Caulking forming tool

A caulking forming tool having a generally U-shaped handle member and a plurality of blades designed to tool applied caulking to a uniform thickness and smoothness, free of air pockets.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to tools in general and, more particularly, to 
caulking forming tools designed to tool applied caulking to a uniform 
thickness and smoothness, free of air pockets. 
2. Description of the Background Art 
Presently, caulking is used throughout the construction industry to seal 
expansion and contraction joints always prevalent throughout the structure 
under construction. Caulking not only provides a seal to weatherproof the 
joint, but also prevents insects and the like from entering the structure. 
Also, when properly tooled, caulking provides an esthetically pleasing 
appearance to the building. 
Typical sealing joints may range from one-quarter inch to over six inches 
in width, with the optimum distance being generally around one-half inch. 
Because of the surprising amount of movement in many of the caulked 
joints, the caulking must be resilient and, hence, capable of stretching 
or contracting. 
Two of the more critical concerns in properly sealing a joint with caulking 
are providing a continuous bonding of the caulking with both sides of the 
joint and maintaining a predetermined and uniform caulking depth. The 
first concern is obvious inasmuch as a properly sealed joint is always 
desirable. The second concern of maintaining a predetermined and uniform 
caulking depth may not be as obvious but is just as important as 
excessively deep caulking will have less resiliency and, hence, may exceed 
the bond strength between the caulking and the joint wall. Indeed, 
generally accepted principles concerning caulking depth typically require 
that the depth of the caulking not exceed five-eighths of an inch or 
one-half of the caulking's width, whichever is less. Two procedures are 
used to insure proper caulking depth. First, prior to caulking the joint, 
a foam "backer rod" is compressed and inserted into the joint along its 
entire length. The backer rod is compressed into the joint to a uniform 
depth consistent with the caulking widthdepth ratio discussed above. After 
positioning the backer rod, uncured caulking is "shot" into the joint with 
a caulking gun or the like. It is noted that the backer rod not only 
insures a uniform and proper depth of the joint but also provides, under 
certain circumstances, necessary support for the caulking until it cures. 
The second procedure is referred to as "tooling the caulking". After 
shooting the caulking into the joint, the exposed surface is lumpy and 
irregular. The tooling results in a number of necessary improvements. It 
forces the caulking to completely fill the joint by pushing it against the 
backer rod on the bottom and against the sides thereby insuring bonding to 
both sides while removing any air pockets. As the caulking is tooled flush 
with the top edges of the joint, the critical uniform depth of the 
caulking is attained. Furthermore, the tooling produces an esthetically 
pleasing finish. 
While many specialized tools exist for the mixing, handling and shooting of 
the caulking, virtually no specialized tools exist on the market for the 
tooling procedure. Furthermore, none of the devices disclosed in the 
patents located during the patentability search (as identified in the 
Information Disclosure Statement filed herewith) were materially relevant 
to this invention. 
Indeed, the only type of caulking tools commonly in use are "pointing 
irons" which were originally designed for use in masonry work. These 
pointing irons typically comprise an individual blade of a certain width, 
having a handle attached thereto. Obviously, a particular pointing iron is 
useful for caulking only one joint of a particular width. Consequently, 
the tradesman tooling the caulking must necessarily have a large number of 
pointing irons in order to properly caulk joints of various widths. The 
requirement of having on hand a large number of pointing irons increases 
the likelihood of inadvertently losing one, thereby requiring the 
tradesman to replace it. Each pointing iron may range in price from six 
dollars to nine dollars or more. This is assuming, of course, that all the 
pointing irons having blades of a desired width can be purchased. Those 
which cannot be purchased require that the tradesman reduce the width of 
an oversized blade by grinding or other technique. 
Finally, instead of purchasing a large number of pointing irons, some 
tradesmen resort to using common kitchen flatware such as knives and 
spoons. Of course, since knives and spoons have only a predetermined 
width, the tradesman must individually grind or otherwise reduce the width 
of the knife or spoon and flatten the tips of them. Moreover, even if the 
tradesman does alter a large number of knives or spoons to the different 
required widths needed by him during the caulking process, it is quite 
apparent each knife or spoon looks substantial like another precluding the 
tradesman from quickly distinguishing the implement having the desired 
configuration. Instead, the tradesman must sort through the collection of 
knives and spoons until he finds one of an appropriate width. Still 
further, it is unreasonable to expect that caulking tools obtained by 
reforming household flatware will have the durability to last in a 
commercial construction setting. 
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a method which 
overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art methods and 
provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the 
advancement of the caulking forming tool art. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a caulking forming tool 
including a collection of different widths of caulking blades. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a caulking forming tool 
including a collection of various widths of blades fastened together 
thereby preventing inadvertent loss or separation of the blades. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a caulking forming tool 
including a collection of various width blades with means for securing the 
blades in order based upon the width of the blades. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a caulking forming tool 
which is compact, light-weight, sturdy and inexpensive including a 
collection of different width blades. 
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the 
invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of 
some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended 
invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the 
disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention 
within the scope of the disclosure contained herein and in the above 
identified patents, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by 
reference herein. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of 
the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and 
the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the 
scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the 
accompanying drawings. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention is defined by the appended claims with a specific embodiment 
shown in the attached drawings. For the purpose of summarizing the 
invention, the invention comprises a caulking forming tool designed to 
tool caulking recently shot into a joint. More particularly, the caulking 
forming tool of the invention comprises a generally U-shaped handle member 
including upstanding side walls and a bottom wall disposed in a U-shaped 
configuration. A plurality of caulking blades are pivotably secured within 
the U-shaped portion of the handle. Each blade is designed to pivot from 
its retracted position within the handle to an extended position 
substantially colinear with handle. Further, each blade is composed of a 
relatively thin material, such as spring steel, and includes a 
progressively more narrow width. Preferably, the blades are pivotably 
connected within the handle in an orderly manner based upon their width 
such that the greatest width blade is positioned adjacent to the blade 
with the next greatest width and so on. The orderly positioning of the 
blades based upon their width within the handle allows the tradesman to 
quickly, easily and accurately sort through the blades to select the blade 
of the desired width. 
