MECHANICAL LOCKING OF FLOOR PANELS WITH A FLEXIBLE TONGUE
Floor panels which are provided with a mechanical locking system including an extruded flexible tongue in a sidewardly open groove which during a vertical folding motion is bent horizontally. A tongue adapted for being received in a sidewardly open groove of a floor panel, wherein the tongue, which is an elongated extruded section, when received in the groove is bendable in a plane substantially parallel with a front face of the floor panel, such that the tongue is at least partially resiliently displaceable inside said sidewardly open groove in said plane during locking of the floor panel with another floor panel and wherein a vertical protrusion, serving as a friction connection between the tongue and the groove, is arranged at an upper or lower part of the tongue, wherein the tongue has a length in the longitudinal direction of the tongue and a total width perpendicular to the length, and the total width varies in the longitudinal direction of the tongue.
1 . A tongue adapted for being received in a sidewardly open groove of a floor panel, wherein the tongue, which is an elongated extruded section, when received in the groove is bendable in a plane substantially parallel with a front face of the floor panel, such that the tongue is at least partially resiliently displaceable inside said sidewardly open groove in said plane during locking of the floor panel with another floor panel and wherein a vertical protrusion, serving as a friction connection between the tongue and the groove, is arranged at an upper or lower part of the tongue,
wherein the tongue has a length in the longitudinal direction of the tongue and a total width perpendicular to the length, and the total width varies in the longitudinal direction of the tongue.
2 . The tongue as claimed in claim 1 , wherein two or more protrusions are is arranged along the longitudinal direction of the tongue.
3 . The tongue as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the extruded section is V- or U-shaped.
4 . The tongue as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the tongue is adapted to be received in the sidewardly open groove at a panel edge comprising a strip and a locking element.
5 . The tongue as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the whole tongue is located in a horizontal plane which is spaced vertically from the upper part of the locking element.
6 . The tongue as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the vertical protrusion is arranged on a portion of the tongue that is inside the sidewardly open groove so that the protrusion is at a distance from an opening of the sidewardly open groove, the opening of the sidewardly open groove provided at an upper joint edge of the floor panel defining a vertical plane.
7 . The tongue as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the tongue includes an upper surface in the plane substantially parallel with the front face of the floor panel, a lower surface opposite the upper surface, and sliding surface extending between the upper and lower surfaces, at least a portion of the sliding surface being inclined, at an angle less than 90 degrees, from a point on the upper surface in the plane and toward the lower surface.
8 . The tongue as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the tongue comprises, along the length of the tongue, a middle section between two end sections, and the end sections extend farther rearward of the tongue than the middle section in a direction parallel with the total width of the tongue.
9 . A tongue adapted for being received in a sidewardly open groove of a floor panel, wherein the tongue, which is an elongated extruded section, when received in the groove is bendable in a plane substantially parallel with a front face of the floor panel, such that the tongue is at least partially resiliently displaceable inside said sidewardly open groove in said plane during locking of the floor panel with another floor panel and wherein the tongue is adapted to be received in the sidewardly open groove at a panel edge comprising a strip and a locking element and wherein the whole tongue is located in a horizontal plane which is spaced vertically from an upper part of the locking element,
wherein the tongue includes an upper surface in the plane substantially parallel with the front face of the floor panel, a lower surface opposite the upper surface, and sliding surface extending between the upper and lower surfaces, at least a portion of the sliding surface being inclined, at an angle less than 90 degrees, from a point on the upper surface in the plane and toward the lower surface.
10 . The tongue as claimed in claim 9 , wherein a vertical protrusion, serving as a friction connection between the tongue and the sidewardly open groove, is arranged at the upper or lower part of the tongue.
11 . The tongue as claimed in claim 9 , wherein two or more protrusions are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the tongue.
12 . The tongue as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the extruded section is V- or U-shaped.
13 . The tongue as claimed in claim 9 , wherein a vertical protrusion, serving as a friction connection between the tongue and the groove, is arranged at an upper or lower part of the tongue, and the vertical protrusion is arranged on a portion of the tongue that is inside the sidewardly open groove so that the protrusion is at a distance from an opening of the sidewardly open groove, the opening of the sidewardly open groove provided at an upper joint edge of the floor panel defining a vertical plane.