US 2,005,210,810 · Filed 2004-12-02
The Locking Floorboard Pattern That Made DIY Flooring Click Into Place
Imagine floorboards with clever interlocking edges that snap together like puzzle pieces — no nails or glue needed. This patent covers a system where different types of boards (some mirror-flipped versions of others) fit together in a pattern that's so tight and secure you can install wood flooring yourself in a weekend.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a flooring system made of rectangular boards in three types, where Type A and Type B boards have locking devices on their short and long edges that mirror each other, allowing them to interlock, and Type C boards have a different locking pattern on their short edges and long edges. What's protected here is the specific geometric arrangement of these interlocking mechanisms and the system of using multiple board types in combination to create a stable, gapless floor without adhesives or fasteners.
Why it matters
This patent represents the engineering behind click-lock or tongue-and-groove flooring systems that revolutionized how homeowners install laminate and engineered wood floors. By allowing boards to lock together mechanically rather than requiring nails, glue, or professional installation, this technology lowered the barrier to entry for DIY home improvement and expanded the market for residential flooring. The assignee, Valinge Aluminium AB, developed core locking technologies that became industry standards.
Real-world use
When you snap down the next plank in a laminate floor and hear that satisfying click, you're using interlocking geometry that traces back to patents like this one. Every floating floor installation — where boards sit loosely on a subfloor — relies on this kind of mechanical locking system.
Original USPTO abstract
A system for forming a flooring includes rectangular floorboards ( 1, 1′ ) including first and second types of floorboards (A, B), on which first and second locking devices are arranged in pairs on opposing short edges ( 5 a, 5 b ) and long edges ( 4 a, 4 b ), respectively, and on which the locking device of the first type of floorboard (A) along one pair of opposing joint edges is mirror inverted relative to the corresponding locking device along the same pair of opposing joint edges of the second type of floorboard (B). The system includes a third type of floorboard (C), which is so designed that a first one ( 5 b ) of its two short edges presents the first locking device ( 12 ) and both its long edges ( 4 a, 4 b ) and its other short edge ( 5 a ) presents the second locking device.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 2,005,210,810
- Filing date
- 2004-12-02
- Grant date
- Application — not yet granted
- Assignee
- Valinge Aluminium Ab
- Inventor(s)
- PERVAN DARKO
- CPC class
- E04F15/02038
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