Patent Application
20060057328
The present invention relates to a carpet tile having loops substantially across its underside for attachment to a hooked underlayment. The invention also relates to manufacturing a carpet tile, installing the tile, and the installation itself.
Over the past several years, many attempts have been made at incorporating hook and loop (Velcro(™)) technology into floor coverings, particularly carpeting. There are several advantages to the use of such technology. It is environmentally friendly, permitting connection of flooring components in situ without the use of glues that release volatile organics. Hook and loop technology provides a robust connection, but one that is at the same time releasable, presenting advantages during installation and permitting replacement of damaged pieces, etc.
An earlier example of the use of hook and loop technology in the field of carpets is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,658, which issued to Pacione on Apr. 14, 1989. The specification of this patent shows a carpet having loops across its underside for attachment along its edges by means of hooked strips secured to a floor to be covered by the carpet.
A variation of the approach described in the '658 patent specification involves the laying of carpet underpadding between hooked strips, as shown in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,723,195, which issued to Pacione on Mar. 3, 1998.
It has been suggested to fasten by adhesive to a floor a holed hooked anchor tape that generally extends across the underside of an overlaid carpet connected to the tape by loops on its underside. This is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,462, which issued to Pacione on Jan. 17, 1995.
The specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,974, which issued to Pacione on Apr. 17, 2001, describes a carpet having loops across its underside. This carpet includes a backing that incorporates a non-woven layer for dimensional stability.
More recently, use of anchor sheets to cover, more or less, an entire area to be carpeted has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,477, which issued to Pacione on Oct. 23, 2001. Such an anchor sheet is described in a more detailed way in international patent application No. PCT/CA 00/00681, that was published under WO 00/74544 on Dec. 14, 2000, and names Pacione as the inventor. Each of these cases describes a final carpet construction in which multiple carpet pieces are attached across the surface of an underlayment made up of multiple anchor sheets in which carpet pieces are located in part to span joins between neighboring anchor sheets. The present invention relates to such carpet pieces.
By way of further background, carpet tiles of many designs and constructions are already known.
For example, the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,881, which issued to Higgins on Mar. 20, 2001, describes a cushion backed carpet tile. The example set out in the specification describes a carpet having several characteristics typical of carpet tiles currently available commercially. There is a primary carpet layer made up of Nylon 6,6 loop pile continuous filament tufted into a nonwoven polyester backing. The primary carpet layer includes a precoat of SBR latex filled with 10 parts CaCO2. Underlying the primary carpet layer is hot melt layer having laminated thereto a reinforcement layer which is at least partially embedded in a urethane foam layer. There is a final nonwoven backing, a polypropylene-polyester combination, secured to the foam layer.
Other carpet tiles are described in the specifications of the following patents:
The present invention includes a carpet tile having loops across its underside for attachment to an underlying substrate having hooks across its top side. A carpet tile of the present invention is particularly well suited for use in combination with an anchor sheet of the sort described in WO 00/74544.
As described in WO 00/74544, anchor sheets comprised of plastic expand and contract in response to environmental factors such as changes in atmospheric temperature or humidity. The sheets themselves are usually installed with small spaces in between each other. This spacing helps the installation to accommodate atmospheric changes by permitting dimensional adjustment to occur in the sheets. Any covering attached to the anchor sheets should be compatible with the anchor sheet underlayment in the sense that any stresses within the floor covering as a whole introduced by atmospheric changes should lead to a minimum amount of buckling and it should remain intact. Of course, the covering should also be sufficiently strong to mask imperfections of the underlayment, e.g., gaps between adjacent anchor sheets, and be resilient, to maintain its appearance through normal wear and tear, cleaning, etc.
The present invention includes a carpet tile, method of manufacturing the tile, an installation that includes the tile, and other related aspects of these inventions, as described further below.
Related to the invention(s) disclosed herein are invention(s) in the following United States provisional patent applications:
The invention is described below with reference to the attached drawings in which:
Turning to the drawings,
The first layer 12 of the carpet includes a non-woven primary backing 16 into which is needled pile yarn 18. The second layer 14 includes secondary backing 20 to which are attached lower loops 22. The layers are secured to each other by hot-melt adhesive 24.
