1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a flooring system for bowling lanes and, more particularly, to a prefabricated flooring system for a bowling lane approach section.
2. Background Description
Bowling has increased in popularity over the years, both at the professional and amateur levels. In fact, over the years, bowling has also been increasing in popularity as a recreational sport, which can be shared by family members and friends, alike. To most enjoy the bowling experience, however, it is important to have properly maintained bowling lanes and approach sections, as well as other types of equipment ranging from bowling balls to bowling shoes.
In conventional systems, tongue and groove hardwood blocks or planking is used in both the bowling lane and the approach section. In bowling lane applications, the wood construction consists of several planks or boards that are about 2¾ inch in thickness, and about one inch in width, as measured in the edgewise direction. In the approach sections, the wood planking may be the same thickness in front of the lane (e.g., head section). At the sides of the approach, however, the approach section may have a smaller thickness since these sections (i) do not have the same traffic, and (ii) include an under track which can then be more easily maintained.
The wood boards are joined together along the tongue and groove edges, and then nailed, screwed or otherwise fastened to one another in the horizontal direction, i.e., along the width from one edge to another edge. The nails may join approximately three boards together. To ensure that the wood boards do not splinter during the nailing process, the thickness of the wood planking in the bowling lane and approach section must be about 2¾ inch thick or greater. After the nailing, the edge panels are “sized” e.g., planed, to fit the width of the bowling lane and approach section, and then fastened to the underlying base such as, for example, a plywood base via screws, dowel rods or other known fasteners. Once the panels are properly laid, they are varnished or lacquered to maintain the integrity of the floor, itself.
To maintain the flooring systems in working condition, the wood planking must be periodically refurbished by sanding in order to reduce damage caused by ball release, which is intensified by lofting of the ball in the approach section. That is, ball release causes, upon impact, dents, pock marks and other damage in the head of the lane and the approach section. Warping and other types of distortions also occur over the years due to moisture and wear, which also must be addressed periodically by sanding. Also, it is known that refurbishment is necessary to meet set bowling standards and in order to provide uniformity of all lanes.
In sanding the wooden flooring system, the head of the lane and the approach sections are typically sanded more aggressively than that of the remaining portions of the lanes, themselves. This is mainly due to the fact that more damage occurs in theses sections. However, in either the bowling lane or the approach section, it is well known that sanding reduces the longevity of the wood planking. This is mostly due to the fact that sanding removes a layer or certain thickness from the wood planking and eventually exposes the nails or other fastening devices in the wood, itself. But, aggressive sanding is the only way to remove the dents and other impact damage in the wood planking.
The aggressive sanding in the approach and lane head section results in more wear in these sections. Thus, the exposure of the nails or other fasteners would result sooner in these areas than in the remaining areas of the bowling lane if the thickness was the same. Thus, it is important to have an initial thickness of the wood boards to ensure that the replacement of the bowling lane does not occur often, thus resulting in down time.
The replacement of the wood planking is very time consuming and expensive. Although this is not performed very frequently on each lane, it certainly can be envisioned that many bowling lanes must be closed for a considerable period of time in order to replace or repair the wood planking. This, of course, decreases the amount of lanes available to the bowler, thus decreasing the profitability of the bowling alley.
Over the years, much advancement has been made to bowling alleys and in particular the flooring systems of bowling alleys. This ranges from the materials used on the flooring system to the installation and upkeep of these flooring systems. For example, synthetic laminate flooring systems, i.e., high pressure laminate systems, have gained popularity amongst bowling alley purveyors due to the ease of installation, the reduction in maintenance, longer lasting life, reduced impact damage (e.g., denting) from bowling balls and a host of other factors. Thus, the use of laminate flooring systems can lead to reduced overhead costs to the bowling alley purveyors, themselves. This, in turn, will then reduce costs for the bowling alley patrons.
