Abstract:
A tool may be easily used to determine the size and shape of an opening and transfer these dimensions to a piece of material which is to be cut to fill the opening. The tool is particularly suited to fitting tile around walls, doors, and the like and for then marking the tile for cutting. The tool allows for quick and accurate marking of the tile or other material in order to then cut the material.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/767,395, filed Mar. 24, 2006, which is expressly incorporated herein. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. The Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a tool for finding and transferring angles. The present invention is a tool for use in measuring and marking mosaic pieces for cutting, such as in installing tile, flooring, and the like. The tool may be used to quickly and easily determine the necessary angles and size for cutting a piece of material where one or more edges of the material must be cut to conform to a wall, fit an opening, or fit around some obstacle. 
         [0004]    2. State of the Art 
         [0005]    It is often necessary to cut materials to fit an enclosed or otherwise predetermined space. An example of this is found in installing tile. The tiles around the edges of a room must be cut to fit between the uncut tiles in the center of the room and the walls. These edge tiles must be cut to compensate for irregularities and curvature in the walls, corners which are not square, irregularities in the center tiles, etc. Fitting and cutting these edge tiles is often the most time consuming part of installing tile, as each tile must be individually fit. It is often difficult to accurately measure or estimate the size of the necessary piece of tile as well as the angles which need to be cut in the tile. If a tile is cut too large, the tile must be fitted and cut again, wasting time. If a tile is cut too small, the tile may be unusable, resulting in additional time to fit and cut another tile, as well as lost material. 
         [0006]    Cutting a tile or other material may be relatively easy where the tile is being fitted to a flat wall and where the tiles run parallel to the wall. Cuts, however, become increasingly more difficult where the tiles are set at an angle to the wall or where the tiles must be cut to a more complex shape, such as fitting a tile around a corner or door. This difficulty arises in various different situations where a person must fit a piece of material into a particularly sized opening, such as in creating a mosaic, creating wood inlays, etc. In these situations it is desirable to have a tool which allows a person to quickly and accurately measure the size of the opening and transfer these measurements to the material which is to be placed in the opening. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved tool for determining the correct size and shape for cutting tiles or other materials to fit a predetermined space 
         [0008]    According to one aspect of the invention, a tool is provided with a base which may be placed against part of an opening, such as where an uncut edge of a tile will be placed. The tool has movable arms which may then be positioned where the cut edges of the tile will be, effectively determining the size and shape of the tile which needs to be cut. The tool may include a ledge or the like formed in the base to account for grout or the like. 
         [0009]    These and other aspects of the present invention are realized in a tool for finding and transferring angles as shown and described in the following figures and related description. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    Various embodiments of the present invention are shown and described in reference to the numbered drawings wherein: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  shows a top view of the tool of the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  shows a side view of a joint of the tool of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0013]      FIG. 3A  shows a side view of the base of the tool of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3B  shows another side view of the base of the tool of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3C  shows another side view of the base of the tool of  FIG. 1   
           [0016]      FIG. 4  shows another side view of the base of the tool of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  shows a top view of the tool of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  shows a top view of the tool of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0019]      FIG. 7  shows a top view of the tool of  FIG. 1 ; and 
           [0020]      FIG. 8  shows a top view of the tool of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
       [0021]    It will be appreciated that the drawings are illustrative and not limiting of the scope of the invention which is defined by the appended claims. The embodiments shown accomplish various aspects and objects of the invention. It is appreciated that it is not possible to clearly show each element and aspect of the invention in a single figure, and as such, multiple figures are presented to separately illustrate the various details of the invention in greater clarity. Similarly, not every embodiment need accomplish all advantages of the present invention. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0022]    The invention and accompanying drawings will now be discussed in reference to the numerals provided therein so as to enable one skilled in the art to practice the present invention. The drawings and descriptions are exemplary of various aspects of the invention and are not intended to narrow the scope of the appended claims. 
         [0023]    Turning now to  FIG. 1 , a top view of the tool of the present invention is shown. The tool  10  includes a base  14  which has a first arm  18  and a second arm  22  attached thereto. The first arm  18  includes a first arm section  26  and a second arm section  30 . The first arm section  26  is attached to the base  14  and the second arm section  30 . The second arm section  30  is also attached to a first indicator member  34 . Similarly, the second arm  22  includes a first arm section  38 , a second arm section  42 , and a second indicator member  46 . The base  14 , arm sections  26 ,  30 ,  38 ,  42 , and indicator members  34 ,  46  are all joined at joints  50  so as to movable as shown by arrows  54 . The joints  50  utilize some frictional resistance to movement such that a moderate force must be applied in order to move arms  18 ,  22  and indicator members  34 ,  46 . 
