US 5,860,267 · Granted 1999-01-19
The Angled-Drop Method That Made Laminate Flooring Click Into Place
Imagine building a floor by laying down boards one at a time, and each new board snaps and locks into the ones around it without nails or glue. This patent describes the exact choreography of placing and angling each board so its grooves and locking strips mesh perfectly with its neighbors, creating a tight, stable floor.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a specific mechanical joining method for rectangular building panels arranged in rows. What's protected here is the process of: placing a new panel at an angle against already-laid panels, then rotating it downward so its locking grooves engage with locking strips on neighboring panels, and finally sliding it into final position until short-edge locking elements snap together. The protection extends to the sequence and geometry of this multi-directional mechanical locking, not just the panel shapes themselves.
Why it matters
This patent enabled the modern click-lock flooring industry, particularly laminate and engineered wood floors that can be installed without adhesives or fasteners. The angled-drop method became the dominant installation technique across residential flooring because it's faster, cleaner, and allows for expansion and contraction of the material. Valinge Aluminum's patent protection on this method shaped how millions of floors have been installed since the late 1990s.
Real-world use
Every time someone installs laminate or engineered wood flooring in their home, they're following this exact sequence: tilting the board, dropping it down, and sliding it into place until it clicks.
Original USPTO abstract
A method for laying and mechanically joining rectangular building panels in parallel rows includes the steps of (a) placing a new one of the panels adjacent to a long edge of a previously laid first one of the panels in a first row and to a short edge of a previously laid second one of the panels in an adjacent second row, such that the new one of the panels is in the second row, while holding the new one of the panels at an angle relative to a principal plane of the first panel, such that the new one of the panels is spaced from its final longitudinal position relative to said second panel and such that the long edge of the new panel is provided with a locking groove which is placed upon and in contact with a locking strip at the adjacent long edge of the first panel; (b) subsequently angling down the new one of the panels so as to accommodate a locking element of the strip of the first panel in the locking groove of the new panel, whereby the new panel and the first panel are mechanically connected with each other in a second direction with respect to the thus connected long edges, wherein the long edges, in the angled down position of the new panel, are in engagement with each other and thereby mechanically locked together in a first direction also; and (c) displacing the new one of the panels in its longitudinal direction relative to the first panel towards a final longitudinal position until a locking element of one of the short edges of the new one of the panels and the second panel snaps up into a locking groove of the other one of the short edges, whereby the new one of the panels and the second panel are mechanically connected with each other in both in the first direction and in the second direction with respect to the thus connected short edges.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,860,267
- Filing date
- 1998-01-06
- Grant date
- 1999-01-19
- Assignee
- Valinge Aluminum Ab
- Inventor(s)
- PERVAN; TONY
- CPC class
- E04F15/02
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