GB2638410A

GB2638410A - Decking planks and/or decking systems

Info

Publication number: GB2638410A
Application number: GB2402403.6A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Edward Douglass James
Original assignee: ELMDENE GROUP Ltd
Current assignee: ELMDENE GROUP Ltd
Priority date: 2024-02-20
Filing date: 2024-02-20
Publication date: 2025-08-27
Also published as: WO2025176982A1; GB202502403D0

Abstract

A decking plank having a rectangular shape with the length of the plank extending between a first extremity and a second extremity opposite to the first extremity; the width of the plank being provided between a first lateral edge and a second lateral edge opposite 10 to the first lateral edge; the decking plank comprising a composite of largely polymeric material and filler; the upper surface of the decking plank being formed with a first region extending from the first lateral edge to the second lateral edge and the second region extending from the first lateral edge to the second lateral edge wherein the first region comprises a relatively smooth surface and the second region comprises a surface which is 15 coarser than the relatively smooth surface of the first region; the first region and the second region being separated by a rib which extends between the first lateral edge and the second lateral edge; whereby, in use, water falling on the upper surface of the plank drains substantially laterally towards lateral edges of the plank.

Description

Decking Planks and/or Decking Systems

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to planks and in particular decking planks. Furthermore, the invention concerns decking systems.

Background to the Invention and Prior Art Known to the Applicant(s) The Applicant has developed over the years decking planks. In particular one of its founding members published WO 2007060392 in 2007 which is principally focused on polymer based decking planks in a very large number of embodiments. The Applicant has over the years improved the formulation for these polymeric moulded decking planks. One of the aspects which neither polymeric nor natural wood decking planks have been particularly able to solve or particularly improve is providing anti-slip characteristics for the decking planks. In particular there has been a need to improve not only the Applicant's own decking planks but in any of the other prior art proposals since their initial submission, to provide a decking plank which not only as a polymeric hoard appears to be wholly of natural wood but to also provide a decking plank which is able to more rapidly drain water away and further improve not only the comfort underfoot when walking on the plank but provide a surface which reduces the risk of individuals slipping during wet conditions when walking along the plank.

In particular, the invention seeks to overcome the traditional risk of slippage on these prior art planks by improving the configuration of the plank and also facilitate a plank which drains water away more rapidly than prior art proposals.

Summary of the Invention

In a first broad independent aspect, the invention provides a decking plank having a rectangular shape with the length of the plank extending between a first extremity and a second extremity opposite to the first extremity; the width of the plank being provided between a first lateral edge and a second lateral edge opposite to the first lateral edge; the decking plank comprising a composite of largely polymeric material and filler; the upper surface of the decking plank being formed with a first region extending from the first lateral edge to the second lateral edge and a second region extending from the first lateral edge to the second lateral edge; wherein the first region comprises a relatively smooth surface and the second region comprises a surface which is coarser (or rougher) than the relatively smooth surface of the first region; the first region and the second region being separated by a rib which extends between the first lateral edge and the second lateral edge; whereby, in use, water falling on the upper surface of the plank drains substantially laterally towards lateral edges of the plank.

The term rib may form a line of separation which is effective to direct the flow of liquid lateral towards the lateral edges. The rib may be a recessed trough, a segmented line formed from a plurality of points or mounts of separation. The rib may also be a recessed line, an edge or a perceptible change in relief capable of distinguishing relatively coarse and relatively smooth zones or areas.

This configuration reverses conventional thinking in the art of decking planks where the natural grain of the wood whether in the Applicant's own prior art embodiments or traditional wood-based decking planks extend length wise from the first extremity or proximal extremity of the plank to the second extremity or distal extremity of the plank. Thus, in the prior art, drainage of surface water on a plank occurs principally along the length of the plank which can result in extended periods of water sitting on the upper surface until it dries away or eventually slowly dripping off the edges at the extremities of the decking plank. In practise, the decking planks are often substantially laid flat or with an almost imperceptible gradient, the water tends to sit on the upper surface in order to produce a potential hazard to those walking on the deck for an extended period after rain has fallen on it. The present configuration provides an advantageous structure which facilitates the flow of fluid laterally off these often very long pieces of decking plank.

The presence of the two regions improves the friction offered on the upper surface of the deck which minimises the risk of a fall when surface water has been deposited on the upper surface of the plank. Furthermore, the perceptible change in structure between the smooth region and a relatively coarse region provides this advantageous direction of flow laterally which capitalises on the relatively short distance of flow required as opposed to the full length of a decking plank which may therefore only require a flow of several centimetres as opposed to the several metres in the prior art channels provided along the length of the boards.

