Method and apparatus for manufacturing a laminated shingle

Abstract

The present invention relates to apparatus for forming a series of shingles from two shingle members. In the past such apparatus has required an inordinate number of hand operations and warehousing of such shingle members. These hand operations and warehousing functions have resulted in a substantial number of non-conforming shingles, which must be rejected, and also causing other problems which affect the overall productivity of such prior art apparatus. The present invention anticipates forming from stock material a complete set of such shingle members, maintaining the shingle members in a set in a predetermined positional relationship throughout the manufacturing operation up to and including the formation of stacks of shingles formed thereby. When such a set of shingle members includes a pair of overlay portions formed of interdigitated tabs, the present invention permits these tabs to be defined to form two styles of shingles. Since the set is maintained correlated throughout the laminating and stacking processes, these two styles of shingles can be placed on the roof in a predetermined pattern to enhance the aesthetic appeal of a roof covering made thereby.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.