US3082488A - Floor or like tile - Google Patents

Description

March 26, 1963 M. NUSBAUM 3,082,488

FLOOR OR LIKE TILE Filed May 16, 1957' 3 sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

( N N N Mortimer Nusboum w w Q BY mm 6&4,

United states This invention relates to tiles, and in particular relates to floor tiles.

Heretofore floor tiles, for example, have been provided in squares of thin material, usually of rubber, asphalt, vinyl plastic, or the like. Considerable skill was, however, required to apply such tiles to floors, usually by means of tacky adhesive. Rough floor surfaces and the difficulty of applying a uniform thickness of the adhesive materials frequently resulted in the finished floor having unsightly wavy surfaces, exposed edges, and misaligned corners, whether the tiles were laid by skilled or unskilled persons. In some instances, tiles made of certain materials could not be satisfactorily adhered to concrete basement floors, and it was impractical to nail or tack tiles of any kind to such concrete floors.

It is a primary object of the present invention to pro vide interlocking floor tiles adapted to be installed on any kind of floor surface by relatively unskilled persons on a do-it-yourself basis, without use of adhesives or other means for attaching the same to the floor.

Another object of the invention is to provide interlocking tiles of the character described, which may be fitted together on a floor in edge-to-edge relationship with no portions of the interlocking edge portions of the tiles unsupported to become damaged, as by shoe heel impressions or by furniture supports.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved tile units of the character described, which when interlocked will have the corners retained in accurately aligned relationship by the interlocking means.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved tiles of the character described which are of polygonal shape, such as square, including interlocking means which permits complemental interlocking of the side of any given tile with any side of any like tile, whereby the tiles are easy to install to have a wide range of patterns or ornamental design arrangements.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tile having an improved tongue and groove interlocking means by which a given tile, of square shape for example, may be easily interlocked with angularly disposed sides of two like tiles previously laid on a floor.

Still another object of the invention is to provide interlocking tiles of the character described, by which tile units of relatively large size may be easily interlocked with corresponding interlocking means of like tiles of the same or smaller size.

Other objects of the invention will be manifest from the following brief description and the accompanying drawings.

Of the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a self-locking tile embodying the features of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is an edge view of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an exploded edge view, corresponding to FIGURE 2, illustrating a laminated structure thereof.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary top plan view on a reduced scale, illustrating a plurality of tiles as shown in FIGURE 1, in interlocked position on a floor.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section taken substantially on the line 55 of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a similar enlarged cross-section taken substantially on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 7 is a further enlarged fragmentary crossinc section, corresponding to FIGURE 5, and illustrating a modified form of the invention.

FIGURE 8 is a view corresponding to FIGURE 4, illustrating another modification of the invention.

FIGURE 9 is a view corresponding to FIGURE 1 and illustrating a further modification of the invention.

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary perspective view, illustrating a modification suggested by FIGURES 41 to 8.

Referring particularly to FIGURES 1 and 2, there is illustrated atile unit 10 comprising a relatively thin plate of generally square shape, providing four straight side edges of equal length. It is understood that the plate may be of other polygonal shapes, but the square plate is shown because it is the most commonly used shape for tile flooring. Theplate 10 may be molded of solid material such as rubber, vinyl plastic, asphalt, wood, or other suitable material, having a top facing of good wearing quality. FIGURES 2 and 3, however, indicate theplate 10 as being of laminated structure including upper, bottom andintermediate layers 13, 14 and 15, respectively, cemented or otherwise bonded together, as shown in FIGURE 2. Theupper layer 13 may be of suitable colorful, ornamental, and long-wearing material such as rubber or vinyl plastic, and may be of square shape defined bystraight side edges 11. The bottom layer may be of relatively hard material, such as Wood fiber in some instances, or a cushioning material, such as foam rubber, where desirable or necessary. Theintermediate layer 15 immediately belowtop layer 13, may be of inexpensive material which is relatively rigid for purposes to be described.Bottom layer 14 is the same size and shape as theupper layer 13. The rigid nature oflayer 15 reinforces theplate 10.

