Floor panel assembly
AssigneeSpanolux N.V.-Div. Balterio
InventorsBruno Paul Louis Vermeulen, Jan Eddy De Rick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A floor panel assembly includes adjacent floor panels connected together along edges thereof with a looking element extending between the edges. The locking element has a first locking surface; a locking portion at one end; a control portion near another end; and a connecting portion connecting the locking portion to the control portion. The connecting portion is slidably accommodated in a channel of one of the panels and pushed towards a first end of the channel when the locking element is moved or deformed from a first position to a second position by the control portion, the front position being when the panels are disconnected and movable relative to each other and the second position being when the panels are fixedly connected to each other.
Claims15
A floor panel assembly comprising:
- sheet-shaped floor panels having edges, a lower side and an upper side, each floor panel being provided on at least a first edge with a first joining member and, on a second edge, with a second joining member, the first and second joining members of two adjacent panels configured to be joined by a movement of the two adjacent panels with their first and second edges towards each other such that in a joined position the two adjacent panels meet each other near their upper side along a scam, the first and second joining members locking the two adjacent panels at adjacent first and second edges at least in a direction perpendicular to the upper side and in a direction parallel to the upper side but perpendicular to the adjacent first and second edges in their joined position;
- and
- at least one locking element which is provided on one of the first and second joining members and comprises a first locking surface co-operating with a second locking surface on the other of said first and second joining members, wherein the locking surface of the locking element is movable from a first position allowing the first and second joining members to be joined, to a second position in which the locking surface locks the first and second joining members to each other, said locking clement having a locking portion on one end bearing said first locking surface and a control portion near a second end as well as a connecting portion between the locking portion and the control portion, said connecting portion being slidably accommodated in a channel and is pushed towards a first end of the channel when the locking surface is moved from the first to the second position by a movement of the control portion extending from an opposite end of the channel for co- operation with the other of said first and second joining members wherein the first and second joining members arc configured as a male and female joining member, the locking element being connected to the male joining member.
A floor panel configured to be fixed to a second floor panel along edges thereof, the floor panel comprising:
- a lower side;
- an upper side;
- first joining member on a first edge that joins the lower side to the upper side;
- a second joining member on a second edge opposite the first edge wherein the second edge connects the lower side and upper side, the first and second joining members being complimentary configured such that when two adjacent panels are joined by a movement of the two adjacent panels with their first and second edges towards each other the two adjacent panels meet each other near their upper side along a seam in a joined position, the first and second joining members being configured so as to lock the two adjacent panels at adjacent first and second edges at least in a direction perpendicular to the upper side and in a direction parallel to the upper side but perpendicular to the adjacent first and second edges in the joined position, wherein the first joining member includes a channel extending from the first edge to a recess opening to a lower surface of the panel, the recess having an upper recess surface facing in a direction of the lower side and an end recess surface facing in a direction of the first edge;
- and wherein the second joining member includes a projection configured to extend into the recess when the adjacent panels are in the joined position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.