METHOD AND ANCHORING PLATE MATERIAL FOR KEEPING A READILY REMOVABLE MAT OR THE LIKE SMALL CARPET IN PLACE

Abstract: In a method for keeping a readily removable mat or similar small carpet (5) in place in a carpeted or carpet tile covered floor area (1), whereby the mat (5) is provided with a surface pattern of engageable means, such as protrutions (6), projections or cleats, distributed all over its lower side, one or more parts (2) of the floor area (1) to be covered by the mat (5) is kept or made free from carpeting or carpet tile covering, said one or more uncovered parts (2) of the floor area (1) is covered with an anchoring plate material (7), the upper surface of which is adapted to be flush with the upper surface of the carpet or carpet tile covering and in a way known per se is also performed with engageable means, such as cleats or projections, to engage the lower side of the mat (5) between its engageable means for preventing lateral displacement of the mat relative to the anchoring plate material, whereby the mat (5) is laid in place for at least covering the anchoring plate material (7) and for providing engagement between its lower side and the upper surface of the anchoring plate material (7) by means of said engageable means, and the anchoring plate material preferably having a thickness and a compressibility essentially corresponding to that of the carpet or carpet tiles of said covering. Thereby is obtained that a mat may be easily replaced and no risk occurs for the people walking on the carpeted area (1) during that phase of the replacement where one mat has been removed but the replace­ ment mat has not yet been laid in place.

Description: The present invention relates to a method and an anchoring 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, distributed 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 is arranged in said non-carpeted area, whereby the mat is held in place at its edges by which it abuts the borders of the carpeted area. Said method is unfavourable seeing that the mat 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 surface 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 by the edges of the floor covering around the recess and a wheel at a vehicle e.g. a wheel chair or a mobile shopping basket will tend to be entrapped into the recess. Furthermore wear and tear will occur at the upstanding edges of the floor covering around the recess, the wear of which will be detrimental to the appearance of the floor covering when the removed 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 according to claim 1, which is characterized in that one or more parts 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 adapted to be flush with the upper surface of the carpet or carpet tile covering and is also performed with engageable means, such as protrusions, cleats or projections, to engage the lower side of the mat between its engageable means for preventing lateral displacement of the 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 plate material by means of said engageable means, the anchoring plate material having a thickness and a compressibility corresponding to that of the carpet of 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 floor 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. Preferred features of the method are set out in the dependent claims. Further an anchoring plate material for carrying out the method is claimed in claim 6. 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, fig. 2 shows a section along II-II in fig. 1, fig. 3 shows a carpeted area, where a mat according to the method of the invention is arranged upon an area equipped with an anchoring plate material, fig. 4 shows a section along IV-IV in fig. 3, fig. 5 shows a carpet tile covered area, wherein - according 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 its 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 the 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 engagement 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 embodiment of an engaging arrangement between the lower side projections of the mat and the upper surface projections 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 of the mat 3, whereby the dust removal, 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 2 of the floor area 1 to be covered by the mat 5 is/are kept or made free from carpet. Into each of said uncovered parts 2 of the floor area 1 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 anchoring plate material. Fig. 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 carpet tiles are removed and replaced by six tiles of anchoring plate material 7 whereupon the mat 5 is placed onto the tile covered area so as to overlap or cover 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 upon and covering the area which is provided with the inlaid anchoring plate material 7. Fig. 7 shows an example of a tile of anchoring plate material, the upper surface of which is provided with a number of cleats or projections fitting into the pattern of cleats or projections on the lower side of the mat 5, so that the projections 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 predetermined module dimensions which are the same as the module dimensions 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 anchoring tiles. Fig. 10 shows an example of engagement between the projections 6 of the mat 5 and the projections 8A 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 group 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 anchoring plate material 7, where the projections 8B and 8C form a pattern of banks or beads for individual and groupwise inclusion, respectively, of projections 6 on the lower side of the mat 5 and for increasing the protrusion support effect. As example of dimensions of tiles of anchoring plate material 7 may be mentioned quadratic tiles having an edge length of 20 x 20 cm, 40 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 termoplastic material. Instead of cleats or projections on the lower side of the mat 5 and the upper surface of the anchoring plate material 7, respectively, socalled Velcrofastener materials may be used, provided that they meet the condition 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.

Claims: Method of keeping a readily removable mat (5) or similar small carpet in place in a carpeted or carpet tile covered floor area (1), whereby the mat is provided with a surface pattern of engageable means (6), such as protrusions, projections or cleats, distributed all over its lower side, the method being characterized in that one or more parts (2) of the floor area (1) to be covered by the mat (5) is kept or made free from carpet or carpet tile covering, that the said one or more uncovered parts (2) of the floor area is covered with an anchoring plate material (7), the upper surface of which is performed with engageable means (8) such as cleats or protrusions to engage the lower side of the mat (5) between its engageable means (6) for preventing lateral displacement of the mat (5) relatively to the anchoring plate material (7), and that the mat (5) is laid in place for at least covering the anchoring plate material (7) and for providing the engagement between its lower side and the upper surface of the anchoring plate material (7) by means of said engageable means (6), the anchoring plate material (7) having a thickness and a compressibility essentially corresponding to the thickness and the compressibility of the carpet or carpet tiles of said floor covering. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the engageable means (8), such as projections, protrusions or cleats, of the anchoring plate material (7) have a larger cross section than the engageable means (6), such as projections, protrusions or cleats on the lower side of the mat, and in case the projections of the anchoring plate material (7) have a circular cross section, then the diameters of said projections are larger than the distance between the projections of the mat (5), but less than the diameter of an inscribed circle touching or in tangence to the projections in a group of three adjacent projections on the lower side of the mat (5). Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the anchoring plate material (7) totally fills out the area parts (2) of the floor area which are kept free from carpeting. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the projections of the anchoring plate material (7) form a pattern for at least individual inclusion of projections on the lower side of the mat (5). Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the projections on the lower side of the mat (5) form a pattern for at least individual inclusion of projections on the upper surface of the anchoring plate material (7). Anchoring plate material (7) for keeping a readily removable mat (5) or similar small carpet in place in a carpeted or carpet tile covered area (1) and for carrying out the method of claim 1, whereby the mat (5), which is preferably a washable service mat, is provided with a surface pattern of engageable means (6), such as protrusions,projections or cleats, distributed all over its lower side, and whereby the anchoring plate material (7) having engageable means (8), such as protrusions, projections, cleats etc.at its upper surface, adapted to engage the engageable means (6) at the lower surface of the readily removable mat (5), characterized in that the thickness and compressibility of the anchoring plate material (7) essentially corresponds to the thickness and the compressibility of the carpet or carpet tile covering of the floor area, so that when the readily removable mat (5) is removed, the surface level of the anchor plate material covered parts (2) of the floor remains the same as the surface level of the remaining floor covering.

Inventors: LANG, AAGE
Applicants: MILLIKEN DENMARK A/S
Application year: 1989
Main classification: A47G27
IPC codes: A47G27