U.S. patent application number 13/092963 was filed with the patent office on 2012-04-26 for modular floor tile.
Invention is credited to Hung-Tse Ko.
Application Number | 20120096798 13/092963 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45076256 |
Filed Date | 2012-04-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120096798 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ko; Hung-Tse |
April 26, 2012 |
MODULAR FLOOR TILE
Abstract
Disclosed is a modular floor tile, comprising a tile body and a
splicing bar. The tile body consists of a base and a surface layer
where the surface layer is used as an appearance for the modular
floor tile. The base has a first slot and a second slot disposed on
two opposing parallel sides of the bottom of the base. The splicing
bar is partially embedded in the first slot in a manner to form an
protruding portion matched to the second slot where the remainder
of the top surface on the protruding portion is used to adhere to
the second slot of an adjacent tile body. Therefore, the amount of
adhesive used can be reduced while maintaining effective adhesion
and adhesive overflow is avoided.
Inventors: |
Ko; Hung-Tse; (Kaohsiung
City, TW) |
Family ID: |
45076256 |
Appl. No.: |
13/092963 |
Filed: |
April 24, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
52/578 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E04F 15/02155 20130101;
E04F 2201/0511 20130101; E04F 15/02172 20130101; E04F 15/02
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
52/578 |
International
Class: |
E04C 2/38 20060101
E04C002/38 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Oct 21, 2010 |
TW |
099220401 |
Claims
1. A modular floor tile comprising: a tile body having a base and a
surface layer disposed on the base to provide a visual appearance
for the modular floor tile, wherein a first slot and a second slot
are formed on two opposing parallel sides of a bottom of the base;
and a splicing bar having a top surface partially attached to the
first slot in a manner to form a protruding portion protruding from
the first slot and matched to the second slot in shape, wherein the
exposed top surface on the protruded portion has a width configured
for adhering to the second slot of an adjacent tile body.
2. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
thickness of the splicing bar is equal to each depth of the first
slot and the second slot, wherein each depth of the first slot and
the second slot is not larger than one-fourth of the thickness of
the tile body.
3. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein a width of
the splicing bar is equal to or less than a width that is the sum
of the widths of the first slot and the second slot.
4. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein a width of
the splicing bar is larger than a width that is the sum of the
widths of the first slot and the second slot.
5. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
splicing bar has a single-sided adhesive where adhesive is applied
only on the top surface of the splicing bar.
6. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
splicing bar has a double-sided adhesive.
7. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tile
body is a rectangular strip.
8. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 7, wherein the length
of the splicing bar is not larger than the corresponding length of
the tile body.
9. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
surface layer has a visual appearance selected from the stet
consisting of wood grains, stones, and tiles.
10. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
splicing bar is made from flexible polyvinyl chloride.
11. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first
slot and the second slot are parallel L-shaped gaps with equal
widths and lengths.
12. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tile
body with an adjacent tile body in an adjacent row are installed in
staggered format.
13. The modular floor tile as claimed in claim 1, further
comprising: an adhesive disposed on the exposed top surface on the
protruding portion; and a release film disposed on the adhesive.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a floor tile, and more
specifically to a modular floor tile.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] In modern interior designs, when installing interior floors,
normally wooden or stone materials are used. However, these
materials are not easy to install because of the material
characteristics and the level of installation skill required; for
example, wooden tiles easily suffer from rot when they get damp and
so are not suitable for humid environments, while stone floor tiles
are heavy to install and for safety reasons can be too hard for
indoor purposes. Therefore, plastic floor tiles or related
composite floor tiles have been developed for various interior
applications which can be easily installed with different styles
and appearances and are gradually replacing conventional wood and
stone floor tiles.
[0003] Conventional modular floor tiles are made of plastic so that
the floor tiles can be easily installed without complicated
installation procedures or require specialized tools, and so the
typical individual can effortlessly install plastic floor tiles by
themselves. When installing conventional plastic floor tiles, a
layer of adhesive is disposed on the base floor or evenly sprayed
on the bottom surfaces of plastic floor tiles, then plastic floor
tiles are individually adhered to the base floor in sequence.
