Patent ID: 7721504
Filing Date: 2010-05-25
Classification: B32B,E04C,E04F,F16B,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A floor panel comprising a hard panel, said panel comprising a board formed of a material based on a material selected from the group consisting of MDF and HDF, and upon a top side of which at least one decorative layer is provided, said decorative layer being selected from the group consisting of a printed paper layer, veneer, cork, thin strips of wood and a layer of wood; said panel having coupling profiles on at least two opposite edges thereof made in one piece with the panel, so as to enable two such panels to be mutually coupled together along said edges, said coupling profiles comprising vertically active coupling parts enabling interlocking of said panels in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the coupled panels, as well as horizontally active coupling parts enabling interlocking of said panels in a direction perpendicular to the coupled edges and parallel to the plane of said panels; wherein said vertically active coupling parts comprise a tongue and a groove, said tongue having a tongue tip, a top side and a bottom side and said groove being delimited by an upper lip and a lower lip, said upper lip having a lower side and a distal end; wherein said horizontally active coupling parts comprise a local protrusion on the top side of the tongue and a recess provided in the lower side of the upper lip, said protrusion and recess having contact surfaces which in the coupled condition of two of such panels provide a locking in horizontal direction; wherein said contact surfaces upon coupling of two of such panels provide for a coupled condition wherein both the contact surfaces are in contact with each other, and the panels generally fit against each other at their upper surface; wherein said top side of the tongue, apart from said protrusion, extends generally parallel with the plane of the floor panel; wherein said protrusion comprises a top portion, said top portion being located at a distance from a vertical plane extending through the tongue tip; and wherein said bottom side of the tongue comprises a portion which generally slopes downward from a distal position at the tongue towards a more proximal position thereof at least up to a point located vertically underneath the top portion of the protrusion.