This invention relates to containers or pans used to contain joint compound or mud. A worker, more specifically, a drywall finisher or plasterer, while holding the pan in one hand containing joint compound removes a portion of joint compound and applies the joint compound to a specific surface with a putty knife or taping knife.
The use of drywall panels or sheet rock in the construction of interior wall sections is widely known. Joint compound is applied to panel seams to set drywall tape and thereafter so as to render the seam invisible once the sections are painted or prepared for further texturization. During this process a drywall finisher or worker uses a container of sufficient size to hold an amount of joint compound using a putty knife or taping knife to apply joint compound to said joint. The joint compound employed in this process is usually a powder mixed with water or aqueous material or ready-mix available in a variety of sizes. Powdered joint compound material is typically mixed in a larger container and transferred to a joint compound pan. In some cases the joint compound pan is used as the mixing vessel thereby eliminating the need to transfer the material. Ready-mix joint compound is often transferred from a master container, i.e. a five-gallon bucket, to the joint compound pan for application. When setting joint tape, a substantial amount of joint compound is applied to the seam. The tape is then set into the wet joint compound and smoothed with a taping knife to remove excess joint compound and air pockets. This procedure allows for the expanding and contraction of the wallboard panels without developing cracks between the wallboard panels. Drywall screws and nails are also covered with joint compound applied thereto by the knife. It is therefore advantageous to employ the use of a joint compound pan, which allows the rapid removal of a large amount of joint compound. In both cases, whether using a powdered joint compound or ready-mix, the joint compound is often thinned in subsequent applications to seams to render the seams as smooth as possible. When using a thinned joint compound, it is often advantageous to have a sharp angular pan bottom to pinch-off or regulate the amount of compound on the taping knife for subsequent applications.
A variety of joint compound pans have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,328 granted to Foraker discloses a joint compound container and insulating pad similar to that show in
U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,428 granted to Breckwoldt discloses to a joint compound pan similar to that shown in
Another prior art joint compound pan shown in
Edwards et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,124 disclose a four-piece joint compound pan. Three of the four parts are made from plastic injection molding or similar while the center portion is typically constructed of metal. The endcaps are molded with foot members, which extend below the center portion. While this feature may be handy lifting the pan off of a flat table, it is difficult or nearly impossible to steady the pan on top of a ladder or on a 5 gallon bucket of joint compound. If all four foot members do not contact a flat surface, the joint compound pan rests on the rounded bottom easily tipping over. Furthermore, foot members are easily broken if the pan is dropped thereby rendering the pan useless without all four foot members. For these reasons this pan is both costly and impractical.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in prior art. Accordingly, we provide a joint compound pan having one bottom radius between the bottom and one sidewall with sufficient radius to allow the rapid removal of large quantities of joint compound. We further provide a joint compound pan with one sharp angular bottom radius between the bottom and one sidewall to allow the removal of a controlled amount of joint compound. Our pan is watertight to contain a thinned mix of joint compound.
We construct our joint compound pan from a single blank or piece of material, usually metal, with folded corners defining the watertight properties. The folded corner construction significantly increases the strength of the joint compound pan, which is especially useful in rugged construction environments.
Our pan has a triple end wall design which results in a stronger pan, the strength being achieved by folding the material on itself. The present invention is highly impact resistant especially when dropped or resistant to twisting when full of joint compound.
Specific objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of certain present preferred embodiments thereof shown the drawings.
Turning now to the drawings in which like reference characters indicate corresponding elements throughout the several views, attention is first directed to
Sidewall 13 meets bottom 12 along a corner radius 19 and has a longitudinal upper edge 14. The larger radius 19 is sufficiently large or gradual to permit joint compound to be withdrawn from the mud pan 10 by a natural scooping motion. This radius may vary from about one half inch to one inch. This large radius is especially useful when first applying large amounts of joint compound and tape to seams. Sidewall 15 is joined to bottom 12 with a smaller radius 21 and has a longitudinal upper edge 16. The smaller radius 21, typically one sixteenth inch or less, permits the drywall finisher to pinch-off smaller amounts of joint compound when subsequently thinned layers of joint compound are applied to seams. This is also useful when covering nails or screw holes. When excess joint compound is removed from a seam or nail holes, the excess is scraped over upper edge 14 or 16 and is often reused.
Mud pan 10 is constructed from a single blank 1 or piece of material, preferably configured as shown in
We prefer to place the blank 1 in a cold forming press or on a cold forming die and then bend the sides of the blank to the shape shown in
Once corner sections 18 are folded against end walls 17, hemmed edges 20 are folded over to cover the sharp upper edges of corner sections 18 and define the top edge of end walls 17. When corner sections 18 are folded over end walls 17, the corners of the mud pan 10 are comprised of three material thicknesses. This manufacturing method creates an extremely rigid mud pan 10, which is highly resistant to warping and highly impact resistant. Due to the rugged nature of construction environments, this presents a tremendous advantage over all other prior art. Having corner sections 18 extending the full depth of the pan allows mud pan 10 to define a watertight volume. This is especially useful when the mud pan 10 contains liquids or thinned joint compound. Furthermore, the manufacturing method prescribed is more cost effective thereby creating another advantage over other prior art. The unique shape also permits a plurality of mud pans to be stacked or nested for storage, shipping, etc.
We prefer to provide a joint compound pan having a sharp radius 21 on one bottom edge and a gradual radius 19 along the opposite bottom edge as shown in
Although we have shown and described certain present preferred embodiments of our joint compound pan and method of making same it should be distinctly understood that our invention is not limited thereto, but may be variously embodied within the scope of the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/687,423, filed Jun. 3, 2005.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60687423 | Jun 2005 | US |