Patent Application
20240191523
The present invention relates generally to floor panels, and more specifically to manufactures for repairing of floors constructed therewith, and methods for replacement of defective floor panels, in heated and unheated floors.
Floor panels are oftentimes used nowadays for forming floors by adjoining numerous panels. Floor panels commonly support a scoff resistant and an aesthetically pleasing appearance at the top of the panel. Oftentimes the aggregation of adjoining floor panels forms a floor surface that is not directly adhered, nailed, or otherwise attached to the underlying surface, an arrangement colloquially known as a ‘floating floor’. In recent years engineered wood and laminated synthetic floor panels gained acceptance as an inexpensive and easy to install floor covering. Floor panels are available in numerous forms. US Patent Publication No. 2022-0299212 to the present inventor describes various types of known panel abutments, including flat adhesive overlapped abutments and mechanical interlocking abutments. Numerous profiles of the mechanical interlocking abutments are known, and for brevity, those interlocking abutments shall be related herein collectively as tongue and groove, or equivalently, mechanically interlocking abutments.
US Patent Publication No. 2022-0299212 to the present inventor, discloses floor panels having a heating element disposed therein, each floor panel has two abutments for electrical coupling adjacent panels. Electrical contacts, referred to as electrodes, are disposed on complementary abutments or abutment walls and busbars electrically couple between complementary electrodes of opposing abutments such that, when adjacent floor panels are laid together to form a floor or a portion thereof, the busbars are able to feed power to the heating elements disposed in the panel. Panels have sealants and/or adhesives which protect the electrodes from fluids.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2022-0299212 and the patent application on which it is based, namely U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/695,530, are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, unless the disclosure therein contradicts the present specification.
A distinct advantage of floors comprising flat overlapped abutment type panels is the ease at which a damaged and/or malfunctioning panel in such floor may be replaced and thus the floor returned to its original function. Floors constructed with tongue and groove and/or mechanical interlocking abutments often required dismantling the whole floor in order to repair a damaged and/or defective panel.
There is therefore a long felt, and heretofore unmet need for methods and manufactures that will ease replacement of floor panels utilizing mechanically interlocking abutments. Furthermore, there is a need for methods and devices that will ease repair and replacement of defective and/or damaged heating floor panels, where such replacement would at least ensure supply continuity between the busbars of panels on both sides of the defective panel, and optionally also restore the heating feature of a defective heated panel.
In order to provide a solution for repairing a floating floor utilizing mechanical interlocking abutments there are provided hereinunder several aspects of the invention.
A floating floor for the purpose of the present specification relates to a floor comprising a plurality of floor panels arranged in a continuum, and the connection between adjacent panels is facilitated by cooperating, matching abutments at edges of the panels. An electrically heated floor relates to a continuum of various types of heating floor panels. These heating panels contain at least one heating element disposed in the panel and connecting electrodes which are disposed on opposing, complementary abutments of adjoining panels in a manner that when the panels are arranged in a pre-configured continuum, the electrodes would provide electrical path for energizing the respective heating elements, and/or act as busbars conducting electricity to energize follow-on heating panels in at least a portion of the continuum. Preferably, the heated floor provides the heating panels with sealing zones disposed about at least some of the cooperating electrodes, so as to provide environmental protection to the electrodes from the like of liquids which may reach the electrodes from above or under the panels without such sealing. Such liquids may cause short circuit, in certain case overheating at some areas, and potentially causing risk to humans if liquid reaches energized circuit element(s) and a human. It is noted that a sealing zone may act as an adhesive zone and vice versa, and the terms ‘adhesive zone’, ‘seal zone’, ‘sealing zone’, and ‘sealant zone’ may be used interchangeably.
In an aspect of the invention there is provided a repair adapter for a floor panel having an upper face, and at least one panel abutment, the repair adaptor comprises an adaptor abutment region having a abutment dimensioned and formed to operationally engage the panel abutment in a mechanical locking arrangement; and, a flange region coupled to the adapter abutment and extending away therefrom, the flange is directed upwardly and having an upper extremity dimensioned such that upon locking engagement between the adapter abutment and the panel abutment, the upper extremity is disposed substantially level with, or lower than, the upper surface of the panel. The upper extremity may be a top flat surface of the flange, or any other portion of the abutment which is operationally directed upwardly and is the tallest feature of the flange. Thus, by way of example the adapter flange may be a flat surface, and that surface forms the upper extremity, however if any portion of the flange extends upwardly, the uppermost portion of the flange forms the upper extremity. In certain embodiments the repair adapters flanges operationally abut each other so as to form a complete repair panel.
