GB2353769A

GB2353769A - Vehicle flooring system

Info

Publication number: GB2353769A
Application number: GB9920654A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Angelo Callard
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-09-01
Filing date: 1999-09-01
Publication date: 2001-03-07
Also published as: GB9920654D0

Abstract

A vehicle flooring system comprises a plurality of preformed interengageable floor components (3) that can be assembled within a vehicle to form a secondary floor (1). At least one of the floor components (3) may be formed with one or more tracks or channels (5) in an upper surface so that articles may be secured to the floor (1) by means engageable with the tracks or channels (5).

Description

2353769 VEHICLE FLOORING SYSTEM This invention relates to vehicle flooring

systems, and more particularly to flooring systems for any type of vehicle such as cars, minibuses, busses, vans, coaches, lorries, ships, trains or aircraft for example.

A variety of systems have previously been proposed by means of which it is possible to fix one or more articles (for example seating, wheelchairs and the like) to the floor of a vehicle.

The simplest of these previously proposed systems provides extruded aluminium tracking, for example, that may be secured directly to the floor of the vehicle, and which is associated with means to enable articles to be secured thereto.

This system is disadvantageous, however, as it requires fixing holes to be drilled in the floor of the vehicle and thus is very inflexible should one wish to modify the layout or type of tracking fixed to the floor. It is furthermore difficult to ensure that the tracking is properly aligned, level and correctly spaced.

An alternative system employs a wooden secondary floor (i.e. a floor provided inside the vehicle and being securable to the floor of the vehicle) - also referred to herein as a subfloor - that is constructed within the van or other vehicle and secured to the floor thereof. To construct such a subfloor it is firstly necessary to construct a wooden lattice to which planking is subsequently secured to provide the subfloor.

Extruded aluminium tracking, for example, may then be fixed to the subfloor in a predetermined arrangement suitable for the task in question. The provision of the wooden subfloor improves upon the above mentioned simplest system by reducing the number of holes that must first be drilled in the floor of the vehicle, and by enabling tracking units to be more easily levelled with respect to one another. However, changing the layout of the tracking is still problematic as new fixing holes must be drilled in the subfloor, and alignment of respective tracking units may also prove problematic. Furthermore, construction or destruction of the wooden subfloor is very time consuming and thus expensive.

It is an object of the present invention to alleviate some or all of the problems associated with the prior art, and more particularly - in one aspect - to provide a

2 vehicle flooring system that may be easily assembled within the vehicle.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, there is provided a vehicle flooring system comprising a plurality of preferably preformed, interengageable floor components that may be assembled within a vehicle to form a secondary floor.

This embodiment of the invention alleviates some of the above mentioned problems by providing a secondary floor that may be quickly assembled within a vehicle from preformed interengageable floor components.

Preferably, said system includes means for enabling articles to be transported to be secured to said secondary floor.

Preferably, at least one of said interengageable floor components are formed with one or more tracks or channels in a surface thereof, said one or more articles being securable to said secondary floor by means engageable with said tracks or channels.

Preferably, a plurality of said floor components are provided with tracks or channels. Preferably, said plurality of floor components may be arranged so that tracks or channels in one of said components are in communication with those of at least one neighbouring components. Preferably, said tracks or channels are preformed in a side of each of the components that will form, when assembled, an upper surface of the secondary floor. Preferably, a side of each of the components that will form, when assembled, a lower surface of the secondary floor is provided with one or more depressions with which shock absorbing means may be engaged.

This aspect of the invention further improves upon the prior art by providing, when the floor components are interengaged, tracks or channels in the secondary floor with which articles to be transported may be secured by means engageable with said tracks or channels. Providing tracks or channels such as these allows the layout of the articles to be transported to be changed without having to drill new fixing holes in the secondary floor. This arrangement also alleviates the problems of the prior art associated with having correctly to align respective tracking units with one another, as the preformed tracks or channels may be easily aligned, in the preferred embodiment, simply by interengaging neighbouring floor components.

