Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
Method and anchoring plate material for keeping a readily
removable mat or the like small carpet in place.
The present invention relates to a Method and an
anchor~ng plate material for keeping an easily removable
mat or similar small floor carpet in place in a carpeted
or carpet tile covered floor area by the method of which
the mat is provided with a surface pattern of engageable
means, such as protrusions, projections or cleats, dis-
tributed all over its lower side.
In a known method a non-carpeted area corresponding
to the mat dimensions is provided in the carpeted area,
and the mat -~ arranged in said non-carpeted area, whereby
the mat is held in place at its edyes by which it abuts
the borders of the carpeted area. Said method is unfavour--
able seeing that the ma~ being loosely arranged therein is
difficult to fit properly into the cut away area in the
carpeted area, and said area by replacement of the mat
with a new mat will rarely fit properly to the new mat,
whereby the mat either is too small or to large for the
area thus provided.
From the specification of US-patent no. 4 '731 275
is furthermore known a carpet tile assembly, which resists
lateral movement by means of interengaging or interlocking
protrusions formed in the lower surface of the carpet
tiles and in the upper sur~ace of the lower base member,
respectively. These carpet tiles are readily removeable
and replaceable, but in case a carpet tile is removed
without being replaced instantly by another carpet tile,
the removed tile will leave a depression, a hollow or a
recess in the floor covering, which recess may cause
pedestrians to fall over the obstacles formed bv the e-lges
of the floor covering around the recess and a wheel at a
vehicle e.g. a wheel chair or a mobile shoppin~ basket
will tend to be entrapped into the recess. Furthermore
wear and tear will occur at the upstandiny ed~es of the
floor covering around the récess, thr wear of which will
be detrimental to the appearance of the fIoor covering
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when the rem~ved carpet tile is later replaced by another
preferably clean carpet tile.
To eliminate said drawbacks and to increase the
servicing life time of the carpet or carpet tile covering
this invention provides a method which is characterized
in that one or more par~s of the floor area to be covered
by the mat is kept or made free from carpet or tile
covering, that the said one or more uncovered areas of the
floor area is/are covered with an anchoring plate material,
the upper surface of which is adaptedto be flush with the
upper surface of the carpet or carpet tile covering and
is also performed with engageable means, such as protru-
sions, cleats or projections, to engage the lower side of
the mat between its engageable means ~or preventing lateral
displacement of -.he mat relative to the anchoring plate
material, and that the mat is laid in place for at least
covering the anchoring plate material and for providing
the engagement between its lower side and the upper surface
of the anchoring plàte material by means of said engageable
ZO means,the anchoring plate material preferably having a
thickness and a compressibilit~ corresponding to that of
the carpet o~ said covering. Thereby it is achieved that a
mat arranged upon the anchoring plate material besides
being safely prevented against lateral displacement
relative to the anchoring plate material may be removed
without any inconvencies to the traffic over the uncovered
anchoring plate material, because its surface level is the
~same as that of the floor covering surface. Thereby no
noticeable difference in the level or depression occur
between the ~loor area covered by the anchoring plate
material and the floor area covered by the carpet or
carpet tile covering, when one walks or rolls over the
border between them.
The invention will now be explained in more detail
in connection with some embodiments and with reference to
the drawing in which
fig. 1 shows a carpeted area with a prior art cut away
area, into which a prior art mat has been placed,
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fig. 2 shows a section along II-II in fig. 1,
fig. 3 shows a carpeted area, where a ~at according to the
method of the invention is arranged ~pon an area equipped
with an anchoring plate material,
fig. 4 shows a section along IV-IV in fig. 3,
~ig. 5 shows a carpet tile covered area, wherein - accord-
ing to the invention - corresponding tiles of anchoring
plate material are inlaid,
fig. 6 shows fig. 5, whereby a mat is placed upon the
anchoring plate material,
fig. 7 shows a cover plate material tile having a cleat
pattern at i-ts upper side,
fig. 8 shows a tile with a different cleat pattern in the
upper surface of the anchoring plate material,
fig. 9 shows a prior art carpet tile,
fig. 10 shows schematically the engagement between cleats
or projections on tne lower side of the mat and cleats or
projections on the upper surface of the anchoring plate
material,
fig. 11 shows an inscribed circle touching three cleats or
projections on the lower side of the mat,
fig. 12 shows schematically an example of an engayement
between the lower side pattern of the mat and the upper
surface pattern of the anchoring plate material, and
fig. 13 shows schematically a different embodi~ent of an
engaging arrangement between the lower side projections of
the mat and the upper surface pro~ections of the anchoring
plate material.
