US3242242A - Method for the production of decorative wall and flooring tile - Google Patents

Description

)7 f 31* March 22, 1966 o. P. BOURNIQUE 3,242,242

METHOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DECORATIVE WALL AND FLOORING TILE Filed Nov. 29, 1962 I pi El INVENTOR Dam/15250000005 BY 16 f 2 V 20/ Arron/5Y5.

United States Patent 3,242 242 METHOD FOR THE PRdDUCTION 0F DECORA- TIVE WALL AND FLOORING TILE Douglas P. Bournique 1550 S. Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach, Fla. Filed Nov. 29, 1962, Ser. No. 241,071 1 Claim. (Cl. 264-71) This invention relates to the production of decorative wall and flooring tile and relates more particularly to a method for producing a decorative compressed concrete wall -II t has been known heretofore to produce decorative tiles from compressed concrete but the method and means used in the past have been particularly cumbersome and inefiicient and the tiles resulting therefrom have been extremely heavy, headily frangible and subject to crazing or checking, a phenomenon well known in the art causing a multiplicity of minute cracks in the face of the tile unit as it dries out under atmospheric conditions of sun and wind.

Furthermore, many production methods used in the past have suffered from the disadvantages of requiring a large number of personnel with relatively little output. A high degree of unsalable tiles has further decreased the efiiciency of prior art processes because of the inability of such operations to remove the tile units from the mold without fracturing or otherwise deleteriously affecting the final product.

The use of tiles for decorative wall veneer modulars is known to those skilled in this art but heretofore the preparation of a designed flooring has been well known with only aphalt, rubber or linoleum used to form prefabricated units. Decorative flooring of a more substantial nature has been limited to the conventional terrazzo process of forming intricate details on a concrete base by hand-placement of brass strips within the floor area, filling the same with v Such a process is obviously extremely slow and inefficient and renders designed flooring extremely expensive. Moreover, it is almost impossible to repair a terrazzo floor if cracks develop along the joints due to settling of the building or improper foundation construction. Even when such repair is effected it does not look well.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a method for the production of decorative wall and flooring tile.

Another object of the instant invention is to provide a method of preparing decorative tiles for use on walls or in flooring in a manner much more efiicient than those known heretofore with a substantially decreased percentage of unsalable products.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a process for the production of decorative flooring more efficient and commercially advantageous than those known heretofore.

Another object of this invention is the provision of such a designed flooring that is aesthetic, easy to maintain and repair and less slippery than other such hard floorings.

Other and further objects reside in the combinations of elements, arrangements of parts, and features of construction.

Still other objects will be in part obvious and in part be pointed out as the description of the invention proceeds and as shown in the accompanying drawings wherein there are disclosed preferred embodiments of this inventive concept.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a mold and mold supporting plate for use in the instant invention;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view along line 22 in FIGURE 1 showing the concrete material in position to be pressed into a tile unit; and

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a rotary mold support having a plurality of stations for use in the production of tile according to the instant inventive concept.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, it is conventional in this art to form concrete tiles on a rotary press device such as is shown generally at 10 in FIGURE 3. A mold supporting plate, indicated generally by the reference numeral 12 in FIGURE 1, is inserted into the device 10 at one of the rotary positions and automatically indexes the machine to move the supporting plate 12 and its associated mold 14 to the next station. The structure is then automatically or manually moved through each of its stations to perform the chosen procedure with respect to the preparation of tiles. The mechanical aspects of the rotary press 12 are not considered to be a part of the instant invention and will not be described in further detail except insofar as is necessary for a comprehensive understanding of the inventive concepts contained herein.

The basic tile produced by the process of the instant invention is a natural cement gray color and may be readily painted for protection or merely to vary the external color. The material used to form the basic unit is an important part of the instant invention and is preferably comprised of a combination of gray air entrained cement, an aggregate, and water. The cement is conventional and is preferably of the well known gray Portland variety.

