US 4,288,957 AGranted

Floor system

AssigneeThe Binkley Company

InventorM. Dennis Meehan

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A floor system for a trailer or the like comprising a plurality of elongate sheet metal floor panels extending side-by-side lengthwise of the trailer on beams extending transversely of the trailer. Each of the metal floor panels comprises upper and lower panel members, the upper member being in the form of a shallow inverted channel, comprising a relatively wide web member, a pair of relatively narrow flanges extending down from the web member at opposite sides of the web member, and a pair of fastening lips extending laterally outwardly from the flanges at the lower edges of the flanges and bearing on the beams of the trailer. The elongate metal floor panels are mounted on the beams one alongside another with the fastening lips at adjacent sides of adjacent floor panels defining, in conjunction with the opposing flanges extending up from the fastening lips, upwardly opening generally rectangular recesses extending longitudinally of the trailer between adjacent floor panels. Wood flooring members extend longitudinally in the recesses between adjacent floor panels and bear on the lips, and fasteners extend through the wood flooring members for fastening the latter to the trailer beams.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A floor system for a trailer or the like comprising a plurality of elongate sheet metal floor panels extending side-by-side lengthwise of the trailer across substantially the entire width of the trailer on floor supporting means of the trailer, each of said metal floor panels comprising upper and lower panel means, said upper panel means comprising an upper panel member having a relatively wide web member above said floor supporting means, a pair of flanges extending down from the web member at opposite sides of the web member, and a pair of relatively narrow fastening lips extending laterally outwardly from the flanges at the lower edges of the flanges and bearing on said floor supporting means, said lower panel means comprising a series of channel sections on the underside of the web member of the upper panel member and extending longitudinally of the latter, each channel section comprising a web bearing on said floor supporting means and flanges extending up from the web at opposite sides of the web to the underside of the web member of the upper panel member, said floor panels being mounted on said floor supporting means one alongside another from one side of the trailer to the other with the relatively narrow fastening lips at adjacent sides of adjacent floor panels being relatively closely adjacent one another for defining, in conjunction with the opposing flanges extending up from the fastening lips, upwardly opening generally rectangular recesses extending longitudinally of the trailer between adjacent floor panels, said recesses being substantially narrower than the sheet metal floor panels and spaced at substantially equal intervals transversely with respect to the trailer from one side of the trailer to the other, wood flooring members substantially narrower than said floor panels extending longitudinally in said recesses between adjacent floor panels and bearing on the lips, said flooring members projecting upwardly above the web members of said upper panel members, fasteners extending through the wood flooring members for fastening the latter to said floor supporting means, a pair of outboard wood flooring members extending longitudinally of the trailer at opposite sides of the floor system adjacent the sides of the trailer, said outboard wood flooring members being substantially narrower than the sheet metal floor panels and bearing on the fastening lips at the outboard sides of the floor panels adjacent the sides of the trailer, and fasteners extending through said outboard wood flooring members for fastening said members to the floor supporting means.

A combination wood-sheet metal floor system for a trailer or the like comprising a plurality of elongate sheet metal floor panels adapted to extend side-by-side lengthwise of the trailer across substantially the entire width of the trailer, each floor panel comprising upper and lower panel means adapted to be supported on floor supporting means of the trailer, said upper panel means comprising an upper panel member having a relatively wide web member above said floor supporting means, a pair of flanges extending down from the web member at opposite sides thereof, and a pair of relatively narrow fastening lips extending laterally outwardly from the flanges at the lower edges of the flanges for bearing on said floor supporting means, and said lower panel means comprising a series of channel sections on the underside of the web member of the upper panel member and extending longitudinally of the latter, each channel section comprising a web adapted to bear on said floor supporting means and flanges extending up from the web at opposite sides of the web to the underside of the web member of the upper panel member, said floor panels being adapted to be mounted on said floor supporting means one alongside another from one side of the trailer to the other with the relatively narrow fastening lips at adjacent sides of the panels being relatively closely adjacent one another for defining, in conjunction with the opposing flanges extending up from the fastening lips, upwardly opening relatively narrow recesses extending longitudinally of the trailer between adjacent panels, wood flooring members substantially narrower than said floor panels, said flooring members being adapted to bear on the fastening lips and to be fastened in said recesses to said floor supporting means thereby to secure the floor panels to said floor supporting means, said flooring members having thicknesses greater than the depths of said recesses for projecting upwardly above the web members of said upper panel members when fastened in said recesses, and a pair of outboard wood flooring members adapted to extend longitudinally of the trailer at opposite sides of the floor system adjacent the sides of the trailer, said outboard flooring members being substantially narrower than the sheet metal panels and being adapted to bear on the fastening lips at the outboard sides of the floor panels adjacent the sides of the trailer and to be fastened to said floor supporting means thereby to secure the floor panels to the floor supporting means.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.