Methods of forming bevels in flooring planks
AssigneeShaw Industries Group, Inc.
InventorsJerry Yang, Felix J. Herrera, Bryant Nie
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Abstract
The present disclosure provides a novel technique for creating bevels along the edges of flooring planks having a hard and rigid core layer, preferably comprising a magnesium-based cement or other type of curable binder material. The disclosed embodiments use the inherent time it takes for a cement binder in the core layer to harden and cure to concurrently shape bevels along one or more edges of the rigid core layer for one or more flooring planks.
Claims22
A method for forming a core layer for a flooring plank having one or more beveled edges, the method comprising:
- (a) depositing an uncured binder material into a tray;
- (b) placing a patterned plate over the uncured binder material in the tray, the patterned plate having a pattern of bevels that extend into a surface of the uncured binder material when the patterned plate is placed over the tray;
- (c) adding the tray and patterned plate onto a stack of one or more trays, wherein each tray in the stack comprises uncured binder material and has a corresponding patterned plate;
- (d) applying a pressure to the stack of trays as the uncured binder material is in the process of curing in each of the trays in the stack;
- (e) removing the applied pressure from the stack of trays;
- (f) separating a board of cured binder material from each tray in the stack, wherein each board has the pattern of bevels formed on a surface of the board, and wherein the pattern of bevels corresponds to one or more flooring planks;
- and
- (g) cutting each board of cured binder material along the pattern of bevels to create a core layer for one or more flooring planks.
A method for forming a core layer for a flooring plank having one or more beveled edges, the method comprising:
- (a) depositing an uncured binder material into a patterned plate, wherein the patterned plate has a pattern of bevels that are covered by the uncured binder material when the uncured binder material is deposited into the patterned plate;
- (b) adding the patterned plate onto a stack of patterned plates,
- wherein the stack contains one or more patterned plates each containing uncured binder material;
- (c) adding a flat plate over the topmost patterned plate in the stack;
- (d) applying a pressure to the stack of patterned plates as the uncured binder material is in the process of curing in each of the patterned plates in the stack;
- (e) removing the applied pressure from the stack of patterned plates;
- (f) separating a board of cured binder material from each patterned plate in the stack, wherein each board has the pattern of bevels formed on a surface of the board, and wherein the pattern of bevels corresponds to one or more flooring planks;
- and
- (g) cutting each board of cured binder material along the pattern of bevels to create a core layer for one or more flooring planks.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.