Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – Opaque stonelike module – Grooves on juncture face
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-29
2004-08-03
Friedman, Carl D. (Department: 3655)
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
Opaque stonelike module
Grooves on juncture face
C052S592600, C052S586100, C052S223700, C052S233000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06769220
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is a structural member and, in particular, is a structural member that was developed for use as a floor for a refrigerated or other truck or trailer, but can also be used as a roof for homes and commercial buildings, as floating and other docks and dock covers, as cross arms for utility poles, as steps, as walks and walkways, as seawalls, as fence posts, as patio decks, as building foundations, as beams, as structural panels, as windows, as piers, as outdoor furniture, as horse trailers, and as stalls and barnyard structures.
In another aspect, the invention is an intermediate composition that is admirably suited for use in producing the structural member described above, a Dyligomer, as defined below, which is used in formulating the foregoing intermediate composition, and a cured material that can be produced by subjecting the intermediate composition sequentially to condensation polymerization with an isocyanate and then to addition polymerization.
In still another aspect the invention is a wall panel and a block both of which can be used in constructing buildings.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Refrigerated trucks and trailers usually have aluminum floors made up of a number of extruded sections, each of which has a plurality of parallel, longitudinally-extending channels. Adjacent ones of the channels have common sidewalls, and webs which are parallel to one another and are structurally integral with opposite edges of the sidewalls. The sections are welded together to make an entire floor, which may have inside dimensions as great as 102 inches (2.6 meters) by 52½ feet (16 meters). The aluminum floor must be insulated from the metal of the truck or trailer by which it is supported. This is usually accomplished by attaching spaced transverse wooden members to the supporting metal of the truck or trailer, and attaching the aluminum floor to the wooden members. After the assembly is complete, a froth foam is injected from a wand into the spaces which are below the floor and between the wooden members, where the floor is unsupported. Such floors leak, and must be replaced frequently, to a large extent because movement of a trailer or truck while in operation on a highway often exerts enormous forces tending to strip screws that are supposed to hold the floor to the trailer or truck and, as a consequence, stripping frequently occurs after a short time of service. Wet floors are particularly subject to this stripping.
Isocyanates and compositions that are polymerizable by condensation of the NCO groups of isocyanates with compounds having active hydrogens have been used widely since World War II to produce a broad spectrum of products ranging from coating compositions to medical appliances.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INSTANT INVENTION
The instant invention is based upon the discovery of a structural member made up of the aluminum floor described above, or another floor that is similar in design, but made of thinner aluminum or of another metal, and a cellular material having urethane groups in its molecular structure and an apparent density of at least 8 pounds per cubic foot (0.13 gm per cm3) bonded to the aluminum because of chemical affinity between the aluminum and the foam. As is subsequently explained in more detail, it is also desirable to compound the urethane to promote adhesion. As a consequence of its being in intimate contact with and bonded to the aluminum floor, the urethane foam supports the floor throughout its entire surface. Preferably, the structure also includes, as a substrate, a sheet of a second material, such as expanded polystyrene, plywood or the like, to which the urethane foam is also bonded because of the chemical affinity between the foam and the substrate. Most desirably, the second sheet is also the aluminum floor described above, with its parallel channels extending in a different direction than do the channels in the first floor, e.g., at right angles to the channels of the first floor. The structural member according to the invention has been found to be water tight and to have strength properties which indicate that it should have substantially extended service life by comparison with the previously described floor. The structural member can also be produced from sheet materials having the same shape as the aluminum floor, but made of metals other than aluminum, and can have various shapes other than that of the floor.
In another aspect, the instant invention is based upon the discovery of certain compounds, subsequently herein “Dyligomers”, which can serve as monomers in a polycondensation reaction with a polyisocyanate and can also serve as monomers in an addition propagation reaction with an unsaturated cross lining monomer. These Dyligomers can be produced from diisocyanates, the triglyceride of ricinoleic acid, and such compounds as 1,3-propanediol, 1,4-butanediol and 1,4-but-2-enediol; they can be mixed with other compounds which have active hydrogens, are ethylenically unsaturated, or both, and fillers, catalysts, water and the like, and the mixtures can be condensed to a thermoset condition with the same diisocyanate used to produce the Dyligomer, with another diisocyanate, or with a polyisocyanate. The thermoset condensate then cures further by addition polymerization involving the ethylenic unsaturation of the ricinoleic acid triglyceride or other ethylenically unsaturated compound moiety of the Dyligomer, or both. The triglyceride of ricinoleic acid, which is the principal constituent of castor oil, is an example of a compound which is capable of serving as a monomer in a polycondensation reaction with a diisocyanate and is also capable of serving as a monomer in an addition propagation reaction with an unsaturated cross linking monomer, having three hydroxyl groups which are at least potentially capable of a polycondensation reaction with a polyisocyanate and three ethylenic
double bonds which are at least potentially capable of an addition propagation reaction with an unsaturated crosslinking monomer.
Other examples of compounds which are capable of undergoing both types of reaction include 1,2,3-trihydroxy propene, with three hydroxyl groups and one ethylenic double
bond, 1,3-propene diol with two hydroxyl groups and one ethylenic double bond, and 1,4-but-2-ene diol, with two hydroxyl groups and one ethylenic double bond.
While these and other compounds can serve as monomers in a poly-condensation reaction with a polyisocyanate and can also serve as monomers in an addition propagation reaction with an unsaturated cross linking monomer, their use in practicing the instant invention is only as starting materials in producing Dyligomers, which can also serve as monomers in both polycondensation reactions and in addition propagation reactions. An example of such a Dyligomer, which can be produced by reaction of one molecule of the triglyceride of ricinoleic acid and one molecule of 1,4-but-2-ene diol with one molecule of 2,4-toluene diisocyanate (“TDI”), has the following structure, and is hereinafter called “Dyligomer I”:
Dyligomer I has four ethylenic double bonds and three hydroxyl groups; it can be stored for extended periods of time.
THE PRIOR ART
U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,601, granted Apr. 2, 1957 to Detrick et al., discloses the production of a cellular plastic material by reaction of an arylene diisocyanate with a fatty acid triglyceride, citing “German Plastics Practice,” De Bell, Goggin and Gloor, 1946, pp. 316 and 463-465 as authority for the statement (column 1, second paragraph of the patent):
“Cellular plastic products or plastic foams have been prepared in which isocyanates are used as one of the reactants * * *. In these products the cellular materials are prepared from alkyd resins which contain free carboxy groups.”
The patent says that its cellular plastic product is prepared in two steps, a first in which a prepolymer is made by reacting a fatty acid triglyceride containing hydroxy groups with enough of a diisocyanate that, when not more than 47.5% of the total isocyanate gro
Amiri Nahid
Friedman Carl D.
Purdue David C.
Purdue John C.
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