Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8661762B2/en
Timestamp: 2019-06-17 10:12:21
Document Index: 81212316

Matched Legal Cases: ['§371', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 12', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 16']

US8661762B2 - Flooring panel or wall panel and use thereof - Google Patents
US8661762B2
US8661762B2 US13/675,936 US201213675936A US8661762B2 US 8661762 B2 US8661762 B2 US 8661762B2 US 201213675936 A US201213675936 A US 201213675936A US 8661762 B2 US8661762 B2 US 8661762B2
US13/675,936
US20130067840A1 (en
1995-03-07 Priority to SE9500810-8 priority
2002-02-15 First worldwide family litigation filed litigation Critical https://patents.darts-ip.com/?family=20397460&utm_source=google_patent&utm_medium=platform_link&utm_campaign=public_patent_search&patent=US8661762(B2) "Global patent litigation dataset” by Darts-ip is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
2006-07-11 Priority to US11/483,636 priority patent/US8402709B2/en
2012-05-03 Priority to US13/463,329 priority patent/US9032685B2/en
2012-06-08 Priority to US13/492,512 priority patent/US20120247053A1/en
2012-11-13 Priority to US13/675,936 priority patent/US8661762B2/en
2012-11-13 Application filed by Pergo (Europe) AB filed Critical Pergo (Europe) AB
2013-03-21 Publication of US20130067840A1 publication Critical patent/US20130067840A1/en
2014-03-04 Publication of US8661762B2 publication Critical patent/US8661762B2/en
A building panel, such as a flooring panel or wall panel and a method of assembling the same into a floor, wall cladding, etc. The panel is provided with a locking means in the form of groove (6) and tongue (7) forming a tongue/groove joint for assembling of the panels. In a preferred embodiment, the groove (6) and the tongue (7) are made of water resistant material and fanned with a snap-together joint.
This application is a continuation of and claims priority to both U.S. application Ser. No. 13/492,512, filed Jun. 8, 2012, and U.S. application Ser. No. 13/463,329, filed May 3, 2012. U.S. application Ser. No. 13/463,329 was a continuation of and claimed priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 11/483,636, filed Jul. 11, 2006, which is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/642,139, filed Aug. 18, 2003, which is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/195,408 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,606,384), which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/705,916, filed Nov. 6, 2000 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,970) which, in-turn, is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/637,114, filed Aug. 11, 2000 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,683), which, in turn, is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/894,966, filed Aug. 28, 1997 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,778), which, in turn, is a 35 USC §371 of PCT/SE96/00256, the entire disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.
During the last few years laminated floors have achieved and increased in popularity and on many markets they are beginning to replace parquet floors and wall-to-wall carpets. In the production of laminated floors a decorative thermosetting laminate is first produced. This laminate usually consists of a base layer of paper sheets impregnated with phenol-formaldehyde resin and a decorative surface layer comprising a decor paper sheet impregnated with melamine-formaldehyde resin. The laminate is produced by pressing the different layers at a high pressure arid at an increased temperature.
The laminate thus obtained is then glued to a carrier of particle board, for instance, or used as such without any carrier and it is then called compact laminate. The laminated panel thus produced is then sawn up to a number of floor boards which are provided with groove and tongue at the long sides and the short sides thereof. Often the floor boards produced have a thickness of about 7 mm, a length of 120 cm and a width of about 20 cm. Thereby they can usually be put on top of an existing flooring material at a renovation. According to another alternative, instead one or more of the above decorative sheets can be laminated directly towards a base sheet of particle board for instance:
In the preferred embodiment using the stabilizing parts, the width of the stabilizing part is 1-10 mm, preferably 2-10 mm, most preferably 4-10 mm. Generally, a wider stabilizing part with fining stabilizing groove gives a better rigidity of the assembled panels.
The panels can be used for covering floors and walls in ordinary dry rooms. However, due to the tight joints and in other cases due to the rigid and water tightjoints, the panels can be used also for wet rooms. For such applications the whole panel is preferably made of plastic or thermosetting laminate of so-called compact laminate type. Such a laminate does not absorb water.
