Patent Grant
9512623
Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to protective padding and more particularly relates to recycled protective tiling.
Description of the Prior Art
The most common injuries at recreational facilities such as playgrounds and athletic or sporting arenas are attributed to falls. Such injuries include head trauma, fractures and sprains, some leaving long term disability. Children very often run on concrete slabs or loose gravel, while others play on swings, carrying them high above the ground. During incidents in which the child loses control or balance, the ground material can prove to be very unforgiving.
Conventional methods of minimizing injury from falls include padding the ground with dense material such as closed cell foam. This type of padding commonly comes in lengthy sheets that are cut to size. The sheets are placed over the ground, regardless of the composition. For example, closed cell foam pads are often placed over loose gravel in the same manner that they are placed over concrete slab. Unfortunately, the underlying ground material can affect the overall effectiveness of the protective padding.
Closed cell foam pads most typically have a planar bottom and top without any recesses. While this conventional design provides means for effectively positioning and maintaining coverage of a concrete slab, if the same foam pad is placed on loose gravel or rocks, it will not be secured and may cause further personal injury from movement of the protective covering. Additionally, when closed cell foam pads are placed on uneven surfaces such as gravel, rooftop membranes, the foam pads take the shape of the underlying surface, creating an uneven activity area that may provoke falls from tripping. Conventional closed cell foam padding also tends to become slippery when wet from inclement weather or nearby sprinklers as water commonly pools on the flat surface thereof.
There are also conventional tiles available that are made from reprocessed or recycled rubber, for example, from shredded rubber automobile tires. However, such conventional tiles do not interlock with one another and may separate, curl, peel or buckle, leaving either an exposed area of the supporting surface on which the tiles are laid, or an uneven surface, which may cause injury to a child or person playing on the tiled surface. Also, if conventional non-interlocking tiles are installed on a rooftop, they may be unsafe and may cause injury because of the potential flight characteristics of such tiles resulting from high wind conditions.
When conventional tiles are placed next to each other, even if they were somehow glued together, there may be a tendency for the tiles to separate, curl and/or peel at their edges, possibly caused by temperature fluctuations or use. Such curling may result in an uneven surface and may cause injury to a person walking or running thereon.
A viable solution to the design flaws of conventional tiles is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0124925 and entitled “Interlocking Rubber Tiles for Playgrounds,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The aforementioned published application discloses a tile that may be interlocked with adjacent tiles to cover an area, such as a playground or rooftop. The design utilizes not only a plurality of male connectors and female receptacles positioned on the lateral sides of the tile that are engageable with one another so that adjacent tiles may be interlocked, but also a plurality of elongated projections spaced apart from each other and situated on one or more lateral sides of a tile, and elongated slots spaced apart from each other which are positioned on one or more lateral sides of an adjacent tile so that the projections of one tile may be received by the slots of an adjacent tile. Glue may be used to hold each elongated projection in a respective slot.
Although the projections and slots disclosed in the aforementioned '925 published application works well to prevent the interlocked tiles from curling at their edges, it is sometimes difficult to force the projections of one tile into respective slots of an adjacent tile when the tiles are tightly arranged so that there is little or no gap between adjacent tiles. It is possible that, by applying a downward force on the tiles to cause them to interlock, the projections of one tile may be sheared off or damaged, or may not fully seat properly in a respective slot of an adjacent tile, the result being a weakened anti-curling connection between adjacent tiles.
It is an object of the present invention to provide rubberized tiles (which also include rubberized mats, blocks and pavers) for use in covering sports and recreational areas, playgrounds or the like, as well as rooftops, which interlock with one another.
It is another object of the present invention to provide rubberized, interlocking tiles which include structure that acts as a reservoir for containing glue to adhesively join adjacent tiles together.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide rubberized tiles which interlock with one another, and which include structure that acts as a reservoir for containing glue to adhesively join adjacent tiles together, and further include structure that allows excess glue to be removed from the reservoir.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide interlocking tiles that include structure which helps minimize separation, curling and peeling of the edges of the tiles.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide interlocking tiles for use with athletic and recreational areas, playgrounds, rooftop surfaces and the like made from reprocessed or recycled rubber which overcome the inherent disadvantages of known tiles.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide interlocking tiles which may be installed on rooftops and which satisfy wind uplift criteria.