The type of aggregate used in this mixture is particularly important as the strength and resiliency of the final product is dependent thereon. The screen analysis of this aggregate must show a sufiicient number of fines to provide the resiliency factor which is necessary to reduce suction when the unit is removed from the mold thereby simplifying release and avoiding any fracturing of the tile. It is also important that sufficient coarse aggregates are present therein to prevent crazing or checking in the face of the unit due to expansion or contraction of the same as it dries out under the various conditions of weather and atmospheric environment to which it may be subjected. The chosen aggregate must be of the coarse variety as differentiated from the fine sands used conventionally in plastering. A particularly useful material is the well known Florida concrete sand or torpedo sand.

It is also extremely important to the production of a decorative tile of the type described hereinabove that the ratio of the three ingredients, cement, aggregate, and water, be retained within certain limits in order that the mix does not become too fluid for efiicient handling or too dry for satisfactory results.

A typical mix would contain about 190 pounds of g e ment, approximately 450 oungs ofggggeggte, and about iwo and one-half gallons of water. The dry ingredients can vary by approximately ten pounds in either direction and the water will be increased or decreased depending on the humidity but should not vary over a quart on an absolute basis, plus or minus.

In place of the torpedo sand, an aggregate formed of an expanded shale made by a rotary kiln process such as Solite, a product manufactured by the Southern Lightweight Aggregate Corporation, may be substituted. The resultant tile will have similar properties but will be much lighter, an individual tile weighing approximately five, instead of seven to nine pounds a piece. The preferred mixture using this material would have a weight ratio of approximately 100 pounds cement to approximately 200 pounds aggregate and approximately 1 gallons of water, assuming the Solite is absolutely dry. A normal batch would be comprised of approximately pounds of cement, 190 pounds of Solite and 1 /2 gallons of water. The cement and Solite may have a range of plus or minus ten pounds and the water may vary by no more than a quart in either direction.

These ingredients are combined in a mixing device to insure homogeneity throughout and it has been found through experience that a horizontal mixer open at the top and having large irregularly shaped stationary paddles around which a drum portion revolves, provides the best results. However, it can be seen that any means for insuring adequate intermixing of the ingredients would be satisfactory.

A quantity of this material is then placed in a hopper (not shown) overlying the mold table 16 of the rotary press 10. The press is then initiated by insertion of a supporting plate 12 in one of the stations as described hereinbefore. It is, of course, to be understood that the press may have any desired number of stations, six being shown as conventional and for simplicity of illustration.

The mold support 12 in the basic production method to form the gray tile of the instant invention is inserted at the station numbered 18 and shown as empty in FIG- URE 3. The apparatus indexes the mold through the positions 20, 22 and 24 with no processing of the material. At the station indicated as 26, the mold is automatically filled by means of the overhead transverse hopper which slides across the same at this position to supply a predetermined quantity of mixture within vertical confining walls indicated by the dashed lines 30 in FIGURE 2. The surface of the material is then screeded to the desired level and the device is indexed to move the supporting plate 12 and mold 14 to the station 28.

In this latter position the material is vibrated by means not shown to assist in rendering the mixture uniform with regard to its density and to remove any voids remaining from the filling process.

A press platen such as shown in dashed lines at 32 in FIGURE 2 is lowered to compress the material shown generally at 34 in FIGURE 2 under approximately 75 thousand plus or minus 1,000 pounds per square foot pressure. The high pressure is important in order to handle the product manually prior to curing, remove all minute air spaces, achieve a modular of exact uniformity, and achieve the units high degree of flexural and compressive strength. This pressure while relatively high on an absolute basis is much lower than used to make other known compressed concrete units, thereby decreasing cost and maintenance of equipment.

Once the pressure is relieved the machine is indexed to bring the supporting plate 12 and its assmiated compressed tile to the starting position at 18 where the entire unit is removed from the apparatus by means of the handle 36. The supporting plate 12 is then tipped in an upward direction so that the operator can hold it by his finger tips and release it from the mold itself generally indicated at 14, a preferred embodiment of which is to be described in more detail hereinafter. The tile may then be released from the mold and placed in a steam curing room until it is set-up or cured, approximately 24 to 48 hours.

