US 12546124

Patent Overview: US 12,546,124 B2

Title: Device for leveling and aligning tiles and method for leveling and aligning tiles

Assignee: Acufloor LLC (listed as both original and current assignee)

Inventors: Clinton D. Bunch and Joshua A. Bunch

Key dates: Priority date 2013-04-09 (claimed from US 13/859,316, issued as US 9,260,872 B2); application US 17/578,808 filed 2022-01-19; published as US 2022/0136262 A1 on 2022-05-05; granted and published as US 12,546,124 B2 on 2026-02-10. Anticipated expiration listed as 2033-04-09.

Purpose: The patent addresses tile installation, noting that aligning and leveling tiles is time-consuming for professionals and do-it-yourselfers, and that improper installation can require replacement, cause spacing errors to propagate, create aesthetic problems, and, in some cases, raise safety concerns. It states a need for a device that levels, aligns, and spaces tiles.

Plain-language scope (per the excerpt): A leveling device has a body with two spaced, parallel strip members extending transversely to the front and rear of the body, two opposing lateral open windows with upper edges, and a breakaway (frangible, reduced-thickness) section. The strips may curve upward arcuately to define four points of contact for two, three, or four tiles; the flexible, compressible curvatures are described as accommodating tiles of varying thickness. An integral spacing pad sets a predetermined joint gap. A wedge device has a backstop member and two wedge members with tapered surfaces carrying teeth that penetrate the windows, latch onto the window edges, and press tiles against the strips. The wedge may be inserted from the front or rear. Embodiments include an inverted U-shaped body with an I-shaped base (FIGS. 13–16).

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US12546124/en

What the excerpt does not establish: The excerpt is partial (text is truncated mid-description and omits the claims, abstract, and full description). It therefore does not establish the exact claim scope, the full method steps, embodiments in FIGS. 10–16, materials, or dimensions. Legal status is noted by the source as an assumption, not a legal conclusion.