Patent Application
20100300023
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an expansion joint for modular flooring. More particularly, the invention relates to the use of a slidable member which is interspersed between tiles of plastic modular flooring, which is adapted to permit relative movement of subsections of the modular flooring during installation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Modular flooring of various designs has been utilized for a significant period of time to provide a temporary walking or other rigid surface in areas where permanent flooring is either not necessary or prohibitively expensive. More particularly, modular flooring is primarily utilized in commercial settings where a floor is temporarily needed, such as on a grass or artificial turf surface as well as in industrial or construction areas. With respect to industrial or construction areas, temporary flooring may be utilized to provide walkways, driveways, parking areas or other rigid surfaces for the transport of materials, vehicles, storage or mounting of equipment, or simply as a walking or standing surface for people. The modular nature of such flooring is utilized to adapt the flooring to the particular topographic or geographic needs of the particular site and to also allow for the efficient storage and transport of the modular flooring. In addition, the use of relatively small modular floor tiles permits repairs and disposal of broken floor sections with relative ease.
In operation, the selection of the particular floor tile and its characteristics are primarily based upon the amount of load expected to be exerted on the modular flooring system, as well as the relative support characteristics of the underlying substrate be it concrete, artificial turf, grass, dirt, or the like. Once the particular floor tile is selected, a number of modular tiles typically having some type of interlock mechanism are applied to the surface and are generally laid in a sequential pattern, permitting the selective interlock of the various tiles and the placement of those tiles in a preplanned topographic design intended to permit the movement of materials, people, vehicles or the storage of the same in appropriate locations. The modular floor tiles are themselves typically constructed of plastic or other polymeric materials which permit relatively high-strength sections having relatively low weight, providing ease of storage and portability. One particular shortcoming of plastic and polymeric materials is the coefficient of thermal expansion, which is relatively high in practice. Changes in temperature of the underlying substrate material, as well as the ambient air proximate to the modular floor system cause relatively significant changes in dimensionality of the floor tiles. While the dimensional changes in each individual tile are relatively small, over a large area with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of interlocked tiles, the cumulative expansion or contraction of the entire flooring system causes significant problems with respect to maintenance of the floor, as well as the safety of the users.
In practice, this expansion of the modular flooring system causes buckling, shifting and cracking of the floor tiles, as well as providing a tripping hazard for persons walking on the floor and potentially causing dangerous conditions which could cause vehicles to be diverted from their intended course over the surface of the modular floor.
Other limitations of the modular flooring system include the requirement that the floor be laid sequentially in order to ensure the appropriate alignment and interlocking of the modular tiles. In practice, this means that a tile floor must be laid from one location and expanding outwardly from that location on an interlocking basis and cannot be laid in discontinuance sections. Furthermore, the alignment and location of each tile is very important because small deviations from the preplanned alignment of the tiles over the course of longer distances will result in a floor being significantly displaced from its preplanned location. This results in significant delays and costs associated with picking up and relaying the various floor tiles once the misalignment has been discovery after a significant number of tiles have been laid.
There remains a need, therefore, in the art of modular flooring, for an adjustable or displaceable tile which may be inserted at various locations in a modular floor system to absorb the expansion of the floor tiles in atmospheric conditions which cause expansion and contraction of the modular floor or subsections thereof. Additionally, there remains a need in the art for an adjustable tile which may be inserted in order to maintain the alignment and appropriate location of sections for the entirety of the modular floor over its length.
A modular floor expansion joint is disclosed which provides both a means for absorbing the expansion of adjoining floor tiles and permitting the various expanding or contracting sections of the modular floor to remain flat on the substrate, as well as to permit a minimal amount of misalignment in the application of the floor tiles to a substrate by providing an adjustment means for subsections of the floor. In practice, this permits the insertion of the expansion joint tiles at locations where a misalignment has occurred and been discovered. Once a significant portion of the modular floor has been laid, the adjustability of the modular floor tile expansion joint permits the realignment of neighboring sections of adjoined modular floor tiles to the preplanned topographic location. The expansion joint also prevents the floor to be laid in discontinuous sections which may be moderately misaligned and joined by the adjustable expansion tile.
