Mechanical locking of floor panels
AssigneeVälinge Innovation AB
InventorsDarko Pervan, Jan Peterson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Floor panels are shown, which are provided with a mechanical locking system having tongue of magnetic material that could be locked vertically by a magnetic field.
Claims18
A method of vertically connecting a set of floor panels provided with a locking system comprising a magnetic tongue arranged in an edge of a first floor panel and a tongue groove in an adjacent edge of a second floor panel, and a protruding strip at one of the edges cooperating with the other adjacent edge for locking of the first and the second panels in a first vertical direction, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
- positioning the edges of the first and the second panels adjacent to each other and in essentially the same plane by placing one of the edges against the protruding strip;
- and
- vertically locking the edges in a second vertical direction by displacing the magnetic tongue into the tongue groove by applying a magnetic field.
A set of floor panels provided with a mechanical locking system, the mechanical locking system comprising:
- a tongue, at an edge of a first floor panel, cooperating with a tongue groove in an adjacent edge of a similar second floor panel for connecting the edges vertically in a second vertical direction;
- and
- a protruding strip, at one of the adjacent edges, cooperating with the other adjacent edge for locking of the first and the second panels in a first vertical direction, the protruding strip being distinct from the tongue, the protruding strip protruding from a vertical plane defined by immediately juxtaposed upper parts of two adjacent joint edges of two joined floor panels,
- wherein the tongue is slidable and comprises a magnetic material, and
- wherein the mechanical locking system is configured to be activated by a magnetic field, the activation being a change in locking state from locked to unlocked, or from unlocked to locked, of the mechanical locking system in the second vertical direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.