TILE LEVELLING DEVICE

A tile levelling device of the type used on a surface to level at least two adjacent tiles which comprises:          a support designed to be positioned between at least two adjacent tiles and equipped with a base designed to be positioned underneath the at least two tiles and an elongated body or rod which extends orthogonally from the base and is equipped with means for the gripping thereof from the outside;       a levelling and pressure body designed to be removably connected to the support by means of the elongated body or rod and comprising a structure which is endowed with a lower edge endowed with a flat support surface intended to operate through contact with at least one of the upper surfaces of the at least two adjacent tiles; the said support surface being positioned perpendicular to the central axis of the pressure body, wherein the pressure body may be coaxially coupled by means of a magnetic attraction coupling to an external rotating member, whose task is to generate, on command, the rotation thereof in both directions. The external rotating member is, in turn, equipped with a tang for coupling with the external screwing tool and comprises, integrally coupled therewith on at least part of the internal surface thereof, at least one insert consisting of a ring-shaped magnet.

The invention relates to a tile levelling device used on a surface to level at least two adjacent tiles. The said device is of the type comprising a support designed to be positioned between at least two adjacent tiles and which, in addition to fulfilling a spacing function, is also equipped with a base envisaged to be placed under the two tiles and an elongated body or rod, which extends vertically from the base in a perpendicular manner thereto. The body has an elongated or stem form and is equipped with gripping means which form a coaxial connection, by means of a thread, with a pressure body. The said body is endowed with a lower edge endowed with a flat support surface intended to operate through contact with parts of the upper surfaces of at least two adjacent tiles. The task of the said flat support surface, which is arranged perpendicular to the central axis of the pressure body, is to perform the levelling, i.e. aligning the upper flat surfaces of the two or more adjacent tiles lying in the same plane when the said support surface is pushed against the upper surfaces of the adjacent tiles, exploiting the counteraction applied by the base to the lower surfaces of the said tiles. This operation is performed using the screw connection, whereby the pressure body is screwed onto the thread with which the elongated body or rod is equipped, with the result that the support surface of the pressure body ends up in contact and pushing against the flat upper surfaces of adjacent tiles.

According to prior art, this operation is performed manually at each point in the flooring at which levelling is performed. Clearly, significant amounts of time are required to carry out both the screwing on and unscrewing steps. Once a grip has been achieved and the tiles are locked in position ready to level the upper surfaces thereof, the various pressure parts employed thus far must be removed and decoupled, i.e. unscrewed from the relative elongated bodies or rods in order to be reused in new laying operations.

One drawback of the aforesaid prior art lies in the considerable manoeuvring time required to perform each levelling operation described above, consisting in manually screwing and unscrewing the pressure member onto the external threaded part of the elongated body or rod.

The drawback is so great that an idea for a solution to the problem has already been proposed, as disclosed in EP3455432 (filed by the same applicant as this document), which essentially consists in preparing a special embodiment of the seat designed to allow mechanical connection with the elongated body or rod of the pressure member by means of at least two mutually movable parts which are mutually connected in an elastic manner so that they can be both moved away, as needed, to undo the connection with the externally threaded part of the elongated body or rod and allow recovery of the pressure member—without needing to unscrew the said parts—and also to be coupled onto the said threaded part by simply bringing the said parts together—without needing to perform any screwing—in order to make the mechanical connection and therefore then allow the pressing required for levelling to be carried out manually.

This facilitates the coupling and uncoupling of the pressure member with the relative elongated body or rod with quick and easy manoeuvres.

The main object of the present invention is to further speed up the entire levelling operation which, according to prior art, is strongly conditioned by the lengthy screwing and unscrewing times.

With reference to the appended figures,1denotes the individual tiles used to make a floor. The tiles1are laid on a surface with a layer of glue2interposed therebetween.

Laying is complete once the levelling action has been performed by means of levelling devices distributed over the entire floor being laid.

In particular, each levelling device is used to act between at least two adjacent tiles1and comprises a support which is designed to be inserted between at least two adjacent tiles1and is endowed with a base5, which is positioned under the two adjacent tiles and embedded in the layer of glue2.

