U.S. patent application number 09/769430 was filed with the patent office on 2001-08-02 for combined set comprising a locking member and at least two building panels.
Invention is credited to De Kerpel, Hans, De Kerpel, Johan.
Application Number | 20010010139 09/769430 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25663207 |
Filed Date | 2001-08-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010010139 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
De Kerpel, Johan ; et
al. |
August 2, 2001 |
Combined set comprising a locking member and at least two building
panels
Abstract
A combined set comprising at least one locking member and at
least a first and second building panel, said locking member being
provided for interconnecting said first and second building panel,
each of said building panels having a first groove provided for
receiving a first lip of said locking member and a second groove
provided for receiving a second lip of said locking member, each
building panel being provided with a continuous rebated groove
penetrating into a first edge and with a protrusion extending
lengthwise along a second edge opposite to said first edge, in such
a manner that said protrusion of one of the building panels fits
into the rebated groove of the other building panel, said locking
member being provided to be removably clamped into said first and
second groove.
Inventors: |
De Kerpel, Johan;
(Oostrozebeke, BE) ; De Kerpel, Hans;
(Oostrozebeke, BE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DORSEY & WHITNEY LLP
Suite 300 South
1001 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington
DC
20004
US
|
Family ID: |
25663207 |
Appl. No.: |
09/769430 |
Filed: |
January 26, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
52/479 ;
52/506.05; 52/582.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E04F 15/04 20130101;
E04F 2015/02116 20130101; E04F 2201/0517 20130101; E04F 2201/042
20130101; E04F 15/02 20130101; E04F 2201/0153 20130101; E04B 9/26
20130101; E04F 2015/02122 20130101; E04B 9/28 20130101; E04F
2201/023 20130101; E04F 2201/0107 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
52/479 ;
52/506.05; 52/582.1 |
International
Class: |
E04B 009/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jan 27, 2000 |
BE |
2000/0067 |
Apr 4, 2000 |
EP |
00201235.9 |
Claims
1. A combined set comprising at least one locking member and at
least a first and second building panel, in particular a floor
panel, each of said building panels having a first groove provided
for receiving a first lip of said locking member and a second
groove provided for receiving a second lip of said locking member,
each building panel is provided with a continuous rebated groove
penetrating into a first edge and with a protrusion extending
lengthwise along a second edge opposite to said first edge, in such
a manner that said protrusion of one of the building panels fits
into the rebated groove of the other building panel, said locking
member being provided for interconnecting said first and second
building panel and for being removably clamped into said first and
second groove, said locking member further comprises a hook and
said rebated groove comprises a further recess applied in a base
thereof for receiving said hook.
2. A combined set as claimed in claim 1, wherein said hook is made
by cutting out and bending a part of a bottom plane of said locking
member.
3. A combined set as claimed in claim 1, wherein said hook makes a
substantially right angle with a bottom plane of said locking
member.
4. A combined set as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one front
side of the rebated groove is bevelled.
5. A combined set as claimed in claim 4, wherein a front edge of
said protrusion is bevelled.
6. A combined set as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second groove
and a backside of said protrusion are separated by a barrier made
within the material of the building panel.
7. A combined set as claimed in claim 6, wherein a front side of
said barrier and said second lip are bevelled.
8. A combined set as claimed in claim 6 or 7, wherein the second
lip forms an angle .alpha. with a bottom plane of said locking
member and wherein
90.degree..ltoreq..alpha..ltoreq.120.degree..
9. A combined set as claimed in claim 1 wherein a recess is applied
in said second lateral edge starting from said protrusion and
extending towards an upper face of said building panel.
10. A locking member as part of a combined set as claimed in claim
1.
