Patent ID: 6993877

Claim:
Floor covering panel comprising a hard floor panel having opposed long and short side edges to define a rectangular shape, said panel comprising a laminated construction including a core portion, and upper and lower surface layers, and at least one opposed pair of said side edges each provided with a coupling part; each coupling part configured to cooperate with a cooperating coupling part of another one of said panel to enable coupling of the panels along contiguous side edges; said coupling parts comprising substantially a tongue, a groove and mechanical locking elements all formed in one piece with the core portion of the panel; said core portion being formed of MDF/HDF; said locking elements cooperating when coupled to prevent the drifting apart of two coupled ones of said panel in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the coupled panels, and in a direction perpendicular to the contiguous edges along which the panels are coupled and parallel to undersides of the coupled panels; said tongue of one of said coupling parts defining one locking element as at least one protrusion having an arcuate shape on the lower side of the tongue and a cooperating other locking element associated with a groove of said coupling parts located on a side edge of the panel opposite the edge on which the tongue is located; a lower lip extending from a lower wall of said groove and an upper lip of said groove defined at least partly by an upper wall of the groove, said upper lip terminating at an upper lip wall and said lower lip extending distally beyond the upper lip wall; said other locking element comprising a first recess in an upper surface of the lower lip, said first recess located at least partly distally beyond said upper lip wall; a chamfer on the upper lip wall adjacent the intersection of the upper lip wall with the upper wall of the groove, said chamfer sloping inwardly towards the interior of the groove; said upper wall of said groove comprising a substantially planar groove upper wall surface portion located between said upper lip wall and an inner side of the groove; said tongue including a substantially planar tongue upper surface portion; said coupling parts configured such that said groove upper wall surface portion and said tongue upper surface portion engage and cooperate with each other when similar ones of the panel are coupled.