In accordance with one form of the present invention, a tile for covering an area and which interlocks with an adjacent tile includes a main body having a top surface and a bottom surface disposed opposite the top surface. The main body has at least a first lateral side and a second lateral side.
The tile includes at least one male connector situated on at least one of the first lateral side and the second lateral side of the main body and extending outwardly therefrom. The tile further includes at least one female receptacle situated on at least one of the first lateral side and the second lateral side of the main body.
The male connector of the tile is engageable with a female receptacle of an adjacent tile so that the tile may interlock with the adjacent tile.
Preferably, the male connector and the female receptacle include structure defining a reservoir for containing an adhesive for adhesively securing the tile and an adjacent tile together.
The tile further includes structure defining at least one generally wedge-shaped slot or recess situated on at least one of the first and second lateral sides of the main body. The tile also includes at least one corresponding generally wedge-shaped projection situated on a opposite lateral side of the tile from where the at least one slot is located. The wedge-shaped projections of the tile are received by corresponding wedge-shaped slots of an adjacent tile.
More specifically, each projection of one tile may include an inverted triangular or ramp-like sloped entrance surface which is received in a complementary-shaped recess of an adjacent tile. The sloped entrance surface, either triangular or ramp-like in shape, on each projection of one tile allows the tile to be forced downwardly in close side-by-side proximity to an adjacent tile without causing the projection to be sheared off or damaged when doing this. Each projection preferably includes a flat upper surface, extending outwardly from a lateral side of the tile on which it is mounting and situated opposite the sloped entrance surface. The complementary-shaped recess of an adjacent tile into which the projection is received also is defined with a flat top wall. When the two adjacent tiles are mated together using a downward force on one tile, the sloped entrance surfaces of the projections pass beyond the top surface of the adjacent tile and into their respective complementary-shaped recesses of the adjacent tile. When the flat upper surfaces of the projections pass the flat top walls of the recesses, the projections are locked into place within their respective recesses to prevent the tiles from separating, curling, peeling or lifting relative to one another along their lateral sides.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
Each tile 2 may be formed in a plurality of shapes and sizes, but preferably is rectangular. The tile 2 includes a main body 3 residing generally in a plane and having a top surface 4 having a high coefficient of friction for providing sufficient traction to children and other users. The main body 3 of the tile 2 also includes an oppositely disposed bottom surface 6, the bottom surface 6 being laid on and resting on the ground or other supporting surface and having a recessed portion 8 formed therein. A plurality of cylindrical stanchions 10 extending downwardly and outwardly from the recessed portion 8, the end face 12 of each stanchion 10 being coplanar with the bottom surface 6 of the tile 2, provide gripping means to resist movement of the tile 2 when the ground surface consists of loose materials such as gravel, pebbles or shale. More specifically, when the tiles 2 are placed on a ground surface consisting of loose materials, the loose ground material may fill the recessed area around the stanchions 10 and the stanchions 10 may anchor the tile 2 in place. Each end face 12 of the stanchions 10 defines a flat bottom surface that is co-planarly aligned with the bottom surface 6 of the tile 2 to provide a large surface area to grip flat ground materials such as concrete slab.
Along the periphery of the main body 3 of the rubber tiles 2 are situated a plurality of interlocking mechanisms comprising a male connector 14 and a mating female receptacle 16. More specifically, along a first lateral side and neighboring second lateral side of the main body 3 of the tile 2 are extending outwardly therefrom a series of male connectors 14. Disposed oppositely of the male connectors 14, along a third lateral side and neighboring fourth lateral side of the main body 3, are extending outwardly therefrom a series of female receptacles 16. Individual rubber tiles 2 may be joined together by cooperatively mating the male connectors 14 on the first and second lateral side of a first tile 2 with the female receptacles 16 on the third or fourth lateral side of a second tile. To provide structural support, the tiles 2 are preferably joined together in a staggered manner, as shown in
Now referring to
The female receptacles 16, as illustrated in
Each of the outer wall 30 of the female receptacle 16 and the vertical second segment 20 of the male connector 14 further includes a vertically disposed slot 40, which slots 40 are aligned with one another when the connector 14 is received by the receptacle 16. The vertical slot 40 of the vertical second segment 20 of the male connector 14 is in fluid communication with the glue reservoir 24 formed in the male connector 14 to allow excess adhesive filling the reservoir to flow through the vertical slot 40 from the male connector 14. Similarly, the vertical slot 40 of the outer wall 30 of the female receptacle 16 is in fluid communication with the glue reservoir 38 formed in the female receptacle 16 to allow excess adhesive filling the reservoir 38 to flow through the vertical slot 40 from the female receptacle 16.
