Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention relates to a prefabricated modular
element for forming a reticular support to define cavities for
receiving tiles and the like.
m e tiles are inserted in the reticular support in a
spaced-apart relationship, and create tile connecting bands,
which bands can afterwards be covered, as they will be prefer-
ably covered with strips or the like of a suitable material,
fixed to the modular elements by means of suitable adhesives.
The modular elements, in a depressed position in
respect to the top faces, are provided with transversally pro-
jecting tabs or brackets of any shape and/or size, supporting
at least a portion of at least one of the sides of the adjacent
tiles, while to allow two modular elements to be connected in
aligned or angular relationship, the elements are provided with
fixed joints or other suitable joints for the connection of the
`- modular elements.
Floor or wall coverings are formed with a series of
the elements above set forth, comprising non-conventional
modular elements and conventional tiles and possible covering
- 20 strips thereof. This type of floor or wall covering has the
peculiarity of employing tiles and the like, of any possible
shape, and preferably polygonal, square, rhomboidal and with
curved or mixed profiles, and made of any suitable material
and particularly of ceramic, stoneware, glass, tile, plastics,
marble or other natural stones, as well as synthetic materials
, and the like. Each tile has its own housing cavity defined by
a reticular support composed of the prefabricated modular ele-
ments, forming connecting bands which separate a tile from the
adjacent tiles. m e tiles, or the like, are secured on the
reticular support by means of a small quantity of cement
, conglomerate or other suitable adhesive, placed in the cavity
for fixing each tile in its cavity in a substantially
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independent relationship. The adhesive is also used to fix said
reticular structure to the wall or floor structure by means of
said tiles and said tabs. The reticular support, formed by the
modular elements, is preferably covered with strips, which can
be of a minimum thickness or be made of non-rigid materials, as
the stiffening effect caused by the underlying support, to which
the strips will be fi~ed by means of a suitable adhesive, con-
tributes to strengthen the strips.
The strips will be made of wood, plastic covered or
otherwise treated wood, cork, plastics, or synthetic materials,
metal, rubber or stripes of a soft material such as the so-
called "moquette" or, more generally, the strips will be made
of any suitable material, whereby a combined floor is obtained,
~; which comprises strips and tiles of any suitable material.
` Combined floors made of different materials are
already known, but these floors were obtained with a mosaic
composition, whereby the cooperating elements were simultaneously
placed in a side-by-side relationship in a casting of cement.
With this previous system of forming combined floors, the floors
became lumpy, owing to the uneven unit load the elements were
able to bear, the strips were rigid and, where made of wood, ;~-
they easily embarked, they were difficult to repair and maintain
and required the use of skilled and costly work owing to the
very difficult laying thereof.
On the contrary, a floor or wall covering according
to this invention, has the important advantage of allowing any
` broken tile to be easily and quickly replaced without damaging
; the adjacent tiles.
m e present invention includes a prefabricated modular
element for forming a surface covering for a base such as a wall
or a floor surface, in which the surface covering includes tiles
which can be made from different component materials and the
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outer facing surface is free from lumps and unevenness, compris- -
ing: a plurality of rigid bar shaped elements each including
connection means at their opposite ends and at the midpoint
thereof between said opposite ends for connection of individual
of said elements together to form a reticular support adapted
for placement onto said base, each of said bar shaped elements
including a lower facing surface and an upper facing surface
having a preselected spacing therebetween; a plurality of the
supporting ledges connected with said lower facing surface of
: 10 each said bar shaped elements, each said ledges being in the
form of projecting tabs having a lower surface flush with the
lower surface of said bar shaped elements, the thickness of said
; tabs being less than said preselected spacing so that the upper
:: surface of said tab is below the upper surface of said bar
. shaped elements, said preselected spacing being at least equal
. to the thickness of said tiles whereby said tiles are supported
by said tabs in said reticular support spaced from said base,
the spacing between said base and the bottom surface of said
tiles being at least equal to the thickness of said tabs; said
- 20 rigid bar shaped elements being interconnected by said connec-
~; tion means to form with said base a cavity to receive said
tiles, adhesive material placed into and onto said base, said
cavity and the bottom surface of said tiles being pressed
against said adhesive material to form a firm bond with said :
adhesive material, said bottom surface of said tiles solely
holding said tabs to said base for connection thereto of said
reticular support together with said tiles. -
Moreover forming the reticular support with pre-
~ fabricated modular elements, including elements for the mutual
connection thereof, makes it easy forming of the tile housing
cavity even to a completely inexperienced person. Placing the
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, : tiles in the so-formed housing cavities automatically allows
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the tiles to be perfectly aligned, while the brackets or tabs
of the modular elements, function as a ledge and a rule or a
straight edge, and assure that the tiles all lie in the same
plane. The modular elements are of lightweight structure, easy
to handle and cheap to manufacture as they can be moulded in
their final shape from a suitable plastic material.
