Tile Levelling Device Frangible Stem Wedge Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tile levelling and spacing methods fail to consistently achieve flatness and allow for thermal expansion, as they often leave remnants that inhibit tile movement due to the snapping of stems after use.
Innovation Solution
A tile levelling device with a base portion and a frangibly connected stem, featuring V-shaped recesses and a pivotable stem, which allows for precise levelling and spacing with a wedge mechanism that removes the stem completely after use, ensuring no obstruction for tile expansion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a stem is snapped off after use to remove it from between tiles, then the stem can be removed for tile expansion, but a stump of the stem still projects into the space between adjacent tiles inhibiting thermal expansion
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the harmful stump portion by designing the stem to break at a specific frangible connection point, ensuring the stem separates completely from the base portion. The break occurs at the frangible web connection, leaving no projecting stump that would inhibit tile expansion, while the base portion remains embedded in the tile to provide continuous expansion space.
Solution Approach 2:
The stem is segmented into two parts through the frangible web connection: the base portion that remains embedded in the tile and the stem portion that breaks away. This segmentation allows the stem to be removed from the critical expansion zone while maintaining the base portion for structural support and expansion accommodation.
2Manufacturing precision
If manual spacing methods are used with disposable plastic crosses, then spacing between tiles can be achieved, but flatness and consistency of tile alignment cannot be reliably ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The stem is designed to be pivotable relative to the base portion, allowing dynamic adjustment during tile installation. The stem can rotate within the V-shaped recess to accommodate varying tile positions and achieve proper alignment, then locks into place when the wedge is inserted, providing both flexibility during installation and stability during curing.
Solution Approach 2:
The wedge acts as an intermediary element that mediates between the stem and the tile alignment requirement. By inserting the wedge into the hole formed in the stem, the tiles are pulled into alignment through the mechanical action of the wedge, ensuring consistent flatness without requiring complex adjustment mechanisms.
3Reliability
If the stem is made frangibly connected to allow complete removal, then tile expansion is enabled, but the connection strength between stem and base portion must be carefully controlled
Solution Approach 1:
The frangible web is designed with specific dimensional parameters (thickness, width, length) that change along its structure, creating a controlled weak point. The web has a rectangular cross-section with dimensions that ensure it breaks at the correct location and time, providing sufficient strength during installation but allowing clean separation when the stem needs to be removed for tile expansion.
Data Source
AI summary
A tile levelling device includes a base portion having an upper surface and an opposing lower surface, one or more recesses being formed in the upper surface. The tile levelling device also includes a stem frangibly connected to the base portion at or near a low point of said recess, the stem including a hole adapted to receive a wedge.