The caulking forming tool of the invention still further comprises a 
locking means for locking the individual selected blade in the extended 
position while in use and to further lock the remaining blades in the 
handle in their retracted position. The locking mechanism assures that the 
blades not in use will remain retracted within the handle while assuring 
that the blade in use will remain steadily positioned in the handle. 
It is readily apparent that the caulking forming tool of the invention 
overcomes many of the disadvantages associated with pointing irons and 
other tools constructed from kitchen flatware such as knives and spoons. 
More specifically, the caulking forming tool of the invention is featured 
by securing all of the caulking blades needed for a variety of caulking 
procedures within a comfortable handle. During the caulking procedure, the 
tradesman simply selects the desired width blade and pivots it from the 
handle to its extended position colinear with the handle and locks it into 
position. Moreover, when a different sized blade is required, the 
tradesman simply returns the extended blade to its retracted position in 
the handle and selects another blade having the desired width. 
Additionally, the handle which conveniently stores all of the blades 
together precludes the inadvertent loss of individual tools as is common 
with prior art tools. 
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the more pertinent and important 
features of the present invention in order that the detailed description 
of the invention that follows may be better understood so that the present 
contribution to the art can be more fully appreciated. Additional features 
of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of 
the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in 
the art that the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed may be 
readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures 
for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should 
also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent 
constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as 
set forth in the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the caulking forming tool 10 of the invention 
comprises a U-shaped handle member 12 including upstanding side walls 14 
and 16 interconnected by bottom wall 18 thereby defining a U-shaped 
cross-sectional configuration. 
A plurality of caulking blades 20 are pivotably positioned within the 
handle member 12 between sidewalls 14 and 16 at pivot point 22. As 
illustrated, each of the caulking blades 20 comprise a relatively long and 
thin configuration, having a certain width. The widths of each caulking 
blade 20 differ from those of the others such that an assortment of 
various width blades 20 are provided. Preferably, the caulking blades 20 
are pivotably contained within the handle member 12 in order determined by 
their width such that the greatest width blade is positioned adjacent to 
the next to the greatest width blade, and so on. The various width blades 
20 positioned in such an order allows the tradesman to quickly and easily 
select the desired width of blade and pivot it to the extended position 
for use. 
Referring now to FIG. 3, in conjunction with FIG. 1, the pivot point 22 
operatively connects the blade ends 24 between the side walls 14 and 16 of 
handle member 12 in such a manner that the blades 20 may easily pivot to 
and from the retracted position within the handle 12 and the extended 
position as shown in phantom in FIG. 3. While many embodiments of the 
pivot point 22 may suffice, the preferred pivot point 22 comprises a 
threaded boss 26 positioned through aperture 28 in side wall 14 and 
aperature 32 in side wall 16. The threaded boss 26 includes a length 
sufficient to extend fully across the distance between side walls 14 and 
16 and through the other side wall 16. A threaded fastener 30, such as a 
bolt, extends through aperture 32 in the other side wall 16 to threadably 
engage the threads of threaded boss 26. It is noted that this particular 
configuration of pivot point 22, allows bolt 30 to be rigidly threaded 
into threaded boss 26 and torqued to a high degree to assure that the bolt 
30 and boss 26 will not loosen during use of the tool 10. Indeed, it is 
noted that torquing the bolt 30 into boss 26 does not affect the distance 
between side walls 14 and 16 as determined by the length of threaded boss 
26 thereby preventing any binding of the caulking blades 20 during 
pivoting. 
The caulking forming tool 10 may additionally include a locking mechanism, 
generally indicated by numeral 34. The locking mechanism 34 is designed to 
releasably secure the blades 20 in either their retracted position within 
handle member 12 or in their extended position as shown in phantom in FIG. 
3. The preferred embodiment of the locking mechanism 34 comprises an 
elongated spring member 36 preferably composed of spring steel or the 
like. The spring member 26 is connected to the bottom wall 18 by means of 
rivets 38 or other fasteners. Spring member 36 further includes 
protuberance 40 and outwardly extending tab 42. Protuberance 40 is 
positioned to extend through aperture 44 in bottom wall 18 to engage into 
corresponding indentations 46 in opposing edges of each of the caulking 
blades 20. In this regard, it is noted that the ends 24 of the blades 20 
are of a uniform width, with each containing respective indentations 46. 
The uniform width end 24 of the blades 20 allows the protuberance 40 of 
spring member 36 to releasably engage into the indentations 46 to 
releasably secure the caulking blades 20 in either their retracted 
position or their extended position. Moreover, any caulking blade 20 may 
be selected and individually moved from one position to the other by 
simply grasping and pulling tab 42 away from bottom wall 18 whereupon the 
protuberance 40 disengages indentation 46 allowing the selected blade to 
freely pivot. When the blade 20 had been repositioned to either its 
retracted or extended position, protuberance 40 snaps into indentation 46 
thereby securing the blade 20 in such a position. 
The present disclosure includes that contained in the appended claims, as 
well as that of the foregoing description. Although this invention has 
been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of 
particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the 
preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous 
changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement 
of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the 
invention. 
Now that the invention has been described,