US3279134A - Elevated floor construction - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 18, 1966 w. J. DONOVAN ELEVATED FLOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed May 28, 1963 United States Patent 3,279,134 ELEVATED FLOOR CONSTRUCTION William John Donovan, Franklin Park, N.J., assignor to Electronic Flooring Systems, Inc., Newark, NJ. Filed May 28, 1963, Ser. No. 283,920 1 Claim. (Cl. 52--126) This invention relates generally to the field of elevated flooring, of a type in which a plurality of generally rectangular floor panels are supoprted above a normal floor at the corners thereof upon stilt-like support elements for the purpose of providing space for conduits, cables and the like connected to various items of equipment disposed upon the elevated floor, to provide thereby a superficial floor which is relatively uncluttered. Flooring of this type is widely used in conjunction with the installation of various types of electronic data processing equipment and similar installations where a number of units are positioned in the same room and interconnected by a multitude of conductors.

It is among the principal objects of the present invention to provide an improved floor construction of the class described in which the individual floor panel elements may be accurately aligned, both to be in co-planar relation, and with regard to the side edges thereof, wherein individual panels may be removed or replaced, as desired, each panel accurately fitting into position without the necessity of performing adjustments.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of improved floor construction of the class described having means for preventing the occurrence of misadjustment of the stilt-like support elements over a period of time as a result of vibration, wherein the necessity for subsequent adjustment of the support elements is completely eliminated.

A further object of the invention lies in the provision of an improved flooring construction of the class described in which the manufacturing cost thereof may be of a reasonably low order, with consequent wide sale, distribution, and. use.

A further object of the invention lies in the provision of elevated floor construction which may be fabricated entirely of light weight metals, with consequent elimination of fire hazards and the like which have "been concomitant with prior art installations.

A feature of the invention lies in the fact that the floor panel elements employed are of such construction that extremely accurate external dimensions may be maintained during the formation thereof without substantially effecting the low cost of manufacture.

Another feature of the invention lies in the provision of improved insulating means disposed between the panel elements and the support elements to prevent vibrational conductivity therebetween.

These objects and features, as well as other incidental ends and advantages, will more fully appear in the progress of the following disclosure and be pointed out in the appended. claims.

In the drawing, to which reference will be made in the specification, similar reference characters have been employed to designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary view in perspective of an embodiment of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary enlarged side eleva-tional view thereof.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary enlarged view in perspective showing the disengagement of means for locking the adjustment of individual support elements.

FIGURE 4 is a bottom perspective view showing one of the panel elements comprising the embodiment.

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In accordance with the invention, there is illustrated in FIGURE 1 in the drawing an elevated flooring construction, generally indicated by reference character 10, and including a plurality of cast metallic panel elements 11, a plurality of adjustable support elements 12, a plurality of tile retaining elements 13, and a plurality of surfacing material tiles 14.

The panel elements 11 are generally similar, and, as best seen in FIGURES 1 and 4, each includes an upper planar member 16, a plurality of peripheral reinforcing members 17 and internally disposed reinforcing members 18. The peripheral reinforcement members 17 are generally similar, each including an edge rail 19, a plurality of sloped portions 20 and a plurality of corner portions 21 which engage the support elements 12. The corner portions 21 cooperate with side portions 22 to define a generally rectangular recess 23 in which a portion of a support element 12 is disposed in such manner that relative rotation between the same is impossible.

The support elements 12 include a horizontally disposed base member 28 to which there is suitably secured by welding or otherwise, a vertically disposed threaded shaft 29. A threadedly engaged nut member 30 is positioned on the shaft 29 and supports a panel element engaging member 31 having 'a hollow tubular portion 32 and a horizontal plate portion 33. A nut member 30 is of conventional configuration, including side surfaces 35 and an upper surface 36 which contacts the tubular portion 30.

