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US 9,068,356 B2Granted
Floor covering
AssigneeFlooring Industries Limited, Sarl
InventorsBernard Thiers, Mark Cappelle
Life of this patent
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AssigneeFlooring Industries Limited, Sarl
InventorsBernard Thiers, Mark Cappelle
Estimating the term…
Hard panels formed from a wood-based material and having a decorative layer for floor coverings are provided, at least on two opposite edges, with coupling devices made in one piece with the panels wherein similar panels may be coupled together to form a floor covering, wherein these coupling devices provide for an interlocking in a direction perpendicular to the plane of coupled panels, as well as in a direction perpendicular to the edges concerned and parallel to the plane of coupled panels. These coupling devices are constituted of a tongue and a groove. The top side of the tongue has a protrusion that cooperates with a meshing recess located in the lower side of the upper lip of the groove of the coupling devices, and a portion extending generally parallel with the plane of the panel to form a contact surface cooperating with the lower side of the upper lip of the groove.
A floor panel, for forming a floor covering, wherein the floor panel is generally made of synthetic material;
A floor panel, for forming a floor covering, wherein the floor panel is generally made of synthetic material;
A floor panel, for forming a floor covering, wherein the floor panel is generally made of synthetic material;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Flooring or floor layers composed of a number of similar elements: characterised by tongue and groove connections between neighbouring flooring…
Characterised by features of form at particular places, e.g. in edge regions: for securing layers together; for attaching the product to another…
Layered products comprising a layer of wood, e.g. wood board, veneer, wood particle board: the layer being formed of fibres, chips, or particles ,…
Layered products comprising a layer of wood, e.g. wood board, veneer, wood particle board: comprising wood as the main or only constituent of a…
Term ended 12 Jun 2021 (estimated)
The present invention concerns panels for making a floor covering, in particular of the type consisting of hard panels.
In particular, it concerns laminate panels, also called laminate parquet.
It is known that such laminate panels can be made of different layers. Usually, the panels are formed of boards having a wood basis, such as chipboard or fiberboard, in particular MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) or HDF (High Density Fiberboard), upon which one or several layers, including a decorative layer, are provided at least on the top side. The decorative layer may be a printed paper layer, but in certain embodiments it may just as well be a layer of wood, in particular veneer. Such panels can also be made of other materials, for example merely synthetic material, or of a base plate on the basis of wood, such as chipboard, MDF or HDF and the like, upon which is provided, instead of a printed paper layer or veneer, another material such as cork, thin strips of wood and the like.
In order to better explain the characteristics of the invention, the following preferred embodiments are described as an example only without being limitative in any way, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 schematically represents a hard flooring panel;
FIG. 2 schematically represents a part of a floor covering made of hard panels shown in FIG. 1;
As represented in FIGS. 1 and 2, the invention concerns hard floor covering panels 2 from which a floor covering 1 may be formed by coupling of the panels.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,486, it is known that such panels 2 can be connected without any glue being required by making use of coupling means which, when the panels 2 are rectangular, provide for an interlocking in a direction R1, perpendicular to the plane of the floor covering 1, at least on one pair of opposite edges 3-4, and preferably on both pairs of edges 3-4, 5-6 respectively, as well as in a direction R2 perpendicular to the edges 3-4 or 5-6 concerned, and parallel to the plane of the floor covering 1.
Coupling means can be used which allow for different coupling methods, but preferably coupling by rotating the panels relative to each other as well as by pushing the panels together while in a generally common plane. The latter makes it possible for such panels 2 to be coupled to one another in a known manner by first rotating them into one another on their edges 3-4, as represented by means of the panel 2A in FIG. 2 with a movement of rotation W1, and by subsequently snapping them together on their edges 5-6 by means of a translation motion T1. According to a variant, the connection on the edges 3-4 of the panels 2 concerned, can also be realized by starting from a position as is schematically indicated by reference 2B, and coupling the panel 2 concerned by means of a translation T2.