Parquet Strip Comprising a Removable Interlocking System

The present disclosure concerns a floorboard comprising a releasable interlocking assembly system.

There are different types of floors known in the industry such as engineered floor and massive floor.

The massive floor has many advantages vis-à-vis other types of existing floor.

The massive floor, for example, has superior aesthetic properties and is also more resistant to moisture. It also has a longer lifespan.

Each type of floor corresponds to one or several laying techniques adapted according to the type of floor and the thickness of the floorboards. Among the possible floor laying techniques, we can mention a nailed laying in which the floorboards are nailed to joists resting on a continuous or discontinuous support, a glued laying in which the floorboards are glued on a continuous support, and finally a floating laying in which the floorboards are laid on a continuous support with no means of connection other than the contact established by the weight of a floorboard. To date, only engineered floorboards are compatible with a floating laying.

For the installation of the massive floor, we can use nailed or glued laying. The floorboards are then either nailed to joists or glued with floor glue. The nailed laying may be difficult to implement since it requires an installation of joists for example as well as suitable equipment. The glued laying, although simpler to implement, is not reversible and results, in the vast majority of cases, in the destruction of the floor when it must be removed when a building reaches the end of its life for example. If they are thus implemented, the floors are not reusable. The carbon stored in the floorboards during the lifespan of the floor is therefore released at the end of the life of the floor. It will then be necessary to mobilize once again the forest resource to manufacture new floorboards.

Easy-to-implement and reversible floor assembly solutions have been devised in order to obtain releasable and reusable floorboards in order to reduce the ecological impact and limit the manufacturing costs.

The document EP2843154B1 describes, for example, a solution for assembling reversible floorboards comprising an active locking system comprising a movable locking element. However, the system described in the document EP2843154B 1 requires for the floor assembly an additional locking element and therefore a higher manufacturing cost.

The technical problem at the basis of the disclosure concerns providing an assembly of releasable and reusable floorboards which is of simple structure, economical and with low ecological impact.

To this end, the subject of the present disclosure is a floorboard comprising a first main surface intended to form an apparent surface and a second main surface opposite to the first main surface and intended to bear on a support, a first front edge and a second front edge, the first front edge being arranged to cooperate with a second front edge of another floorboard, the first front edge comprising a first front wall and a tongue extending from the first front wall towards a distal end opposite to the first front wall, the tongue comprising a first convex bearing surface disposed on a first side of the tongue, a second bearing surface disposed on a second side of the tongue opposite to the first side, the second bearing surface being extended in the direction of the distal end of the tongue by a rounded portion,

The ratio between the length of the tongue and the depth of the groove may for example be comprised between 0.6 and 0.99.

The ratio of the distance between the first main surface and a first end of the tongue disposed on the first bearing surface of the tongue at the intersection between the first bearing surface of the tongue and the first front wall to the distance between the first main surface and a second end of the tongue disposed on the second bearing surface of the tongue at the intersection between the second bearing surface of the tongue and the first front wall may be comprised between 0.2 and 0.75.

According to one characteristic, the floorboard is made of massive wood.

According to one characteristic, the floorboard may comprise a wear layer extending from the first main surface in a direction orthogonal to a plane of the floorboardand representing a fraction of a thickness of the floorboard of at least 25%, and preferably more than 35% or even more than 40%, the thickness of the floorboard being considered between the first main surface and the second main surface, the tongue and the groove being positioned relative to the thickness of the floorboard in a lower layer of the floorboard disposed below the wear layer.

According to one possibility, the floorboard comprises a chamfer disposed on the other side of the rounded portion with respect to the second bearing surface of the tongue.

The chamfer may have an angle of inclination with respect to an insertion axis comprised between 10 degrees and 45 degrees.

Advantageously, the value of the angle of inclination comprised between 10 degrees and 45 degrees facilitates the interlocking of the tongue into the groove.

The second bearing surface of the tongue may be configured to be substantially planar. According to one embodiment, the floorboard further comprises a first lateral edge and a second lateral edge of the floorboard disposed opposite the first lateral edge, the first lateral edge comprising a first flange extending along a plane of the floorboard and an anchoring abutment extending from the flange in a direction transverse to a plane of the floorboard, the second lateral edge comprising a second flange extending in the plane of the floorboard and an anchoring cavity provided in the second flange, said anchoring cavity being of complementary shape to the anchoring abutment and intended to receive the anchoring abutment of a neighboring floorboard.

According to one embodiment, the first flange comprises a surface disposed in the extension of the first main surface of the floorboard, and the second flange comprises a surface disposed in the extension of the second main surface of the floorboard.

According to one embodiment, the anchoring abutment and the anchoring cavity have a triangular shape.

According to a first possibility, the first flange extends from the first main surface, the thickness of the first flange is greater than the thickness of the wear layer, and the anchoring abutment is disposed in the lower layer, or

According to the first possibility, the second flange extends from the second main surface and is included in the lower layer. According to the second possibility, the first flange extends from the second main surface and is included in the lower layer.

The tongue may have a bearing point disposed in the direction of the distal end of the tongue relative to the first bearing surface of the tongue, and the inner wall of the groove has an abutment surface disposed in the extension of the first bearing surface of the groove, the bearing point being configured to come into abutment on the abutment surface of a neighboring floorboard when the tongue is introduced into the groove.

According to one possibility, the first bearing surface of the tongue is arranged to slide on the first bearing surface of the groove of a neighboring floorboard between:

According to one embodiment, the sliding path is curved and defined by the first bearing surface.

The second bearing surface of the tongue may be arranged to bear against the second bearing surface of the groove.

Advantageously, the sliding movement of the tongue in the groove prevents the tongue from breaking when the latter is subjected to a high distributed load, for example of a value substantially equal to 500 daN/m2 and to a high concentrated load, for example of a value substantially equal to 700 daN.

Advantageously, the sliding movement of the tongue in the groove is reversible and results in that two floorboards may be released and reused, thus constituting a non-fixed assembly after the two floorboards have been interlocked.

In the detailed description which will follow of the figures defined above, the same elements or the elements performing identical functions may retain the same references so as to simplify the understanding of the disclosure.

The disclosure concerns a floorboardpresented inand comprising a first main surfaceintended to form an apparent surface exposed to the footsteps of a user of the floor, for example, and a second main surface′ opposite to the first main surfaceand intended to bear against a support such as the ground, for example a screed or a slab, of a house or of a tertiary building for example.

The floorboarddescribed may be made of massive wood.

According to one possibility, the floorboarddescribed may be a engineered floorboard.

The floorboardmay comprise a wear layerrepresented inand extending from the first main surfacein a direction orthogonal to a plane of the floorboardand representing a fraction of a thickness of the floorboardof at least 25%, and preferably more than 35% or even more than 40%, the thickness of the floorboardbeing considered between the first main surfaceand the second main surface′, the tongueand the groovebeing positioned relative to the thickness of the floorboardin a lower layerof the floorboarddisposed below the wear layer

These provisions make it possible to make the fastening method compatible with one or several sanding of the floor, and thus to give a renewable character to the floor.

The wear layermay be able to be renovated, in other words, it is possible to sand the floor so as to find a smooth surface by removing material from the thickness of the wear layer

The floorboard also comprises a first front edgewhich can also be called the male part and a second front edgewhich can also be called the female part, the first front edgebeing arranged to cooperate with a second front edgeof another floorboard, in other words to make a male-female assembly by interlocking a male part of a floorboard with a female part of another floorboard, the interlocking being advantageously reversible. Indeed, the massive wood being a material whose dimensions may vary depending on the humidity and temperature of an environment in which it is located, the floorboarddescribed makes it possible to take into account the variations of the massive wood depending on the humidity and temperature of the environment in which it is located.

The first front edgecomprises a first front wall,and a tongueextending from the first front wall,towards a distal end opposite to the first front wall,.

presents a sectional view of a first embodiment of the first front edgein which the tonguehas a curved shape and comprises a first smooth and convex bearing surfacedisposed on a first side of the tongue, a second bearing surfacedisposed on a second side of the tongue opposite to the first side, the second bearing surfacebeing able to be configured to be substantially planar and being able to be extended towards the distal endof the tongue by a rounded portion. The floorboard may also comprise a chamferdisposed on the other side of the rounded portionrelative to the second bearing surfaceof the tongue.

According to a second embodiment of the first front edgepresented in, the first bearing surfacemay comprise a first portion, a second portionand a third portiondisposed on the bearing surfaceso that an obtuse angle of intersection is produced between the first portionand the second portion, and an obtuse angle of intersection is produced between the second portionand the third portion

By obtuse angle of intersection is meant the angle measured starting from the first portionand turning clockwise to reach the second portion, and starting from the second portionand turning clockwise to reach the third portion

According to one possibility, the chamferhas an angle of inclination with respect to an insertion axis B () comprised between 10 degrees and 45 degrees.

According to one possibility, the chamfermay be replaced by a curved shape ridge connecting the rounded portionto one end of the tongue.

A first embodiment of the second front edgepresented incomprises a second front wall,having a groovedefining an opening and an inner wall extending from a first end of the opening. The groovemay extend longitudinally over the entire length of the floorboardaccording to a plane of the floorboard.

According to the first embodiment of the second front edge, the inner wall comprises a first smooth and concave bearing surfacedisposed on a first side of the opening, a bottom surfaceand a second bearing surfacedisposed on a second side of the opening disposed at the opposite on the first side and extending to a second end of the opening.

According to a second embodiment of the second front edgepresented in, the first bearing surfacemay comprise a first portion, a second portionand a third portiondisposed on the bearing surfaceso that an obtuse angle of intersection is produced between the first portionand the second portion, and an obtuse angle of intersection is produced between the second portionand the third portion

By obtuse angle of intersection is meant the angle measured starting from the first portionand turning clockwise to reach the second portion, and starting from the second portionand turning clockwise to reach the third portion

The floorboard described may be remarkable in that the width W of the opening of the groovewhich is visible onis equal to the distance between the first bearing surfaceof the tongueand the rounded portionincreased by a functional clearance Jdimensioned so that the ratio of the distance between the first bearing surfaceof the tongueand the rounded portionto the width of the opening W of the grooveis substantially comprised between 0.7 and 0.99, and in that the length L of the tonguepresented inand considered between the first front wall,and the end of the tonguedisposed on the tongueopposite the first front wall,is less than the depth P of the groove considered between the opening of the groove and the bottom surfaceof the groove. This results in that the end of the tonguemay not be in contact with the bottom surface.

The functional clearance JI and the fact that the length L of the tongueis less than the depth P of the groove promotes the reversibility of the interlocking of two floorboards.

The ratio between the length L of the tongueand the depth P of the groovemay for example be comprised between 0.6 and 0.99.

The ratio of the distance between the first main surfaceand a first end X of the tonguedisposed on the first bearing surfaceof the tongueat the intersection between the first bearing surfaceof the tongueand the first front wall,to the distance between the first main surfaceand a second end Y of the tonguedisposed on the second bearing surfaceof the tongueat the intersection between the second bearing surfaceof the tongueand the first front wall,may be comprised between 0.2 and 0.75.