Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
2144362 P/1839-6
-
ROOFING SHING!~ P~FFORM AND METHODS
OF MANUFACTURING AND USING TH~ SAME
The invention relates to roofing shingles and,
more particularly, to a roofing shingle preform.
In the past, roofing shingles have been
manufactured utilizing a number of different processes
and a number of different materials. For example,
roofing shingles have been made of single sheets of
material, as well as laminates. Laminates, however, are
preferred because they are believed to enhance the
appearance of the finished shingled roof by presenting to
the viewer's eye a thicker edge for the shingle.
One conventional laminate shingle, as disclosed
in U.S. Patent No. 4,869,942, is made of an asphalt-
impregnated fiberglass material. The shingle has a broad
central area and a narrow strip adhered along one edqe of
the central area. The combination shingle has tabs
between cutout areas along the edge which has the double
layer. A third layer is adhered to the tabs to 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 form the finished roof.
It is an object of the present invention to
provide a new and improved roofing shingle preform and
" ~ "
214~362
_ - 2 -
methods of manufacturing and using the same, which will
enable a shingled roof to be formed in situ without the
necessity of handling and installing individual shingles.
The foregoing and other objects are achieved in
accordance with the present invention by a shingle
preform which comprises a strip formed of a bitumen
membrane having a plurality of spaced tabs of the same
bitumen membrane adhered thereto. Preferably, the
bitumen membrane is the roofing membrane described in
copending application Serial No. 07/822,059 entitled
"Bitumen Roofing Membrane" filed on even date herewith,
in the name of John P. Hageman and assigned to the same
assignee, as the present invention, which application is
incorporated by reference herein.
Preferably, the composite material comprises a
substrate having a layer of modified bitumen thereover,
the preform is fabricated by adhering tabs of the
composite material and the strip is then coiled into a
roll.
In accordance with an aspect of the present
invention, only a top portion of each tab is adhered to
the underlying strip. This then enables the bottom
portion of each tab to be lifted from-its underlying
strip and the strip secured by mechanical fasteners, such
as nails, to an underlying layer, thereby providing
instantaneous sealing of the strip to the underlying
layer. After nailing, the bottom portions of the tabs
are then lowered back onto the strip, thereby covering
the nails so that no nails show. The aesthetics of the
roof, therefore, are not impaired. In contrast, in
conventional shingling, nails are not employed to seal
the shingles but, instead, the heat of the sun, over
time, is relied upon to seal the shingles to underlying
shingles. Unfortunately, such sealing takes some time
and may not, even after sealing, be completely effective
"
21~362
- 3 -
to prevent leaking and other damage to the roof. In
addition, before sealing, the shingles and the underlying
roof are subject to damage from the weather.
In accordance with another aspect of the
invention, in order to fabricate a shingled roof, the
strip having the tabs adhered thereto is unwound from the
roll and laid on the roof. Thereafter, succeeding strips
having tabs thereon are unwound from a roll and laid in
overlapping fashion over each other, with the tabs of
each succeeding sheet intermediate the tabs of the
immediately preceding sheet so as to provide the shingle
effect.
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.
Fig. 1 illustrates a roofing shingle preform in
accordance with certain principles of the invention;
Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along
the lines 2-2 of Fig. l;
Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along
the lines 3-3 of Fig. 1;
Fig. 4 is a plan view showing an alternative
embodiment of the novel roofing shingle preform;
Fig. 5 illustrates diagrammatically the process
of manufacturing the novel preform of Fig. 1 and forming
the same into a roll; and
Fig. 6 illustrates installation of the novel
shingle of Fig. 1 to a roof.
Referring now to the drawings and, in partic-
ular, to Fig. 1, there is shown a roofing shingle
- - -
21~4362
_ - 4 -
preform 10 which includes a strip 11 and a plurality of
tabs 12 attached to the strip 11 in spaced fashion. The
strip 10 is preferably formed of the novel, modified
bitumen membrane disclosed in the copending application
of John P. Hageman, disclosed above. More specifically,
referring to Fig. 2, the strip 11 includes a core 13
formed of fiberglass or polyester and an overlying
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.
In a typical roofing shingle preform 10, the
width Ws of the strip and the width WT of the tab are
each eight inches, the length LT of the tabs may be 8, 10
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, as shown in Fig. 4, may
be used to enhance the aesthetics of a roof shingled with
the preform 10.
Advantageously, as 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 18 wherein the tabs 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 tabs thereto. It is not necessary
that the entire surface area to which the tabs are going
to be attached be coated. Only an area Wc extending from
an upper edge 21 towards a bottom edge 19 (upper and
bottom referring to the relative positioning to these
edges when a strip of the preform shingle is laid on a
~I>F~
214~362
roof 22 (Fig. 6)), need be coated with the adhesive.
Preferably, the area Wc extends approximately half-way
down the tab.
After exiting the station 18, the strip is
wound into a roll 23. The length of the strip 11 in each
roll is determined by the weight of the roll 23 that may
be easily handled by a roofer during installation.
Typically, 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 asphalt primer and allowed to dry.
Thereafter, insulation panels (not shown) and a base
sheet (not shown, but which may be formed from the novel
bitumen membrane disclosed in the copending application
of John P. Hageman referred to above) are attached to the
underlying roof deck 24, using mechanical fasteners.
Alternatively, the insulation panels and base sheet may
be attached using a hot asphalt process. Thereafter,
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 fasteners. More specifically,
after laying of the course, the bottom portions of the
tabs 12 (i.e., the portions below the area Wc) are lifted
from the underlying strip 11 and the strip fastened to
the underlying course using mechanical fasteners, such as
nails 26. The tabs 12 are then lowered back onto the
strip so they are flush with the underlying strip 11, an
overlying course then laid and the process repeated.
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 shingle in any course overlaps a shingle in
the second course below it. Typically, headlap with the
';PF-'~7?'i?7
21 94362
preform 10 is 3 inches. In addition to overlapping the
immediately preceding preform lOa, each succeeding
preform (such 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 foregoing
description, since the preform 10 is unwound from a roll,
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. Further, the ability to fold the tabs
away from the underlying strip to enable nailing provides
instantaneous sealing, thereby avoiding the necessity of
relying on heat from the sun to effect sealing, while at
the same time preventing any damage from weather which
might occur prior to sealing.
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, polyester is preferred because fiberglass is too
stiff.
Additionally, while other modifier resins may
be employed, such as actactic polypropylene (APP), SBS
and SEBS resins are preferred because each, when modified
with such resins, is amenable to being attached using
asphalt adhesives, whereas such is not true of APP resins
and asphalt adhesives are the preferred material for
attaching the tabs 12 to a strip 10.
As will be appreciated, the present invention
has been described in relation to a particular
illustrative embodiment thereof. Many other variations
c PP~ c-n
2144362
..
and processes will become apparent to those skilled in
the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present
invention be limited, not by the specific disclosure
herein, but only by the appended claims.
"