FIGS. 2 and 3 show across section through two adjacent edges of two embodiments of a panel where two such panels are to be assembled.
The panel 1 has two pairs of parallel side edges 2, 3 and 4, 5 respectively (FIG. 1). Two of these side edges are provided with locking means in the form of a groove part 6 and the other two with a tongue 7 fitting in the groove part 6, whereby a tongue/groove joint for assembling of the panels is formed.
The groove 306 itself is a void, defined by at least an upper groove definition 307 and a lower groove definition 308 (FIG. 2), 309 and 310, respectively in FIG. 3. The groove part 6 and the tongue 7 are made of a water tight material and formed with a snap-together joint. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the snap-together joint consists of two snapping webs 9, one on the upper side of the tongue 7 and one on the lower side of tongue, these webs 9 cooperating with two fitting snapping grooves 10.
In front of the snap-together joint, which means the snapping webs 9 and the snapping groove 10, the groove 306 has an entrance opening 8. Inside the snap-together joint the groove 106 continues in a stabilizing groove 13.
The tongue 7 is formed with a rear neck 11 intended to fit in the entrance opening 8 of the groove 306. In front of the snap-together joint the tongue 7 has a forwardly protruding stabilizing part 12 intended for a tight fit in the stabilizing groove 13.
In the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3, the groove part 6 and the tongue 7 are made of thermosetting laminate and formed as a ledge fixed by glue in a recess along the side edges of the panel. The under side 14 of the groove part 6 is situated in the same level as the under side 15 of the panel and the under side 16 of the tongue 7 is situated in the same level as the under side 15 of the panel 1. In the embodiments of FIGS. 4-12, the tongue and groove are formed of the same material as the body of the panel. Thus, when the body of the panel comprises a carrier of a resin impregnated cellulosic material, such as fiber board, the tongue and groove are formed of the same material as the carrier of the panel. In other embodiments, the base or carrier itself can be formed of a water repellent material, such as plastic. When pushed together, the panels make a distinctive sound, which we have nicknamed the “click” system.
The embodiment shown in FIG. 3 is very similar to that according to FIG. 2. The difference is that only the under side of the tongue 7 is provided with a snapping web 9. The upper side is lacking a snapping web. Accordingly there is only one snapping groove 10 at the bottom of the lower groove definition 308.
In FIGS. 9-12 a panel 1 comprises a base of cellulosic material 11 with a decorative surface 17. The decorative surface 17 can be a thermosetting laminate, a plastic foil, such as an olefin plastic, paper sheets impregnated with a thermosetting or UV-curing resin comprising acrylate and a maleimide or similar materials. The cellulosic material 11 is the same as or similar to that used in the embodiments of FIGS. 1-8. However, as shown in FIG. 9, groove part 16 contains an upper snapping groove 99 and a lower snapping groove 23. While each of groove 99 and 23 are vertically overlapping with each other, they are not coextensive. Snapping groove 99 is positioned proximate the groove edge 31 and snapping groove 23 extends further distal to groove edge 31, though both groove 99 and groove 23 are located with an imaginary vertical plane P extending through the top of panel edge 40. On the tongue side of panel 1 of FIG. 9 are two snapping webs 34, 35, configured and located so as to snap into cooperating grooves 99 and 23 on an identical panel (not shown).
Alternatively, the tongue portion of the panels can be pre-coated with one component of a two component adhesive system and the groove portion can be pre-coated with another component of the two component system, such that upon assembly of the tongue and groove portions of two adjacent panels, the adhesive system is activated to cause the panels to be adhesively connected at their joint:
Other adhesive systems, such as the use of initiators, inclusion of blowing or gas generating agents, multipart systems, such as a two resin system comprising pans one and two, wherein the catalyst or curing agent for part one is included with the part two resin and the catalyst or curing agent for part two is included with the part one resin may be applied at the factory, and initiated when the panels are installed.
