Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ONE PIECE BINDER-CARPET CONSTRUCTION
AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME
Description
This invention relates to work pieces, such as car-
pets and carpeting and, in particular, to work pieces which
are affixed to a holding surface, such as a floor substrate.
In adhering work piece coverings, such as carpets
or carpet tiles to support substrates, such as floor surfaces,
an adhesive, having the properties of becoming tacky and curing
to a hard bond, is applied to the floor. The carpeting pieces
or carpet tiles are placed over the adhesive and moved into
proper position before the adhesive becomes too tacky to work.
The adhesive is then permitted to dry hard and adhere the
carpeting in a fairly permanent bond to the floor. Removal
of the carpet after a length of time is difficult because the
backing material is strongly adhered to the floor. Removal
causes the backing to tear with parts remaining on the floor
and the adhesive which is bonded to the floor remains thereon
and is difficult to take off.
In order to avoid this, there has been provided a
release adhesive binder with a grid construction which is
interposed between the floor and the carpeting for reducing
the total adhesive area contact with both the floor and the
carpet. This is described in Canadian Patent 1 105 332,
issued July 21, 1981.
The binder material of said earlier development is
either in separate sheet or ribbon form and the strands
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thereof are coated with pressure sensitive release adhesive
which permits the binder together with the carpet which lays
over it to be easily removed from the floor without marring
the floor. The carpeting is firmly anchored to the floor
while the release characteristics of the binder allows proper
seam adjustment and abutment by permitting easy lifting of the
carpet from the binder during installation. It has been
found that such a binder material will remain on the floor
for long periods of time and can be removed without unduly
marring the floor or causing the carpet to be torn.
The present invention provides a combined cover-
binder unit for strippable attachment to a rigid holding
surface comprising a cover portion, said cover portion having
an upper face and a lower face, said lower face including a
backing layer, a binder portion beneath the lower face of the
cover portion, said binder portion comprising a binder material
having an upper surface and a lower surface, and comprising a
plurality of spaced frame elements which intersect each other
to form a grid-like construction, the entire surfaces of said
spaced frame elements of the said binder material being coated
with an adhesive coating, the entire upper surface of the
binder material being substantially permanently adhered to the
entire lower face of the cover portion by said adhesive, the
space between said spaced frame elements being devoid of
adhesive so that the areas of the lower face of the cover
portion not adhered to said binder portion are exposed areas,
the adhesive on said lower surface of the binder material
being of the pressure-sensitive type, the lower surface of the
binder material being adapted to be removably adhered to a
rigid holding surface by said pressure-sellsitive adhesive, the
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entire binder material extending over the entire area of the
lower face of said cover portion, and the exposed areas of
said lower face of said cover portion between said spaced
frame elements being devoid of adhesive whereby they are not
adhered to said rigid holding surface, said cover portion
comprising a carpet having a pile and a backing layer perman-
ently attached therebeneath and wherein the binder material
is permanently embedded and adhered to the underside of said
backing layer.
A preferred embodiment of the invention has been
chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is
shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part of the
specification, wherein:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a one piece binder-
carpet construction made in accordance with the present
invention.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the present
invention showing the manner of removing the protective
covering from the binder-carpet construction of the present
invention.
Figure 3 is an inverted sectional view taken along
line 3-3 of Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4
of Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a bottom view of the binder-carpet
construction of the present invention.
Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken along
line 6-6 of Figure 5.
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Fi~o 7 is a diagrammatic sectional view sho~ing
the manner in which the carpet portion and the binder
portion are adhered together to make a unitary carpet tile.
Fig. 8 is a sPctional view taken along line 8-8
of Fig. 7.
Fig. 9 is a diagramm~tic sectional view showing
the manner of making rolls of carpeting with the present
invention.
Fig. 10 is a sectional view similar to Figo 3
showing a modification of the present invention.
Referring more particularly to the drawings, the
present invention comprises a combined binder-carpet
construction 1 which includes a carpet portion A and a
binder portion B substantially permanently sdhered together.
The carpet portion A comprises the usual plle 2,
which may be cut or urcut and which may be tufted, woven or
otherwise made and which is embedded, supported or anchored
to a primary backing layer 3, which may be a woven or non-
woven material. Beneath the primary backing layer 3 and
permanently adhered thereto is a secondary backing layer 4
which is or may be made of resilient material such as foam
rubber, a fabric of ~ute or w~ven synthetic or a plain rubber
or plastic coating.
Embedded and permanently mounted to the underside
of the carpet portion A is the binder portion B which
co~prises a binder 5 and a re~ovable protecti~e release
backing 11. The binder ~ is preferably comprised of strands 8
of a natural or synthetic fiber (such as paper) stock, ~hich
is wo~en, knit or otherwise fabricated into a grid~like
- or other suitable construction. It will be understoo~ that
the binder 5 may be made ~om any other suitable ~aterial.
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The b~nder 5 forms a plurality of spaced frame
elements 6 and a plurallty of f~ot or rib portions 7.
