Field of the Invention

The invention relates to duckboards and is specifically concerned with duckboards which comprise a succession of treads, adjacent ones of which are linked by respective tread-linking means so as to rest, in use, in generally parallel non-coaxial corres¬ ponding-end-alignment along the ground or other surface on which the board is placed in use.

Duckboards having the features set out in the preceding paragraph will be referred to as duckboards of the kind in question.

Specific embodiments of such a duckboard are described and illustrated in UK patent specification number 2 204 078A (ROPE) published 2nd November 1988.

Summary of the Invention

According to the invention in its broadest aspect there is provided a connector, intended to function as a tread-linking means for a duckboard of the kind in question; one end region of the connector being adapted to couple with its co-operating tread, the opposite end region of the connector either being adapted to couple with its associated tread or forming part of that tread; and the connector incorporating a region which is more flexible than the adjacent region and which enables the connector to hinge.

The connectors disclosed in specification 2 204 078A are described as being lengths of resilient material . In other words , they can flex . They could therefore have a hinging action , in use , in the sense intended in this present specification; but only if they are relatively rigidly fixed to their treads .

As it is , they are a deliberate up-and-down "floating" fit , to enable the treads to accommodate irregularities in the ground . So , not only is there (to disclosure or suggestion of using the inherent resilience of these tread-linking strips ; there is positively no need to do so .

Even if the tread-linking strips of specification 2 204 078A were to be so used , they do not fill the essential requirement of the present invention that a region of the connector is more flexible than the rest of the connector . They are described simply as "resilient strips" . They are shown as being integrally formed and of uniform thickness . The only implication to be drawn is that they are equally resilient at all regions along their length .

There is , on the above analysis , nothing therefore in specif i- cation 2 204 078A to disclose or to suggest the present invention .

The invention is thus new and involves an inventive step .

Advantageously a connector embodying the invention may be thinned , at one or more regions , to augment its hinging ability . There is again no disclosure or suggestion of this in specifi- cation 2 204 078A . That specification effectively tells the reader that it is enough , both to make the tread-linking means into resilient strips and to make them a floating up-and-down fit in the treads . The idea that both these features could be incorporated , and that the tread-linking means could be thinned , is new and non-obvious and gives even greater ground- irregularity accommodation to a duckboard using such connectors .

Where the connector is thinned as just outlined, the thinned region - or at least one such region if there are more than one - may comprise or consist of that region which is more flexible than the rest of the connector.

In any connector embodying the present invention, the connector may be notched to augment its hinging ability. There is again no suggestion of this in the prior specification discussed above. Its advantage is that it gives to a connector a precisely defined line of hinging action.

Where the connector is notched, the notched region - or at least one such region if there are more than one - may comprise or consist of that region which is more flexible than the rest of the connector.

Where the connector is notched, it may with advantage be notched on its underside (i.e. that surface of the connector which faces the ground when the duckboard is in use). A notched connector can best accommodate flexure when flexed so as to close the notch, and this is the way it will almost always be flexed when the duckboard is rolled for transport or storage.

Connectors embodying the invention may with advantage be used in conjunction with treads of the kind described and illustrated in specification number 2 204 078A, i.e. treads which co-operate with the adjacent end region of the associated connector such that the tread and the connector snap-fit together.

The invention therefore includes within its scope a duckboard incorporating one or more connectors of the kind embodied in any of the paragraphs summarising the present invention.

Such a duckboard may be pre-assembled, in whole or in part,

or may comprise a kit of parts comprising treads and connectors for subsequent assembly .

Such a duckboard may also snap-fit together in a way w hich allows an up-and-down "floating" relative movement between connector and associated tread at one or more points along the duckboard ; but , given the hinging action of the connectors embodying the present invention, it will be appreciated that such motion is not an essential feature of the invention.

The treads and the connectors of such a duckboard may . snap- fit by way of the co-operating inter-engagement between projec¬ tions on the connectors and recesses in the treads . But the recesses could be formed in the connectors and the projections could project from the treads . And it is a further feature of the present invention that there could , for example, be an adjacent projection-and-recess formation on a tread (or an associated connector ) inter -engaging with a co-operating recess-and-projection formation on the associated connector (or tread ) . Such an arrangement makes it easier , in a manner known per se , to quickly snap-fit the two together and it is nowhere shown or suggested in specification number 2 204

078A .

Brief Description of the Drawings

In the accompanying drawings , Figures 1 and 2 show one connector , embodying the invention, respectively in plan and in side elevation; and

Figures 3 and 4 are views , respectively corresponding to Figures 1 and 2 , of another embodiment , with Figure 4 being sectioned along the line 4-4 in Figure 3.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment

In Figures 1 and 2 a connector, made of suitably integrally coloured polypropylene plastics material, is generally elongate in shape and has its longitudinal axis L running from left to right in the drawings. The connector, in use, functions as a tread-linking means for a duckboard of the kind described and illustrated in UK patent specification number 2 204 078A and is intended as a direct replacement for the tread-linking resilient strips 12 of that prior specification.

Like the tread-linking strips of specification 2 204 078A, the connector of Figures 1 and 2 is of substantially uniform thickness throughout its length. But it is in fact thinned at a region approximately halfway along its length.

The region containing the notch, referenced 11 in Figure 2, is therefore in effect thinned by comparison with the rest of the connector. It is also, again by comparison with the rest of the connector, inherently more flexible than the connector regions immediately adjacent to it. And because it is flexible, it enables the connector to hinge about the apex 12 of the notch.

A stalk 13 projects respectively from each opposite end region of the connector. A spherical ball 14 is moulded as an integral extension of each such stalk 13 which is, itself, an integrally moulded projection from the main body 15 of the connector in which the notch 11 is formed.

The stalks 13 are square-section whilst the balls 14 are spherical, as just mentioned. The length of stalk, and the size of ball, is such that the connectors can snap-fit into the accommodating recesses on the treads of the duckboard and there is then a deliberate up-and-down float between the ball 14 (which

keeps the connector captive inside the tread recess ) and the underside (not shown ) of the tread into which it fits .

In figures 3 and 4 , the same notched connector construction is used . But this time the connector body 15 forms an integrally moulded extension of a tread 16 of the duckboard . The whole board may consist of such treads , each with its connectors 15 projecting from one end whilst the other end accommodates the necessary recesses to receive the snap-in ball heads 14 of the adjacent connector-ended tread .

Although the connectors illustrated have been shown with their stalks 13 long enough for the up-and-down "float" to be present when the duckboard is assembled , such float is not essential . It does , however , augment the hinging action of the connector about the notch 11. It is also not essential , within the broadest aspect of the invention, for the connector to be notched in order to achieve its differential flexibility enabling it to hinge . Nor is it necessary for the desired thinning to be achieved solely by the notch - for example , the thickness of the connector could literally thin in order to achieve this .

Finally , it will be appreciated that the relatively more flexible region, the thinned region, and/or the notched region, may or may not coincide in any given individual connector construction.