Part of the support is an elongated body or rod4which extends orthogonally from the base5and is equipped with means for the gripping thereof from the outside, which essentially consist of an external thread40.

The external thread40is featured and sized so that a pressure body3couples therewith in a removable manner by means of a tapped hole33with which the said pressure body is endowed.

The pressure body3has a lower edge30which is in turn provided with a flat support surface31intended to operate in contact with at least part of the upper surfaces of the adjacent tiles1, either with or without a scratch guard plate interposed therebetween. The support surface31is arranged perpendicular to the central axis of the pressure body3, which is overall axially symmetric.

The pressure body3may be coaxially coupled to an external rotating member7designed to be driven by an external screwing tool10whose task is to generate, on command, the rotation thereof in both directions.

The pressure body3may be coaxially coupled to the external rotating member7by means of a coupling achieved by magnetic attraction.

The external rotating member7is, in turn, equipped with a tang9for coupling with the external screwing tool10.

The pressure body3is cylindrical overall and is equipped with protruding ribs35on part of the external surface thereof. It is also equipped with an annular insert32, made of a ferrous or ferromagnetic material, arranged integrally therewith and coaxially on part of the side walls thereof.

The external rotating member7have an axially symmetrical bell shape, shaped to accommodate—perfectly centred therewithin—at least part of the upper portion of the pressure body (3), and comprises, integrally coupled with at least part of the internal surface thereof, at least one insert consisting of a magnet8configured in an annular shape.

The task of the magnet8is to provide magnetic attraction to attract the annular insert made of a ferromagnetic material32with which the single pressure body3is equipped

The mutual arrangement of the materials used to provide the magnetic attraction between the pressure body3and the external rotating member7may be swapped and therefore a magnet may be coupled with the pressure body3instead of the ferromagnetic material and the external rotating member7may be coupled with a ring made of ferromagnetic material or the like instead of the magnet8.

As regards the construction of the external rotating member7, various possible methods may be suggested, namely:using a magnetic plastic material for the production thereof;using a ferrous or ferromagnetic plastic material for the production thereof;using a plastic material for the production thereof with a pressure-co-moulded magnetic ring inside;using a plastic material for the production thereof with a co-moulded metal ring or washer.

Similar production methods can be used for the construction of the pressure body3.

The entire levelling operation, which—for the sake of simplicity—refers to a case of two tiles1, is easily schematised by a sequence of steps, which are identified with the numbers1to9and shown, schematically, inFIG.2.

Alongside the tile1placed on the layer of glue2, the elongated body4is positioned in a vertical arrangement, so that the base5thereof is inserted into the layer of glue2underneath the edge of the said tile. A new tile1is then laid alongside the previous one. The lower part of the elongated body4keeps the edge of the new tile away from the edge of the tile laid previously. The tile layer then acts by preparing the assembly consisting of the pressure body3magnetically constrained to an external rotating member7and then coupling the tang9with a screwing tool10. Activation of the screwing tool10screws the pressure body3onto the external thread40of the elongated body or rod4until the lower supporting surface31is forced to operate through contact with the upper surfaces of the two tiles1. The action just described is the result of the pressure applied by the pressure body3to the upper surfaces of the tiles1through the counteraction applied by the base5to the lower surfaces of the said tiles1.

Unscrewing can be performed just as quickly using the same screwing tool10. Once levelling has been achieved and sufficient time has lapsed for stabilisation of the assembly, for example, the elongated body4may be broken—by hammering the pressure body (3(step7))—and detached therefore from the base5, which remains in position under the adjacent tiles1.

Unscrewing can be performed quickly using the same screwing tool10(see steps8and9).

The magnetic attraction exerted between the magnet8fixed to the external rotating member7and the annular insert32made of ferromagnetic material makes the pressure body3integral with the said external rotating member7, thereby ensuring easy manoeuvrability of the assembly which is further increased by the possibility of use thereof in conjunction with a screwing tool.