Primary backing 16 is a non-woven fabric. A non-woven fabric is a flat, flexible, porous sheet structure produced by interlocking layers or networks of fibers, filaments, or film-like filamentary structures, and such fabrics are known in the carpet industry. The fibers, or filaments, can be of natural and/or man-made fibers. Most commonly known are those of polyester, polypropylene, and rayon. The preferred materials here include polyester. Non-woven fibers can be directionally or randomly oriented fibers, bonded by friction, and/or cohesion, and/or adhesion, typically being fastened together by needle felting, thermal bonding, or ultrasonic welding. A particularly preferred material of the present invention is a commercially available product of Colbond Inc., Enka, N.C., U.S.A. sold under the name of Colback (™) Fabric as EZT120. Colback (™) is described by the manufacturer as a spunlaid nonwoven made from bicomponent filaments having a polyester core and a nylon 6 skin. The fabric is thermally bonded and has a weight of 120 g/m2, but is available with unit weight ranging from 30 to about 250 g/m2. Non-woven backings are used as primary carpet backings in the production of carpet tiles.
In the preferred embodiment, pile yarn 18 is tufted into primary backing 16. The yarn may be tufted into the backing by any of a number of conventional methods such as straight stitch, zigzag, etc. In the preferred embodiment, the pile is 1/10 gauge cut pile saxony. The pile has a height of 16.7 mm and weight of about 60 oz per square yard. Typically, the pile is cut by a conventional shearing method. Needling of the yarn through the primary backing leaves the underside of the first layer with tuft bundles of the yarn exposed, which bundles become anchored by the hot-melt adhesive, as described further below.
One preferred secondary layer is a tricot knit supplied by Guilford Mills, Inc. of Greensboro, N.C. The knit has the following characteristics:
Typically, such a tricot knit forms a dense substrate which provides for loops 22 on the underside of the secondary backing 20, which tricot precludes most, if not all, bleeding of hot melt 24 into the loops. Excessive bleeding, of course, is to be avoided as this could interfere with the function of the loops as fasteners.
Alternatively, the secondary backing 20 can be a non-woven plastic material having loops sown into it, as available from Scott & Fyfe Limited of Fife, Scotland. A suitable non-woven spun web polypropylene, 40 g/m2, is used as a secondary backing. A two-ply layer can be used, in which case bleeding of the hot-melt into the loops is less. If a single layer is used, then a barrier film (not illustrated) can be applied to the non-woven material to preclude such bleed through. The loop yarn can be texturized polyethylene terephthalate (167 dTex; melting point of 250° to 260° C.) sewn through a polypropylene layer incorporated to the extent of 48 gm m2 to provide protruding engagement loops for hook and loop attachment. The barrier film can be of polyethylene (melting point 105° to 115° C.) of 30 μm thickness, which amounts to about 27 gm m−2.
First and second layers 12, 14 are attached to each other by hot melt adhesive 24 which also encapsulates tufts 26. One particular adhesive used is an ethylene-vinyl acetate-based adhesive known as XP-025 provided by Barrier-Bac, Inc. of Calhoun, Ga. The adhesive is free of filler, organic and inorganic, and has the following specifications:
In an alternative embodiment, the upper layer is manufactured as indicated above, as is the lower layer, but they are manufactured separately, rather than being attached directly to each other by the hot melt adhesive. In such alternative embodiment, the layers may be attached by additional hot melt, acting as an adhesive, or by anther adhesive compatible with the hot melt on the underside of the primary backing. Of course, such a process can be a completely in-line process if desired.
In the preferred embodiment, the overall weight of the carpet of the present invention is approximately 80 to 100 oz per square yard. It will thus be appreciated that it is possible, according to the invention, to have a carpet, and carpet tile, with a relatively light weight secondary backing. Such a backing lacks a stabilizing layer and, as is explained below, is relatively free of filler. Such a carpet or carpet tile has little or no inherent dimensional stability of its own in relation to externally applied physical forces, such as stretching forces, forces exerted in use by rolling machinery, furniture movement, etc. The carpet relies on the anchor sheet for such physical stability. The carpet can thus be usefully employed in a system where there is 100% attachment of loops 22 across the undersurface by hooks that are part of a stable structure, such as an anchor sheet described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,477 attached to a floor, or the anchor plate described in international patent application No. PCT/CA 00/00681 published under WO 00/74544 on Dec. 14, 2000 and Sep. 20, 2001.
