US3299270A

US3299270A - Radiation-proof strip for wall and ceiling panel having a groove formed by two bifurcations

Info

Publication number: US3299270A
Application number: US516195A
Authority: US
Inventors: Avella Benjamin A D
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1965-11-18
Filing date: 1965-11-18
Publication date: 1967-01-17
Anticipated expiration: 1984-01-17

Description

Jan. 17, 1967 B. DAVELLA 3,299,270

RADIATION-PROOF STRIP FOR WALL AND CEILING PANEL HAVING A GROOVE FORMED BY TWO BIFURCATIONS Filed NOV. 18, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3O INVENTOR.

4770NEY61 Jan. 17,- 1967 B. DAVELLA 3,299,270

RADIATION-PROOF STRIP FOR WALL AND CEILING PANEL A HAVING A GROOVE FORMED BY TWO BIFURCATIONS Filed Nov. 18, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /5 /6 u! 11 r l I \C mwfir /e' /7 (/3 zZ IP16. s. FIG. 6.

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\/ INVENTOR.

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United States Patent 3,299,270 RADIATION-PROOF STREP FOR WALL AND CEIL- ING PANEL HAVING A GROOVE FORMED BY TWQ BIFURCATIQNS Benjamin A. DAvelia, 1012 N. 7th St.,

Belleville, NJ. 07109 Filed Nov. 18, 1965, Ser. No. 516,195 3 Claims. (Cl. 250-108) This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending US. patent application Serial No. 298,751, filed July 30, 1963 (now abandoned).

This invention relates to interior facing elements for rooms, and more particularly to a radiation-proof interior facing element for a room which is impervious to X-ray and similar types of radiation.

A main object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved radiation-proof interior, facing element for a room, said element being simple in construction, being easy to install, and being especially adaptable for use in laboratories and in medical ofiices wherein X-ray and similar equipment is employed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved radiation-proof facing strip or panel to be employed for preventing X-ray and similar types of radiation from escaping from the confines of a room or other enclosure, the facing strip or panel being inexpensive to manufacture, durable in construction, and being attractive in appearance.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved radiation-proof wall or ceiling panel element of the tongue-and-groove type, the panel element being especially useful for providing an inside facing for X-ray rooms and similar enclosures wherein equipment such as X-ray machines and other radiation-emitting devices are employed, the facing serving to prevent the escape of radiation from such equipment, and, therefore, serving to prevent harm or injury to persons outside the room from such radiation.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of a room provided with wall and ceiling facing elements constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a portion of a wall panel element provided with radiation-proof backing as constructed in accordance with the present invention, as employed, for example, in a room illustrated in FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an inverted perspective view of a ceiling panel provided with radiation-proof backing, as employed in a room illustrated in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal crosssectional view taken substantially on the line 4-4 of FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged perspective view of an inside vertical corner member employed in a room illustrated in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of an outside corner member employed in the wall of a room illustrated in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary enlarged top view showing the manner in which the tongue portion of one panel strip is engageable in the groove portion on a longitudinal edge of another panel strip in installing the wall panel strip members to provide an inside facing such as that illustrated in FIGURE 1, and

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged, detail sectional view taken "ice substantially on the section line 8-8 of FIGURE 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings, 11 generally designates a room containing X-ray or similar radiation-emitting equipment, for example, a medical X-ray room. In accordance with the present invention the walls and ceiling of the room 11 are provided with radiation-proof facing means to confine the X-ray radiation from the equipment in the room and to prevent such radiation from escaping through the room walls and ceiling. Thus, the Walls are provided with inside facing elements consisting of vertical elongated strips or panels, designated generally at 12, and comprising rigid tongue-and-groove assemblies. Each strip 12 comprises an elongated generally rectangular body of rigid nonmetallic material, shown at 13, such as wood or asbestos, the body 13 being formed with one longitudinal edge portion of reduced thickness, shown at 14, to define a tongue, and being formed on its opposite longitudinal edge with a groove 15 adapted to receive the tongue of an adjacent panel element 12. A layer 16 of lead, which is impervious to radiation, is secured on the rear face of the main body 13, covering substantially the entire area. Secured on the front face of said main body is a relatively thin layer 17 of laminated facing material, such as plastic sheet material provided with a suitable decorative pattern. The plastic sheet material may comprise Formica or similar plastic sheet material commonly employed for decorative facings.

As shown in FIGURE 7, the tongue portions 14 are receivable in groove portions 15 of adjacent panels, the groove portions 15 being substantially larger in width than the tongue portions 14 of the body elements 13 to enable thicker sheets of lead 16 to be secured to the rear faces of the panel elements, if so desired. As shown in FIGURE 7, the groove 15 has a seating portion 18 adapted to receive the front exposed tongue face 19 of the adjacent panel element, the distance from the front plane of the decorative facing lamination 17 of the seat 18 being substantially the same as the distance of the surface 19 of the mating panel element from the front plane of its decorative facing lamination 17.

It will be seen that when the surfaces 19 and 18 are engaged with each other the decorative laminations 17 of the corresponding panel elements are substantially flush with each other. It will be further seen that the radiationimpervious rear laminations 16 of the adjacent panel segments overlap at the joints therebetween so as to provide complete radiation-proof connections at said joints.

