Dimensionally stable wood flooring
OwnerVincent J. Marinoinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A dimensionally stable wood flooring highly resistant to deterioration because of variations in environmental humidity and temperature employs individual wood fillets separated by a highly compressible synthetic foam spacer. Because the foam spacer accommodates large fillet dimensional changes, the fillets may be wider than previously used or made of less inherently dimensionally stable woods.
Claims10
Dimensionally stable wood flooring comprising wood fillets separated by gaps, each fillet having a width no greater than approximately two inches and each gap having a width less than one-eighth inch and larger than one-sixty fourth inch, wherein each of said fillets
- A. is elongated in the direction of the wood grain;
- B. has a substantially rectangular cross-section;
- C. is arranged for being secured to a subfloor with an adhesive;
- and
- D. further characterized in that a compressible synthetic foam material fills said gaps and joins said fillets together, said foam material having flexibility, compressibility and expandability sufficient to span continuously said gaps under substantially all environmental conditions of expansion and contraction of said fillets when secured to a subfloor, and wherein said foam material is a preformed sheet adapted to fit into and fill said gaps between said fillets.
Dimensionally stable wood flooring comprising wood fillets separated by gaps, wherein each of said fillets
- (A) is elongated in the direction of the wood grain;
- (B) has a substantially rectangular cross-section;
- (C) is arranged for being secured to a subfloor with an adhesive;
- and
- (D) further characterized in that a compressible synthetic foam material comprising a blend of chloroprene synthetic rubber, esterified rosin, an anti-oxidant and a foaming agent fills said gaps and joins said fillets together, said foam material having flexibility and compressibility sufficient to accommodate changes in the widths of each of said gaps due to changes in the widths of said fillets contiguous therewith, and wherein said foam material is a preformed sheet adapted to fit into and fill said gaps between said fillets.
In the manufacture of dimensionally stable wood flooring for securing to a subfloor and comprising wood fillets separated by gaps, each fillet being elongated in the direction of the wood grain and having a substantially rectangular cross-section, the improvement comprising the steps of
- A. selecting a compressible synthetic foam material in sheet form characterized by flexibility, compressibility and expandability sufficient to span continuously said gaps under substantially all conditions of environmental expansion and contraction of said fillets upon being secured to a subfloor,
- B. introducing said sheet material into said inter-fillet gaps, and
- C. adhering said sheet material to said fillets to join said fillets into wood flooring sheets.
In the manufacture of dimensionally stable wood flooring adapted to be secured to a subfloor and comprising wood fillets separated by gaps, each fillet having a width no greater than approximately two inches and each gap having a width less than one-eighth inch and larger than one-sixty-fourth inch, and wherein each said fillet is elongated in the direction of the wood grain and has a substantially rectangular cross-section, the improvement comprising the steps of
- A. selecting a compressible synthetic foam material in sheet form characterized by flexibility, compressibility and expandability sufficient to span continuously said gaps under substantially all conditions of environmental expansion and contraction of said fillets upon being secured to a subfloor,
- B. introducing said sheet material between said fillets, and
- c. securing said sheet material to said fillets to join said fillets into wood flooring sheets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.