Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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MODULAR CARPET TILE MAT
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a novel modular
carpet tile mat or self-contained floor covering. More
particularly, this invention relates to a novel modular
carpet tile mat which holds carpet tiles together in a
fixed position so that they may be used as a mat or rug
for floor covering and floor sign purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Carpet tiles have recently become popular as a ~-
floor covering material. They offer many advantages
over standard roll-type carpet floor covering. The
tiles, which are approximately 0. 5 meters square, can be
laid over a floor or other area in a mosaic or grid
pattern and can easily be individually removed for
cleaning or replacement purposes, when individual tiles
become soiled or worn. A floor covering of carpet tiles
is generally inexpensive in the long run because only
the worn or soiled carpet tiles need be removed, the
remaining portion of the carpet may be kept in place
unlike conventional roll carpet flooring. Carpet tile
also provides more flexibility in carpet design since
tiles may be swiftly replaced with a different colour to
suit a particular occasion. Reversable carpet tile
exists which is of a different colour on the reverse
side. Recently, it has been possible to create custom
designs and signs on individual carpet tiles or a
combination of tiles further expanding their creative
possibilities.
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In the past carpet tile has only been used for
wall-to-wall floor covering similar to wall-to-wall
carpeting. Complete wall-to-wall placement of the
carpet tiles was necessary because lateral support is
needed to hold the tiles adjacent one another on the
floor in the grid pattern and prevent tile slippage.
This support has been provided by the wall base.
Restriction of carpet tiles to wall-to-wall
use has precluded the use of carpet tiles as floor mats
or rugs or as self-contained floor covering. There are
many situations where full wall-to-wall carpeting is not
needed or desired. In hospitals, for example, because
of the large amount of heavy rolling stock, large car-
peted areas are to be avoided to reduce friction andproblems associated with carpet wrinkling. Certain
entrance areas though do require mats for safety and
foot cleaning purposes. Often the space to be covered
by the mat is an irregular shape and cannot be satis-
factorily covered with a standard size and shape mat.
Carpet tiles also have the capability of beingcustom made so that a unique design may be embedded into
the carpeting of each tile or a combination of tiles.
This feature suits itself well for uses such as person-
alized doormats and carpet advertising.
The inventor is aware of only one patent which
discloses a form of mat, namely United States Patent No.
4,353,944 issued to H. Tarui on October 12, 1982 for a
"Shoe Scraper Mat". Tarui discloses a rubber doormat to
be used for scraping outdoor dirt and soil from foot-
wear. Tarui does not disclose any modular mat features
that would enable the mat to be used in different shapes
or sizes. Also it is not used in combination with
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carpet tile to be used as carpet floor covering. Fur-
thermore, Tarui does not disclose an inclined edging
that provides a smooth transition from floor to mat so
that rolling stock may be safely and smoothly negotiated
over the mat. Tarui discloses a recessed scraper mat
where the edges are higher than the interior. This
construction is unsuitable for rolling stock. There is
nothing in the prior art, to the inventor's knowledge,
that encompasses a modular carpet tile mat that can be
put together into a mat of a variety of shapes and sizes
which overcome the aforementioned limitations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
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A modular carpet tile mat for floor covering
purposes comprising: (a) a mat base formed by connect-
ing mat pieces together using mat joining means; (b)
edging pieces attached to the perimeter of the mat base
forming a smooth inclined border of the mat frame and
20 ( c) carpet tiles forceably inserted into the mat frame.
The mat frame is formed from cooperating modu-
lar components and provides vertical and lateral support
for the mat carpeting. The carpet tiles are removably
25 placed in the mat frame so that soiled or worn tiles may
be easily removed for cleaning and replacement.
The mat frame further comprises a mat base
surrounded by smooth inclined edging pieces affixed to
the perimeter of the mat base in such a way that the
joint-line between the edging pieces and the mat base is
not continuous in any direction.