Formed along eachedge 11 of plate Ill may be a tongue and agroove 16 and 16a, respectively, of identical though oppositely disposed generally tapered shape, adapted to be complementally interlocked with like oppositely disposed tongues and grooves or recesses with asimilar plate 10. When theplate 10 is of laminated structure; these tongues and grooves may be formed as by known stamping methods, in theintermediate layer 15, in which case the laminations would be bonded together as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 by use of suitable jigs, fixtures or other means (not shown). The taper of each tongue is defined 'by a laterally outwardly presentedstraight edge 17, tapering from an angularly disposededge 18 to apoint 19 coincident with the corner formed by twoadjacent side edges 11. The "inner edge 18 of the tongue may extend at a substantially abrupt angle to theedge 11, an angle of 4 5 being shown, and thereby forming an obtuse angle with thelonger edge 17. For purposes which will be understood later, correspondingtapered edges 17 of all of saidtongues 16 extend in the same direction peripherally of theplate 19, and the grooves orrecesses 16a are each oppositely complementally shaped to receivetongues 16 of asimilar plate 16, Without substantial clearance between theedges 17 and 18 of the tongues and corresponding inner angularly disposedfaces 20* and 21 of the grooves, so that the long tapers of the grooves also all extend in the same direction peripherally of theplate 10, but opposite to that of the tapered tongues. The shorter edge portion of each groove is aligned with theshorter edge portion 18 of the nearestadjacent tongue 16 on the same side edge of the plate. In other words, the side edges of the plate are of predetermined lengths and the lengths of the tongues and grooves, as shown, are each of a unit length which is one of equal increments of said predetermined unit lengths of the side edges of the plate, said increment in this instance being onehalf the unit length of each said edge of the plate, and in each instance adjacent apices of the narrow ends of next adjacent tongues and grooves coincide at eachcorner 19 of the plate defined by adjacent cornen oneness ingside edges 11 thereof. 'Thus, as the lengths of the tongues and grooves are equal, and are equal to one-half the unit length of the corresponding side edge of the plate, each saidside edge 11 is adapted to be selectively complementally interlocked with any side edge of anysimilar plate 19, or a portion thereof (one-half in this instance). This feature has a distinct advantage in arranging a plurality ofplates 18 with sunface patterns, grains, or configurations in a variety of composite designs.

Use of the improved tile of FIGURES l, 2 and 3 is best shown in FIGURES 4, 5 and 6, wherein FIGURE 4 illustrates a plurality of tiles being laid on a floor F, without adhesives or other means of attachment thereto. Assuming that rows A and B of tiles it} have been laid on floor F in accordance with the usual practice of startinga row A at the center of a room and Working toward a side thereof, eachtile 10 is interlockedin tongue-in-groove relationship, as indicated by the zigzag dotted lines along theplate edges 11, in FIGURE 4, and as clearly shown in FIGURES 5 and 6. In row C, for example, the tiles iii are laid from left to right against like tiles of row B, previously laid in the same manner'against tiles of row A. That is, one tile 1% is shown being inserted cornerwise, as indicated by -chaindotted and full line positions at the lower left-hand side of FIGURE .4, toward a position of interlocking tongue-in-groove engagement with right-angularly disposedsides 11 of twoadjacent tiles 10, a shown at the right of row B. This cornerwise insertion of the tile is greatly facilitated by the fact thatedge 18 of eachtongue 16 converges with respect to theinner surface 21 of thegroove 16a of the next adjacent side edge at therespective corner 19. Because eachtile 10 may have any side thereof interlocked, as described, With any side of any other similar'tile, it is a simple matter to arrange groups of tiles with desired matching surface designs, or with the grain or patterns thereof in pleasing relationship. Moreover, the angular relationship of theedges 17 and 18 of each tongue, in interlocked relation to thecorresponding surface portions 29 and 21, respectively, is efiective to locate thecorners 19 of each tile exactly coincident withcorners 19 of adjacent tiles mated therewith, and is further effective to retain matched tiles against relative movement longitudinally of the parallelmatching edges 11 of the same.

Referring to FIGURES 5 and 6, the bottomsquare layer 14 of eachplate 10 may be slightly smaller than top square 12, substantially as shown in FIGURE 7, to assure perfect contact of the matching ormating edges 11, as described, and/ or perfect interlocking engagement of the mating tongues and grooves.

