1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved rotatable wedge spacer having a curved body that is adapted to be inserted and rotated within a gap between a pair of adjacent tiles that are being bonded to a vertically-extending substrate (e.g., a wall) by means of mortar, or the like, so as to reliably preserve the original positions of the tiles relative to one another as the mortar solidifies. The wedge spacer includes a series of flat load-supporting plateaus that are spaced from one another along an upward sloping top surface of the curved body so as to engage the tiles and prevent a displacement thereof into the gap.
2. Background Art
In my patent application Ser. No. 12/386,227 filed Apr. 14, 2009 and Design Pat. No. D616,725 issued Jun. 1, 2010, a compact rotatable wedge spacer is shown and disclosed to maintain the position of a pair of adjacent tiles that are bonded one above the other to a vertically-extending wall. This wedge spacer includes a curved (e.g., circular) body and represents an improvement over a conventional triangular wedge spacer having a long linear body. In particular, my previously-described wedge spacer is inserted within a gap between the pair of tiles. The wedge spacer can be advantageously rotated within the gap until the pair of tiles engage a tile supporting top surface and a flat bottom surface of the curved body.
Despite the advantages achieved by my compact rotatable wedge spacer, it is sometimes necessary for optimal stability to insert the curved body of the spacer to a depth corresponding to its radius. When the tiles are particularly thin, the spacer may make contact with the sticky mortar and/or not be inserted deep enough to reliably hold the tiles apart. Accordingly, a modification to my wedge spacer is desirable to maintain the gap with optimal stability and without the need to insert the spacer to the full depth of its radius. Another modification that would improve the spacer is to have the ability to achieve any one of a variety of gap widths by creating flat plateaus having predetermined heights along the upwardly sloping top of the spacer so that a workman will be able to select any plateau and maintain a particular gap width without first having to measure.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds