Method for the production of profiled floor elements from a timber material

Abstract

A method is described for the production of profiled floor elements from a timber material, comprising at least one covering flange protruding from a footing and having a rounded longitudinal edge, with the method proceeding on the basis of a pre-profiled floor element consisting of profiled floor elements connected along a longitudinal edge by means of a connecting land and the profiled floor elements being separated from each other by machining the connecting land on the profiled side opposing the visible side once a covering layer has been adhesively bonded to the pre-profiled floor element in the region of the visible sides of the subsequent profiled floor elements. In order to ensure advantageous production conditions, it is proposed that the strips of the covering layer corresponding to the individual profiled floor elements are adhesively bonded to the pre-profiled floor element, which forms a connecting land bridging the wedge-shaped recess between the rounded longitudinal edges on the side of the covering flange facing away from the visible side, and that the edge sections of the strips, which face each other and protrude into the wedge-shaped recess, are bent into the wedge-shaped recess between the rounded longitudinal edges of the covering flange and are adhesively bonded to the longitudinal edges before the connecting land is machined away on the underside of the covering flange.

Description

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method for the production of profiled floor elements from a timber material. Said elements are provided with at least one covering flange that has a rounded longitudinal edge and projects from a footing. Said method commences with a pre-profiled element consisting of profiled floor elements connected to each other along a longitudinal edge by means of a connecting land. The profiled floor elements are separated from each other after a covering layer is adhesively bonded to the pre-profiled element in the area of the visible sides of the subsequent profiled floor elements by machining the connecting land on the side of the profiled element facing away from the visible side.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

In order to reduce the production effort for the manufacture of profiled covering strips coated on the visible side, a method is known (EP 0 862 976 A1) which proceeds on the basis of a pre-profiled element that corresponds to at least two covering strips to be produced that join at one longitudinal edge of the visible side and are connected by means of a connecting land on the side facing away from the visible side. The pre-profiled element is coated on the profiled surface forming the joined visible side before the connecting land is machined from the side facing away from the visible side and separated into individual covering strips. This known production method requires a continuous profiled surface extending over the abutting joint area if the covering strips are intended to be coated with a bonded masking film and is therefore not suitable in this case for floor strips, the covering strips of which project from a footing and are provided with rounded longitudinal edges that produce a wedge-shaped recess in the region of the joint that interrupts the continuous profiled surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Consequently, the object of the invention is to create a method for producing at least two profiled floor elements of the kind described at the outset such that a covering layer can be adhesively bonded to the pre-profiled element in a simple manner despite the wedge-shaped recess produced between the abutting longitudinal edges of the subsequent profiled floor elements such that the visible side of the profiled floor elements obtained from the coated pre-profiled element are completely coated.

The invention fulfils this aim by adhering the strips of the covering layer which correspond to the individual profiled floor elements to the pre-profiled element that forms a connecting land bridging the wedge-shaped recess between the rounded longitudinal edges on the side of the covering flange facing away from the visible side, by bending the edge areas which face each other and extend into the wedge-shaped recess into the wedge-shaped recess between the rounded longitudinal edges of the covering strip and by adhering them to the longitudinal edges before the connecting land on the underside of the covering flange is machined away.

As there is a separate strip of the covering layer with an edge section projecting into the wedge-shaped recess between the rounded longitudinal edges of the profiled floor elements for each of the subsequent profiled floor elements as a result of this action, these projecting edge sections can be bent into the wedge-shaped recesses and adhesively bonded to the rounded longitudinal edges such that the entire visible area of the profiled floor elements, including the rounded longitudinal edges of the covering flange, can be coated with the covering layer before the connecting land bridging these longitudinal edges on the side facing the coating is machined away to separate the profiled floor elements that had been manufactured together until this time. It must only be ensured that the overhang of the edge sections of the covering layer strips projecting into the wedge-shaped recess is sufficient to cover the curvature of the longitudinal edges.

