Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~ ~12292~
Floor Covering for Sports Surfaces
The invention relates to a floor covering designed as a pile
fabric for sports surfaces, in particular a so-called synthetic
turf, with a supporting web comprising openings and therefore
being water-permeable, a fibrous material web needled thereto as
well as pile elements secured to the supporting web and forming
the pile. The invention relates, in particular, to such a floor
covering of the aforementioned type, in which the pile elements
are knitted into the material webs.
Known floor or ground coverings in the form of a pile fabric,
which are designed, in particu~.ar, as syn~hetic turfs, are
produced as a tufted fabric with a textile supporting web, as a
knitted fabric, a weft-knit fabric or the like and the
supporting web is then, if required, provided with a back
coating covering part or all of the surface, whereby in the
latter case it must, however, be ensured by way of openings in
the back coa~ing that the synthetic turf is permeable to water;
this is important because in the case of a floor coveriny of
this -type which is laid outdoors rain water and melted snow and
ice must be able to flow off downwards through the floor
covering in the same way as the moisture applied to the top of
this floor covering when it is watered - in this connection it
must be pointed out that optimum playing conditions of such a
~loor coverlng result only when the surface of the covering is
somewhat damp.
I
I
-~` 2~1 %292~
-- 2
:
Known, water-permeable floor coverings in the form of a
synthetic turf dry out relatively quickly after they have been
watered, in particular under the influence of the sun and wind
in the case of sports surfaces laid outdoors. For this rsason,
the object underlying the invention was to provide a
water-permeable floor covering designed as a pile fabric for
sports surfaces which, after watering, has the desired playing
conditions for a longer time than the known synthetic turfs.
This object may be accomplished in accordance with the invention
in that a fibrous material web needled to the supporting web is
arranged on the underside thereof and fiber tufts produced
during needling of the fibrous material web project upwardly
from the fibrous ma~erial web through the supporting web. It is
particularly advantageous for the fiber tufts pushed upwards
through the supporting web during needling to project into the
areas between the actual pile. In -the inventive floor covering,
-the fibrous material web has a dual function: On the one hand,
it acts as a water sto~age means for the water which falls onto
the surface of the covering and has passed downwards through the
water-permeable supporting web and, on the other hand, water
from the fibrous material web acting as a water storage means
will be transported, due to a capillary action, through the ;~
supporting web back into the area of the surface of the covering
by way of the fiber tufts projecting through the supporting web -
as soon as the surface threatens to dry out. This occurs, in
particular, when the floor covering is played on and pressure is
thereby exerted onto it from above which leads to a compression
of the fibrous material web in the playing area. The water
storage and retention capacity of the fibrous material web may
be determined and selected by a corresponding choice of, for
example, the following parameters: Thickness, densi-ty and
- ,
- 2~2232~
structure of the fibrous material web as well as the type of
fibers from which it is produced. The fibrous material web
could, for example, be a felt or a weft-knit fiber fabric but
sven better results can be achieved with a fiber fleece which
can store a multiple of its own weight in water.
The needling of a fiber fleece to the supporting web of a
synthetic turf is known per se (DE-A-29 35 387); in this known
synthetic turf, the fiber fleece is, however, needled to the
upper side of the supporting web of the synthetic turf designed
as a tufted fabric and the fiber tufts pushed through the
supporting web during needling of the fiber fleece project
downwardly out of the supporting web between the anchoring feet
of the pile elements of this known synthetic -turf. In this
known synthetic turf, the fiber fleece is intended, on the one
hand, to serve the purpose of covering the supporting web so
that its color is not visible from above and, on the other hand,
when a coating mass is applied to the underside of the
supporting web the fibers pressed downwardly through the
supporting web from above have a repellent effect on the coating
mass so that the openings in the supporting web which are
necessary for the water-permeability of the syn-thetic turf are
at least not completely closed by the back coating mass. The
object and arrangement of the fiber fleece in this known
synthetic turf are, therefore, completely different to those of
the inventive floor covering.
During the production of an inventive floor covering, the
fibrous material web could as such be needled from below to the
supporting web before the pile elements are inserted into the
supporting web, e.g. by tufting. I-t is, however, more
advantageous for a fibrous material web to be needled to the
--' 2 ~ 22~
-- 4
finished synthetic turf from below during the production of an
inventive floor covering since the pile elements then have
anchoring feet arranged on the underside of the supporting web
which are covered by the fibrous material web. Pile elements
which are inserted into the supporting web, above all, by
tufting are then better fixed in the supporting web and, in
addition, when the floor covering is laid on a rough base the
anchoring feet of the pile elements are not subject to the risk
of being chafed through owing to the floor covering being played
on. In every type of pile fabric, the fiber tufts which have
been pushed through the supporting web and project into the area
between the pile threads or tapes serve, in addition, to
stabilize the actual pile of the floor covering. Finally, the
water-permeability of the supporting web is increased due to the
fibrous material web being needled thereto.
As a result of the effects described above, an inventive floor
covering can be produced without adhesive or a back coating mass
and so the inventive floor covering can be produced as a
material which can be fully recycled. In order to simplify
recycling of the floor covering even more, it is recommended
that supporting web, pile elements and fibrous material web all
be produced from the same plastics ma~erial and polypropylene,
polyethylene, polyamide and polyester have proven to be
particularly favorable raw materials.
Finally, the use of a fibrous material web impregnated for
strengthening its fibers is recommended. A fibrous material web
impregnated with a latex emulsion is particularly advantageous,
or the following reason: A sports surface floor or ground
covering has to be renewed approximately every 5 - 10 years;
within such a period of time latex will, however, decompose due
2~2292~
,.
-- 5
to aging and be washed away when the floor covering is sprayed
with water so that during recycling of the floor covering only
pure plas-tics material still has -to be processed.
Finally, it should be pointed ou~ that the needling of the
fibrous material web to the supportin~ web results in a
stabilization of the surface of the floor covering and so the
required accuracy to size of the floor covering oan be ensured.
If required, an additional material web, e.g. a grid-like woven
fabric, a fleece material or the like, can be needled to the
supporting web or the back of the weft-knit fabric at the same
time as the fibrous material web to stabilize the shape.
Additional features, advantages and details of the invention
result from the attached schematic illus-tration as well as the
following description of a par-ticularly preferred embodiment of
the inventive floor covering; the drawing shows a section
through the floor covering designed as a tufted fabric.
The drawing shows a supporting web 10 designed as a tufting base
fabric; this web has been produced in the present case from
plastic tapes lOa and its water-permeability can be ensured in
the most varied of ways, e.g. by the wid-th and density of the
plastic tapes lOa, i.e. by the transverse spacing from one
another of the plastic tapes forming the warp and weft threads.
Pile elements 12 have been inserted into the supporting web 10
by the tufting process and the anchoring fe~t 12a of these pile
elements are located on the rear side of the supportin~ web 10.
Then, a layer of fiber fleece 14 has been needled onto the
supporting web 10 from below, whereby holes lOb have resulted in
the supporting web 10 and fiber tufts 14a pushed therethrough.
As a result of the layer of fiber fleece 14 being needled to the
~1~2'~2~
-- 6
supporting web, not only has this layer been secured to the
supporting web lO but also the wa-ter-permeability of the
supporting web has been increased and, at the same time, it has
been ensured that due to a capillary ac~ion brought about by the
fiber tufts 14a water stored in the layer of fiber fleece 14 can
be conveyed upwards into the area between the pile threads ~; :
formed by the free end regions of the pile elements 12.