These foot or rib portions 7 are adapted to space the frame
elements of the binder 5 slightly away from the floor 10.
The strands 8 of the binder 5 are coated with a pressure
relesse adhesive 9 as shown in Fig. 6.
The binder 5 has an upper face which i6 adhered to
the lower face of the backing 4 of the carpet portion A and
a lower face which is adhered to a floor 10. ~y reason of
adhesive and the intense pressure applied, the upper face
of the binder 5 i8 embedded and substantially permanently
mounted to the lower face of the backing 4. The adhesive
between the upper face of binder 5 and the lower face of
backing 4 is substantially permanent to form a strong bond
(as will be more fully discussed below) so that in effect the
binder portion B and the carpet portion A become one piece.
The pressure relesse adhesive 9 which i9 on the
lower face of the binder 5 permits the binder 5 to be securely
anchored to the floor 10 while permitting the binder-carpet
structure to be ea~ily lifted therefrom.
With this structure, after the release backing 11
is removed to expose the adhesive coated bi~der 5~ the
binder-carpet construction may be placed on the floor 10
with the release adhesive 9 on the lower face of the binder 5
resting on the floor to adhere the entire binder-carpet
construction to the floor 10. Because the foot or rib
portions 7 Or binder 5 bear on the floor 10 ~nd the frame
elements 6 Or the binder 5 are ~ htly above the floor~
the binder 5 is only lightly adhered to the floor 10. T~e
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adhesion i8 su~ficient to form a secure bond so that it
will not come up under norm~l wear but will be l~ght enough
80 that the work piece may be easily remov~d without tearing
or marrlng the floor.
When the carpet portion A is to be removed, the
binder 5 is lifted from the floor 10 and since it is a
unitary structure with the carpet portion A, ~he entire
binder 5 together with the carpet portion ~ with which
it i8 integral, will be removed. Excessive amounts of
10 pres~ure release adhesive 9 on binder 5 will not remain
on t:ne floor 10 and pieces of the pile 2 or backing 3 or 4 will nol
remaln on the floor so that the floor 10 is relatively
clean after the structure is removed.
In order to protect the adhesive 9 on the
binder 5 and prevent the adhesive 9 from permanently
adhering to other carpets or articles, a release layer 11,
which may be a thin polyethylene sheet, is mounted over the
binder ~ until the carpet is to be used. This release layer
11 may have an arrow 12 thereon showing the direc~ cn o~ the
20 weave to act as a guide fiO that the carpet is installed in
the proper manner.
The preferred method of forming the one piece
binder-carpet construction is shown ln Figs. 7 and 8, and
comprises pressing the carpet portion A and binder portion B
together under high pressure so that the adhesive 9 on the
upper face Or the binder 5 is securely embedded and adhered
to the undersurface o~ the backin~ 4. As shown in Fi~s. 7
and 8, the prererred way Or makin~ the binder-carpet
construction for use ln connection with tlle is to apply
pressure durin~ the carpet cutting operation. The carpet
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po;~tion A is moved under a cutter mechanism 15 having
a movable pressure plate 16 divided into pressure squares
16A and a plurality of knives are provided around the
periphery of each square 16A of the pressure plate 16.
The binder portion B is placed on a support plate 18
which is spaCed below the pressure plate structure 16
~hich has mean~ to accommodate the knives 17 when the
pressure plate 16 is lowered. The carpet portion A and
the binder portion B may be fed from a roll (not shown).
When the binder portion A and the carpet portion
B are in posltion under the cutter mechanism 15, the
cutter-pressure plate 16 is depre~sed so that the knives 17
cut the carpet and binder portions into squares. The extent
of the thrust of the cutter plate 16 is such that each
pressure square 16A will apply pressure to the carpet
and binder portions A and B and tightly squeeze the two
together between squares 16A and plate 18. The pressure
is such that the adhesive 9 on the ~trands 8 of the binder
will adhere strongly and be embedded into the secondary
backing 4 in a substantially permanent relationship to
form a one piece structur~.
It will be understood, of course, that the square
configuration Or pressure plate knives 17 shown ~n the
drawings is to illustrate the invention when the carpet
tiles are msde. The shape of the knives 17 to form the
combined structure may be changed to form any desired shape
without departinG from the invention~
The pressure applied to the binder por~ on B and
the carpet portion A is sufficient to stron6ly adhere and
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3285-833
embed the binder 5 to the secondary backing material 4 into
a substantially permanent one piece structure. This can be
accomplished without heat. ~owever, it is within the purview
of the invention to use heat to adhere the binder and carpet
portions together to form a strong bond. In this connection,
the heat may be applied to the binder portion and the carpet
portion and/or heat may be applied to the cutter pressure plate
mechanism 15, if desired.
Fig. 9 shows a method of forming a similar binder-
carpet construction for broadloom widths, rather than individualtiles as in Figs. 7 and 8. In this instance, the carpet portion
A comprising pile 2, a primary and secondary backings 3 and 4
and the binder structure B comprising binder 5 and release
cover 6 are both moved beneath a pair of pressure rollers 19.
