Dance floor assembly

Abstract: A temporary floor or a kit of parts therefor comprises a plurality of similar rectangular panels (10), each panel having a lower surface around the edges of which are affixed a number of downwards facing buttons (16) and laterally projecting tabs (18). The tabs (18) have holes (26) therein capable of being engaged by the buttons (16) and the arrangement of tabs (18) and buttons (16) is such that when the panels (10) are assembled edge-to-edge to form part of the temporary floor, the buttons (16) of one panel engage the holes (26) in the tabs (18) of adjacent panels to prevent relative lateral movement of the adjacent panels (10). The panels (10) are preferably square but half panels (12) and edge units (36,37,46,47) may be included to complete the temporary floor.

Description: Technical field The invention relates to temporary floors that are assembled from a number of discrete panels. A frequent use for such an assembly is to provide a smooth dance floor on top of an area of carpet or other surface unsuitable for dancing. However, the invention may be applied in other circumstances where a rigid and level temporary floor is required, for example to provide a walkway or a display area. Background of invention Temporary dance floors are known which are assembled by joining a number of panels along their adjacent edges. Typically, a tongue on the edge of one panel engages a groove on the corresponding edge of the adjacent panel in such a manner that when the panels lie flat they cannot slide away from one another. Such tongue and groove systems are usually made from metal such as aluminium and form an integral part of the panel, so they are expensive to manufacture. More seriously, the metal connecting elements can easily become buckled or otherwise damaged during handling and, because they form an integral part of the panel, cannot easily be replaced or repaired. Also, the panels must be carefully oriented to ensure that a tongue is always aligned with a groove, complicating somewhat the process of assembly. The Patent US-A-4860510 discloses a surface for a children's playground that is constructed from interlocking square panels. Male interlocking members are provided around two adjacent sides of each panel and female interlocking members are provided around the other two sides. Two adjacent panels that are attached to each other by the interlocking members may be separated simply by lifting away one of the panels. Summary of the Invention The invention provides a temporary floor comprising a plurality of similar square panels, in which there are affixed around the edges of a lower surface of each panel a number of downward facing buttons and a number of laterally projecting tabs, the tabs having holes therein for receiving buttons located on adjacent panels; characterized in that buttons and tabs are affixed in the same pattern including at least one button and at least one tab so that when two panels in the temporary floor lie adjacent to one another with two such edges abutting one another, buttons on the edge of each panel engage the holes in the tabs on the abutting edge of the other panel. In a preferred embodiment, there is a repeating pattern of alternating tabs and holes along three edges and the same pattern of holes, omitting the tabs, along the fourth edge. The leading edges of the tabs are preferably bevelled for ease of insertion below adjacent panels and include a cut-out portion to guide the button toward its corresponding hole during assembly. For this purpose, the buttons preferably have rounded undersides. A ridge on the upper surface of the tab may assist the correct location of adjacent panels. The floor may further comprise half panels in the shape of 2x1 rectangles to enable adjacent rows of square panels to be offset relative to one another. Edge units may be provided in which preferably the arrangement of tabs and buttons forces them to be offset with respect to the panels, so that they help to tie the panels together. The panels may be made from a wide variety of materials, with a layer added to the upper surface to provide suitable properties for the intended use of the floor. The panels are preferably of a suitable size for handling by an individual person, for example 1 metre square. The tabs and buttons may be injection moulded plastics components, screwed into the flat underside of the panel at a late stage of manufacture. An advantage of the invention is that the connecting elements are relatively simple in comparison to the prior art and are therefore less susceptible to damage. If they should become damaged, individual tabs or buttons may be easily and quickly replaced with new elements. Drawings Figure 1 shows in top plan view a full panel according to the invention. Figure 2 shows in top plan view a half panel according to the invention. Figure 3 shows a tab for use with panels of Figures 1 and 2. Figure 4 is an enlarged section through the tab on line IV-IV of Figure 3. Figure 5 is a partial section, showing the use of the tab of Figure 4 to join two panels according to the invention. Figure 6 illustrates an edge