Abstract:
A commercial floor mat has a plurality of aluminum rails arranged in closely spaced side-by-side relationship and connected together by hinged connectors beneath the rails. Each rail has a pair of downwardly facing grooves on its underside extending along respective edges of the rail. Each connector has a flexible central web and a pair of spaced upstanding tabs disposed in the downwardly facing grooves of adjacent rails. The tabs have flexible barb-shaped ribs extending along their opposed faces to anchor the tabs in the grooves with a friction fit. The flexible central webs of the connectors facilitate hinged movement of connected rails to permit the mat to be rolled onto itself into a compact configuration.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001]     This invention relates generally to floor mats. More particularly, the invention relates to commercial, roll-up floor mats formed by a plurality of elongated parallel aluminum rails interconnected with flexible hinges.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     Floor mats for use with entryways in commercial buildings must satisfy a variety of special needs not necessarily present in residential buildings. For instance, it is desirable that a commercial floor mat inside the entrance of a retail store or office building be capable of removing debris such as snow and mud from the shoes of patrons as they traverse the mat. It is also desirable that such commercial floor mats be capable of accommodating large amounts of rainwater from the shoes and cloths of patrons without becoming soaked or wet. Finally, a commercial floor mat must provide continuous friction in any weather condition and must be able to support the heavy weight of people and merchandise as they traverse the entrance.  
         [0003]     To meet the above and other needs, a variety of commercial floor mats have been developed and are part of the prior art. Perhaps the most ubiquitous of these commercial floor mats is the so-called roll-up floor mat or roll-up floor grate. The term “roll-up floor mat” will be used in the present discussion. In general, roll-up floor mats are designed to fit within a shallow rectangular well formed in the floor of a commercial building just inside an entrance. While there are a number of variations, these mats typically are formed by a plurality of closely spaced parallel aluminum rails, each of which is connected to its neighbors by means of an articulating joint. The articulating joints hold the rails in place with respect to one another, allow the mat to conform to variations in the floor of the well, and, perhaps most importantly, permit the mat to be rolled up upon itself into a compact configuration when necessary for cleaning or replacement. The articulating hinges that connect adjacent rails together usually are provided with openings that allow water, melting snow, and other debris collected from the shoes of patrons to pass through the mat for collection in the shallow rectangular well in which it rests. It is at least partially for this reason that such floor mats sometimes are referred to as floor grates.  
         [0004]     The patent literature is replete with examples of roll-up commercial floor mats of the type discussed above. U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,110 of Arens, for example, discloses a commercial door mat with a multiplicity of parallel profiled bars, each having a generally U-shape with upstanding flanges interconnected at their lower ends by a horizontal web. A tread assembly fits in every other channel formed by the upstanding flanges. U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,587 of Blazer discloses a roll-up floor mat with rigid rails interconnected with elongated H-shaped flexible hinges. U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,245 of Blazer et al. discloses a floor mat of similar construction wherein the flexible hinges are further formed with feet that underlie the edges of the aluminum rails to cushion impact. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,804 of Williams, the articulating hinges are formed by elongated rod and socket joints and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,392 of Green, the aluminum rails are connected together along the undersides of their edges by flexible U-shaped hinge members, which also form feet that support the rails.  
         [0005]     Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,434,779 of Bartlett et al. discloses a roll-up commercial floor mat wherein adjacent aluminum rails are connected together with flexible connector members. Each rail has a pair of legs depending from its lower surface and each connector member has a pair of upwardly facing U-shaped sockets configured and positioned to receive the legs of adjacent rails for securing the rails flexibly together. The legs and sockets have interengaging shoulders that retain the legs in the sockets once they are inserted during fabrication. The shoulders are necessary in part because the connector members are made of plastic and the walls that form the sockets tend to spread out under stress. Without the shoulders, the connector members of Bartlet et al. would easily be dislodged from the rails. Even with the shoulders, the sockets can spread under stress and the connector members become dislodged.  