In a further subsidiary aspect, the decking plank comprises at least a third region which is also coarser (or rougher) than the first region; the first region being located between the second and third regions; the first region having a further rib between the first region and the third region; whereby the first region forms a trough to allow, in use, water falling on the upper surface of the plank to drain towards the lateral edge of the plank.

In a further subsidiary aspect, the second region comprises closely contiguous repeating peaks and troughs. This configuration is particularly advantageous in terms of not only providing enhanced grip underfoot but to break up the surface to increase its water drainage off from the second region.

In a further subsidiary aspect, the second region comprises a density of greater than 10 peaks per square centimetre of the region. This configuration is particularly advantageous and marks a complete departure from prior art relatively smooth natural wood finishes which largely fail to break-up the surface tension of the deposited water. This further encourages the flow of fluid off the plank.

In a further subsidiary aspect, the second region has a first number of strands with a principal longitudinal axis parallel to the rib; and further strands at an angle from the first number of strands; whereby troughs are formed between the strands. This configuration is particularly advantageous as it advantageously provides the rougher surface which even in wet conditions provides greater grip for those walking on the plank. It further improves the direction of flow towards the lateral edges of the plank. As in previous embodiments, it further breaks up the surface tension which may he present between the water and the surface.

In a further subsidiary aspect, the strands are perpendicular to one another and the troughs formed there between are rectangular. This configuration is particularly advantageous as it provides relatively high coefficients of friction to facilitate greater grip under foot.

In a further subsidiary aspect, both the first and the second regions have curved strands; whereby the curved strands in the first region are flatter in relief than the curved strands in the second region. This configuration is also particularly advantageous to facilitate flow whilst at the same time provide improved grip under foot.

In a further subsidiary aspect, the first region reflects more light than the second region. This is particularly advantageous as the second region will thus absorb more light and tend to more rapidly evaporate any water which might not have immediately drained off in its respective recesses. Whilst the first region due to its relatively smooth surface will tend to facilitate the lateral flow of water with little or no friction compared to the second region, as a consequence of the present subsidiary aspect, both regions will dry out much faster than any prior art proposal.

In a further subsidiary aspect, the rib between the first and second regions forms a curved line between the first lateral edge and the second lateral edge of the plank. This configuration is particularly comfortable under foot whilst providing the advantages outlined with respect to preceding aspects.

In a further subsidiary aspect, the first region and/or the second region are bowed in cross-5 section with the apex of the bow being at a central portion of the board whereby; in use, water drains from the apex to the lateral edges of the plank.

In a further subsidiary aspect, the lateral edges of the plank have themselves a plurality of peaks and troughs along the edges or part thereof. This configuration is particularly advantageous to break up any surface tension at the lateral edges of the decking plank.

In a further broad independent aspect, the invention provides a decking system comprising a plurality of decking planks in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first and second regions of a first plank are provided in line with the corresponding first and second regions of the second plank; and a gap is provided between adjacent planks through which water drains.

This configuration is particularly advantageous as the flow of neighbouring planks arc both simultaneously directed towards the lateral edges which can he particularly beneficial to increase the flow away from the decking plank due to the regions meeting at the gap between respective planks.

Brief Description of the Figures

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the edge region in an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 shows a plan view of an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 4 shows a cross-sectional view along axis AA.

Figure 5 shows a cross-sectional view along axis BB.

Figure 6 shows a perspective view of a further embodiment of the upper surface of a decking plank.

Detailed Description of the Figures

Figure 1 shows a decking plank generally referenced 1. In this view, the decking plank has a rectangular shape when viewed in plan. Although not visible in Figure 1, the decking plank may have a first extremity and a second extremity opposite to the first extremity. The decking plank has a width, as shown in Figure 1, between a first lateral edge 2 and a second lateral edge 3 opposite to the first lateral edge. The upper surface of the decking plank has been formed in a moulding process or an extrusion process whereby the upper surface has a number of regions. A first region 4 is provided between lateral edges 2 and 3 and is delimited further by ribs 5 and 6. Thus, first region 4 extends from first lateral edge 2 to second lateral edge 3. By contrast, a further region generally referenced 7 is provided adjacent to the first region. The first and second regions have different textures. The first region is configured to he relatively smooth compared to the second region which has a much coarser or rougher surface. In other words, region 7 has a relatively low coefficient of friction whilst region 7 has a much higher coefficient of friction. This is achieved by specifically shaping the respective regions during the manufacturing process, for example, by providing a mould which is configured to provide a smooth surface for region 4 and a relatively coarse surface for region 7. Region 7 has a much higher density of peaks and troughs. The peaks are formed by strands such as strand 8 extending at least partially between the lateral edges of the board. In this embodiment, the strands form a substantially crisscross pattern with the peaks being formed by the upper most parts of the strands whilst the troughs are provided between the strands. In this configuration, optionally, strand 8 is substantially parallel to rib 5 in order to define a principal direction of flow for any liquid falling onto the decking plank in the particular direction of the lateral edges. As can he seen in Figure 1, region 4 is not entirely smooth and may also have a number of peaks and recesses such as recesses 9 and 10. These extra recesses further encourage the flow of liquid towards the lateral edge of the plank. Optionally, ribs 5 and 6 not only define the first region 4 but also provide an edge so that the region 4 may act as a trough to channel the flow of liquid towards the lateral edges of the plank.

Figure 2 shows in more detail the edge of the plank. For ease of reference, similar numerical references have been employed even though the regions in question are different. In the embodiment of Figure 2, region 4 also has a number of recessed portions towards the edge of the plank such as recess 9. Rib 6 defines one side of region 4 beyond which a further relatively coarse region 11 is provided. As can be seen in the strands of region 11, a crisscross pattern of the kind described with reference to Figure 1 is shown in greater detail. When reaching the edge of the hoard, the strands direct liquid onto the lateral edge 12. Thus, at the edge itself a high density of peaks and troughs are also provided which serve to break up any potential surface tension in the liquid should the decking plank he, for example, exposed to rain. In this embodiment, the edge extends substantially at 45 degrees from the principal plane of the upper surface before the lateral edge form a surface at 90 degrees from the principal direction of the upper plane of the decking plank. In this configuration, region 6 and region 7 bound the relatively smooth region 4.

In practice, a large number of a succession of smooth and coarse regions are provided along the length of the board in order to advantageously cause the flow of liquid to be lateral along the entire length of the hoard thus minimising the potential amount of sitting water on the upper portion of the board.

In preferred embodiments, as illustrated in Figure 3, boards with respective smooth regions and coarse regions may be aligned at their respective edges. In particular, smooth region 4 may be aligned with smooth region 14 whilst coarse region 7 is aligned with coarse region 17. Furthermore, similar alignments may also be provided such as smooth region 13 and smooth region 15. When arranging for this kind of positioning of adjacent decking planks any liquid falling on the top of the respective planks is advantageously drawn through the gap 16 which separates the hoards. With respect to the edge of the coarse regions as can be seen the lateral edge of the board is frequently interrupted which will facilitate the breaking up of surface tension to encourage the water to flow down through the gap. Furthermore, the smooth regions form in effect a trough to facilitate the flow of liquid into the gap.

In order to further improve a configuration of these decking planks, Figure 4 and 5 in particular show how the surfaces have been advantageously formed to further encourage the flow of liquid away from the upper surface of the planks. In particular, Figure 4 which is a cross-sectional view along axis AA whilst not to scale and exaggerated for the purposes of illustration and clarity, the smooth region and optionally the coarse region as well may be bowed so that an apex 18 is provided at a central region of the decking plank in order to further encourage the natural flow of water from a central region towards the lateral edges and into the respective gaps between decking planks. In other words, the upper smooth region may be bowed to progressively diminish in height towards the lateral edge where the edge may incorporate itself a 45 degree angle followed by a 90 degree angle relative to the dashed line illustrated. This bowed configuration may not he visible to the naked eye as the decking plank will appear to all intents and purposes to be substantially flat.

As further illustrated in Figure 5, by significantly exaggerating the configuration of the coarse region along, for example an axis BB, when referring to Figure 3, the coarse region has in effect a large number of peaks and troughs which collectively encourage the flow of liquid down from the peak towards the lateral edges of the plank. In this illustration, there are at least 10 peaks per square centimetre to provide significantly greater coarseness relative to the smooth region located between the relatively coarse regions.

Whilst Figures I to 3 have shown the peaks and troughs as being formed by strands, the embodiment of Figure 5 shows relief with relatively closely contiguous peaks or mounts with individual upwardly pointing upper portions.

In a further configuration as shown in Figure 6, the coarse region 19 may comprise a large number of irregular fibre like or filament portions in random directions. Nevertheless, these filaments are separated by respective troughs as in the preceding embodiments. By contrast in adjacent relatively smooth region 20, the filaments are much more dispersed and relatively smooth. As can also be observed the relatively coarse region tends to reflect less light where as the relatively smooth surface of region 20 reflects much more light. This is particularly significant in terms of allowing the coarse region to potentially dry quicker due to light whereas the smooth region 20 would dry faster due to enhanced flow of liquid towards the lateral edges of the planks. Whilst most embodiments detailed above have shown a rib between coarse regions and smooth regions, these are not necessarily in a straight line and may advantageously be arc shaped as in the embodiment of Figure 6 where rib 21 marks a line of segregation between the respective regions. The arcs of separation between neighbouring regions may extend from one lateral edge of the plank to an opposite lateral edge of the plank; whereby surface water flow is encouraged towards the lateral edges of the planks to further improve the rate by which these plank dry. A plurality of a succession of coarse and smooth regions may also be provided in the context of the embodiment of figure 6; whereby each region is separated from an adjacent region by an arc shaped lines instead of the straight lines of previous embodiments.

Decking systems with a plurality of decking planks each of which having arc shaped lines of separation may also be formed by placing the decking planks next to one another with a minimal gap between them.

Preferably, in such embodiments, the relatively smooth regions are aligned with the relatively smooth regions of the neighbouring planks whereby enhanced surface water flow may he achieved across the system.

In other embodiments in accordance with any of the preceding embodiments, the 25 respective neighbouring regions of the planks may be staggered.

In other embodiments, the coarse regions of neighbouring planks may be aligned with the smooth regions of neighbouring planks.

In other embodiments, the line or rib separating adjacent regions may comprise a number of zig-zags. In other embodiments, the line or rib separating adjacent regions may form a V when viewed in plan view. In such embodiments, an apex may optionally be provided at the lower most point of the V, whereby llow is further improved in certain decking systems. The angle of the V may be preferably between 30 and 60 degrees.

Claims

CLAIMSI. A decking plank having a rectangular shape with the length of the plank extending between a first extremity and a second extremity opposite to the first extremity; the width of the plank being provided between a first lateral edge and a second lateral edge opposite to the first lateral edge; the decking plank comprising a composite of largely polymeric material and filler; the upper surface of the decking plank being formed with a first region extending from the first lateral edge to the second lateral edge and a second region extending from the first lateral edge to the second lateral edge; wherein the first region comprises a relatively smooth surface and the second region comprises a surface which is coarser than the relatively smooth surface of the first region; the first region and the second region being separated by a rib which extends between the first lateral edge and the second lateral edge; whereby, in use, water falling on the upper surface of the plank drains substantially laterally towards lateral edges of the plank.
2. The decking plank according to claim 1, comprising at least a third region which is also coarser than the first region; the first region being located between the second and third regions; the first region having a further rib between the first region and the third region; whereby the first region forms a trough to allow, in use, water falling on the upper surface of the plank to drain towards the lateral edge of the plank.
3. The decking plank according to either claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the second region comprises closely contiguous repeating peaks and troughs.
4. The decking plank according to claim 3, wherein the second region comprises a density of greater than 10 peaks per square centimetre of the region.
5. The decking plank according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second region has a first number of strands with a principal longitudinal axis parallel to the rib; and further strands at an angle from the first number of strands; whereby troughs arc formed between the strands.
6. The decking plank according to claim 5, wherein strands are perpendicular to one another and the troughs formed therebetween are rectangular.
7. The decking plank according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein both the first 5 and the second region have curved strands; whereby the curved strands in the first region are flatter in relief than the curved strands of the second reaion.
8. The decking plank according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first region reflects more light than the second region.
9. The decking plank according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the rib between first and second regions forms a curved line between the first lateral edge and the second lateral edge of the plank.
10. The decking plank according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first region and/or the second region are bowed in cross-section with the apex of the bow being at a central portion of the board whereby, in use, water drains from the apex to the lateral edges of plank.
11. The decking plank according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the lateral edges of the plank have themselves a plurality of peaks and troughs along the edges or part thereof.
12. A decking system comprising a plurality of decking planks in accordance with any one 25 of the preceding claims, wherein the first and second regions of a first plank are provided in line with the corresponding first and second regions of the second plank; and a gap is provided between adjacent planks through which water drains.