FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The presently disclosed technology relates to an improved floor mat for a wheeled rolling chair. More particularly, the present invention is an improved chair mat configured to restrain unintentional rolling movement of a wheeled chair.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Wheeled rolling chairs typically utilize a frame having three or more wheels extending from a base of the chair. Wheeled rolling chairs provide a convenient mechanism for a user to remain seated and to move about the user's office or other room. When a user is seated at the user's desk, it is often desirable not to continue rolling. However, wheeled rolling desk chairs have a tendency to roll slightly when a user shifts the user's weight in the chair and/or rotate or move in the chair. If the user has found an ideal position for the chair, even a small movement can be an inconvenience.
Office floor mats and other protected floor mats are typically utilized between the wheels of a rolling office chair and the floor. Typically the office chairs have a seat that is supported by a chair cylinder and a base. The base has a series of legs extending outward from the pedestal, with each leg being attached to a roller wheel (commonly called a caster wheel). The cylinder attaches to the base the seat and typically provides an adjustability mechanism allowing the cylinder to raise and lower the seat.
Typical office chair mats serve to protect the floor from ongoing contact with the wheels. Some of the floor mats are configured with projections on a bottom side of the floor mat for engagement with the floor substrate. For example, knobs can be used for retaining the mat in position on a carpet or rug. Other friction inducing projections can be utilized for maintaining the rug in place on a hard surface, such as a wood floor, tile floor, luxury, or vinyl floor. However, these rugs typically do not serve to restrain the chair wheels from rolling. Thus, if a user awkwardly leans on the chair or reaches for something, the chair can slide out from under the user or otherwise move.
SUMMARY
The purpose of the Summary is to enable the public, and especially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection, the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Summary is neither intended to define the inventive concept(s) of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the inventive concept(s) in any way.
What is disclosed is an improved chair mat for use with wheeled rolling chairs, such as those commonly found in an office. The wheeled office chairs are configured with top surface having a series of features that are configured for restraining rolling movement of the wheels of a chair on the mat. The features are configured with depressions that restrain rolling movement of the chair mat within the features. The features each includes a depression and one or more ridges. The ridges separate the depressions by forming an edge or lip of the depressions. The depressions have a contour configured to match the circumference of an office chair to restrict rolling movement of a wheel positioned in the depression.
In a preferred embodiment the depressions are oriented as a series of valleys extending along a width of a mat. Each valley is separated from the neighboring valley by a ridge. The valleys preferably extend the full width of the mat, although shorter valleys and ridges can be utilized. Alternatively, the depressions can be formed as a series of bowls. The bowls are preferably positioned in parallel rows. The rows can be alternating in positioning, or staggered, to minimize distance between neighboring bowls.
The bottom or floor surface of the mat can be flat or alternatively comprising a series of projections that provide additional friction with the floor on which the mat is to be positioned. Ridges, knobs, or a variety of other known elements can be utilized to provide this increased friction. The projections can be configured for a hard surface floor, such as wood, linoleum, or tile, or for a soft surface such as carpet.
Still other features and advantages of the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description describing preferred embodiments of the inventive concept(s), simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by carrying out the inventive concept(s). As will be realized, the inventive concept(s) is capable of modification in various obvious respects all without departing from the inventive concept(s). Accordingly, the drawings and description of the preferred embodiments are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive in nature
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a first embodiment of a floor mat configured to prevent accidental movement of a wheeled chair.
FIG. 2 illustrates a side view of a base of a chair having a wheel extending there from positioned in a valley of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of the mat of FIGS. 1-2.
FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of the mat of FIGS. 1-3.
FIG. 5 illustrates a top view of a wheeled base of a chair positioned on the mat of FIGS. 1-4.
FIG. 6 illustrates the wheeled base and floor mat of FIG. 5 with several of the wheels positioned in the valleys of the format.
FIG. 7 illustrates a second embodiment of a floor mat configure to restrain accidental rolling of the wheels of a wheeled chair.
FIG. 8 illustrates a partial view of a base of a chair having a wheel and turn it into one of the bowls of the floor mat in FIG. 7.
FIG. 9 illustrates a top view of the floor mat of FIGS. 7 and 8.
FIG. 10 illustrates a side view of the floor mat of FIGS. 7-9.
FIG. 11 illustrates a top view of a wheeled chair base positioned on the floor mat of FIGS. 7-10.