Each inner wall 28 of the female receptacles 16 further includes a vertically disposed channel 50 formed therein, as shown in
Prior to interlocking two neighboring tiles 2, a liquid adhesive is applied to one or both of the horizontal first segment 18 and/or glue reservoir 24 of each male connector 14 and the recess 26 and/or glue reservoir 38 of each female receptacle 16. As the aligned male connector 14 and female receptacle 16 of adjacent tiles 2 are mated and pressure is applied, the aligned vertical slots 40 in the outer wall 30 of the female receptacle 16 and the vertical second segment 20 of the male connector 14 create a path for excess adhesive to exit the glue reservoirs 24, 38 of the male connectors 14 and female receptacles 16 and the sides of the joined together tiles 2. Excess glue will also escape the female receptacle 16 through the channel 50 formed in the inner wall 28 of the female receptacle 16 and will flow downwardly towards the ground and away from the top surface of the tile when the tiles are joined together and positioned with the top surface properly facing upwardly. Thus, the channels 40, 50 will help minimize or prevent any adhesive from adhering to the top surface of the tile, which would otherwise have required its removal therefrom, which is difficult to do because of the rough surface texture of the tile. The adhesive secures the vertical second segment 20 of the male connector 14 within the recess 26 of the female receptacle 16 and preferably secures the top surface 22 of the horizontal first segment 18 of the male connector 14 to the end wall 36 of the outer wall 30 of the female receptacle 16.
The top surface 4 of each tile 2 preferably further includes a plurality of water channels 42. The water channels 42 are preferably formed as chamfers along the top peripheral edges of the tile 2. As neighboring tiles 2 are interlocked, their facing peripheral chamfered edges create such a recess or channel 42 that allows water to run off the top surface 4 of the tile 2 into the channel 42, minimizing water pooling. Additional water channels 44 may be formed as elongated recesses in the top surface 4, each being in fluid communication with an aforementioned peripheral water channel 42.
Referring to
Correspondingly, in this preferred form, the tile 2 includes a plurality of generally wedge-shaped projections 15 spaced apart from each other, each projection being positioned on a side of the tile that is preferably opposite the side having the generally wedge-shaped slots 17, as shown in
The slots 17 and projections 15 are preferably complementary in shape so that the projections may be received by the slots. However, it is envisioned to be within the scope of the present invention for the slot 17 to have any general shape that allows it to at least partially receive the generally wedge-shaped projection 15. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the projections 15 preferably include an upper portion 60 and a lower portion 62 disposed opposite the upper portion 60, and at least two opposite lateral side walls 61. Preferably, the upper portion 60 and lower portion 62 are asymmetrical to one another. More specifically, the projections 15 are preferably wedge-shaped and the slots 17 are preferably formed as complementary wedge-shaped recesses.
Referring to
When two tiles 2 are placed adjacent one another, with the side of one tile which includes projections 15 facing the side of the other tile which includes slots 17, the projections 15 and slots 17 should be positioned on their respective sides so that they are in alignment and may mate with one another, the projections 15 of one tile being received by corresponding slots 17 of the other tile, as can be seen in
When two adjacent tiles are mated together using a downward force on one tile, the sloped entrance surfaces of the projections 15 pass beyond the top surface and slot lip 63 of the adjacent tile and into their respective complementary-shaped recesses or slots 17 of the adjacent tile. When the flat top side 64 of the projections 15 passes the flat top wall 67 defining part of the upper recess portion 66 of the slots 17, the projections 15 are locked into place within their respective recesses or slots 17 by the projection top sides 64 engaging the slot top walls 67 to prevent the tiles from lifting relative to one another along their lateral sides.