There is also provided in an aspect of the invention a repair plug having a body having an upper surface and a first and a second opposing edge regions. Each of the first and second edge regions have, respectively, a first and second flanges at a portion of the edge region. The flanges of the plug are dimensioned and disposed to operationally interface with the flanges of the adapter described above. The edge regions are dimensioned such that operationally upon engagement between the respective flanges of the plug and the flange of the adapter, the upper surface of the plug is substantially level with the upper surface of at least one adjacent floor panel. Thus, when a defective floor panel is removed and matching adapters are interfaced with both opposing floor panels of the removed, defective panel, the plug may be inserted to bridge the gap between the two adapters, and the respective flanges of the adapter and the plug may be connected by any desired method, such as adhesion, matching mechanical interlocking, well placed fasteners, and the like. Notably, in some embodiments an aesthetic topper may be utilized to bring the top surface of the plug level with the upper surface of the adjacent floor panels, and in such embodiments the thickness of the topper should be considered as a portion of the plug for the purpose of determining if the plug top surface is substantially at the level of the top surface of the adjacent floor panels. Stated differently the thickness of the topper should be added to the thickness of the plug and the combined thickness of the plug and topper should bring the top surface of the topper to similar height of the adjacent floor panels, when the plug and topper in combination operationally engages the respective adapter flanges.
The adapter and floor panel abutments may be of any kind befitting the existing floor structure. In classical tongue and groove based floors the adapter abutment may comprise a protrusion dimensioned to be received in a matching socket in the panel abutment, or the adapter abutment may comprise a socket dimensioned to receive a protrusion in the panel abutment. However as stated above the tongue and groove nomenclature is commonly applied to other types of mechanically interlocking abutments, and such types may have either a plurality of protrusions and sockets, and any combinations or sockets and protrusions on a single abutment. Such protrusions and sockets may be oriented in various orientations, include vertical, horizontal and numerous orientations therebetween. Therefore, in these specifications a mechanically locking interface is composed of male and female abutments, even if the two abutments are identical. Therefore the terms male and female abutments may be used arbitrarily with any one of a pair of interlocking abutments. It is noted that either male or female type abutments may be disposed on the floor panel and respectively, an opposing type abutment may be disposed on the matching adapter.
In an optional embodiment, the structure described above may be adapted to repair an electrically heated floor, where the floor panel abutment has a plurality of panel electrodes disposed on the panel abutment, by optionally providing the adapter with a plurality of abutment electrodes in the adapter abutment region, each of the abutment electrodes disposed in a matching fashion to at least one corresponding panel electrode, such that upon locking engagement between the adapter abutment and a respective panel abutment, the panel electrode cooperate forms electrical communication with the corresponding abutment electrode. The adapter also comprise a plurality of flange electrodes disposed in the adapter flange region, each flange electrode being in electrical communication with a corresponding abutment electrode. Such adapter may be referred to as an electrical adapter or electrical repair adapter in these specification, if specific differentiation between it and other adapters is required.
For the purpose of embodiments where the floor is electrically heated the repair plug described above further comprises a plurality of plug electrodes disposed in the respective flange of the plug, and positioned to operationally form electrical communication with corresponding electrical adapter flange electrodes. Such modified plug is referred to as an electric plug. The electric plug contains busbars 75R providing electrical communication between corresponding electrodes on opposing flanges thereof. Optionally, the electrical plug further comprises at least one electrical heater element 100R which is electrically coupled between the busbars 75R and energized therefrom. Thus, a heated floor repair is carried out similarly to the conventional floating floor, however the adapters utilized to interface with both opposing floor panels of the removed panel, the adapters are electrical adapters and the plug is an electrical plug. In embodiments where a heater is not present in the plug the electrical supply is transferred from one adapter abutment by the busbars, but the plug is not, by itself, heated.
