Tile Wedge With Arcuate Ribs For Hand Installation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wedge systems for tile installation are difficult to use by hand, prone to edge wear, and lose effectiveness quickly, often requiring pliers for adequate engagement and maintenance.
Innovation Solution
The improved wedge system features a resilient hook element with an arcuate aperture and a clamping surface with arcuate ribs, allowing for easy hand installation and increased durability through a frangible connection and angled forcing surface, which facilitates clamped engagement and resists withdrawal until mortar cures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional wedges with flat surfaces are used, then tile alignment is achieved, but the wedges are difficult to install by hand and require pliers for adequate engagement
Solution Approach 1:
The wedge incorporates a ribbed gripping surface with arcuate ribs that engage with the hook element, creating a curved interface that facilitates hand installation while maintaining reliable engagement. The arcuate shape of the ribs provides mechanical advantage for manual insertion without requiring pliers.
Solution Approach 2:
The hook element is designed to be frangibly connected to the planar element, allowing it to break away after use. This disposable component approach enables easy installation by hand while ensuring adequate engagement during the critical period when the wedge is needed for tile alignment.
2Reliability
If conventional wedges are used, then tile spacing is maintained, but the wedges are prone to edge wear and lose effectiveness quickly
Solution Approach 1:
The arcuate ribs on the wedge distribute contact stresses along curved surfaces rather than concentrated edge points. This curvature design reduces edge wear and extends the wedge's effective lifespan, allowing up to 100 uses without degradation of performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The wedge system combines different material properties in the hook element and wedge body, with the hook element designed for frangible connection. This composite approach enhances overall durability while maintaining the ability to achieve and maintain tile spacing over extended periods.
3Manufacturing precision
If the hook element is resiliently deformed for clamped engagement, then coplanar tile alignment is achieved, but the connection between hook element and planar element must be frangible
Solution Approach 1:
The wedge system is segmented into distinct components: the planar element, the resilient hook element, and the ribbed wedge. The frangible connection between the hook element and planar element allows the hook to deform resiliently for precise coplanar alignment while simplifying the overall connection mechanism through controlled separation after use.
Solution Approach 2:
The frangible connection design allows the hook element to be discarded after serving its purpose of achieving coplanar alignment. This simplifies the device by eliminating the need for complex reversible connections, as the hook element is designed for single-use deployment with resilient deformation during installation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system allows for easy, long-lasting tile spacing and alignment, enabling up to 100 uses without edge wear, and simplifies the installation and removal process, reducing the need for tools and extending the wedge's lifespan.
Implementation Method 1
the hook element is resiliently deformed, to provide for a clamped engagement of the pair of adjacent tiles
Implementation Method 2
the hook element having an aperture defined therein and being frangibly connected to the planar element
Data Source
AI summary
A wedge system for creating a tiled surface includes wedge receivers and wedges. Each wedge receiver has a planar element and a hook extending from the planar element in perpendicular relation. The hook is disposed as a tile spacer between a pair of tiles. The planar element is disposed beneath the tiles. Each wedge has a clamping surface and a ribbed gripping surface orientated in angular relation to one another to meet in an edge with the ribs comprising an arcuate arrangement. In use, the wedge extends through the aperture of the wedge receiver such that the clamping surface is positioned in abutting relation against the tiles and the hook is resiliently deformed to provide for a clamped engagement of the tiles between the clamping surface and the planar element, to provide for substantially coplanar relation of the tiles. Further, the gripping surface grips the wedge receiver to resist withdrawal of the wedge and maintain the clamped engagement until the mortar has cured.