Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
601 words
A method of making a hardcore panel comprising the steps of providing a stack of predetermined width comprising a first plurality of parallel substantially uniform first width planar boards of grained lumber and a second plurality of parallel planar boards of grained lumber having a second substantially uniform width less than said first width with said first and second plurality of boards being fastened together and arranged in said stack in step-wise fashion in a plurality of levels with said first width being substantially equivalent to said stack width, said stack having opposed top and bottom parallel faces, opposed front and rear faces and a pair of opposed parallel side faces, with the top and bottom faces and side faces being substantially planar and the front and rear faces being stepped from said bottom to said top face, said first width planar boards comprising said bottom and said top faces of said stack, said bottom face comprising the bottom level of said stack and said top face comprising the top level of said stack with said second plurality of planar boards being arranged in alternate levels with said first plurality of boards in said stack and with each of said alternate levels comprised of said second plurality of boards being comprised of at least a pair of substantially uniformly spaced apart second width planar boards forming a longitudinally extending channel in said stack; initially completely cutting said stepped stack along a first cut line through said faces from said face to side face at a predetermined acute angle between said first cut line and said bottom face to provide a substantially planar front face normal to said first cut line, said front face being sloped between said parallel planar top and bottom faces at said acute angle with respect to the plane of said bottom face; completely cutting said initially cut stepped stack at a predetermined distance from said first cut line along said side face along a second cut line through said side faces from side face to side face at said predetermined acute angle between said second cut line and said bottom face to provide a first cut portion from said stepped stack having a substantially planar rear face for said first cut portion normal to said second cut line, said first cut portion front and rear faces being parallel completely cutting said first cut portion through said first cut portion front face from said first cut portion front face to said first cut portion rear face along a third cut line normal to said bottom face to provide a first plurality of substantially identical cut segments each having said first cut portion sloping front and rear faces and whose top, front, bottom and rear faces are rectangular and whose side faces are rhomboidal, each of said first plurality of cut segments comprising said stack between said top and bottom faces with the top and bottom faces of each board in said stack being parallel to said cut segment top and bottom faces; and fastening said cut segments together with said front faces in a common plane with alternate adjacent fastened segments being rotated 180° about a longitudinal axis through the center of said segment parallel to said front face slope to provide a top and bottom surface for said fastened segments comprising alternating inverted sloping surfaces of said segment top and bottom faces whose slope is at an angle supplementary to said acute angle to provide said panel with a portion of said sloping surfaces defining sloping channels in said panel, whereby a honeycomb hardwood panel is provided.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
601 words
A method of making a hardcore panel comprising the steps of providing a stack of predetermined width comprising a first plurality of parallel substantially uniform first width planar boards of grained lumber and a second plurality of parallel planar boards of grained lumber having a second substantially uniform width less than said first width with said first and second plurality of boards being fastened together and arranged in said stack in step-wise fashion in a plurality of levels with said first width being substantially equivalent to said stack width, said stack having opposed top and bottom parallel faces, opposed front and rear faces and a pair of opposed parallel side faces, with the top and bottom faces and side faces being substantially planar and the front and rear faces being stepped from said bottom to said top face, said first width planar boards comprising said bottom and said top faces of said stack, said bottom face comprising the bottom level of said stack and said top face comprising the top level of said stack with said second plurality of planar boards being arranged in alternate levels with said first plurality of boards in said stack and with each of said alternate levels comprised of said second plurality of boards being comprised of at least a pair of substantially uniformly spaced apart second width planar boards forming a longitudinally extending channel in said stack; initially completely cutting said stepped stack along a first cut line through said faces from said face to side face at a predetermined acute angle between said first cut line and said bottom face to provide a substantially planar front face normal to said first cut line, said front face being sloped between said parallel planar top and bottom faces at said acute angle with respect to the plane of said bottom face; completely cutting said initially cut stepped stack at a predetermined distance from said first cut line along said side face along a second cut line through said side faces from side face to side face at said predetermined acute angle between said second cut line and said bottom face to provide a first cut portion from said stepped stack having a substantially planar rear face for said first cut portion normal to said second cut line, said first cut portion front and rear faces being parallel completely cutting said first cut portion through said first cut portion front face from said first cut portion front face to said first cut portion rear face along a third cut line normal to said bottom face to provide a first plurality of substantially identical cut segments each having said first cut portion sloping front and rear faces and whose top, front, bottom and rear faces are rectangular and whose side faces are rhomboidal, each of said first plurality of cut segments comprising said stack between said top and bottom faces with the top and bottom faces of each board in said stack being parallel to said cut segment top and bottom faces; and fastening said cut segments together with said front faces in a common plane with alternate adjacent fastened segments being rotated 180° about a longitudinal axis through the center of said segment parallel to said front face slope to provide a top and bottom surface for said fastened segments comprising alternating inverted sloping surfaces of said segment top and bottom faces whose slope is at an angle supplementary to said acute angle to provide said panel with a portion of said sloping surfaces defining sloping channels in said panel, whereby a honeycomb hardwood panel is provided.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
40 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein each of said pairs of substantially uniformly spaced apart second width planar boards are substantially uniformly spaced apart by at least a distance equivalent to said second width for forming said channel.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
55 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein one of said stack side faces comprises at least one of said second width planar boards comprising each of said alternate levels and the other of said stack side faces comprises at least another one of said second width planar boards comprising each of said alternate levels.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