FIG. 12 illustrates the wheeled chair base and floor mat of FIGS. 7-11 with the wheels of the wheeled chair base positioned in bowls of the floor mat restricting rolling of the wheeled chair base.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
While the presently disclosed inventive concept(s) is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof have been shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the inventive concept(s) to the specific form disclosed, but, on the contrary, the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the inventive concept(s) as defined in the claims.
FIGS. 1-6 illustrate a first embodiment of a chair mat configured to retain the wheels of a wheeled chair in features on a top surface of the mat. The mat 2 has a top surface 5 and a bottom surface 7. The top surface 5 has a series of valleys 8 and ridges 6 extending along a length of the mat. These valleys and ridges form features that are configured to retain the wheels of an office chair and prevent them from rolling in a direction having a vector perpendicular to the ridges. The depicted valleys and ridges extend a width W of the top surface of the mat. The valleys are configured with a rounded shape to receive the rounded wheels of a typical wheeled chair, such as an office chair.
FIG. 2 illustrates a wheel 18 of a wheeled chair positioned in a valley between two ridges. The ridges 6 and valley 8 are configured that the valley serves as a depression which retains the wheel in the depression and resists unintentional movement. The ridges provide sufficient restrain on the wheel to prevent the wheel from unintentionally rolling from one valley into the next through small adjustments or movements by the user in the chair. Thus, this retains the wheels in the valley thus restricting movement of the wheels by rolling on the circumference 19 of the wheels. In contrast, if a user intentionally wants to move one or more chair wheels to a different depression, the user applies additional, intentional force to overcome the restraint provided by the depression and ridge(s). Thus the features provide restraint up to a force amount to overcome the features.
FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2. The mat of FIG. 3 is shown in a typical office chair mat shape. The mat has a wider section 50 and a narrower section 52 with the narrower section typically being placed within the recess of an office desk. The depicted valleys 8 and ridges 6 extend perpendicular to a length of the office chair mat. FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of the chair mat of FIGS. 1-3. The depicted mat has knobs or protrusions on the underside 7 or bottom of the mat. The projection 14 are configured for retaining the mat in position on the floor of a room. Such projections can be configured for retaining the mat on carpet and/or hard surfaces such as hardwood, linoleum, or tile flooring.
FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a section view of a chair having roller illustrating a chair base 21 having arms 16 connected to wheels 18. FIG. 5 illustrates the wheels not positioned in the valleys. The circumference of each roller is not positioned within the valley to limit rolling movement of each roller. In FIG. 6, the rollers have been rotated and moved such that several of the rollers are positioned with the circumference of each roller perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of each valley. The orientation of the circumference of the roller relative to each ridge prevents the roller from unintentionally rolling out of the valley when a user is seated in the seat. The seat (not shown) is positioned on the stem 19 of the base of the chair.
FIG. 7-12 illustrate a second embodiment of a chair mat having features configured for retaining the rollers of an office chair. FIGS. 7-12 illustrate a series of bowls 36 positioned between a top surface 34 of the mat 30. Each of the bowls is formed as a depression in the surface of the of the mat. each depression is configured to restrict rolling movement of the circumference of the roller 18. The depression has a contour configured to match the contour of a circumference of rolling wheel of an office chair, as shown in FIG. 8. The projections 14 are illustrated extending beneath the mat in FIG. 8. The underside 38 of the mat could have a variety of other projections or configurations served to retain the mat in position on a floor or surface.
FIG. 9 illustrates a typical office chair mat having a series of bowls for restricting rolling movement of the roller wheels of an office chair. In the depicted embodiment the bowls are shown in staggered rows longitudinally and horizontally.
FIG. 10 illustrates a side view of the embodiment of FIGS. 7-9. The orientation of the bowls illustrates that the depression of the bowl is separated from the ridge. The ridge prevents the roller from rolling between bowls when a user is seated in the chair. The weight of the user on the chair provides force the restricts the circumference of each of the rollers within a bowl.
FIG. 11 illustrates the mat of FIGS. 7-10 with a base of an office chair positioned on the mat. The rollers of the base of the office chair are not positioned within a bowl and can be rolled into bowls. For example, a user can apply force sufficient to overcome the restraint of the bowl(s), causing each wheel to roll up and out of each bowl, to the position shown in FIG. 11.
FIG. 12 illustrates the base of the chair restrained from unintentional movement by the rollers being positioned in a plurality of the bowls.
While certain preferred embodiments are shown in the figures and described in this disclosure, it is to be distinctly understood that the presently disclosed inventive concept(s) is not limited thereto but may be variously embodied to practice within the scope of the following claims. From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the following claims.
Patent Application
20240032716