However, regardless of which method is used to install plastic
floor tiles, a large amount of adhesive is used to ensure good
adhesion between plastic floor tiles and the base floor where the
adhesion between plastic floor tiles is weak. Moreover, the amount
of adhesive used cannot be controlled precisely due to base
flooring roughness and unevenness with possible holes. If the
applied adhesive is insufficient, plastic floor tiles may not
adhere well to the base floor. If the applied adhesive is
excessive, adhesive may flow up from the gaps between plastic floor
tiles to sully the surfaces of plastic floor tiles and possibly
spoil the beauty and appearance of the plastic floor tiles.
Furthermore, even if plastic floor tiles adhere well to the base
floor without any problems, i.e., a lot of adhesive has been
applied between plastic floor tiles and the base floor, it will be
very difficult to repair or replace the installed plastic floor
tiles afterwards.
[0004] There have been attempts to implement mechanical joints to
install plastic floor tiles without applying adhesive on the base
floor as disclosed in Taiwanese patent No. M366574, entitled
"Structure of scarfing plastic floor tile". The floor tile
comprises a PVC bottom layer and a surface layer where the PVC
bottom layer acts as the base to directly contact to the base floor
and a plurality of tenon protrusions and mortise grooves are
laterally formed at two opposing sides or four sides. However, the
tenons should be exposed from the surface layer for locking into
the mortises by way of a tongue-and-groove joint so that the shape
of the surface layer is irregular. Adhesive is also applied to the
backside of the PVC bottom layer or in the mortises. When
installing the plastic floor tiles, the mortises with adhesive are
coupled with the tenons to adhere two adjacent plastic floor tiles
together where excess adhesive can easily be squeezed to flow over
from the mortises. However, when installing the plastic floor
tiles, one has to consider whether two adjacent plastic floor tiles
can be jointed or not leading to slower working progress. Moreover,
adhesive squeezed from the mortises can lead to lumps on the joints
between plastic floor tiles. After a long period of time after
installation, the joints can easily be deformed.
[0005] Another attempt was made to give the base of the plastic
floor tiles a multi-layered structure, as disclosed in Taiwanese
patent No. I325914, entitled "Floor tile and packaging method
thereof". The floor tiles are thin laminated products where the top
layer and the middle layer are made of thin elastic plastic
materials and the bottom layer is made of an elastic foam material.
Although the top layer, the middle layer, and the bottom layer all
have the same dimension and shape, the top layer is intentionally
shifted in the X-Y axis to asymmetrically join to the middle layer
to define an L-shaped marginal section on the top layer and to
define a reversed L-shaped marginal section on the middle layer
where the L-shaped marginal section and the reversed L-shaped
marginal section have the same dimensions with the shapes being
mirror images of each other for floor tile assembly purposes.
During installation of the plastic floor tiles, the L-shaped
marginal section of the top layer of a floor tile is downwardly
adhered to the reversed L-shaped marginal section of the middle
layer of the adjacent floor tile to install different floor tiles
from the corners. Therefore, in order to manufacture thin laminated
floor tiles with a constant shifting between the top layers and the
middle layers, more accurate lamination equipment is needed to
ensure that the L-shaped marginal sections of the top layers and
the reversed L-shaped marginal sections of the middle layers of
every floor tile are consistent, and more precise equipment is more
expensive requiring a greater capital investment. If low-cost
equipment is used, the L-shaped marginal section of the top layer
and the reversed L-shaped marginal section of the middle layer of
every floor tile may be crooked with different shifting gaps, i.e.,
the widths of the L-shaped marginal sections of the top layers and
the reversed L-shaped marginal sections of the middle layers are
different. Therefore, during floor tile installation procedures,
floor tiles have to be trimmed and adjusted adding more
difficulties during installation and even facing scarfing issues
between adjacent floor tiles. Furthermore, when some of the floor
tiles need to be repaired or replaced due to wear, damage, or
remodeling, the L-shaped marginal section of the top layer of the
floor tile be replaced has to be removed with a plurality of
reversed L-shaped marginal sections of the middle layer of the
adjacent floor tiles, which can cause structural changes or even
damage to the shifting gaps of the L-shaped marginal sections where
a large area of floor tiles have to be removed, which cannot be
done in a short period of time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] An objective of the present invention is to provide a
modular floor tile to reduce the amount of adhesive applied, to
effectively increase adhesion and to further avoid adhesive
overflow. Moreover, an adhesive can be applied without turning
floor tiles over during the installing procedure. The manufacturing
process is much easier with lower equipment costs for mass
production purposes without manufacture difficulties and higher
cost equipment to make accurate shifting gaps in every floor
tile.