However, hardwood flooring systems in the approach section still appeal to the “purists”. In essence, the hardwood flooring systems provide known slide characteristics that are preferred by many bowlers. So, to appeal to these bowlers, many bowling alleys were retrofitted with a laminated lane, while maintaining a hardwood approach section. This approach was thought to solve many problems by reducing the maintenance of the bowling lane.
However, after extended use, the hardwood approach section may also become severely worn. In these instances, there are options which the purveyors of the bowling alley have to make. One option is to place laminate flooring systems in the approach area. This option, though, does not appeal to the purists. In another option, a new hardwood flooring system may be laid in the approach section. Although this option appeals to the purists, it was found that material cost, installation cost and yearly maintenance cost are prohibitive. By way of one example, the varying thickness of the wood flooring of the approach section and the laminate flooring of the lanes requires sanding of the approach section which wastes material and is very time consuming.
The invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.
In a first aspect of the invention, a prefabricated flooring system is used in a bowling lane. In one application this prefabricated flooring system may be used for the approach section. The flooring system includes a plurality of wooden boards having a longitudinal axis. The plurality of wooden boards each having substantially flat side edges along the longitudinal axis. Interior boards of the plurality of wooden boards are bonded together by an adhesive applied on the side edges and two of the outermost boards of the plurality of boards are bonded only on one side edge by the adhesive to adjacent corresponding interior boards to form a preformed section, e.g., approach section or bowling lane, of wooden boards. In one aspect, the boards have a thickness of approximately that of a laminate panels of the bowling lane. In another aspect, the preformed approach section has a width greater than that of the bowling lane.
In another aspect of the invention, a bowling alley flooring system comprises a bowling lane and a prefabricated approach section abutting the bowling lane. The prefabricated approach section includes a plurality of wooden boards each having side edges along the longitudinal axis. The plurality of wooden boards are bonded together by an adhesive applied on the side edges. The prefabricated approach section has a thickness approximately the same as that of laminate panels of the bowling lane.
The foregoing and other objects, aspects and advantages will be better understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawings, in which:
a shows a flooring system of the approach section in accordance with the invention;
b shows a cross sectional view along line B-B of
a to 4e are cross sectional views of the approach section with an integrated foul line in accordance with the invention.
The invention is directed to a prefabricated flooring system used in a bowling alley. This prefabricated flooring system is applicable to both new installations and retrofit installations. In one application, the invention is directed to a prefabricated wood flooring system which can be provided in the approach section of the bowling lane or a section of the approach lane, nearest the foul line and preferably extending about 6 feet therefrom. By using the prefabricated wood flooring system of the invention, the thickness of the wood boards of the approach section can be considerably reduced to, in instances, less than that of conventional systems and can approach the thickness of the laminate bowling lane. This decreases many installation problems. Thus, the installation time of the flooring system in the approach section (or other areas) can be significantly reduced, thus saving time and expense in the installation thereof. The prefabricated flooring system is also resistant to warping, i.e., piano keying, and other damage.
Referring now to
At one end of the bowling lane 100 is foul line 104 which extends across the abutting strips 102, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the bowling lane. The gutters 106 receive any errand balls that are bowled toward either side of the bowling lane 100. A pin deck 110 is at an end of the bowling lane 100 and is adapted to receive a plurality of bowling pins “P”.
Still referring to
In one application, the bowling lane is divided into three sections, “A”, “B” and “C”. Section “A” is the head/arrow section, adjacent to the foul line 102. Section “B” is the pine section and section “C” is the pin deck area. In this application, the bowling lane, in total, is approximately 25, 35 and 4 feet, respectively, in length. In the wood planking application, the section “A”, which is a high impact area, may be a hard wood where the remaining sections are a softer wood for example, pine. It should be understood that the invention should not be limited to the use of beech, maple and pine, and other materials may equally be used with the invention. For example, the bowling lane 100 may be a high pressure laminate flooring system, approximately 42 inches in width (from edge to edge).
a shows the wood planking of the approach section 200 in more detail. It should be recognized that the wood planking of
PVA applications are designed to work on porous materials such as wood and can be used to provide enhanced adhesive properties. PVA applications are also easy to work with since they are water based adhesives and do not emit any harmful fumes, and are not hazardous to touch. Additionally, PVA can set at room temperature. Also, in some instances, sawdust can be added to increase the gap filling ability of the joined edges.
