Coating processes – Coating remains adhesive or is intended to be made adhesive
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-27
2001-06-26
Beck, Shrive (Department: 1762)
Coating processes
Coating remains adhesive or is intended to be made adhesive
C427S421100, C427S426000, C427S230000, C427S236000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06251476
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to methods for applying material for insulating walls and floors with fibrous cellulose insulation.
2. Description of Related Art
The prior art discloses a wide variety of spray-on cellulose insulation materials and systems for spraying insulation on ceilings, floors, and walls. The prior art discloses various “stabilized” spray-on or blow-in insulations for cavity walls which include loose fill fibers, moisture, adhesive material or both, to produce a somewhat rigid, stabilized mass with a desired reduced density. Such a mass in certain applications has some wet strength and is self-supporting temporarily. In one aspect such a prior art method employs some dry adhesive material that is activated by water. Certain of these prior art methods result in wasting an amount of sprayed-on or blown-in material which exits the area to which they are to be applied. Such material that is not deposited at the desired location, typically in the form of dust and overspray, must be collected and recycled or disposed of. Moving air can affect a surface to which such a mixture is applied, removing fibers from the surface and relocating them in an undesirable location. Such a mixture may settle and pack down in an undesired manner and may be easily damaged by workers and tradespeople working in the location.
A variety of known two-component adhesive resins are used with sprayed-on and blown-in fibrous cellulose insulating materials. The two components are generally designated as an “A” component (e.g. sodium silicate, polyvinyl alcohol, starch) and a “B” component (e.g. acrylic, vinyl acetate, vinyl latex). Such adhesives can provide wet strength to a fibrous mixture and adhere the fibers to a surface or substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,983, co-owned with the present invention and incorporated here fully for all purposes, discloses prior art systems for applying fibrous cellulose insulation material with an adhesive. U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,440, co-owned with the present invention and incorporated fully herein for all purposes, discloses insulating fiber mixtures that include water, fibers, and an adhesive that is a combination of sodium silicate and an acrylic resin.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,684,068 and 5,853,802, both co-owned with the present invention and fully incorporated herein for all purposes, disclose spray-on insulation compositions with cellulose fibers and a polyvinyl alcohol adhesive and, in certain aspects, an acrylic resin.
There has long been a need for an effective spray-on fibrous cellulose insulating mixture for walls and floors and systems for using them. There has long been a need, recognized by the present inventors, for such mixtures and systems which reduce the amount of undeposited material. There has long been a need for such mixtures and systems which reduce or eliminate the need for protective netting or barriers used with certain prior art methods and/or reduce or eliminate the need for such netting used to capture blown loose materials. There has long been a need, recognized by the present inventors, for such mixtures and systems which result in a uniformly less dense product, but a product with sufficient wet strength and sufficient set strength to inhibit or prevent undesirable settling and packing. There has long been a need for such a mixture that maintains a significant amount of or substantially all its original installed density and integrity without inordinate settling.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The present invention, in certain embodiments, discloses a spray-on fibrous cellulose insulation mixture that includes the insulating cellulose fibers and only one component of a two-component resin adhesive material (with or without added water in the adhesive), e.g. only an A component; or such fibers with an A component with an amount of a B component—with or without added water. In certain aspects mixtures according to the present invention employ relatively less adhesive than in prior art mixtures and the water-to-adhesive ratio is, therefore, increased and the water-to-fiber ratio is reduced.
In certain particular embodiments the fibers are mixed with an “alcohol” adhesive e.g., but not limited to, polyvinyl alcohol adhesives, (e.g. but not limited to those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,684,068 and 5,853,802) or with an alcohol containing adhesives. In certain systems that use spray-on nozzles, this mixing occurs at the nozzle.
In one system according to the present invention, fibrous cellulose is provided in one line to a plural-component spray nozzle and an adhesive component (e.g., but not limited to, an A component or alcohol-containing adhesive as described herein) is provided in another line to the nozzle. The resulting spray-on mixture is deposited on a first interior side of a wall which, in certain aspects has adjacent to and spaced-apart from it another wall member board or sheathing to form a cavity therebetween into which the mixture is sprayed or applied. The use of certain mixtures according to the present invention results in relatively greater wet strength of the mixture, less undesirable setting and/or packing of the material, and a final product whose installed, set volume is very close to its volume when first applied. In certain methods such a mixture is also applied to a floor. In certain methods for applying mixtures according to the present invention to floors, the adhesive-to-fiber ratio is increased. In certain aspects the mixture is applied into a cavity formed in a floor/ceiling combination or assembly.
What follows are some of, but not all, the objects of this invention. In addition to the specific objects stated below for at least certain preferred embodiments of the invention, other objects and purposes will be readily apparent to one of skill in this art who has the benefit of this invention's teachings and disclosures.
It is, therefore, an object of at least certain preferred embodiments of the present invention to provide:
New, useful, unique, efficient, nonobvious safe fibrous materials for use in spray-on insulations for walls and floors;
Such materials and methods of their use which employ both or a single component of a two-component adhesive resin;
Such materials and methods of their use which use a PVOH (polyvinyl alcohol) adhesive which is not “cooked” with an acidic medium, or a PVOH adhesive cooked with the addition of an acidic medium and/or with a water-reducible adhesive such as, but not limited to, polyvinyl acetate adhesives, acrylic copolymer adhesives, or a combination thereof;
Such insulations with sufficient wet strength to facilitate emplacement in a cavity wall;
Such insulations material which use fibrous materials that have had an acidic medium, e.g. boric acid, pounded into the fibrous material;
Such insulation materials and methods of their use which reduce the amount of undesirable dust and undeposited materials on walls and floors; and
Such materials which provide adequate rigidity and which alleviate undesirable setting and packing.
Certain embodiments of this invention are not limited to any particular individual feature disclosed here, but include combinations of them distinguished from the prior art in their structures and functions. Features of the invention have been broadly described so that the detailed descriptions that follow may be better understood, and in order that the contributions of this invention to the arts may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional aspects of the invention described below and which may be included in the subject matter of the claims to this invention. Those skilled in the art who have the benefit of this invention, its teachings, and suggestions will appreciate that the conceptions of this disclosure may be used as a creative basis for designing other structures, methods and systems for carrying out and practicing the present invention. The claims of this invention are to be read to include any legally equivalent devices or methods which do not depart from the spirit and
Boyer Harold F.
Kempe Steven A.
Beck Shrive
Calcagni Jennifer
International Cellulose Corp.
McClung Guy
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