Abstract:
A sink mat made of soft, pliable material comprising a set of slits defining flaps in said sink mat enabling said sink mat to fit in a sink smaller than said sink mat and for the flaps to curve against the walls of said sink and overlap and lie flat against each other.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to sink mats for protecting dishes and glasses from being broken when being put into or taken from sinks and to protect the sinks from chipping or being scratched, and in particular to sink mats for use in different sizes and shapes of sinks. 
     2. Description of the Prior Developments 
     Sink mats are well known, particularly for use in kitchens. Sink mats both protect porcelain and other coated sinks from chipping and for protecting metal sinks from being scratched by dishware, cookware and dinnerware in the sinks, as well as to protect dinnerware from being broken when disposed in sinks. Sinks come in many sizes, and many sinks are in use which are double sinks, one adjacent the other. Various means are known for adapting sink mats to accommodate these different types of sinks. The simplest way is to protect a sink is to put a sink mat in the sink, hoping that it will lie flat in the sink. If the sink mat is too small, the edges of the sink extending from beneath the sink mat are prone to the damage referred to above. If the sink mat is too large for the sink, the sink mat folds over on itself, both decreasing the size of the sink and leading to problems for the space between the folds in the sink mat and the sink base and walls. Products are on the market having different size sink mats, but this requires the buyer to measure the sink or sinks, and then look for mats which nearly exactly meet those sizes in order to lie flat in the sinks. It is also known in the art to take purchased sink mats, which are too large for particular sinks, and to cut them down to meet the size of the sink. This is, in effect, customizing the sink mat for particular sinks. This requires time and some care to properly customize the sink mat, and a mistake in the cutting could require the purchase of a new sink mat. There are on the market Circo trimmable sink mats which are particularly designed to be cut and custom fit to particular sizes of sinks, but this incorporates the same shortcomings noted above. In addition, while many sinks have square or rectangular bases, some sinks are bowl-shaped or have irregular configurations which render customizing of sink mats more difficult. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,856 (Dore 1998) discloses a soft, pliable mat having a rectangular base and four rectangular flaps which extend up the walls of the sink and onto the surrounding countertop or dividing wall with a second sink. This sink mat thus has four large flaps which, while perhaps solving their intended purpose of protecting the entire sink and the surrounding countertop from excessive wear and a tendency to become grimy from greasy hands as well as being a splashguard, it does have serious disadvantages. First, it would be unsightly to have such a large sink mat remain in the sink because it not only covers the sink but the countertop and any walls around the sink. Furthermore, if it were left in place, any water or dirt left beneath the flaps would be unhygienic and unsightly when the mat is lifted up. Additionally, the exterior and downwardly-facing sides of the respective mats would have to be cleaned since water from the faucet would not rinse them off during use. Moreover, storage of such a mat would be a problem since each flap would have to be folded or rolled, and a storage space would be required to store this mat in its compacted condition. 
     What is needed is a single sink mat which could be placed in virtually every sink, lies flat against the base of the sink, automatically becomes configured to engage the walls of any sink having a base too small to receive the entire mat against its base and is able to engage a portion of the walls of the sink without being folded. Such a sink mat could thus come in a single size, would serve all of the purposes of sink mats as noted above, and would require no more than simply purchasing the mat—no cutting would be required. The desired mat should be soft and pliable to render its protective purposes, have sufficient apertures for the desired drainage, and preferably would be both long lasting and inexpensive. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide an improved sink mat for protecting sinks from damage caused by objects placed therein and to protect the objects placed in the sink from being damaged. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a sink mat which can effectively engage the base of a sink in which it is placed, and the walls of the sink meeting the base of the sink in those situations where the sink mat is larger than the base of the sink. 
     A further object of the present invention is to provide a sink mat which lies flat against the base of a sink in which it is placed, and in those situations where the sink mat is larger than the base of the sink, it extends up the walls of the sink while substantially engaging those walls and not folding over on itself so as to limit its intended purpose. 
     Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide an improved sink mat which can effectively engage the base and walls of sinks having bases which are not of square or rectangular configuration, without requiring any cutting of the sink mat. 
     It is yet still another object of the present invention to provide an improved sink mat as discussed above which can be easily manufactured using known manufacturing techniques, is soft and pliable, and efficient in operation and economical to manufacture for sale at a reasonable price. 
