Abstract:
Present invention teaches the construction of a modular wood panels wherein a back plate, formed by two parallel strips and some rectangular pieces fitted between the two strips, serves to allow a decorative layer to be easily attached, with top-bottom and left-right interlocking mechanism; the use of the back plate materials allows low cost materials because a lot of scrap materials can be used, while contributing to better climate stability, in addition to ease of installation.

Description:
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    Traditionally, indoor decorative wood paneling is done by workers attaching individual wood panel pieces, one at a time, to wall surfaces, using nail guns or using glue. To achieve the desired effect, such as a certain pattern or some mosaic presentation effect, the labor cost is rather substantial, as is the time needed for the installation. 
         [0002]    Even after the successful completion of the installation of the wood panel pieces, the fluctuation of climate factors, such as temperature and/or moisture reading, oftentimes causes the wood panel pieces to expand, contract or warp, resulting in the undesirable change of the overall visual effect. 
         [0003]    Not only that, the physical changes of the wood panel pieces may lead to detachment of some pieces to fall from the wall and bring about hazardous conditions. 
         [0004]    In light of the shortcomings of the traditional mechanism, present invention utilizes the modular design to produce a “pre-fab” unit, which is generally consisting of a bottom layer and a top layer. 
         [0005]    Such a modular “pre-fab” unit allows the installation of indoor decorative wall surface to be done easily and efficiently as the work time will be greatly reduced. 
         [0006]    Although there are other “modular” panel systems, as indicated in the Information Disclosure Statement, the base of the pre-fab unit (the “back plate”) is made from a whole wood piece, which is more susceptible to environmental factors and tends to produce undesirable warping, due to heat, moisture or other weather conditions. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The invention relates to indoors decorative wall panels, especially wall panels that come in modular units that can be fitted together to create certain “interlocking” relationship between units. 
         [0008]    Although there are newer wood surface installation systems that are also based upon “modular” design, the material and assembly architecture are different from the teaching in present application. 
         [0009]    The bottom layer, called a back plate, of the modular design in present invention can be made from wood scrap pieces, resulting in substantial cost-saving in terms of material acquisition costs or transportation costs, or other associated cost items on account of raw materials being smaller in size. 
         [0010]    The back plate consists of two parallel strips and some numbers of uniformly shaped rectangular pieces fitted between the strips, and has a generally flat top surface for receiving materials forming a top layer. 
         [0011]    Utilizing smaller constituting pieces, such as scrap pieces at a lower cost, actually resulting in higher stability in resisting contracting, expanding or warping of the back plate, and the whole unit, because the influence from the heat, moisture or other environmental factors is evenly spread out to the individual pieces, instead of a unitary wood piece as the material for the back plate. 
         [0012]    The back plate will have a first strip, on the top side, and a second strip, on the bottom side. A number of rectangular wood pieces are uniformly set in between the first and second strips. 
         [0013]    The top layer, called a decorative layer, is made from a plurality of individual decorative pieces that are attached to the flat top surface of the back plate. These individual decorative pieces are the wood panel pieces that are shown on the wall and visible to consumers, in the method as described above. 
         [0014]    A “pre-fab” modular wood panel piece is formed when a decorative layer is attached to the flat surface of a black plate. Moreover, the decorative layer is extending over the first strip and leaving some exposed portion of the second strip. 
         [0015]    The module units provide the benefit of quick and easy installation of desired decorative surface as chosen by consumers to match the taste, tone or theme of interior design, while saving the costs of traditional installation labor when individual pieces need to be individually attached to a foundational wall. 
         [0016]    The modular wood panel pieces of present invention, due to its back plate design, can also be applied to a surface wall that has some degree of curvature, whereas the other pre-fab modular design, such as those stated in the Information Disclosure Statement, can not be adapted to anything other than flat, or substantially flat walls. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]    The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate prior methods and the preferred embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
           [0018]    A brief description of the drawings is as follows: 
           [0019]      FIG. 1  shows a unit of the modular decorative wall panel of present invention, with the back plate and decorative layer separated. 
           [0020]      FIG. 2  shows two modular decorative wall panels having the first strip of the back plate connected to the second strip of the other back plate. A V and H line is noted to show the view direction of “Vertical” and “Horizontal” as discussed in present application. 
           [0021]      FIG. 3  shows the two parallel strips can be made in a curved fashion to fit particular design needs. 
           [0022]      FIG. 4  shows, from a side profile view, that the bottom side of decorative pieces is generally flat, for attaching to the top surface of the back plate and the top side of decorative pieces can have texture, including uneven patterns. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0023]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , a back plate  30  is made up of a first strip  31  and a second strip  39 , with a plurality of uniformly shaped rectangular pieces  35  fitted together in between the first strip  31  and second strip  39 . The two strips  31 / 39  are in a parallel relationship. When the pieces  35  are fitted in between the two strips, there is a generally flat top surface and a generally flat bottom surface. Whether the bottom surface is flat is not really important for purpose of this invention; as long as the top surface is generally flat, for receiving/attaching additional materials, this is good for the purpose of this invention. 
         [0024]    Although the first and second strips  31 / 39  are generally straight, they can be made to have some curvature, as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0025]    When a pair of the curved strips is used to form the back plate  30 , the top surface of the back plate  30  will still be generally smooth while conforming to the curvature of the strips as chosen. 
         [0026]    A plurality of rectangular pieces  35  can similarly be fitted in between the curved strips  31  and  39 , resulting in a top surface that&#39;s smooth and a bottom surface that has gaps in between every two piece  35 . Only the top surface will be used for attaching the decorative materials, the gaps (at the bottom surface) will have no effect. 
         [0027]    In fact, even if the curvature direction is reversed (curing to the opposite orientation shown in  FIG. 3 ), resulting in small gaps in the top surface of the back plate, this is still good for the purpose of the present invention where the top decorative layer can be attached to the back plate by either nail guns means, glue, or other means. 
         [0028]    A plurality of decorative pieces  77 , each having a bottom flat side  71  and a top decorative side  79 , forms a decorative layer  70 , when the bottom flat side is attached to the top flat surface of the back plate  30 . Because the size of each of the plurality of the decorative piece is relatively small compared to the back plate  30 , even in the case of a curved back plate  30 , the bottom flat side of each decorative piece can still be securely attached to the top surface of the back plate  30 . 
         [0029]    As such, in the case of straight back plate  30 , the final decorative layer  70  will be flat; in the case of curved back plate  30 , the final decorative layer  70  will show a curvature conforming to that of the curved back plate  30 . 
         [0030]    The decorative layer  70  is attached to the top surface of the back plate  30  in a way to extend over the first strip  31  and leaving exposed certain portion of the second strip  39 . The decorative layer  70  can be formed by “rows” of decorative pieces  77 . As exemplary embodiment,  FIG. 2  shows three “rows” of decorative pieces  77 , forming a single decorative layer  70 . Certainly, this invention is not limited to three (3) “rows” of decorative pieces  77 . Two, three, four, five, or even more “rows” of decorative pieces  77  will work for the invention as disclosed herein. 
         [0031]    As such, when two modular wall panels are fitted together with the first strip of a wall panel being adjacent to the second strip of another wall panel, the decorative layer  70  of a first modular panel will cover the exposed portion of the second strip of another modular wall panel. Reference  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         [0032]    Additionally, as shown in the 3-row exemplary embodiment, the decorative layer  70  has matching left and right edges that are geometrically complementary so that when two modular wall panels  100  are joined together in a horizontal (or left-and-right) fashion, the left jagged edge of the decorative layer of a first wall panel is fitted to the right jagged edge of the decorative layer of a second wall panel, forming a visually continued surface. Reference  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         [0033]    For purpose of discussion in the disclosure herein, a “vertical” direction is as shown in the “V” direction line in  FIG. 3 , and a “horizontal” direction, aka “left-and-right” direction is as shown in the “H” direction line in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0034]    The plurality of decorative pieces  77  can be fitted to the back plate  30  by glue. 
         [0035]    The plurality of decorative pieces  77  can be fitted to the back plate  30  by nail gun. 
         [0036]    The plurality of decorative pieces  77  can be fitted to the back plate  30  by other suitable means. 
         [0037]    The sizes of the decorative pieces  77  can be different, so as to have differing row numbers, as long as the formed decorative layer  70  contained the desired left and right matching jagged edges. 
         [0038]    The top decorative side  79  of a decorative piece  77  contains various patterns, such as wood grain, and also potential uneven surficial topography to appeal to the consumers&#39; different likings and tastes.