Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention relates to a floor mat of the washable, dirt
adsorbing type comprising a rubber backing for a preferably
tufted nap of a soft yarn material, the top side of the back-
ing having a nap-free frame area along the edges of the mat.
Mats of this character are produced in two basically diffe-
rent types, viz. so-called utility mats and so-called appear-
ance mats, according to the type of backing material as
used therein. The utility mats are made with a backing of
"black rubber", i.e. a thin and strong plate material based
10 on lampblack as filler material, this even today being the
best and strongest rubber material available. In order to
match the black frame area portion of the backing it is
customary to produce the mats with a nap made of a grey
yarn, optionally a cotton based yarn which is well washable
and well suited to be impregnated by a dust binding oil
subsequent to the washing of the mat and the renewed use
of the mat. It is generally admitted that these grey and
black utility mats, although they are highly efficient
and durable and advantageous in every other respect, suffer
20 from the disadvantage that they are not at any particularly
attractive appearance.
The mats of the type in question are used primarily in non-
private surroundings, i.e. in shops, offices, factories etc.,
and in some of these places it is desirable that the mats
should present themselves not as black and grey only, but
generally as coloured elements. The nap, of course, may
easily be coloured as desired, but the high quality black
type rubber backlng cannot be replaced by coloured rubber
without an associated reduction of the quality, because
30 an equally strong coloured rubber material has not been
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developed so ax. Thence the distinction between "utility
mats" and "appearance mats", of which the latter are ~enerally
of a reduced quality.
The present invention provides an improved mat of the
type referred to whereby an "appearance mat" is produceable
with a generally improved quality.
According to the invention the backing as consisting
of "black" rubber or a corresponding high quality material is
provided with a top layer of a coloured rubber material at
least in the said frame area and preferably substantially
solely in said frame area.
Generally the available coloured types of rubber are
well suited to be joined with the black rubber by a vulcaniza-
tion process as used anyway in the mat production, for secur-
ing the nap to the backing, the nap normally being pretufted
on a thin carrier sheet which is placed on a backing member
such that by a following treatment in a vulcanization press
the bottom portions of the tufted nap get intimately joined
with the backing member.
For producing a mat according to the invention it is
preferable to provide a sandwich pre-assembly consisting of
a backing member of black rubber and four plate strips of a
desired coloured rubber laid onto the edge areas of the back-
ing member top side to form a frame portion thereon, and a
topmost layer consisting of the said tufted carrier sheet
having such a size that it extends just beyond the inner edges
of the coloured frame strips, whereafter this pre-assembly is
treated in a vulcanization press.
According to an important aspect of the invention it
has been found that the coloured rubber material may be
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reinforced to show a generally improved quality by incorporat-
ing in the rubber mass an amount, e.g. 5~, of synthetic fibres
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such as polypropyiene or polyester fibres, and even the
` black rubber backing member may be reinforced in the same
manner.
Though the coloured irame strips are themselves backed by
the edge area of the backing member and are thus held in
a stabilized manner, they will nevertheless show a still
higher stability and quality, e.g. as far as wear resist-
ance is concerned, when they consist of the said fibre
reinforced material.
10 In the following the invention is described in more detail
with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:-
Fig. 1 is a perspective exploded view illustrating a pre-
ferred manner of producing a mat according to the invention,
Fig. 2 is a partial sectional view of the pre-assembly shown
in Fig. 1, and
Fig. 3 is a similar view of a modified embodiment.
The mat assembly shown in Fig. 1 comprises a lowermost backing
member 2 made as a rectangular plate member of "black" rubber,
: i.e. a strong rubber material based on lampblack as filler
20 material. Onto the top side edge areas of this member is
laid four plate strips 4 made of coloured rubber and arranged
so as to form a frame about the remainder of the exposed
top side of the backing member 2. Onto this subassembly is
laid a nap sheet 6 consisting of a thin carrier sheet of
any suitable material, which has in previous operation
been provided with a tufted nap of cotton or synthetic
yarn, coloured as desired to match the colour of the frame
- pieces 4. The nap sheet 6 ls slightly larger than the cen-
tral area of the backing member 2 as left exposed by the
30 frame strips 4, i.e. the outer edges of the nap sheet 6
will just cover the inner edge areas of the strips 4, as
more clearly shown in Fig. 2.
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Thereafter the mat assembly ls placed in a vulcanization
; press, and the various layers are joined by the heat and
the pressure therein, as already well known for joining
the nap sheet 6 with a rubber backing.
The frame strips 4 may have any desired thickness, even
down to a very small thickness, and though the coloured
rubber material, of which they consist, is not as strong
as the black rubber of the backing member 2, these strips
will nevertheless constitute a reinforcement of the edge
10 portions of the mat, i.e. a reinforcement just where it
is needed at most or is of maximum effect. At the same
time the coloured frame material will-add to the black
rubber utility mat the qualification of additionally be-
ing an "appearance mat".
As shown in Fig. 3 it will even be possible to provide
the coloured frame strips 4 as outermost frame members
laid edgewise against the outer periphery of the central
backing member 2. When the coloured rubber material of
the strips 4 is of an ordinary non-reinforced type which
20 is generally weaker than the black rubber material of
the central backing portion 2 it may be desirable to
make use of framing strips 4 of increased thickness.
However, experiments have shown that it is in fact possible
to reinforce the coloured rubber material by adding
to the rubber material an amount of some 5% or between
2% and 10% of synthetic fibres e.g. polypropylene or
polyester fibres, whereby the coloùred material ls no
longer as weak as the conventional "appearance mats",
and the necessary thickness of the frame strips - both
30 ln Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 - may thus be reduced as compared
with a non-reinforced material, or in other words an
"appearance mat" may be produced which is hardly dis-
tinguishable from a "utility mat" from a ~uality point
of view.
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Experiments have shown that also the material of the black
rubber backing member 2 may be pronounced reinforced by
adding to the rubber mass an amount of e.g. some 5~ or
between 2% and 10% by weight of synthetic fibres, pre-
ferably of polyester or polypropylene and of a length
of some 5-10 cm.
It will be within the scope of the invention to use a
coloured top layer or sheet 4 covering the entire black
rubber backing member 2.
