Marking tape and method

A length of thin, flexible, inexpensive adhesive-backed product has marking means on the front side. The product is affixed by the adhesive to a surface along a feature of the surface at a particular location, thus enabling a unit of material which is to be marked and cut to be put in position and pressed against the marking means thereby marking the material to match the feature of the surface.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Conforming the shape of one piece of material to a feature on a surface in 
an accurate manner poses difficulties when the first piece cannot be 
placed on the surface and at the same time be marked on its backside. Such 
a situation exists when placing dry wall, paneling, or the like on a wall 
with a protruding or a recessed object, such as an electrical box, or when 
placing ceiling tile on a ceiling with an air vent, pipe, duct, or the 
like. Similarly, when two pieces of material are being placed so as to 
abut each other at a certain point, it is difficult to cut the two pieces 
accurately, especially when the pieces to be abutted are pliable and 
bulky, making specific measurements very difficult to obtain. An example 
of this latter situation is the laying of carpeting, where two pieces are 
to meet in a doorway or elsewhere. 
Many and varied time-consuming measurements must often be made during the 
fitting procedure, sometimes requiring a degree of skill and craftsmanship 
beyond that of the average person. In laying carpet for example, the 
carpet pieces are to meet but not overlap and the point of abutment is 
usually to be in a specific place. Taking measurements from a wall behind 
the edge of the carpet to be cut is time-consuming and inaccurate. The 
usual means of forming the abutment is by line-of-sight or by physically 
drawing a line on the back of the carpet by positioning the carpet, 
bending it back as closely as possible to the place where it is to be cut, 
and then drawing a line. Frequently, the resulting cut edge is curved 
rather than straight. Thus the carpet seam may be apparent, an undesirable 
situation. 
In installing wall covering of any type, measurements must be made when a 
recessed or protruding object is met, such as an electrical box. These 
measurements are needed to determine where to cut the material being 
installed so as to fit around the object. 
The present invention enables the installation of such materials in a 
faster, more accurate fashion requiring less skill. A product made of a 
long, thin material has an adhesive backing. The obverse side is partly 
covered by a marking means, which may be felt or blotter paper or the like 
permeated by an ink or other marking substance. The marking means may 
include encapsulated ink which is released when pressure is applied. 
The product is affixed by its adhesive backing to a surface having a 
feature to which a unit of material must conform so as to fit over the 
surface. Instead of making measurements on the surface and then 
transferring these measurements to the unit of material so as to determine 
where it must be cut to conform with the feature of the surface, the 
product is simply affixed to the surface at the location of the feature, 
or else to the protruding object forming the feature. The feature may 
indeed be a protruding or recessed object such as an electrical box, pipe, 
air vent, or duct. However, the feature may merely be a specific location 
where the conforming unit of material is to stop when permanently placed 
on the surface. An example is two pieces of carpet abutting at a door 
frame. There the feature is merely an imaginary line on the floor or 
padding where the pieces are to meet. 
With the product affixed to the feature or the surface, the unit of 
material is positioned in the desired location, with its backside facing 
the surface to which the unit will conform. The unit is then pressed 
against the marking means on the product causing the product to mark a 
line on the backside of the unit, which line is then used as a guideline 
in cutting the unit to conform to the surface with its feature. 
This method and product significantly reduce the time needed for performing 
what is otherwise a slow process. The procedure is accurate and takes less 
skill to perform. Thus, not only is the invention of use to tradesmen, but 
also to the consumer desiring to do such work himself. The product may be 
packaged in convenient rolls. To protect the marking means a thin layer of 
material may be placed over the marking area and removed before use. In 
another species the product is protected by omitting adhesive from that 
portion of the backing which comes in contact with a marking means when 
the product is rolled up.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT 
The following disclosure is offered for public dissemination in return for 
the grant of a patent. Although it is detailed to ensure adequacy and aid 
understanding, this is not intended to prejudice that purpose of a patent 
which is to cover each new inventive concept therein no matter how others 
may later disguise it by variations in form or additions or further 
improvements. 
