Abstract:
A hollow core board product has a core and a relatively thin skin is attached to either side of the core, the skin having a peripheral shape conforming to the desired shape of the product. In one embodiment, the core is a grid having a preselected number of elongated linear grid members, the members being selected and configured to have a relatively high compression resistance, and being interlocked in a crossing pattern to form the grid, such that the number of grid members utilized and their spacing will determine a load bearing capacity of the hollow core board product. In another embodiment, at least one solid block member is inserted at a desired location in the core and positioned so as to closely abut at least one of the skins. A frame may also be provided if desired.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention is directed to a novel and improved hollow core board product.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     Laminated composite construction products are currently available from a number of suppliers. Perhaps the best-known of such products is the hollow core door, commonly used in commercial and residential construction. Typically, such products are not intended to be used in load-bearing applications. Accordingly, the internal components of such structure are normally not load-bearing, such as foam or other formable products, or corrugated paper product “honeycomb” fillers, or the like. Some such products are made for only temporary use and are essentially disposable as in disposable packaging or the like. Other products, such as doors and the like are not meant to be load-bearing. In addition to the non-load-bearing character of such products, the nature of the usual interior filling is such that deformation or warpage is possible or even likely, even in the absence of significant loads. Many foam-filled hollow core doors naturally warp over a period of time, due to the lack of structural strength and integrity of the product. Typically, such a product has relatively thin outer skins laminated or otherwise attached over a frame, with the space between the skins filled with a foam or other formable products, corrugated paper or cardboard type products or the like.  
         [0005]     Generally speaking, all of the products used for the interiors of hollow core products today lack structural integrity and load-bearing capacity. Accordingly, such products are generally not readily usable for high load-bearing capacity applications such as shelving, or as structural members, for example, in prefabricated panels for use in flooring, platforms, truck trailer or mobile home/travel trailer walls or partitions, office partitions or cubicle walls, portable dance floors, countertops exhibits, or the like, or for use as components of furniture products, such as modular furniture products which are preassembled or assembled by the consumer.  
         [0006]     Moreover, the interior fillers of standard hollow core products as described above generally did not provide a secure mounting for fasteners or the like, so as to be usable for mounting other objects, such as hooks, hardware, etc. or for use in multiple piece constructions requiring attachment to other members in.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     A novel hollow core board product is provided for use in applications which would otherwise employ conventional solid or hollow core board products. One such hollow core board product comprises a frame having a desired shape, and having one or more peripheral frame members, forming an open space inside of the peripheral members. A core is shaped to fit in the open space on the inside of the peripheral members, and a relatively thin skin is attached to either side of the frame so as to enclose the core therein, with the skin having a peripheral shape conforming to the desired shape of the frame.  
         [0008]     In one embodiment, a core is provided in the form of a grid having a preselected number of elongated linear grid members, the members being selected and configured to have a relatively high compression resistance, and being interlocked in a crossing pattern to form the grid, such that the number of grid members utilized and their spacing will determine a load bearing capacity of the hollow core board product. A relatively thin skin may be attached to either side of the core.  
         [0009]     In another embodiment, at least one solid block member is inserted at a desired location in the core and positioned so as to closely abut at least one of the skins.  
         [0010]     These and other features and advantages are evident from the following description of the present invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]      FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view illustrating components of a hollow core board product in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a top plan view of the hollow core board product of claim  1 ;  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view illustrating a lattice like support portion of the hollow core board product of  FIGS. 1 and 2 ;  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  is a simplified top plan view, illustrating an alternative form of support lattice;  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  is a simplified top plan view illustrating another form of support lattice structure;  
         [0016]      FIG. 6  is a simplified top plan view, illustrating yet another form of support lattice structure;  
         [0017]      FIG. 7  is a simplified top plan view, illustrating yet another form of support lattice structure;  
         [0018]      FIG. 8  is a simplified top plan view, illustrating yet another form of support lattice structure;  
         [0019]      FIG. 9  is a perspective view illustrating an assembled lattice structure having a foam or other formable material filling in the spaces in the grid;  
         [0020]      FIG. 10  is an exploded perspective view illustrating placement of several solid fastener-receiving blocks in the lattice support structure;  
         [0021]      FIG. 11  is an enlarged perspective view of one form of a solid fastener-receiving block; and  
         [0022]      FIG. 12  is an exploded perspective view of another form of solid fastener-receiving block. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0023]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a hollow core board product in accordance with one form of the invention is shown in exploded perspective form and designated generally by the reference  20 . In the illustrated embodiment, the product  20  is generally a rectilinear in form having a relatively thin, rectangular top and bottom skins  22  and  24 , which may be made from a number of products including wood, and wood veneer or plastic laminate products, and the like. The skin may also be composed of other products such as wet or dry process hardboard, fibreboard, plastics, foils, metals, high-pressure laminate, painted metallic materials, and veneers of any kind. In the embodiment illustrated and described, the sheets or skins  22 ,  24  are formed or cut from relatively thin press board.  
