US 6,029,416 · Granted 2000-02-29
The Fuzzy Floor Joint That Locks Out Dust and Squeaks
Imagine a wooden floor where the tongue-and-groove joints have tiny fibers glued to them—like microscopic velvet. Those fibers are longer than the gap between pieces, so they compress and create a seal that blocks dust, moisture, and movement. It's a simple tweak that makes floors quieter and longer-lasting.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a tongue-and-groove flooring joint system where at least one surface of either the groove or tongue has flocked fibers (short fibers adhered to a surface, like on velvet or felt) attached along its entire length. The critical protection is the specific requirement that those fibers be longer than the gap between the groove and tongue—this overlap creates compression and sealing. Anyone making flooring with this exact fiber-based joint design without a license would infringe.
Why it matters
This patent protects a clever, low-cost solution to a common floor problem: dust, moisture, and air gaps between boards that cause squeaking and separation over time. By adding flocked fibers to the joint surfaces, the design creates a mechanical seal that improves durability and comfort without requiring complex hardware or assembly changes. For manufacturers, this represents a tradeable technical edge in the competitive flooring market.
Real-world use
When you walk barefoot across a laminate or wood floor and feel it shift slightly under your weight, or hear a faint squeak, you're experiencing what this patent tries to prevent—gaps and movement between boards that this flocked-joint design would suppress.
Original USPTO abstract
In a system for jointing together of adjacent pieces of flooring material by means of grooves (3) and tongues (4), at least one of the opposing surfaces on the tongues (4) and the grooves (3) of the pieces display flocked surface portions (10-13). The flocked surface portions (10-13) extend along the tongues (4) and/or the grooves (3) and cover substantially their entire length. The fiber length (9) of the flocked surface portions (10-13) exceeds the difference between the width of the grooves (3) and the thickness of the tongues (4).
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,029,416
- Filing date
- 1995-12-19
- Grant date
- 2000-02-29
- Assignee
- Golvabia Ab
- Inventor(s)
- ANDERSSON; KJELL
- CPC class
- E04B1/6133
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