trim for use with the panels of Figures 1 and 2. Figures 7 and 8 illustrate alternative arrangements for assembling the panels of the invention to form a temporary floor. Preferred embodiment Figure 1 illustrates the basic panel 10 from which a temporary floor may be assembled in a preferred embodiment of the invention. The panel 10 is square in shape and has an upper surface 14 that may be formed of the material of the panel itself, or may be provided by a surface layer applied to the panel 10 and chosen to have properties suitable for the use to which the assembled floor is to be put. Screwed into the underside of the panel around its edges are circular buttons 16 (shown more clearly in Figure 5). In this embodiment, each edge of the panel has two such buttons associated therewith, both positioned at the same distance in from the edge. One of the two buttons is positioned at a distance p measured from one end of the edge and the other button is positioned at a distance p measured in the same direction from the midpoint of the edge. At corresponding, mirror image positions, i.e. at distance p measured from the other end of the edge and at distance p measured in the other direction from the midpoint of the edge, are affixed under three of the edges of the panel locking tabs 18. The described arrangement is such that, apart from one edge 20 of the panel, which lacks locking tabs 18, the panel 10 possesses rotational symmetry. In Figure 2 is illustrated a half panel 12, which may be used in conjunction with the full panel 10 of Figure 1. The half panel 12 has the shape of a 2x1 rectangle, the two long edges having the same arrangement of tabs 18 and buttons 16 as the full panel 10, with one of these edges 20 similarly lacking tabs. The two shorter edges are only half as long as the edges on the full panel and each therefore has only one button 16 and one tab 18 associated with it. The use of half panels 12 in conjunction with full panels 10 is discussed below with reference to Figure 8. A locking tab 18 is illustrated in greater detail in Figures 3 and 4. It comprises a rectangular plate, divided along its length by a small ridge 22 on an upper surface. On one side of the ridge 22 is an attachment portion including, in this embodiment, three screw holes 24 by means of which the tab 18 may be screwed to the underside of a panel 10,12. The ridge 22 engages the edge of the panel 10,12 to assist in locating the tab 18 when it is screwed into place. The portion of the tab 18 is on the other side of the ridge 22 from the attachment portion is the locking portion, which projects from the panel 10,12 as shown in Figures 1 and 2 and is used to lock it to an adjacent panel. The locking portion has a central hole 26 through it, which is sized and positioned such that when an adjacent panel is in engagement with the ridge 22, one of the buttons 16 on the underside of that panel may locate within the hole 26. Figure 5 illustrates a locking tab 18 in use to join together two panels 10a,10b. The tab 18 is permanently screwed by holes 24 to one of the panels 10a and the other of the panels 10b has permanently screwed to its underside a button 16. When the panel 10b is pushed up to engage with the ridge 22 of the locking tab 18, the button 16 locates in the hole 26 and prevents movement of the panel 10b in any lateral direction. During normal assembly of a temporary floor, panels 10,12 will be added one at a time to those already lying flat on the ground. The joining of two panels therefore requires the insertion of the tabs 18 on the added panel underneath an edge of the panel that already forms part of the floor, in the process levering the existing panel far enough off the ground to allow the tabs 18 of the new panel to pass beneath the corresponding buttons 16. The illustrated embodiment of the invention is equipped with a number of features to aid this process. First, the leading edge of the tab 18 is bevelled above and below to form a reasonably sharp nose 28, which when held at an angle may easily be inserted beneath the edge of a flat panel 10. When the new panel is pushed further towards and below the flat panel, being still at an angle it has the effect of lifting the edge of the flat panel so that the buttons 16 on that edge clear the ground. When, with continued pushing, the tab 18 makes contact with the button 16, correct alignment of the button 16 with the hole 26 in the tab is ensured by a cut-out portion 30 in the nose 28 of the tab. As viewed in Figure 3, the cut-out 30 has a radius equal to that of the button 16 and provides an angled trough guiding the button 16 towards the hole 26. To assist the process, the lower surface 32 of the button is rounded to leave an undercut, below which the nose 28 slides easily. Finally, the leading edge of the hole 26 has a further bevel 34 to help the location of the button 16 in the hole. As the new panel 10 is pushed into place, it is gradually laid flat so that when the locking action is complete, the surface of the panel is level with the existing floor. It will be appreciated that when three panels of a partially complete floor form an L-shape, a