US 6,536,178 · Granted 2003-03-25
The Pergo Patent That Turned Mismatched Flooring Into Click-Together Puzzles
Imagine floor tiles designed so that some pieces have male connectors and others have female connectors on their edges, letting you mix different tile shapes and styles while they lock together vertically. This patent describes how to combine triangular, square, and other shaped tiles so they snap together without gaps—like a sophisticated building-block system for your floor.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a flooring system made up of interlocking tile elements that use a combination of male and female joining members on their edges. What's protected here is the specific arrangement where some tiles (female elements) have female connectors on most edges and male connectors on fewer edges, while other tiles (male elements) have male connectors on most edges and female connectors on fewer. An optional joining profile can connect two adjacent male connectors. The patent protects this mixed-connector design that lets different shaped floor elements click together vertically.
Why it matters
This patent matters because it solves a real problem in flooring: how to let manufacturers and homeowners combine different tile shapes and decorative styles while keeping them locked tightly together. Before this kind of design, mixing floor tile types often meant gaps, movement, or complicated installation. By patenting the specific arrangement of male and female connectors across different tile types, Pergo (a major flooring company) protected a system that became central to click-lock and interlocking flooring products. This invention opened up creative floor design possibilities while maintaining structural integrity.
Real-world use
Every time someone installs modern click-together laminate or vinyl flooring with different colors or patterns that lock edge-to-edge, they're benefiting from this kind of connector design. You'd see it in homes and offices where fancy herringbone or mixed-pattern floors snap together without visible seams.
Original USPTO abstract
Vertically joined flooring material comprising floor elements ( 1 ) with a mainly triangular, square, rectangular, rhomboidal or polygonal shape, as seen from above. The floor elements ( 1 ) are provided with edges ( 2 ) which are provided with joining members ( 20 ), a lower side ( 5 ) and a decorative top surface ( 3 ). The flooring material comprises a combination of at least two types of floor elements ( 1 ), which types comprises female floor elements ( 1 ′) and male floor elements ( 1 ″). The female floor element ( 1 ′) is provided with a female joining member ( 21 ) on at least half of the number of its edges ( 2 ) and a male joining member ( 22 ) on less than half of the number of its edges ( 2 ). The male floor element ( 1 ″) is provided with a male joining member ( 22 ) on at least two thirds of the number of its edges ( 2 ) and a female joining member ( 21 ) on less than one third of the number of its edges ( 2 .) An optional joining profile ( 50 ) possibly constitutes a junction between two adjacent male joining members ( 22 ) of two adjacent floor elements ( 1 ).
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,536,178
- Filing date
- 2000-09-29
- Grant date
- 2003-03-25
- Assignee
- Pergo (Europe) Ab
- Inventor(s)
- PAALSSON JOERGEN, SYLEGAARD INGVAR
- CPC class
- B44C3/123
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