FOR CONCRETE POLISHING MACHINE

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 1 19 of Korean Patent Application No. 10-201 1 -0101 133, filed on October 5, 201 1 , in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, which application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a tip holder integrated with polishing tips that is attachable to a tip holder plate of a concrete polishing machine.

Description of the Related Art

Generally, to polish a concrete surface C clean and smooth, a concrete polishing machine 1 having a plurality of tip holders 10 bonded with polishing tips 20 on tip holder plate 3 at a certain intervals is used. The polishing work is conducted by rotating the tip holder plate 3, which in turn rotates the tip holder 10 and polishing tips 20 to grind the concrete surface C.

However, the conventional tip holder 10 shown in Figure 1 , which is provided with polishing tips 20 at certain intervals, has disadvantages. For example, with reference to Figure 1 , hollow tip supports 1 1 in which the polishing tips 20 are coupled are formed protrusively at certain intervals on the bottom circumference and the polishing tips 20 and tip holder 10 are formed as independent members, the tip holder 10 and the hollow tip supports being injection molded with a plastic resin having weak resistance to heat, such as nylon, PE, PP, or ABS, and their function is simply hold and support the polishing tips 20. As such, the tip supports 1 1 of the tip holder 10 cannot polish a concrete surface C together with the polishing tips 20, when the polishing tips 20 have been worn down.

In addition, when polishing a concrete surface C using the polishing tips 20 attached to the tip holder 10 made of a plastic material, for example, nylon, PE, PP or ABS, which have weak resistance to heat, as shown in Figure 2a and Figure 2b, the bottom of the polishing tips 20, that is, the polishing tips 20 protruding out of the tip supports 1 1 of the tip holder 10 is worn down to the end by friction with the concrete surface C. At this condition, by the heat generated by the friction between the end of the tip holder 10, that is the tip supports 1 1 and polishing tips 20 and between the concrete surface C, the end of the tip supports 1 1 of the tip holder 10, made of a plastic material having a weak resistance to heat, melts down and leaves swirling marks with the molten resin from the tip support 1 1 of the tip holder 10 on the concrete surface C.

Furthermore, when the swirling marks are formed on the concrete surface C by the end of the tip supports 1 1 of the tip holder 10, made of a plastic resin having weak resistance to heat, for example, nylon, PE, PP, or ABS and molten into a ball-shape, by the heat generated from grinding the concrete surface C together with the polishing tips 20, extra polishing work is required to remove the swirling marks from the concrete surface C.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide a tip holder, and more particularly, a tip holder, integrated with polishing tips, which is attachable to a tip holder plate of a concrete polishing machine. To replace conventional tip holders, which are made of the plastic materials having weak resistance to heat, such as nylon, PE, PP, ABS, etc., and installed with separate polishing tips in tip holes thereof, the tip holder is compression molded with a heat- resistant material with integrated polishing tips. Beneficially, the ends of tip supports of the tip holder are well adapted to not melt by heat generated during polishing, but rather pulverize and polish the concrete surface together with the polishing tips, preventing the swirling marks otherwise formed on a concrete surface by the tip holders of conventional systems, which become molten when the polishing tips are worn down. In addition, another benefit of embodiments of the present invention is that the compression molded tip holder with integrated polishing tips can help polish the concrete surface as an assistant polishing means, improving the polishing performance and extending the lifecycle of the polishing tips.

According to embodiments of the present invention, the tip holder is made of a plastic material and installable on a tip holder plate of a concrete polishing machine to polish concrete surfaces with polishing tips which are inserted and bonded with the tip holder, in a manner that the polishing tips protruding from the tip holder are ground while polishing the concrete surface together with the tip holder, so that the scratch of plastic swirl marks otherwise left on the surface by the tip holder and polishing tips can be prevented. In some embodiments, the tip holder is characterized by being made of melamine resin or phenol resin, or in another example embodiment, a mixture of 55% of phenol resin, 23% of silicon carbide (SiC), 1 1 % of carbon (C), and 1 1 % of talc.

To reiterate, embodiments of the present invention provide a tip holder integrated with polishing tips and made of a heat resistant material by compression molding. Beneficially, the ends of the tip supports of the tip holder are well adapted to not melt by heat generated during polishing, but rather pulverize and polish the concrete surface together with the polishing tips, preventing the swirling marks which can otherwise be formed on the concrete surface when polishing with conventional polishing machines. In addition, the compression molded tip holder with integrated polishing tips can help polish the concrete surface as an assistant polishing means, improving the polishing performance and extending the lifecycle of the polishing tips.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a schematic, perspective, exploded view of a conventional tip holder.

Figure 2a shows a conventional tip holder installed on a tip holder plate of a concrete polishing machine. Figure 2b shows the operational position of a concrete polishing machine and polished concrete surface using a conventional tip holder.

Figure 3 is a schematic, perspective view of an embodiment of a tip holder in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 4 is an exploded view of an example embodiment of the tip holder in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 5 shows the tip holder of Figures 3 and 4 installed on a tip holder plate of a concrete polishing machine.

Figures 6a and 6b show the operating position of a concrete polishing machine and a polished concrete surface using an example embodiment of the tip holder in accordance with the present invention.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION

The tip holder integrated with polishing tips (hereinafter, shall be referred to as "the tip holder") in accordance with embodiments of the present invention is described in detail referring to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 3 is a schematic, perspective view and Figure 4 is an exploded view of an embodiment of the tip holder in accordance with the present invention. Figure 5 shows an embodiment of the tip holder in accordance with the present invention installed on a tip holder plate of a concrete polishing machine, and Figures 6a and 6b show the operating position of a concrete polishing machine and a polished concrete surface using an example embodiment of the tip holder in accordance with the present invention

Before describing the tip holder 10a in accordance with embodiments of the present invention in detail, the same or similar numbering scheme will apply to the same or similar structure of the conventional tip holder 10 described herein.

