US1868013A - Wall texture smoothing trowel - Google Patents

Description

I 64- wx July 19, 1932. D. R. HUMPHREYS 1,868,013

WALL TEXTURE SMOOTHING TROWEL Filed Aug. 28, 1930 a-- www Patented July 19, 1932 UNITED STTES DAVID R. HUMPHREYS, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA WALL TEX'IURE SMOOTHING- TROWEL Application led August 28, 1930. Serial No. 478,347.

This invention relates to plasterers tools, and more especially to a trowel of novel design adapted for use in producing certain decorative eects in finishing the surface of both interior and exterior walls.

An object of the invention is to provide a trowel whereby the plastic, cementitious material applied to a wall, may be smoothed in any one of several particular manners,

making it possible to produce a predetermined appearance in the ultimate wall.

A further obj ect it is to provide a trowel adapted for the use above mentioned, which is of a very simple nature, and which, ac-

eordingly, may be produced with a minimum of expense, and yet which is capable of affording a great degree of convenience, and by the use of which any of several dierent effects in wall finishing may be attained.

The invention possesses other objects and advantageous features, some of which, with those enumerated, will be set forth in the following description of the inventions particular embodiment which is' illustrated in the drawing accompanying and forming a part of the specification.

Referring to the drawing: Figure 1 is a plan view of a smoothing trowel embodying the principles of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an edge elevation, the direction of View being indicated by the arrow 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan View of a slightly modified form of trowel.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a still further modified form.

Fig. 5 is a View taken in section through a partially finished wall, showing the man-y ner in which a trowel embodying the principles of the present invention is employed.

Figs. 6 to 9 inclusive, show four different types of wall nishing, each view indicating the appearance of the wall both before and after the application thereto of the smoothing trowel, and also indicating the manner in which the smoothing'trowel is applied to the wall.

The trowel of the present invention is intended to be used as means for facilitating the step of imparting the final finishing to the material of a wall surface, wherein that surface is formed of plastic, self-hardening material such as a suitable wall plaster or any one ofv the various prepared compositions available upon the market for 'such use. v55 Modern architecture employs various types of linishes for both interior and exterior walls of this general character, and the use of my improved smoothing trowel makes it possible to attain any one of these several finishes i0 with the same materials, the dierent finishes being secured by different manners of applying a roughening element and the trowel subsequent thereto.v v

' Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, show three different 65 embodiments of the smoothing trowel of the present invention, each of which is in Vthe form of a triangular plate made of resilient material, preferably Celluloid of suitable gauge. Although the thickness of the trowel may be varied Without departing from the spirit of the present invention, I have found that Celluloid substantially one-sixteenth (fr") of an inch in thickness, is best suited as the material from which the trowels should be made.

Referring specifically to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the trowel 11 there illustrated, is triangular in form, having a relatively wide base 12 at one end with the sides 13 and 14 80 of the triangles dened by the plate 11, converging toward the apex 16, thus defining a relatively narrow handle portion 17. The triangle defined by the base'12 and sides 13 and Y 14, is substantially a right triangle, inasmuch as the angle 18 which is between the side 14 and the base 12, `is substantially in extent. Consequently, the end 19 of the base 12 proximal to the angle 18, does not project laterally as far from the handle 17 as 90 does the opposite end 21 of the base. This makes it possible to reach into relatively inaccessible places and into relatively sharp corners of the wall to which the smoothing trowel is being applied, and it also makes the trowel fit the hand ofthe user more vnaturally than would be the case if the handle were disposed equidistantly from and extending perpendicularly from the base 12.

The trowel 11 is to be applied to the wall 100 in such a manner that the base 12 serves as a smoothing portion. The trowel is held as indicated upon Fig. 5, with the base 12 restingV against the wall 22 to which plastic, cementitious material 23 has been applied. The handle portion 17 is grasped by the hand of the operator as shown, and a slight degree of pressure exerted thereagainst so as to flex the trowel 11, slightly bending the. central or neck portion 24, with the result that the smoothing portion or base -12 inclines at a very slight angle from the wall, whereas the handle portion 17 inclines more steeply.V lnasmuch as the satisfactory operation of the trowel depends upon its being flexed slightly when the smoothing portion is pressedA into smoothing engagement with the wall, means are provided for increasing the inherent flexibility of the neck portion 24 which is intermediate the base l2 and the handle 17. This is accomplished by providing concave portions or recesses 26 and 27 in the side edges 3 and 14 respectively, of the trowel 11, thus decreasing the width of the neck portion, with the' result that its inherent flexibility is materially increased. -Hence, the major portion of the flexing of the trowel will occur at the neck portion 24, permitting that portion of the trowel intermediate the neck 24 and the apex 16, to extend at a greater angle with respect to the surface of the wall than that portion of the trowel 11 which is disposed between the neck portion 24 and the base 12. The trowel 3l illustrated upon Fig.` 3 is similar to that already described, the principal diferentiation being that its base 32 is materially Wider than the base 12 of the trowel 11. The side edges 33 and 34 of the trowel 31, are similarly provided with recesses 36 and 37 respectively, defining the neck 38 of reduced width, so that the flexibility of this portion of the trowel isincreased in the same manner as in the case offthe previously.described modification. It will be observed that the portion 39 of the side 34 which lies between the recess 37 and 4 larly extending-wall or ceiling.

