A self-contained truck-mounted brick laying machine (2) is described. A truck (1) supports the brick laying machine (2) which is mounted on a frame (3) on the truck chassis. The frame (3) supports packs or pallets of bricks (52, 53) placed on a platform (51). A transfer robot can then pick up an individual brick and move it to, or between either a saw (46) or a router (47) or a carousel (48). The carousel is located coaxially with a tower (10), at the base of the tower (10). The carousel (48) transfers the brick via the tower (10) to an articulated (folding about horizontal axis (16)) telescoping boom comprising first boom element in the form of telescopic boom (12, 14) and second boom element in the form of telescopic stick (15, 17, 18, 19, 20). The bricks are moved along the folding telescoping boom by linearly moving shuttles, to reach a brick laying and adhesive applying head (32). The brick laying and adhesive applying head (32) mounts to element (20) of the stick, about an axis (33) which is disposed horizontally. The poise of the brick laying and adhesive applying head (32) about the axis (33) is adjusted and is set in use so that the base (811) of a clevis (813) of the robotic arm (36) mounts about a horizontal axis, and the tracker component (130) is disposed uppermost on the brick laying and adhesive applying head (32). The brick laying and adhesive applying head (32) applies adhesive to the brick and has a robot that lays the brick. Vision and laser scanning and tracking systems are provided to allow the measurement of as-built slabs, bricks, the monitoring and adjustment of the process and the monitoring of safety zones. The first, or any course of bricks can have the bricks pre machined by the router module (47) so that the top of the course is level once laid.

A liner for protecting the interior of a construction material container is provided to have a shape complementary to that of a joint compound container. The liner is formed of a lightweight, flexible and disposable material and can be positioned directly within the joint compound container. In use, the joint compound is placed directly within the liner disposed within the container. After one or more uses of the container including the liner, the liner, along with the build-up of hardened joint compound or other construction material placed within the liner, can be removed from the container and disposed of. A subsequent liner can then be positioned within the container to enable continued use of the container without the need for removing and remaining construction material therefrom.

A prefill tool for finishing wallboard joints is provided for finishing a wallboard joint, and includes a box assembly defining a hopper, having a top wall and a front wall constructed and arranged for engaging the wallboard joint. The front wall partially defines a gate dimensioned for dispensing joint compound stored in the hopper. Also, the gate is located on a skid plate mounted on the front wall, the skid plate having a main portion, and a gate portion partially defining the gate being displaced from a plane defined by the main portion.

A system for placing objects on a surface. The system may include a base, a robotic arm coupled, at an end thereof, to the base, an end effector coupled to the other end of the robotic arm. The end effector may be configured for releaseably coupling to an object to be placed on the surface. The system may further include one or more sensor units on a sensor frame. The one or more sensor units may be configured for sensing a two-dimensional profile data including at least two two-dimensional profiles together comprising at least three boundary portions of the object to be placed and at least three boundary portions of objects on the surface. At least two of the three boundary portions of the object to be placed may be from substantially non-parallel sides. At least two of the three boundary portions of the objects on the surface may be from substantially non-parallel sides. The system may further include a processor configured to determine at least three degrees of freedom of the object to be placed with respect to the sensor frame and six degrees of freedom of the sensor frame with respect to the objects on the surface in a three-dimensional space for determining a current pose of the object to be placed with respect to the objects on the surface based on the two-dimensional profile data. Further, the system may be configured to place the object based on differences between the current pose and a desired pose of the object to be placed determined from a model of objects on the surface in the three-dimensional space.

A moisture-curable adhesive composition comprises a polymer component selected from a silane-terminated polyalkylene oxide and/or a polyurethane; a plurality of amino-silane modified wollastonite fibers having an average aspect ratio of from about 1.5:1 to about 12:1 and an average fiber length of from about 6 m to about 825 m; at least two fillers, wherein one of said fillers is untreated and a second of said fillers is treated with a modifier selected from the group consisting of a fatty acid derivative, a silane, a titanate, and mixtures thereof wherein at least one of said fillers is irregularly shaped; and a rheology modifier. The composition preferably further comprises a plurality of irregularly-shaped crumb rubber particles having an average particle size of between about 0.5 to 1.5 mm. The composition is useful for adhering tiles to surfaces, especially large format tiles to substantially vertically-extending wall surfaces.

