Resilient pedestal head for a raised access floor system

Abstract

A pedestal head that is sufficiently resilient to allow for alignment of the floor panels during installation of the floor panels and to allow individual access floor panels to maintain their originally-aligned position after having been subjected to a heavy load during use. The pedestal head includes a base and arms extending from and supported by the base for cantilevered movement relative thereto. The base has a first surface, disposed in a first plane, configured to support a first portion of a floor panel. The arm has a second surface configured to support a second portion of the floor panel. The second surface is disposed in a second plane generally parallel to the first plane in a first configuration of the pedestal head. The arm is deflectable by the weight of a panel mounted thereon to define a second configuration in which the second surface is nonparallel to the first plane. The base may include additional arms for supporting additional floor panels. Each arm extends from and is supported by the base for cantilevered movement relative thereto. Each arm also has a surface disposed in the second plane for supporting another floor panel. Typically, four arms are provided to support the corners of four panels mounted on the arms in a substantially level, aligned position regardless of the differences in dimensions caused by variations in manufacturing tolerances.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A resilient pedestal head for use in supporting floor panels of an elevated flooring system, said pedestal head comprising: 
 a base having a first surface configured to support a first portion of a corner of a floor panel, said first surface being disposed in a first plane; and    an arm extending from and supported by said base for cantilevered movement relative thereto, said arm having a second surface configured to support a second portion of the corner of the floor panel, said second surface being disposed in a second plane generally parallel to said first plane in a first configuration of said pedestal head, and said arm being deflectable by the weight of a panel mounted thereon to define a second configuration in which said second surface is nonparallel to said first plane.    
     
     
         2 . The pedestal head of  claim 1 , wherein said arm comprises a first portion downwardly depending from said base and a second portion extending transversely to said first portion, said second surface being part of said second portion and being vertically spaced from said first surface.  
     
     
         3 . The pedestal head of  claim 2 , wherein said first and second portions of said arm have a substantially L-shaped cross section, and a width substantially smaller than the length of a side of the floor panel.  
     
     
         4 . The pedestal head of  claim 3 , wherein said base includes a central portion and a peripheral portion lying in said first plane, said arm extending downwardly from said peripheral portion.  
     
     
         5 . The pedestal head of  claim 4 , wherein said peripheral portion comprises first and second opposed sides and said arm extends downwardly from one of said sides.  
     
     
         6 . The pedestal head of  claim 5 , further comprising a second arm extending from and being supported by the other of said sides for cantilevered movement relative thereto, said second arm having a surface disposed in said second plane for supporting another floor panel.  
     
     
         7 . The pedestal head of  claim 6 , wherein said first and second arms define with said base a generally u-shaped cross section for supporting panels mounted on said first and second arms in a substantially level, aligned position regardless of differences in dimensions caused by variations in manufacturing tolerances.  
     
     
         8 . The pedestal head of  claim 7 , wherein each of said first and second arms include a first portion downwardly extending from said base, each of said first portions include a section proximate said base and a section distal to said base, with the distance between proximate sections of first and second arms being less than the distance between said distal sections of the first and second arms to bias said arms into a position capable of producing restoring moments tending to offset deflections of panels mounted on said arms due to manufacturing tolerances.  
     
     
         9 . The pedestal head of  claim 1 , wherein said base includes four resilient arms extending from and supported by said base for cantilevered movement relative thereto to support corners of four panels in a substantially level, aligned position regardless of differences in dimensions caused by variations in manufacturing tolerances.  
     
     
         10 . The pedestal head of  claim 9 , wherein said base includes a central portion and four extensions extending outwardly therefrom such that said base has a cross-like shape in plan, with each arm extending from one of said extensions of said base.  
     