81 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising the steps of completely cutting said first cut portion through said first cut portion front face from said first cut portion front face to said first cut portion rear face along a fourth cut line substantially parallel to said first cut line and spaced thereapart by a sufficient distance to provide said plurality of substantially identically cut segments with said third and fourth cut lines not coinciding with said channel width extents.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
96 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising the steps of cutting said alternating inverted sloping surfaces of said fastened segments along a fourth cut line normal to said segment front face and a fifth cut line normal to said segment rear face to provide substantially planar top and bottom faces for said panel comprising said fastened segments which are parallel to each other and normal to said front and rear and side faces wherein the side faces of the component boards are at an angle to said bottom face supplementary to said acute angle.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
17 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said acute angle is substantially between 12° and 30°.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
14 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said acute angle is substantially 18°.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said stack providing step comprises the step of fastening said stack together by gluing adjacent boards to each other with a waterproof resin.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
33 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said segment fastening step comprises the step of fastening adjacent side surfaces of said cut segments to each other by gluing with a waterproof resin.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said stack providing step comprises the further step of stacking said plurality of boards with the grains thereof all running in the same direction.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
40 words
A method in accordance with claim 10 wherein said stack providing further step comprises stacking said plurality of boards with the grains thereof all running in the direction between said front and rear faces of said boards in said stack.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method in accordance with claim 1 comprising the further step of fastening a veneer layer of a predetermined thickness to at least said front face of said honeycomb panel to cover said front face.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
43 words
A method in accordance with claim 12 wherein said veneer layer fastening step comprises fastening another veneer layer of a predetermined thickness to said rear face of said panel to cover said rear face, said honeycomb panel being sandwiched between said veneer layers.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
236 words
A hardcore panel comprising a plurality of adjacent batten-like members fastened together in a substantially planar configuration, each of said batten-like members having a top face, an opposed bottom face, a pair of opposed side faces, each of said faces being substantially normal to the adjacent face of said batten-like member, each of said batten-like members comprising a fastened plurality of stacked adjacent board segments of grained lumber, each of said segments having a top face, an opposed bottom face, a pair of opposed end faces and a pair of opposed side faces, said board segments being stacked along the longitudinal axis of said batten-like member from one of said batten-like member end faces to said opposed end face, at least a portion of said board segments defining a channel therethrough, said adjacent board segment end faces being fastened together and being substantially parallel to each other, said adjacent board segments top, bottom and side faces comprising said batten-like member top, bottom and side faces respectively, each of said segment adjacent end faces for every other one of said fastened batten-like members in said plurality forming a predetermined acute angle with said longitudinal axis, each of said adjacent end faces comprising said batten-like members adjacent to said every other one in said plurality forming a predetermined obtuse angle with said longitudinal axis which is supplementary to said predetermined acute angle, whereby a honeycomb panel is provided.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
236 words
A hardcore panel comprising a plurality of adjacent batten-like members fastened together in a substantially planar configuration, each of said batten-like members having a top face, an opposed bottom face, a pair of opposed side faces, each of said faces being substantially normal to the adjacent face of said batten-like member, each of said batten-like members comprising a fastened plurality of stacked adjacent board segments of grained lumber, each of said segments having a top face, an opposed bottom face, a pair of opposed end faces and a pair of opposed side faces, said board segments being stacked along the longitudinal axis of said batten-like member from one of said batten-like member end faces to said opposed end face, at least a portion of said board segments defining a channel therethrough, said adjacent board segment end faces being fastened together and being substantially parallel to each other, said adjacent board segments top, bottom and side faces comprising said batten-like member top, bottom and side faces respectively, each of said segment adjacent end faces for every other one of said fastened batten-like members in said plurality forming a predetermined acute angle with said longitudinal axis, each of said adjacent end faces comprising said batten-like members adjacent to said every other one in said plurality forming a predetermined obtuse angle with said longitudinal axis which is supplementary to said predetermined acute angle, whereby a honeycomb panel is provided.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
66 words
A hardcore panel in accordance with claim 14 wherein the grain of each of said segments comprising a given batten-like member all run in the same direction between said top surface and said bottom surface with the direction of the grain of each of said obtuse angular related segments substantially being supplementary to the direction of the grain of each of said acute angular related segments.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
22 words
A hardcore panel in accordance with claim 15 wherein said grain runs in a direction substantially coplanar with said segment end faces.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
18 words
A hardcore panel in accordance with claim 14 wherein said acute angle is substantially between 12° and 30°.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
15 words
A hardcore panel in accordance with claim 14 wherein said acute angle is substantially 18°.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
33 words
A hardcore panel in accordance with claim 14 further comprising a veneer layer having a predetermined thickness fastened to at least said top face of said honeycomb panel to cover said top face.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
40 words
A hardcore panel in accordance with claim 19 further comprising a second veneer layer having a predetermined thickness fastened to said bottom face of said panel to cover said bottom face, said honeycomb panel being sandwiched between said veneer layers.