[0007] Another objective of the present invention is to provide a
modular floor tile without a tongue-and-groove joint between
adjacent floor tiles for easy installation with a reduced
installation time.
[0008] Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide
a modular floor tile which can be effectively recycled with less
time to remove and rework when removing the modular floor tiles
installed on the base floor without damaging the floor tiles.
[0009] According to the present invention, a modular floor tile is
includes a tile body and a splicing bar. The tile body includes a
surface layer and a base where the surface layer is disposed on top
of the base to provide the patterning appearance for the modular
floor tile. The base has a first slot and a second slot disposed on
two opposing parallel sides on the bottom surface. The splicing bar
is partially embedded in the first slot in a manner to form
extruded protruded portion matching the second slot where the
exposed top surface on the protruded portion has a width for
adhering to the second slot of an adjacent tile body.
[0010] The modular floor tile according to the present invention
has the following advantages and effects:
[0011] 1. Through a specific assembled structure of forming the
first slot and the second slot at the base with the splicing bar
partially embedded in the first slot as a technical means, the
splicing bar has protruding portion protruding from the first slot
and matching the second slot so that the splicing bar is used as an
adhering medium between the first slot of a tile body and the
second slot of an adjacent tile body. Therefore, the amount of
adhesive used can be reduced while effectively increasing adhesion
and to further avoid adhesive overflow. Moreover, the manufacturing
process is much easier with lower-cost equipment needed for mass
production without associated manufacturing difficulties of
higher-cost equipment required to make accurate shifting gaps in
every floor tile.
[0012] 2. Through a specific assembled structure of forming the
first slot and the second slot at the base with the splicing bar
partially embedded in the first slot as a technical means, the
splicing bar has a protruding portion from the first slot of a tile
body to adhere to the second slot of an adjacent tile body with
less adhesive so that no tongue-and-groove joint is needed between
adjacent floor tiles for easy installation with reduced
installation times.
[0013] 3. Through a specific assembled structure of forming the
first slot and the second slot at the base with the splicing bar
partially embedded in the first slot as a technical means, two
adjacent tile bodies are installed by way of the splicing bar where
the tile bodies need not be adhered to the base floor. Therefore,
there is no direct joint relationship between floor tile bodies and
the base floor so that the floor tile bodies can effectively be
recycled with less time for removal and remodeling when removing
the modular floor tiles installed on the base floor without
damaging the floor tiles.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a plurality of modular floor
tiles according to the preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
[0015] FIG. 2 is a detailed perspective disassembled view of a
plurality of modular floor tiles according to the preferred
embodiment of the present invention.
[0016] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a plurality of modular
floor tiles after installation according to the preferred
embodiment of the present invention.
[0017] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a modular floor tile
before installation according to the preferred embodiment of the
present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0018] With reference to the attached drawings, the present
invention is described by means of the embodiment(s) below where
the attached drawings are simplified for illustration purposes only
to illustrate the structures or methods of the present invention by
describing the relationships between the components and assembly in
the present invention. Therefore, the components shown in the
figures are not expressed with the actual numbers, actual shapes,
actual dimensions, nor with actual ratios. Some of the dimensions
or dimension ratios have been enlarged or simplified to provide a
better illustration. The actual numbers, actual shapes, or actual
dimensional ratios can be selectively designed and disposed and
component layouts may be more complicated.
[0019] According to the preferred embodiment of the present
invention, a plurality of modular floor tiles are illustrated in
FIG. 1 in a perspective view, in FIG. 2 with a detailed perspective
disassembling view, and FIG. 3 for a cross-sectional view. One of
the modular floor tiles is illustrated in FIG. 4 in a
cross-sectional view. The modular floor tile 100 primarily
comprises a tile body 110 and a splicing bar 120.
