Shingles are typically small pieces of building material that are used in overlapping rows to protect the interior of a house from inclement weather. Historically, shingles have been constructed from a number of compositions, including natural slate, metal, fibrous cement, ceramics, clay and asphalt compounds.
Prior art shingles are typically rectangular shaped and have substantially flat top and bottom surfaces. These types of shingles are customarily installed by securing a first horizontal row of shingles along the bottom of the roof in a line parallel to the eave of the roof. Subsequent horizontal rows of shingles are then layered in partially overlapping fashion up the inclined surface of the roof. In this way, the exposed portion of the top surface of one shingle covers the upper portion of a lower, underlying shingle.
Although widely accepted, this method of applying shingles to a roof suffers a number of drawbacks. For example, it is very difficult to maintain consistent alignment of the horizontal rows of shingles across the entire roof surface. The improper positioning of a single shingle can produce an exaggerated misalignment of subsequent shingles that are positioned next to any previously laid shingle that is out-of-alignment. Furthermore, as illustrated in the prior art drawing in FIG. 7, a small wedge-shaped recess, or “gap” 200 is formed between two overlapping, flat-bottomed shingles 202 and the starter shingle 204. These gaps 200 permit the shingle 202 to bend when pressure is applied to the top of the shingle. For example, when a roofing contractor walks across a roof 206 during installation or subsequent maintenance, the shingle 202 bends under the weight of the worker. As the shingle 202 bends, cracks may develop in the shingle 202 that compromise the ability of the shingle to provide a watertight seal on the roof 206.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved shingle that overcomes these and other deficiencies in the prior art.