     These and other objects will be apparent from the description to follow and from the appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a top plan view of a sink mat according to the preferred embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a side view of the sink mat shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a bottom view of the sink mat shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a corner of the sink mat shown in  FIGS. 1-3  located in a sink smaller than the sink mat. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3 , a contour sink mat  10  is shown. Contour sink mat  10  includes a body portion  12  which is generally rectangular in configuration, having generally rounded corners  14 . Extending through sink mat  10  are a series of apertures  16  which are shown as arranged in linear rows and columns, although this is not necessary. Apertures  16  are provided for draining water and any waste product from dishware, cookware and dinnerware placed thereon into a drain. 
     Contour sink mat  10  further has a series of corner slots  18  extending through each generally-rounded corner  14  to divide corners  14  into symmetrical halves, and help define a set of flaps  20 . The depth of flaps  20  are determined by the lengths of each corner slot  18 . Apertures  16  are spaced from corner slots  18  so as to avoid any weakened areas which could occur due to overlapping of the halves of rounded corners  14  if contour sink mat  10  is placed into a sink which is smaller in area than is the area of contour sink mat  10 . 
     Contour sink mat  10  should be soft and pliable. The material which has been found to be appropriate for sink mat  10  is polyvinyl chloride (PVC) 60-65 durometer. That is, this material is soft, as indicated by the Shore A scale 60-65. Sink mat  10  could be in any color, and oftentimes it is clear so that the sink beneath or behind it is entirely visible. 
     In use, contour sink mat  10  is placed in the sink. If the sink is as large or larger than the sink mat  10  and is flat, contour sink mat  10  simply sits flat on the base of the sink. If the sink base is generally rectangular in configuration and matches the shape of sink mat  10  but is somewhat smaller, flaps  20  fold, roll or curve up along the sides of the sink. If the sink is so small that the width of the respective slots  18  becomes too small for there to be a space between the sides of each slot  18 , one edge of slot  18  would fall over the other edge of slot  18  as shown in  FIG. 4 . However, the overlapping edges of adjacent flaps  20  at respective slots  18  would lie flat against each other, rather than having the disadvantageous folds of the prior art. If the sink in which contour mat  10  is placed has a bowl shape or some other irregular shape, contour sink mat  10  should bend accordingly, and adjacent edges of flaps  20  may overlap but be flat against each other to engage the surface of the sink and perform the intended function mat  10 . 
     Contour sink mat  10  has been found to be effective with the rectangular configuration as shown in  FIGS. 1-3 . It may be advantageous for particular sinks to change the contour of sink mat  10  accordingly, but still including slits in appropriate places to enable sink mat  10  to engage the surfaces of the sink when the sink base is smaller than mat  10 , with the flat overlap discussed above. Thus, contour sink mat  10  could be rectangular, circular or have some other configuration. 
     As noted above, the material is preferably PVC 60-65 durometer. A thickness which has been found to be effective is 0.32 inch. Contour sink mat  10  has been found to be effective for most sinks having the general shape of a rectangle, with a long side being 16.00 inches and the short side being 14.00 inches. The corners between the exterior surface of flaps  10  and the sides of corner slots  18  have been found to be effective with a radius of 0.25 inch. The width of slots  18  has advantageously been determined to be 0.25 inches. Apertures  16  have been found to be effective with a long side being 0.51 inch and the short side being 0.25 inch. Apertures  16  preferably would have rounded corners with a radius of 0.07 inch. The distance between the short sides of apertures  16  has preferably been found to be 0.30 inch, and the distance between long sides has been determined to be advantageously 0.37 inch. The radius of each corner  14  has been determined to be 2.25 inches. The perpendicular distance between the end of each slot  18  and the exterior edge of each flap  20  is preferably 2.29 inches. As mentioned above, the details of the length and width of corners  14  may change in appropriate situations, and the size, shape and location of apertures  16  may vary as well. Other forms of draining water through apertures may be appropriate in some situations as well. 
     Contour sink mat  10  can be produced using ordinary manufacturing methods. Die molding would be an effective way of manufacturing the mat as shown. 
     The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to the preferred embodiment above, but variations and modifications may occur to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description and from the appended claims.