[0020] As shown from FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, the tile body 110 includes a
surface layer 111 and a base 112 where the surface layer 111 is
disposed on top of the base 112 to provide a patterned appearance
for the modular floor tile 100 and the base 112 has a first slot
113 and a second slot 114 formed on two opposing parallel sides on
the bottom surface of the base 112. The base 112 serves as the
major support for the tile body 110 which can be chosen from
plastic materials, composite materials, or other cost effective
materials. As described in more detail below, the base 112 can be a
single-layer structure or a multi-layer structure with adhesive for
adhering to the surface layer 111. In the present embodiment, the
surface layer 111 is directly attached to the base 112 without
adhesives by way of thermal lamination to make the surface layer
111 and the base 112 become a single assembly. Or, in a different
embodiment, the surface layer 111 is disposed on top of the base
112 with adhesives to achieve lower costs. To be more specific, the
tile body 110 can be a rectangular strip such as 6'' by 36'' in
size with a thickness of 2.3 mm. In various embodiments, the tile
body 110 can be square or other shapes to accommodate different
requirements. Furthermore, the first slot 113 and the second slot
114 are L-shaped parallel gaps with the same width and length which
are formed by milling parallel slots of 25 mm by 0.5 mm from two
opposing parallel sides into the bottom surface of the base 112,
where the depths of the first slot 113 and the second slot 114 are
not be larger than one-fourth of the thickness of the tile body 110
to maintain support for the portions of the tile body 110 on top of
the first slot 113 and the second slot 114 without affecting the
strength of the tile body 110. In a preferred embodiment, the
pattern surface of the surface layer 111 can be chosen from wood
grains or stone patterns to meet different requirements of
installation occasions to provide a lively environment for the
interior atmosphere.
[0021] As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, a part of the top surface 121
of the splicing bar 120 is adhered to the first slot 113 in a
manner that the splicing bar 120 has a protruding portion 122
protruding from the first slot 113. The protruding portion 122
matches the shape of the second slot 114. The remainder of the top
surface 121 of the protruding portion 122 is exposed, and has a
width adapted for adhering to the second slot 114 of the adjacent
tile body 110, as shown in FIG. 3. This width is about half the
width of the splicing bar 120. In the present embodiment, the
thickness of the splicing bar 120 can be equal to the depth of the
first slot 113 or the second slot 114, i.e., the thickness is about
0.5 mm. Moreover, the width of the splicing bar 120 is equal to or
slightly smaller than the total width of the first slot 113 and the
second slot 114, i.e., the width of the splicing bar 120 is under
50 mm so that the first slot 113 of the tile body 110 can
accurately join and adhere to the second slot 114 of the adjacent
tile body 110 to form a floor tile assembly to avoid excessive gaps
between adjacent floor tile bodies 110. Or, in a different
embodiment, the width of the splicing bar 120 can be slightly
larger than the total width of the first slot 113 and the second
slot 114 to keep constant gaps between adjacent floor tile bodies
110. Moreover, the length of the splicing bar 120 is not larger
than the corresponding length of the tile body 110 to avoid
interfering with the installation procedure of the modular floor
tiles 100. If the length of the splicing bar 120 is longer than
that of a single tile body 110 during the installing procedure, the
excessive length of the splicing bar 120 can be cut with a knife so
that both ends of the splicing bar 120 align to both ends of the
first slot 113 of the tile body 110. In a preferred embodiment, the
splicing bar 120 has single-sided adhesive where adhesive 130 is
only applied onto the top surface 121 of the splicing bar 120.
Therefore, there is no adhesive to adhere the tile body 110 to the
base floor 10 so that it is easier to repair or replace the floor
tile bodies 110. Or, in another embodiment, the splicing bar 120
has a double-sided adhesive for adhering to the base floor 10, for
example, during the installation of the modular floor tiles 100,
adhesive 130 can be applied in a double-sided manner to the
splicing bar 120 of the tile body 110 to make the splicing bar 120
firmly adhere to the base floor 10, and firmly adhere to the tile
body 110. The tile body 110 is not directly adhered to the ground
10. Hence, only the splicing bar 120 is damaged during
re-installation so that the tile body 110 is reusable. In the
present embodiment, the material of the splicing bar 120 can be
plastic such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to make the tile body 110
flexible and have a non-slip surface. Even if the splicing bar 120
does not adhere to the ground 10, the tile body 110 and the
splicing bar 120 will not move on the ground 10.