The tubular portion 32 includes a cylindrical outer surface 42 and a plurality of planar outer surfaces 43 which slideably engage a nut-locking member 44 in splined relation. As best seen in FIGURE 3, the nut locking member may be of stamped construction and includes first side walls, one of which is indicated by reference character 45, and second side walls 46 interconnected therewith having downwardly projecting tongues, one of which is indicated by reference character 47 which selectively engage certain of the side surfaces 35 when the nut locking member 46 is in the position shown in FIG- URE 2. Adjustment of the nut member 30 with respect to the tubular portion 32 is possible by manually lifting the nut-locking member 44, and maintaining the same in elevated condition as shown in FIGURE 3 while simultaneously rotating the nut member 30 to a desired level. Upon reaching the same, the nut member 30 is aligned with the tongues 47 of the nut locking member 44, following which the locking member is allowed to drop to the position shown in FIGURE 2, wherein the lower edges of the side walls rest upon the upper surface 36 of the nut member 30. As best seen in FIGURE 2, the tubular portion 32 includes a hollow bore 48 which surrounds the threaded shaft 29, and is of a diameter sufficicntly large to avoid threaded interengagement therewith, so that upon rotation of the nut member 30, the plate portion 33 will be raised or lowered to the desired level.

The plate portion 33 is interconnected with the tubular portion 32 by a plurality of reinforcing ribs 34, and is provided on the upper surface thereof with. a rectangular recess 50 in which a synthetic resinous insulated member 51 is fitted. The member 51 has a centrally located opening 52 which frictionally engages a corresponding centrally located pin retaining means 53, the necessity of precisely fitting the synthetic resinous member 51 within the recess 50 being thereby eliminated.

The tile retaining elements 14 are preferably formed from synthetic resinous material, and are of slightly greater over-all width than that of the panel elements 11, so that when the same are positioned upon the panel elements 11 they may effect a slightly resilient seal. The elements 13 are substantially similar, each including a lower surface 55 adapted to rest upon the planar members 16, as well as an upper surface 56, which is bordered by side walls 57. The walls 57 include an inner surface 58 forming a rectangular recess with the upper surface 56, and an outer surface 59 which is slightly angularly disposed as best seen in FIGURE 2 to effect a Wedging action when installed. The surfacing material tiles 14 may be of any desired construction, as for example vinyl, asphalt, cork and the like, and are of such configuration as to fit directly into the recess 60 in the tile retaining elements 13. They may thus be conveniently replaced as required, and are preferably retained in position only by the frictional engagement of the same with the surface 56.

It is to be understood that it is not considered that the invention is limited to the precise details of structure shown and set forth in this specification, for obvious modifications will occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains.

What is claimed is:

In elevated flooring including a plurality of generally rectangular floor panels and a plurality of adjustable supports disposed beneath the panels for supporting the panels at the corners thereof, the improvement for maintaining a given individual height adjustment of the supports which comprises: said support elements having a threaded shaft, a nut threaded on said shaft, a panel engaging member having a tubular portion supported on said nut and surrounding said shaft and being provided with an outer surface, a locking member slideably arranged in splined relation on said outer surface of said tubular portion and selectively engageable With said nut member to prevent rotation thereof relative to said tubular portion, said panel engaging member having a generally rectangular horizontal upper surface formed with a recess provided with an upright pin, and a resilient insulating member disposed in said recess and having a bore therein frictionally engaged by said pin, said panels having corner portions formed with a generally rectangular recess for receiving a corner of said upper surface and said resilient member of a panel engaging member so that relative rotation between said panels and panel engaging members is prevented.

References (Zited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,580,015 4/1926 Clark 15l44 2,956,653 10/1960 Liskey 52-426 X 3,025,934 3/1962 Spiselman 52508 X 3,067,843 12/1962 Rushtoh 52263 X 3,100,624 8/1963 Spiselman 248-354 X FOREIGN PATENTS 15,901 1912 Denmark.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner. JOHN E. MURTAGH, Examiner.

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