In order to faciltate removal of the tile from the mold it is important to use a structure such as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprising a flexible base portion 38 having a smooth-surfaced design forming portion 40 superimposed thereon. The flexible base portion 38 is formed preferably of rubber having sufficient resiliency to withstand the shock of the compression without causing the tile unit to become brittle and yet adequate firmness to allow the tile to be released after it has been formed. It has been found that a rubber base formed of a half inch laminate of a 3 inch neoprene base and a ,5 inch live rubber surface performs better than any other material tested. It is important that the bottom layer be relatively much harder than the top layer to assist in release of the tile.

While other smooth-surfaced materials are useful, the

design forming portion 40 is preferably made of a cast aluminum for best aesthetic results and efficiency. The design forming portion 40 is maintained in position on the flexible base 38 by means of any well known adhesive such as the various contact cements and it is fairly obvious that the relationship of the flexible base portion 38 and the design portion 40 may be in any desired manner to form a predetermined decorative tile. The edges of the design forming portion 40 will preferably be beveled as at 42 to assist in release of the tile from the mold.

The finished tile will have a roughened texture in its elevated surfaces that is, those which were in contact with the flexible base portion 38 and relatively smoothsurfaced depressed areas, in contact with the design forming portion 40 during the compression process. This will result in a tile having contrasting textures improving the highlighting of the pattern and providing a more aesthetically acceptable modular.

Each of the molds in the six stations of the rotary press shown in FIGURE 3 may have a different design and the finished tiles may be arranged on a wall in abutting relationship to form any desired design.

The wall area to be decorated is covered with a conventional cement mortar or the like and the tiles are presoaked in water and are installed in the mortar bed in a predetermined arrangement.

Internally colored tiles may be formed by a somewhat modified procedure using a two step method to reduce certain expenditures for material. When the empty mold is indexed to the position 18 a quantity of facing material containing cement coloring matter, white air entrained cement, marble dust, a light 'weight aggregate such as white perlite, and water is inserted to cover the design forming portion 38 of the mold 34 in slight ex cess as shown below the dashed line 42 in FIG. 2. The proportions of ingredients in the facing material are as follows: Approximately 95.4mm of cement to about 50 pounds of marble dust, 40 pounds of perlite and one an r s of water depending on the dampness in the air and in the materials. Similar tolerances to those described above for the Solite mixture are acoeptable with the colored tiles. Of course, the coloring matter may vary to render the desired results.

Solite may not be used in the facing mixture for a colored tile because it is inert and a solid color would not be attainable. Perlite is natural-1y white and is very absorbent so that addition of color is possible without discoloration.

The perlite and marble dust may be dispensed with and replaced by silicate sand which is also white in color. Silicate sand is stronger than perlite and since marble dust is only necessary when the face of the unit is to be ground, a process unnecessary for use of these internally colored tiles, it is advantageous in most instances to use the silicate sand. A t ical W facin material would contain about io-mundsaimhite ce' ment, 355mm sand plus or minus ten MWUHHWWQOIQI as necessary. The amount of water may vary from two and6'rie-half to three gallons.

Insertion of this material after it has been adequate] mixed together is accomplished either by hand with a scoop or the like, or automatically by a hopper as described hereinabove. As the mold is indexed through the positions 20 and 22 it is vibrated to render the density uniform and remove any voids and at station 24, a backing material comprised of approximately one part cement to two parts Solite is inserted above the facing material to provide a quantity sutficient to form the entire tile. The backing material is dry and when the pressure is applied at 24 the water in the facing material is pushed up through the mix to adequately wet the backing material and form an interface such as shown in dashed lines at 44 in FIG. 2 where the facing and backing materials are integrally bonded.

The remainder of the procedure described above for forming the gray tile is completed after the compression step to produce the colored tile.

