ERGONOMIC LEVELER

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a leveler, and more particularly to an ergonomic leveler that can abut stably, is easy to hold, and is effortless to rotate.

2. Description of Related Art

In order to ensure that tiles can remain flat without unevenness when attached to the floor or wall, a leveler is generally used during the process of attaching the tiles. After two adjacent tiles are clamped and pressed by the leveler, it is ensured that the two adjacent tiles are held at a consistent height and position. With reference to FIG. 10, a conventional leveler 80 has a base 81 and a spin cover 82. The base 81 has a clamping board 811, a connecting slice 812, and a connecting rod 813. The connecting slice 812 is connected to the clamping board 811 and the connecting rod 813. The spin cover 82 is rotatably connected to the connecting rod 813 of the base 81 to hold and clamp the two adjacent tiles between the base 81 and the spin cover 82.

Furthermore, in order to reduce the weight of the spin cover 82, the spin cover 82 of the conventional leveler 80 is designed as a hollow structure to form multiple ribs 83 at spaced intervals in a middle section of the spin cover 82. Each one of the ribs 83 is a straight strip-shaped body and is disposed inclined on the middle section of the spin cover 82. In use, fingers of a user press against the ribs 83, rotate the spin cover 82 relative to the base 81, and then adjust a distance between the spin cover 82 and the base 81, thereby performing a clamping operation on the two adjacent tiles.

However, the conventional leveler 80 can provide a leveling effect of clamping and pressing two adjacent tiles. With reference to FIG. 11, when the user rotates the spin cover 82 of the conventional leveler 80, since each one of the ribs 83 of the spin cover 82 is a straight strip, the user's curved fingers cannot abut the ribs 83 firmly and closely, and it is easy to form gaps between the user's fingers and the corresponding ribs 83. Then the user cannot conveniently hold and rotate the spin cover 82 and must apply additional force to hold and rotate the spin cover 82 relative to the base 81, and this is relatively inconvenient and laborious.

In addition, since the user's fingers cannot firmly abut on the corresponding ribs 83, the user must press against the ribs 83 at a specific holding angle, such as from top to bottom to increase the contact areas between the fingers and the ribs 83. However, the specific holding angle is not ergonomic, may make the user easily feel uncomfortable when rotating the spin cover 82 with force and unable to rotate smoothly, and this relatively increases operational inconvenience. Therefore, regarding the above-mentioned problems and deficiencies, the conventional leveler 80 needs to be improved.

The ergonomic leveler in accordance with the present invention mitigates or obviates the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the present invention is to provide an ergonomic leveler that can abut stably, is easy to hold, and is effortless to rotate.

The ergonomic leveler in accordance with the present invention has a base and a spin cover. The base has a clamping board, a connecting slice, and a connecting rod. The connecting slice is connected to the clamping board and the connecting rod. The spin cover is detachably connected to the base and has a screw portion and a spin portion. The screw portion is disposed on a top of the spin cover and is connected to the connecting rod. The spin portion is connected to the screw portion, is a cover structure with an opening facing downward, and has at least one rotating strip. The at least one rotating strip is disposed curvedly on and extends out of an external surface of the spin portion along a direction from the screw portion toward the opening. Each one of the at least one rotating strip has an abutted-curved face disposed on an outer side of the rotating strip away from the screw portion.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ergonomic leveler in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the ergonomic leveler in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is another exploded perspective view of the ergonomic leveler in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of the ergonomic leveler in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a top side view of the ergonomic leveler in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an operational perspective view of the ergonomic leveler in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an operational top side view of the ergonomic leveler in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 8 and 9 are operational and cross-sectional side views of the ergonomic leveler in FIG. 1, during leveling two adjacent tiles;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a leveler in accordance with the prior art; and

FIG. 11 is an operational and cross-sectional side view of the leveler in FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, an ergonomic leveler in accordance with the present invention has a base 10 and a spin cover 20.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the base 10 has a clamping board 11, a connecting slice 12, and a connecting rod 13. The clamping board 11 has a clamping face 111 being flat and disposed on a top side of the clamping board 11. Furthermore, the clamping board 11 has at least one clamping portion 14 disposed on each one of two ends of the clamping board 11. Each one of the at least one clamping portion 14 has multiple abutted teeth 141 arranged in a stepped manner on a bottom surface of the clamping portion 14, and this can increase the contact area and friction between the clamping board 11 and adhesion fluids such as cement to dispose the clamping board 11 firmly on the cement. Preferably, the clamping board 11 has two said clamping portions 14 disposed on each one of the two ends of the clamping board 11 at a spaced interval to form a gap 142 between the two said clamping portions 14 and gradually expanded from the inside to the outside.

The connecting slice 12 is connected to the clamping face 111 of the clamping board 11 between the said clamping portions 14, is extended upwardly from the top side of the clamping board 11, and has a through hole 121. The through hole 121 is formed through the connecting slice 12 between the clamping board 11 and the connecting slice 12. The connecting slice 12 can be broken relative to the clamping board 11 via the through hole 121. The connecting rod 13 is connected to an edge of the connecting slice 12 away from the clamping board 11 and has a thread 131 formed on an external surface of the connecting rod 13.