Optionally, the electrical repair adaptor further comprises sealant disposed about at least one of the abutment electrodes to operationally form at least one sealant zone adjacent to the at least one abutment electrode and its respective panel electrode, the sealant zone being disposed so as to limits fluids from reaching either the panel electrode, the adapter electrode or both. Further optionally the adapter flange and/or the plug flange may comprise sealant disposed about at least one of the flange electrodes and/or plug electrodes.
It is recognized that various aspects of the invention may be combined in kit form. Thus, by way of non-limiting example, a kit may be sold comprising two adapters and a plug, to provide repair capability to a defective panel in the floor. Other aspects such as spacers, side adapters, topper, glue and/or sealant and the like may also be added however those are considered of secondary value. Thus, in an aspect of the invention there is provided a repair kit for a floating floor formed by a plurality of floor panels each having an upper face, and at least one panel abutment, the kit comprising at least a first repair adapter having an adapter abutment region having a abutment shaped to operationally engage a panel abutment of one of the floor panels in an interlocking arrangement, the adapter further having an flange region extending from the adapter abutment and, the flange having an upper extremity dimensioned such that upon locking engagement between the adapter abutment and the panel abutment, the upper extremity is disposed substantially level with, or lower than, the upper surface of the panel. Optionally, the kit further comprises a repair plug having a body having an upper surface and a first and a second opposing edge regions, each of the first and second edge regions having respectively a first and second flanges at a lower portion thereof, the flanges being dimensioned to interact with the flange of the repair adapter, and the edge regions are dimensioned such that operationally upon engagement between the respective flanges of the plug and the flange of the adapter, the upper surface of the plug is substantially level with the upper surface of the floor panel. In certain embodiments the kit contains additional elements such as glue, tools, and the like. In an optional embodiment a topper having a decorative top layer may further be provided.
In a repair kit for electrical floor, the floor panel abutments have a plurality of panel electrical electrodes disposed in or on the panel abutment, and the repair adapter is a repair adapter further comprising a plurality of abutment electrodes in the adapter abutment region, each of the abutment electrodes disposed in a matching fashion to at least one corresponding panel electrode, such that upon operational locking engagement between the adapter abutment and a cooperating respective panel abutment, the panel electrode cooperate and form electrical communication with the corresponding abutment electrode. The adapter further comprises a plurality of flange electrodes disposed in the adapter flange region, each of those flange electrode is in electrical communication with a corresponding abutment electrode. The repair plug is an electrical plug, or, stated differently, comprises a first repair flange having a plurality of plug electrodes which operationally interact with matching adapter electrodes, and second plurality of plug electrode disposed on the second flange of the plug which is disposed on an opposite side of the first plug flange, each of the first plurality of plug electrodes is being in electrical communication with corresponding electrode in the second plurality of electrodes. Thus the electrical plug in combination with the electrical adapters on opposing sides thereof form the busbars required to transfer electricity between the floor panel adjacent to the damaged panel.
Optionally, the plug further comprises at least one heating element energized from at least two of the plug electrodes on the first flange.
Further optionally the electrical repair plug and/or the electrical adapters may comprise sealant to form a sealing zone about one or more of the electrodes, so as to operationally form a sealing zone disposed so as to limits fluids from reaching either the panel electrode, the adapter electrode or both.
In yet another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for repairing a damaged panel in a floating floor having a plurality of floor panels, each having an upper face, and at least one panel abutment, the method comprising breaking the damaged floor panel to a plurality of panel parts and removing the broken floor panel parts from the floating floor. Once the damaged floor panel is removed from the floor, engaging at least a first and second repair adapters with respective floor panels adjacent to the damaged panel and on opposing sides thereof. The repair adapters abutment dimensioned and formed to operationally engage the respective floor panel abutment in a mechanical locking arrangement. The repair adapter may be of any type described in these specification, capable of interfacing with the adjacent floor panel, and has an upwardly flange region coupled to the adapter abutment and extending away therefrom, the repair adapter and the floor panel being engaged therebetween at their respective abutment regions. Once the repair abutments are coupled to their respective panel abutments, coupling a plug to the respective opposing repair adapters, such that the repair adapter flanges on each side interface with the flanges of the respective adapters. As the edge regions of the plug are dimensioned such that operationally upon engagement between the respective flanges of the plug and the flange of the adapter, the upper surface of the plug is substantially level with the upper surface of the floor panel, thus hiding the repair.
