Mosaic tile maker
AssigneeGerber Scientific Products, Inc.
InventorDavid J. Gerber
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for automatically creating a simulated mosaic controllably discharges tile pieces onto plate material and secures the tile pieces in place such that the plates with the tile pieces are freestanding permitting the plates themselves to be an ordered arrangement of sections of the mosaic once cemented to the substrate. Many different forms may be had for the plate material, including ones that are pressure or heat activatable to bond with the tile pieces or ones that are mechanically connectable.
Claims20
A method for automatically assembling tile pieces of differing dimensions and shapes in a given arrangement on a plate material to create a mosaic, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing data representing a graphic to be depicted by the tile pieces when arranged in a given orientation;
- providing delivery means for depositing the tile pieces at predetermined locations to arrange the tile pieces in said given orientation;
- providing plate material and supporting it relative to said delivery means for receiving said tile pieces deposited onto it by said delivery means;
- providing a supply of the tile pieces and associating said supply with said delivery means to supply said delivery means with the tile pieces;
- inputting parameters corresponding to at least one of dimensions and shapes of the tile pieces of differing dimensions and shapes to be used in creating said given orientation of said tile pieces;
- using said parameters to create control data to drive said delivery means and cause the delivery means to deposit the tile pieces on the plate material at the predetermined locations;
- and
- affixing the plate material to a substrate to create the mosaic.
A method for automatically assembling tile pieces in a given arrangement on a plate material to create a mosaic, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing data representing a graphic to be depicted by the tile pieces when arranged in a given orientation;
- providing delivery means for depositing the tile pieces at predetermined locations to arrange the tile pieces in said given orientation;
- providing plate material and supporting it relative to said delivery means for receiving said tile pieces deposited onto it by said delivery means;
- providing a supply of the tile pieces and associating said supply with said delivery means to supply said delivery means with the tile pieces;
- inputting parameters corresponding to the dimensions and/or appearance of the tile pieces to be used in creating said given orientation of said tile pieces;
- using said parameters to create control data to drive said delivery means and cause the delivery means to deposit the tile pieces on the plate material at the predetermined locations;
- and
- affixing the plate material to a substrate to create the mosaic,
- said step of using said parameters to create control data including the sub-steps of:
- assuming each tile piece to have a regular shape;
- defining the shape of each tile piece by a number;
- defining at least one dimension of the shape of each tile;
- determining at least one vertice type by establishing the shapes of the tile pieces which surround said at least one vertice type;
- and
- calculating a spacing between vertices using the given dimension of the tile shapes and the at least one vertice type determined.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.