Patent Publication Number: US-2003226271-A1

Title: Tile spacer

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
     [0001] “This application claims the benefit of PPA Ser. No. 60/385,970 filed: Jun. 5, 2002 12:29 PM 
    
    
     
       FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH  
       [0002] Not Applicable  
       SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM  
       [0003] Not Applicable  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION—FIELD OF INVENTION  
       [0004] This invention relates to the installation of tile.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005] When ceramic tile is installed it is necessary to create a space between the edges of adjacently set tiles. This space is usually ⅛″ to ½″ wide and is later filled with a substance called grout which hardens and creates a watertight joint between each tile. Thus the whole completed tile surface is advantageous in moist environments. For aesthetic reasons the aforementioned spaces between all adjacent tiles must be kept uniform in width so the rows of installed tile will be parallel.  
       [0006] US patent application 20020121027 to Kruskamp (2000) discloses a tile spacer that suffers from a number of disadvantages:  
       [0007] (a) They are too small for a human hand to dexterously grasp and are often dropped or mispositioned. This wastes time.  
       [0008] (b) These tile spacers are difficult to quickly clean due to their small size and inside corners. Because they are designed to be left between tiles until the adhesive is dry they often have dry adhesive on them. Thus they-are not easily reused and must be continuously replaced.  
       [0009] (c) Because these tile spacers lack sharp outside edges and corners, and sufficient rigidity and size they cannot be used to clean a new space of excess adhesive and foreign object debris.  
       [0010] (d) These spacers take longer to use because they cannot be advanced to the location of the next tile to be laid without lifting them from a previous location.  
       [0011] (e) They cannot be used to tap the top surfaces of adjacent tiles in order to push the adjacent tiles deeper into the applied adhesive in order to level them.  
       BACKGROUND OF INVENTION—OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES  
       [0012] Accordingly several objects and advantages of the present invention are:  
       [0013] (a) to provide a tile spacer with sufficient surface area to enable it to be easily grasped and manipulated by a human hand;  
       [0014] (b) to provide a tile spacer that can be easily cleaned before any adhesive on it drys;  
       [0015] (c) to provide a tile spacer that can clean out a newly created space of unwanted material by scraping the inside of the space with its sharp corners and edges;  
       [0016] (d) to provide a tile spacer that can be quickly slid from one tile joint to the location of the next one without the need to lift it in order to save time;  
       [0017] (e) to provide a tile spacer that can also be used to tap the top surfaces of adjacently set tiles into the same geometric plane thus creating an even tile surface;  
       [0018] (f) to provide a tile spacer that can be reused many times.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0019] In accordance with the present invention a tile spacer comprises a rectangular body of predetermined dimensions to create a space between tiles. 
     
    
    
     DRAWINGS—FIGURES  
     [0020]FIG. 1 shows a three view mechanical drawing.  
     [0021]FIG. 2 shows a pictorial view of the tile spacer between two tiles.  
     [0022]FIG. 3 shows an end view of the tile spacer between two tiles.  
     [0023]FIG. 4 shows the tile spacer being used to level two adjacent tiles. 
    
    
     DRAWINGS—REFERENCE NUMERALS  
     [0024] 10  widest side of spacer  
     [0025] 12  spacer  
     [0026] 14  edge of tile or small side of tile  
     [0027] 16  tile  
     [0028] 18  space  
     [0029] 20  thickness of spacer  
     [0030] 22  unwanted excess adhesive  
     [0031] 24  sharp bottom edge of tile spacer  
     [0032] 26  sharp side edge of tile spacer  
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION—FIG.  1   
     [0033] The tile spacer has two identical, flat, smooth, hard, rigid, parallel surfaces  10  each measuring approximately one inch by four inches. These two surfaces are separated from each other by approximately ¼″ by the composite material in which the whole spacer is fabricated which gives the spacer a total of six sides. All its adjacent edges are at right angles to each other. It is rectangular in shape. It is made of a material that is difficult to compress and it is solid throughout.  
     [0034] Operation—FIGS. 1, 2,  3 ,  4   
     [0035] The tile spacer is utilized as a hand tool to create a uniform space between tile as the tile is being installed. This is accomplished by placing the spacer  12  between the edges  14  of two different tiles  16  as they are manually pushed together. The width of the created space  18  is relative to the thickness  20  of the spacer  12 . After the tiles  16  are set the spacer  12  is further utilized to remove any excess adhesive  22  that was unintentionally pushed into the space  18  when the tiles  16  were set and any other foreign object debris. This is accomplished by moving the spacer  12  in a back and forth motion prior to its removal from the space  18  thus employing the sharp edges  24 ,  26  of the spacer  12  to scrape and shovel out the inside of the space  18 . After its removal from the space  18  the spacer  12  is further utilized to create an even tile surface. This is accomplished by using the widest side  10  of the spacer  12  to tap FIG. 4 the top surfaces of two adjacently set tiles  16  until their top surfaces are even.  
     [0036] The spacer  12  can be slid without lifting it to the location of the next tile if the user so chooses.