US 9,249,582 B1Granted

Interlocking floor panels with high performance locking profiles

AssigneeAWI Licensing LLC

InventorsKean M. Anspach, John R. Eshbach, Jr., Brent L. Stoll, Sunil Ramachandra

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A floating floor system includes a plurality of floor panels, each including: a resilient base layer; a wear layer forming an uppermost surface of the floor panel atop the resilient base layer and having a higher degree of stiffness than the resilient base layer; a first locking edge portion having a first locking profile that includes a first horizontal locking feature, a first vertical locking feature, and a channel having a channel floor, being formed by the wear layer and the resilient base layer, and including a channel bed thickness measured between the uppermost surface and the channel floor, the wear layer forming at least 5% of the channel bed thickness; and a second locking edge portion having a second locking profile that includes a second horizontal locking feature, a second vertical locking feature, and a second vertical ridge and being located opposite the first locking edge portion.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A floating floor system comprising:

a plurality of floor panels, each of the floor panels comprising:
a resilient base layer;
a wear layer atop the resilient base layer, the wear layer forming an uppermost surface of the floor panel, the wear layer having a higher degree of stiffness than the resilient base layer;
a first locking edge portion having a first locking profile that includes a first horizontal locking feature, a first vertical locking feature, and a first channel having a first channel floor, the first locking edge portion being formed by the wear layer and the resilient base layer, the first locking profile further comprising a first channel bed thickness measured between the uppermost surface and the first channel floor, and wherein the wear layer forms at least 5% of the first channel bed thickness;
and
a second locking edge portion having a second locking profile that includes a second horizontal locking feature, a second vertical locking feature, and a second vertical ridge, the second locking edge portion located opposite the first locking edge portion;
and
wherein the floor panels are arranged in a mechanical interlocked arrangement such that the first edge portions of the floor panels mate with the second edge portions of adjacent ones of the floor panels, the first and second horizontal locking features mating with one another to prevent horizontal separation between the adjacent ones of the floor panels and the first and second vertical locking features mating with one another to prevent vertical separation between the adjacent ones of the floor panels.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/541,992Filed 14 Nov 2014
Granted: 2 Feb 2016
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification16 codes

E04F 15/02038
Flooring or floor layers composed of a number of similar elements: characterised by tongue and groove connections between neighbouring flooring…
D06N 1/00
Linoleum
E04C 2/20
Of wood, fibres, chips, vegetable stems, or the like; of plastics; of foamed products: of plastics
E04C 2/24
Of wood, fibres, chips, vegetable stems, or the like; of plastics; of foamed products: laminated and composed of materials covered by two or more…