Referring now to FIGURE 7, there is shown an enlarged cross-section corresponding to FIGURE 5, illustrating tongue-in-groove engagement of twotiles 23, 23 of modified form. Each tile 23 'may com-prise aplate 24 of molded rubber, vinyl plastic, or the like, and atop layer 25 of carpeting suitably bonded thereto. The carpeting may be of known type wherein tufted wool, or other strandedfiber 26 is anchored or bonded in a cushioninglayer 27 of soft resilient material, such as foam rubber. Thelayer 25 may also be of a thin veneer of tough but attractive rubber, vinyl plastic, or the like, but in any event theseparate layer 25 makes possible the use of a relatively inexpensive base plate 2 5.

FIGURE 8 illustrates use of a modified form oftile 29 with a plurality of smaller tiles 3%, 3t? laid on a floor F as described in connection with FIGURE 4. Thetile 29 may be of relatively large size, such as eighteen inches square, for use withlike tiles 30 of proportionately smaller size, such as nineinches square, for reasons to be described.

r Thelarge tile 29 may be made as shown in FIGURE 7 but with matchedsmaller segments 31, 31, say nine sixinch squares, of attractive material such as rubber or vinyl plastic, bonded to a largersquare base plate 32. In place of the nine segments 31 a single eighteen-inch square of carpet material, such as thelayer 25 of FIGURE 7, may be substituted. 7

FIGURE 8 shows thebase 32 provided with two spacedtapered tongues 34 and two spaced complementallyshaped grooves 35, formed in eachstraight side edge 36, 36 thereof. As before, each tongue and each groove is of unit length which is one of equal increments of a unit length of each side, which in this case is one-fourth the length of each side edge. As before, also, eachtongue 34 is longitudinally tapered, as defined by a relativelylong edge 36 at an acute angle to therespective side edge 35 of the plate orbase 32 and a relativelyshorter edge 37, at a more abrupt acute angle toedge 37, theedges 36 and 37 being atan obtuse angle to each other. The tongues and grooves extend around the base plate in alternation, and, as in the case of the FIGURE 1 structure, corresponding edges of the tongues taper toward the respective side edges in the same direction peripherally of the base plate.

Thesmaller tiles 30 have tongues andgrooves 34 and 36, respectively, of the same proportions and sizes as for the larger tile, and in either size of tile each corner has coincident therewith the terminal point of the wide end of tongues and grooves of adjacent side edges forming the respective said corner. Thus anytile 29 may be inserted cornerwise, as shown in FIGURE 8, toward interlocking tongue-in-groove engagement of two adjacent side edges thereof with correspondingly disposed edges formed by two pairs of adjacentsmaller tiles 30. Obviously, thelarge tile 32 may be similarly assembled on a floor F with like tiles of the same size. Cornerwise assembly of the tiles, in the manner shown in FIGURE 8, is facilitated by an outwardly converging relationship of aside 36 of atongue 34 and a complemental surface portion of agroove 35, at each corner of thetile 29, or 30, as the case may be.

FIGURE 9 illustrates atile 40 which is like the tile shown in FIGURES l to 6, except that eachside edge 41 has four triangular-shaped tongues 42 and four complementally shapedgrooves 43, each of unit length which is one of equal increments of the unit length of eachside edge 41. This structure functions precisely as previously described, except that the tiles of one row may be variously offset with respect to those of an adjacent row of tiles, to produce a greater variety of design arrangements.

FIGURE 10 illustrates a modification of the invention suggested by FIGURES 1 to 8 of the drawings, and whereinlayers 13 and 14 have the tongue and groove shape and arrangement of FIGURE 8, and acarpet layer 26 of FIGURE 7 is applied tolayer 13.

Thus has been provided improved tile structures adapted to be quickly and accurately applied on a floor surface by relatively unskilled persons. The various forms of the invention are particularly desirable to satisfy an apparent demand for tiles which may be applied on a do-it-yourself basis, without the usual clutter and messiness incident to assembly of tiles requiring use of adhesives, for example.

In each form of the invention the tongue-in-groove relationship of tiles assembled on a fioor locks the individual tile against relative movement in various directions laterally of the floor surface, and also locks each tile against upward movement with respect to an adjacent mating tile, thereby obviating diificulty of persons tripping over exposed edges of tiles. Moreover, the tongues fully complementally engage in corresponding grooves, with no unsupported portions from corner'to corner of the mating tiles, which is important also in eliminating any possibility of grime or dirt getting under the tiles from between mating edges thereof.