For this purpose, provision can be made for the connecting land of the pre-profiled element to connect the spatially separated longitudinal edges of the covering flange and for the covering layer extending across and beyond the wedge-shaped recess between the rounded longitudinal edges of the covering flange to be adhesively bonded to the pre-profiled element before the covering layer is severed in the wedge-shaped recess to form strips and is pressed against and adhesively bonded to the rounded longitudinal edges in a stripwise manner. Adhesively bonding a covering layer which is common to the profiled floor elements to be created onto the pre-profiled element in a bridging manner provides simpler conditions for attaching the covering layer. However, provision must be made for a gap between the sides of the abutting longitudinal edges by widening the connecting land accordingly to ensure a sufficiently wide edge area between these longitudinal edges for the individual strips produced so that each of the individual longitudinal edge curvatures is covered after the covering layer has been severed in the area of the wedge-shaped recess. However, widening the connecting land increases the volume to be machined away.

If the greater resultant utilisation of material is to be avoided, the strips of the covering layer can be glued to each other onto the pre-profiled element in the wedge-shaped recess between the rounded longitudinal edges of the edge sections overlapping the covering flange before the overlapping edge sections are bent into the wedge-shaped recess and pressed onto the rounded longitudinal edges of the covering flange. Overlapping the edge sections of the covering layer strips provides the width of the edge sections of the covering layer strips projecting into the wedge shaped recess that is required to cover the longitudinal edge curvature, despite the directly abutting profiled floor elements, so that the connecting land can be minimised.

Provision for a pre-profiled element from which two or more profiled floor elements can be obtained results in advantageous conditions for automated production in series because, among other things, the pre-profiled element has a greater inherent strength than individual profiled elements and can also be conveyed better, especially if the pre-profiled element is provided with at least one guide groove in the area of the connecting land between the profiled floor elements because in this case the pre-profiled element can be conveyed along the guide groove immediately before the connecting land is machined away, something which not only improves production precision, but also allows an increase in the processing speed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The method in accordance with the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawing.

FIG. 1 shows a cross-section of the profiled floor element to be produced,

FIG. 2 shows a frontal view of a pre-profiled element for production of two pro filed floor elements in accordance with the invention,

FIGS. 3 to 9 show the production of two profiled floor elements as shown in FIG. 1 in accordance with the invention on the basis of consecutive methodological steps,

FIG. 10 shows a representation of an embodiment of a pre-profiled element corresponding to FIG. 2 for the production of profiled floor elements in accordance with FIG. 1,

FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 show profiled floor element production with the aid of a pre-profiled element in accordance with FIG. 10 on the basis of two methodological steps,

FIG. 13 shows a pre-profiled element for the production of a different profiled floor element in a representation corresponding to FIG. 2,

FIG. 14 and FIG. 15 show the production of profiled floor elements from the pre-profiled element in FIG. 13 on the basis of two methodological steps,

FIG. 16 shows a frontal view of a pre-profiled element for the production of pre forms for a profiled floor element,

FIG. 17 shows a pre-profiled element coated with the covering layer based on FIG. 16 in cross-section and

FIG. 18 shows a profiled floor element produced from a preform obtained in accordance with FIG. 17 with the additional profiled elements obtained from the preform.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The profiled floor element 1 to be produced in accordance with the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is provided with a footing 4 that can be inserted into a floor track 2 in the gap between two floor elements 3 and a covering flange 5 projecting from this footing 4 which laps over the abutting floor elements 3. The visible side of the covering flange 5 is provided with a covering layer 7 extending over its rounded longitudinal edges 6 which can consist of a decorative film, a laminate, a veneer or similar and is adhesively bonded to the visible side of the covering flange 5.

The production of such a profiled floor element 1 proceeds from a pre-profiled element 8 consisting of a timber material as shown in FIG. 2. This pre-profiled element 8 encompasses two profiled floor elements 1 which abut in the region of their rounded longitudinal edges 6 and which are bridged by a connecting land 9 on the underside of the covering flange 5 facing away from the visible side, with said land forming two parallel guide grooves 10 extending along the longitudinal axis of the profiled element. In addition, provision is made for reinforcement allowances 11 in the area of the subsequent covering flange 5, which are also provided with guide grooves 10.