         [0024]    As shown, the base  14  and indicator members  34 ,  46  may be marked with ruled edges. This may aid in aligning and using the tool  10 , or may simply provide an easily accessible ruler. According to a current embodiment, the base is about twelve inches long, the arm sections  26 ,  30 ,  38 ,  42  are about twelve inches long, and the indicator members  34 ,  46  are about six inches long. While this size is appropriate for most uses of the tool  10 , these dimensions may be altered somewhat as is desired. 
         [0025]    Turning now to  FIG. 2 , a side view of a joint  50  is shown. The joint  50  is shown between arm section  26  and arm section  30 , but would typically be the same for all joints. The joint  50  includes a pivot  58 , such as a pin, rivet, bolt, etc. The pivot  58  applies some clamping pressure to the arm sections  26 ,  30  to generate a small amount of friction between the arm sections. To aid in creating some friction in the joint  50 , an intermediate structure  62  such as a thin rubber washer or spring washer or both may be used. A rubber washer would typically be placed between the arm sections  26 ,  30 . A spring washer may be placed between the arm section  26 ,  30  or may be placed between one of the arm sections and the head of the pivot  58 . While two arm sections are shown for each arm, it is appreciated that the arms may include more than two arm sections to facilitate measuring and marking around obstacles. 
         [0026]    Turning now to  FIG. 3A , an end view of the base  14  is shown. It can bee seen how the pivot joint  50  is similar to that shown in  FIG. 2 . The base  14  is shown with a flange  66 . The flange  66  is used to locate the base while using the tool  10 . The flange is particularly suited to installing tile as will be further described. The flange  66  may fit in the grout lines of installed tile, and as such is typically made with a thickness matching a common grout thickness. A spacer  70  may be placed over the flange  66  to increase the thickness of the flange to accommodate different thicknesses of grout lines. For example, the flange  66  may be made ⅛ inch thick and spacers  70  may be provided to bring the thickness of the flange to 3/16, ¼, ⅜ inch.  FIG. 3B  shows how a different size of spacer  70  may be used to vary the effective thickness of the flange  66  to accommodate different thicknesses of grout lines, or to accommodate a different amount of space between the installed pieces of material. 
         [0027]    Alternatively, pins may extend downwardly from the base  14  instead of a flange.  FIG. 3C  shows how pins  68  may extend from the base  14 . The pins  68  may be removable when not needed (such as when no grout line is used) and may be adjustable in size or provided with spacers  70  to increase the effective size of the pin  68 , or the pins  68  may be provided in a number of different sizes and be interchangeable according to the desired use of the tool  10 . 
         [0028]    Turning now to  FIG. 4 , another end view of the base  14  is shown. A non-skid pad  74  is attached to the bottom of the base  14 . The flange  66  (or pins) has been removed. The non-skid pad  74  makes the tool  10  easier to use where there is no grout line. 
         [0029]    Turning now to  FIG. 5 , a top view of the tool  10  of the present invention is shown as may be used to measure the size and angles for cutting a piece of tile. Some tile  78  has already been set with a grout line  82 . The base  14  is positioned by placing the outside edge of the flange  66  (or pins) against a piece of previously laid tile  78  such that the flange  66  is located where the next grout line will be. The base  14  may be placed adjacent a corner of the tile  78  to create a reference point of the position of the tool  10 . The arms  18 ,  22  are placed such that the indicator members  34 ,  46  are placed in position where the next piece of tile is to be cut, such as against the wall  86 . The indicator members  34 ,  46  may be placed tightly against the wall  86  if no gap is desired between the wall and the piece of tile being cut, or may be spaced out somewhat if a gap is desired. The indicator members  34 ,  46  may be spaced out simply by placing a grout spacer, stirring stick, pencil, etc. between the indicator members and the wall. Once the tool  10  is properly positioned, it is carefully removed from between the wall  86  and tile  78  so as to not move the indicator members  34 ,  46 . As previously discussed, joints  50  which provide some resistance to movement are useful to keep the arms  18 ,  22  from moving when transferring the tool  10 . 