The invention relates to a plastering machine (10) for applying a surface coating layer to a building surface (1), such as to a building wall (1), comprising a coating material supply (20) connected to a mouthpiece (30) via a conduit, said mouthpiece (30) having a top portion (T) and a bottom portion (B) and including a rear wall (31), a first side wall (31) and a second side wall (31) opposite said first side wall (31), said rear wall (31) being connected to or integral with said first side wall (31) and said second side wall (31) to define a coating material recess (8) for containing coating material supplied to said mouthpiece through said conduit (15), said recess (8) preferably tapering in a direction from said top portion (T) to said bottom portion (B), said rear wall (31) having a lower edge (37) at said bottom portion (B), said first and second side walls (31, 31) each having one or more faces (SF) configured for being placed against said building surface (1) when applying said coating material contained in said recess (8) to said building surface (1). The lower edge (37) is configured for being placed against said building surface (1) together with said faces (SF) in use of said machine when applying said coating material contained in said recess (8) to said building surface (1), an elongated flexible seal (300) connected to each side wall (31, 31) extending between said bottom portion (B) and said top portion (T), for being placed against said building surface (1) when applying said coating material contained in said recess (8) to said building surface (1).

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a device for tiling comprising a container for holding a tiling adhesive, and a discharger for discharging the tiling adhesive. The discharger comprises at least one aperture and is configured to fit in the inner portion of the container, wherein the device is configured such that when the discharger is placed in the inner portion of the container and a rear face of a tile is placed on a top surface of the discharger, adhesive within the container can move through the at least one aperture of the discharger to apply a portion of the tiling adhesive to the rear face of the tile.

A moisture-curable adhesive composition comprises a polymer component selected from a silane-terminated polyalkylene oxide and/or a polyurethane; a plurality of amino-silane modified wollastonite fibers having an average aspect ratio of from about 1.5:1 to about 12:1 and an average fiber length of from about 6 ?m to about 825 ?m; at least two fillers, wherein one of said fillers is untreated and a second of said fillers is treated with a modifier selected from the group consisting of a fatty acid derivative, a silane, a titanate, and mixtures thereof wherein at least one of said fillers is irregularly shaped; and a rheology modifier. The composition preferably further comprises a plurality of irregularly-shaped crumb rubber particles having an average particle size of between about 0.5 to 1.5 mm. The composition is useful for adhering tiles to surfaces, especially large format tiles to substantially vertically-extending wall surfaces.

A self-contained truck-mounted brick laying machine (2) is described. A truck (1) supports the brick laying machine (2) which is mounted on a frame (3) on the truck chassis. The frame (3) supports packs or pallets of bricks (52, 53) placed on a platform (51). A transfer robot can then pick up an individual brick and move it to, or between either a saw (46) or a router (47) or a carousel (48). The carousel is located coaxially with a tower (10), at the base of the tower (10). The carousel (48) transfers the brick via the tower (10) to an articulated (folding about horizontal axis (16)) telescoping boom comprising first boom element in the form of telescopic boom (12, 14) and second boom element in the form of telescopic stick (15, 17, 18, 19, 20). The bricks are moved along the folding telescoping boom by linearly moving shuttles, to reach a brick laying and adhesive applying head (32). The brick laying and adhesive applying head (32) mounts to element (20) of the stick, about an axis (33) which is disposed horizontally. The poise of the brick laying and adhesive applying head (32) about the axis (33) is adjusted and is set in use so that the base (811) of a clevis (813) of the robotic arm (36) mounts about a horizontal axis, and the tracker component (130) is disposed uppermost on the brick laying and 110,111 adhesive applying head (32). The brick laying and adhesive applying head (32) applies adhesive to the brick and has a robot that lays the brick. Vision and laser scanning and tracking systems are provided to allow the measurement of as-built slabs, bricks, the monitoring and adjustment of the process and the monitoring of safety zones. The first, or any course of bricks can have the bricks pre machined by the router module (47) so that the top of the course is level once laid.

The present invention relates to a method for laying tiles (2) on a laying substrate, in which, initially, tile adhesive (8) is applied to the laying substrate and the tiles (2) are subsequently laid in the tile adhesive (8), characterized in that, before applying the tile adhesive (8) to the laying surface, leveling strips (5) of the same height are affixed so that the top faces of the leveling strips (5) lie in a common reference plane, and in that the tile adhesive (8) is applied between the leveling strips (5) with some protrusion which is then, using a screeding board (9) guided along the top faces of the leveling strips (5), removed down to the level of the reference plane, generating a flat tile adhesive layer (11).