The tip holder 10a in accordance with embodiments of the present invention is attachable to a tip holder plate 3 of a concrete polishing machine 1 to rotate with the tip holder plate 3 driven by the concrete polishing machine 1 and to support and hold polishing tips 20 which polish concrete surfaces C smoothly. With reference to Figures 3 and 4, the tip holder 10a is compression molded from a heat resistant material, inserted and integrated with the polishing tips 20, so that the ends of tip supports 1 1 of the tip holder 10a are well adapted to not melt by heat generated during polishing work, but rather pulverize and polish the concrete surface C together with the polishing tips 20. This is quite different from conventional tip holders 10 (Figures 1 through 2b), which are injection molded from plastic materials having weak resistance to heat, such as nylon, PE, PP, ABS, etc., and installed with separable polishing tips 20, which melt down and leave swirling marks from the molten resin from the tip supports 1 1 of the tip holder 10 on the concrete surface C when the polishing tips 20 are worn down

Here, along the circumference of the bottom of the tip holder 10a, the tip holder 10a is formed with the polishing tips 20 as a single body. In some embodiments, three to five tip supports 1 1 are formed at a certain intervals to fix the polishing tips 20 as an integrated body. In one particular embodiment, four tip supports 1 1 are formed at 90 degree intervals along the circumference of the bottom of the tip holder 10a.

At the topside of the tip holder 10a, a concave-shaped holder socket 30 may be provided to fix the tip holder 10a to the tip holder plate 3 of a concrete polishing machine 1 by being bonded with the outer circumference of the tip holder 10a with adhesive 31 . The holder socket 30 may be injection molded with a plastic material that is the same as a similar socket that is typically injection molded on a topside of the conventional tip holder 10 as an integrated body.

A topside of the holder socket 30 may be provided with a piece of Velcro tape 35 to bond the tip holder 10a to another piece of Velcro tape 5 provided on the bottom of the tip holder plate 3 of the concrete polishing machine 1 .

As described above, the tip holder 10a, compression molded to enable the polishing tips 20 to be supported and fixed in the tip supports 1 1 , is configured such that the ends of the tip supports 1 1 of the tip holder 10a do not melt down by heat generated during polishing operation, but rather pulverize and polish the concrete surface C together with the polishing tips 20, since they are made of a heat resistance plastic material, for example, 100% of melamine or phenol resin, or a composition of melamine or phenol resin added with, for example, silicon carbide (SiC), carbon (C), and talc as additives for improving the strength and polishing performance of the polishing tips. For example, in one particular embodiment, the material may be 55% of melamine or phenol resin, 23% of silicon carbide (SiC), 1 1 % of carbon (C), and 1 1 % of talc.

In addition, the polishing tips 20 which are formed as an integrated body in the tip supports 1 1 of the tip holder 10a, are molded in the tip supports 1 1 of the tip holder 10a and fixed on the tip holder plate 3 of a concrete polishing machine 1 and rotated to polish concrete surfaces C. The polishing tips may be formed in a cylindrical body having a convex bottom, and may be comprised of phenol or epoxy resin, silicon carbide (SiC), artificial diamond, tin oxide (SnO2), carbon (C), and Chromium (Cr) 203. An exemplary constitution is 44% of phenol or epoxy resin, 22% of silicon carbide (SiC), 1 1 % of artificial diamond, 1 1 % of tin oxide (SnO2), 6% of carbon (C), and 6% of Chromium 203 (Cr).

With the tip holder 10a integrated with the polishing tips 20 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention and fixed to the tip holder plate 3 of a concrete polishing machine 1 , as shown in Figure 5, driving the concrete polishing machine 1 to rotate the tip holder plate 3 on which four tip holders 10a are arranged at 90 degree intervals, then, as shown in Figure 6a, the tip holder 10a and the polishing tips 20 formed in the tip supports 1 1 rotate in the same direction as that of the tip holder plate 3. The operator of the concrete polishing machine 1 will move the machine slowly on the concrete surface with the polishing tips 20 contacted on the concrete surface C to polish the concrete surface C.

During the polishing operation, when the bottom ends of the polishing tips 20 protruding out of the tip supports 1 1 of the tip holder 10a are worn out by friction with the concrete surface C up to the end of the tip supports 1 1 of the tip holder 10a, the lowest part of the tip holder 10a, that is, the end of the tip supports 1 1 will begin grinding the concrete surface C together with the polishing tips 20. Different from conventional tip holders 10 (Figures 1 to 2b) made of a plastic resin which melts down by friction with the concrete surface C when the polishing tips 20 protruding out of the tip holder 10 are worn out, the tip holder 10a in accordance with embodiments of the present invention does not make swirling marks because the ends of the tip supports 1 1 do not melt down but support the polishing tips 20, and the tip holder 10a formed with the polishing tips 20 as a single body also polishes the concrete surface C together with the tip supports 1 1 and the polishing tips 20, achieving clean and smooth surface and increased life span of the polishing tips 20.

While it is apparent that the illustrative embodiments of the invention herein disclosed fulfills the objectives stated above, it will be appreciated that numerous modifications and other embodiments may be devised by those skilled in the art. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.