Description
[0001] The present invention relates to a combined set, comprising
at least one locking member and at least a first and second
building panel, in particular a floor panel, said locking member
being provided for interconnecting said first and second building
panel, each of said building panels having a first groove provided
for receiving a first lip of said locking member and a second
groove provided for receiving a second lip of said locking member,
each building panel is provided with a continuous rebated groove
penetrating into a first edge and with a protrusion extending
lengthwise along a second edge opposite to said first edge, in such
a manner that said protrusion of one of the building panels fits
into the rebated groove of the other building panel, said locking
member being provided for interconnecting said first and second
building panel and for being removably clamped into said first and
second groove.
[0002] Such a combined set is known from the Japanese patent
abstract 07229276. In the known combined set, the first and the
second building panel are assembled by first introducing the
protrusion of one of the building panels into the continuous
rebated groove of the other panel. Once assembled both building
panels are locked together by using the locking member which is
applied on a bottom side of the building panels.
[0003] A drawback of the known combined set is that the locking
member is provided with rather large upstanding edges which are
required to obtain a suitable locking. Consequently, the upstanding
edges penetrate rather deeply into the material of which the
building panels are made. For thin building panels, i.e. having a
thickness of 1 cm or less, the known locking member is thus not
appropriate. Moreover, demounting of assembled building panels
needs a considerable effort to overcome the clamping of the locking
member.
[0004] It is an object of the invention to realize a combined set
wherein the locking member is also suitable for thin building
panels and wherein demounting of assembled building panels is
easier without affecting the mounting quality.
[0005] A combined set according to the present invention is
therefor characterized in that each locking member further
comprises a hook and said rebated groove comprises a further recess
applied in a base thereof for receiving said hook.
[0006] The hook and the further recess enable a reliable clamping
of the locking member to the building panel since the hook engages
the further recess. The dimension of the hook can be kept low as
the cooperation of hook and recess takes care of the locking.
[0007] A first preferred embodiment of a combined set according to
the invention is characterized in that said hook is made by cutting
out and bending a part of a bottom plane of said locking member. An
easy manufacturing of the hook is thus obtained.
[0008] A second preferred embodiment of a combined set according to
the present invention is characterized in that at least one front
side of the rebated groove is bevelled. The bevelled front side
simplifies the introduction of the protrusion into the rebated
groove.
[0009] A third preferred embodiment of a combined set according to
the present invention is characterized in that said second groove
and a backside of said protrusion are separated by a barrier made
within the material of the building panel. The barrier facilitates
the mounting of two building panels into each other and forms an
upstanding wall of the second groove.
[0010] Preferably, a front side of said barrier and said second lip
are bevelled. This facilitates the shifting operation of the
protrusion into the rebated groove as well as the introduction of
the second lip into the second groove.
[0011] Preferably, the second lip forms an angle a with a bottom
plane of said locking member and wherein
90.degree..ltoreq..alpha..ltoreq.120.degr- ee.. This facilitates on
the one hand the bending of the locking member upon mounting two
building panels into each other, and on the other hand leads to a
suitable clamping.
[0012] A fourth preferred embodiment of a combined set according to
the present invention is characterized in that a recess is applied
in said second lateral edge, starting from said protrusion and
extending towards an upper face of said building panel. A dust
collector is formed in such a manner which enables the evacuation
of dust or other small particles which would stick to the lateral
edge and could perturb a tight fitting of two adjacent building
panels.
[0013] The invention will now be described in more details with
reference to the annexed drawings showing a preferred embodiment of
a combined set according to the invention. In the drawings:
[0014] FIG. 1a) shows an overall view of two building panels fitted
together;
[0015] FIG. 1b) shows an overall view of two building panels
already fitted together and a third one being added to them;
[0016] FIG. 2 shows the locking member attached to one of the
building panels;
[0017] FIG. 3 shows a detailed view of a locking member;
[0018] FIG. 4 illustrates how a first building panel is engaged
into a second one;
[0019] FIG. 5 and 6 show each time the different steps of
connecting two building panels to each other.
[0020] In the drawings, a same reference sign has been assigned to
a same or analogous element.