The one or more floor components may include one or more internal cavities 3 suitable for use as ducting for ventilation or cabling, for example. In addition (or alternatively) selected ones of the plurality of floor components may have a curved cross-sectional shape to enable closer location of the secondary floor to interior walls of the vehicle. In other words, the sub-floor when assembled within the vehicle may be generally U-shaped in cross-section. Furthermore, selected ones of the plurality of floor components may include one or more cut-away regions to enable close fitting of the secondary floor around obstacles within the vehicle.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure I is a perspective view of a plurality of components arranged to form a secondary floor; Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of an illustrative one of the components of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view of a cut-away flooring component; and Figure 4 is a perspective view of part of a removable seating system that is the subject of granted United Kingdom Patent No. 2314012.

As mentioned above, Figure I is a perspective view of part of an assembled secondary floor I comprising a plurality of flooring components 3. As shown, the components 3 have been interengaged (by means which are later to be described) to form the secondary floor 1. Some of the components 3 are provided with tracks or channels 5.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of one of the components 3 of the secondary floor I of Figure 1. As shown, the component 3 comprises upper and lower surfaces 7, 9 that form, when the component is interengaged with other components, upper and lower surfaces of the secondary floor I respectively. As shown, the upper surface 7 of the component 3 is formed with a pair of tracks or channels 5. A greater or few number of tracks or channels 5 (or no channels at all) may be provided if desired.

Areas of the upper surface between tracks or channels 5 may have carpet or other flooring material adhered or otherwise affixed thereto.

The lower surface 9 of the component 3 is provided with one or more depressions I I each suitable for retaining part of shock absorbing means (not shown), 4 such as rubber (or other elastomer) strips. The remainder of the shock absorbing means protrudes beyond the lower surface 9 of the component and abuts against the vehicle floor when the secondary floor 1 is assembled within a vehicle for use.

The component is provided with one or more longitudinal bores or cavities 13 that serve to reduce the weight of the component, and which may be used when the secondary floor is assembled to provide ducting for wiring or heating for example.

One or more transverse bores 15 are also provided. Bolts or other securing means may be inserted through the transverse bores 15 to enable the secondary floor to be secured to the floor of the vehicle. Preferably, the components are extruded and are of Aluminium.

Sides 17 of the component 3 interconnecting the upper and lower surfaces 7, 9 are provided with interengaging formations 19 that are engageable with complementary formations on other components. Preferably, a side depression 21 is provided between, or in the neighbourhood of said formations 19 that is suitable for retaining part of a flexible sealing means (not shown), such as rubber (or other clastomer) strips, to provide a seal between neighbouring components. Scaling between respective components in this way provides a water barrier so that the secondary floor may easily be washed out if it should be dirtied.

As shown in Figure 1, the majority of floor components 3 forming the secondary floor are preferably substantially planar. However, edge components (not shown) of the secondary, floor 1 may be curved so that the secondary floor 1 has a substantially u-shaped profile in cross-section. In addition, and as shown in Figure 3), some (or none) of the floor components 3 may be formed with cut-out portions 23 to enable the secondary floor to be located around obstacles within the vehicle, for example wheel arches of the vehicle. Planar components, curved components and cut away components may be combined at will to enable the construction of a secondary floor suitable for a particular vehicle.

The secondary floor, when assembled, provides as shown in Figure 1 a series of tracks 5 that are capable of being engaged with securing means for articles. The securing means may comprise a base plate of a removable seating system such as that disclosed in United Kingdom Patent No. 2314012, for example, or means for clamping a wheelchair to a vehicle floor similar to that disclosed in United Kingdom Patent Application No. 9826266.0 (Published as). A variety of other suitable securing means will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. It will furthermore be apparent to persons skilled in the art that the flooring components may be formed additionally or alternatively with differently shaped tracks, channels or other types of retaining means if desired (such as hoops or hooks upstanding from the upper surface for example).

The tracks or channels 5 of this preferred embodiment may be substantially c shaped in cross-section (as shown in Figure 2) along their entire length, or alternatively, they may shaped as shown in Figure 4. Figure 4 shows a part of a removable seating system that is the subject of granted United Kingdom Patent No.

