US2763587A - Tile floor covering - Google Patents

Description

Sept., i8, 1956 F. E. MASLAND, JR `763,587

TILE FLOOR COVERING Filed May 7, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l lllllllllllllllllllllllllllll,lmulll.

llllllllllllllllllllllllll III] IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIII United States Patent TILE FLOOR COVERING Frank E. Masland, Jr., Carlisle, Pa., assigner to C. H.

Masland & Sons, Carlisle, Pa., a corporation of Penn- Sylvania Application May 7, 1953, Serial No. 353,516 1 claim. (on 154-49) having shapes which are not standard.

A further purpose is to make it easy to replace worn portions in a carpet.

A further purpose is to offer an opportunity to create novelty effects by the decorator.

A further purpose is to secure tile squares of carpet in side by side relation by cementing them directly to the oor, or by providing separate cushion backings on the tile squares and cementing such backings to the floor, or by placing cushion sheets or squares on the oor and cementing the tile squares to the cushion squares, desirably staggering the joints.

A further purpose is to employ a cushion backing which has ribs and thus improve the resilience of the oor covering.

A further purpose is to interlock upwardly directed ribs on cushion backing sheets with downwardly directed ribs on backing applied to the carpet tiles, and to cement the ribs in interlocking relation.

A further purpose is to undercut a resilient backing on the tiles behind the edge of the carpet so that it will` not interfere in close abutment of the tiles.

A further purpose is to place an integral cushion material having downwardly directed ribs on the back of a carpet in order to increase the wear of the carpet and improve the resilience of the floor covering.

A further purpose is to cement a cushion material having integral downwardly directed ribs on the back of a carpet tile and to cement the tile on the top of a similar cushion material having downwardly directed ribs.

A further purpose is to provide alternate cushions on the backs of carpet tiles and to place tiles having special cushions, consisting, for example of foam rubber, at locations `of abnormal wear.

A further purpose is to cement the edges of the carpetr 4sections showing variations in the oor coverings of the invention.

Figures 6 and 7 are fragmentary top plan views of alternate door coverings constructed in accordance with the invention.

2,763,587 Patented Sept. 18, 1956 fice Figures 8 and 9 are fragmentary diagrammatic vertical sections of further variations in the floor covering of the invention.

Describing in illustration but not in limitation and referring to the drawings:

Wide use has been made in the past of tiles for oor coverings. Tiles have been produced of linoleum, rubher, asphalt, and various synthetic plastics. They oifer the advantage of great versatility, since tiles of one color or design can be interspersed with those of another color or design to create pattern effects. They also are reasonably easy to lay and permit conforming the tile arrangement to the shape of a room having any desired contour.

Carpets offer many advantages as floor coverings, since they are soft, attractive, luxurious, and free from tendency to slip. lt has generally, however, not been possible to obtain special carpet designs which are peculiarly adapted to the needs of a particular room or the ideas of a particular householder or decorator..

The present invention is designed to impart great ilexibility in the designing of floor coverings of carpet by permitting the use of tiles composed of carpet. Thus tiles of various colors or designs can be used in any preferred sequence, establishing an effective way of designing for the needs of the particular installation or according to the ideas of the particular designer.

The laying of the tiles is greatly facilitated in the invention, since they can either be cemented directly to the floor, or can be cemented to a cushion backing which is either an over-all backing or a series of squares similar to tile, and can be interlocked with the cushion backing as well as cemented to it. The tiles thus may consist entirely of carpet cut into squares and desirably coated on the edges to prevent unravelling, or the tiles may consist of carpet carrying with it a backing, suitably of cushion material.

The carpet edges on the tile can be brought very close together if the cushion backing which forms part of the tile is slightly undercut.

The joints in the carpet tiles will desirably be diterently placed from the joints in the backing which is directly against the floor, so that no tendency of the carpet to hump or show unevenness at the joints of the underlay will exist.