The appended drawings show, for illustrative and not
restrictive purposes, some possible embodiments of the invention,
and precisely:
Figures 1 and 2 are, respectively, a top and a bottom
view of a first embodiment of a bar-shaped
. modular element;
~ Figure 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view
.~ taken along line S-S in Figures 1 and 2;
Figure 4 is a plan view of a portion of a floor- or ~-
wall-covering formed utilizing the bar shaped
:~ modular element of Figures 1 to 3, with frag- - -
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mentary sections of some elements thereof, and .
' in different steps of the forming operation;
.j` 20 Figures 5 and 6 show a cross-shaped modular element
and a square modular element, respectively, ~
both elements being intended to form a reticular -.
~- structure similar to the reticular structure
illustrated in Figure 4;
Figure 7 shows the front face of another type of ::
.! modular element forming a supporting reticular ~
structure receiving two different types of :
`' tiles; ~ ::
, -, Figure 8 shows, with fragmentary sections, a view of
a floor formed making use of the modular ele- ~:;
ment of Figure 7;
, j
Figure 9 shows the front face of an element similar to
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106~873
the element of Figure 7, but of such a width
as to form the housing cavity for a tile; and
Figure 10 shows a portion of floor covering, in
different steps of the forming operation
thereof, performed making use of the modular
element of Figure 9.
In the embodiment of Figures 1 to 4, the modular ele-
ment generally indicated with reference 1 comprises a bar
` shaped element, made of a plastic material and moulded in its
final shape. Of course, it is possible to obtain modular ele-
ments by a moulding or melting process, and in different but
`~ functionally equivalent shapes, and/or making use of different
materials, such as rolled sections. Element 1, in the illus-
; trated embodiment, is of a length which is two times the width
- of a tile, plus the selected width of element 1. The tile and
the like is generally indicated by reference 2, and in this
embodiment it is square shaped. It has to be pointed out,
` however, that two or more separate rectangular tiles, in abut-
ting relationship, can also be used to replace a square tile 2
and, in this instance, the number of support tabs, which will be
described below, will be suitably increased.
` In this instance, the modular elements 1 are formed
to support two sides of two tiles on each longitudinal side and
accordingly at least a pair of brackets or tabs 3 for each tile
~' 2 are protruding along the longitudinal sides of each element 1, -
these tabs having their lower face flush with the lower face of
the bar shaped element 1. Furthermore, the thickness of tabs 3
allows the upper face thereof to remain below the upper plane of
, element 1 with a distance less than, or possibly equal to, the
thickness of the tiles 2 utilized herein.
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~ It can be observed that preferably tile 2 will rise
s above the plane formed by modular elements 1 by a length equal
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to the thickness of a strip to be described below, which will
be used as a cover for elements 1. There are two tabs 3 for
each side of tiles 2 but, more generally, the tabs will be pro-
vided in a number sufficient to support one side of the tile
in cooperation with the tabs 3 of the other elements 1, defining
the housing cavity for a tile 2. One end of each modular ele-
ment 1 is provided with a tongue 5, aligned with the upper face
of element 1, having at least a tooth 6 downwardly protruding
from the lower face thereof. A notch 7 is cut at the other end
of each modular element 1, which is complementary to the tongue
5 in order to receive the latter and to obtain again the thick-
ness of modular elements 1, in this connection area, while a
hole 8 is drilled in the bottom of notch 7 for receiving each
tooth 6 and completing the fixed-joint connection of two modular
elements 1 placed in angular relationship therebetween.
