Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-04
2001-01-16
Gray, Linda L. (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S264000, C156S270000, C156S271000, C156S512000, C052S518000, C052S557000, C052SDIG001, C427S187000, C427S197000, C427S188000, CD25S139000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06174403
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for making multi-layered shingles, and to roofing shingles made thereby. The shingles are uniquely colored and thickened to enhance the appearance of a roof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have been many approaches by the roofing industry to the task of covering a roof deck with shingles which are both protective and aesthetically pleasing. Whatever their appearance, suitable shingles have been made sufficiently durable and weatherproof for prolonged protection of the roof. The shingles'visual appeal has been attained in various ways, such as by providing particular butt edge contours and surface treatments which function to simulate more traditional, and in most cases more expensive, forms of roof coverings, including thatch, wooden shakes, slates, and even tiles of various forms.
Simulation of such more traditional roof coverings is afforded by asphalt shingles of the laminated type. These shingles provide depth or its appearance on the roof, thus more or less giving the look of the wood or other natural appearing shingles. U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,358 provides an example of such composite shingles. After describing the futile attempts in the past to achieve the irregular, bulky, butt edge profile and surface contour characteristic of wood roofing shingles, this patent presents an improved composite shingle comprising a rectangular sheet having a headlap portion and a butt portion. The butt portion is divided into a series of spaced apart tabs and a strip is secured to the sheet in a position underlying the tabs and filling the spaces therebetween. While the resultant bilaminate structure suggests somewhat the substantial and imposing architectural appearance of the more expensive roofing materials, such as wood shingles, the structure still diverges considerably in appearance from them.
For many years roofing manufacturers have offered a variety of two-layered shingles of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,358 in the attempt to present a thicker and more attractive appearance. A structure markedly different from these prior art bilaminate shingles is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,942. This structure, which has an exposed butt portion three layers in depth, with tabs and cut-outs two layers in depth and an additional strip under the cut-outs, gives the shingle an appearance that goes well beyond the bilaminates in simulating wood and tile shingles.
Although the asphalt composite shingles have significant cost, service life and non-flammability advantages over wood shingles, the latter type are still seen by many to be a much more desirable roofing material for aesthetic purposes. A key reason for wood shingles' continuing aesthetic appeal stems from their greater thickness relative to the composite shingles, in spite of the many efforts in the past to simulate this thickness. Accordingly, it would be most beneficial to find a way to enhance the appearance of depth in the composite shingles without sacrificing these shingles' advantageous features.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an asphalt shingle that simulates very closely the thickness of wood or other traditional roof coverings, and also possesses those attributes desired in roof coverings, including waterproofness, durability and fire-resistance.
It is a further object of the invention to enhance the appearance of di-, tri- or other multi-thick laminated shingles through the use of granules having contrasting colors.
It is another object of the invention to provide a decorative trilaminated shingle wherein colored granules enhance the shingle's appearance and make it look thicker than it actually is.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a simple, efficient and economical method for the continuous production of a laminated shingle from a single indefinitely long roofing sheet.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing and other objects of the invention have been achieved by a multi-layered roof shingle which is colored for enhancement of the shingle's visual appeal and thickness. The shingle has two or more layers which have different elevations and are provided with differently colored granules. Contrasting the layers by means of color variation greatly accentuates the difference in surface elevation between them. These differently colored layers are the shingle portions which are exposed to view when the shingles are laid together in overlapping relation on a roof.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the multi-layered shingle is of the laminated type, e.g., a bi- or tri-laminated roofing shingle. This shingle composite is made of at least two laminae, and may have three, four or more laminae. The laminae are preferably constructed of felted material comprising organic or inorganic fibers or a mixture of both. The fibers are usually held together with a binder and are coated, saturated, or otherwise impregnated with an asphaltic bituminous material. The laminae lie one above another in the composite, and at least one underlying lamina is visible when the composite is viewed from above. Inherent in this laminated construction is an appreciable difference in surface elevation where the underlying lamina or laminae are exposed below the overlying one. The use of differently colored granules in accordance with the invention to differentiate the over- and underlying laminae creates an enhanced impression of depth to the composite's viewer.
A preferred laminate incorporating the distinctive coloration of the invention comprises an asphalt shingle having a beadlap portion and a butt portion which extends from the lower boundary of the headlap portion to the butt edge of the shingle and comprises a series of tabs separated by spaces extending from the headlap portion to the butt edge, with an underlay member being positioned beneath and affixed to the tabs and filling the spaces therebetween. The tabs and/or the underlay member may be multi-layered. The type of laminated shingle consisting of a single overlay member and a single underlay member is well-known and illustrated, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,921,358 and 4,717,614. In the past, the application of a mineral granule covering having randomly varying color contrasts or hues has been used to enhance the effects of the shape of such bilaminated shingles and thereby present a generally randomly varying surface simulating cedar or wood shake roofing elements.
The coloration of the inventive multi-layered shingles departs from this variegated look of the prior art. The shingle of the present invention has at least two layers which are at different elevations and individually have a surface exposed to view in the final assembly of shingles on the roof deck. While each such surface may be either randomly or systematically colored, at least one of the surfaces is colored differently from the other(s) which is (are) at a different elevation. The differently colored surface(s) beneficially is (are) covered by granular material having at least one color and/or hue which is not possessed by the granules of the other exposed surface or surfaces. The color differentiation strikingly accentuates the difference in height between the shingle layers. The coloring scheme is especially useful for the preferred laminated shingles whose exposed butt portion presents to the viewer alternating tabs and cut-out spaces backed by an underlying strip in the final roof covering constituting a plurality of the shingles. By creating a high color contrast between the overlying tabs and underlying strip, the overall appearance of thickness is greatly enhanced.
The underlying strip may have one dark band across its topmost exposed surface to create a shadow line. This positioning of a single dark bank under the sawtooth edge of a shingle is a conventional practice in the art. However, the strip does not have a plurality of exposed horizontal striations to create an illusion of depth or thickness. There is no
Becker Walter F.
Freeman Shelby L.
Steiner, Jr. Edward C.
Trotter Calvin G.
Certain-Teed Corporation
Gray Linda L.
LandOfFree
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