fourth panel to complete the square cannot be inserted using the above method because it is not possible to angle the new panel simultaneously about both its edges to be joined. This is the reason for omitting the tabs along one edge 20 of each of the panels 10,12: as the above process is carried out to join an adjacent edge, the edge 20 without tabs can simply be lowered so that its buttons 16 engage the holes 26 in the tabs 18 below. In the completed floor, it is not possible simply to lift the panel away along this "incomplete" connection because of the panel's interlocking engagement with other adjacent panels. The completed floor will be most secure if not too many edges 20 lacking tabs are aligned end-to-end during assembly. Figure 7 shows the simplest arrangement of exclusively square panels 10 to form a rectangular platform, namely with four panels meeting at a vertex. A somewhat more secure arrangement is shown in Figure 8, in which alternate rows of panels 10 are shifted by half a unit relative to one another. This requires the introduction of half panels 12 at the ends of the rows if the edges are to be straight but the use of half panels does allow a greater range of sizes of floor to be available. Around the edge of a floor composed of the panels 10,12 is generally provided an edge trim, a corner unit 36 of which is shown by way of example in Figure 6. The edge trim is thicker by the thickness of a tab 18 than a panel 10,12, so as to hide the gap beneath the temporary floor. Therefore the trim must contain recesses 38 (or alternatively an undercut along its length)to accommodate the tabs 18 of neighbouring panels. The recesses 38 are provided with buttons 16 in the usual way. The edge trim also bears locking tabs 40 which may be an integral part of the trim or may be the standard tabs 18 affixed in further recesses or in an undercut as aforementioned. The illustrated corner unit 36 of the edge trim has two tabs 40 and one button 16. This ensures that the end 42 of the unit does not coincide with a junction of panels and therefore the edge trim helps to tie the panels 10,12 together. This may be termed a left hand corner unit 36 and there corresponds a right hand corner unit 37, having the angled face 44 at the opposite end and bearing one tab 40 and two buttons 16. Between the corner units 36,37 are inserted straight edge units 46,47 having the lengths of one panel and one and half panels respectively. So as to continue to ensure that junctions of the edge trim and junctions of the panels do not coincide, and so that the straight edge units 46,47 meet up with the corner edge units 36,37, the alternating pattern of tab 18 followed by button 16 along the edge of a panel 10,12 is reversed along the edge units 46,47 so that a button 16 comes first, followed by a tab 18 and so on. Examples of the arrangement of edge units around assembled floors are illustrated in Figures 7 and 8.

Claims: A temporary floor comprising a plurality of similar square panels (10), in which there are affixed around the edges of a lower surface of each panel (10) a number of downward facing buttons (16) and a number of laterally projecting tabs (18), the tabs (18) having holes (26) therein for receiving buttons (16) located on adjacent panels; CHARACTERIZED IN THAT buttons (16) and tabs (18) are affixed in the same pattern along three of the four edges of each panel, the pattern including at least one button (16) and at least one tab (18) so that when two panels (10) in the temporary floor lie adjacent to one another with two such edges abutting one another, buttons (16) on the edge of each panel engage the holes (26) in the tabs (18) on the abutting edge of the other panel (10). A temporary floor according to claim 1, in which buttons (16) are affixed along the fourth edge (20) of the panel (10) according to the same pattern as the said three edges but with the tabs (18) omitted. A temporary floor according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the said pattern of buttons (16) and tabs (18) along an edge is a repeating pattern. A temporary floor according to claim 3, wherein the pattern consists of two buttons (16) and two tabs (18) arranged alternately along an edge of the panel (10). A temporary floor according to any preceding claim, wherein the outermost edges (28) of the tabs (18) are bevelled. A temporary floor according to any preceding claim, wherein the tabs (18) have a cut-out portion (30) to guide the buttons (16) towards the respective holes (26) during assembly of the floor. A temporary floor according to any preceding claim, further comprising rectangular half panels (12), which have two long edges being identical to edges of the panels (10) and two short edges being half the length of the edges of the panels (10). A temporary floor according to any preceding claim, further comprising edge units (36,37,46,47) for engaging with the panels (10) around a boundary of the temporary floor.

Inventors: HILL ANTHONY EDWIN, HILL, ANTHONY EDWIN
Applicants: HILL ANTHONY DESIGNS, ANTHONY HILL DESIGNS LIMITED
Application year: 1992
Main classification: E04F15
IPC codes: E04F15