US2928115A - Carpet gripper - Google Patents

Description

March 15, 19930 H. J. HILL 2,928,115

CARPET GRIPPER Filed Oct. 19, 1956 INVENTO/P. Hnrevav J. HILL.

BY HIS ATTORNEYS HARE/6, Mac/4, Fosrse & HaRR/s 2,928,115 CARPET GRIPPER Harvey J. Hill, Monterey Park, Calif., assignor to Roberts Manufacturing Co., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application October 19, 1956, Serial No. 617,095 1 Claim. (Cl. 16-16) This invention relates to gripperstrips for installing wall-to-wall carpeting and the like and, in particular, to a carpet gripper strip'adapted for rapid and easy installation, especially in poorly illuminated locations such as corners, closets and the like.

Carpet grippers having sloping carpet engaging means with the points thereof directed toward one edge of the gripper strip are installed at the junction of a wall and the floor with the points directed towards the wall. In making such an installation, it hasbeen necessary to feel the points or visually inspect the slant of the pins in order to properly orient the carpet gripper prior to nailing in place. The floors of rooms, especially corners and closets, are dimly lit and what illumination is available is usually partially obscured by the installer, resulting in loss of time, eye fatigue, missed and be'rit nailsandmisaligned or reversed gripperstrips. These problems he come more vexing when short pieces of carpet gripper are being used to complete the installation. I

It is an object of the invention to provide a carpet gripper which is easily, rapidly and accurately installed in both well and poorly illuminated locations and in long or short lengths with a minimum of fatigue on the part of the installer. It is a further object of the invention to provide a carpet gripper strip having longitudinal bands of contrasting colors to indicate proper orientation 2,923,115 Patented Mar. 15, 196d The carpet gripper of the invention includes a relatively long and narrow strip of a thin material such as plywood, aluminum or the like. A plurality of carpet hooking nails 11 are set in the strip 10 with pointed ends 12 of the nails 11 extending upward from the top surface T of the strip 10; All of the pointed ends 12 are preferably of the strip. A further object of the invention is to pro vide a carpet gripper having preset mounting nails which are of a color contrasting with the color of the strip against which they are viewed.

It is another object of the invention to provide a carpet gripper having pre-set mounting nails which are so located as to produce maximum strength in the completed installation.

While much carpet gripper stripping is provided with,

pre-set mounting nails, some stripping is not. Furthermore, the ends of lengths of carpet gripper which have been cut to a particular size and short lengths of carpet gripper require the use of additional nails for fixing the gripper to the floor. It isan object of the invention to provide a carpet gripper strip having a shallow groove in the upper surface thereof extending longitudinally along the strip at the location where mounting nails are to be inserted, thereby assuring properlocation of mounting nails inserted by' the installer.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of components, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. The drawing shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention which is given by way of illustration and example.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a length of carpet gripper embodying the teachings of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2--2 of Fig. l; and I Fig- 3 is a sectional view showing the carpet gripper ofth vention in use gripping a carpet.

oriented in the same direction, being to the left or wall edge 13 of the strip shown in Fig. 2.

Longitudina'lly extending color bands 16 and 17 are provided on the top surface of the strip 10, the band 16 being located away from the wall-edge 13 of the strip" and preferably extending over not more than one-half the width of the'strip. The bands are of contrasting colors and it is preferred that the contrast-be one of value rather than of hue, or color intensity, since such a value contrast is normally more harmonious, more readily seen under poor lighting conditions and produces less Ivisual distraction and strain on the eyes than does hire or intensity. contrast. In the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated herein, where the strip 10 is composed of plywood, the band 17 may be the natural light brown color of the wood and theband 16 may be a'dark brown paint applied to the top surface of the strip;

by conventional methods.

While thebands of color on the carpet gripper of the invention have been illustrated in the drawing as being solid, this is not necessary to the practice of the invention}:

A band ofcolor may include lettering, a design, a stippledor polka dot pattern, or the like. When the gripper strip is made of wood, a color band having local variations in color due to the grain of the wood may be obtained. Therefore the term color band is intended to include an area over which the coloring may vary but which produces the visual efiect of a band of color.