The panels of the approach section 200 may also have a durable finish such as a UV curable finish, e.g., polyurethane based materials, shown as reference numeral 205. It is known that curable finishes are stronger than that of water or solvent based finishes. The use of the adhesives and/or the curable finishes will enhance the durability of the wood floors, i.e., increased wear and dent resistance, reduced warping and the like.
Also, to add even more durability to the system, the prefabricated flooring system may include an underlay, e.g., one or more layers of product, under the wood flooring. The underlay may be attached to the prefabricated flooring system via any known bonding adhesive or other fastening methods such as screws.
The underlying layer or layers, designated as “L”, may be manufactured from a synthetic material such as medium density fiber (MDF) or high density fiber (HDF) boards or oriented strand board (OSB) or high density particle board (HDP), which is less expensive than that of the wood upper layer. The underlay also may be representative of the already existing approach section, whether that be a synthetic laminate or wood. Depending on the application and desired thickness of the approach section 200, any number of underlay layers can be applied to the wooden top layer. The underlying layers can also increase the durability features of the prefabricated flooring system, e.g., reduce warping, due to the properties of the underlying MDF or HDF, etc.
In the applications of the invention, the flooring system can be readily prefabricated at the factory in order to reduce installation time at the bowling alley. The approach section 200 can also be pre-finished with a varnish or a lacquer or other durable UV cure finish prior to installation at the bowling alley. Both prefabrication and the prefinishing will add strength to the flooring system making it more durable and less wear and dent resistant. This, in turn, will maintain the bowling lane in operable condition for a longer period of time and hence increase profitability. The prefabrication of the approach section can also be used for retrofitting of this section when replacing other wood approach floors or laminate floors.
Also, in these applications, nailing of the boards is no longer required in the horizontal direction, thereby reducing the likelihood of splintering of the wood during fabrication. In this manner, the thickness of the wood floors may be reduced considerably since there is no need to maintain the thicker floor due to the splintering. For example, in some retrofit applications, the thickness “T” of the approach section 200 can be reduced to less than 2¾ inches to match the thickness of the flooring on the bowling lane. In one preferred application, the thickness can approach downwards of ¾ inches in thickness or less. This reduced thickness helps in the installation process due to less weight which, in turn, translates into the need for less wood, and hence less cost for the purchase of the wood.
Another advantage of the system of the invention is the elimination of the tongue and groove system. That is, the side edges are flat. This feature will eliminate any stresses that form at the tongue and groove connection thus eliminating any potential cracking or splintering of the wood boards. Additionally, additional sanding may be accomplished during the life time of the product without concern for contacting of a groove, which would then require replacement of the floor.
The system of the invention may also be used with synthetic laminate bowling lanes. When using this combination, the thickness of the wood boards of the approach section may be reduced to approximately the same thickness of the synthetic laminate panels, ¾ inches in thickness, compared to approximately ½ inches in thickness for the laminate floor. This eliminates the need for additional sub flooring or excessive shimming on the bowling lane, thereby reducing costs.
It should further be understood that the approach section 200 can now be manufactured to any desired size or shape at the factory. In one application, the approach section will extend between the gutters, approximately 42 inches wide, which is the width of the bowling lane. In another application, the approach section 200 may be fabricated in sections totally filling the width of the lane in addition to the gutter area designated as “G1” and “G2” of
As further shown in
b shows a cross sectional view of the wood planking along line B-B of
a to 4e are different cross sectional views of the approach section with an integrated foul line. In
In each of these implementations of
While the invention has been described in terms of embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
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20050221904 A1 | Oct 2005 | US |