Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ROOFING SHINGLE PREFORM AND METHODS
OF MA~IUFA~TURING ~D US ING TE~E SAME
The invention relate~ to roofing shingles and,
more particularly, to a roofing ~hingle preform.
In the past, roofing shingles have been
manufactured utilizing a number of different proces~es
and a number of dif~erent materials. For example,
roofing shingles have been made of single sheet~ of
material, as well as laminate~. Laminates, however, are
preferred becau3e they are believed to enhance the
appearance of the finished shingled roof by pre~enting to
the viewer~s eye a thicker edge ~or the shingle.
One conventional laminate shingle, as disclo3ed
in U.S. Patent No. 4,869,942, is made of an asphalt-
impregnated fiberglas~ material. The hingle has a broad
central area and a narrow strip adhered along one edge of
the central area. The combination ~hingle has tabs
between cutout areas along the edge which has the double
layer. A third layer is adhered to the tabs ~o form a
layer underlying and bridging the gaps which separate the
tabs.
Regardless of the composition of the shingle
and the method of manufacture, all prior art shingles
have one common characteristic: they are cut into
discrete units which are then individually applied to the
roof to ~orm the finished roof.
It i9 an object of the present invention to
provide a new and improved roofing ~hingle preform and
methods of manufacturing and using the same, which will
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enable a shingled roof to be formed in si tU wi.thout the
necessity of handling and installing individual shingles.
The foregoing and other objects are achieved in
accordance with the pre~ent invention by a shingle
preform which compri~es a strip formed of a bitumen
membrane having a plurality of spaced tabs of the same
bitumen membrane adhered thereto.
Preferably, the composite material compri~es a
substrate having a layer of modified bitumen ~hereover.
Preferably, the preform i9 ~abricated by
adhering tab~ of the compo~ite material to a strip of the
composite material and then coiling the strip into a
roll.
In accordance with another aspect of the
invention, in order to ~abricate a shingled roof, the '~
strip having the tabs adhered thereto is unwound from the
roll and laid on the roof. Therea~ter, succeeding strips
having tabs thereon are unwound from a roll and laid in
overlapping fashion over each other, with the tab~ of
each succeeding sheet intermediate the tabs of the
immediately preceeding sheet ~o as to provide the shingle
ef f ect.
The objects, advantages and features of the
present invention will be better understood from the
following detailed description, when considered in
connection with the appended drawings, wherein:
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Fig. 1 illu~tra~es a roofing ~hingle preform in
accordance with certain principles of the invention;
Fig. 2 i~ a croaa-sectional view taken along
the lines 2-2 of F~g. 1;
Fig. 3 is a cross-~ectional view taken along
the lines 3-3 of Fig. 1;
Fig. 4 is a plan view ~howing an alterna~ive
embodiment of the novel roofing shingle preform;
Fig. 5 illustrates diagrammatically the proce~s
of manufacturing the novel preform of Fig. 1 and forming
the same into a roll; and
Fig. 6 illustrate~ installa~ion of the novel
~hingle of Fig. 1 to a roof.
Referring now to the drawings and, in par~ic-
ular, to Fig. 1, there i~ shown a roofing shingle
preform 10 which includes a strip 11 and a plurality of
tabs 12 attached to the strip 11 in ~paced fashion. The
strip 10 is preferably formed of a modified
bitumen membrane.
More specifically,
referring to Fig. 2, the strip 11 includes a core 13
formed of fiberglass or polyester and an o~erlying
layer 14 of either styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS)
modified bitumen or styrene-ethylene-butadiene-styrene
(SEBS) modified bitumen, and the tabs 12 are each
composed of a layer 16 identical in composition to the
core 13 and a layer 17 identical in composition to the
layer 14 (see Fig. 3).
In a typical roofing ~hingle preform 10, the
width Ws of the strip and the width WT f the tab are
each eight inches, the length LT Of the tab~ may be 8, 10
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or 12 inches and the distance DT between the tabs may be
5-7 inches.
Although the tabs 12 are shown as having
parallel sides, tapered tabs 12, a~ shown in Fig. 4, may
be used to enhance the aesthe~ics of a roof shingled with
the preform 1~.
Advantageously, a3 shown in Fig. 5, the
preform 10 is fabricated in a continuous process, in
which the strip 11 is advanced through a tab attachment
station ~8 wherein the tab~ are attached to the strip 11
in spaced relationship. While any suitable method of
attachment may be employed, preferably the top surface of
the strip 11 is coated with an asphalt adhesive prior tO
application of the tab~ thereto. It iB not nece~sary
that the entire surface area to which the t~bs are going
to be attached be coated. Only an area Wc extending from
an upper edge 21 toward~ a bottom edge 19 (upper and
bottom referring to the relative po~itioning to these
edges when a strip of the preform shingle is laid on a
roof 22 (Fig. 6)), need be coated with the adhesive.
After exiting the ~tation lB, the strip is
wound into a roll 23. The length of the strip 11 in each
roll i~ determined by the weight of the roll 23 that may
be easily handled by a roofer during installation.
TypicalIy, the strip 11 may be 30-32 feet long and the
roll 23 may weigh 25-50 pounds.
Turning now to Fig. 6, there is shown a typical
roof installation employing the roofing shingle
preform 10. As is conventional, the roof deck 24 is
first primed with an a~phalt primer and allowed to dry.
Thereafter, insulation panel~ (not shown) and a base
sheet
are attached to the
underlying roof deck 24, using mechanical fa~teners.
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Alternatively, the insulation panels and base sheet may
be attached using a hot asphalt process. Therea~ter,
starting at the low point of the roof deck 24, the
preform is unwound from the roll 23 and applied to the
roof using mechanical fastener~. Each succeeding strip
is overlapped with the preceding strip, to provide a
predetermined headlap. In shingle-type roofs, headlap is
usually defined as the distance a hingle in any course
overlaps a shingle in the cecond course below it.
Typically, headlap with the preform 10 is 3 inches. In
addition to overlapping the immediately preceding
preform lOa, each ~ucceeding preform tsuch as the
preform lOb) is also offset from the preceding preform,
so that the tabs 12b of the preform lOb are positioned
intermediate the tabs 12a of the preform lOa.
As should be appreciated from the ~oregoing
description, since the preform 10 i5 unwound from a ro,l,
it enables the shingling to take place much more rapidly
than would be the case if individual shingles were to be
employed. Additionally, the thinness of the preform 10,
as compared to conventional shingles, and the resulting
lower weight, result in a lower weight roof, while
providing the same protection from the elements and
waterproofing.
Although the core 13 of the strip 11 and the
core 14 of the tabs 12 may be formed of either fiberglass
or polyester, when the preform 10 is to be formed into a
roll 23, polye~ter is preferred because fibergla~s is too
stiff.
Additionally, while other modi~ier resins may
be employed, such as actactic polypropylene tAPP), SBS
and SEBS resins are preferred because each, when modified
with such resins, is amenable to being attached using
asphalt adhesives, wherea~ such i~ not true of APP resins
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and asphalt adhesives are the preferred material for
attaching ~he tabs 12 to a strip 10.
As will be appreciated, the pre~ent invention
has been de~cribed in relation to a particular
illustrative embodiment thereof. Many other variations
and processes will become appare~t to those skilled in
the art. It i8 preferred, therefore, that the present
invention be limited, not by the specific disclosure
herein, but only by the appended claima.
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