In embodiments where the floating floor is electrically heated, and two of the floor panels at opposing edges of the damaged panels each having a plurality of electrical electrodes at the respective panel abutment interfacing with the damaged panel. The repair adapters are electrical repair adapters of any type described in these specification and matching the respective panel abutments, and the repair plug is an electric plug, and interfaces with the electrical repair adapters. Stated differently the electrical adapters comprise a plurality of adapter electrodes disposed to engage with respective plurality of panel electrodes of the respective floor panels, and the electrodes of the respective repair adapters are electrically coupled by the respective electrodes of the plug, so as to provide electrical communication between the electrodes of the two opposing floor panels.
Optionally, the plug further comprises at least one heating element energized from the conductors.
Optionally a sealant zone may be provided about any one pair of cooperating electrodes, or any group of cooperating electrodes.
Features of various embodiments and/or aspects of the invention may be combined.
The summary above, and the following detailed description will be better understood in view of the enclosed drawings which depict details of preferred embodiments. It should however be noted that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangement shown in the drawings and that the drawings are provided merely as examples. The drawings are provided to facilitate understanding of various aspects and options of the invention, and no attempt is made to make the drawing conform to scale, nor to maintain a uniform scale between various drawings. Furthermore some of the drawing elements are shown without depth considerations and/or certain objects are potentially being hidden as the drawings, and are provided only to facilitate understanding of various aspects of the invention. For clarity certain views are provided ‘flattened’ so as to show elements that would have been hidden by constructs closer to the viewer, however in certain cases the disclosure specifically denotes depth relationship, such as element A covering element B, and such specifically disclosed spatial relationships should be considered in accordance with the relevant text.
For brevity of the description, unless deemed needed for clarity, when denoting a plurality of similar items these specification shall utilize generally similar numerals, and specific letters shall be annexed to the numerals to denote specific instances of the item when deemed required for extra clarity. Thus by way of illustrative example, the numeral 75 denotes generally a busbar, however the numeral 75R denotes a busbar disposed in a plug. The numeral 35 denotes generally and electrode in ab abutment or an abutment section, and 35R, 35F, and 35M relate to such electrodes in a plug, an electrode in the abutment region of one type of repair adapter, and an electrode in the abutment region of a repair adapter having a different and often time opposing abutment region, respectively. Moreover, several enumerated elements may depict a plurality of generally similar elements and such depiction should be considered to represent any number of such elements unless otherwise described. Thus, by way of illustrative example, several individual heating elements within a heater in
Certain embodiments of the invention will be described below by way of example embodiments which should not be construed as limiting but as a simplified guide for exercising different aspects of the invention.
The busbars of each floor panel of a row are electrically coupled to each other by electrodes disposed at interfacing abutments at the short side of the panels. The busbars are fed from a connector bar 500 which carries its own busbars 510 and 530. Any number of busbars many be utilized, and a ground busbar is oftentimes added.
The electric plug shown in
The flange regions of the adapters and/or the repair flange may be flat as shown or may contain interlocking portions (not shown).
It is seen that the respective busbar 75R each of the adjacent panels 5R and 5L are each electrically connected to an electrode 35P. As stated above, it is common for an abutment to have a plurality of electrodes distributed thereupon. Operationally, such electrodes are coupled to busbars carrying an electrical potential therebetween, such as one electrode being positive and another negative, two or three electrodes each coupled to alternating current busbar, which may be single phase, split phase or three phase, ground electrodes coupled to ground grid, and the like. It is again mentioned that the busbars provide low impedance circuit between the two edges of a panel, and the heater 100 is coupled between energized busbars.
Operationally, the floor panel electrodes 35P of floor panels 5R and 5F contact a matching adapter electrode 35M and 35F, respectively. Electrode 35F is electrically coupled in low impedance connection to flange electrode 37F, and similarly adapter electrode 35M is electrically coupled to flange electrode 37M. Electrodes 37F and 37M each form a contact with a respective plug electrode 37R. As the electrodes 37R on both sides of the plug are coupled by low impedance busbar 75R, a low impedance is established between the busbars of the adjacent panel 5R and 5L, maintain electrical continuity therebetween. If a heater 100RT is installed in the plug, the plug also provides heat.