The cushion material on the back of the carpet tile and the undercushion are desirably made of integral solid ribbed construction comprising for example paper felt, and the ribs will desirably be downwardly directed both on the back of the carpet tile and on the undercushion, although in some cases the ribs will to advantage be interlocked.

It is desirable to seal the weave at the edges to prevent any possibility of fraying or unravelling.

In some instances it is preferable to employ in areas of unusual trac a special cushion on the back of the carpet, consisting fo-r example of foam rubber. Alternate tiles are desirably made having the foam rubber cushion on the black of the carpet, the foam rubber being of the same thickness as the paper felt or the like used on other tiles so that tiles in one area can be backed, for example, by paper felt, and those in another area by foam rubber.

Considering first the form of Figure l, it is noted that a cushion backing 20 has been provided directly against the oor. This will, if desired, be cemented to the oor, although in most cases cementing of this cushion backing 20 to the floor is unnecessary.

Tiles 21 extend over the backing in abutting relationship, forming longitudinal joints 22 and lateral joints 23. There will desirably be a recurring pattern in the floor covering, tiles A, B and C suitably being alike in color or surface design or contouring of the pile (high and low in the same transverse row), and other features similarly conforming to the pattern.

Each of the carpet tiles as shown is a square suitably 9 x 9 inches, but permissibly as large as l2 X 12 inches. Tiles larger than 12 X 12 4inches are not preferred. Each of the carpet squares comprises pile 24 and the usual woven backing 25 which is formed on the back of the carpet in weaving.

The carpet is suitably woven in .a large piece, and precautions are desirably taken to prevent unravelling at the edge. The back is `preferably coated with a layer of latex or rubber which penetrates and cements the warps and wefts .together .in the backing 25.

The tile may be secured in place in various ways. Figure 2 shows the tile 2l directly cemented at 26 to the oor 27. This is permissible because the cushioning eiect of the carpet tends to create a soft :feel even though no cushion backing is employed.

In the preferred embodiment, however, a cushion backing under the carpet is used, as it tends to eliminate the elects of discontinuities in the floor and adds to the wearing qualities of the carpet and the softness of the feel.

In Figure 3 each individual carpet square has a cushion backing sheet 2d cemented Ythereon by adhesive 3l) between the cushion sheet 23 and the woven backing of the square, The cushion on the square is undercut at 31 around all edges to reduce the "likelihood that the Cushion backing could protrude and interfere with close lateral fitting of the squares of carpet to carpet.

Any suitable adhesive may be used at 30 to unite the woven backing of the carpet to 'the cushion lbacking '28 on the square, rubber, synthetic rubber, casein, polyvinyl chloride and animal glue being permissible.

The cushion backing 23 may if desired be a sponge paper vfelt as used under linoleum, roofing felt, jute felt,

or wool felt.

ln'the form of Figure 3 the cushion backing 28 is united directly to the oor 27 yby `adhesive 26 which may be linoleum or asphalt 'tile setting adhesive.

In ysome cases it is :preferred to obtain greater resilience .fr

in the cushion backing and in Figure 4 I show a lcushion 'backing 2S of resilient paper 'feit having `integral spaced `parallel downwardly directed ribs 32 distributed over the bottom surface and cemented by -the Vadhesive 2-6 to the floor. There 'are here-substantial air pockets adjoining the door which tend to give great resilience.

lt -is vdesirable -in 'some cases -toobtain even greater yresilience, and this is best done bycementingto the back of the carpet a cushion material such as paper felt at '28', 'having integral solid ribs 32 downwardly directed, and to place Aan kunder-cushion 33 desirably of the same ymaterial having ,the ribs :downwardly directed as shown 4in Figure '5. The surfaces of the cushion material opposite to the .ribs are desirably plane sur-faces. vThe 'backing cushions 23 on the back of the carpet tiles are desirably cemented to the top of the undercushion at 34. It has been found `that in Imost cases it is advantageous simply to rest the undercushion on the `floor, 4and that lit is not necessary vto cement the `undercushion :to the floor.

