63 patents
Page 2 of 4
Utility
Panel
25 Oct 22
A panel, which, at two opposite edges, is provided with coupling parts that allow joining by a downward movement, the coupling parts including a male part that fits in a female part, wherein vertically active locking portions are provided at opposite sides of the male part and female part, wherein these locking portions are located at different distances from an upper side of the panels.
Charles Edward Stevens, Jr.
Filed: 25 Nov 20
Utility
Polyethylene terephthalate coloring systems and methods
18 Oct 22
Systems for manufacturing bulked continuous filament having tonal coloring from PET comprise, in various embodiments: (1) an extruder; (2) a static mixing assembly coupled to the extruder comprising: (a) a housing, and (b) one or more individual static mixing elements disposed within the housing; (3) a plurality of colorant ports along a length of the static mixing assembly such that each of the plurality of colorant ports is configured to provide colorant to a polymer stream at a different location along the length of the static mixing assembly; and (4) one or more spinning machines positioned downstream of the static mixing assembly and coupled to the static mixing assembly to receive the colored polymer stream.
Thomas R. Clark
Filed: 14 Sep 18
Utility
Floor board and method for manufacturing such floor boards
18 Oct 22
A floor board including a decorative surface layer applied to a substrate, where the substrate has MDF or HDF material at a side edge thereof, where the side edge is treated both with an impregnation agent and/or a sealing agent based on a superabsorbing material.
Dieter D'Hondt, Aaron Shaw
Filed: 4 Mar 20
Utility
Methods for manufacturing bulked continuous filament
30 Aug 22
A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) washing a plurality of flakes of recycled PET; (B) providing a PET crystallizer; (C) after the step of washing the plurality of flakes, passing the plurality of flakes of recycled PET through the PET crystallizer; (D) at least partially melting the plurality of flakes into a polymer melt; (E) providing a multi-rotating screw (MRS) extruder having an MRS section; and a vacuum pump in communication with the MRS section; (F) using the vacuum pump to reduce a pressure within the MRS Section; (G) after the step of passing the plurality of flakes through the PET crystallizer, passing the polymer melt through the MRS Section; and (H) after the step of passing the polymer melt through the MRS extruder, forming the polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament.
Thomas R. Clark
Filed: 5 May 20
Utility
Methods for manufacturing bulked continuous filament
30 Aug 22
A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) providing an expanded surface area extruder; (B) providing a spinning machine having an inlet that is operatively coupled to an expanded surface area extruder outlet; (C) using a pressure regulation system to reduce the pressure within the expanded surface area extruder; (D) passing a plurality of flakes comprising recycled PET through the expanded surface area extruder to at least partially melt the plurality of flakes to form a polymer melt; and (E) substantially immediately after passing the plurality of flakes through the expanded surface area extruder, using the spinning machine to form the polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament.
Thomas R. Clark
Filed: 5 May 20
Utility
Method for manufacturing a plate shaped product and plate shaped product manufactured thereby
26 Jul 22
A method is presented for manufacturing a plate shaped product, comprising the steps of manufacturing a first intermediate product which comprises at least, successively, a carrier, a plastic printing layer, a decorative print layer and a plastic protective layer, by using a multiple coating process, manufacturing a second intermediate product which comprises at least one plastic layer, by using at least a calendering process, and combining the first and second intermediate products by laminating, such that the second intermediate product is attached to the first intermediate product.
Stefaan Gerard Lucien Duyck, Kristof Van Vlassenrode, Filip Gilbert Lucien Bossuyt, Stijn Michel Vermeulen
Filed: 14 May 20
Utility
Floor element for forming a floor covering, a floor covering, and a method for manufacturing a floor element
14 Jun 22
A floor element for forming a floor covering, wherein the floor element comprises a decorative layer made of a ceramic material and a support layer arranged below this decorative layer, wherein the support layer comprises edges provided with coupling elements configured to realize a mechanical coupling with coupling elements of an adjacent floor element and wherein the floor element comprises an intermediate layer having a resin material and wherein said resin material comprises a modulus of elasticity greater than 0.1 GPa, preferably greater than 0.5 GPa, even more preferably greater than 1 GPa.
Claudio Caselli, Rahul Patki
Filed: 7 May 20
Utility
Adjustable molding assemblies and methods
14 Jun 22
Adjustable molding assemblies and methods for bridging a gap between building elements are provided.
Benjamin R. Elliott, David W. Moore
Filed: 29 Sep 20
Utility
Systems and methods for manufacturing bulked continuous filament from colored recycled PET
7 Jun 22
Methods of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprise: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) adding one or more color concentrates to the flakes; (E) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder (400) while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion (420) of the MRS extruder (400) below about 25 millibars; (F) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter (450) having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (G) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.
