DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described in detail in conjunction with the following schematic drawings in terms of various embodiments of the siding elements of the invention. In the drawings:
FIG. 1, in side view, shows a siding element in one structural basic form;
FIG. 2, in side view, shows a siding element of FIG. 1, in which groovelike indentations are provided on one side of the element and a plurality of projecting protuberances are provided on the other side of the element;
FIG. 3, in side view, shows a siding element in which an area corresponds essentially to the area of the slablike element plane, and wherein the protrusion plane is closed off by flanks that extend at obtuse angles to the slablike element plane;
FIGS. 4-6, in side views, show siding elements in which there are a plurality of substantially partially circular bulges embodied on the protrusion plane;
FIG. 7, in perspective, shows a building which is clad with the siding elements of the invention and in which different designs of the siding element of the invention have been employed; and
FIG. 8 is an enlarged detail of FIG. 7.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
Turning first to the illustration of the siding element 10 in FIG. 1, the siding element 10 will be described in detail. The siding element 10 serves to create a facade 11 of building constructions 12, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The siding element 10 substantially comprises a slablike element 13, which has a protrusion 15 that protrudes from the plane 14 of the slablike element 13. The view in FIG. 1, which also applies to FIGS. 2 through 6, is a view toward the side or end of the siding element 10. The width, or as shown in FIGS. 1 through 6, the height, of a siding element 10 is in the range of approximately 200 mm, although this is intended here only as an example for better understanding of the basic dimension of the siding element 10. For completed manufactured siding elements 10, the length of one siding element 10, or in other words the length in its longitudinal direction 22—see FIG. 8—is for instance 6 m and more, and these lengths can be cut to suit the lengths wanted or needed for a building construction or building 12 for finished siding elements 10 of the invention.
The slablike element 13, on its diametrically opposed sides 130, 131, has connection devices 133, 134, by way of which a respective adjacent siding element 10 can be connected to the siding element 10. In the siding elements 10 shown in the drawings, the connection device 133 is configured as a protrusion 135 of strutlike cross section, and the other connection device 134 is configured as a receiving part 136 of U-shaped cross section. The strutlike protrusion 135 of the one siding element 10 can be detachably introduced into the U-shaped receiving part 136 of the siding element 10 adjacent to it, for making the connection.
In principle, however, arbitrarily suitably formed connecting elements are possible in combination with the siding element 10 of the invention, so that the connecting elements described above must be considered only as one possible connection possibility, although one that has thoroughly proven itself in use; see also the detailed description of these connecting elements in connection with siding elements 10 in the European Patent Application 04 030 577.3-2303, as yet unpublished, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In the embodiment of the siding element 10 shown in FIG. 1, the protrusion 15 is embodied as being large, compared to the rest of the substantially slablike element 13, that it spans virtually the entire slablike element plane 14 of the siding element 10, this slablike element plane being shown in FIG. 1 as an imaginary dot-dash line, and this also applies to the embodiment of the siding element in FIG. 2.
In the siding element 10 of FIG. 3, the protrusion 15 in terms of its area is formed virtually as large as the area of the slablike element plane 14. The sizes of the areas of the slablike element plane 14, which can be seen as examples in the drawings, on the one hand, and of the plane 16 of the protrusion 15 on the other, must be understood as only examples. All sizes of the respective areas of the protrusions 15 or slablike element plane 16 are conceivable for the siding elements 10. For all the siding elements 10 shown here, however, it is also true that the longitudinal cross section of the protrusion 15 has a structure in the form of a U-shaped profile, which can be seen especially clearly from the illustration of the siding element 10 in FIG. 3. The flanks 17, 18, by way of which the protrusion 15 is connected to the protrusion plane 16 on the one hand and to the slablike element plane 14 on the other, connects the slablike element plane 14 with the protrusion plane 16 at an obtuse angle 19, which is exaggerated in FIG. 3 compared to the actual siding element 10 for the sake of clarity. However, this angle 19 may also be embodied as about 90° for both flanks 17, 18, or at least for one flank 17 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).
In all the siding elements 10 shown in FIGS. 1 through 6, a plurality of protruding ribs 23 extending in the longitudinal direction 22 of a slablike element are provided on the side 20 of the protrusion 15 toward the slablike element plane 14. Protruding ribs 23 may also be provided on the side 20 of the slablike element plane 14, which is shown particularly clearly for instance in the illustration of the siding element 10 in FIG. 3.
In addition to, or as an alternative to, the protruding ribs 23, protuberances 26 may be provided, which are disposed on the side 20 toward of the protrusion plane 16 oriented toward the slablike plane 14 of the siding element 10. On the opposite side 21 of the protrusion 15, groovelike indentations 25 may be provided. In the illustration in FIG. 2, the groovelike indentations 25 and the springlike protuberances 26 are embodied as aligned with one another in the transverse direction relative to the protrusion 15. The riblike protrusions 23, the groovelike indentations 25, and the springlike protuberances 26, in the siding elements 10 shown in the drawings, extend in the longitudinal direction 22 of a slablike element (see also FIG. 8).
In the siding elements 10 as shown in FIGS. 4 through 6, bulges 27 are provided, which likewise extend substantially in the longitudinal direction 22 of a slablike element. The bulges 27 protrude from the protrusion plane 16 and are formed integrally with the protrusion 15. In the illustration of the siding element 10 in FIGS. 4 through 6, the bulges 27 are shown as substantially in the form of part of a circle in cross section, but it is also possible to configure them with an arbitrary other cross-sectional shape, such as the form of a portion of an ellipse or in the form of a portion of a parabola.
The siding element 10 may be produced for instance as an extruded profiled part, for instance of metal, in particular an aluminum alloy, or at least partially of an optically transparent plastic material, and optionally also of mineral-based glass.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
10 Siding element
11 Facade
12 Building construction
13 Slablike element
130 Side of the slablike element
131 Side of the slablike element
133 Connection device
134 Connection device
135 Protrusion
136 U-shaped receiving part
14 Slablike element plane or a slab plane
15 Protrusion
16 Plane of the protrusion
17 Flank of the protrusion
18 Flank of the protrusion
19 Angle
20 Side (toward the slablike element plane)
21 Side (away from the slablike element plane)
22 Longitudinal direction of a slablike element
23 Protruding ribs
24 Strutlike protuberance
25 Groovelike indentation
26 Springlike protuberance
27 Bulge
Patent Application
20070261261