         [0006]     Roll-up commercial floor mats, such as those disclosed in the above patents, have proven somewhat successful in the applications for which they are designed. Nevertheless, they are still plagued with various problems and shortcomings inherent in their respective designs. As mentioned above, for example, the floor mat of Bartlett et al. can suffer from dislodgement of the legs of the rails from the sockets of the connector members under certain circumstances. It is perhaps for this reason that Bartlett et al. teach a pair of bendable anchor tabs extruded along the bottom side of each rail that can be bent outwardly against the outer walls of the sockets to prevent such dislodgement. Other prior art mats are difficult to assemble for a variety of reasons, not least of which being that some require assembly of adjacent rails and interconnecting hinges by sliding these components longitudinally together. This requires large amounts of room, is labor intensive, and inefficient.  
         [0007]     Accordingly, there is a persistent need for a roll-up commercial floor mat that is easy, quick, and efficient to assemble, that does not suffer from dislodgement of rails and connecting hinge members, does not require ancillary anchor mechanisms to maintain attachment of the components, and that is attractive and easily rollable into a compact configuration. It is to the provision of such a roll-up floor mat that the present invention is primarily directed.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     Briefly described, the present invention, in a preferred embodiment thereof, comprises an improved roll-up floor mat for use in commercial buildings. As with prior art commercial mats, the floor mat of this invention is designed to be installed in a shallow rectangular well formed inside an entryway of a building. The mat includes a plurality of long closely spaced parallel rails, which preferably are fabricated of extruded aluminum. Each of the rails is formed with an upper deck that is configured to receive and hold an elongated tread insert. In one embodiment, an upstanding lipped wall extends along each edge of the rail deck and the tread insert is slid into the facing grooves formed by the lipped walls. In any event, the tread inserts may be of any conventional type, including carpet treads, abrasive treads, vinyl treads, or otherwise, as is known in the art.  
         [0009]     Each rail is further formed with a first pair of spaced depending legs that extend along the bottom of the deck just inside one edge of the deck. A second pair of spaced depending legs extend along the bottom of the deck just inside the other edge of the deck. Accordingly, a first downward facing slot is defined between the first pair of depending legs and a second downwardly facing slot is defined between the second pair of depending legs, each slot extending along the length of the rail.  
         [0010]     Each rail of the roll-up mat is attached to adjacent rails by an elongated connector. Each connector, in the preferred embodiment, has a relatively flexible central web, a pair of spaced apart legs extending downwardly from the edges of the central web, and a pair of feet extending laterally outwardly from the bottom edges of the legs. Thus, the central web, legs, and feet of the connector form a generally Omega shape when the connector is viewed in cross-section. An elongated tab extends upwardly from each of the feet of the connector and each tab is provided along its opposed side edges with a set pf barb-shaped ribs that extend along the length of the tab. In a preferred embodiment, each of the connectors is fabricated as a co-extrusion of plastic material with the legs, feet, and tabs being made of a relatively rigid higher durometer plastic material. The web and barbed ribs, on the other hand, are made of a relatively flexible lower durometer plastic material. Thus, the connector can flex along its length by virtue of the flexible web. Further, pads preferably are co-extruded along the bottoms of the feet of the connectors and these pads also are formed of a more flexible lower durometer plastic material. The pads provide cushioning and sound damping.  
         [0011]     The upstanding tabs of each connector are positioned to be received in the downward facing grooves on the bottoms of two spaced apart adjacent rails to connect the rails together. As the tabs move into the grooves, their flexible barb-shaped ribs slide along the walls of the grooves. However, when the tabs are fully inserted in the grooves, they are essentially impossible to remove because of the barbed shape of the ribs bearing against the walls of the grooves. Thus, two adjacent rails are connected together quickly and easily during assembly of a floor mat by turning the rails upside down so that their grooves face upwardly and pressing the tabs of a connector into the adjacent grooves of two rails.  
         [0012]     With a plurality of rails connected together using a corresponding plurality of connectors, to form a mat, the resulting mat is capable of being rolled up on itself into a compact configuration. This is facilitated by the relatively flexible webs of the connectors, which span the spaces between adjacent rails of the mat. Preferably, the flexible webs are provided with openings located along their lengths to permit water, melted snow, and other debris to fall between the rails and into the shallow well below.  
