US 2,003,033,777 · Filed 2002-08-13

The Quiet Floor Patent That Turned Laminate Into Soundproofing

This patent describes a floor tile with a built-in sound-absorbing layer sandwiched between the decorative top and bottom layers. Instead of sound bouncing around your room, the special middle layer absorbs it, making your floors quieter—perfect for apartments or offices where noise matters.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a floor panel design where a sound-absorbing layer is deliberately integrated between the hard decorative top surface and the underlying structure. What's protected here is the specific construction method and layered arrangement that allows the panel to absorb noise while maintaining a finished, decorative appearance. Anyone manufacturing a floor tile with this sandwich-layer noise-dampening design would be infringing on this patent's core innovation.

Why it matters

This patent addresses a real problem in modern flooring: hard surfaces like laminate and tile amplify footsteps, furniture scraping, and room noise. By baking sound absorption directly into the panel itself rather than requiring separate underlayment, this design simplifies installation for consumers and contractors while delivering acoustic benefits that can improve comfort in shared living spaces, offices, and apartments.

Real-world use

When you walk across a laminate floor in an apartment and notice it's unusually quiet compared to your neighbor's noisier setup, you might be stepping on a floor built with this technology—sound-dampening built right into the tiles.

Original USPTO abstract

Floor panel of the type comprising a hard top layer ( 3 ) forming a decorative surface, from which, together with other identical or similar floor panels ( 1 ), a floor covering can be formed, wherein this floor panel ( 1 ) includes at least one sound-absorbing layer ( 4 ) which is integrated into the floor panel ( 1 ) and is located between other layers of this floor panel ( 1 ).

Patent details

Publication number: US 2,003,033,777
Filing date: 2002-08-13
Grant date: Application — not yet granted
Assignee: Bernard Thiers / Peter Hochepied
Inventor(s): THIERS BERNARD, HOCHEPIED PETER
CPC class: B32B9/042

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