Granted Patent B2

US 10,156,078 · App. 15/477,802 · Granted Dec 18, 2018

Inventors: Jorgen Palsson (Landskrona, SE); Ake Sjoberg (Lund, SE)

Assignee: PERGO (EUROPE) AB

E04F15/02E04F15/02038E04F15/04E04F15/107E04F2201/0115E04F2201/0138E04F2201/0146E04F2201/0153E04F2201/023E04F2201/026E04F2201/05E04F2201/0517E04F2201/0523

Abstract

Claims (31)

1. A surface element designed to be assembled together with similar surface elements to form a plurality of joined surface elements:

the surface element comprising a decorative upper surface, an opposed general lower surface and at least four edges disposed between the upper surface and general lower surface, said general lower surface defining a plane;

the four edges comprising a first edge and a second edge defining a first pair of opposite sides, and a third edge and a fourth edge defining a second pair of opposite sides;

the four edges including upper edge portions, towards which the surface elements seen from the top visually extend in joined condition;

wherein the first edge of the surface element comprises a first male joining member and the second edge comprises a first female joining member;

the first male joining member comprising a distally extending tongue and the first female joining member comprising a groove which is bordered by an upper lip and a lower lip, said lower lip forming a lower cheek extending in distal direction further than said upper lip, wherein the distance by which the lower cheek extends beyond the upper lip defines a protruding cheek portion;

the first male joining member and the first female joining member being configured such that two of such surface elements can be coupled and vertically as well as horizontally locked at their respective first and second edges;

the horizontal locking provided by an upwardly directed lip at said lower cheek and a lower side groove at the edge comprising the tongue, said upwardly directed lip and said lower side groove having contact surfaces configured for said horizontal locking;

the vertical locking provided by the tongue fitting in the groove, said tongue and groove providing a positive vertical locking, said tongue thereto extending with a distal length underneath the upper lip, said length being such that joining of the tongue and groove by only a plane-parallel substantial vertical lowering of one surface element in respect to the other is made impossible in that upon moving said contact surfaces that are configured for said horizontal locking to each other by such plane-parallel vertical lowering, a downward movement of the tongue is obstructed by the presence of said upper lip;

and

wherein the third edge of the surface element comprises a second male joining member and the fourth edge comprises a second female joining member;

said second male joining member and second female joining member of the surface element being configured such that two of such surface elements at their respective third edge and fourth edge can be interconnected by a downward motion of the third edge of one of said two surface elements with respect to the fourth edge of the other of said two surface elements, to thereby result in a vertical as well as horizontal locking;

said second male joining member being formed as an upper cheek protruding at said third edge and provided with a downward directed portion;

said second female joining member being formed as a lower cheek protruding at said fourth edge and provided with an upward directed portion;

said second male joining member comprising a male cheek surface at a lower side of said upper cheek and said second female joining member comprising a female cheek surface at an upper side of said lower cheek, the male and female cheek surfaces being arranged to interact with one another so that two joined adjacent floor elements become locked to each other in a horizontal direction;

said third and fourth edges each comprising one or more locking surfaces for locking the third edge and a fourth edge of two of such coupled surface elements against vertical separation;

wherein said lower cheek of the second edge is formed in one piece of a core material of the surface element; and

wherein said protruding cheek portion comprises a recess at its lower side, said recess extending along said lower side up to the distal end of the lower lip and said recess defining a lower side portion of said lower lip which is located at a level which is higher than the aforementioned plane.

2. The surface element of claim 1 , wherein said lower side groove at a distal side thereof is bordered by a lower side protrusion at said tongue, said protrusion having a lowermost portion; and wherein said lowermost portion is located proximally from a vertical plane through the upper edge portion belonging to said first edge.

3. The surface element of claim 2 , wherein said recess from the distal end of the lower lip towards the proximal end, extends at least completely underneath the upward directed portion.

4. The surface element of claim 3 , wherein the smallest thickness of the lower cheek of the second female joining member is smaller than the smallest thickness of the upper cheek of the second male joining member.

5. The surface element of claim 1 , wherein said recess from the distal end of the lower lip towards the proximal end, extends at least completely underneath the upward directed portion.

6. The surface element of claim 5 , wherein the smallest thickness of the lower cheek of the second female joining member is smaller than the smallest thickness of the upper cheek of the second male joining member.

7. The surface element of claim 1 , wherein the contact surface of the first female joining member is upwardly directed from a proximal to a distal position.

8. The surface element of claim 1 , wherein the female cheek surface of the second female joining member is upwardly directed from a proximal to a distal position.

9. The surface element of claim 1 , wherein the joining members at the first, second, third and fourth edges are configured such that the joining motion that is required for joining the surface element with its first edge to a second edge of a similar adjacent second surface element, automatically results in the joining of the surface element with its third edge to a fourth edge of an adjacent third surface element.

10. The surface element of claim 1 , wherein the lower cheek of the fourth edge is formed in one piece of said core material.

11. The surface element of claim 1 , wherein said contact surfaces configured for said horizontal locking at the first pair of opposite sides are substantially planar.

12. The surface element of claim 1 , wherein said contact surfaces configured for said horizontal locking at the first pair of opposite sides are curved.

13. The surface element of claim 1 , wherein the second male joining member and the second female joining member are formed in one piece from said core material.

14. The surface element of claim 1 , wherein said locking surfaces for locking said third and fourth edges of two such coupled surface elements against vertical separation provide for a snap action, wherein the lower cheek is configured such that it will elastically bent to facilitate joining by said snap action.

Assignments (2)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (10)

Cited By (1)

US 12,385,261