         [0013]     Accordingly, a roll-up floor mat is now provided that successfully addresses the problems and shortcomings of the prior art in a unique way. Mats are easily and efficiently assembled by inserting the tabs of connectors into the grooves of adjacent rails and, once inserted, the tabs are fixed and do not tend to dislodge. Thus, no ancillary anchor tabs or other mechanisms are required to insure the integrity of the attachment of the connectors to the rails. These and other features, objects and advantages of the roll-up floor mat of this invention will become more apparent upon review of the detailed description set forth below taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures, which are briefly described as follows. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a relatively small section of a roll-up floor mat that embodies principles of the present invention in a preferred form.  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of a roll-up floor mat according to this invention illustrating the connection of adjacent rails with co-extruded connectors according to the invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a connector configured according to the invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  is a cross sectional view of an aluminum rail configured according to the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]     Referring in more detail to the drawing figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views,  FIG. 1  illustrates a section of a roll-up floor mat configured according to the invention. The floor mat  11  comprises a plurality of extruded aluminum rails  12  arranged in spaced parallel relationship with respect to one another. Adjacent rails  12  are connected together by an extruded plastic connector  13 , which is described in more detail below. The rails  12  are made, in the preferred embodiment, of extruded aluminum; although this is not a limitation of the invention and the rails might, in fact, be formed of any suitable material according to application specific requirements.  
         [0019]     Each rail  12  has an elongated rail deck  14  and a pair of short upstanding walls  16  that extend along the edges of the rail deck  14 . Inwardly projecting lips  17  are formed along the tops of the upstanding walls  16  such that the lips and walls define inward facing opposed slots  18  extending along the edge portions of the sill deck. The slots  18  are sized and spaced to receive and hold tread strips  41 , as best illustrated in  FIG. 2 . More specifically, tread strips  41 , in the illustrated embodiment, are formed with a backing  42  and a tread surface  43 , which may be carpet, abrasive material, vinyl, or otherwise. The edges of the backing  42  are captured in the opposed grooves  18  as shown in  FIG. 2  to hold the tread strips in place on their respective rails. If the tread strips need to be removed for replacement, they may simply be slid out of their rails from the ends.  
         [0020]     Referring primarily to  FIG. 4 , each rail is further formed with a spaced pair of depending legs  19  that project downwardly from the underside of the deck  14  just inside one edge portion thereof. Similarly, a spaced pair of depending legs  21  project downwardly from the underside of the deck  14  just inside the other edge portion thereof. Each pair of depending legs  19  and  21  defines a downwardly facing groove  22  between the legs of the pair. The grooves  22  preferably extend along the entire length of the rails  12  from one end thereof to the other.  
         [0021]     As mentioned, adjacent rails  12  are connected together by connectors  13 , as best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The connectors  13  preferably are formed of a unitary piece of plastics material by means of a plastics co-extrusion process. Each elongated connector has a central web  26  that is formed of a relatively flexible lower durometer plastic material. A first leg  27  projects downwardly along one edge of the central web  26  and a second leg  28  projects downwardly from the opposite edge of the central web  26 . A first foot  29  projects laterally out from the bottom edge of the first leg  27  and a second foot  31  projects laterally out from the second leg  28 . Thus, the central web  26 , legs  27  and  28 , and feet  29  and  31  form a generally Omega shape when the connector is viewed in cross-section as in  FIG. 3 .  
         [0022]     Referring in particular to  FIG. 3 , a first tab  32  projects upwardly from the first foot  29  of the connector and, similarly, a second tab  33  projects upwardly from the second foot  31  of the connector as shown. The legs  27  and  28 , feet  29  and  31 , and tabs  32  and  33  preferably are formed in the co-extrusion process from a substantially rigid higher durometer plastic material so that they are not flexible like the central web  26 . Each of the tabs  32  and  33  is provided along its opposite side surfaces with a set of spaced ribs  34 . The ribs  34  are configured so that they angle downwardly as best illustrated in  FIG. 3  rather like the barbs of an arrow. Accordingly, it may be said that each tab  33  is provided on its opposite sides with a set of barbed ribs  33 . Finally, relatively thin pads  35  are formed on the bottoms of the feet  29  and  31 . Both the barbed ribs  34  and the pads  36  are formed of a relatively flexible lower durometer plastic material, which may be the same material from which the central web  26  is formed if desired. As mentioned, the connector profile can conveniently be formed in a single efficient plastics co-extrusion process wherein the rigid and flexible components of the connector are simultaneously formed in a cross-head extrusion die. Plastics co-extrusion techniques per se are well known and need not be discussed in detail here.  