     
         11 . An elevated floor system for use in combination with said resilient pedestal head of  claim 1 , said elevated floor system including: 
 a floor panel having a corner with first and second vertically spaced portions,    wherein said first surface of said base supports said first portion of said panel and said second surface of said arm supports said second portion of said panel.    
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein said pedestal head is permanently deformable by application of an external force to realign said second surface into a parallel relationship with said first plane  
     
     
         13 . An elevated floor system for supporting access floor panels, said system comprising: 
 first and second floor panels, each panel having a corner;    a pedestal having a head for supporting said first and second panels, said pedestal including a base having a first mounting surface supporting first portions of said corners of the first and second floor panels, first and second cantilevers extending from said base, each cantilever having a second mounting surface, vertically spaced from said first surface, supporting a second portion of said corner of one of said first and second floor panels; and    wherein said first and second mounting surfaces are disposed in substantially parallel planes prior to mounting said panels thereon, and said first and second cantilevers are deflectable relative to said base under the weight of said first and second panels mounted thereon to define a second configuration in which said first and second surfaces are nonparallel.    
     
     
         14 . The elevated floor system of  claim 13 , wherein said second mounting surface of each cantilever includes a first hole and said first and second floor panels each include a second hole, with said first and second holes being alignable to receive a fastener when one of said floor panels are mounted to one of said arms, whereby connection of said panels to said arms by fasteners forces said arms to deflect into said second configuration due to dimensional variations between the panels and the head caused by manufacturing tolerances.  
     
     
         15 . The elevated floor system of  claim 13 , wherein said cantilever has substantially L-shaped cross section.  
     
     
         16 . The elevated floor system of  claim 15 , wherein a second cantilever extends from said base, and said first and second cantilevers define with said base a substantially u-shaped cross section.  
     
     
         17 . The elevated floor system of  claim 16 , wherein said base includes two opposed extensions and said first and second cantilevers extend from one of said extensions, and further comprising third and fourth cantilevers extending from the other of said extensions, said third and fourth cantilevers defining with said base a substantially u-shaped cross section.  
     
     
         18 . The elevated floor system of  claim 13 , wherein each of said first and second cantilevers include a first portion downwardly extending from said base, each of said first portions include a section proximate said base and a section distal to said base, with the distance between said proximate sections of the first and second cantilevers being less than the distance between said distal sections of the first and second cantilevers to bias said arms into a position capable of producing a restoring moment tending to offset deflections of panels mounted on said cantilevers due to manufacturing tolerances.  
     
     
         19 . The elevated floor system of  claim 13 , wherein each of said floor panels have substantially flat upper surfaces and deflection of said cantilevers to said second configuration cause said upper surfaces to be non-parallel to each other.  
     
     
         20 . The elevated floor system of  claim 14 , wherein said pedestal head is permanently deformable by application of an external force to realign the first and second planes in a parallel relationship.  
     
     
         21 . A method of installing an elevated flooring system composed of floor panels supported on a subfloor by pedestals, each pedestal having a pedestal head for supporting upper and lower portions of each floor panel on first and second vertically spaced mounting surfaces of the pedestal head, said method comprising: 
 disposing the upper portion of a first panel on the first mounting surface of a pedestal head and the lower portion of the first panel on a portion of the second mounting surface of the pedestal head;    connecting the first floor panel to the second mounting surface of the pedestal head;    disposing the upper portion of a second panel on the first mounting surface of the pedestal head and the lower portion of the second panel on another portion of the second surface of the pedestal head; and    connecting the second floor panel to the second mounting surface of the pedestal head such that the panels create moments deforming the pedestal head to a position in which the first and second panels are non-parallel to each other.    
     
     
         22 . The method of installing an elevated floor panel of  claim 21 , further comprising the step of plastically deforming the pedestal head to align the first and second panels in a level plane.  
     
     
         23 . The method of installing an elevated floor panel of  claim 22 , wherein said step of plastically deforming comprises applying a force in a region of the connected floor panels proximate the pedestal head.  
     
     
         24 . The method of installing an elevated floor panel of  claim 22 , wherein said step of plastically deforming comprises applying a force to at least one of the first and second panels at a location spaced from the pedestal head.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein said connecting steps comprise the steps of aligning a hole in the first floor panel with a first hole in the second surface of the pedestal head, and aligning a hole in the second floor panel with a second hole in the second surface of the pedestal head.