In actual use of the invention, where the tongue and groove arrangement of FIGURE 9, for example, is combined with the laminated structures of FIGURES 1 to 3, and when the tongues andgrooves 42 and 43, respectively, are defined portions in abacking layer 32 of relatively rigid material corresponding to layer 15 of FIGURES 2 and 3, the cushioningbottom layer 14 may be omitted. In such instances, when thetiles 31 are laid on a floor,

aoeaass each tile is firmly locked against the floor by the tongue 42 thereof being received in the grooves of the next adjacent or matching tile, and it is impossible to lift or otherwise remove any tile out of its locked position, except piece-by-piece in a manner converse to that in which the tiles are installed as previously described. That is, if it is desired to remove a particular tile, spaced at a distance from a given edge of the installed flooring, it is necessary to remove tiles, starting at that edge, and continue removing them until said particular tile is reached. Such removal of the tile, however, is accomplished in the same easy manner in which they are installed as described above in connection with FIGURES 4 and 8.

The relativelyrigid layer 15, in fact, serves to retain the unitary tiles firmly interlocked, in edge-to-edge relationship, regardless of expansion and contraction of plastic, tufted carpet, or other relatively more elastic layers supported or reinforced by the relatively rigid layer.

In further amplification of the description, it should be noted that in all forms of the invention shown and described there are the same number of tongues as re cesses on each respective side edge of the tiles. Also, in each form shown, each corner of the tiles has edge portions of an adjacent tongue and a recess converging to the respective corner, from opposite sides of the side edge of the tile from which the respective corner tongue extends.

With particular reference to FIGURES 5, 6, 8 and 9, the adjacent edge portions of adjacent tongues and recesses, 34 and 35, respectively, of any corner of the tile are convergent to such corner, from opposite sides of theside edge 29 or 41 of the tile from which the respective corner tongue extends, and the angle between such side edge and the adjacent short edge portion of the respective recess includes an area to the corresponding corner having the full thickness of the tile, whether or not thecushioning layer 14 or" FIGURES 5 and 6 is omitted. In this structure, moreover, the close proximity of the apices of the outer side portions of corner tongues 34 (FIGURE 8), and of the corresponding Wide portions of the corner recesses 35, to the respective corners, provide requisite optimum interlocking engagement at the corners of like tiles assembled in mating cornering relationship as shown in part in FIGURE 8.

Other modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A floor or like tile comprising a relatively thin, unitary plate having an upper portion of rectangular shape defined by straight side edges; a lower portion of said plate below said rectangular portion being formed with reference to said side edges to provide alternate tongues and recesses extending outwardly and inwardly, respectively, of said side edges, peripherally around the plate; each said side edge of the plate having a plurality of tongues and a plurality of recesses and having the same number of tongues as recesses; said tongues being substantially uniformly thin and each tongue being defined by angularly opposed edge portions tapering substantially in divergent straight lines from an apex thereof, and each line being disposed at an acute angle to the respective side edge of the plate and the recesess being correspondingly defined; one of said opposed edge portions of each tongue and recess being longer than the other, the longer and shorter edge portions of each recess being aligned continuations of the longer and shorter edge portions of the tongues, respectively; the longer edge portions of the tongues of the respective said side edges being tapered from the apices of the tongues in the same general direction peripherally around the plate; the lengths of said tongues and recesses along said side edges being equal and each being one of equal increments of predetermined lengths of the side edges; the short edge portions of a tongue and a recess terminating at each corner apex of said plate and having adjacent edge portions thereof convergent to and intersecting at the respective corner apex from opposite directions inwardly and outwardly of the edges of the plate; said plate thereby being adapted to have the tongues and recesses thereof snugly complementally interlocked with corresponding tongues and recesses of like plates when laid flatwise on a supporting surface to have the straight side edges of plates in edgewise mating relationship; the alternate arrangement of the tongues and recesses around said plate being such that each corner of said plate will have the apex of a tongue and a recess closely adjacent the respective corner apex to provide optimum interlocking engagement of the corner of the plate with a like plate in said edgewise mating relationship.

2. A floor or like tile as set forth in claim 1, wherein at least said lower portion of the plate is of substantially rigid material, and said tongues being rigid extensions of said lower portion.