A plurality of mounting nails 20 are spaced longitudinally along the strip '10 with the nails imbedded into the strip through the upper surface thereof. These mounting nails are colored to contrast with the color of the band 17,,the nails being dark blue or black in the preferred embodiment of the invention having the natural light brown wood color for the band 17.

It has been found that the maximum strength of the installed carpet gripper is obtained when the mounting nails 20 are positioned along a line at 40 percent of the Width of the strip measured from the wall edge 13. Furthermore, it has been found that the strength decreases very rapidly when this figure is made smaller, whereas the strength decreases at a moderate rate as the position is moved away from the wall edge; *TherefOre, it is preferred to always locate the mounting nails more than one-third but less than two-thirds of the width of the strip as measured from the wall edge and preferably within a zone defined by lines at 35 and 50 percent of the Width of the strip, measured from the wall edge 13.

A longitudinally extending shallow groove 22 is lo cated in the top surface of the strip 10 along the pre ferred location line for the mounting nails.

The carpet gripper of theinvention may be used in installing wall-to-wall carpeting by placing the strip on a floor 24 (Fig. 3) with the wall edge 13 spaced slightly from a wall 25, the wall edge preferably being beveled to provide clearance for dirt and irregularities appearing at the junction of the floor 24 and wall 25 and to provide a wedging grip on the edge of the carpet. A rug pad 26 is customarily placed on the floor 24 and a carpet 27 is laid over the pad 26 and engaged with the nails 11- by well known methods, the raw edge of the carpet being forced into the gap between the wall edge 13 of the gripper and tedious and time; consuming operation and when per formed over an eight hour, day, produces many a sore finger. However, with the carpet gripper strip of the invention, the installer need only note the position of the colored bandsin order toproperly orientthe-strip. Since the. bands. are ofstrongly contrastingcolors, thisform of construction is equally usable with long and short lengths of, carpet. gripper, strip andtin' dimly litlocations.

When installing carpet gripper in dimly litldeations, trouble is often encountered with properlydriving; the mounting. nails, the nails often being bent over and. oecasionally being missed. With. the carpet gripper strip. of. the invention, where the nails are of acolor contrasting with the surface of the strip against which they are viewed, as seen inEig. 1,, the likelihood ofbentor missed nails ismaterially reduced. and, accordingly; thespeed' of installation may be increased. Testshave indicated. that the installation time under good lighting conditions for carpetgripper embodying the invention'is in the order. of sixpercent less than. that for'conventional carpet gripper and that under one particular set of poor lighting conditions, there isa reduction of more thantwenty percent. At. corners and around irregular shapes,ivhere short lengths, of carpet gripper are often used, the saving. of time and. eifort is especially noted. Itisoften necessaryv tonse additional.mountingnails tozsnpplement those pnemountedinthe strip in installingthe carpet gripper. Such. additional nails maybe used at theend of. a strip andinshort strips which have oneor noprernounted, nails therein. 'The. groove22 servesas alocating. means. for; properly. positioning thenails relative. totheedges. oft the.

strip andthe. naiIsmay. be. positioned. in the grooveentirely by ieel. Such,- a groove. does not: requireaparticillhr. size, of, nail. and,. being very shallow, does not materially al'ter the strength of the completed installation.

It. is. clear. that. some features of the invention. can be used independently of others and that the invention is capable of a variety of embodiments. The invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiment disclosed herein but as defined in the following claim.

I claim as my invention:

In a carpet gripper suitable for installation in both long and short strips, the combination, of: a long and narrow strip of. a relatively light colored material, said. strip having an upper surface provided with a longitudinal band' adjacent one edge and of a relatively dark color, said upper surface having a shallow groove extending longitudinall'y therealong parallel; to an edge of said strip whereby installation nails may be driven through said strip at saidgroove at any point along said strip; a

plurality of spaced nails projecting into said strip through said groove and extending thereabove, said nails being of a darkzcolor contrastingW-itlrthe color of saidmateri'al; and a pluralityof carpet hooking means having pointed ends; projectingzupward from said strip.

References Cited in the. file of this patent V UNITED STATES'PATENTS OTHER REFERENCESv EZ.-.Lay- Pamphlenpage 1-, Dec. 4, 1953.

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