Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Thi3 lnvention relates to a prefabricated
element for the construction of coverlng panels of the type
comprising a substantlally flat wall, one face of which is
intended to be placed at the exterior and provided with a
decorative relief pattern which may imitate the appearance
of traditional covering materials. The internal face o~
saicl flat wall i5 provided wi1~ substantially parallel
stiffening ribs oriented longitudinally along the llne of
greatest slope of the prefabricated element. Said stiffen~
10 ing ribs alone bear on the support structure and delimit
ree spaces between the aforesaid wall and the support
structure along the longitudinal dimension of the panel
formed by the assembly of prefabricated elements. Means
are provided for joining each prefabricated element to
other identical elements placed in side-by-side relation
and essentially composed of interengaged end sections of
complementary shape which may be either integral with said
elements or added thereto. The prefabricated element is
also fixed on a support structure by means o the ribs of
~he internal face.
The general aim of the invention is to make full
use of the advantages offered by the design concept outlined
in the foregoing~ These advantages are mainly as follows :
- an ascending circulation of air beneath the roof of a
housing structure, thereby eliminating condensation
phenomena and achieviny enhanced thermal comfort within
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the occupied enclosure of said housing structuxe ;
- connections and attachments provlded or the prefabricated
elements and ~er~tting various degrees o~ freedom for
accommodating relative expansions ;
- a system o~ connection provided between the prefabricated
elements and so designed as to permlt draining of rain
water both longitudlnally ~Id transve.rsely ,
- the bearing points on the support structure are chosen
independently of the spacing of imi~ated relief patterns
on the external face of the prefabricated elementO
According to the present invention, it is sought
in particular to achieve an even more de5irable objective/
namely that of preventing any formation of moisture beneath
the internal face of the wall constituted by prefabricated
elements. This result is obtained not only by permitting
free circulation of ascending air but by ensuring in
addition tha~ streamlng rainwater i5 drained-off at the
periphery of the prefabricated element.
With this objective, the prefabricated element
according to the invention and designa~ed hereinafter as an
'`element" is distinguished by the fact that the ends of said
element considered in opposite pairs are provided with
structural sections of complementary shap~ which are trans-
verse and parallel to the ribs and which are intended to
interengage in order to couple said element with other
adjacent elements. Two of said end sections are placed
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consecutively on tha periphery of the element and are
formed in the wall of sald element by a depression having
a U-shaped cross-section which is open on ~he side corr~
sponding to the ex~ernal face. Said two end sections are
so arranged that the U-shaped depression of one end section
communicates with ~he U-shapecl depression of the other end
section at the junction between the two and in particular
at the top corner of an element which is in position.
The re~ult thereby achieved ls that any streamlng
rainwater which may in~iltrate between the assemblles of
interengag~d elements is recovered transversely and then
collected in the longitudinal direction down ~o the base of
the panel by virtue of the communicating U-section
depressions. When streaming of rainwa~er stops, a circula-
tion of air replaces the rainwater and performs acontributory role in drying the internal face of the panel
and any wet mud which may have formed on the joints of the
elements together with atmospheric dust particles.
Moreover, water-tigh~ness of the transverse
20 a~sembl~ is enhanced by completing the interlocking action
by means of an engagement in the plane and within the
; thickness of the wall of the element. This provides the
additional advan~age of making the elements indissociable,
particularly in the presence of wind. This assembly by
lateral engageme~t is so arranged that coupling of elemen~s
; takes place withi.n the transverse U-shaped drainage channel,
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thus ensuring that any water whlch might otherwise seep
through the assembly ~oint i~ collected in all cases.
To this end, the element is provided with m~ans
for assembling two elements in side-by-side relation by
5 means of the ends which aIe transverse to ~he ribs. Said
mean~ are provided by interengagem2nt of complementary
structural sections and especially arrises fitted within a
depression having a U-shaped cross-section. The means
aforesaid are completed by the engagement, substantially in
the direction of the plane of the element, of a tong~le
within a groove which opens into said U-section ~ransverse
depression on that arm of the U which is placed on the
inside of the element.
Furthermore, the existence of ribs has made it
possible to devise a simple system for attaching the
element in accordance with the invention to the support
structure. Fastening members are advantageously provided
within the thickness of the rib and capable of cooperating
with rigidly fixed members of the support structure in
order to lock said element in position.
