ELEMENT DE PLANCHER

FLOOR ELEMENT

Abrégé français

L'invention concerne un élément de plancher, en particulier un élément de plancher en bois, qui présente une face supérieure et une face inférieure, ainsi qu'un premier et un second côtés latéraux. Le premier côté latéral est muni d'un cran intégralement formé dans l'élément de plancher, et le second côté latéral est muni d'une encoche. Le cran et l'encoche s'étendent sensiblement sur toute une longueur des côtés latéraux et sont dimensionnés de sorte que, lorsque des éléments de plancher sont placés côte à côte, le cran de l'un et l'encoche de l'autre s'imbriquent mutuellement pour former un encastrement denté. Le cran, qui s'étend de la face supérieure, est incliné selon un angle compris entre 20 et 70 DEG , de préférence entre 35 et 55 DEG relativement à ladite face supérieure. La longueur du cran, telle que mesurée à partir de la face supérieure, est égale à au moins un tiers de l'épaisseur de l'élément de plancher.

Abrégé anglais

A floor element, in particular a wooden floor element, comprising a top and a
bottom surface as well as a first and a second lateral side, said first side
being provided with a tooth integrally formed with said floor element, said
second side being provided with a groove, said tooth and said groove extend
substantially over a whole length of lateral sides and are dimensioned in such
a manner, that for adjacently placed floor elements the tooth of the one floor
element and the groove of the other floor element mutually engage for
providing a toothed engagement, and wherein said tooth starts from said top
surface and is inclined over an angle situated between 20 and 70~, preferably
between 35 and 55~ with respect to said top surface, said tooth having a
length measured as from said top surface of at least one third of the
thickness of said floor element.

Revendications

7
CLAIMS
1. A floor element, in particular a wooden floor element,
comprising a top and a bottom surface as well as a first and a second
side, said first side being provided with a tooth integrally formed with said
floor element, said second side being provided with a groove, said tooth
and said groove being dimensioned in such a manner, that for adjacently
placed floor elements the tooth of the one floor element and the groove
of the other floor element mutually engage for providing a toothed
engagement, characterised in that said groove and said tooth extend
substantially over a whole length of lateral sides of said floor element,
and wherein said tooth starts from said top surface and is inclined over
an angle situated between 20 and 70°, preferably between 35 and
55°
with respect to said top surface, said tooth having a length measured as
from said top surface of at least one third of the thickness of said floor
element.
2. A floor element as claimed in claim 1, characterised in
that said second lateral side is provided with an inclined edge located at
said top surface.
3. A floor element as claimed in claim 2, characterised in
that said edge is inclined over an angle situated between 20 and 70°,
preferably between 35 and 55° with respect to said top surface.
4. A floor element as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 3,
characterised in that said first lateral side extends substantially
perpendicular with respect to said bottom surface over that part of this
first lateral side situated underneath said tooth.
5. A floor element as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 4,
characterised in that said first lateral side is provided with an inclined
edge located on said bottom surface.
6. A floor element as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 5,
characterised in that said second lateral side is provided with an inclined
edge located on said bottom surface.

8
7. A floor element as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 6,
characterised in that said second lateral side has an offset part extending
as from said bottom surface.
8. A floor element as claimed in claim 7, characterised in
that said offset part has a top segment extending substantially parallel
with respect to said bottom surface.
9. A floor element as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 8,
characterised in that said floor element further comprises a first and a
second transversal side, said first transversal side being with a first hook,
made integrally with said element, and extending as from said top
surface, said second transversal side being with a second hook, made
integrally with said element, and extending as from said bottom surface,
said first and second hook being dimensioned in such a manner that for
adjacently placed floor elements the first hook of the one floor element
and the second hook of the other floor element mutually engage for
providing a toothed engagement.
10. A floor element as claimed in claim 9, characterised in
that said first and second hook have a substantially U-shaped inner
contour.