[0021] The combined set, such as illustrated in FIG. 1, comprises
at least one locking member 3 and at least a first 1 and a second 2
building panel. The building panels are in particular formed by
floor panels. Although the present invention is not limited to
floor panels and can also be used as wall or ceiling panels. The
panels are for example made of wood, High Density or Low Density
Board or synthetic material.
[0022] The first panel 1, is attached to the second panel 2 by
means of a protrusion 4 extending lenghtwise along a second lateral
edge of panel 2. The protrusion 4 fits into a continuous rebated
groove 5 penetrating into a first lateral edge of the first
building panel 2. The locking member 3 is removably clamped to both
building panels. To this purpose the locking member comprises a
first lip 6, which upon mounting, is inserted into a first groove
13 situated at a bottom side of the building panel. A second lip 7,
8 of the locking member is inserted into a second groove 17 also
situated at a bottom side of the building panel.
[0023] As illustrated in more details in the FIGS. 2 and 3, the
locking member 3, preferably made of stainless steel or plastic,
comprises a hook 9 which makes a substantially right angle with a
bottom plane of the locking member. The hook 9 is preferably
situated in a central part of the locking member and preferably
made by cutout and bending a part of the material of the bottom
plane. For a building panel with a thickness d of for example
0,6<d<1,2 cm, the hook has an opening f of 1<f<4 mm. In
such a manner, the dimensions of the hook are limited and the hook
does not penetrate too deeply into the material of which the
building panel is made.
[0024] A cutout 11, preferably U-shaped, is further applied in the
bottom plane of the locking member in order to make the second lip
7, 8 resilient. The cutout preferably ends in two circular
perforations 21 and 22. A further perforation 10 is applied in the
bottom plane and provided to receive a nail, screw or the like (22)
see FIGS. 5 and 6, in order to fix the locking member to the
surface on which the building panel will be applied. The further
perforation 10 is preferably applied in front of the hook 9 in
order to not disturb the resilient properties of the locking
member.
[0025] The first lip 6, preferably extends perpendicular with
respect to the bottom plane of the locking member. Although other
alternatives such as for example L-shaped are also possible. The
second lip, which is situated at the opposite side of the one where
the first lip is situated, comprises a first inclined rising border
8 followed by a second inclined descending border 7. The angle
.alpha. of the rising border, extending between the bottom plane
and the first border, is situated between 90 and 120.degree.. The
angle .beta. of the descending border, extending between the first
and second border, is approximately 45.degree.. The first and
second border can either extend over the whole length of the
locking member, as illustrated, or only over a part thereof and be
formed by two separate parts. The cutouts 11, the angles .alpha.
and .beta. and the material of which the locking member is made,
determine the resilient properties thereof. The transition between
first and second border of the second lip is preferably rounded, in
order to avoid sharp angles which could injure.
[0026] Upon mounting the locking member to a building panel, the
hook 9 is first engaged into the rebated groove 5 (see also FIGS. 5
and 6a), in order to be removably fixed to the panel. To this
purpose, the rebated groove comprises a recess 24 applied in a base
of the groove 5, in order to not obstruct the insertion of the
protrusion 4 and to form a support for the latter when the hook is
applied thereon. Once the hook is applied to the recess 24, the
hook is pivoted (see FIGS. 5 and 6 a) counterclockwise, in order to
engage the first lip 6 into the first groove 13. Since the first
lip is perpendicular with respect to the bottom plane of the
locking member, the first groove preferably also has a
perpendicular wall with respect to the bottom of the building
panel. In such a manner, the first lip 6 mates correctly with the
first groove, leading to a reliable connection. That the opposite
wall of the first groove is inclined, is merely due to the milling
operation performed to apply the first groove.