In a preferred bu~ non-limitative embodiment,
metallic nuts are included in the webs of the ribs. In
this case, the element is rigidly fixed to the support
structure hy means of threaded rods screwed into the nuts
on the side corresponding to the in~ernal face. This type
of fastenlng retains the advantage of the invention as
dlsclosed in the main patent by making it posslble to
select the spacing of the ~earing points on the support
structure independently of thP pitch of the patterns form~d
in relief or the attractive appearance of the external
face of the element. To thi5 end, at least two ribs o~ the
element are provided locally with a fastening member and
especially a nut which is included in the web of the rib
and emerges on its arris. Said fastening member is
adapted to engage on another fastening member and especially
a threaded rod rigidly fixed to the support structure for
locking the element in position.
In a preferred alternative embodiment, the
element can be retained by clamping a lateral edge against
the support structure by means of a bracket rigidly fixed
to said structure. Clamping by simply applying the element
against the structure provides the degrees of reedom which
are necessary for accommodating relative expansionsO The
aforementioned clamping bracke~ will advantageously be
mounted on a complementary transverse sectional member
which will be so designed as to integrate and then complete
ly mask the clamplng bracket behind the external surfaces
of the assembled elements.
With this end in view, the element comprise5
complementary sectional members for transverse assembly
25 which serve to lock the element in posi~ion by clamping the
outer arm of the U o the transverse depression against the
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support structure by means of the free arm of a right~
angled bracket which is rigldly fixed to said support
structure.
It is assumed that the prefabricated element
according to the invention is designed for the construction
of roo.fing panels for houses but this application ls con-
sidered only by way of example and not in any sense by way
of limi~ation. The fastening system is so arranged that a
gap is left between the two elements located at the ridge
10 of the roof. It is therefore necessary to fill and seal
this gap. Accordingly, the ridge member is constituted by
an L-section member which covers the top ends of the roof
panels and is provided on the internal face of each of its
~langes with a sectional member or locking the ridge
elements in position by engagement within a complementary
sectional member which is rigidly fixad to each free edge
of the panels.
These and other features of the invention will be
more apparent to those skilled in the art upon consid~ration
20 of the following description and accompanying drawings,
wherein :
- Fig. 1 is a part-sectional view in perspective
showlng a covering panel according to the inventlon ;
- Fig. 2 is a side view of two assembled elem~n~s ;
- Fig. 3 is an end view showlr.g the assembly of
two consecut:ive panels;
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- Fiq. 4 is a view in perspec~ive showing the
maans adopted for clamping an element on the support
5 tructure ;
- Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a ridge
5 element according to ~le invention.
In the ex~mple described hereinafter and illus
trated in the accompanying drawings, it ~ill be postulated
that the prefabricated element accordlng to the invention
is designed for the construction of rooflng panels for
houses. It will be understood, however, that this applica-
tion is not given in any limiting sense.
Accordingly~ it should first be mentioned with
reference to Fig. 1 that the ridge of the roof is located
at the top of the figure and that the bottom edge of the
roof is located at the bottom of the figure.
In the example shown, the prefabricated element
is generally designated by the reference numeral 1 and has
a square or substantially rectangular shape. Said pre-
fabxicated element is molded in one piece from synthetic
material which may or may no~ be reinforced and comprises
a thln wall 2 having a thickness of a few millimeters. The
vislble external face 3 of said thin wall has a special
decorative appearance which imitates a series of overlapping
slates in the example which is illustrated in the figure.
The reference numeral 5 desi~lates shoulders which consti~-
ute the visible edges of the slates. F-ur~hermore, alt~r-
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nate grooves 4 are ~ormed ln the external face 3 in thedirection of slope of the roof in order to complete th~
imitation~
Starting from the internal face 6 of the wall 2,
provision is made for a series of parallel ribs 7 which
extend in the direction of slope of the roof. The ribs 9a
and 9c form the opposlte lateral edge~ of the elem nt whllst
the ribs 7 designate the intermediate ribs. Said ribs are
preferably formed opposite to grooves 4, with the result
that the local reduction ln strength resulting from said
grooves is compensated to a substantial extent by the over-
thickness of the ribs 7.
At the top end of the element 1 which is intended
to be mounted near the ridge of the roof, provision is made
for a structural ~ection formed by a depression 12 having
the shape of a ~ which is open towards the exterior. Said
depression 12 has two partitions lO and ll which are sub-
stantially perpendicular to the wall 2. A groove 17 which
is substantially parallel to the wall 2 opens into the
20 partitio~ 10 of the depression 12. Said groove 17 is
intended to xeceive the tongue 16 of the complementary
structural section of the o~her transverse end portion.