Description

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1
"FLOOR ELEMENT"
The invention relates to a floor element, in particular a
wooden floor element, comprising a top and a bottom surface as well as
a first and a second side, said first side being provided with a tooth
integrally formed with said floor element, said second side being provided
with a groove, said tooth and said groove being dimensioned in such a
manner that for adjacently placed floor elements the tooth of the one
floor element and the groove of the other floor element.mutually engage
o for providing a toothed engagement.
Such a floor element is known for use as parquet floor from
DE - PS - 101 01 427. The toothed engagement provided on the
transversal side of the floor element enables to connect successive floor
elements in order to build up the floor.
A drawback of the known floor element is that the tooth is
applied approximately in the middle of the side. On both sides of the
tooth extends a side part of the floor element, in order to provide an
alignment of adjacently placed floor elements. Although these provisions
enable a suitable alignment of adjacent floor elements, they nevertheless
2o form an obstacle to the natural working of the wood from which the
element is made. Moreover, some force is required in order to assemble
two adjacent floor elements and obtain a correct alignment of the floor
elements.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a floor
element requiring nearly no effort for assembling the elements and
having a toothed engagement enabling a natural working of the material
of which it is made.
For this purpose a floor element according to the invention
is characterised in that said groove and said tooth extend substantially
over a whole length of lateral sides of said floor element, and wherein
said tooth starts from said top surface and is inclined over an angle
CONFIRMATION COPY

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situated between 20 and 70°, preferably between 35 and 55° with
respect to said top surface, said tooth having a length measured as from
said top surface of at least one third of the thickness of said floor
element. The presence of an inclined tooth starting from the top surface
of the floor element enables an easy and quick assembling of two
adjacent floor elements by a single shift operation without requiring a
substantial effort. Since the tooth extends as from the top surface of the
floor element, a tooth length of at least one third of the thickness of the
floor element can be provided, thus enabling a reliable engagement.
o Moreover, the fact that the tooth extends as from the top surface enables
a natural movement of the tooth in the groove, thus enabling a natural
working of the material.
A first preferred embodiment of a floor element according to
the invention is characterised in that said second lateral side is provided
~5 with an inclined edge located on said top surface. Since this inclined
edge is located on the lateral side where the groove is situated, its
inclined profile will fit with the one of the tooth when two elements are
adjacently assembled.
A second preferred embodiment of a floor element
2o according to the invention is characterised in that said first lateral side
extends substantially perpendicular with respect to said top surface over
that part of this first .lateral side situated underneath said tooth. This
enables to form an alignment reference for a subsequent floor element.
Preferably said first lateral side is provided with an inclined
25 edge located on said bottom surface. In such a manner some space is
created for collecting dust or excess glue which would otherwise form an
obstacle to a correct alignment.
A third preferred embodiment of a floor element according
to the invention is characterised in that said second lateral side has an
30 offset part extending as from said bottom surface. Sufficient strength is
thereby given to the groove.

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A fourth preferred embodiment of a floor element according
to the invention is characterised in that said floor element further
comprises a first and a second transversal side, said first transversal side
being with a first hook, made integrally with said element, and extending
as from said top surface, said second transversal side being with a
second hook, made integrally with said element, and extending as from
said bottom surface, said first and second hook being dimensioned in
such a manner that for adjacently placed floor elements the first hook of
the one floor element and the second hook of the other floor element
1o mutually engage for providing a toothed engagement. The use of hooks
makes an engagement on the transversal side possible which is also
compatible with the toothed engagement on the lateral sides.
The invention will now be described in more details by
referring to the drawings illustrating an example of floor elements
~5 according to the present invention. In the drawings
figure 1 shows a cross section, in transversal direction,
through two adjacently mounted floor elements;
figure 2 shows a cross section, in transversal direction
through a floor element;
2o figure 3 shows a cross section, in longitudinal direction,
through two adjacently mounted floor elements;
figure 4 respectively 5 show a first respectively a second
transversal side of a floor element; and
figure 6 illustrates what would happen if two adjacent floor
25 elei~nents would shift with respect to each other.
In the drawings a same reference sign has been assigned
to a same or analogous element.
The floor elements according to the invention are preferably
made of wood. However the present invention is not limited to wooden
so floor elements and other materials such as HDF, fibreboard, multiplex
and particle board could be used.