[0027] As can be seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, the rebated groove 5
extends continuously over the whole length of a first lateral edge
of the building panel. The rebated groove 5 penetrates over a depth
of for example 5 to 8 mm into the material of the building panel
and is situated substantially in the middle of the first edge. The
thickness of the rebated groove 5 corresponds with the one of the
protrusion 4, in order to mate with each other.
[0028] The front side of the rebated groove, situated opposite to
the one where the recess 24 is situated, is bevelled, and so is a
front edge, preferably the one situated on the upper side of the
protrusion 4. The bevelled front side and the bevelled edge
facilitate the initial engagement of the protrusion into the
rebated groove. The bevelled front side of the rebated groove,
together with a recess 25 applied on a second lateral edge of the
building panel, form a cavity 20 when first and second panel are
connected to each other. The recess 25 starts from the end of the
protrusion into the material of the building panel and extends
towards an upper face of the building panel. The cavity 20 acts as
a dust collector for dust or other particles that would remain on
the lateral edges of the building panels. When mounting the
building panels, those dust particles can fall into the cavity 20
and will thus not obstruct a close fitting of the first and second
building panel.
[0029] A barrier 19 applied on the bottom side of the building
panel and extending preferably over the whole length of the
building panel, separates the second groove 17 from the backside of
the protrusion. The barrier is obtained by a milling operation on
the material of which the building panel is made. By milling
material away, in order to form the second groove 17 and the
protrusion 4, the barrier 19 is obtained. The barrier has a
bevelled front side 16 that mates with the inclination of the
second border 7 and an inclined back side 18 that mates with the
inclination of the first border 8 of the second lip. The front side
16 of the barrier is offset with respect to the front side of the
second edge situated above the protrusion 4, in order to create
sufficient space to house the hook 9 when the two building panels
are mounted.
[0030] In order to insert the protrusion 4 of a first building
panel 1 into the rebated groove 5 of a second 2 building panel,
once the locking element is applied, the bevelled front edge of the
protrusion, situated at an upper side thereof, is brought into
contact with the bevelled upper front side of the rebated groove.
The first building panel can be inserted either by rotation as
shown in FIG. 5, or horizontally as shown in FIG. 6.
[0031] Upon initial engagement of the protrusion into the rebated
groove, the front side 16 of barrier 19 slides over the inclined
second border 7 (FIGS. 5 and 6b). Since the latter mates, the
insertion can be easily realized. Upon further engagement, the
protrusion slides into the rebated groove and the second lip slides
along barrier 19 in such a manner that the second border reaches
the second groove 17 (FIGS. 5 and 6c). The resilient properties of
the locking member 3 enable the bending away of the second lip, due
to the pressure applied by the first building panel during
mounting. Finally, the first border 8 of the second lip will reach
the second groove 17. The resilient properties of the locking
member will now cause the second lip to return to its rest
position, locking in such a manner the second lip into the second
groove by applying a pressure against the back side 18 of the
barrier 19. This pressure will cause both building panels to
closely fit together.
[0032] As no glue, neither a permanent mounting of the locking
member to the building panels is applied, the panels can be easily
dismounted by pulling away one of the building panels. The
resilient properties of the locking member will cause the second
lip to bend away so that the barrier 19 can slide over the first
border 8, realizing in such a manner the protrusion 4 from the
rebated groove.
[0033] In the drawings only the rebated groove and protrusion on
lateral edges are shown. The transversal edge can however also be
provided with a respective rebated groove and protrusion, in such a
manner that at diagonally opposed corners of a same panel, the
rebated groove of a lateral edge joins the one of the transversal
edge and the protrusion of the transversal edge joins the one of
the lateral edge.
[0034] Instead of using the locking member, it is also possible to
glue both building panels to each other or to use nails or screws,
which are applied into the surface onto which the building panels
are applied. When using glue, the latter is applied into the
rebated groove and eventually on the surface. The use of the
locking member offers however the advantage that the building
panels are removably mounted, which is not the case when they are
glued together.
* * * * *