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(11) | EP 2 078 800 A1 |
(12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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(54) | Flanged shim |
(57) This invention relates to a shim (23) used in construction work particular building
work such as roof construction. The shim is supplied with one or more flanges (7,
8) by side of one of its two surfaces (5, 6). The flange or flanges are placed on
and along the sides (3, 4) of the shim. They are lowered or raised from the shim body.
When applied in construction work, the flanged shim (23) and the construction part
(11) to be supported, adjusted or levelled by the shim form a ridge-and-groove arrangement,
where the construction part (11) is a ridge and the flanged shim (23) is a groove.
The arrangement prevents the shim from rotating or sliding laterally and thus keeps
the shim accurately at the required position in the construction.
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Background:
The invention:
Fig.1: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim that is a wedge (23) with two profiled surfaces (upper surface 5 and lower surface 6), two sides (right side 3 and left side 4), two ends (front end 2 and rear end 1) where front end (2) is thinner than the rear end (1), an inserting slot (19) opening towards front end (2) and teeth along both sides of the slot (14a, 14b). The two flanges (right flange 7 and left flange 8) are located by side of shim's lower surfaces (6) and are placed on and along both sides (3, 4) of the shim The length of flange is about 2/3 of the length of the shim body measured between the two ends of the shim. The flange is lowered from the shim body so that around half of the flange is attached to the shim body. This embodiment is made of hard plastic, and it is well known in plastic industry to have recess (20) of different sizes and shapes in a product like this to save raw materials.
Fig. 2: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim that is a rectangular shim stock (24) with two surfaces (5, 6), two sides (3, 4) and two ends (1, 2). The two flanges (7, 8) are located by side of one of the shim's two surfaces (6) and are placed on and along both sides (3, 4) of the shim. They are lowered or raised from the shim body.
Fig. 3: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim that is a rectangular shim stock (25) with two surfaces (5, 6), two sides (3, 4), two ends (1, 2) and an inserting slot (19). The two flanges (7, 8) are located by side of one of the shim's two surfaces (6) and are placed on and along both sides (3, 4) of the shim. They are lowered or raised from the shim body.
Fig. 4a-b-c-d: Figures show how the embodiment in Fig. 1 is applied in roof construction work. In traditional constructions and particularly in Scandinavian, roof rafters (22) are first covered by an underlay (21) nailed to rafters. On top of each rafter, a lath (11) is nailed to provide sufficient ventilation for the roof construction. Over the underlay and transversely across the laths, parallel spaced battens (12) are then nailed (13) for supporting roof tiles or other roof finishing materials. The battens are only loosely nailed (13) to the laths and rafters, so that it is possible to level each batten before the finishing materials such as tiles are put onto the roof.
Fig. 5: This figure is an enlarged drawing of Fig. 4a.
Fig. 6: An embodiment of said shim that is a wedge with two profiled surfaces (5, 6), two sides (3, 4), two ends (1, 2) where one end (2) is thinner than the other (1), an inserting slot (19) and teeth on and along both sides of the slot (14a, 14b). The two flanges (7, 8) are located by side of one of the shim's two surfaces (6) and are placed on and along both sides (3, 4) of the shim. Flanges are lowered or raised from the shim body. The figure shows a plan view (middle), a side view (down), an end view (right) and an end-sectional view (left) taken on line A-B of the wedge.
Fig. 7: An embodiment of said shim that is similar to the embodiment in Fig. 6 with the difference that there is no inserting slot in it The figure shows a plan view (middle), a side view (down), an end view (right) and an end-sectional view (left) taken on line C-D of the wedge.
Fig. 8: The figure shows a pair of wedges in use. It is the side view of the wedge-pair illustrated in Fig. 4.
Fig. 9: The figure shows two pairs of wedges in use. The wedges are parallelly stacked and set atop one another. Here the flanges have a further function where they act as side-lock to each other. It means that each wedge in the stack is laterally locked by its flanges atop one another and is thus prevented from lateral sliding from each other.
Fig.10: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim where the flanges are extended
outward from the shim body to achieve required distance between flanges.
Flanges are lowered or raised from the shim body and can have any size and be in any
shape. They can be used singly, in pair or in plural. They can be located anywhere
on the sides of the shim body. Below are some examples of variations of the flange
and its position on shim:
Fig. 11: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim where the flanges are placed in the middle of the sides of the shim.
Fig.12: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim where the flanges have the same length as the shim body and run from one end to the other end.
Fig. 13: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim where the flanges have the shape of a circle or wheel.
Fig.14: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim where the flanges have the shape of a semi-circle or more or less of a semi-circle.
Fig. 15: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim where the flanges have the shape of a table-leg.
Fig.16: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim that has a plurality of semi-circled flanges on both of its two sides.
Fig.17: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim that has a plurality of triangled flanges on both of its two sides.
Fig. 18: It is a perspective view of an embodiment of said shim that has a plurality of dotted flanges on both of its two sides.
Fig.19: It is an end view of the shim (23) shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 4, and is copied from Fig. 4b and Fig. 4c. Where the width of lath (11) in Fig. 4c is equal to the distance between the flanges (7, 8), the width of lath in Fig. 19 is much smaller than the distance between the flanges. The shim (23) can become laterally unstable, and the undesired situation as illustrated in Fig. 4d can occur. In a situation like this, a method is needed to stabilize the shim.
Fig. 20-24: The figures show the principle of the desired stabilizing method when the distance between the flanges is much bigger than the width of the construction part that the flanges hold onto. Fig. 20 shows horizontal projected teeth (15). Fig. 21 shows tilted barbs (16). They are placed on and along each of the inner sides (26) of the flanges and can be a single piece or consist of multiple pieces. They can be in row or rows, in layer or layers (17 in Fig. 22) or in other form such as semi-circle (18 in Fig. 23). Fig. 24 shows how the construction part (lath 11) is squeezed into the space between the flanges (7, 8) that is equipped with barbs (16) as shown in Fig. 21.
Amended claims in accordance with Rule 137(2) EPC.
REFERENCES CITED IN THE DESCRIPTION
Patent documents cited in the description