With reference to FIGS. 2 to 4, the spin cover 20 is detachably connected to the base 10 and has a screw portion 21 and a spin portion 22. The screw portion 21 is disposed on a top of the spin cover 20, is connected to the connecting rod 13 of the base 10, and has a threaded hole 211 formed through the screw portion 21 and selectively screwed with the thread 131 of the connecting rod 13. Then the spin cover 20 can be moved relative to the base 10 via an engagement between the screw portion 21 and the connecting rod 13. Furthermore, the screw portion 21 has multiple protruded ribs 212 formed on an external surface of the screw portion 21 at spaced intervals for allowing a user to firmly abut against the screw portion 21 to rotate the spin cover 20.

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, and 5, the spin portion 22 is connected to the screw portion 21, is a cover structure with an opening 221 facing downward, and has at least one rotating strip 23. The at least one rotating strip 23 is disposed curvedly on and extends out of an external surface of the spin portion 22 along a direction from the screw portion 21 toward the opening 221. Each one of the at least one rotating strip 23 has an abutted-curved face 231 disposed on an outer side of the rotating strip 23 away from the screw portion 21. Furthermore, the spin portion 22 of the spin cover 20 has three said rotating strips 23, each one of the three said rotating strips 23 has two ends, one of the two ends of each said rotating strip 23 is connected to the screw portion 21, and the other one of the two ends of each said rotating strip 23 extends radially toward the opening 221. Additionally, with reference to FIG. 5, each two adjacent ones of the three said rotating strips 23 are arranged on the spin portion 22 at an included angle of 120 degrees.

Preferably, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, and 5, the spin cover 20 has an abutted hole 24 formed through an external surface of the spin cover 20 between each two adjacent ones of the three said rotating strips 23 and being a non-circular structure. The spin cover 20 has an auxiliary contact surface 25 disposed between an outer periphery of each abutted hole 24 and each two adjacent rotating strips 23 and connected to the abutted-curved face 231 of one of the two adjacent rotating strips 23. When a user holds the rotating strips 23 to rotate the spin cover 20, the fingers of the user abut the abutted-curved faces 231 and the auxiliary contact surfaces 25, firstly, the contact area between the user's fingers and the spin cover 20 can be increased, so that the spin cover 20 can be rotated stably and firmly. Secondly, with structures of curved design of the rotating strips 23, the abutted-curved faces 231, and the auxiliary contact surfaces 25, the user's fingers can conveniently abut the rotating strips 23 at comfortable angles when holding the spin cover 20, and this can provide an ergonomic structure.

In addition, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5, the spin cover 20 has a reminder symbol 26 disposed on at least one of the auxiliary contact surfaces 25 to allow a user to know a rotation direction of the spin cover 20. Furthermore, the spin cover 20 has a pressing flange 27 annularly formed on a bottom of the spin portion 22.

With reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, when the ergonomic leveler of the present invention is in use, the fingers 40 of a user abut the abutted-curved faces 231 of the rotating strips 23 and the auxiliary contact surfaces 25 at the same time, and this can allow the user's fingers 40 to contact the spin cover 20 with a large area (i.e. three fingers snap shown in FIGS. 6 and 7), so that the user can contact the spin cover 20 closely without applying additional force and can rotate the spin cover 20 relative to the base 10 conveniently and effortlessly. Furthermore, the abutted hole 24 between each two adjacent rotating strips 23 can allow the user's fingers 40 to extend into an interior of the spin cover 20, and can enable each finger 40 to get closer to the corresponding abutted-curved face 231 and the corresponding auxiliary contact surface 25, and this can provide a stable-abutting effect. In addition, the structural arrangement of each rotating strip 23 extended curvedly, each abutted-curved faces 231 being an arc face, and each auxiliary contact surface 25 disposed on the outer periphery of the non-circular abutted hole 24 makes the spin cover 20 ergonomic, and allows the user's fingers 40 to hold the spin cover 20 at a comfortable angle for rotation, thereby providing a labor-saving rotation effect.

With reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, to use the ergonomic leveler of the present invention for leveling operation, first, the base 10 of the ergonomic leveler is put on a cement 50, a contact area between the clamping board 11 and the cement 50 can be increased by the abutted teeth 141 of each clamping portion 14 of the clamping board 11, and the base 10 can be firmly installed on the cement 50 via the clamping board 11. Then, two tiles 60 are respectively put and arranged on two sides of the connecting slice 12 to enable bottom surfaces of the two tiles 60 to contact the clamping face 111 of the clamping board 11, and the screw portion 21 of the spin cover 20 is connected to the connecting rod 13. With reference to FIG. 6, fingers 40 of a user abut against the rotating strips 23 to rotate the spin cover 20 relative to the base 10 and to move toward the two tiles 60 to enable the pressing flange 27 to press against top surfaces of the two tiles 60. At this time, the two tiles 60 will be clamped between the clamping board 11 of the base 10 and the pressing flange 27 of the spin cover 20, thereby providing a leveling effect to the two tiles 60.

According to the above-mentioned structural relationships and features of the ergonomic leveler of the present invention, the at least one rotating strip 23 with the abutted-curved face 231 disposed on the spin cover 20 allows the user to hold the spin cover 20 to rotate relative to the base 10 and allows the fingers 40 of the user to firmly abut against the spin cover 20. Then the spin cover 20 can be held firmly and stably without applying additional force and can be rotated relative to the base 10 conveniently and be labor-saving in use. Furthermore, the structural arrangement of each rotating strip 23 extended curvedly, each abutted-curved faces 231 being an arc face, and each auxiliary contact surface 25 disposed on the outer periphery of the non-circular abutted hole 24 makes the spin cover 20 ergonomic, and allows the user's fingers 40 to hold the spin cover 20 at a comfortable angle for rotation, thereby providing a labor-saving rotation effect.

Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the utility model, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.