FR2843414A1 - Assembly system for removable flat components such as decking planks comprises supporting rails with slots for U-shaped clips - Google Patents

Abstract

The system consists of supporting rails (1) with slots (3) in their upper surfaces to receive U-shaped clips (5) with out-turned upper edges (8) that engage with grooves in the lateral edges of flat components such as decking planks laid at right angles to the rails. The clips have notches (9a) in their vertical sides (7) to engage with the sides (3a) of the rail slots. The rails and clips are made e.g. from galvanised steel.

Description

i The invention relates to a device for assembling flat elements between

  them and their attachment to a support, as well as to the flat surface resulting from

the assembly of such elements.

  More particularly, in the field of wooden constructions of buildings, terraces, exterior or interior, consisting of wooden planks fixed on a support itself secured to a load-bearing surface are known. Such terraces generally consist of planks fixed together

  and / or permanently fixed on supports. These fasteners are made by known means, such as bolts, nails, glue, connectors, etc.

  Their implementation is therefore long and tedious.

  Similarly, the change of one or more boards is all the more delicate as there is a risk of damaging the neighboring boards during this operation. Furthermore, the solid and rigid fixing of the elements to one another and / or of the elements to the support does not allow any play between the elements and / or between the elements and the support. However, this play is sometimes necessary for elements sensitive to humidity and sunshine conditions, as are wooden boards, in order to compensate for the "work" of the wood and to avoid deformation of the terrace. If one wishes, in order to keep such a clearance and / or for aesthetic reasons, not to join the boards together, it is not easy, during assembly, to maintain on the whole of the terrace, a constant spacing between

different boards.

  It is to these drawbacks that the invention more particularly intends to remedy by proposing a device for assembling flat elements which are easy to handle and which possibly make it possible to preserve a clearance

between the elements.

  To this end, the subject of the invention is a device for assembling flat and elongated elements juxtaposed to form a flat surface, said device comprising support members and joining members, characterized in that: - at least a support member is provided with at least one housing for receiving part of an assembly member and - at least one assembly member is provided, on the one hand, with a part intended to cooperate with the receiving housing and to be blocked therein in a removable manner, and on the other hand, of two parts intended to cooperate in a removable manner with two housings formed respectively in

two flat elements juxtaposed.

  Thanks to the invention, the assembly is done horizontally or vertically removably and while preserving a constant gap between the different elements

side by side dishes.

  According to advantageous but non-mandatory aspects of the invention, the assembly device incorporates one or more of the following characteristics: - the assembly member has a generally U-shape, each branch of which supports, at its end, a wing extending outward from the U in a direction orthogonal to the branches of the U; each wing is able to cooperate respectively with a groove formed in at least part of the thickness of each flat element. These wings can be identical; each branch of the U comprises two notches intended to each receive part of an edge of the reception housing located on the support member. All the notches are globally coplanar. The notches of the same branch have different depths, the diagonally opposite slots of the two branches of the same organ having the same depth. As a variant, all the notches can have the same depth; - the support member is a rail or a hollow tube

  at least one of the faces of which is provided with at least one oblong opening forming the housing for receiving the assembly member.

  The invention also relates to a flat surface composed of juxtaposed flat elements assembled by a

  assembly device as described above.

  Thanks to such a device, the positioning of the boards relative to one another, while maintaining a given spacing, is easy. The absence of a “binding” fixing by screwing or nailing the boards allows the disassembly of the latter, as well as the possibility of easily absorbing the expansions and

natural deformations of wood.

  The invention will be better understood and other advantages

  of the latter will appear more clearly in the light of the following description of an embodiment of the assembly device given solely by way of example

  and refers to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a partial perspective view of a support rail of a device according to the invention; - Figure 2 is a perspective view of an assembly member of a device according to the invention; - Figures 3A, 3B are perspective views of the establishment of an assembly member in a support rail 30 and the assembly of two juxtaposed boards; - Figure 4 is a sectional view, along the plane IV-IV in Figure 3B, of two boards assembled by a device shown in the preceding figures; and - Figure 5 is a sectional view of another

  assembly where the two boards are joined.

  The support member shown in Figure 1 is a

  rail 1 preferably made of a hard material, for example galvanized steel, provided on one of its faces 2 with a series of oblong slots 3. These slots 3 are aligned substantially along a median axis AA ′ of the face 2.

  The distance d between the central axes BB 'and CC' of two contiguous slots 3 is at least equal to the width of a board 4 to be assembled. Lights 3 can be spared

  on all or part of the face 2 of the rail 1.

  A member or assembly part 5 made of hard material, for example of thin galvanized steel, has a generally U-shaped body. The height h of the part 5 is generally defined by the length of the branches 7 of the U, l 'spacing between the latter giving overall the width s15 of the body of the part 5. The latter extends in depth so as to define a U-shaped groove whose length is substantially greater than the spacing between the branches 7. The width 13 of each lumen 3 is slightly greater than the spacing of the branches of the U constituting the body of the assembly member 5, shown

in Figure 2.

  Each end 6 of the branches 7 of the U is provided over the entire depth of the part with a wing 8 extending towards the outside of the U in a generally direction

orthogonal to the branches 7.

  Each branch 7 of the U comprises two notches 9a, 9b.

  These notches 9a, 9b are aligned two by two in the same horizontal plane so as to delimit between them a rectangular parallelepiped and they are located, one on the front face 10 of each branch 7 and the other on its face.

rear 11.

  On each branch 7, the two notches 9a, 9b have

  different depths. If the deepest notch 9a is located on the front face 10 for a branch 7 of the U, then the deepest notch 9a of the other branch 7 of the 5 U is located diagonally opposite on the rear face 11 .