It will further be noted that the bifurcations forming the grooves 15 include one bifurcation formed with the lead sheet 16 and a second bifurcation on which is formed the sheet 18. The bifurcation including the lead sheet 16 is longer than the bifurcation on which is formed the sheet 18 as the last mentioned bifurcation is given its strength by the core material which, as stated previously, may be wood or asbestos. If this bifurcation was as long as the bifurcation including the lead sheet 16 it would create a weakened portion on the panel which would be antithetical to the object of the present invention, i.e. to produce a strong room. However, it is necessary to have the bifurcation including the lead sheet 16 of a substantial length in order to prevent, when in facing relation with the tongue 14, the passage of stray gamma rays out of the room. The lead sheet 16 insures that this last mentioned bifurcation will maintain its strength even though it is of a consider able length.

The outside corner portions of the facing structure of the room 11 comprise vertical right-angled corner panel elements consisting of right-angled bodies of nonmetallic rigid material, shown at 13 in FIGURE 4, the rear surfaces of said bodies being provided with radiation-impervious laminations 16 of lead, and the front faces of the bodies 13 being provided with decorative covering laminations 17 of decorative sheet plastic material, similar to the facing laminations 17 previously described. As shown in FIGURE 4, the longitudinal edges of the outside corner members are formed with grooves 15 similar to those previously described for the panel elements 12, said grooves being adapted to receive the tongue portions 14 of the adjacent wall panel elements.

The inside vertical portions of the wall assembly of the room 11 are similarly formed of right-angled bodies provided at their rear faces with laminations 16 of lead, impervious to radiation, and provided at their front faces with thin strips of decorative plastic material similar to the sheet material 17. Thus, in a typical embodiment shown in FIGURE 4, the inside corner members comprise vertical

rigid body elements

23 and 24 of nonmetallic material, such as wood or asbestos, the body 23 having a facing on its inside surface of decorative plastic material, shown at 25. The body 25 is rigidly secured to the member comprising body 23 and facing 25, and the body 24 is provided with an inside facing 26 of decorative plastic material similar to the material employed for the

laminations

17, 16 and 25.

The bifurcations forming the grooves 15 in the right angle cor-ner elements of FIGURE 4 are formed in the same manner as the bifurcations discussed with respect to the panels shown in FIGURE 7.

The inside corner

assemblies comprising elements

23 and 24 are provided with longitudinal grooves 15 at their side edges similar to those provided for the outside corner members, the grooves 15 being adapted to receive tongue elements on adjacent wall panel members 12 in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 4.

The ceiling of the room comprises a plurality of square panels 3t), each panel comprising a generally square body of rigid nonmetallic material formed with a pair of

tongues

31, 31 at two adjacent side edges of the body and formed with corresponding right-angled longitudinal grooves or recesses 32 at the other two adjacent edges of the body, the grooves 32 corresponding to grooves 15, and the tongues 31 corresponding to the edge portion 14 of the panel. The top surfaces of the ceiling panel bodies are provided with laminations 33 of lead, so that when the ceiling is completely assembled it is covered by a substantially continuous lamination of lead defined by the respective square laminations 33 on the ceiling panels 30. The ceiling panels are secured to suitable fram ing, such as furring strips, or the like, in the usual manner employed to install conventional ceiling panels. The ceiling panel main body members may comprise any suitable composition, such as paper, asbestos, or fiber material suitably compressed or rigidified, or the like.

The grooves 32 in the ceiling panel 30 have the bifurcations forming the same of a similar proportional length to the bifurcations of the grooves 15 discussed with respect to FIGURES 4 and 7.

While certain specific embodiments of an improved radiation-proof Wall and ceiling elements have been disclosed in the foregoing description, it will be understood that various modifications within the spirit of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is intended that no limitations be placed on the invention except as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A radiation-proof wall element comprising an elongated substantially flat strip of rigid nonmetallic material of uniform width having at least one longitudinal edge of reduced thickness to define a tongue and formed at its opposite edge with a longitudinal groove adapted to receive the tongue of an adjacent strip, a layer of lead secured on one face of said strip covering its entire area including said first named tongue, and a relatively thin layer of plastic facing material secured on and covering substantially the entire area of the opposite face of said strip, said groove being formed by two bifurcations along an edge of said element, one bifurcation including the layer of lead, the other bifurcation including the layer of plastic facing material, the one bifurcation having a length substantially greater than said other bifurcation, said tongue having a length equal to said one bifurcation, the thickness of said one bifurcation and its layer of lead being substantially equal to the thickness of said other bifurcation in its layer of plastic facing material.

2. A room manufactured of the radiation-proof wall elements of claim 1 with adjacent panels having the tongue thereof fitted within the groove of a second panel with the layer of lead face of the tongue in facing relation with the one bifurcation of the other panel and the layer of lead on both of said panels facing the interior of the room.

3. The room of claim 2 including corner strips for joining, at an angle, two panels of the type set forth in claim 1, said corner strip including at least one longitudinally extending groove adapted to, receive the tongue of a panel to be joined to the strip of said groove being formed by a first and second bifurcation, said first corner strip bifurcation having a layer of lead on the outside surface thereof facing the interior of the room, the other bifurcation of said corner strip having a thin layer of plastic material secured thereon and covering the surface of said corner strip facing the interior of the room, said first corner strip bifurcation being substantially longer than said other corner strip bifurcation, said first corner strip bifurcation having a length equal to the length of said panel tongue, the thickness of said first corner strip bifurcation and its layer of lead being substantially equal to the thickness of said other corner strip bifurcation and its layer of plastic facing material.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,846,658 2/1932 Rockwell 2092 2,183,790 12/1939 Dillehray et al. 250-l08 X 2,720,105 10/1955 Billups 250l08 2,825,099 3/1958 Simmons 2092 X RALPH G. NILSON, Primary Examiner. S. ELBAUM, Assistant Examiner.