1. A system for covering a surface, the system comprising:
a first panel, having first opposite edges and second opposite edges, a decorative upper surface, and a lower surface, the first panel mainly being formed of panel basic material defining a first material;
the first panel comprising, on at least one edge, a groove, defined by an upper groove definition integral with a lower groove definition;
a tongue, being not integral with the panel basic material of the first panel, positioned on at least one edge of the first panel, between planes defined by the upper surface and the lower surface, the tongue being formed from a second material, the second material being selected from the group consisting of a thermoplastic, a thermosetting laminate, a chipboard or a particleboard impregnated with a thermoplastic, wherein an upper surface of the tongue is devoid of a locking structure.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the tongue is positioned on an edge opposite from the edge on which the groove is positioned.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the lower groove definition and the upper groove definition each have a distal edge defining a same plane.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the plane defined by the upper groove definition and the lower groove definition is perpendicular to the upper surface of the first panel.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first material and the second material are different.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the tongue has a major axis parallel to the decorative upper surface.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the covering is a floor covering; wherein the first opposite edges comprise the edge comprising said groove as well as the edge comprising said tongue; and wherein said first opposite edges are configured to provide locking in a vertical as well as a horizontal direction, seen in cross-section.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein also said second opposite edges are configured to provide locking in a vertical as well as a horizontal direction, seen in cross-section.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein said first panel and said second panel are rectangular; wherein all four edges of each of said panels are configured to provide locking in vertical as well as a horizontal direction, seen in cross-section.
10. A method for covering a surface, the method comprising:
(a) providing first panel, having first opposite edges and second opposite edges, a decorative upper surface, and a lower surface, wherein the first panel comprises, on at least one edge, a U-shaped groove, defined by an upper groove definition and a lower groove definition, both the upper groove definition and the lower groove definition being formed from a first material, and wherein the upper and lower groove definitions are unequal in length;
(b) providing a second panel, having first opposite edges and second opposite edges, a decorative upper surface, and a lower surface, wherein the second panel comprises a tongue, positioned on at least one edge of the second panel, formed from a second material, the second material selected from the group consisting of a thermoplastic;
(c) joining the first panel to the second panel, such that, the tongue of the second panel is inserted into the groove of the first panel and unintentional separation of the panels is prevented.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein during the joining step, the tongue is snapped into the groove.
12. A system for covering a surface, the system comprising:
a first panel, having edges, a decorative upper surface, and a lower surface, the first panel being formed of a first material;
the first panel comprising, on at least one edge, a groove, defined by an upper groove definition integral with a lower groove definition; and
a second panel, having edges, the second panel being substantially formed of a panel basic material and comprising:
a tongue, being not integral with the panel basic material, positioned on at least one edge of the second panel, between planes defined by the upper surface and the lower surface, formed from a second material, the second material selected from the group consisting of a thermoplastic, a thermosetting laminate, a chipboard, or a particleboard impregnated with a thermoplastic, wherein an upper surface of the tongue is devoid of a locking structure.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the first panel is joined to the second panel, such that the tongue is inserted into the groove.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the tongue comprises a snapping web sized and shaped such that during assembly with the first panel, the tongue snaps into the groove.
15. The system of claim 12, wherein the covering is a floor covering; wherein the edge comprising said groove as well as the edge comprising said tongue are configured such that in a coupled condition thereof locking in a vertical as well as a horizontal direction, seen in cross-section.
US13/675,936 1995-03-07 2012-11-13 Flooring panel or wall panel and use thereof Expired - Fee Related US8661762B2 (en)
US13/492,512 Continuation US20120247053A1 (en) 1995-03-07 2012-06-08 Flooring panel or wall panel and use thereof
US20130067840A1 US20130067840A1 (en) 2013-03-21
US8661762B2 true US8661762B2 (en) 2014-03-04
US20020178675A1 (en) 2001-04-25 2002-12-05 Valentine Jim Louis Shock absorber for sports floor
US5540025A (