Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – Facer held by stiffener-type frame – Back-to-back facers spaced by concealed framing
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-14
2004-02-10
Canfield, Robert (Department: 3635)
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
Facer held by stiffener-type frame
Back-to-back facers spaced by concealed framing
C052S403100, C052S489100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06688065
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. History of the Technology
Two of the many practical problems confronting installers of large athletic flooring constructions are dampening vibration and avoiding damage to the floor resulting from the ineluctable deterioration caused by moisture. Since the installation cost of such floors is expensive, there has been a longfelt need to solve such problems. Most sports floors are poor vibration and shock absorbers; they become unstable when exposed to water because the wood members of the subfloor components expand and contract and tend to warp and ultimately become loosened and this causes the whole floor construction to develop dead spots and become unstable and vibrate and the exterior floor surface no longer provides a reliable playing surface having the desired consistent uniform ball-bounce response. The prior art has long been in search of a flooring construction that is assembled quickly, that reduces vibration, absorbs shock, is moisture resistant and provides a faster, stable playing surface without vibrations and dead spots on which a round ball has a livelier more consistent bounce.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A shock absorbent athletic flooring system without vibrations has been the elusive object of many patent inventions. Unfortunately, a lot of athletic floors are too loose and have floating members and dead spots, or they are fastened so tight that there is little or no shock absorbing capacity. The prior art floors are difficult to install and all suffer from having guide channels which support the subfloor nailing beds which channels are rendered immobile because they are fastened directly to a concrete foundation; see the Counihan, Grenau and Amholt patents. Regardless of the insertion of a myriad of springs, foam pads, and such like into the subfloor, the channel guideways in the prior art are pinned down directly to the foundation so the floor can not breathe and rise above the foundation. Representative prior art disclosures include the following U.S. Patents: Allen U.S. Pat. No. 2,317,015; Anderson U.S. Pat. No. 2,317,428; Strom U.S. Pat. No. 2,368,620; Shumaker U.S. Pat. No. 2,539,038; Omholt U.S. Pat. No. 3,271,916; Omholt U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,694; Morgan U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,264; Counihan U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,842; Grenau U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,250; Counihan U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,413; Shelton U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,621; and Counihan U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,183. The prior art floors are expensive to install because of the expense of labor and materials.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention concerns a flooring construction which can move up and down within defined deflexure limits. The floor has a novel subfloor assembly which is elevated above its foundation base. The subfloor sections are separated by a gap from each other; they do not touch each other. This reduces vibration in the total floor construction. This invention is a resilient subflooring construction for assembly of a top floor on a foundation which comprises a plurality of spaced apart parallel layers of underlayment members extending longitudinally along the foundation, each having an outside edge and an inside edge. The underlayment members are illustrated by reference signs
12
and
13
in
FIGS. 2 and 4
. A plurality of spaced apart parallel channel means support the underlayment members and they also extend longitudinally along the foundation, each channel has a closed horizontal top and bottom side in parallel with the plane of said foundation, and they have two vertical sides comprising an opening into the channel at one side and a closed vertical side between said horizontal top and bottom sides and each vertical side is perpendicular to the plane of the foundation. The inside edge of the underlayment member is in engagement with the channel extending through its opening at one end to be supported inside the channel. The channels are elevated above the foundation surface by a plurality of anchoring clip means for engaging the channel to the foundation. Each clip is comprised of three members including a horizontal tab engagement member at its top for engagement inside the channel, a vertical riser member at its middle to permit downward and upper movement of the construction, and a horizontal tab fastening member at its bottom, facing in an opposite direction from the top tab member, for fastening to the foundation. The anchoring clip is illustrated by reference sign
6
in
FIGS. 2 and 4
. The closed vertical side of the channel has a vertical deflexure slot aperture for engagement with the horizontal tab member of the anchoring clip with each vertical deflexure slot positioned for such engagement which permits deflexure movement of the construction downwards and limits the extent of its upward movement by the height of the vertical riser member of the anchoring clip. The top floor surface is fastened by fastening means such as nails to underlayment members, and the horizontal fastening tab at the bottom of said anchoring clip is fastened by fastening means, such as a pin, to said foundation. The subfloor section comprises c-channel support means having deflexure slots or apertures, layers of wood underlayment which serve as a nailing bed, and deflexure anchor clips that slidably engage the channels and foundation with each other, but they only interlock indirectly with the foundation base. The product of this invention is a superior flooring construction which was not possible to assemble using the prior art components and methods of fabrication. The underlayment is a nailing bed consisting of two layers of wood panels, arranged in parallel to the upper hardwood strips surface which underlayment is adapted for engagement in an open face of c-channel support means which have deflexure slot cut-outs to form apertures which are engaged by the anchor clips. The anchor clip comprises three members including a top member which is a tab that is inserted into deflexure slots in the channel which are apertures cut in the bottom faces of the c-channels which are in registered alignment. The open face of the c-channel envelops the inside edge of the bottom layer of the wood underlayment as illustrated in the drawings described in detail herein. This bottom layer of underlayment is superposed on strips of parallel resilient pad materials centered at about eight to twelve inch intervals on the surface of the foundation which causes the underlayment and c-channel support means of the construction to be elevated above the foundation so that the subfloor has no direct contact with the foundation surface and is slidably and indirectly anchored thereto by means of the bottom tab member of the anchor clip fastening means which permits the entire floor construction to move slidably up and down along the juncture of the aperture cut in the channel and the vertical riser deflexure member
10
which is the middle vertical member of the anchor clip
6
as illustrated in the drawings; this capacity for such reciprocal motion enables the floor to respond to external forces acting upon the hardwood floor board surface of the flooring construction. In this novel construction all of the open faces of the c-channels support means are aligned with their open faces pointed in the same horizontal direction which is in the direction back to the starter-wall of the construction. No c-channel has an open face pointing in an opposite direction to another c-channel. As illustrated in
FIG. 4
of the drawings, the wood underlayment is supported in the open face of the c-channel. This floor construction is tighter than the prior art floors so it provides more resistance to a bounced ball and the result is a livelier floor, yet, at the same time its capacity for deflexure movement absorbs shock and vibration.
The best analogy for an understanding of the vibrating dampening effect which is a characteristic of this inventive floor is the example of throwing a pebble into a pond and creating contiguous concentric circles which evolve from the center of the pond to the outside edge of the pond. Since
Canfield Robert
McNulty, Esq. Anthony J.
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