Patent ID: 7278343

Claim:
A floor covering cutting apparatus for lap seaming two adjacent floor coverings made of a material such as vinyl or linoleum, the first floor covering being placed over a first surface area of the floor, and the second floor covering being placed over a second surface area of the floor, the first and second surface areas sharing a common border, the floor coverings being placed in overlapping arrangement along the common border, the floor covering cutting apparatus comprising: a cutting assembly having a blade and a blade biasing mechanism, said blade being adapted to cuttingly engage the overlapping floor coverings along the common border, and said blade biasing mechanism being adapted to press said blade into cutting engagement with the overlapping floor coverings; a heating assembly having a heating unit mounted in front of said blade and adapted to heat the floor coverings along the common border in front of said blade; a drive mechanism including a motor adapted to continuously move said blade along a path of travel over the common border to form a uniform lap seam between the two floor coverings; an alignment mechanism having opposed ends and adapted to guide said blade along a path of travel over said common border; and, a frame connecting said cutting assembly, heating assembly, drive mechanism and alignment mechanism together.