The modihcation of trowel 44 shown upon F 4, is substantially the same as that of Figs. 1 and 2, with the exception that its base 46 is considerably narrower than the base 12. The sides 47 and 48 are recessed as at 49 and lrespectively, providing a neck 52:0f reduced width. The angle 53 between the side` 48 and the base 46, is substantially a right angle.

Each of the trowels 11, 31, and 44, is preferably provided with a hole 56, 57, and 58 respectively, in the handle portion of that trowel so as to permit hanging the trowel upon a nail or other suitable support for the purpose of storage.

lili/hereas many different types of wall linishing may be attained by use of a trowel embodying the principles of the present invention, making it impractical to attemptto describe all the possible uses of the trowel, four different types of wall finishing which may be attained by my trowel, have been illustrated upon Figs. 6 to 9 inclusive. The lower portion of Fig. 6 indicates the appearance of a wall 61 to which suitable plastic, cementitious material 62, either with or without suitable pigmentation has been applied in the Vwell-known manner. After the plastic, cementitious material 62 has been'spread upon the wall with the desired'thickness, its exterior surface is roughened by forming relatively long and preferably curved scratches or indentations 63 therein. This is accomplished by means of a relatively coarsegrained sponge, slightly different effects being attained by using a wetV sponge, from those secured if the sponge is dry. The sponge is dragged over the surface Vof the plastic material '62 with sufficient pressure thereagainst, to form the indentation 63 to a considerable ydepth as indicated atthe right hand end of Fig. 5. After all or a porti-on of the surface of the plastic material 62 has been roughened in this manner, one ofmy improved smoothing trowels is applied` thereto. rl`he operator grasps the trowel as illustrated upon Fig. and drags the base or smoothing portion thereof across the roughened surface of the-plastic material 62,: exerting only that amount of pressure of the trowel against the wall to causethe outermostV portions of the irregularities in the surface thereof, to be smoothed, leaving the bottoms of the scratches or indentations 63 still visible as indicated at 64, although the major portion of the wall is relatively smooth. The attempt is made in applying the trowel to the wall to moveit across the surface thereof in strokes roughly approximating the direction of the strokes made by the roughened sponge, the dashed lines 66 vupon Fig. 6 indicating substantially the type of stroke to be employed inproducing this particular finish.

Fig. 7 shows a different wall finish and the manner of attaining it. Here elongated and relatively straight scratches or indentations 67 are formed either with a wet or dry sponge, or with a relatively stiff brush, to the plastic material 68, and subsequently a smoothing trowel is applied to the surface of the wall so as to roduce a wall nish which is smooth throug out the major portion thereof, but in which straight and relatively narrow and shallow scratches or indentations 69 are visible, these scratches 69 extending horizontally. The dashed lines 7l indicate that each stroke of the trowel is in a direction substantially parallel to the direction in which the smoothing sponge or brush is applied to the wall. Upon Fig. 8 a similar type of wall finish is depicted. Here, however, the roughening sponge or brush being moved vertically, produces vertically extending indentations 73. Then the smoothing trowel is applied to the wall in vertical strokes 74, producing a finish 76 similar to that produced by the method indicated upon Fig. 7 with the exception that the relatively narrow and shallow indentations extend vertically instead of horizontally. On Fig. 7 still another finish is illustrated wherein relatively deep stippling 77 is applied by dabbing a sponge preferably relatively coarse, and either wet or dry, onto the surface of the plastic material 78, and then smoothing the outer surface of the wall by dragging the smoothing portion of one of the trowels thereacross in preferably straight strokes 79, thus producing a substantially smooth wall with a slight, stippled effect thereupon.

Various other manners of using the smoothing trowel and the roughening elements, will occur to anyone skilled in the art? to which this invention appertains-for example, the depth to which the roughening element is pressed and the length of each stroke of the roughening element may be varied as may also the degree of pressure exerted by the smoothing trowel' against the surface of the wall. Similarly, the length of each stroke of the smoothing trowel and the direction of its stroke may also be varied, each of these variations producing a different appearance in the ultimate wall. Consequently, a single tool may be employed advantageously, to produce various types of wall finishes, that tool being of such a nature that it may be applied with the greatest facility, producing the desired effect in the shortest possible length of time, even though the tool is of the greatest simplicity, and consequently may be placed upon the market at a relatively low cost.

It is to be understood that the details of the invention as herein disclosed, are subject to alteration within the spirit or scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A smoothing trowel comprising a plate of a material of uniform resiliency and uniform thickness, said plate being relatively wideat one end to provide a smoothing portion and relatively narrow at the other end to provide a handle, said plate having a neck of reduced width intermediatesaid ends to increase the flexibility thereof.

2. A smoothing trowel comprising a triangular plate of a material of uniform resiliency and uniform thickness, said plate having a relatively wide base to provide a smoothing portion at one end of said plate, the other end of said plate being relatively narrow to provide a handle, the side edges of said plate having concave portions therein defining a neck of reduced width to increase the flexibility thereof.

3. A smoothing trowel comprising a plate of a material of uniform resiliency and uniform thickness, said plate having substantially the configuration of a right angle, the base of the triangle defined by said plate being relatively wide to provide a smoothing portion and the sides of said plate converging therefrom toward the apex of said triv angle to define a relatively narrow handle portion, said sides being recessed to definev a neck of reduced width thereby increasing the flexibility of said plate intermediate its ends.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

D. R. HUMPHREYS.

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