[0022] In short, through a specific assembled structure of forming
the first slot 113 and the second slot 114 disposed on two opposing
parallel sides on the bottom surface of the base 112 of the tile
body 110 with the splicing bar 120 partially embedded in the first
slot 113 as a technical means, the splicing bar 120 has a protruded
portion 122 protruding from the first slot 113 and matching the
second slot 114 so that the protruding portion 122 can be adhere to
the second slot 114 of the adjacent tile body 110 with less
adhesive 130 on the top surface 121. Therefore, the consumption
amount of adhesive applied can be greatly reduced while effectively
increasing adhesion and to further avoid adhesive 130 overflowing
on the surface layer 111. Moreover, the manufacturing process is
much easier requiring low cost equipment for mass production
without the manufacture difficulties associated with higher cost
equipment needed to make accurate shifting gaps in every floor
tile. Since the splicing bar 120 is used as an adhering medium, the
tile body 110 does not need to be turned over to apply adhesive
during installing procedure. The tile bodies 110 are installed by
way of the splicing bar 120 to adhere to adjacent tile bodies 110
and/or to the base floor 10, therefore, there is no direct joint
relationship between two adjacent tile bodies 110 and between the
tile body 110 and the base floor 10. Therefore, when replacing the
floor tile bodies 110 in the future, the tile bodies 110 can be
easily removed from the base floor 10. Even if the splicing bars
120 are damaged during removal of the modular floor tiles 100
installed on the base floor 10, the tile bodies 110 themselves will
not be damaged and so the removed floor tile bodies 110 can
effectively be reused with less time to remove and rework.
Moreover, since a tile body 110 is connected with the adjacent tile
body 110 with the splicing bar 120 without any tongue-and-groove
joints between adjacent modular floor tiles 100, an easy
installation requiring less installation time is provided so that
end users can complete the installation of modular floor tiles 100
by themselves within the shortest time and avoid deformation of
tile bodies 110 under stress for a long period of time.
[0023] As shown in FIG. 1, when installing the modular floor tiles
100, the tile body 110 with the adjacent tile body 110 in an
adjacent row can be installed in a staggered format, i.e., the gap
between end sides of two floor tile bodies 110 in the same row is
aligned with the center of the adjacent floor tile 110 in an
adjacent row. Since the splicing bar 120 is adhered on only one
side of the tile body 110 as a unit, when some floor tile bodies
110 in the same row are installed, each splicing bar 120 partially
exposed from one side of the tile body 110 can adhere to two
adjacent floor tile bodies 110 in the adjacent row where the
splicing bar 120 will not impact the installation of the staggered
format of floor tile bodies 110.
[0024] In order to manifest the advantages of the present
embodiment, the installation procedure for modular floor tiles 100
is described in detail. Firstly, step one is performed as shown in
FIG. 2; the splicing bar 120 is only adhered to the first slot 113
of the tile body 110 but not to the second slot 114 of the tile
body 110. This step is repeated until every first slot 113 of the
floor tile bodies 110 is adhered to one splicing bar 120. Then,
step two is performed to place the modular floor tiles 100 on the
base floor 10 where the splicing bar 120 protruding from every tile
body 110 forms the protruding portion 122 and the top surface 121
on the protruded portion 122 is adhered to the second slot 114 of
the adjacent tile body 110 until all the floor tile bodies 110 are
completely installed in a staggered format. During step two, the
joints between the tile bodies 110 by the splicing bar 120 can
further be enhanced by hammering with a rubber hammer to ensure
good adhesion between the two. Then, step three is performed by
walking back and forth on the installed modular floor tiles 100 to
further make the tile body 110 and the splicing bar 120 firmly
adhere together and tightly attached to the base floor.
[0025] As shown in FIG. 4, a release film 140 can be pre-disposed
on the top surface 121 on the protruding portion 122 protruding out
from the first slot 113. When the release film 140 is peeled off,
adjacent modular floor tiles 100 can be adhered to each other. Even
if the adhesive position is not accurate, it can be readjusted
without damaging to the tile body 110 which is most suitable for
DIY applications.
[0026] The above description of embodiments of this invention is
intended to be illustrative but not limited. Other embodiments of
this invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art in view
of the above disclosure which still will be covered by and within
the scope of the present invention even with any modifications,
equivalent variations, and adaptations.
* * * * *