A covering layer 7 is adhesively bonded to the pre-profiled element 8, specifically in two strips 12, the facing edge sections 13 of which project into the wedge shaped recess 14 between the rounded longitudinal edges 6 of the sub-sequent profiled floor elements 1 and overlap each other, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. This overlapping is required to achieve the width of the edge sections 13 corresponding to the arc length of the curvature of the longitudinal edges 6 and therefore completely covering the rounded longitudinal edges 6. In accordance with FIG. 4, of the two strips 12 of the covering layer 7 provided with an adhesive, the strip closest to the pre-profiled element 8 is adhesively bonded to the pre-profiled element 8 first by means of a pressure roller 15, before the edge sections 13 of this strip 12 projecting over the rounded longitudinal edges 6 are pressed onto and adhesively bonded to the rounded longitudinal edges 6 of the pre-profiled element with the assistance of profiled rollers 16 in accordance with FIG. 5. At the same time, the other strip 12 of the covering layer 7 can be adhesively bonded to the pre-profiled element 8 by means of a pressure roller 15 in order to then adhere the overlapping edge sections 13 to the rounded longitudinal edges 6 by means of profiled rollers 16 in the same manner as the strips 12 previously adhesively bonded. In accordance with FIG. 7, provision can be made for an additional forming roller 17 to improve pressing of the edge sections 13 of the strips 12 bent into the wedge shaped recess 14 onto the rounded longitudinal edges 6 in their abutting joint area.

After the visible sides of the subsequent profiled floor elements 1 have been coated with the strips 12 of the covering layer 7, the connecting land 9 and the reinforcement allowances 11 in the region of the covering flange 5 can be machined away. It is advantageous if this machining can precede trimming of the edge sections 13 of the strips 12 on the outer sides of the pre-profiled element 8, as indicated in FIG. 8. For this purpose, the pre-profiled element 8 with the adhesive covering layer 7 is pressed onto a guide rule 19 with the assistance of a hold-down roller 18, with said guide rule 19 having guiding ridges which mesh with the guide grooves 10 of the pre-profiled element 8. Lateral trimmers 20 are positioned on the pre-profiled element conveyed in this manner, with the help of which the outer edge sections 13 of the adhesive covering layer 7 can be worked with the requisite precision. As depicted in FIG. 9, the profiled floor elements 1 are then separated from the pre-profiled element 8 by machining away the connecting land 9 and the reinforcement allowances 11, specifically with the aid of a correspondingly profiled stock cutter 21 that can be supplemented by a saw blade 22. The pre-profiled element 8 running from the guide rule 19 to the stock cutter 21 is supported in the working zone of the stock cutter by the hold-down rollers 23 corresponding to the two profiled floor elements 1. This guides system makes it possible to work the pre-profiled element 8 and the two profiled floor elements 1 precisely, even at higher work speeds.

Furthermore, a pre-profiled element 8 corresponding to that depicted in FIG. 10 can also be used as the basis for producing a profiled floor element 1 such as that as shown in FIG. 1. The pre-profiled element 8 in FIG. 10 only differs from that in FIG. 2 by the fact that the rounded longitudinal edges 6 facing each other on the two subsequent profiled floor elements 1 are arranged with a gap between their sides within the pre-profiled element 8, resulting in a wider connecting land 9 between the longitudinal edges 6 in comparison with FIG. 2. The larger gap between the two profiled floor elements 1 permits the covering layer 7 to be applied to the pre-profiled element 8 in one piece, bridging the wedge-shaped recess 14 produced between the rounded longitudinal edges 6, and the covering layer applied to be subsequently separated into two strips 12, as can be seen in FIG. 11, where a cutting tool ‘s’ is indicated accordingly. The edge sections 13 of the strips 12 obtained after separation and which project into the wedge-shaped recess 14 are sufficiently wide, due to the enlarged gap between the longitudinal edges 6 facing each other, for the full arc length of the curvature of the longitudinal edges 6 to be able to be covered.

Consequently, in some cases only the connecting land 9 and the reinforcement allowances 11 need to be machined away after trimming of the edge sections 13 of the outer covering flange 5 in the pre-profiled element 8 in order to obtain to profiled floor elements 1 in accordance with FIG. 1. In FIG. 12 the areas to be machined off are indicated by the cross hatching.