         [0023]     As perhaps best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , and as mentioned previously, adjacent rails  12  of the floor mat are connected together by corresponding connectors  13 . More specifically, the upstanding tabs  32  and  33  of the connectors  13  are positioned and sized to be received in the downwardly facing grooves  22  along the edge portions of the adjacent rails to connect the rails together. As the tabs  32  and  33  move into the grooves  22  during assembly of the floor mat, the flexible barbed ribs  34  along the faces of the tabs bend or flex downwardly to allow the tabs to slip easily into the grooves. Once the tabs  32  and  33  are fully inserted in the grooves, however, removing them becomes exceedingly difficult because of the substantial friction created between the walls of the grooves  22  and the barbed ribs when the ribs are moved against their natural bending direction. As a result, once installed by simply being pushed into the rail grooves, the connectors become securely and permanently attached to the rails. There is no tendency for the tabs of the connectors to pull out of the rail slots because the slots do not tend to spread under stress or over time. Accordingly, unlike some prior art mats, there is no need for additional securing mechanisms such as interengaging shoulders or bendable anchors sometimes employed in the art.  
         [0024]     The just described rails and connector configurations make assembly of a commercial floor mat of this invention exceedingly efficient. For example, a jig may be used that accepts and aligns a plurality of rails upside down with their grooves facing upwardly. Connectors may then be inverted and simply pressed into place with their tabs extending into the grooves of adjacent rails. Securing the connectors to the rails may be accomplished quickly with a simply roller tool, which is fast and efficient. Alternatively, a plurality of connectors might be aligned in a jig and the rails pressed onto the connectors from the top. In either case, assembly is simple, requires a minimum workspace, and does not entail additional steps to fix or anchor the connectors to the rails.  
         [0025]     With a plurality of rails thus connected together with connectors as described, a commercial floor mat is formed. As is traditional, special peripheral rails and edges may be attached as desired or required. The floor mat, once assembled, can be rolled up on itself in the direction of arrows  37  ( FIGS. 1 and 2 ) into a compact rolled configuration for transportation. The location of the flexible central webs of the connectors just below the rail decks facilitates the minimum radius roll and thus the most compact package. For installation, the floor mat is simply unrolled into the shallow rectangular well in which it is to reside. The flexible pads  36  co-extruded on the bottoms of the connector feet  29  and  31  rest on the floor of the well and provide both cushioning and sound damping, which are beneficial and desirable.  
         [0026]     The invention has been described herein in terms of preferred embodiments and methodologies that are considered by the inventors to be the best mode of carrying out the invention disclosed herein. It will be understood, however, that many variations may be made to the illustrated embodiments all within the spirit of the invention exemplified in these illustrated embodiments. For example, there are many configurations and techniques for attaching tread strips to the tops of rails of commercial mats, many of which are disclosed in the patent documents listed above. All these and other techniques for attaching tread strips are contemplated by this invention. Further, the rails themselves, although preferably made of aluminum, also may be made of another material, such as another metal or a plastic material, and this too is contemplated by the invention. Finally, although it is preferred that the connectors be made of a unitary piece of co-extruded plastic material, they may be made of several pieces of different materials assembled together. For instance, the legs, feet, and tabs of the connectors might be made of aluminum with the flexible central web being made of, say, rubber that is attached along its edges to the aluminum legs. Thus, plastic co-extrusion of the connectors, while considered the best mode, is not a limitation. These and many other additions, deletions, and modifications might well be made to the preferred embodiments presented herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.