Given the foregoing description, a person skilled in the art is capable of manufacturing the carpet laminate. The carpet laminate would typically be manufactured in an in-line process to form a webbing approximately 12 feet in width. However, any convenient width, e.g. 6, 12, 15 feet, etc., can be used. The carpet may be rolled onto large spools for storage, shipment, etc., as desired.
According to the invention, the carpet laminate can eventually be cut into tiles at some convenient point. This may be immediately after manufacture, but may be later, as for example, after an order for a specific color, shape or size, of tile has been received by a manufacturer.
This can considerably ease inventory management problems. With this carpet, combined with a field of hooks, described below, it is possible to make a tile of any shape and size to order. Even small carpet tiles, e.g., 2″×2″, can be easily incorporated into a carpet installation. The carpet laminate can be cut through the back or the front by, for example, an ultrasonic cutter on a plotting table. The cutter can be controlled by software to make any form of pattern or design. One such cutter is available through Eagle Automation, Inc. of Exton, Pa. (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,787, which issued to Becan et al. on Aug. 13, 2002), or from AXYZ Automation on South Service Road in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Since the carpet has edge integrity, as described below, it can be cut at any point and is immediately usable as a carpet tile, when installed onto a field of hooks. Generally, however, the edge is bevelled, as described below.
It is believed that the laminate carpet of the preferred embodiment has especially desirable characteristics for formation into a carpet tile, not the least of which is that the cutting process described above results in clean edges that are resistant to ravelling and wear. It is believed that the hot-melt adhesive and a relatively low level of filler contributes to this resistance to wear. The preferred embodiment hot-melt adhesive is substantially free of filler (e.g., calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, calcium sulfate, barium sulfate, silica, flyash, clay, bitumen, etc.) which is typically incorporated into the adhesive layer intermediate the primary and secondary backings of a carpet or carpet tiles. Filler, which can conventionally make up up to 75 percent or more of such a carpet adhesive layer, can increase the friability of the adhesive layer, leading to fraying or separation of the bonded layers at the edges. This is especially true over time as the filler is “walked out” of the intermediate layer and the adhesive wears down. The edges of a carpet tile of the present invention, having a clean cut edge, will generally remain intact for the expected lifetime of the tile, without the need for sewing shut of the edge, a sealant or supplemental adhesive to ensure against lack of separation of the primary and secondary backings. While it is often preferred that the adhesive contain no filler, a carpet tile of the present invention can contain filler up to an extent that maintains edge integrity. Any filler will impair edge integrity to some extent, but small amounts can be added depending on the quality of carpet tile that is desired.
A preferred tile of the present invention thus has cut edges that are otherwise unfinished. An “unfinished”edge is one in which steps have not been taken subsequent to the cutting step to maintain the integrity of the interface of the primary and secondary backings along the edge. In other words, the edges of the tile have not subsequently been treated by, for example, serging to preclude delamination of the primary and secondary layers in use. The term, however, does not exclude cosmetic changes, such as bevelling of the pile along the edge of the tile. A wide-width carpet can thus be manufactured according to specifications described above and a tile of the invention cut therefrom (and the pile edges optionally bevelled) which is ready for use without further treatment.
Carpet tiles so obtained can be any shape, and will typically be a regular geometric shape which can be combined with other tiles to fill a floor space. Any suitable dimension or geometric shape, as desired, can be obtained by a person skilled in the art. For example, squares measuring anywhere from 2″×2″ to about 36″×36″ in exterior (plan) dimension can be cut. Regular hexagons or equilateral triangles of the same shape can be combined with each other, but there is no need to use a single shape. For example, octagons in combination with appropriately sized square tiles can be used, or a completely customized group of tiles can be cut.
One carpet tile, typical of the invention is 16″×16″, with cut saxony pile ½″ in height and is bevelled along each of its edges. The interior angle 28 of the bevel is about 30°.
The thickness A is ⅛ of an inch (0.125 inches), and the thickness of the anchor sheet at 34 is 1/16 of an inch (0.0625 inches). The corner of the anchor sheet includes a countersunk area attachment, if desired to other anchor sheets, or to an underlying floor, as described in WO 0/74544. The thickness of the cushion 36 will be either approximately ¼ of an inch or 3/8 of an inch depending on the desired resiliency and amount of surface traffic. Hooks 37 of the top surface layer 38 will have a density that may range from 160-1200 hooks per square inch, with one preferred density of approximately 230 hooks per square inch.