Of course, the production method in accordance with the invention can be employed for differently profiled floor elements as the important aspect is not the form of each profiled element, but the fact that the profiled floor elements are provided with a minimum of one covering flange 5 with a rounded longitudinal edge 6. To illustrate this point, FIG. 13 shows a pre-profiled element 8 for the production of profiled floor elements 1 for a step. After the covering layer 7 in the form of two strips 12 overlapping each other in the wedge shaped recess 14 are adhesively bonded in accordance with FIGS. 3 and 4, their edge sections are bent into the wedge shaped recess 14 corresponding with FIG. 5 to 7 and are adhesively bonded to the rounded longitudinal edges 6 of the covering flange 5. As the shoulder 24 of the profiled floor element 1 overlaps the riser, the outer edge section 13 of the strips 12 of the covering layer 7 must be guided around the visible side of this shoulder 24. This means that a machining allowance 25 on the inner side of this shoulder 24 facilitates trimming of the covering layer 7 in this edge section when this machining allowance is machined off, as indicated by the cross hatched area in FIG. 14. Following this, the connecting land 9 can be machined off in accordance with FIG. 15 in order to finish the two profiled floor elements 1 and to separate them from each other.

Preforms of the profiled floor elements 1 can also be produced using the production method in accordance with the invention, as shown in FIG. 16 to 18. The preforms 26 which are indicated by dash-dotted lines in the pre-profiled element 8 in FIG. 16, are coated on the visible side with a covering layer 7 from the pre-profiled element 8 corresponding to FIG. 3 to 7. In order to separate the pre-forms 26 from the pre-profiled element 8 provided with the covering layer 7, the connecting land 9 between the two preforms 26 must be machined off in accordance with the cross hatched area in FIG. 17 before the profiled floor element 1 and the two additional profiled elements 27 can be produced from the preform 26 obtained in this manner in accordance with FIG. 18, specifically by a simple parting cut along the cutting plane 28 indicated by the dash-dotted lines. Similar to FIG. 1, the profiled floor element 1 produced from the preforms 26 has a footing 4 and a covering flange 5 projecting from the footing 4, with rounded longitudinal edges 6. The additional profiled elements 26, which could be used together with the profiled floor element 1, are also covered with the covering layer 7 on their visible surface.

Claims

1: Method for the production of profiled floor elements (1) from a timber material, said elements having at least one covering flange (5) with a rounded longitudinal edge (6) and said flange projecting from a footing (4), with said method proceeding on the basis of a pre-profiled element (8) consisting of profiled floor elements (1) connected to each other along a longitudinal edge (6) by means of a connecting land (9), with said profiled floor elements (1) being separated from each other after a covering layer (7) is adhesively bonded to the pre-profiled element (8) in the area of the visible sides of the subsequent profiled floor elements (1) by machining the connecting land (9) on the side of the profiled element facing away from the visible side, wherein the strips (12) of the covering layer (7) corresponding to the individual profiled floor elements (1) are adhesively bonded to the pre-profiled floor element (8), which forms a connecting land (9) bridging the wedge-shaped recess (14) between the rounded longitudinal edges (6) on the side of the covering flange (5) facing away from the visible side, and the edge sections (13) of said strips, which face each other and protrude into the wedge-shaped recess (14), are bent into the wedge-shaped recess (14) between the rounded longitudinal edges (6) of the covering flange (5) and are adhesively bonded to the longitudinal edges (6) before the connecting land (9) is machined away on the underside of the covering flange (5).

2: Method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the strips (12) of the covering layer (7) are adhesively bonded onto the pre-profiled element (8) in the wedge-shaped recess (14) between the rounded longitudinal edges (6) of the edge sections (13) overlapping the covering flange (5) before the overlapping edge sections (13) are bent into the wedge-shaped recess (14) and pressed onto the longitudinal edges (6) of the covering flange (5).

3: Method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the connecting land (9) of the pre-profiled element (8) connects the spatially separated longitudinal edges (6) of the covering flange (5) and the covering layer (7) extends across and beyond the wedge-shaped recess (14) between the rounded longitudinal edges (6) of the covering flange (5) to be adhesively bonded to the pre-profiled element (8) before the covering layer (7) is severed in the wedge-shaped recess (14) to form strips (12) and is pressed against and adhesively bonded to the rounded longitudinal edges (6) in a stripwise manner.

4: Method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the pre-profiled element (8) provided with at least one guide groove (10) in the area of the connecting land (9) between the profiled floor elements (1) is promoted along the guide groove (10) during the course of machining work.