Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~ZZ342~L
- 1 - CBP-7386
I~O;~ Yr-.CIIO!~AL FLOOR TILE
E~ac~glourJd of the_Invc-nti~n
Field of the Invention
Tlle invention is directed to a floor tile and,
5 more particularly, to a floor tile with a
non-directional pattc-rn.
Deccription_of the Prior Art
U. S. Patent No. 2,663,663 does not deal with
a tile--lriaking process, but the patent does disclose the
10 additional of crushed marble to a thermosetting
synthetic resin laminate. The crushed marb~e is not
adced to produce a pattern, but is instead aoded to
provide a ro~ghened surface.
U. S. Patent 3,145,241 is directed to a floor
15 covering material with a non-directional pattern which
is accvmplished by limiting the number of granules added
to the base.
U. S. Patent No. 2,624,068 is directed to a
non-directional pattern in a floor covering material
20 wherein the particles are compressed in two normal
directions to prevent directional orientation.
U. S. Patent No. 3,194,856 is directed to a
non-directional pattern in a floor co~ering material,
and this is accomplished by using one hot and one cold
2 5 calender roll with the cold roll contacting the particles.
U. S. Patent No. 2,995,179 shows the use of
ground limestone as a filler in a tile, but not 25 a
decorative material.
~.
12~3 ~21
- 2 ~ /3.6
Finally, U. S. Patc-nt Jo. 2,120,281 shows the
use of hcrd silica gel in a rubber battc-ry separater
which is subse(~ur-ntly vulcanized/ but a~ain, the silica
gel is not inclu(3ed for decor1tive purposes.
S~ -ry of the Inv--ntion
Tl;e i~ r,l:ion is dirfct~-d to an i]riproved
coi;l,osition co-~pl-isin~ a fillfd ~I~ stic ~ SS of a
pl-imary ,o]or-,tioi-i 'i,vin~ a lhfL--o?~;,tic ~inder system
and a Jill-r. ?i-Je tile is foriilc-d in a flat sheet shape
and one ,urflce ther of is considered to be the wear
surface, and his is t-he suLface which iace upward from
the ti]e ~hfn it is irlstalled on a floor. The tile has
a plurality of particles of 10 to 60 r,lesh si~e
distributed in the surface area of the tile. rrhe
particles are of a contrasting coloration to the plastic
mass pri~rary coloration and are in a circular ur.smeared
shape. The particles are basically marble particles
which are not smearc-d or directionally oriented during
the calendering operation which forms the floor tile.
The method of making the product is the
- forming of the filled plastic mass with the marble
particles and then calendering the mass into a sheet
form and from the sheet, cutting the plurality of 1~" x
12" or like floor tiles. Many of the marble particles
appear in the surface of the tile product a~d have not
been smeared or elonsated during the calendering
operation, but do appear as small dots of a contrasting
color on the surface of the tile product.
Descr ption of the Preferred Embodiment
The tile product of the inventiun herein is
basically made by a process very similar to that carried
out in the prior art in U. S. Pater,t No. 2,995,179. The
materials are mixed in a Banbury or like intensive
mixer, dropped on a sheeting mill and passed through hot
calender rolls to form a sheet of the final thic~ness
which then is cut to desired tile dimensions.
A typical composition that could be used is
the following composition with the foL~ulations set
forth as follows:
1223~21
- 3 - C~ 7385
~ercent by
In~ ai~l-,t ~i,ht _
J-;csin: A mi~tul-e of 33% by weight of
polyvinyl chloride and 67~ by weigllt of
a ~0--lC~ blend of polyvin-vl chloric,r- and
pol~vir~ c~t~t~ 13.6
Groil-,d li~ t-one ( Q "esh & fir)er) 71.6
Colored m l-ble (1~--60 nesh) 8.0
Plastici;~--r (di--octyl-phthalate) 4.5
10 Process i~jd (alpha-"ic-thyl--styL,--ne) 1.0
Stabili~er (mela7nine base with a leta~lic soap) .8
Pigmfnt (titani~3m oxide) _-5_
100.0
Tl,e raw mât--rials are charged in a standcird r,anner into
a ~anbury or like intensive r,iixer. All t},e colored
rmarble are adced after all the other r,laterials have been
blended together. The color of the marble is a
contrasting color ~o that of the pigment ~or the tile
product. The rnaterial is then sheeted out in the
conventional manner as set forth in U. S. Patent
2,995,179.
~ hat is unique about the finished product is
that it is a non-directional tile pattern. The
calenoering operation does not srnear or elonaate the
marble particles as it would do in a normal tiling
operation where the contrasting colored particles would
be of a soft thermoplastic material, and this would tend
to elongate or provide a smeared line effect on the
finisl-ed product. The product ~rade in the invention of
this application ends up with a rather uniform dot or
circular contrasting color spot and the product in
effect looks very m,ich like one has sprink~ed ground
black pepper re~atively uniformly across the surface of
a white or light color tile base. The smeared tile
product has a directionality in that the tile seems to
e~tend in the direction of the smearing. Herein, there
- ~Z~3~21
- ~ - C;P-, 36
is I~O s~ ing -.nd therefoLe, the tile can be turned in
any Gne of the four stal~card ~l~adrants and not appear to
hcve a directionality in its dot desiyn.
The dot pattc-rn of the finished pro~3~ct can be
enh~nced l~y grir,dil-g the surface of the tile product to
rr--ove ;;nywhere fcom .~02 to .010 of an inch.
~ t ;-.y ~e dl-sir;,~e ':o gcind tle s~rface of
the pL-oduc'- ~o hiy`r-Jil_rJt t c- dot rJI-~S j9nI but this is not
necess;jl:y or s~-cl-ring t:he ur;slrlea~f-d patte~n on the
sur~ace of tne tile.
It is ~lso possible to use a plastic particle
in the invention provided that the plastic particle is
sufficiently }-~ard that it ~ill not streak during
coloring.
The hard plastic resin that could be used in
lieu of the marhle particles is a resin such as bakalite
which has a hardness of "Shore D" of appl-oximately 82.
The prc-ferred particle material to be used is
a marble particle that has a size such that it will pass
through a 10 mesh screen, but will not pass through a
; 60 mesh screen. This is referred to as a particle size
of 10 to 60 mesh. The mesh hole ratings are the U.S.
standard screen ratings used to identify particle size.
The marble particles could be uniformly spread
through the whole sheet and/or they could be
concentrated primarily on the surface layer of the
sheet. They could be concentrated on the surface layer
by either being made as a separate layer to be added to
a base layer, or made as a layer which is sprinkled on
the top of the hot sheet after it is first milled and
then subsequently passed through additional calendering
steps which would tend to embed the stone particles in
the upper surface area of the sheet product.
By the term "marble particles" is meant in
general any of a family of stone particles having a Mohs
hardness in the range of 2.5 to 3.5. The roll
separating forces during the milling operation provides
~223~Zl
-- 5 -- . . s ~ 6
a ;urr ss~lL-e of a~out 3 .2 tor;s ~ r linear inch width at
t}~e time t})e 7r,ass of plastic n,atr-rial is forir,ed into a
sheet. It is duril~!g t:he a~i~plication r f press ire of this
~a jnit~r3e that t-!le naL-(3 ~ ticles are not srl~ec;L~ed into a
5 di,^~-ctio, al ~;at. l-~--rn.