A suitable material for the layer 38 is polypropylene and the cushion 36 is polyethylene, with further details provided in the United States patent application entitled “Improved anchor sheet”.
In one embodiment, the cushion 36 is made from linear low density polyethylene with a density of approximately 30 kg/m3 (about 2.1 lb/ft3).
The anchor sheets 32 may be any size convenient for sale, transportation or installation. If the anchor sheet is square, then typically it is in the range of 12″×12″ to 36″×36″. In a preferred embodiment, anchor sheet 32 is approximately 25″×25″ square. In a second preferred embodiment, anchor sheet 32 is approximately 26″×26″ square.
In a preferred aspect of the invention, edges 40 of pile elements are bevelled. The cutting of the pile in such a tapered fashion is preferably conducted after the cutting step in which the edge of the tile is formed by the cutting of the backing layers. Tapered cutting, or bevelling of pile of carpet pieces is well known in the art. For example, National Carpet Equipment of 6801 Winnetka Avenue North, Minneapolis, Minn. sells a carpet beveller which uses a rotating blade that can bevel the edge of a carpet after cutting.
It is generally possible to obtain cleanly sheared edges, and it is also possible for the face of the carpet to have designs cut into it. It will be appreciated, however, that threads of carpet pile together often have a slight lean to them. It will thus be appreciated that a less than perfect pile cut might be obtained when pile is sheared along an edge where the pile is leaning over the edge (i.e., away from the center area of the carpet). Under these circumstances, a fuzzy edge may be obtained, particularly along the base of the pile. This problem is addressed by trimming the fuzz prior to the bevelling step.
The carpet tile of the present invention can provide advantages over certain previous tiles. A carpet tile of the present invention is obtained directly by cutting the tile from a large web of material. It is possible to cut the tile from such a larger stock piece with the dimensions (i.e., length or width from edge to edge) that it is required to have for installation. In other words, the tile can be installed with such “unfinished” edges, i.e., without treatment of the edge. This means that tiles cut with complementary edges can be installed side-by-side to each other directly onto a hooked underlayment without edge treatment.
In any event, tiles of the present invention that have an unfinished edge can be directly applied to a hooked underlayment make it possible for a consumer to design their own carpet, have the carpet tiles cut according to the design, so that they can be directly installed. The pile along the carpet edges can also be conveniently bevelled, as described above. Because a “semi-permanent” covering installation is obtained with hook and loop technology, individual pieces can be adjusted or replaced without necessarily disturbing adjacent tiles, or the underlayment itself.
One embodiment of the invention is thus a method of designing and manufacturing tiles for a carpet covering. A consumer is provided access to a computer programmed with graphics software capable of generating an on-screen depiction of a carpet covering made up of carpet tiles. The carpet tiles are of cut pile. The covering is made up of different sections, each corresponding to a carpet tile. Each tile can be of a color different from that of its neighboring tile(s), or the tiles can have the edges sheared or bevelled so that neighboring tiles are divided by troughs. Combinations of these types of tiles can be included in the covering. The computer programme permits the user to visualize the carpet covering and to manipulate the depiction of the carpet in order to select a carpet designed according to their own requirements and tastes. Thus, the overall size and shape of the carpet covering can be selected, the size and shape of tiles that make up the covering can be varied, as can be the color of each tile and the shape of the cut pile edge (straight bevel, rounded chamfer, etc.). Once a final carpet covering is selected, its specifications can be electronically stored. The specifications can be used in the manufacture of the tiles, both to make the entire covering or later to make replacement tiles. The stored values are thus fed as needed to the computer of a machine which can cut carpet and shear carpet pile under control of the computer. A stock carpet piece of the selected color for each section of the carpet is fed to the machine and the tile cut to the selected specifications. Computer-controlled laser cutting of upper components (e.g., yarn secured to a backing) for incorporation into a carpet tile is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,562, which issued to Mullinax et al on Jun. 28, 1994.
All of the carpet tiles are thus cut and sheared according to the designer's specifications. These are assembled and shipped to the site for installation. The installation may be done by a professional carpet installer, or possibly, the consumer themselves.