The pressure rollers 19 apply sufficient pressure to the two
structures so that the binder 5 is strongly adhered to and
becomes embedded in the lower face of the secondary backing
material 4 to form a substantially premanent one piece struc-
ture. Again this system may be performed without the
application of heat, the pressure being sufficient to strongly
adhere the binder to the backing. However, again, heat can be
applied either to the portions A or B and/or to the rollers
19 if desired.
Fig. 10 shows the present invention in connection with
carpet construction 21 in which the carpet portion AA does
not have a secondary backing material such as the backing
material shown in Fig. 3. The binder 25 of the binder portion
BB is applied directly to the primary backing layer 23 in which
the pile 22 is anchored by a latex coating. The spaced frame
elements 26 and the ribs 27 o~ the binder ~, as well as
release layer 31, operate in the same manner as the structure
shown and described in Figs. 1 to 6.
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With the binder-carpet construction (whether tile
or broadloom with or without secondary backing 4) made in
accordance with the invention ~s to be used, the release
backing 11 is removed to expose the adhesive coated binder
layer 5. The lower surface of the binder is applied to the
floor 10. The arrow on the backing 11 will ~ndicate to the
installer the direction o~ the weave of the pile 2 so that
carpet may be installed in the proper manner. If it is
necessary to ad~ust the carpet during the installation,
10 the pressure release adhesive 9 on the lower face of the
binder 5 will permit the carpet to be easily lifted and re-
ad~usted.
After the carpet has béen down for any length of
time and it is desired to lift it, it is merely necessary
to lift the edge of the unitary structure andpull the binder
5 upwardly~ The binder 5 will carry with it the entire
one piece carpet structure. Since the binder 5 ls attached
to the backing 4 (or 23 if the structure used is similar to
the one shown in Fig. 10), in a substantially permanent manner,
lifting the binder 5 will lift the entire binder together
with the carpet portion which it supports so that the entire
binder-carpet construction will be lifted.
Since the only points of adherence to a floor
substrate 10 is the release adhesive 9 on the binder 5, the
lifting of the binder-carpet construction will leave the
floor 10 unmarred and, in addition, since the binder 5 is
a unitary structure, it will not cause the backing material
4 of the carpet to become afrixed to the ~loor or be torn, etc.
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The pressure sensitive installation system
described herein can be used during the processing of all
types of carpeting, as well as wood tiles, ceramic tiles
and resilient floor covering materials. In carpets, this
would include those items to which sponge rubber, foam
rubber, vinyl (foam or solid), polyethylene, ~ute, or
clear latex tie-coat rep~ sents the backing system. Carpet
products can be in the form of tiles, area rugs, bath mats~
broadloom in varying widths which can be woven, knitted,
10 tufted, fusion bonded, needlepunch, etc. The invention can
also apply to resilient coverings, such as vinyl asbestos,
tiles, and vinyl sheet goods, etc. Wood flooring components,
particularly wood tile or parquet sections, as weU as
ceramic tile, would also be used with the inventlon.
In all of these cases, the advantages are ease
and economy of installation and ease of removal from the
floor substrate without the use of special equipment and
without leaving a residue from the carpet, resilient floor
covering or an adhesive system on the floor. In other words,
20 the present invention provides a self-adhering component with
its own integrity which can be substituted for the conventional
glues or tackless installation systems normally required at
present.
This invention withstands the most rigorous Or
exposures, including ~eavy foot trafric, wheeled vehicles,
castered desk chairs, and combinations of these while still
retainin~ the ability to strip cleanly from the plywoo~,
cement and vinyl floor substrates to which they were a~pl~ed.
The system retains lts functionallty after extreme~ of heat
or cold exposure and is even capable of withstanding wet
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conditions with the bond re-establi~hed (if lt fails) on
drying. Normal maintenance procedures such as vacuuming,
shampooing, etc. have little or no deleterious effect on it.
In addition to conventional flat floor sur~aces,
the invention has potential applicability in a variety of
tangential applications ~uch as wall coverings, pictures,
wall tapestries, place mats, ceiling tiles, and the like.
Another very important application could be in the areas
such as automative interiors where carpets, door panels,
headliners and even truck liners of stretchable fabrics
could be molded and adhered simultaneously. There might
even be potential in the upholstery field where lighter
weight fabrics and dimensionally unstable fabrics could
be held in place and easily removed from cushioning systems.
It will thus be seen that the present invention
provides a one binder-carpet construction in which the
binder portion is permanently adhered to the lower
surface o~ the carpet portion and which will not separate
from the carpet portion when the carpet is removed from
the floor. The present invention also provides an
improved one piece carpet and blnder construction in which
the carpet and binder are substantially permanently adhered
together at the time the carpet material i9 cut into
predetermined portions.
As rany and varied modifications of the sub~ect
matter of this invention will become apparent to those skllled
ln the art ~rom the detailed des~rlption ~iven hereinabove,
it wlll be understood that the present invent~on i~ limited
only as provided in the claims appended hereto.
