BAMBOO-BASED PLATE MEMBER HAVING A BUFFER STRUCTURE THEREIN

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention to plate members for building construction and furniture and more particularly, to a bamboo-based plate member having a buffer structure therein.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

Many materials including metals, wood, plastics, glass, leather, and etc., are used to make tables, chairs, cabinets and many other different furniture. A wooden furniture shows an antique sense of beauty, and gives a warm touch. Using wood as building material needs to cut down trees and prepare them as marketable timber. However, over logging brings disaster to the earth. Further, conventional wooden furniture are commonly heavy and expense, not convenient for delivery. Using plywood for making furniture saves the cost, however a plywood furniture has low strength.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a bamboo-based plate member for making furniture, which has high strength and low weight characteristics. It is another object of the present invention to provide a bamboo-based plate member, which is practical for use in building construction and furniture to substitute for wooden plate members.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the bamboo-based plate member includes a top panel made of small bamboo chips pressed together and glued, a bottom panel made of small bamboo chips pressed together and glued, an intermediate buffering structure sandwiched between the top panel and the bottom panel, the intermediate buffering structure being a flat bamboo frame member having open spaces therein, and a plurality of bamboo slats sandwiched between the top panel and the bottom panel around the periphery of the intermediate buffering structure in a flush manner.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the intermediate buffering structure can be comprised of straight bamboo strips intersected together, a plurality of bamboo rings peripherally bonded to one another, a plurality of wave-like bamboo strips arranged into a lattice and fixedly fastened together, a plurality of straight bamboo strips arranged in parallel and bonded to the bottom wall of the top panel and the top wall of the bottom panel, a plurality of V-shaped bamboo strips arranged into a lattice and fixedly fastened together, or a plurality of curved bamboo strips fixedly fastened together to show a beehive configuration.

The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a bamboo-based plate member in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the bamboo-base plate member in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the present invention, showing an alternate form of the intermediate buffering structure.

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the present invention, showing another alternate form of the intermediate buffering structure.

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the present invention, showing still another alternate form of the intermediate buffering structure.

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of the present invention, showing still another form of the intermediate buffering structure.

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of the present invention, showing still another form of the intermediate buffering structure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a bamboo-based plate member in accordance with the present invention is shown comprising a top panel 1, a bottom panel 2, an intermediate buffering structure 3, and peripheral bamboo slats 4.

The top panel 1 and the bottom panel 2 are respectively made of small bamboo chips that are pressed together and glued. The bamboo chips can be have any size and shape. They can be waste chips obtained from factories, or specially processed small pieces of bamboo material.

The bamboo slats 4 are specially processed, having predetermined lengths, widths and heights to be sandwiched between the top panel 1 and the bottom panel around the periphery of the intermediate buffering structure 3. The intermediate buffering structure 3 is a flat bamboo frame member having open spaces therein and sandwiched between the top panel 1 and the bottom panel 2.

The intermediate buffering structure 3 may be made in any of a variety of forms. According to the example shown in FIG. 1, the intermediate buffering structure 3 is comprised of straight bamboo strips 31 of two different lengths intersected together.

FIG. 3 illustrates still another example of the intermediate buffering structure 3. According to this example, the intermediate buffering structure 3 is comprised of bamboo rings 32 peripherally bonded to one another.

FIG. 4 illustrates still another example of the intermediate buffering structure 3. According to this example, the intermediate buffering structure 3 is comprised of wave-like bamboo strips 33 arranged into a lattice and bonded together, or fixedly fastened together with fastening means (not shown). FIG. 5 illustrates still another example of the intermediate buffering structure 3. According to this example, the intermediate buffering structure 3 is comprised of straight bamboo strips 31 arranged in parallel and directly bonded to the bottom wall of the top panel 1 and the top wall of the bottom panel 2.

FIG. 6 illustrates still another example of the intermediate buffering structure 3. According to this example, the intermediate buffering structure 3 is comprised of V-shaped bamboo strips 33 arranged into a lattice, and bonded together or fixedly fastened together with fastening means (not shown). FIG. 7 illustrates still another example of the intermediate buffering structure 3. According to this example, the intermediate buffering structure 3 is comprised of specially curved bamboo strips 35 that are fixedly fastened together to show a beehive configuration.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.