  The width of each notch 9a, 9b is overall

  equal to the thickness of the wall of the rail 1 at the place where it constitutes the parallel longitudinal edges 3a 10 of a lumen 3.

  The non-recessed part 12 located between the bottoms of two notches 9a, 9b aligned on the same branch 7 has a length 112 substantially equal to the width 13 of a

light 3.

  The installation of the assembly member in the rail

  is carried out as shown in FIG. 3A.

  Firstly, the U of the assembly member 5 is introduced into a slot 3 so that the notches 9a, 9b are positioned flush with the face 2 of the rail 1 at the edges 3a of the slot 3 of

  rail 1 and parallel to the length of the latter.

  Secondly, the part 5 is made to rotate in a horizontal plane. The direction of rotation is imposed by the notches 9a of greater depth. The latter engage with the wall of the edges 3a of the lumen 3 first before the engagement with these same edges of the notches 9b of shallower depth. At the end of rotation, the notches 9b of shallower depth are engaged with the edges 3a of the lumen 3 so that they block the assembly member 5. The latter is thus found in a position o the wings 8, located at each end 6 of the branches 7 of the U, extend above the face 2 of the rail and parallel to it, in a direction parallel to the greatest length of the rail 1. The faces 10 and 11 of part 5 being generally orthogonal to one

such direction.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, it suffices to come and engage one of the longitudinal grooves 15 formed in each of the faces 13 and 14 corresponding to the thickness of a board 4 with a wing 8 of complementary shape.

  Each board 4 is thus held and blocked along its width between two assembly members 5 in a position where it is parallel to another board 4 adjacent and orthogonal to the greatest length of the rail 1. It suffices to have the number adequate rails 1 parallel to each other to maintain in several places several boards 4 parallel to the

  together and thus form a flat surface.

  The rigidity of the assembly member 5 is sufficient to maintain a constant predetermined distance, given overall by the spacing between the branches 7 of the U, 20 between the elements 4 making up a flat surface. The form

  in U of the assembly member 5 also allows a certain elasticity, by spring effect between the branches 7, making it possible to absorb any transverse deformations of the boards 4, in particular when the latter 25 are made of wood.

  It is also possible to modify the spacing e between the boards 4 by playing, no longer on the spacing of the branches of the U, but on the geometry and the depth of the groove 15, as shown in FIG. 5 o the 30 boards 4 are almost contiguous, their spacing e 'being small. In this case, the lip 17 of the groove located in contact with the face 2 of the rail 1 is of a shorter length than the upper lip 16 of a value overall.

  equal to half the distance 15 between the branches 7.

  Such assemblies make it possible to create flat surfaces on supports which can be positioned horizontally to form floors, terraces or ceilings, or vertically to create partitions. These surfaces being, for example, decorative and / or intended for

sound insulation.

  These flat surfaces are easily removable and can be modified thanks to the non-binding assembly of the

flat elements 4.

  In other embodiments, it is possible to envisage wings 8 of different geometric shape and / or not identical, for example a wing 8 forming a male part 15 and a wing 8 forming a female part. In this case, the grooves 15 of the elements have the appropriate complementary shapes. Similarly, the body of the assembly member 5 can take the form of a T. In a variant, the notches 9a, 9b can be of the same depth. The lights 3 of 20 the support member 1 may have geometric shapes

  different, for example rectangular slots.

  Similarly, the flat elements 4 can be made of a hard material other than wood, for example PVC

or metal.

  As a variant, the rail 1 is a parallelepiped tube, one face of which comprises, over the entire length of the rail, a longitudinal slot adapted to receive a clamp for fixing to a support structure. This type of rail is

  especially used for the realization of ceilings.

Claims (10)

REVENDI CATIONS   1. Device for assembling flat and elongated elements, juxtaposed to form a flat surface, said device comprising support members and assembly members, characterized in that: - at least one support member (1) is provided on at least one housing (3) for receiving part of an assembly member (5) and - at least one assembly member (5) is provided, on the one hand, with a part (7, 9a, 9b) intended to cooperate with said receiving housing (3) and to be locked therein in a removable manner and, on the other hand, two parts (8) intended to cooperate in a removable manner with two 15 housings (15) arranged respectively in two elements side dishes (4) juxtaposed.   2. An assembly device according to claim 1, characterized in that said assembly member (5) has a generally U-shaped shape, each branch (7) of which supports, at its end (6), a wing (8). extending outward from the U in a direction generally orthogonal to the branches 7.   3. An assembly device according to claim 2, characterized in that each wing (8) is able to cooperate respectively with a groove (15) formed in at least one part (13, 14) of the thickness of each element. flat (4). 4. Assembly device according to one of   Claims 2 or 3, characterized in that said wings 30 (8) are identical.   5. Assembly device according to one of   Claims 2 or 3, characterized in that each branch (7) of the U comprises two notches (9a, 9b) intended to   each receive part of an edge (3a) of the housing reception (3).   6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that all the notches (9a, 9b) of the same assembly member (5) are generally coplanar. 7. Assembly device according to one of   Claims 5 or 6, characterized in that the notches (9a, 9b) of the same branch (7) have different depths, the diagonally opposite slots (9a, 9b) of two branches (7) of the same member (5) having the same   depth. 8. Assembly device according to one of   claims 5 or 6, characterized in that all   notches (9a, 9b) have the same depth.   9. Assembly device according to one of   previous claims, characterized in that said support member is a rail (1) or a hollow tube of which at least one (2) of the faces is provided with at least one oblong opening (3) forming the housing for receiving the assembly member (5).   10. Flat surface composed of flat elements (4) juxtaposed and assembled by a device according to one   any of the preceding claims.