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The mat base comprises at least one mat piece
having tabs along the perimeter suitable for connecting
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said mat pieces together by mat joining means affixed
between said mat piece tabs. The edging pieces are
connected to the perimeter of the mat base by affixing
said edging piece tabs to said mat piece tabs on said
mat base perimeter.
Carpet tiles are forceably inserted into the
mat frame and maintained in their position by the later-
al pressure exerted by the mat frame on the carpet
tiles. The carpet tiles may be partially glued to the
mat base to aid in maintaining the carpet tiles in a
ixed position. Such partial gluing should not be of a
permanent nature in order that soiled or worn tiles may
be removed for cleaning and replacement when needed.
Gluing the tiles is not necessary to the invention since
the lateral pressure exerted by the mat frame keeps the
tiles fixed under ordinary conditions.
The edging pieces of the mat are affixed to
the perimeter of the mat base so that the bottom of the
mat base is coplanar with the bottom of the edging
pieces so that there is no gap between the mat frame and
the underlying floor surface. Furthermore, the edging
pieces provide a smooth inclined transition from floor
to carpet.
The edging pieces may be of any smooth linear
shape including straight, circular or curved. The
edging pieces are of cooperating lengths for modular
interconnection purposes. The modular interconnecting
feature enables mats of a variety of shapes and sizes to
be formed including geometric shapes such as triangles,
rectangles and circles and also arbitrary smooth curved
shapes such as heart shaped or kidney shapes.
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The mat pieces are each of cooperating size
and shape so that they may be modularly interconnected
to form a variety of sizes and shapes of the mat base.
Generally, the interior mat pieces are rectangular in
shape and form the majority of the area of the mat base.
Curved shaped mats, however, require non-rectangular
external mat pieces conforming to the standard shapes of
the edging pieces.
10 A ribbed rubber mat is attached to the under-
side of the mat frame to provide for increased friction
between the modular carpet tile mat and the underlying
floor surface.
15 Instead of the ribbed underlying rubber mat,
the mat pieces themselves may be ribbed to increase the
friction with the floor surface.
The inside upper edge of the edging piece may
be inclined inward with respect to the carpet tile so
that the vertical gap between the carpet tile and the
edging piece is minimized and the carpet tile is more
tightly gripped. In this way, the carpet tile is less
likely to be inadvertently removed from the mat frame.
The inside upper edge of the edging piece may
also protrude in a lip fashion over the top of the
carpet tile so that the vertical gap between the carpet
tile and the edging piece is eliminated.
The modular carpet tile mat comprises at least
one edge means, at least one carpet tilet and at least
one mat means. The carpet tile is glued to the mat
means by releasable adhesive. The carpet tiles may
either singly or in combination include a design there-
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on. The edge means and carpet tiles may be of a variety
of different co~lours. The mat means comprises at least
one mat joining means. The edge means may be either
curved or linear.
DRAWI NGS
In drawings which illustrate a specific
embodiment of the modular carpet tile mat, but which
should not be construed as limiting the scope of the
invention in any way:
- Figure 1 illustrates a top view of the modular
mat with the carpet tiles in place.
Figure 2 illustrates a-cross section view of
the middle of the modular mat width taken along section
lines A-A of Figure 1.
Figure 3 illustrates a close-up cross-section
view of the edging piece of the modular mat as indi-
cated by the dotted area in Figure 2.
Figure 4 illustrates a top view of the modular
mat with the carpet tiles removed.
Figure 5 illustrates a bottom view of the
modular mat with the ribbed rubber mat removed.
Figure 6 illustrates a top view of a square
embodiment of the modular mat.
Figure 7 illustrates a bottom view of the
square modular mat of Figure 6.
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Figures 8 and 9 illustrate alternative
close-up cross-section views of the edging piece of the
modular mat.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A SPECIFIC
EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
One of the specific embodiments that will be
herein descri~ed in association with some of the draw-
ings is an oval shaped modular carpet tile mat. Thisshape clearly and simply demonstrates how standard
curved sections and rectangular sections of tiles and
mat borders and edging pieces may be connected together
to form mats of various sizes and shapes.
Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 illus-
trates a top view of the oval mat with the carpet tiles
installed. In this disclosure and the following claims,
the term "carpet tile" is intended to include modular
items such as conventional carpet tiles constructed of a
resilient backing member and a pile member adhesively
secured together, conventional carpet cut up into
pieces, or a single carpet piece, indoor-outdoor carpet-
ing, and the like. It can be seen that two different
shapes of edging pieces are used, four curved edging
pieces 8 and two straight edging pieces 9. If required,
two adjacent curved edging pieces can be extruded as a
single piece. This avoids creating a point of weakness
at the junction of the curved edging pieces 8. Four
different shapes of tile are used, twelve square tiles
10, four quadrilateral tiles with one arced side 11l
four tiles 12 which are the mirror-image of tiles 11,
and four symetrical pie-shaped tiles 13.
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Figure 2 illustrates a cross-section view of
the middle of the mat width taken along section lines
A-A of Figure 1. It can be seen that the mat pieces 1
have tabs 2 protruding from the upper half of the entire
mat piece perimeter. The mat pieces 1 are joined to-
gether by gluing insert strips 3 to the underside of
each of the opposing tabs 2 of individual mat pieces to
form a mat base. A ribbed rubber mat 4 is glued under-
neath the connected mat pieces 1 and mat joininy means
3. The edging pieces 5 are affixed to the perimeter of
the mat base by gluing the edging piece tabs 6 to the
underside of the mat piece tabs 2. It is apparent in
Figure 2 that all joints are staggered through the use
of interconnecting tabs. The absence of colinear joints
provides for increased mat strength. The carpet tiles 7
are forceably inserted into place from the top of the
mat frame.
Figure 3 illustrates a close-up cross-section
view of the edge of the modular mat. It shows the
interconnection of the edging piece tab 6 and mat piece
tab 2. It can be seen from Figure 3 that the bottom
ribbed underlying mat 4 is approximately coplanar with
the bottom of the edging piece. As also seen in Figure
3 the carpet tile 7 top is approximately coplanar with
the top of the edging piece 5. Figure 3 clearly shows
that the joint between the edging piece S and the mat
pieces 1 is non-continuous in any one direction due to
the tab connection.
Figure 4 illustrates a top view of the modular
mat with the carpet tiles removedO Figure 4 further
reveals the two different shapes of mat pieces, two
square mat pieces 14 and four quarter-circle pie-shaped
mat pieces 15.
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Figure 5 illustrates a bottom view of the mat.
The insert strips 3 are clearly illustrated. Also shown
are the mat piece tabs 16 and the ribbed underpadding
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Figure 6 illustrates a top view of a square
embodiment of the modular mat. It displays four square
carpet tiles 20 and four straight edging pieces 21.
Figure 7 illustrates how rectangular mat
pieces 22 may be used in the modular mat to minimize the
number of interconnections and insert strips 23 re-
quired.
Figures 8 and 9 illustrate alternative confi-
gurations for the joint between the edging piece 30 and
carpet tile 31 and mat piece 32. They illustrate how a
variety of connection methods are embraced by the inven-
tion. Figure 8 illustrates the inside upper edge 33 of
the edging piece 30 inclined inward with respect to the
carpet tile 31 so that the vertical gap 34 between the
carpet tile 31 and edging piece 30 is minimized and the
carpet tile 31 is more tightly gripped. Figure 9 illus-
trates the inside upper edge 35 of the edging piece
~5 protruding in a lip fashion over the top of the carpet
tile 31 so that the vertical gap between the carpet tile
and the edging piece is eliminated.
As will be àpparent to those skilled in the
art of carpet making in light of the foregoing disclo-
sure, many alterations and modifications are possible in
the practice of this invention without departing from
the spirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of
the invention is to be construed in accordance with the
substance defined by the following claims.
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