Abstract:
A paint roller includes a handle including a pair of spaced mounting arms, and a conical-shaped roller rotatably secured between the mounting arms. The conical-shaped roller facilitates an application of a coating such as paint or the like to a surface with an adjacent surface as close as a 45° corner.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/444,357, filed Feb. 18, 2011, the entire content of which is herein incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     (NOT APPLICABLE) 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a system for applying surface coatings to areas where two or more surfaces join each other such as corners, ceiling to wall or wall to trim where coating is required on only one of those joined surfaces. It is also capable of covering corners by application to each side of the corner. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Conventional paint rollers are composed of two parts: a wire roller that freely spins on an axle as the roller moves across a surface, and a roller cover, which is a fabric-covered cylinder that slips onto the wire roller. The wire roller has a handle for the user to grasp. When attached to the wire roller, the roller cover is made to absorb the paint/coating from a reservoir, such as a paint pan. This absorbed coating is then applied to a surface by a rolling action. Currently, application of liquid surface coatings such as paint use a fabric covered roller to rapidly apply these coatings to surfaces. While these rollers work well on flat surfaces, they cannot be used to apply surface coatings in corners where two walls meet, where walls meet ceiling or where walls meet trim. 
     To overcome this limitation of conventional rollers a number of corner painting devices have been patented. These corner-painting rollers are of three basic types:
         1. rollers which have the paint fabric solidly attached to the roller,   2. rollers wherein the fabric is not solidly attached to the roller, and   3. rollers that use adhesives to attach the fabric.       

     For rollers with fabric solidly attached, the roller is assembled with nuts and bolts, requiring tools for assembly, which may not be readily available. Additionally, the nuts and bolts tend to get covered with coating material and can fail to work properly. Disassembly can be difficult and messy, and the protruding nuts and bolts can damage the surface being coated. 
     With the corner painting roller where the fabric is not solidly attached to the roller cover, the fabric fits over the body of the roller, which is then attached to the roller axle. This is a two-step assembly process. When this roller is in use, the fabric is not anchored in place and can warp or become completely detached from the cover body marring the wall finish and resulting in messy cleanups. 
     The corner roller employing adhesives requires a multi-step assembly to apply dual fabric surfaces and application of the adhesive to the roller body. This reduces the flexibility of textures once the fabric is permanently affixed. In addition, this corner roller requires an adaptor to fit into a conventional paint pan. 
     All of the above are limited in that the coating would be transferred to both joined surfaces. In the case of painting the joint between wall and ceiling or wall and trim, the undesirable result would be coating transferred where not desired. These corner rollers are also limited to 90° or greater joints. 
     In addressing trim applications, two basic types have been patented:
         1. a wheeled edge flat sponge pad or bristle surface, and   2. a roller with a paddle mounted so that it swivels into place on the edge of the roller, supposedly to protect the trim from being coated.       

     The flat pad trim applicator works well in protecting the trim from being coated, but the texture and finish do not match that of the roller normally being used on the rest of the surface. 
     The roller with the swivel barrier invariably becomes coated on the trim side with excess coating and transfers the coating to the surface not desired to be coated. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the preferred embodiments to overcome the aforementioned deficiencies. It is another object for applying coatings not only to corners as little as 45° but also to adjoining surfaces transferring the coating to only one of the surfaces joined using the conventional paint pan. 
     The system includes a roller of rigid material (plastic or metal) that freely spins on pins in the handle and a rigid fabric cover, as in a conventional roller but conical in shape, or a cover permanently affixed to the roller. Part of the handle is designed to skim off excess coating material from the roller as it turns and contain the coating material in the recesses of the roller. The roller snaps into the pins of the handle into the axle of the roller. Once the edge roller is loaded with the surface coating material, the coating can be applied up to edges of trim and ceiling as well as covering corners with ease and speed. 
     For the purposes of the present invention, the terms “paint” and “coating material” can be used interchangeably, without limiting the invention to either term. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, a paint roller includes a handle including a pair of spaced mounting arms, and a conical-shaped roller rotatably secured between the mounting arms. The handle may further include a skimmer connected to one of the spaced mounting arms, where the skimmer is positioned adjacent the conical-shaped roller. The skimmer may be flanged away from the roller. 