The d~pression 12 communicates with the depression 15 of
the lateral sectlon of the element, This communication is
established by means of the opening or passageway 21.
Ra:Lnwater which is drained-off within the
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depression 12 is collected in the depr~ession 15 at~r
passing through the openirlg 21 and is finally discharged
at the base of the roof panel.
At the bottom end of the element 1, provision is
made for a structural section formed by a partition 8 which
is substantially perpendicular to thQ wall ~ and for a
tongue 16 which is substantially parallel to the surface
of the element. Said partition 8 i5 intended to be applied
again~t the complementary partition 10 whilst the tongue
16 engages wi~hin the groove 17 of a transverse end portlon
of another element.
As shown particularly in Figs. 1 and 2, the
elements complete each other in a wholly satisfactory
manner after they have been placed in position and the
drainage depression 12 is masked by the wall 2. The other
partition 11 of the depression 12 is adapted to engage
within a recess 23 of the ribs 7 and more particularly
within the notch 22. In anothex form of construction, the
partition 11 could be fitted agains~ a complementary
partition on the underface of the element, thus coupling
the bottom ends of the ribs.
The assembly of elements in the longitudinal
direction of the roof i~ shown in Fig. 3. It is apparent
that this assembly is carried into practical effect by
engagement of two lateral end ribs 9a and 9b forming the
arms o a U over the partitions 13 and 14 of the depression
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15. The special ribs 9a and 9b as well a~ the partitions
13 and 14 are all substantially perpendicular to the wall
2. After side-by-side interengagemen~ of two elements,
the depression 15 is completely masked by the wall 2. In
order to ensure that one element is correctly positioned
with respect to the other, lugs 18 placed between the rib
9c and the partition 13 at uniform inter~als are adapted to
engage wi~lln the recesses 19 ~ormed in the rib 9a, the
shape of said recesses being compl.em0n~ary ~o the lugs.
~he method adopted for attaching the elements to
tha support structure L will now be described. This attach-
rnent is shown,in Fig. 4, in which an element 1 is clamped
against a wall plate L of the support structure by means of
the right-angled bracket 24 which is rigidly fixed to said
wall plate by means of the fastening device 25.
The arm of the clamping bracket 24 maintains
the element 1 against the wall plate by bearing on the
partition 11 of the end structural section. It is apparent
that the thickness of said bracket arm and the height of
the partition 11 must be such that, when they are placed
one above the other at the time of clamping, the adjacent
element is permitted to engage within the groove I7 and
ovsr the partition 11. This attachment becomes invisible
aftar assemhly of the elements which form the roof panel
and permits slight displacemen~s in a parallel or trans-
verse direction with respect to the ribs. The presence of
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ribs 7 benea~h the U-shaped depression 12 ensure~
continuity of the longitudinal Eree spaGes and free cir-
culation of ascending air beneath the wall of the element.
If ~he s~lpport struc:ture is provided in the form
5 of a continuous flat surface, the clamping bracket 24 lg
modified while retaining the s~me method of attachment.
The new bracket i5 accordingly provided in the form of a
do~le S shaped bracket, one arm of which is adapted to
clamp the partition 11 as before whilst the other arm,
which is substantially parallel to the first, i5 applied
against and fixed on the flat structure.
The two standard elements 1 of the invention
which are located at the ridge of the roof are placed in
spaced relation so as to form an intermediate gap. Pro-
v~sion is therefore made for a ridge element which, as shownin Fig. 5, can be constituted by an L-section member 26
which is intended to cover the two end elements. The L-
section member 26 is fixed in position by making use of an
intermediate locking member 28 which is designed in the
form of a structural shape. The groove 29 of said locking
member is adapted to fit over the wall 2 of the element.
The locking member is rigidly fixed to the element by fitting
a rivet 31 which serves to couple the wall 2 to the member
28.
A sectional member 30, one edge of which is
rigldly fixed to or integral with the locking member 28,
forms a deep groove on the surfac~ o said locking member.
The two upper end elements of the roof are equipped with
said locking member 28. The two tongues 27 provided on
the internal surface of the flanges of the L-section member
26 are then inserted in the g:roove~ formed on the locking
members 28. The ridge element i5 thus rl.gidly fixed to ~he
roof covering. It will be noted that fixing o the L-
section member 26 on the ridgle can be effected simply by
sliding said member along the arris of the roof.
At the level of the ridge 26, ventilation is
ensured by lateral escape of air at the ends of the roof,
thus maklng it possible to dispense with all types of
ventilating systems.
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