Patent ID: 8061102

Claim:
A composite semi-rigid shingle providing an environmental barrier for a roof deck, comprising: a top surface, a bottom surface, a forward edge and a back edge, the shingle being subdivided into an exposed portion and a headlap portion, the exposed portion extending from the forward edge to the headlap portion and having a central region with a substantially uniform thickness in the longitudinal direction, and the headlap portion extending from the exposed portion to the back edge with a taper in average thickness across the headlap portion moving longitudinally towards the back edge, the taper extending for at least a substantial part of the headlap portion, wherein the thickness of the exposed portion across an entire width of the shingle and the thickness of the headlap portion are substantially equal in a region where the exposed portion transitions to the tapered headlap portion, wherein the headlap portion includes opposed side surfaces, the side surfaces angling laterally inwardly towards one another near the back edge of the shingle to narrow the shingle width moving towards the back edge, wherein the tapering of the headlap portion reduces a peak height of a hidden gap located behind the back edge of the shingle when the shingle is in an underlying course, and wherein each of the opposed side surfaces includes a respective nib extending therefrom, the respective nib on one of the side surfaces being longitudinally offset from the respective nib on the other side surface, such that alignment of the shingle laterally adjacent to another shingle on the roof deck results in a nib of the shingle mating with another nib of the other shingle.