     The paint roller may further include a roller frame including angled spokes arranged in a circular array. A cover may be disposed over the roller frame, where the cover encloses and defines recesses between the angled spokes for excess coating material. In one arrangement, the cover is a plastic shell, and the paint roller further includes an absorbent surface material secured over the plastic shell. Preferably, the absorbent surface material is affixed to the plastic via an adhesive. In another arrangement, the cover may comprise an absorbent surface material. 
     Each of the spaced mounting arms may include an axle pin, where the conical-shaped roller is rotatably secured to the axle pins. In this context, the conical-shaped roller may include an axle and pin receptacles at ends thereof, where the pin receptacles receive the axle pins of the spaced mounting arms. 
     In another exemplary embodiment, a paint roller includes a handle with a pair of spaced mounting arms, and a star-shaped roller frame rotatably secured to the spaced mounting arms. The roller frame is tapered from a base side toward an apex side. A cover is disposed over the roller frame, where the cover and roller frame define a conical shape. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other aspects and advantages of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows a top view of the assembled edge roller; 
         FIG. 2  shows the assembled edge roller looking at the roller from opposite the handle; 
         FIG. 3  shows the edge roller handle alone; 
         FIG. 4  shows the roller/roller cover assembly or the solid walled roller for permanent fabric cover; 
         FIG. 5  shows a view of the roller cover; 
         FIG. 6  shows the roller with cover or the solid walled roller for a permanent roller cover; 
         FIG. 7  shows the roller frame upon which the roller cover ( FIG. 5 ) is mounted; and 
         FIG. 8  shows a side view of the assembled edge/corner roller on the trim side for view of the excess coating skimmer and the recesses for excess coating material. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows the edge/corner roller  10  assembled as viewed from the user perspective with a handle  12  including a pair of spaced mounting arms  14 . A conical-shaped roller  16  is rotatably secured to the spaced mounting arms  14 . A conical angle of the roller  16  is preferably 45° as shown. A skimmer  18  is connected to one of the spaced mounting arms  14 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the skimmer  18  is flanged away from the roller  16 . Preferably, the handle  12  and the roller  16  are made of a rigid material. Use of plastic makes the parts strong, lightweight and inexpensive. 
       FIG. 2  shows a view of the assembled edge roller  10  as seen from the roller with the handle opposite out of view. As shown, the flanged skimmer  18  guides excess coating material into the hollow core of the roller  16 . 
       FIG. 3  shows the edge roller  10  unassembled. The handle  12  includes axle pins  20  for mounting the roller  16  on the handle  12  and acting as an axle to allow the roller  16  to rotate. The roller  16  includes pin receptacles  21  at ends thereof. The pin receptacles  21  receive the axle pins  20  of the spaced mounting arms  14 . The mounting arms  14  are constructed of material that has sufficient spring to open for mounting the roller  16  and snapping back into place to secure the roller  16  snugly enough on the axle pins  20  to allow the skimmer  18  to rub the excess coating off the edge of a roller cover. 
       FIG. 4  shows the construction of the roller  16 . The roller  16  includes a roller frame  22  including angled spokes  24  arranged in a circular array as shown. The roller frame  22  tapers from a base side of the conical shape toward an apex side of the conical shape. A cover  26  is disposed over the roller frame  22  and encloses and defines recesses  28  between the angled spokes  24  for excess coating material. In one embodiment, the cover  26  is comprised of a plastic shell, and the paint roller includes an absorbent surface material  30  secured over the plastic shell. In this context, the absorbent surface material  30  may be affixed to the plastic via an adhesive. Alternatively, the cover  26  may be comprised of an absorbent surface material itself. The angled spokes  24  maintain strength of the roller  16  as well as providing separated recesses  28  for excess coating to be collected. 
       FIG. 5  shows the roller cover  26  made of the same or similar material as a conventional paint roller cover tube but constructed in the form of a cone to fit the star shaped roller frame  22  ( FIG. 7 ). This provides for the flexibility to change the cover  26  to match the textures being used on the rest of the wall.  FIG. 6  shows the roller cover  26  mounted on the star-shaped roller frame  22  or the solid shell roller  16  that accommodates a permanently mounted fabric. 
       FIG. 8  shows a side view of the assembled edge roller  10  from the trim edge side. This drawing shows the flanged excess coating edge skimmer  18  and the recessed compartments  28  of the roller  16  that collect excess coating from the skimmer  18  and provide support for the roller cover  26 . 
     While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.