Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – With synthetic resinous component – With nonresinous component
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-14
2004-02-10
Chapman, Jeanette (Department: 3635)
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
With synthetic resinous component
With nonresinous component
C052S177000, C403S265000, C403S266000, C403S268000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06688060
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a joiner for vertical joint which is designed to be placed at a vertical joint formed between end faces (or side faces) of neighboring external wall members such as siding boards.
2. Description of the Related Arts
It is known to construct the external wall of building by attaching external wall members such as ceramic siding boards to the framework of building in such a manner that the end portions (or end faces) of external wall members are butted against one another.
FIG. 6
illustrates one example of such an external wall structure, wherein the coupling of external wall members
10
are joined together in such a manner that the end faces of external wall members
10
are butted against one another by making use of a couple of fastening members
12
secured to a vertical furring strip
11
. In this case, by taking the expansion and shrinkage of the external wall members
10
due to temperature or the dimensional shrinkage with time into consideration, a couple of neighboring wall members are usually fixed to the furring strip
11
in such a manner that a gap (vertical joint portion)
13
of about 10 mm is provided between the facing ends of these neighboring wall members. An elongated vertical joiner
20
is used to keep space between the facing ends.
The elongated vertical joiner
20
for vertical joint provided with a raised portion
21
is attached to the vertical furring strip
11
in such a manner that the raised portion
21
can be fitted into the gap or vertical joint portion
13
. By the way, the vertical joiner
20
shown in
FIG. 6
is of a type called a hat joiner and usually made of resin or metal. The worked structure of the vertical joint portion where the aforementioned vertical joiner
20
is employed is also applied to the joining gap portions on both sides of the external corner formative member
30
as shown in
FIG. 7
(by the way, in
FIG. 7
, the same reference numbers as those of
FIG. 6
are employed for the constituent members having the same functions as those of FIG.
6
).
A sealing compound
14
made of an elastic material is filled in the gap
13
in order to prevent rain water from penetrating inward through this gap
13
. The raised portion
21
of the elongated vertical joiner
20
functions as a receiving area for the sealing compound
14
. As for specific examples of the sealing compound
14
, modified silicone, polysulfide, polyurethane, acrylic and butyl rubber are frequently employed due to their characteristics of elastic deformation, enabling them to elastically deform, to absorb or to follow any changes in the gap (width of joint) resulting from the shrinkage or expansion of the siding boards after the installation thereof, thereby preventing the fracturing of the hermetically sealed state of the gap that may be caused due to the cracking or peeling of the sealing compound
14
.
By the way, if the sealing material for sealing the vertical joint portion is filled in the vertical joint portion under such a condition that only a couple of end faces of siding boards disposed on the opposite sides of the sealing material (bonding interfaces) are kept in a bonded state with the other aides of the sealing material being kept in a non-adhered state (kept free), the sealing material is enabled to exhibit an excellent follow-up property relative to the shrinkage and expansion of the siding boards. However, as shown in
FIG. 8
illustrating the top view of the worked structure of the vertical joint portion, according to the worked structure of the vertical joint portion where the aforementioned vertical joiner
20
is employed, the surface region of raised portion
21
of the vertical joiner
20
(bottom face of the joint) becomes a third bonding Interface in addition to the aforementioned couple of end faces of siding boards disposed on the opposite sides of the sealing material. As a result, the elastic deformation of the sealing material is restricted by this third bonding interface, thereby obstructing the follow-up property of the sealing material and hence possibly leading to problems such as the cracking or peeling of the sealing member as the siding boards are shrunk or expanded. If the cracking or peeling of the sealing member is generated, the hermetical property of the sealing member in destroyed. Therefore, the cracking or peeling of the sealing member should be prevented at all costs.
In view of overcoming this problem, there has been proposed to adhere a tape called a bond breaker which is poor in adhesivity to the sealing material onto the surface region of the raised portion
21
of the vertical joiner
21
. As for the specific examples of this bond breaker, there have been proposed various kinds of materials such as a water-repellent tape made of paper or cloth having a water-repellent treatment surface (Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication S62-22248), a release paper (Japanese Utility Model unexamined Publication H4-134306), a resin tape which is surface-treated so as to minimize the surface roughness and to make the surface thereof lustrous and smooth (Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication H11-36553), etc.
However, the conventional bond breakers are all defective in that the releasability thereof to the sealing material is not necessarily sufficient, so that they are still incapable of completely avoiding the formation of aforementioned third bonding interface between the surface region of raised portion of the joiner for vertical joint and the sealing material. As a result, there are occasionally occurred situations where the cracking or peeling is generated in the sealing material that has been filled in the vertical joint.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention has been accomplished under the circumstances as mentioned above, and therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a joiner for vertical joint, which is very low in adhesiveness to a sealing material to be employed on the occasion of fixing the ordinary external building boards or siding boards, thereby making it possible to almost completely prevent the sealing material filled in the vertical joint from being subsequently cracked or peeled.
With a view to realize the aforementioned object, the prevent inventor has made a large number of experiments on the adhesiveness or releasability between various kinds of the sealing materials and various kinds of material to be employed as a joiner for vertical joint or as a bond breaker. The results of these experiments are shown in Table 1.
Namely, Table 1 shows the results wherein the feeling of releasability of the sealing materials from the joiners is evaluated at the moment when the sealing material is picked up and pulled by one's fingers. In this test, each of the sealing materials of various manufactures was cured for three days after it was applied to each of the bond breakers of various manufacturers, which was adhered in advance onto the top surface (bottom face of the joint) of hat joiner disposed at the interconnecting gap between the neighboring right and left siding boards. In Table 1, a sample wherein the sealing material was enabled to be completely peeled away from the joiner is indicated by a mark O; a sample wherein the sealing material was enabled to be partially peeled away from the joiner is indicated by a mark &Dgr;; and a sample wherein the sealing material was completely adhered onto the joiner is indicated by a mark x. The symbols A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, a, b, c, d and e shown in Table 1 represent manufacturers of the bond breakers or sealing materials.
TABLE 1
Kinds of sealing materials
Modified silicone
PU
PS
Kinds of bond breaker
a
b
c
d
a
e
A:
PE tape
x
∘
∘
x
x
∘
B:
PE tape
&Dgr;-x
x
x
x
∘
x
C:
PE tape
x
x
&Dgr;
∘
x
∘
C:
PP tape
x
x
x
x
x
x
D:
Silicone-treated
x
x
&Dgr;
x
∘
∘
PE tape
E:
TF tape
∘
∘
∘
&Dgr;-x
∘
∘
F:
Embossed PE tape
&Dgr;
&Dgr;
x
∘
&Dgr;
∘
with 5% recess
F:
Embossed
Chapman Jeanette
Nichiha Corporation
Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP
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