GB2032977A - Moulded Panel Supports for Tiles - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a combination of a tile, panel or plate 35 and a panel moulding having recesses each adapted to receive a tile, panel or plate. Such panel mouldings may be used as tile seating on a fire surround or a bathroom wail panel. The recesses in the panel moulding preferably include protrusions 20 or are undercut on at least one wall to releasably retain a tile within the recess 14. The panel mouldings may be made of plastics or fire resistant material and a plurality of recesses on the mouldings may be set out as an array. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Panel Moulding Technical Field The invention relates to panel mouldings, particularly to mouldings for receiving tiles or plates, for example, as may be used as tile seatings on a fire surround or on a bathroom wall panel.

Statement of Invention and Advarítages According to the invention there is provided a panel moulding having recesses adapted to receive a tile or a plate, preferably a ceramic, metallic or plastics tile or plate.

It is preferable that the panel moulding is a fire surround or a bathroom wall panel. A panel of the present invention may alleviate the need for grouting tiles which are located in the recesses since the partition walls between adjacent recesses can be arranged to provide an aesthetically pleasing effect; furthermore the recesses can be moulded in a predetermined and accurately spaced array so that when the tiles are mounted in the recesses, regular (or irregular) and accurately spaced tile arrangements can result.

The panel moulding is preferably made of glass fibre reinforced concrete when it is intended to be used as a fire surround. If however the panel moulding is to be used as a bathroom wall panel the moulding will more likely be made of a plastics material, usually by injection moulding or vacuum forming.

The panel can include protrusions which are integrally moulded therewith and extend into the respective recesses to engage and removably retain the tiles or plates in their respective recesses. Alternatively, the recesses can have undercut wall parts, for example in the partition walls, beneath which undercuts a tile can be sprung and retained (for example by springing a rigid tile into a semi-flexible plastics moulding or a semi-flexible metal plate in a rigid moulding). It is preferable that the recesses are adapted to retain the tiles or plates without causing a permanent bond; this has the advantage that if a tile is broken or damaged it may be easily replaced, or should a "change of face" be desired for the panel all the tiles may be taken out of the moulding and replaced by others.However, tiles or plates may be permanently fixed into position by means of an appropriate cement or adhesive.

Preferably the recesses of the panel moulding have a depth substantially the same as the thickness of the tiles which are received thereby so that the facia surfaces of the tiles are substantially flush with the front or facia of the moulded panel. Desirably the shapes of the recesses are determined for receiving specifically shaped tiles so that the recesses will receive the tiles in substantially complementary manner.

If required the panel moulding can be adapted to receive components other than tiles or plates, such as for instance a mirror on a bathroom wall panel. One of the advantages of such a panel moulding is that tiles or plates may be accurately, quickly and cheaply set in position and when the tiles are not permanently bonded in place they are easily replaceable.

Specific Description Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a panel moulding according to the invention and in the form of a fire surround; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the panel of Figure 1 detailing the recesses of the moulding; Figure 3 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of panel moulding according to the invention, again in the form of a fire surround but having tiles which are retained in their respective recesses by means of inwardly directed protrusions; Figure 4 is a perspective view of a recess of the panel in Figure 3 showing the protrusions by which the tiles are retained;; Figure 5 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of a panel moulding according to the invention, the panel moulding being a fire surround in which tiles are "snap fitted" into their respective recesses; Figure 6 shows a sectional view of one of the recesses of the panel in Figure 5 and illustrates undercut wall parts by which the "snap fit" engagement is achieved; Figure 7 is a perspective view of a further panel moulding according to the invention and in the form of a bathroom wall panel in which a recess is provided to receive a mirror and in which the mirror and tiles are "snap fitted" into their respective recesses, and Figure 8 shows a sectional view of a recess and fitted tile of the panel in Figure 7.

In Figure 1, a panel moulding according to the invention is in the form of a fire surround comprising three sections 6, 8 and 10. Each of these three sections 6, 8 and 10 has arrays of identically shaped and sized recesses 4, each of which recesses is adapted to receive a tile or a plate which is retained therein by cement or by adhesive. Sections 8 and 10 are identical mouldings, being made of glass fibre reinforced concrete and both sections are fitted into recesses in wall 3, so that neither section 8 nor section 10 protrudes form the wall 3 over or onto the floor 1. Section 6 of the panel moulding is also made of glass fibre reinforced concrete but in contrast to sections 8 and 10 protrudes from the wall 3 onto floor 1. An opening 2 for a fire place is integrally moulded into the section 6. Figure 2 shows in detail two simple recesses 4 of the sections of the panels in Figure 1.Each recess 4 has a bottom surface 4B (which may have a slightly smaller surface area than the mouth 4A of the recess) and a layer of cement is spread over the bottom surface to retain a ceramic tile which is received within the recess. The recesses 4 receive their respective tiles in substantially complementary manner so the partition walls between adjacent recesses provide a pleasing facia and can alleviate the requirement for grouting.