Thomas R. Clark
Filed: 29 Jan 18
Utility
Systems and methods for manufacturing bulked continuous filament
5 Apr 22
A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 1.5 millibars; (E) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (F) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.
Thomas R. Clark
Filed: 22 Jul 19
Utility
Method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament
22 Mar 22
In particular embodiments, a process for producing bulked continuous carpet filament from recycled polymer utilizes two vacuum pumps (140A, 140B) in combination with a single extruder (100).
Thomas R. Clark
Filed: 2 Mar 18
Utility
Systems and methods for manufacturing bulked continuous filament
15 Mar 22
Systems for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from polymer, where the systems are configured for: (1) melting polymer (e.g., derived from post-consumer PET bottles) to create a first single stream of polymer melt; (2) separating the first single stream of polymer melt into multiple streams of polymer melt; (3) exposing the multiple streams of polymer melt to a pressure of between about 0 millibars and about 5 millibars; (4) allowing the multiple streams of polymer melt to fall into a receiving section of a melt processing unit; (5) recombining the multiple streams of polymer melt into a second single stream of polymer melt; and (6) providing the second single stream of polymer melt to one or more spinning machines that are configured to form the second single stream of polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament.
Thomas R. Clark
Filed: 12 Mar 20
Utility
Low weight modular carpet components and methods of making the same
1 Mar 22
A low-weight carpet tile and process for making the same, wherein the carpet tile comprises a facecloth having a plurality of face yarns tufted through a primary backing, an extruded polymer secondary backing layer, and a reinforcing scrim layer partially embedded within the extruded polymer secondary backing layer.
Mike Gallman, Mike Bell
Filed: 13 Sep 17
Utility
Bulked continuous carpet filament manufacturing from polytrimethylene terephthalate
8 Feb 22
A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) comprises: (1) splitting the PTT stream extruded from the primary extruder into a number of polymer streams, each of the plurality of polymer streams having an associated spinning machine; (2) adding a colorant to each split polymer stream; (3) adding PET to the extruded polymer stream downstream of the primary extruder; (4) using one or more static mixing assemblies for each split polymer stream to substantially uniformly mix each split polymer stream and its respective colorant and PET; and (5) spinning each polymer stream with its substantially uniformly mixed colorant and any additives into BCF using the respective spinning machine.
Thomas R. Clark
Filed: 17 Jul 19
Utility
Systems and methods for manufacturing bulked continuous filament
23 Nov 21
Systems for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from polymer, where the systems are configured for: (1) melting polymer (e.g., derived from post-consumer PET bottles) to create a first single stream of polymer melt; (2) separating the first single stream of polymer melt into multiple streams of polymer melt; (3) exposing the multiple streams of polymer melt to a pressure of between about 0 millibars and about 5 millibars; (4) allowing the multiple streams of polymer melt to fall into a receiving section of a melt processing unit; (5) recombining the multiple streams of polymer melt into a second single stream of polymer melt; and (6) providing the second single stream of polymer melt to one or more spinning machines that are configured to form the second single stream of polymer melt into bulked continuous carpet filament.
Thomas R. Clark
Filed: 30 Aug 19
Utility
Method for manufacturing inkjet printable paper or foil for use as a decor paper or foil
19 Oct 21
A method is provided for manufacturing a paper or a thermoplastic foil or a vitrimeric foil printable with an inkjet printer for use as a decor paper, respectively a decor foil in a laminate or laminated panel.
Benjamin Clement, Matthias Ide, Sam Ledegen
Filed: 12 Jun 18
Utility
Method for manufacturing paper printable with inkjet for use as a decor paper
14 Sep 21
A paper for inkjet printing may have one side that is provided with an inkjet receiver coating.
Benjamin Clement
Filed: 5 Dec 19
Utility
Methods for manufacturing bulked continuous filament from recycled PET
29 Jun 21
A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament that includes providing a polymer melt and separating the polymer melt from the extruder into at least eight streams.
Thomas R. Clark
Filed: 25 Oct 19
Utility
Floor covering material and method for manufacturing same
15 Jun 21
Floor covering material, wherein this floor covering material comprises at least a foamed layer, a printed decor provided thereon, and preferably a transparent wear layer, wherein the printed decor represents a plurality of panel-shaped or tile-shaped elements, wherein at the edges of said represented elements, lowered edge regions are formed, which form at least a portion of the circumference of the respective element, wherein said lowered edge regions, seen in cross-section, are realized with at least two different geometries.
Stefaan Gerard Lucien Duyck, Kristof Van Vlassenrode
Filed: 22 Dec 17
Utility
Methods for manufacturing bulked continuous filament from colored recycled PET
18 May 21
A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) adding one or more color concentrates to the flakes; (E) passing the group of flakes through an extrusion system while maintaining the pressure within the extrusion system below about 25 millibars; (F) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (G) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.
Thomas R. Clark
Filed: 12 Aug 19