; In correspondence with the transverse symmetrical
plane of each modular element, the element 1 is provided with a
tongue 5a and teeth 6a on one side, and a notch 7a and holes 8a
in the other side, having the same function of those provided -~
on the end joints of modular element 1 and intended to allow a
right-angle connection of two modular elements 1, identical with
the connection shown in Figures 1 and 2. Of course, any other
functionally equivalent system of connection may be substituted
to the one illustrated therein.
With reference to Figure 4 therein, the assembling
method is now shown for laying a floor or wall covering employing
modular elements of the type shown in Figures 1 to 3. On the -
floor or wall to be covered, the modular elements are arranged
to form a reticular support, placing longitudinal and transverse -
rows of elements 1, cutting off, where required, the excessive
portions to accommodate the reticular structure to the shape and
size of the wall or floor. After laying of the reticular
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support, modular elements 1 will define a plurality of houqing
cavities, which will be square-shaped in this case, each cavity
being adapted to receive a tile 2. Before laying each tile 2,
a small quantity of mortar or other adhesive will be placed in
the cavity. A slight knock on the tile 2 will cause the same to
compress the utilized adhesive for securing the tile to the
floor or wall until tile 2 is engaged with the upper face of the
supporting tabs 3. Any excessive material will come out from
the splits or spaces formed between guiding teeth 4. After
setting, tile 2 will be secured to the underlying floor or to
the wall behind and, by means of tabs 3, will also fix the
reticular support formed by modular elements 1.
Tabs 3 will operate also as a ledge and rule prevent-
ing a generic tile to be in a depressed or raised position in
respect of the place of the other tiles.
After setting, modular elements 1 are preferably
.~ covered with strips 9 secured by means of adhesives. Depending
on the desired decorative effects, the strips, as already
stated, will be made of various suitable materials. Of course, -
should the strips 9 be employed, the thickness of elements 1 -~
will be sized to allow tiles 2 to project from the upper face of
elements 1, of such a length as to have their facing plane flush
with the plane formed by strips 9 or the like utilized therein.
It has also to be pointed out that the same reticular
support and, accordingly, the same embodiment of Figure 4 will
be obtained as well making use of the sam@ tiles 2 and the same
strips 9 but replacing the bar shaped element 1 by another
modular element, such as the star element la of Figure 5 or the ~-
square element lb of Figure 6 or, more generally, any other
modular element which, once assembled with similar elements,
will form a reticular support corresponding to the reticular
support of Figure 4.
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It has also to be pointed out that in the embodiments
described below, which are intended to be illustrative and not
restrictive of the invention, the reticular support will be
obtained both with the already illustrated modular elements
and with one or more modular elements complementary to said
reticular support, being stated that, even modifying the struc-
ture of the modular elements, forming the reticular support, its
function remains unchanged.
The embodiment of Figures 7 and 8 is substantially
identical with the above embodiment. Modular elements 10 are
here again bar shaped elements, comprising support tabs 3 and 11;
however female joints 12 and 12a and male joints 13 and 13a are
provided for connecting modular elements 10 under 30 angles.
This system is assembled in the same way as above, but this
different coupling system will provide housing cavities for two
different types of tiles and precisely for conventional hexa-
gonal tiles 14 and triangular tiles 15, whereas the strips 9
will be of rhomboidal configuration.
The embodiment of Figures 9 and 10 is a modification
of the embodiment of Figures 7 and 8. In this case, the bar
shaped modular elements 16 are very wide so that, by means of
the depressed transverse members 17a, which connect two beam
shaped side elements 17b and also replacing the tabs, at least
a housing cavity for a tile 18 can be formed in the body of each
modular element 16. In this case, the floor will be covered
'~ with hexagonal tiles 19 and rhomboidal tiles 18 and with strips
9 (Figure 10), the junction area will be provided with pairs
of mutually engaging elements. Of course, according to the
same concept, other types of modular elements can be obtained,
which are complementary and able to be mutually connected by
means of fixed joints and the like, and defining, in combination,
housing cavities for a plurality of tiles.
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