Abrading Device with Oscillating Contact Roll for Distressed Floor Patterns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hand scraping hardwood floors to create a distressed visible pattern is time-consuming and costly, as each floor must be individually hand-sculpted, making it desirable to develop a machine-based solution for quick and cost-effective abrading while maintaining an authentic appearance.
Innovation Solution
An abrading device with a machine-imparted distressed visible pattern on hardwood floors, featuring alternating elongated longitudinal raised and recessed portions, is used to efficiently create a distressed appearance by employing contact rolls with radially inclined grooves and cutouts, and oscillating assemblies to form a pattern on the surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If hand scraping is used to create a distressed visible pattern on hardwood floors, then an authentic distressed appearance is achieved, but the process is time-consuming and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses an abrading device with a drum that has protrusions and recessions to copy the pattern created by hand scraping. The drum replicates the distressed appearance by mechanically imprinting a similar pattern through abrasion, achieving visual authenticity without manual labor. This allows machine production to mimic hand-crafted results.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical action of hand scraping with an automated abrading device. The device uses a rotating drum with controlled protrusions and recessions to abrade the floor surface, substituting human hand movements with a mechanical system that can operate continuously at high speed while maintaining pattern consistency.
2Manufacturing precision
If hand scraping is used to create a distressed visible pattern on hardwood floors, then an authentic distressed appearance is achieved, but labor costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The abrading device copies the hand-scraped pattern using a drum with specific protrusion and recession geometry. This allows the distressed appearance to be reproduced automatically, eliminating the need for skilled hand scrapers and reducing labor costs while maintaining visual authenticity through precise pattern replication.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes expensive manual labor with an automated mechanical abrading system. The machine operates continuously without fatigue or skill requirements, reducing labor costs while the controlled drum pattern ensures consistent authentic appearance quality across all processed floors.
3Adaptability or versatility
If each floor structure is hand-sculpted individually, then a unique distressed pattern is created, but production time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The abrading device uses a drum with fixed protrusions and recessions to copy a distressed pattern across multiple floor structures. While the pattern is replicated rather than uniquely created, the machine can process multiple floors in sequence, maintaining visual variety through operational parameters while dramatically reducing total processing time compared to individual hand-sculpting.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating drum creates periodic patterns through its cyclic rotation, with protrusions and recessions passing over the floor surface at regular intervals. This periodic mechanical action efficiently covers large areas quickly, producing consistent distressed appearances across multiple floors without the time investment required for individual hand-sculpting of each piece.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The abrading device quickly and cost-effectively imparts a distressed visible pattern on hardwood floors, reducing time and labor while maintaining an authentic appearance, allowing for efficient production of floor panels with a machine-sculpted design.
Implementation Method 1
an oscillation assembly configured to oscillate the contact roll in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the floor structure
Implementation Method 2
an abrading belt wrapped around the contact roll and the idler roll, the abrading belt comprising an abrading material
Implementation Method 3
the top surface has tangential contact with the abrading belt of the first abrading assembly
Data Source
AI summary
An abrading device for abrading a floor structure comprises a first abrading assembly and a second abrading assembly. The first and second abrading assemblies each have a rotationally driven contact roll provided with a sleeve having a plurality of cutouts formed in a pattern thereon. An abrading belt is trained over the sleeve. A first oscillation assembly is connected to the first abrading assembly and oscillates the contact roll of the first abrading assembly in a first direction via a linear, reciprocating motion. A second oscillation assembly is connected to the second abrading assembly and oscillates the contact roll of the second abrading assembly in a second direction via a linear reciprocating motion. The first and second abrading assemblies consecutively abrade a top surface of the floor structure with the pattern formed by the cutouts on the respective sleeves to form a distressed visible pattern thereon.