         [0030]    Turning now to  FIG. 6 , a top view of the tool  10  as is used to mark a piece of tile for cutting is shown. The tool  10  was set up as shown in  FIG. 5  to determine the correct size and shape of the tile. The tool  10  is then transferred to a piece of tile  90 . The base  14  is located by placing the inside edge of the flange  66  against the edge of the tile  90 . Since the flange  66  occupies the grout line, the inside and outside edges of the flange represent the proper location of the tile edges surrounding the grout line. The right end of the base  14  is aligned with the right edge of the tile  90  since the tool  10  was aligned with the right edge of the adjacent tile during the setup procedure shown in  FIG. 5 . Once properly located, the tool  10  shows the proper cut lines  94 ,  98 . The cut lines  94 ,  98  are indicated by the edges of the indicator members  34 ,  46 . The cut lines  94 ,  98  are marked on the tile  90  and the tile is then cut using a conventional tile saw. 
         [0031]    Turning now to  FIG. 7 , a top view of the tool  10  is shown as used to lay out tile without a grout line. The tool  10  is used substantially as described with reference to  FIG. 5 , except that no grout line is present between tiles  78 . As such, the flange  66  (or pins) are removed from the base  14  or a tool  10  without a flange is used. The base  14  will typically include a non-slip surface as shown in  FIG. 4  to allow for easier and more accurate layout of the tile. The base  14  is typically positioned by aligning it with the edge  102  and corner  106  of a tile  78  which has been previously installed. The indicator members  34 ,  46  are placed against the wall  86  or slightly away from the wall as discussed. When the tool  10  is properly positioned (as shown here), it is carefully lifted off of the floor and transferred to a piece of tile. 
         [0032]    Turning now to  FIG. 8  a top view of the tool  10  as used to mark a piece of tile for cutting is shown. After the setup procedure discussed with respect to  FIG. 7 , the tool  10  is carefully lifted off of the floor and placed on a piece of tile as shown. As the tool  10  was previously aligned with the edge and corner of tile  78 , the base  14  is aligned by placing it against the edge  110  of tile  114  and aligning it with the corner  118  of the tile  114 . Once the base  14  is properly aligned with the tile  114 , the indicator members  34 ,  46  are lined up so as to indicate the cut lines  122 ,  126 . Typically, the cut lines  122 ,  126  are marked on the tile  114 , and the tile is then cut with a conventional tile saw. 
         [0033]    It is appreciated from  FIGS. 5 and 6  and  FIGS. 7 and 8  that the tool  10  is used by creating the same relative alignment of the base  14  with the tile which is to be cut. When the tool is set up to determine the size and shape of the tile, the base is positioned against or on adjacent tiles where the base is in alignment with the desired location of the corresponding edge of the tile which is to be cut and installed. Then the tool  10  is carefully transferred to a tile for cutting. The base is aligned with the edge of this tile in the same relative orientation which was used to determine the shape and size of the tile. The non-slip layer  74  shown in  FIG. 4  and the flange  66  or pins  68  shown in  FIGS. 3A-3B  aid in properly aligning and using the tool  10 , making the tool easier and more accurate to use. 
         [0034]    The tool  10  is especially easy to use. The joints  50  which provide some resistance to movement and which do not require any loosening, tightening, or other adjustment during use make it easy and quick to align the indicator members  34 ,  46 . Additionally, the flange  66  or pins  68  allow for easy alignment of the tool  10  with previously installed material and with the material to be marked for cutting. The flange  66  or pins  68  allow for easy accommodation of a grout line or desired space between the pieces of material, and the spacers  70  allows for accommodation of varying sizes of grout lines or spaces. 
         [0035]    The tool  10  preferably includes two arms  18 ,  22  and two indicator members  34 ,  46 , allowing the tool to mark a wall or a corner of a wall in one step. While a third arm and third indicator member may be added, it may result in a tool which is more cumbersome when used. The tool  10  may be used to determine more complex shapes, such as a piece of tile which extends around a doorway or other protrusion in the wall. In such a situation, there may be three, four, five, or even more different lines which need to be cut. The tool  10  may thus be used sequentially to determine the location of and mark these different lines for cutting. For example, the base  14  of the tool  10  may be located against or on an previously installed tile and the indicator members  34 ,  46  placed against the wall or doorway to determine the position of a few of the wall and doorway edges. The tool  10  may then be transferred to a piece of tile and these edges marked on the tile. The tool may then be placed back against the installed tile and wall/doorway to locate the next edges, and these edges transferred to the tile. This is repeated until all necessary cuts are marked on the piece of tile. It is appreciated that this may still be significantly faster and more accurate than existing methods for marking tile for cutting the tile. 
         [0036]    There is thus disclosed an improved tool for determining sizes and angles and cutting a piece of material to match the same. It will be appreciated that numerous changes may be made to the present invention without departing from the scope of the claims.