The panel moulding fire surround of Figure 3 has three discrete sections 12, 1 6 and 1 8 (of which section 1 6 has a moulded-in fire opening 22) which are recessed into a wall 13 so that none of the sections projects from the wall over or onto the floor 11. Each section has recesses 14 in which tiles may be seated and retained by protrusions in the form of pips 20, (these pips 20 being shown only in one of the recesses shown in Figure 3). The recesses 14 are identical on all three sections 12, 1 6 and 18. Figure 4 shows a recess 14 in more detail, and the pips 20 can be seen to protrude from the walls of the recess 14, so that engagement of a tile with the pips 20 within the recess will cause the tile to be retained in the recess.It will be apparent that either the pips or the tiles must be of resilient or semiflexible material so that the edges of the tiles and the pips can flex to engage with each other when the tile is fitted into the recess. For example with a concrete based panel moulding the tiles can be in the form of semi-flexible metal plates which are press fitted into the recesses to engage with the pips. If required the plates can have appropriately located side dimples which snap engage with the pips 20. Furthermore, the material of the pips or of the tiles must be such that heat will not cause distortion and so release the tiles from the recesses 14.

In Figure 5 the panel moulding is again a fire surround comprising two sections 37 and 38, section 36 having a fire opening 32. Both of these sections 36 and 38 are recessed into a wall 33 and do not project from the wall over or onto a floor 31. Tiles 35 are retained in recesses 34 by means of undercuts 34a in the side walls of the recesses and, as can be seen from Figure 6, the undercuts 34a retain a tile 35 which has been "snap fitted" into the recess. For the purpose of snap fitting a tile at least one of such tiles or the panel moulding must be of flexible or semiflexible material-at least to the extent of locating the tile into the undercut of the recess.

In Figure 7 the moulding is in the form of a plastics bathroom wall panel 40, having recesses 44 each of which is adapted to receive a tile 45.

Furthermore the panel 40 has a cut away or moulded-in rebated edge part 48 which receives and mates with a wash basin 54. Also welded into the panel 40 is an enlarged recess of which is adapted to receive a mirror 46. Figure 8 is a sectional view through a recess 44 within which a tile 45 is retained by undercuts 44A in the side walls of the recess; for this purpose the plastics side walls of the recesses are resilient so that the tiles 45 are easily snap fitted into and can be removed from their respective recesses.

Claims (14)

Claims

1. A combination of a tile, panel or plate and a panel moulding having a recess in which the tile, panel or plate is inserted.

2. A combination as claimed in Claim 1, in which the tile, panel or plate is releasably retained within the recess.

3. A combination as claimed in Claim 1 in which the tile, panel or plate is retained within the recess by glue or cement.

4. A combination as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the recess includes one or more protrusions for retaining the tile, panel or plate within the recess, the protrusion or protrusions being integral with one or more side walls defining the recess and extending into said recess.

5. A combination as claimed in any one of Claims 1,2 and 4, in which the recess is defined by a side wall which is undercut, beneath which undercut the tile, panel or plate is received.

6. A combination as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the tile, panel or plate is received in the recess in a complementary engagement with the panel moulding.

7. A combination as claimed in Claim 6, in which the depth of the recess is substantially the depth of the tile, panel or plate which is placed in it.

8. A combination as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the panel moulding has an array of similar recesses and each recess of the array has a tile, panel or plate in it.

9. A combination as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the panel moulding is constructed of a plastics material.

10. A combination as claimed in Claim 9, in which the panel moulding is formed by injection moulding or vacuum formation.

11. A combination as claimed in Claim 9 or Claim 10, in which the panel moulding is a bathroom panel and a mirror plate is inserted in a recess of the panel moulding.

12. A panel moulding as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 8, in which the panel moulding is made of a fire resistant material.

13. A panel moulding as claimed in Claim 12, in which the panel moulding is made of glass fibre reinforced concrete.

14. A combination as claimed in Claim 12 or Claim 13, in which the panel moulding is a fire surround.

1 5. A combination as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which a tile if present is a ceramic, metallic or plastics tile.

1 6. A combination substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings.