Abstract: Flooring made up of a set of touching parallel floorboards is supported by a set of mutually parallel load-spreading plates placed on the ground via a resilient underlayer on which they rest. The flooring is remarkable by the fact that the floorboards are stuck to the plates by means of beads of elastically-deformable adhesive such as polyurethane placed on the top faces of the plates, preferably in respective longitudinal grooves formed in the top face of the plates.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for producing a textile product of the lapped/bonded type from fibers and/or filaments travelling in the direction of advance in the form of a web, this method comprising at least one step, called the “prelooping step”, in which the fibers and/or filaments individually undergo looping transversely to the direction of advance of the web, if appropriate accompanied by transverse drawing, characterized in that it subsequently comprises a step of confining the parallelized fibers and/or filaments in the form of loops, this latter confining step taking place directly on a support, without transport members, such as needles or transfer elements, being involved.

Abstract: A floor board is arranged to be connectable to other similar boards to form a floor. The floor board includes a first female coupler extending along a first edge of the board, wherein the first female coupler comprises a first coupling element having a groove and a surface extending obliquely from the groove and away from a wall of the groove so as to form a stop. The floor board also includes a first male coupler extending along a second edge of the board, wherein the first male coupler comprises a second coupling element having a V shape portion and a portion disposed in a recess formed in the board, wherein an outer V-leg of the second coupling element is deformable in the direction of an Inner V-leg, and wherein the second coupling element in its non-deformed state is complementary to the shape of the groove of the first coupling element.

Abstract: Mechanically embossed resilient surface coverings having superior textural fidelity are prepared by mechanically embossing a polyurethane coated floorcovering before the polyurethane is cured. The mechanical embossing is conducted when the polyurethane is dry and the underlying plastic layer and the polyurethane are softened by heating. After the mechanical embossing step, the polyurethane is cured using ultraviolet (UV) light. The product can be cooled before or after UV curing. The invention is applicable to a variety of resilient surface covering products including floor and wall coverings which otherwise have a wearlayer which can be softened by heating. This includes surface coverings having the full range of decorative effects available in the art, including surface coverings which also have been, for example, chemically embossed, mechanically embossed, chemically and mechanically embossed or not embossed at all prior to application of the process of the invention.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for obtaining adequate orientation of elements constituting a web, such as fibres and/or filaments, for example derived from a card, characterized in that it consists in: subjecting the fibre to a pre-looping step produced by the interpenetration of a first set of looping discs (11) borne on a common transverse shaft (10) and continuously driven in rotation at a first speed (V1), and of a first set of fixed looping elements (12), the set of looping discs (11) and the set of looping elements (12) having a predetermined gauge (j) so as to cause the fibres and/or filaments to be pre-looped with an undulating value or interval (j), retaining with blocking means said fibres and/or filaments at regular intervals by a length (n×j) where n is an integer ranging between 2 and 20; allowing the pre-looped fibres and/or filaments to expand so as to produce large undulations having an undulating value or interval (n×j); and spreading by simple drawing the pre-looped fibres and/o

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for producing a textile product of the lapped/bonded type from fibres and/or filaments travelling in the direction of advance in the form of a web, this method comprising at least one step, called the “prelooping step”, in which the fibres and/or filaments individually undergo looping transversely to the direction of advance of the web, if appropriate accompanied by transverse drawing, characterized in that it subsequently comprises a step of confining the parallelized fibres and/or filaments in the form of loops, this latter confining step taking place directly on a support, without transport members, such as needles or transfer elements, being involved.

Abstract: The invention concerns a process for preparing powdery ionomers by neutralizing a powdery precursor using a neutralizing agent. A particular feature of the invention is that the precursor is used in a powder form and a concentrated aqueous solution of neutralizing agent is rapidly mixed with the precursor, and that the neutralized ionomer essentially retains the dry powder form and size of a precursor while having a water content of about 10%. The resulting product can be used as a wear layer for producing ground and wall coverings, either by powder deposition process or by extension to form a film, which is applied in a hot state to a support.