The expansion joint floor tile is provided as a generally slidably, adjustable multi-section tile and is equipped with appropriately sized and shaped interlocking devices such that it may be mounted within a floor tile matrix as any location, replacing one or a series of modular floor tiles without disrupting the alignment pattern of such a modular floor tile system. The slidable multi-part tile is generally adapted to expand or contract in one dimension, but may be laid in an aligned pattern, such that the axes of expansion are aligned linearly or in a parallel fashion, or may be laid in a parquet style to permit multi-dimensional expansion or contraction of the floor as well.
The multi-section expansion joint is generally provided in the preferred embodiment with two interlocking sections, one of which slides and is located within a locating sleeve of the other. An indented or undercut portion of a first member is adapted to be inserted and be slidably displaceable within the sleeve provided in the second member. The two members are adapted to be either temporarily or permanently joined through any particular means well-known to those skilled in the art in the preferred embodiments. A protrusion is provided on one member to be interfaced with a slot on the second member, such that the protrusion may be inserted into the slot and then laterally displaced along the longitudinal axis of the slot. A variety of locating means may be utilized to both use the insertion of the members together, as well as to maintain the geometric alignment of the two members during the sliding process in an axial fashion.
In order to maintain the compressive strength of the floor tile system, a series of support webs, or other reinforcing means may be applied to the expansion joint, such that it matches the adjoining floor tiles in height and other critical dimensions, as well as its ability to support the intended load. Lastly, for both cosmetic and functional reasons, the exterior surface of the floor tile may be provided with both decorative embellishments, as well as various ventilation or other functional surface features to permit or prevent the passage of moisture facilitating the passage of persons and vehicles thereover. This is utilized to increase the frictional characteristics of the top surface so that a slippery condition is not provided on the top surface when mounted within the modular flooring system.
These and other advantages of the expansion joint provided herein will be more fully understood with reference to the appended drawings and the description of the preferred embodiments herein.
Referring to
In application, modular floor tiles 1 are typically provided with a series of locking tabs 15, which extend outwardly from the perimeter of each tile. In accordance with the specific design features of each embodiment, the locking tabs may be of any size or shape appropriate to support the weight and load requirements of the tile. Furthermore, the number of distribution of the locking tabs 15 are determined by the physical conditions of the likely substrate, as well as the load requirements mentioned previously. Locking receptacles 20 are also located on the perimeter of each of the modular floor tiles 1 for receiving and restraining locking tabs 15 and are disposed geometrically in accordance with the corresponding location of locking tabs 15 on adjacent floor tiles 1. It will thus be appreciated that the sequential application of modular floor tiles 1 will include the serial interlocking of adjacent floor tiles in a matter to extend matrix 10 in two dimensions. In accordance with the preferred embodiments herein, an expansion tile 30 is provided, which may be interspersed at various frequencies within matrix 10 as a substitute for modular floor tiles 1. Expansion tiles 30 may be aligned linearly on an axial geometry or as illustrated in
Referring now to
Referring now to
Expansion tile 30a is generally provided with two separable subsections, being the support section 53 and the sleeve section 54. In general operations, support section 53 is inserted into and slidably engages sleeve section 54. Support section 53 is provided with an expansion joint support 50 in the general format of an extending armature which is partially defined by undercut track 70 and expansion joint top surface 40a. The combination of these two elements form expansion joint support 50, which is an adaption for slidable engagement and insertion into sleeve section 54. Expansion joint support 50 is provided with expansion slots 45 on expansion joint top surface thereof, which are adapted to receive and slidably restrain locking pins 85, as will be further discussed with respect to
Sleeve section 54 is provided with expansion joint sleeve 55, which is defined as an overhanging section of sleeve section 54, adapted to receive expansion joint support 50 within expansion joint receiver 60, defining an open space into which expansion joint support 50 is inserted and received. Essentially, expansion joint receiver 60 is formed by an overhanging section of expansion tile top surface 35a and the side walls of sleeve section 54. Referring now to
Referring flow to
Finally, one preferred embodiment of the invention has been described hereinabove and those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that this embodiment may be modified and altered without departing from the central spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the embodiment described hereinabove is to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing descriptions and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced herein.
