b, 4 are represented views of other forms of particularly preferred realization of the device object of invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

With reference to figures 1 a, 1 b, 1 c, some forms of realization of positioning devices for tiles of the known art are represented, in which in particular in Fig. 1 a and 1 b two known devices are represented, including a base B and an appendix connected thereto 20,21 : in case of Fig. 1 a and 1 b the appendix after installation detaches from the base, in case of 1 b, the appendix has a lower section in contact with the base of reduced length L compared to the length I of the fin 21 of the device, this helping the detachment, in any case, both for the case of figure 1 a and 1 b, the base remains drowned under the tiles disadvantageously, there is no guarantee that the tiles remain correctly positioned between them. Note that these are just a few examples of known art, there are a number of essentially similar devices having the same functions on the market.

With reference to fig. 1 c, the device in figure 1 b is represented in a version in which a cross (known) is fixed on the base for the positioning of the tiles, with the above fin with an easy invitation to detach, this allows a more precise positioning of the tiles, but when the same are fixed with glue, the crosses (or similar) remain substantially drowned in the glue, so that if appendix 21 is removed before the glue is completely dry, therefore all the disadvantages described above will still be present, namely possible displacement of the tiles, incorrect alignment, or even detachment due to wall positioning or the like.

With reference to figures 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d there is represented a form of particularly innovative realization of the safety positioning device 1 for tiles described by the present invention, in which the device comprises at least a base 2, an appendix 9, said appendix comprising at least a fin 12 and a screw or pin 11 , said fin being divided here in an upper part 12a of the fin, connected to said pin/screw 11 , and at least a lower part of the fin 12b, said lower part of the fin including advantageously at least lips 12c that protrude for a height HI from said lower part of the fin 12b, having height H in comparison to the base 2, said upper part 12a being connected to said lower part of the fin 12b and said lips 12c along a separation line given by a connection/separation surface 13; said fin 12 includes notches 14 for the separation of said upper part of fin 12a from said lower part of the fin 12b.

This connection/separation area 13 may or may not be thinner to help detach the bottom of the fin 12b from the upper fin 12a. Note that notches 14 separate the upper part from the lower part of the fin. Note that the direction of development of the notches 14 can have an inclination or angle of inclination 1 variable with respect to the upper surface S12b of the part 12b, this surface S12b being parallel to the surface of the base 2. The angle of inclination a1 of notch 14 is preferably greater than 1 degree and less than 90 degrees, the surface of said protruding notches from said lower part of the fin 12b forms said lips 12c protruding from said upper surface S12b of the lower part of the fin 12b. (Note that of course the cutting angle a2 of the bottom surface S12a of the upper side of the fin 12a forms with a1 an angle of 90 degrees (a1 +a2=90 degrees).

In particular, in a particularly innovative way, said lips 12c of said lower part of fin 12b are a safety element, because the layer of glue can at most reach the level of the height H1 of the fin 12b but not above, (for obvious reasons, the glue can not be too close to the top edge of the tiles) this in a very advantageous and innovative way solving all the above mentioned problems of known art.

In fig.2a the device 1 for safe positioning with appendix 9 connected to the base is visible and in fig. 2b the device with the upper part is represented including screw 11 and upper part of the fin 12a detached.

In fig.2c it is visible the device 1 in a side view and in fig.2d in a view from above, in fig.2e is represented a magnified detail of the device with reference to the angles a1 and a2.

Figs 3a and 3b show another particularly preferred form of realization of the device 1 ,10 described in the present invention, in which said fin 120 includes a plurality of notch zones 140', 140", 140"' etc. at different heights, or distances, with respect to the base 2, (or with respect to the upper surface S120b of the lower side of the fin 12b). So, in an advantageous way, the user, depending on the thickness of the tiles to be laid, can decide at which height H1 ,H2,H3,etc of the fin, namely in which notch area, remove the upper part 120a, 120a", 120a" etc. from the lower part

120b, 120b', 120b", 120b'" etc. of the fin. Furthermore, in further design variants, as shown in fig. 4a, the innovative device 100 described by the present invention is represented in a variant which further includes a positioning element for the tiles 15a, attached to said base 2, which intersects perpendicularly to the lower part 12b of the fin can be assimilated to a T element, thus forming a T separation element.

The safety element or elements 12c, namely the lips that protrude from the plane formed by the surface S12b and the plane, are always advantageously included which may be at the same height H as the surface S12b in relation to the base 2, or at a lower height in relation to the surface S12b. Similarly, figures 4b, 4c, 4d are described, which are viewed from the sides and front and from the top of a further realization form where the device 101 includes fixed on base 2 in addition to element 15a an additional element 15b, which intersecting perpendicularly, one on each side, forming a line, with respect to the lower part of the fin 12b, as shown in figure 4c, it forms a separating cross element, for which what is described with reference to figure 4a,b,c applies.

In a further variant at least devices 100 and 101 may also not include the base.

These variants with T-shaped or cross-shaped elements are obviously also applicable to the forms of realization of a separation device in safety comprising more than one notch zone 140 and therefore more than one choice of detachment zones of the upper part of the fin 120a from the lower part 120b which will therefore have variable height and

The different types of equipment can be used to complement each other, depending on the zone of detachment chosen by the user. The fin 12, 120 having its own general height A defined according to the form of realization.

Please note that in other variants the lips can have any shape suitable for the purpose, here for simplicity we have described triangular, said shape simplifying advantageously the detachment of the upper part (or upper parts of the fin) from the lower one / s, but in other variants the lips can be at least one or preferably even more than two and have a rectangular shape, square, rounded, round or other shape suitable for the purpose of operating advantageously and innovatively as element(s) of separation and maintenance in the correct position of the tiles even after the removal of the upper part of the fin 12a, 120a etc. attached or not to a stem or screw suitable for the purpose.

Note again that said notches are preferably two for each zone of detachment, to simplify the detachment of the parts, but they can also be in different numbers.

Note further that, as mentioned above, the stem or screw 11 connected to said fin 12,120 can be of any type suitable for coupling with any knob suitable for the purpose, in fact this having nothing to see with the purposes of the present invention, any variant in this sense therefore falling within the scope of protection of the present invention.

It is therefore clear that this invention in all its variants is able to solve all the problems of the known art, provided that they fall within the scope of protection of the same, so that variants in materials in which the device is made or any part of it, type of base or absence of the same, number of notches, shape of the notches position of the notches, as long as they form the advantageous lips described here, type of screw or stem, or absence of the same, type of knob or similar device etc. are all to be considered variants of the present invention and therefore included in the present scope of protection as well as better described by the accompanying claims.