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Figure 1 illustrates two adjacently placed floor elements 1
engaged by means of a toothed engagement. Each floor element has a
top surface 10 and a bottom surface 9 as well as a first I 1 and a second
I 2 lateral side. The first lateral side I 1 is provided with a tooth 3
s integrally formed with the material of the floor element. The second
lateral side I 2 is provided with a groove 2. The groove and the tooth
being dimensioned in such a manner that for adjacently placed floor
elements the tooth of the one floor element and the groove of the other
floor element mutually engage for providing a toothed engagement.
o The tooth 3 has an inclined face 4 starting from the top
surface 10. As illustrated in figure 2, the face 4 of tooth 3 is inclined over
an angle a situated between 20 and 70°, preferably between 35 and 55
°,
and more particular 45°, with respect to the top surface. This
inclination
enables a reliable toothed engagement and prevents that an upward
~5 pressure, which could be caused by the engagement itself, leads to
damages. The tooth 4 has a length h, measured as from said top surface
of at least one third and preferably at least half of the thickness of said
floor element. So for example for a thickness a = 16 mm, the length h =
10,5 mm and for a = 18 respectively 21 mm, h = 10,5 respectively 11,5
2o mm. With such a length a reliable toothed engagement is obtained.
Furthermore the tooth and the groove extend over substantially the whole
length of the floor element, thus enabling an engagement over this whole
length.
Underneath the tooth 3 there is a side face 12 of the floor
25 element which extends substantially perpendicular with respect to the
bottom surface 9, enabling in such a manner an alignment for
subsequent floor elements. The side face 12 is also provided with an
inclined edge 8 located at the bottom surface. The edge 8 preferably has
an angle ~3 with a bottom surface of for example 45°. The edge 8
creates
3o some space under the floor element in order to collect excess of glue,
when the floor element would be glued on the floor, or to collect dust. As

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can be seen in the figures 1 and 2, the second lateral side of the floor
element is also provided with an edge 7 comparable with edge 8. The
edges 7 and 8 have a length of preferably g = 3 mm.
The groove 2 provided on the second lateral side extends
5 over an angle which corresponds with the one of the tooth in order to
provide a toothed engagement. The depth of the groove varies in
function of the thickness of the floor element and of course of the length
of the tooth. So for example d = 9,5 respectively 10,5 mm for a thickness
a of 16,18 respectively 21 mm. The thickness j of the tooth is preferably
o somewhat smaller than the width of the groove in order to enable a
smooth engagement and let the wood have its natural working. So for
example j = 4,7 mm for c = 5 mm and j = 5,7 mm for c = 6 mm. Of course
the values of j and c are related to the values of a.
The floor element further comprises in its second lateral
~s side I 2 an inclined edge 5 located at the top surface. The edge
preferably has an angle y situated between 20 and 70°, preferably
between 35 and 55 °, in particular 45°, with respect to the top
surface.
The edge 5 makes the transition between the top surface 10 and the
entrance of the groove 2. The angles y and a preferably have
2o corresponding values in such a manner that when two elements are
engaged a symmetrical groove profile 11 is obtained on the top surface.
The edge 5 preferably has a width of 2,5 mm.
The presence of the edge 5 not only provides an esthetical
aspect to the floor element, but also enables the natural working of the
25 floor element without creating a visual open gap between successive
floor elements. Indeed if the tooth would move with respect to the groove,
as illustrated in figure 6, the groove shaped profile 11 will allow this
movement by the space created by the groove profile. Since the edges
are inclined, the overall view will not be affected by this movement.
so The groove does not extend through the whole thickness of
the floor element and a distance a is preferably left between the bottom

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of the groove and the bottom surface 9. This distance is for example a =
4 mm. The second lateral side has furthermore an offset part 6 extending
as from the bottom surface. By mounting two floor elements adjacent to
each other in longitudinal direction, the offset part 6 will contact the side
face 12 of the first lateral side.
When placing the floor elements, the tooth can easily be
engaged by a hinge movement into the groove. The engagement is
achieved when the side face 12 contacts the offset part 6. An easy and
quick placement of the floor, even by a non-professional, is thus
1o achieved.
In order to enable an engagement of the transversal sides
of the floor element, hooks are provided on the first 13 and second 14
transversal sides of the floor element as illustrated in the figures 3, 4 and
5. The first transversal side 13 is provided with a first hook 15, whereas
the second transversal side 14 is provided with a second hook 16. The
hooks are integrally made of the material of the floor element. The first
hook 15 extends as from the top surface (figure 5 ) whereas the second
hook 16 extends as from the bottom surface. The hooks being
dimensioned in such a manner that for adjacently placed floor elements,
2o they mutually engage for providing a toothed engagement as illustrated
in figure 3.
Both hooks have a substantially U-shaped inner contour
having one upstanding 17, 19 leg, substantially perpendicular to the top
or bottom surface respectively, and another upstanding leg 18, 20
formed by a rib. An opening 21 is provided in the ribs 18 and 20 in order
to enable the passage of the tooth.
The rib extends over substantially 3/5 of the thickness of the
floor element. The hooks are necessary as the hinge movement of the
lateral side could not be combined with another hinge movement on the
so transversal sides.

Dessin représentatif