         [0024]     A generally rectilinear frame  26 , may comprise four sides,  30 ,  32 ,  34  and  36  and one or more interior or cross braces  38 . In the embodiment illustrated, these frame members are constructed of press board, cut to the appropriate lengths and assembled by fasteners, gluing/adhesives or other processes. However, frame members made of wood products or other materials may be used. In another form of the invention (see, e.g.,  FIG. 10 ) the core and skin may be provided as a hollow core board product without the frame.  
         [0025]     In the hollow spaces formed by the frame members, the product of the invention utilizes a load-bearing, structurally sound grid member or members  40 ,  42 . In the embodiment illustrated, two such grids occupy the two spaces defined by the frame having the single cross member  38 . However, other configurations having fewer or more frame elements and correspondingly fewer or more grid structures may be utilized, or, as in  FIG. 10 , no frame at all. In accordance with one form of the invention, and is also shown in  FIG. 2 , one or more solid block numbers  50 ,  52 ,  54  may be inserted in correspondingly shaped openings in the grids  40 ,  42 . As will be seen later with reference to  FIGS. 11 and 12 , these block numbers may be designed to accept fasteners, thereby providing convenient solid areas for receiving fasteners for attachment of other objects to the hollow core product  20 , for enabling construction of structures utilizing multiple such hollow core boards, a combination of hollow core board panels with other panels, structural members, or the like.  
         [0026]     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , the grid structure  40  will be seen to comprise a plurality of substantially similar relatively thin, elongated elements  60 ,  62 . These elements  60 ,  62  in the embodiment illustrated and described herein are constructed or cut from the same type of press board product used to form the skins and frame members. However, any other sufficiently structurally sound and load-bearing material may be used to form the grid member  60 ,  62 . For example, these materials may include hardboard, flake board, medium density fibreboard, chipboard, heavy cardboard or corrugated board, plastics, metals, wood or other wood products, fibreboard, or kraft board among others.  
         [0027]     In the illustrated embodiment, the grid members  60  and  62  are substantially identical in length, height and thickness. In this regard, their thickness may range from about 0.025 in. to about ⅜ in. The height may range from about ¼ inch board to any desired height to construct a product of desired thickness. Each of the grid members  60  and  62  is formed with a plurality of spaced apart notches  70 ,  72 . Preferably, these notches are substantially identical and extend halfway through the height of the grid member  60 ,  62 , such that they may interengage in the manner generally indicated in  FIG. 3  to form the grid of the form shown in  FIG. 1 . The width of the notches is preferably substantially similar to or only slightly greater than the thickness of the grid members  60 ,  62  so that the same may be received therein is indicated in  FIG. 3 . The center-to-center spacing of the notches  70 ,  72  may be any desired distance to form a grid of the desired load-bearing capacity. That is, if more grid members are used and are more closely spaced as shown in  FIG. 4 , for example, a stronger load-bearing surface will be formed than had they been more widely spaced as shown in  FIG. 5 , for example.  