In all embodiments, the top and bottom layers may be constructed of any desired material, such as plastic, wood, layers of wood and/or plastic venire, ceramic material and the like. If insulated material is utilized to isolate the power carrying elements from the surrounding non-powered elements, metallic and other conductive materials may also be used. Furthermore in some embodiments the lower layers of the adapters and/or the plug may be resilient in order to conform to imperfection in the sub-floor on which the flooring panel is laid. Either one of the layers may be made of similar or dissimilar materials.
Notably, adhesion zones may be utilized in any location on the complementary abutments, and in adapter and plug flanges. It is common to apply adhesive/sealant on both of the opposing sides, however adhesive/sealant may be applied to only one of the mating surfaces and the application of the adhesive is a matter of design choice. While the invention has been described so far in terms of adhesive/sealant being pre-applied to adhesion/sealing zones, in the case of flat abutment or flange, adhesive may be applied at the time of assembly of the floor. The term adhesion zone and or sealant zone extends equally to areas upon which adhesive are applied, whether to a single surface or to both opposing surfaces of the abutments which form the joint, as well as to the resulting area of adhesive formed after the complementary abutments are joined. Furthermore, an adhesion zone should be construed to include an area in which the adhesive acts as a sealant as well as an area where a portion of the area utilizes only a sealant and another only adhesive, and vice versa. An area were a sealant acts as an adhesive between the mating surfaces is also an embodiment of an adhesion zone. In many embodiments the adhesion zone is formed of a combination of two adhesion zone each on a surface, and the adhesion zone of each is formed when the two adhesion zones are brought together and adhered to each other.
Sealing may be obtained by adhesive, sealant, dedicated seal, a round cross-section seal such as an O-ring or O shaped seal, and the like.
It is further noted that while the terms “complimentary” and “substantially complementary” are used herein interchangeably, the terms complementary and substantially complementary as relating to abutments, denote an upper and a lower abutments of two adjacent floor panels respectively, the abutments are brought together to form the floor surface, and the complementary nature of the abutment may include any arrangement which will result in substantially flat floor. Such substantially complementary abutments do not necessarily match each and every feature of each other in a completely complementary manner. Thus, by way of example a flat abutment surface may be mated with a slotted abutment surface as well as with another flat surface, and one single protrusion abutment may be mated with a complementary abutment having a plurality of slots if there is at least one slot matching the protrusion. The complementary nature of the abutments may be made within reasonable tolerances selected to enable the jointing of adjacent floor panels, and when applicable to provide the required electrical contact requirements, as considered against other design considerations. When relating to contacts, the term complementary or substantially complementary relate to an arrangement where contacts are brought together to form electrical continuity when respective abutments are brought together in matched face to face relation to form a substantially flat floor surface, in matching fashion such that by way of example by laying floor panels in a continuous fashion where a first panel upper abutment is disposed above the lower abutment of a second panel and such that the respective contacts are in substantial registration sufficiently to create an electrical contact between matching contacts and/or electrodes.
The term “cross-section” implies that in the figures, the depth dimension may be largely ignored. The terms “repair plug” and “plug” are used interchangeably.
The term “operational” and its variations (such as “operationally” by way of example), when applied to a completed floor or to portions thereof such as individual floor panels including a replacement floor panel and/or its components when placed to replace a floor panel, connector bars, and the like, when the floor and/or the repair kit or a portion thereof are laid in their intended arrangement. Two repair adapters and a plug should be construed as fully operational when the adapters are engaged by floor panels adjacent to the floor panel being replaced, and a plug is laid therebetween and coupled thereto. In an electrically heated floor, the electrical components are operational when being in electrical communication therebetween, and/or receiving electrical power. The term “cooperating” relates to two or more items interacting with one another, such as when two adjacent abutments interface. With specific relation to electrical components cooperating components are cooperating when in electrical communication, and/or which are designed to be operationally in electrical communication, with each other. Thus by way of example two electrodes contacting each other are cooperating if during operation of the heated floor such connection facilitates electrical energy passage therebetween.
As is common in patent drawings the drawings and portions thereof are not necessarily drawn to any scale, neither between drawings nor within a single drawing. By way of particular example, adhesion zones may be very thin and depictions thereof in the drawings are highly exaggerated. Some of the drawings reflect only specific portion of the floor panels while other drawings and the accompanying description clarify the relative disposition of such portions.
Wavy lines in the drawings denote a discontinuity in the drawing, representing limits or boundaries of partial or interrupted views.
