Patent Publication Number: US-8522649-B2

Title: Shingle popper

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a device for removing shingles and nails used on roofs. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Roof shingles are flat rectangular roof coverings, which are laid in rows from the bottom edge of the roof up with the bottom edge of each row overlapping the previous row. Roof shingles are usually made of fibreglass-based asphalt and are nailed on the roof. Shingles need to be replaced every so often to prevent water leakage into the building. Old shingles can be removed simply by a square-edged garden shovel and a pry-bar. Many shingle removing devices are developed to combine the nail removal capability of a pry-bar with the lever effect of a shovel. Most of these devices are similar to a garden shovel, having jagged edges to remove nails. These devices have been referred to as roof ripper, roofer&#39;s spade, shingle remover or shingle popper. The present device is a new shingle popper which has certain features to make it easier to remove shingles. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present device is a shingle popper to remove shingles and nails from roofs of building. This garden shovel like shingle popper comprises of a substantially rectangular blade with slots and teeth on its front and back edges. This device can remove shingles off of a roof by applying a levering force onto its handle. The present shingle popper has several novel features over the prior art devices. One is the special structure of its blade. The blade of this device has elongated protrusions on its bottom side forming a front and a back pivoting points so that the popper can be properly levered for easy removal of shingles and nails. These protrusions are formed by stamping or pressing of the blank metal blade, resulting in plastic deformation of the metal piece, and therefore, forming a mechanically stronger blade. Another functionally significant element of the present shingle popper is that it has an extra metal piece welded on top of the blade. This top piece has three different functions: It provides extra structural support; it helps in pushing a shingle up away from the roof top by having a slanted top surface; and it has foot pedestals to allow an operator to use his/her foot to push the blade underneath a shingle. 
     One object of this shingle removing shovel is to provide a true levering effect by having fulcrum or pivoting point on the bottom side of the shovel blade. This is achieved by having double vertex protrusions built on the bottom side of the blade. These vertices allow the shovel to pivot around them making the shingle and nail removal easier. 
     Another object of this invention is to provide a stronger blade. Shovel blade is used to remove the nails and shingles and, therefore, it has to withstand large forces. Weak shovel blades will bend after some time and have to be replaced. One method of making the shovel blade stronger is to use thicker metal plates. However, this makes the shovel heavy and, therefore, makes the user tired quickly. The present invention uses metal stamping process to deform the plate into mechanically stronger form with high hardness. This makes the present shingle popper more durable without increasing its weight. 
     Another object of the present shingle popper is to collect the most possible nails in each stroke. This is achieved by having multiplicity of teeth and slots along its front and back edges. 
     Another object of the present shingle popper is to have ability to lift the shingle as the shovel is pushed under the shingle. This is achieved by adding a slanted surface onto the top surface of the shovel. 
     Another object of this popper is to allow for a specified up and down movement of the blade for easier removal of nails. Most nails used for installing shingles are either 1¼ or 1¾ inches long. The present popper is designed such that the edges of the blade can move these distances by a single stroke. 
     These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings. To the accomplishment of the above and related objects the invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Attention is called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only. Variations are contemplated as being part of the invention, limited only by the scope of the claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the figures, which illustrate, by way of example only, embodiments of the present invention, 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the present shingle popper; 
         FIG. 2  is a tilted top view illustration of the present shingle popper; 
         FIG. 3  is an illustration of the bottom side of the shingle popper; 
         FIG. 4  is a side view illustration of the present shingle popper in its normal position on a flat surface; 
         FIG. 5  is a side view illustration of the present shingle popper showing its top piece and a recess; 
         FIG. 6  is a back view illustration of the present shingle popper showing the foot pedestals of the top piece as well as the handle-socket; 
         FIG. 7  is a side view illustration of the present shingle popper while leaning forward to remove nails by its front teeth; and 
         FIG. 8  is a side view of the present shingle popper when leaning backward to remove nails by its back teeth. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present shingle removing tool, the shingle popper, is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . This shingle popper is generally like a garden shovel having a blade  10  and a handle  20 . The blade  10  is made of a rigid material, such as sheet steel. Handle  20  having a multi-sided grip  21 . The handle can be of any length, preferably 48 inches and can be made of any material, preferably wood base with rubber grip, to make it light. The handle connects to the blade through a handle-socket  22 , which is an integral part of the blade  10 . 
     Structure of the blade is illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . The blade has a back edge  12 , a front edge  13 , and side edges  6  and  7 . The main features of the present blade are its two recesses  8  and  9  as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . A blank sheet metal is stamped or pressed to form the two recesses  8  and  9 , such that they protrude on the back side of the blade forming protrusions  18  and  19  as illustrated in  FIG. 3 . The depth of each recess gradually decreases from the back to the front side of the blade, being deeper at the back side. This results in protrusions  18  and  19  having a higher elevation H at the back side with respect to that L at the front side of the blade as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . Therefore, when the device sits on the ground  100 , along the surface of its protrusions  18  and  19 , the blade surface  10  attains an angle, α, with respect to the ground as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . 