The present invention provides a special marking tape, one embodiment of 
which is shown in FIG. 1. A strip of thin, flexible material 11 has an 
adhesive 10 on its backside. Flexible material 11 may be paper, cloth or 
plastic. Preferably the adhesive is pressure sensitive, but a water, etc., 
soluble adhesive also might be employed. A marking means 13 comprises a 
narrow strip of felt or blotter paper permeated with ink and is attached 
to the obverse side 14 of the flexible material. The term "ink" is used 
broadly herein to identify a coloring substance in a liquid carrier. As an 
alternative the marking means 13 could be a strip of carbon paper or 
chalk. The marking means may be, but is not limited to, a straight line, 
longitudinal orientation. It might, for example, be a line curved to meet 
a particular requirement. It might be a rectangle the size of an 
electrical box, for example. 
It is contemplated that the marking tape of the invention will be supplied 
in rolls. To prevent the pressure sensitive adhesive 10 from damaging the 
marking means 13 when the tape is rolled and unrolled, the adhesive is 
only adjacent the sides of the flexible material; that is, the central 
part of the backside of the flexible material between dotted lines 12 is 
devoid of adhesive. As an alternative, and with the entire backside of the 
flexible material coated with adhesive, a thin, peel-off strip 16 is 
placed over the marking means as shown in FIG. 2. The peel-off strip could 
also be on at least the longitudinal central portion of the adhesive layer 
10. 
The mark transferred to the conforming unit of material need not be a 
narrow line, but may rather be two marks with a narrow separation, the 
separation then defining the "cutting" line. Such a mark could be created 
by the product illustrated in FIG. 3, where the marking substance 13' is 
on two different areas of the topside of the product. When the mark is 
transferred, the narrow area without marking substance 17 serves as the 
cutting line of the conforming unit of material. The marking means need 
only be a characteristic defining a line, accomplished by transferring a 
line or by transferring narrowly separated marks with an unmarked line 
between them. When used for carpet installation, the defined line should 
be no greater than one-quarter inch wide. The marking substance 13' in 
FIG. 3 is an encapsulated ink, such as that commonly used as an 
alternative for carbon paper. The application of pressure breaks the 
minute capsules and releases the ink. 
FIG. 4 illustrates the FIG. 1 species of marking tape affixed to a surface 
18 with the strip of marking means directly over a feature on the surface. 
For example, the surface is a floor on which carpeting is to be laid and 
the "feature" is the middle of a doorway between two rooms (or a room and 
a hall, etc.) where a seam in the carpet is to be made. Carpeting 19, 
which may be referred to as a unit of material, has been laid in one room 
and is to be cut in a straight line across the middle of the doorway. When 
the carpeting was laid in the first room it was cut preliminarily so that 
its cut edge 20 was beyond the middle of the doorway. With the marking 
tape in place on the floor, the carpeting is pressed down so that the 
marking means 13 will apply a mark 21 (FIG. 5) to the back of the 
carpeting. The excess material 22 is then cut off along the mark 21. 
The carpeting 23 is then placed in the other room (if that has not already 
been done) and when in the proper position it is pressed down on the 
marking means 13. While the second carpeting 23 is being so marked the 
first carpeting 19 is held up out of the way, in the general position 
illustrated in FIG. 5. Thus a line is produced on the back of the second 
carpeting 23, which line is used as a guide for cutting. 
FIG. 6 illustrates an electrical box 25 recessed behind the outer surface 
of a wall 27. A sheet of paneling 28 is to be affixed on the wall and must 
have an opening in it which will conform to the opening defined by the 
front edges 26 of the electrical box. Obviously, when the paneling is in 
the required position, its backside is not accessible for the marking of 
the box opening and the front side cannot be marked because the location 
of the box is concealed by the paneling. 
Strips of the marking tape of FIG. 1 are placed around the box so that the 
marking means 13 is directly over the outer edges 26 of the box. The 
paneling is then positioned in the required position with respect to the 
wall and then pressed against the marking means so that marks are made on 
the back of the paneling corresponding to the location of the outer edges 
of the box. With the paneling moved away from the wall it is then cut 
along these lines. 
All other potential uses of such a marking tape cannot even be anticipated 
at the moment. It will likely be useful in producing some types of 
furniture, etc.