         [0028]     In the embodiment illustrated and described herein, the spacing may be anywhere from about ¼ inch up to about 1½ inch, which is the preferred spacing, to 3 in. or wider. In this manner, grid members  60  and  62  may be interlocked in any desired spacing along the respective grids, such that parallel grid members are spaced by either one or some multiple of the spacing between notches  70 ,  72 . Thus, the grid spacing may be about 1½ inches, 3 in., 4½ inches, etc. in the embodiment illustrated, or may vary from one member  60  , 62  to the next. Moreover, the spacing between parallel grid elements or members  60  need not be the same as the spacing between parallel grid members  62 . Hence, the provision of standard grid elements  60  and  62  makes possible the forms shown in  FIGS. 5 through 8 , as well as others. In this regard, the flexible nature of the relatively thin grid members  60 ,  62  makes possible various curved forms of structures as shown for example, in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . Moreover, while the finished grids might generally be placed in the frame in the manner shown in  FIG. 1 , diagonal grids as shown in  FIG. 6  might also be utilized, as well as other forms for irregularly shaped products. Moreover, grid elements  60  and  62  may be of any desired length, such that they may be more or less continuously formed and cut to a desired length for a particular application. Accordingly, the grid members  60 ,  62  might be preformed/precut and supplied in lengths such as 4 ft., 6 ft., 8 ft., etc, and readily cut to desired lengths for a particular application such as the board product shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 .  
         [0029]     The grids as described above, may also be filled, if desired with foam fill or other formable materials  80 . In those grid spaces in which blocks  50 ,  52  are to be placed, the material may be eliminated, or, if the fill is poured or otherwise installed in a single process, it maybe diecut or otherwise removed to receive the blocks. Various materials may be used for the filling  80 , such as Styrofoam, styrene and other like materials. The use of such additional fill may improve the thermal and/or sound insulation properties of the product.  
         [0030]     Finally, referring to  FIGS. 10 through 12 , as indicated in  FIG. 10 , the blocks  50 ,  52 ,  54  may be placed in any desired spaces in a grid, such that the blocks may be precut to fill any particular shape of grid space, for example see  FIGS. 4 through 8 . However, as indicated above, with a foam or other filling  80 , the filling may be eliminated or otherwise cut or removed, for example die cut, in order to accommodate the blocks  50 , etc. In  FIGS. 11 and 12  two possible configurations of blocks  50  for receiving fasteners are shown. In  FIG. 11 , the block  50  is provided with a pre-drilled or preformed hole or bore  90  for receiving a fastener, while in the embodiment of  FIG. 12 , a fastener  92  is pressed into the opening or bore  90  to receive a meeting fastener, for example. When such blocks are used, skins  22  and/or  24  may also be predrilled, punched, perforated or otherwise marked to indicate the position of the center and/or fastener receiving bore  90  of the block.  
         [0031]     It is also within the scope of the invention to provide a hollow core product with blocks  50 ,  52  placed at desired locations, without use of the grid  40  as described herein. In this regard, such blocks  50 ,  52  may be installed in a hollow core product in which the filling is a foam or other formable substance, or a corrugated paper “honeycomb” product or other hollow core products by diecutting or otherwise creating or forming a suitable space for receiving the block in the desired location or locations.  
         [0032]     From the foregoing, it will be seen that the invention, in addition to providing a structurally stronger, non-warping and weight-bearing product is also readily capable of being easily fastened to other components. Moreover, the product described is considerably lighter in weight and less expensive to manufacture than current products such as plywood, solid wood, particle board or chipboard, and the like, when provided with appearance enhancing skins, veneers, foils or the like. By way of example, at current prices, the cost of providing a product, as described above with reference to  FIG. 1  is approximately $0.48 per square foot, whereas the cost of a particle board product is about $0.78 per square foot and the cost of high-pressure laminate is about $1.00 per square foot.  
         [0033]     The hollow core product of the invention provides a relatively inexpensive and light weight product for use in such applications as shelving, or as structural members, for example, in prefabricated panels for use in flooring, platforms, truck trailer or mobile home/travel trailer walls or partitions, office partitions or cubicle walls, portable dance floors, countertops exhibits, or the like, or for use as components of furniture products, such as modular furniture products which are preassembled or assembled by the consumer.  
         [0034]     While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific exemplary embodiment and method herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above described embodiment and method, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention as claimed.