Abstract:
An improvement for a wood stair tread of the type having a generally transparent protective coating thereon, the improvement being a three dimensional pattern formed in a top surface of the stair tread to both improve footing and preserve the natural appearance of the wood forming the top surface of the tread.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/439,684 filed Jan. 13, 2003, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    This invention relates to the field of stairs, more particularly, to a stair tread, which is a horizontal member which is intended to be walked upon by humans in a staircase.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    In the past, various treatments have been utilized to provide a non-skid surface to stair treads. When such treads were made of hardwood, the natural attractiveness of the wood was often desired to be displayed for aesthetic purposes. Typically, a hard, generally transparent coating was applied to allow display of the natural wood finish of the stair parts, including the tread. Such finishes included varnishes and polyurethane coatings, which performed the display function, but resulted in a stair tread that had a relatively smooth surface to walk on, and which could result in sliding or skidding as it was trod upon. Such a smooth coated surface, while providing an aesthetically pleasing surface to look at, was somewhat less desirable as a surface to walk on, particularly when a person lacked shoes or other footwear that provided a sufficient coefficient of friction to establish firm footing as the stairs were traversed.  
           [0004]    One solution to the slippery surface was to cover at least a central portion of the stair tread with a non-slip covering such as carpeting or adhesive-backed non-skid polymer strips. In a marine environment, it was known to add sand to varnish to provide a non-skid surface to walk on. However, each of these prior art attempts to provide a non-skid surface to a stair tread had shortcomings, particularly with respect to concealing the aesthetic appearance of the natural wood stair tread. The present invention overcomes these disadvantages by providing a non-skid treatment to a stair tread without concealing the natural appearance of a stair tread made of wood. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 shows a simplified fragmentary perspective view of a staircase having stair treads useful in the practice of the present invention.  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a stair tread showing a first embodiment of the non-skid treatment of the present invention.  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 3 is a section view taken along line  3 - 3  of the stair tread of FIG. 2.  
         [0008]    FIGS.  4 - 27  show alternate embodiments of the non-skid treatment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]    Referring now to the Figures, and most particularly to FIG. 1, a staircase  10  may be seen. Staircase  10  has a plurality of steps  12 , with each step formed by a horizontally oriented stair tread  14  and a vertically oriented riser  16 . Steps  12  may be supported by a pair of stringers  18 , (only one of which is shown in FIG. 1). A landing tread  20  may be used at the topmost end of the staircase.  
         [0010]    Referring now also to FIGS. 2 and 3, a stair tread  14  formed of wood and showing one embodiment of the non-skid treatment may be seen. Tread  14  in FIGS. 2 and 3 has a three dimensional pattern  22  cut into or otherwise formed in the top surface  24  of the tread  14 . In the embodiment shown, pattern  22  is a plurality of grooves  26  extending from the top surface  24  into the body  28  of the tread  14 .  
         [0011]    It is to be understood that other forms of the three dimensional pattern  22  may be used in the top surface  24  of the tread  14 . Providing a three dimensional pattern  22  in the top surface  24  results in a top surface geometry that is not simply a plane surface, thus providing a somewhat textured top surface  24  for tread  14 . This non-skid treatment results in contours in the top surface  24  which will provide a gripping action for persons walking on the stair treads  14  to reduce the chance of slipping. At the same time the surface finish of the stair tread may still be a hard, smooth, generally transparent coating such as varnish, polyurethane or the like. Using the non-skid treatment of this invention along with one of the conventional coatings mentioned will permit the natural appearance of the wood of the tread to remain visible in an aesthetically pleasing manner, while the three dimensional pattern  22  improves the footing on the tread, and may provide an additional aesthetically pleasing design element to the appearance of the stair tread.  
         [0012]    The invention is thus seen to be a wood stair tread having a three dimensional pattern formed in the top surface thereof. The stair tread of the present invention may be coated with a generally transparent coating covering at least the top surface of the tread to permit the natural appearance of the wood to be visible.  
         [0013]    Various forms of three dimensional patterns may be used in the practice of the present invention, provided that the top surface of the tread is other than a simple plane surface and improves the footing over that which would exist with a simple coated or finished plane surface.  
         [0014]    Referring now to FIGS. 4 through 27, alternate embodiments of the non-skid treatment of the present invention may be seen. It is to be understood that the three dimensional patterns shown in FIGS.  4 - 27  are illustrative and not limiting, since the three dimensional pattern can take numerous forms in addition to those shown expressly herein. It is further to be understood that as used herein, “wood” for the stair tread is preferably, but not necessarily hardwood. The stair tread of the present invention may be made of wood other than hardwood, and may even be made of composite materials such as particle board or other compressed cellulose or other materials with a wood veneer for the top surface  24  into which the three dimensional pattern  22  is formed. The pattern  22  may be formed by saw or other machine cutting, or may be die cut when veneer is used. Alternatively, pattern  22  may be embossed or otherwise formed in top surface  24  of the tread  14 .  
         [0015]    This invention is not to be taken as limited to all of the details thereof as modifications and variations thereof may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.