2314012, and the tracks or channels 5 of the present system may be provided with circular apertures 25 such as those shown in Figure 4 and described in the Patent. The circular apertures 25 are designed to enable a planar member 32 (that might be attached to a seat for example as described in the Patent, or to a wheelchair clamp such as that described in United Kingdom Patent Application No. 9826266. 0) to be securely engaged with the track or channel 5. The reader of this application is specifically referred to the above mentioned Patent for a description of how such a removable seating system might function, and to United Kingdom Patent Application No. 9826266.0 for a description of how such a wheelchair clamp might function.

From the above, it can be seen that the arrangement described herein provides an easily assemblable flooring system for vehicles.

It should be understood, however, that embodiments of the invention have been described herein by way of example only, and that modifications may be made within the scope thereof. It will furthermore be understood that the complementary engaging formations shown in Figure 2 are provided by way of example only, and that a variety of differently shaped engaging formations may alternatively be provided. It should also be noted that the interengaging formations have been omitted from some of the figures for clarity.

6

Claims

1 A vehicle flooring system comprising a plurality of preformed interengageable floor components that may be assembled within a vehicle to form a secondary floor.

2. A system according to Claim 1, comprising means for enabling articles to be transported to be secured to said secondary floor.

3. A system according to Claim 1 and Claim 2, wherein at least one of said interengageable floor components is formed with one or more tracks or channels in a surface thereof, said one or more articles being securable to said secondary floor by means engageable with said tracks or channels.

A system according to Claim 3, wherein a plurality, of said floor components are provided with tracks or channels.

5. A system according to Claim 4, wherein said plurality of floor components may be arranged to form said secondary floor so that tracks or channels in one of said 20 components are in communication with those of at least one neighbouring components.

6. A system according to any of Claims 3 to 5, wherein said tracks or channels are preformed in a side of said at least one component that will form, when assembled, an upper surface of the secondary floor.

7. A system according to any of Claims 3 to 6, wherein a side of said at least one component that will form, when assembled, a lower surface of the secondary floor is provided with one or more depressions with which shock absorbing means may be engaged.

8. A system according to Claim 6 and 7, wherein sides of said at least one 7 component interconnecting said upper and lower surface forming sides are each provided with interengaging formations engageable with complementary formations provided on one or more other components.

8. A system according to any of Claims 1 to 7, wherein at least one of said floor components includes one or more internal longitudinal bores or cavities.

9. A system according to any of Claims 1 to 8, wherein said components include one or more transverse bores each suitable for accommodating means for fixing the components to a floor of the vehicle.

10. A system according to any of Claims 1 to 9, wherein selected ones of the plurality of floor components may have a curved cross-sectional shape to enable closer location of those components to interior walls of the vehicle.

11. A system according to Claim 10, wherein the sub-floor when assembled within the vehicle is generally U-shaped in cross-section.

12. A system according to any of Claims 1 to 11, wherein selected ones of the plurality of floor components may include one or more cut-away regions to enable close fitting of the secondary floor around obstacles within the vehicle.

13. A flooring component suitable for use with the flooring system of any of Claims 1 to 12.

14. A system according to any of Claims 1 to 12 or a component according to Claim 13, wherein said component is of metal, and is preferably extruded from aluminium.

15. A vehicle comprising a flooring system according to any of Claims 1 to 12 or 13 or a flooring component according to Claim 12 or 14.

8

16. A system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

17. A component substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the 5 accompanying drawings.

18. A method of assembling a secondary floor within a vehicle, the method comprising selecting a plurality of flooring components, and interengaging said components within the vehicle to form said secondary floor. 10

19. A method according to Claim 18, comprising the step of securing the secondary floor to the vehicle.

20. A vehicle flooring kit comprising a plurality of components, said components 15 being assemblable within a vehicle to form a secondary floor.

21. A kit according to Claim 20, wherein some of the components are differently shaped to the remainder of the components.