3. A floor or like tile as set forth in claim 2, wherein said upper portion of said plate is of square shape.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 16,867 Healy Feb. 7, 1928 220,893 Westcott Oct. 21, 1879 599,117 Broome et al. Feb. 15, 1898 957,189 Chappell May 10, 1910 1,420,810 Bean June 27, 1922 1,895,801 Keller Jan. 31, 1933 1,910,810 Nash May 23, 1933 2,099,149 Turnquist Nov. 16, 1937 2,175,698 Netz Oct. 10, 1939 2,187,672 Wedberg Jan. 16, 1940 2,189,218 Neumeister Feb. 6, 1940 2,760,895 Holgerson Aug. 28, 1956 2,807,057 Mondry Sept. 24, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 491,383 Italy Mar. 4, 1954

Claims (1)

1. A FLOOR OR LIKE TILE COMPRISING A RELATIVELY THIN, UNITARY PLATE HAVING AN UPPER PORTION OF RECTANGULAR SHAPE DEFINED BY STRAIGHT SIDE EDGES; A LOWER PORTION OF SAID PLATE BELOW SAID RECTANGULAR PORTION BEING FORMED WITH REFERENCE TO SAID SIDE EDGES TO PROVIDE ALTERNATE TONGUES AND RECESSES EXTENDING OUTWARDLY AND INWARDLY, RESPECTIVELY, OF SAID SIDE EDGES, PERIPHERALLY AROUND THE PLATE; EACH SAID SIDE EDGE OF THE PLATE HAVING A PLURALITY OF TONGUES AND A PLURALITY OF RECESSES AND HAVING THE SAME NUMBER OF TONGUES AS RECESSES; SAID TONGUES BEING SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORMLY THIN AND EACH TONGUE BEING DEFINED BY ANGULARLY OPPOSED EDGE PORTIONS TAPERING SUBSTANTIALLY IN DIVERGENT STRAIGHT LINES FROM AN APEX THEREOF, AND EACH LINE BEING DISPOSED AT AN ACUTE ANGLE TO THE RESPECTIVE SIDE EDGE OF THE PLATE AND THE RECESSES BEING CORRESPONDINGLY DEFINED; ONE OF SAID OPPOSED EDGE PORTIONS OF EACH TONGUE AND RECESS BEING LONGER THAN THE OTHER, THE LONGER AND SHORTER EDGE PORTIONS OF EACH RECESS BEING ALIGNED CONTINUATIONS OF THE LONGER AND SHORTER EDGE PORTIONS OF THE TONGUES, RESPECTIVELY; THE LONGER EDGE PORTIONS OF THE TONGUES OF THE RESPECTIVE SAID SIDE EDGES BEING TAPERED FROM THE APICES OF THE TONGUES IN THE SAME GENERAL DIRECTION PERIPHERALLY AROUND THE PLATE; THE LENGTHS OF SAID TONGUES AND RECESSES ALONG SAID SIDE EDGES BEING EQUAL AND EACH BEING ONE OF EQUAL INCREMENTS OF PREDETERMINED LENGTHS OF THE SIDE EDGES; THE SHORT EDGE PORTIONS OF A TONGUE AND A RECESS TERMINATING AT EACH CORNER APEX OF SAID PLATE AND HAVING ADJACENT EDGE PORTIONS THEREOF CONVERGENT TO AND INTERSECTING AT THE RESPECTIVE CORNER APEX FROM OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS INWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY OF THE EDGES OF THE PLATE; SAID PLATE THEREBY BEING ADAPTED TO HAVE THE TONGUES AND RECESSES THEREOF SNUGLY COMPLEMENTALLY INTERLOCKED WITH CORRESPONDING TONGUES AND RECESSES OF LIKE PLATES WHEN LAID FLATWISE ON A SUPPORTING SURFACE TO HAVE THE STRAIGHT SIDE EDGES OF PLATES IN EDGEWISE MATING RELATIONSHIP; THE ALTERNATE ARRANGEMENT OF THE TONGUES AND RECESSES AROUND SAID PLATE BEING SUCH THAT EACH CORNER OF SAID PLATE WILL HAVE THE APEX OF A TONGUE AND A RECESS CLOSELY ADJACENT THE RESPECTIVE CORNER APEX TO PROVIDE OPTIMUM INTERLOCKING ENGAGEMENT OF THE CORNER OF THE PLATE WITH A LIKE PLATE IN SAID EDGEWISE MATING RELATIONSHIP.

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