Notably, a damaged or otherwise defective panel is removed to be replaced by the repair adapters and the plug, and thus when the specification refer to floor panels adjacent to the damaged panel, this describes a selection of floor panels and the selection remains valid even after the damaged panel is removed. Furthermore, as heated floors may be fed by one or more connector bars, the such adapter bar may be considered a floor panel to satisfy then requirement of a floor panel adjacent to the damaged panel. In cases where a panel is damaged in the abutment area it may be necessary to repair two or more adjacent panels, a process which will be clear to a skilled artisan in view of the principles disclosed herein.
Unless otherwise specified, the terms “disposed in” and “disposed on” a specific portion of the structure should be construed as interchangeable and in certain embodiments as combinatorial. By way of example when a contact is described as being “on” an abutment or a flange, such contact may be disposed on the surface of the abutment of flange or protruding therefrom, or sunken therein, or any combination thereof. The term “disposed in” or “disposed on” should be considered to indicated general location within the complete structure.
While for brevity, the figures and the associates description generally describe a floor panels utilizing a rectangular top surface by way of example, it is noted that floor panels may be provided with top surfaces in any desired geometrical form such as, by way of example, square, rectangle, chevron, triangle and other polygons, and the scope of panel claims extend to such configurations. Furthermore, the floor panels disclosed herein may also be installed as a wall covering or even a ceiling if desired.
While certain embodiments may achieve one or more of the stated objects, persons skilled in the art would recognize that various embodiments may achieve one or more of those goals to a higher or lesser extent, and some embodiments may not achieve one or more goals, yet fall within the scope of the invention.
Unless otherwise specified, relational terms used in these specifications should be construed to include certain tolerances that the skilled in the art would recognize as providing equivalent functionality. By way of example the term perpendicular is not necessarily limited to 90.0°, but also to any slight variation thereof that the skilled in the art would recognize as providing equivalent functionality for the purposes described for the relevant member or element. Terms such as “about” and “substantially” in the context of configuration relate generally to disposition, location, or configuration that is either exact or sufficiently close to the location, disposition, or configuration of the relevant element to preserve operability of the element within the invention which does not materially modifies the invention. Similarly, unless specifically specified or clear from its context, numerical values should be construed to include certain tolerances that the skilled in the art would recognize as having negligible importance as it does not materially change the operability of the invention.
In these specifications reference is often made to the accompanying drawings which form a part of the disclosure, and in which are shown by way of illustration and not of limitation, exemplary implementations and embodiments. Further, it should be noted that while the description provides various exemplary embodiments, as described below and as illustrated in the drawings, this disclosure is not limited to the implementations described and illustrated herein, but can extend to other embodiments as would be known or as would become known to those skilled in the art. Reference in the specification to “one embodiment”, “this embodiment”, “these embodiments”, “several embodiments”, “selected embodiments” or “some embodiments” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment(s) may be included in one or more implementations, and the appearances of these phrases in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment(s). Additionally, in the description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough disclosure, guidance and/or to facilitate understanding of the invention or features thereof. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that these specific details may not all be needed in each implementation. In certain embodiments, well-known structures, materials, circuits, interfaces have not been described in detail, and/or may be illustrated schematically or in block diagram form, so as to not unnecessarily obscure the disclosure.
For clarity the directional terms such as ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘left’, ‘right’, and descriptive terms such as ‘upper’ and ‘lower’, ‘above’, ‘below’, ‘sideways’, ‘ inward’, ‘outward’, and the like, are applied according to their ordinary and customary meaning, to describe relative disposition, locations, and orientations of various components. When relating to the drawings, such directional and descriptive terms and words relate to the drawings to which reference is made. Notably, the relative positions are descriptive and relative to the above described orientation such as an upright orientation and modifying the orientation would not change the disclosed relative structure.
To the extent necessary to understand or complete the disclosure of the present invention, all publications, patents, and patent applications mentioned herein, including in particular the applications of the Applicant if any, are expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety by reference as is fully set forth herein.
It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to what has been described hereinabove merely by way of example. While there have been described what are at present considered to be the preferred embodiments of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other embodiments, changes, and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention and that it is, therefore, aimed to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention, for which letters patent is applied.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63386988 | Dec 2022 | US |