Fig. 1 shows a carpeted area 1 with a recess 2, into
which is placed a prior art mat 3 of smaller dimensions
than those of the recess 2. Fig. 2 shows that the mat 3
should be somewhat smaller than the dimensions of the
recess 2 in order not to be too difficult to replace. Such
arrangement causes much wear to the edges of the recess,
especially if the mat is of the kind to be frequently
replaced. This is due to the fact that the mat does not
protect the edges of the carpeted area at the recess, and
that dust may inevitably fall into the recess at the edges
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of the mat 3, where~y the dust rernoval, e.g. by means of a
vacuum cleaner, will cause wear to the edges of the recess.
Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate the method according to
the invention, whereby a mat 5 is applied, which is
provided with a pattern of engageable means, such as
protrusions,cleats or projections, distributed all over
its lower side. One or more parts ~ of the floor area 1 to
be covered by the mat 5 is/are kept or made free from car-
pet. Into each of said uncovered parts 2 of the floor area
l is then placed an anchoring plate material 7, the upper
surface of which is adapted to be flush with the upper
surface of the remaining covered parts of the floor area
and is performed so as to engage the lower side of the
mat 5 to prevent a horizontal displacement thereof. The
mat 5 is then laid in place for covering or overlapping
the anchoring plate material 7 and its lower side engages
the upper surface of the anchoriny plate material. ~ig. 4
shows the arrangement after placing the anchoring plate
material 7 in the recess 2, and the lower side engaging
means 6 of the mat 5 engage the engaging means 8 on the
upper surface of the anchoring plate material 7.
Figs. 5 and 6 show an arrangement with a carpet
tile covered area, wherein six car~et tiles are removed and
replaced by six tiles of anchoring plate material 7 where-
llpon the mat 5 is placed onto the tile covered area so asto ovexlap or covex the six tiles 7 of anchoring plate
material serving as an underlay of the mat. Thereby a safe
anchoring of the mat to its underlay is achieved, and no
increased wear of the carpet material edges of the recess
occurs. In cases where the mat 5 is temporarily not
arranged in place, e.g. being replaced, the carpet tile
covered area appears unbroken without open recesses which
might be risky for people walking on the carpeted area.
Fig. 6 shows the mat 5 placed ~Ipon and covering t~e
area which is provided with the inlaid anchoring plate
m~terial 7.
Fig. 7 shows an example of a tile of anchoring
plate material, the upper sur~ace of which is provided
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with a number o~ cleats or projections fitting into the
pattern of cleats or projections on the lower side of the
mat 5, so that the pro~ections of the mat are placed
between the projections 8 of the anchoring plate material
7 but the pattern of the protrusions, cleats etc. is of a
sufficient density to allow them to support the traffic
over the anchor plate material before the mat 5 is mounted
in place.
Fig. 8 too shows a tile of anchoring plate material
7, whereby the cleats or projections 8 are grouped in a
particular way, so that they also allow the projections 6
on the lower side of the mat 5 to engage in between said
projections 8 as well as between the groups of projections.
Fig. 9 shows a known carpet tile of pre~etermined
module dimensions which are the same as the module dimen-
sions for the tiles of anchoring plate material 7. Also the
height of the carpet tile shown in Fig. 9 may preferably
be the same as the height of the tiles of anchoring plate
material and having the same traffic supporting ability as
the anchoriny tiles.
Fig. 10 shows an example of engagement between the
projections 6 of the mat 5 and the projections 8~ of the
anchoring plate material 7. It appears that the projections
8A are so big that they may be arranged inside a group of
three projections 6. Thereby the supporting effect of the
protrusions may be increased.
Fig. 11 shows the borderline case for the size of
the projections 8A, which, although their cross sectional
diameter is larger than the mutual distance between a pair
of mat projections 6, should have a smaller diameter than
an inscribed circle having the radius R, and which is
touching or tangent to a yroup of three adjacent mat
projections 6.
Figs. 12 and 13 show two further embodiments of
projections 8B, 8C, respectively, on the upper surface of
the anchorin~ plate material 7, where the projections 8~
and 8C form a pattern of banks or beads for individual and
groupwise inclusion, respectivel~, o~ projections 6 on the
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lower side of the mat 5 and for increasing the protrusion
support ef~ect.
As example of dimensions of tiles of anchoring
plate material 7 may be mentionsd quadratic tiles having an
edye length of 20 x 20 cm, ~0 x 40 cm and 80 x 80 cm, a
thickness of 4-10 mm, the material being natural or
synthetic rubber, PVC, PUR or other plastics, such as
polymers or thermoplastic materials. ~nstead of cleats or
projections on the lower 6ide of the mat 5 and the upper
surface of the anchoring plate material 7, respectively,
socalled Velcro~ fastener materials may be used, provided
that they meet the condikion of being able to keep a
removable mat in place on covering materials 7 inlaid into
a carpet or carpet tiles covered area.
The lower side of the anchoring plate material 7
may be smooth or provided with a friction pattern or a
friction covering~ but the lower side may also be intended
for being secured by adhesion.