While the undercushion 331may1be a continuous vsheet as shown at 33 inthe top plan view of Figure `"7, it preferably consists of a plurality .of squares 332 Aas indicated in Figure 6, the squares 332 desirably fbe'ing of a-/difrferent tsizesthan ,the carpet tiles, and suitably considerably'larger, .so that lthe joints on the undercushion will be staggered with respect to those on kthe carpet tiles. Thus it will Ahe easy to cut the squares on the under-cushion :to fodd shapes, but no ditiiculty will be encountered because of @abutting joints 3S :in .the undercushion, which `-will not cause -humps on the face.

The ribs on the undercushion Iand the carpet ytile Acan be interlocked if desired, as shown in Figure `8 where the integral lpaper felt 28 having downwardly directed ribs at 32 is mounted on a sheet of integral paper felt 33 having upwardly directed ribs. The ribs of the downwardlly directed sheet and the upwardly directed sheet will suitably interlock and the sheets are cemented together at 34.

ln some cases it is preferable to employ special carpet tiles having a foam rubber backing 35 cemented to the back of the .carpet in areas of special wear, the foam rubber backing being cemented at 34 to the undercushion The foam .rubber is kdesirably of the same thickness as the ribbed paper felt backing 28' so `that the diierent carpet tiles may be used interchangeably.

If there is any danger of unravelling, this is desirably prevented by coating the cut edges of the woven carpet at 36, with any lsuitable adhesive such as rubber, synthetic rubber, or ethyl cellulose.

Any suitable adhesive may be employed to unite the carpet tile to the cushion backing below, among which are linoleum cement, asphalt tile cement, rubber cement, polyvinyl chloride adhesives, casein adhesives and .animal glue.

It will be evident that the invention can be used very effectively to .create .attractive designs according to the taste of the user, .and Yalso to permit rapid replacement of damaged sections. For example if ink or the like is spilled on an ordinary carpet, the damage iS .often irreparable, but in the case of the present invention a square or a few squares can be .taken up and `others 4cemented .down in their place.

In view of `my ,invention and disclosure variations and mod'ications to meet individual whim -or particular need will doubtless 'become evi-dent to others skilled in the art, `to obtain all or part of the benefits of my invention without copying the product and method shown, and I thereforeclaim all such insofar as ythey fall within the reasonable spirit and ,scope of vmy claim.

Having thus described my invention, Ywhat I claim as new and desire to secure by 'Letters vPatent is:

A floor covering having an upper surface consisting .of carpet, comprising Aa yplurality of carpet tile squares of uniform size not in excess of '12 X 12 inches arranged side by side in rows, having a pattern extending over the door .covering consisting of 4a series of pattern repeats connected together, each of the pattern repeats consisting of squares of d'iierent pattern appearance having pattern units 'in successive positions in the repeat and all of the repeats having'squares of the same appearance Vin the same relative position in vthe repeat, in cornbination with a sheet o'f lpaper felt forming a backing united to the back of each carpet tile and having integral solid Yribs directed away from the carpet, and an undercushion of paper felt having -integral solid ribs directed Yaway from 'the carpet, the paper 'felt backing on 'the carpet tiles being cemented to the undercushion and the undercushion being below the tiles and the paper felt backing.

References Cited in the file of Vthis patent UNITED 'STATES PATENTS :1,158,051 Hopkinson Oct. 26, '1915 1,594,261 Herschmann July 27, 1926 41,947,152 .Clark c, Feb. 13 1934 2,012,929 Knowland Aug. .27, 19,35 2,055,464 Y Bowes Sept. 29 1936 2,065,450 .Gordon Dec. 22 193.6 Y2,480,004 Dil-dilian Aug. 23 1949 2,529,799 .Crockett Nov. 14, -1950 2,595,111 Steward Apr. 29, 195,2 2,659,687 Moore Nov. 1.7 v1953 l2,715,289 VGale Aug. 16 .1955

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