     This especially deformed blade has several advantages. One that the deformed blade, being constructed by a stamping or pressing process, is mechanical stronger than the initially flat blade. The advantages of having plastic deformations on a flat sheet of metal is known to experts in the field of solid mechanics. The designed recesses in the blade increase the strength of the material, as verified by laboratory tests conducted on the developed sample. Therefore, this shovel is longer lasting with lower probability of failure it its joints. 
     The second advantage of this blade is that it provides a true levering capability. Each protrusion has a front vertex  31  and a back vertex  32 . These two vertices act as pivot point or fulcrum to fully utilize the levering force to reduce the required force for the removal of the nails. 
     The blade further comprises of plurality of nail receiving slots  14  on the back edge  12  of the blade, separated by plurality of teeth  15  extended outwardly from the back side  12 . Similarly, there are plurality of nail receiving slots  16  on its front edge  13 , separated by plurality of teeth  17  extended outwardly from the front side  13 . 
     A tubular handle-socket  22  is attached to the top surface of the blade  10  at certain angle and closer to the back edge of the blade. The socket is preferably welded onto the blade for strong joint. The socket has means to connect to a handle. The connecting means can be plurality of apertures on its surface (e.g.,  57  in  FIG. 6 ) to screw or nail tight a wooded handle. 
     Another novel element of the present shingle popper is a triple action top piece  50 , as illustrated in  FIGS. 5 and 6 . A piece of sheet steel is cut to fit around the tubular handle socket and extending down onto the top surface of the blade. This piece has a flat slanted top surface  51 , two vertical side sections  52  and  53 , and back sections  54  and  55 . The top surface  51  of the top piece  50  is acutely slanted with respect to the surface of the blade  10 . This slanted piece  50  is welded onto the top surface of the blade  10  along its bottom edges  58 . It is also welded onto the handle-socket  22  along its top edges  59 . 
     The top piece has three functions. One is to push the shingle upward as the shovel is pushed underneath the shingle. The smooth angle of the top surface of this piece is so designed to help push a shingle up as the blade slides under the shingle. The second function of the top piece is that the upper sections of this piece  54  and  55  act as foot pedestals allowing an operator to use his/her foot to push the shovel inward underneath a shingle. Other shingle removal shovels sit flat on a surface with no means to push the shovel in other than the force applied by operator&#39;s hands holding the handle. And the third function of the top piece is to provide more structural strength to the shovel. Since this piece is welded to both the blade and the handle-socket, it makes the whole shovel structurally stronger. 
     In operation, the shingle popper is pushed under a shingle. Since the front edges of the popper have multiplicity of slots and teeth, nails easily become aligned with slots. The width of the slots  14  and  16  are small enough so that the head of the nails cannot pass through them. The operator pushes the handle  20  downward when the front edge  13  is used or upward when the back edge  12  is used to remove the nails. 
       FIG. 7  shows the side view of the shingle popper placed underneath a shingle  60  and its nail  65 . The shank of the nail  66  is placed between the teeth of the popper. The nail is removed by the front edge  13  of the device. The protrusions are designed to remove two standard size nails typically used to install shingles (1¼ and 1¾ inches nails) with single levering action. When the bottom protrusions sits on the ground, as in  FIG. 4 , the blade can remove 1¼ inch nails with one stroke of the handle  20 . While, 1¾ inch nails can be removed once the tip of the blade is turned lower as in  FIG. 7 . Similarly,  FIG. 8  illustrates the nail removal using the back side  12  of the popper. The double sided nail removal capability of the present device helps to reduce shingle removal time. 
     The present shingle popper, having the especially designed recesses and protrosions, as well as the extra slanted top piece, has higher strength and withstands larger forces as compared to the prior art devices with the same sheet metal characteristics. Also, the vertices of the protrusions act as pivot points for true levering action to let the operator remove nails with less force. Moreover, it allows a single stroke removal of standard size nails used on roofs. Plurality of slots and teeth on the front and the back edges of its blade eliminate the alignment time of the blade with nails, thus reducing the removal times. Moreover, more nails can be removed at one. 
     The described embodiment of the present invention and all of its specification, such as the number of slots on its front and back edges, the methods of joining tubular rod to the main surface, the angle of the top surface with respect to the horizon, the material that the device is made of, the geometry of the recesses and protrusions and other geometrical and physical attributes of the device can be changed while maintaining its essential characteristics. The described embodiments disclosed here are illustrative, not restrictive. The claims below dictate the scope of the invention. All variations which are in nature within the range set forth by the claims are embraced within the scope of the invention.