A further modification may be incorporated into the process to give the finished tile a terrazzo effect in portions of its exposed surface. When the facing material is made, marble chips may be included in place of the perlite in the facing mixture giving-a typical formula of approximately 95 pounds white air entrained, cement, 50 pounds of marble dust, 21% pounds of number hnarble o n "-I tile is compe g su aces w 1c were in contact with the flexible portion 38 of the mold 14 during the compression step, may be ground down slightly to expose flattened portions of the marble chips and to give these surfaces an even higher polish than the depressed areas in contact with the smooth-surfaced portion 40 of the mold 14 during the compression step. Such tiles may be intermingled with colored tiles prepared in the manner disclosed above or the gray tiles made according to the first-described procedure, to form interesting variations in the wall design.

Tiles made according to the last-described process may be used to prepare a beautiful and sturdy flooring material. Tile units, before grinding, may 'be installed over a concrete base having a conventional cement mortar bad or the like spread thereover. Once all of the tiles have been laid in a preselected design, a terrazzo mixture is then spread over the surface to fill in the depressed areas and the excess mixture is screeded off in line with the high portions of the tiles. After the entire floor is allowed to set up and harden sutficiently, the surface is ground by any conventional means to expose portions of marble chips thus producing a contrasting design between the terrazzo and the original tile. After the surface has been lished it may be sealed against dirt by coating it with a layer of any approved terrazzo sealer.

A flooring prepared in the above-described manner may be of any chosen design and can be easily repaired if cracks are formed due to settling or poor foundation by simply replacing the broken tile. 'The surface of such a flooring is particularly aesthetic in appearance and less slippery than most hard floors of this type,

A two step operation is used in the manufacture of the colored tiles and those having marble dust and chips in the mixture to provide a less expensive, stronger unit. The coloring matter has been found to weaken the oement and since only the visible portion of the tile need be colored, it is advantageous to provide a backing having no coloring matter incorporated therein. Likewise, since the marble chips are required only near the surface and since this material is relatively expensive, a more economical unit can be prepared by a two step process.

From the foregoing it will now be seen that there is herein provided a method and means for producing wall and flooring tiles which accomplishes all of the objects of this invention and others including many advantages of great practical utility and commercial importance.

Since many embodiments may be made of this inventive concept and since many modifications may be made in the embodiments herein shown and described, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted merely as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

The method of producing a uniform high grade tile consisting of the steps of providing a substantially homogeneous wet facing mixture, consisting of one part by weight of air entrained Portland cement, two to two and one-half parts by weight of an aggregate including silica sand having both coarse and fine particles, and sufiicient water to form a wet mixture,

partially filling a mold with said wet facing material to a height above a raised and flexible based but harder topped bottom design, vibrating said mold and facing material only until the wet facing material is of uniform density and voids introduced by mold placement are removed,

complete the filling of the mold above the said wet facing material mixture with a mixture of dry backing material consisting of one part of dry cement and two parts of dry aggregate,

vibrating said mold with said two mixtures therein only until the mixtures are each of a uniform density and voids introduced by mold placement are removed, subjecting said vibrated materials to compactive pressures of approximately 75,000 pounds per square foot whereby excess water in the facing material is forced therefrom and into the dry backing material, and the backing material is integrally bonded with the facing material, releasing the pressure and removing the layered and bonded tile from the mold without disfiguring the sunken design in the lower face of the tile, and

steam curing the removed tile for a period of one to two days thus producing a finished tile.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,019,414 3/1912 Bellamy 264-255 XR 1,681,493 8/ 1928 Miller 264256 1,799,255 4/1931 Russ 264256 2,143,004 1/1939 Greager et al. 2,585,366 2/1952 Bollaert et al. 106-98 2,689,381 9/1954 Terriere 264256 XR 2,858,227 10/1958 Rodsky a 106-97 2,955,323 10/1960 Rivenes 18-42 2,981,976 5/1961 M-aier 18-42 2,991,186 7/1961 Furlan 106-98 FOREIGN PATENTS 215,190 5/1958 Australia.

821,282 10/1959 Great Britain.

840,403 7/ 1960 Great Britain.

ROBERT F. WHITE, Primary Examiner. ALEXANDER H. BRODMERKEL, Examiner.

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