Another version of the projections 15 and complementary-shaped recesses 17 formed on the tiles is shown in
In a similar manner to the projections 15 and recesses or slots 17 shown in
The sloped lateral sides 82a, 82b of the projection 15 define an inverted triangular sloped entrance surface to make it easier for the projections 15 of one tile to be received by the complementary-shaped recesses or slots 17 of an adjacent tile when the tile with the projections 15 is forced downwardly in close side-by-side proximity to the adjacent tile having slots 17 situated in alignment with the projections 15. The particular shape of the projections 15, and the resiliency of the tiles and the projections 15 and recesses or slots 17, allow the tiles to be mated closely together, with the projections 15 not being sheared off or damaged when rubbing against the lateral side of an adjacent tile having the recesses or slots 17. When two adjacent tiles are mated together using a downward force on the tile having the projections 15, the sloped entrance surfaces defined by the lateral sides 82a, 82b of the projections 15 pass beyond the top surface and the lip 63 defined by the top surface and the top of the slot 17 situated below the top surface of the adjacent tile and into the respective complementary-shaped recesses or slots 17 of the adjacent tile. When the flat top side 80 of the projections 15 passes the flat top wall 86 of the recesses or slots 17, the projections 15 are locked into place within their respective recesses or slots 17 by the projection top sides 80 engaging the slot top walls 86 to prevent the tiles from lifting relative to one another along their lateral sides.
An adhesive or glue may be used between the projections 15 and the recesses or slots 17 in each of the embodiments described previously to secure the projections 15 of one tile within their aligned recesses or slots 17 of an adjacent tile.
If the tile 2 is rectangular in shape, in that it includes two opposite shorter sides and two opposite longer sides, such as shown in
Individual rubber tiles 2 may also be joined together by cooperatively mating the male connectors 14 on the first and second lateral sides of a first tile 2 with the female receptacles 16 on the third and fourth lateral sides of a second tile. Furthermore, the projections 15 of one tile 2 also cooperatively mate with the slots 17 of a second tile 2. The mating of the projections 15 and the slots 17 strengthens the connection between the first and second tiles 2. The engagement of the projections 15 and slots 17 also reduces the tendency of the lateral sides of the tile to curl upwardly or separate and helps maintain the top surfaces 4 of the joined together tiles in a common plane.
It is also envisioned to be within the scope of the present invention to fasten the tiles 2 to a supporting surface, such as asphalt or wood, by using screws or other fasteners 54 which pass through the thickness of the male connectors 14 preferably at the horizontal first segments 18 thereof and into the supporting surface, with or without the use of liquid adhesive between mating tiles 2. For this purpose, a countersunk recess 52 may be formed in the glue reservoir 24 of the horizontal first segment 18 of one or more male connectors 14 to facilitate locating where the screw or fastener 54 should be placed, as shown in
The tiles 2 formed in accordance with the present invention may be formed from reprocessed or recycled rubber, for example, from shredded or pulverized rubber automobile tires. In another form of the present invention, a top layer or portion of each tile may be formed from EPDM (ephylene propylene diene monomer) granules or shredded or pulverized white, gray or yellow (i.e., light colored) rubber tires, such as those found on forklifts and other rubber wheeled equipment. This lighter colored top layer of the tile may be about one-half (½) inch in thickness, and the remainder bottom portion of the tile may be black and made from shredded or pulverized conventional black walled automobile tires. Tiles formed with such a lighter colored top layer may be about twenty percent (20%) cooler, or more, on its top surface than tiles formed completely from conventional black walled automobile tires.
The interlocking rubber tiles are described herein as being particularly useful for playgrounds. However, it should be realized that the tiles have many different uses, including, for example, for covering rooftop surfaces and other athletic and recreational surfaces.
Although illustrative embodiments of the present invention have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments, and that various other changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.
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