A particular embodiment of the invention is a carpet piece, preferably a carpet tile, and method of manufacture thereof, in which pile visible to the eye when the piece is viewed from above presents more than one color. The upper portion 42 of such a tile is illustrated (not to scale) in
The carpet piece has a cut pile face. The pile is at least two colors. The first color 44 extends to a partial depth “D” below the visible face and the second color 46 is below the first color. The face is partially cut away to visually expose the second color. The printing process can be carried out using any suitable conventional coloring process, for example, using the Chromojet™ jet printer available from Zimmer Maschinebau GesmbH Klagenfurt, Ebentalerstraβe 133, A-9020 Klagenfurt, Austria.
In one such embodiment, a stock piece of carpet having a base color, of tan, for example, is printed with a variety of colors (e.g. rust, terra cotta, brown etc.) which colors are predominantly darker than the base color and penetrate the pile to a partial depth “D” below the visible face and the lighter base color is therebelow. The carpet is cut into tiles of any convenient shape or shapes. The pile along the tile edges are bevelled to expose the color of the lower layer along bevelled pile edges 48. The carpet tiles are mixed with each other in a randomization process, as by addition to a container followed by agitation of the container, or by random packaging on the production line, etc. Tiles are retrieved from the randomized group and sequentially installed onto anchor sheets. The resultant tiles if rectangular, for example, can be laid in a herringbone or brick like pattern to give a brick like terra cotta appearance.
In one embodiment, a stock piece of carpet having a base color (e.g. white, tan, light yellow etc.) is colored on its face with another color. Generally, the base color is lighter than the color on the face, and could even be raw (un-dyed) pile yarn, which can be light grey, for example. When the carpet is cut into pieces and the pile edges 48 bevelled, the lighter base color appears around the edges of the tile creating a grout-like or highlighted appearance. When the tiles are layed side by side, the decorative pattern formed by the abutting tile edges is highlighted by the contrasting colors.
As is required, or otherwise desirable, this description of the invention is addressed to the skilled person, and so the terms used herein are used as they would be understood by such person in the context presented. For the sake of clarity, the following terms have been assigned the specific meanings indicated.
For the purposes of this description and particularly in the claims, the term “comprising” is intended to be taken in an open-ended sense, unless its context would dictate otherwise. A composition comprising a combination of A and B is thus intended, for example, to include a composition made up of A and B, or A, B and C, or A, B, C and D, etc.
A. “carpet tile” is a carpet piece of such weight and dimension that it can be carried about and installed with other carpet tiles by a single person. This is in contrast to rolled goods, the sort of which are installed as part of wall-to-wall installations. A tile is often a simple geometric shape, but can be any desired shape. A “carpet tile” thus generally has a maximum size of 4 square meters, but is more typically on the order of 0.1 to 0.2 square meters in overall area. An example of a tile is one that is 576 square inches, i.e., has the area of a 24″×24″ square tile.
Also, the term “sheared pile” is used herein as would be generally understood by the skilled person. For clarity, however, “sheared” or “cut” pile is made up of fibres that have free (non-looped) upper ends, as result from cutting of loops tufted into a carpet backing.
Pile “height” is the distance between the upper end or tip of the pile and the top surface of the primary backing to which the pile is secured, again as is understood in the carpet industry.
A “stabilizing layer” is a layer of relatively rigid material that is commonly present in conventional carpet tiles. Typically, a stabilizing layer is a layer of fiberglass embedded in a plastic, often PVC, layer. A stabilizing layer is included as part of a carpet tile to impart dimensional stability to the tile as explained in the patent literature. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,881, which issued Mar. 20, 2001 to Higgins, U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,784, which issued Sep. 20, 1994 to Lampert, U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,999, which issued Apr. 10, 1990 to Tillotson, U.S. Pat. Reissue No. 34,951, which issued May 23, 1995 to Slosberg et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,232, which issued Oct. 12, 1999 to Vinod.
All documents mentioned in this description are incorporated herein by reference as though their entire contents were reproduced herein. Further, Applicant reserves the right to incorporate any part of any document mentioned herein into this specification for at least as long as the application is pending.
The scope of protection sought for any invention described herein is defined by the claims which follow. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a variety of possible combinations and subcombinations of the various elements described herein exist, and all of these combinations and subcombinations should be considered to be within the inventor's contemplation though not explicitly enumerated here. This is also true of the variety of aspects of the processes and the combinations and subcombinations of elements thereof.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CA04/00119 | 1/29/2004 | WO | 9/30/2005 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60443576 | Jan 2003 | US |
