The present invention relates to flexible plastic mats, such as utility mats, vehicle floor mats, and mud guards, and particularly to such mats which bear decorative artwork.
The term mat, as used herein, shall refer to utility mats, door mats, vehicle floor mats and mud guards or mud flaps. Flexible plastic mats, capable of bearing decorative artwork, are conventionally manufactured in an open face pan mold with the mold being provided with multiple cavities (or recesses). During the molding process the cavities are first filled with a suitably colored, e.g., liquid or pelletized (powdered) plastic materials, e.g., PVC plastisol. The plastisol is heated, e.g., by infra red heat, to form a pre-gel and subsequently the rest of the mold is filled with a suitable background liquid or pelletized plastic material such as a black plastisol. The mold is then passed through an oven where the colored pre-gel artwork is fused with the background material. The entire content of the mold is cured and the finished product removed from the mold.
The definition or resolution of the colored artwork created in this prior art process is limited by the size of the cavities since each cavity will accommodate only a single color. Without the presence of ribs separating the cavities, the individual colors would blend resulting in a non-uniform decoration.
Artwork or graphic designs have also been printed directly on the face of a cured mat. While this technique may result in an enhanced definition or resolution of a detailed design, it suffers from the disadvantage that the surface, bearing the design, is susceptible to wear, especially where the mat is subject to abrasion by a user's shoes, as in the case with floor and utility mats.
The inventor is further aware of a two-piece motorcycle handgrip, as shown by the digital photographs attached to the disclosure statement, in which a black inner plastic sleeve bearing a graphic design has been inserted into (but not bonded to) an outer clear plastic sleeve so that the design is visible through the outer sleeve. Some of the design has been transferred to the outer sleeves as is apparent in the cutaway section of the handgrip. It is not believed that this technique would be amenable to the manufacture of a mat.
There is a need for a decorative mat which overcomes the above disadvantages.
A decorative composite mat, in accordance with the present invention, includes a top layer of substantially clear flexible plastic material, such as clear PVC, having a peripheral edge and an inner flexible carrier sheet bonded to the top layer. The carrier sheet bears the desired artwork printed thereon. A bottom layer of flexible plastic material having a peripheral edge coincident with peripheral edge of the top layer is secured to the bottom of the bonded clear plastic layer/carrier sheet to form the composite mat so that the artwork is visible through the clear plastic top layer. Preferably the carrier sheet is integrally molded with the top layer in an injection molding process and the top and bottom layers are secured together via a strip of trim material, such as webbing, which extends over the peripheral edges of the top and bottom layers.
In accordance with the method of manufacturing the above mat, a mold, preferably a two part mold, is provided with a substantially flat back section and a front section so that a cavity is formed between the sections in the closed position. The cavity is sized to conform to the desired periphery and a portion of the depth of the finished mat.
The desired artwork is printed on a carrier sheet which is then placed against the back section of the mold. After the mold is closed a substantially clear thermoplastic material, such as PVC, is injected into the cavity to fuse the material to the carrier sheet forming an integrally molded clear plastic layer/carrier sheet. A flexible plastic backing sheet is then secured to the bottom of the clear plastic layer/carrier sheet preferably via a trim strap extending over the peripheral edges of the top an backing sheets.
The present invention may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings where like components are given the same reference numeral.
Referring now to
A bottom or base sheet 18, made of a suitable flexible plastic material, of any suitable color such as black, is secured to the bottom of the fused top layer/carrier sheet via a piece of narrow trim webbing 20 which extends over the peripheral edges of the top and bottom sheets and is bound thereto via stitching or other suitable means. See
Referring now to
A injection unit 26 injects the clear thermoplastic material into the mold when closed. The path of the injected molten plastic is illustrated by the arrows in
In the manufacturing process the carrier sheet 14 is placed against the flat inner surface 24a of the back section 24 (
The backing layer is then secured to the bottom of the fused top layer/carrier sheet by the trim webbing 20, as is illustrated in
There has thus been described a simple and relatively inexpensive novel composite mat and method of making the same which allows high resolution artwork to be displayed on the surface of the mat while protecting such artwork from the wear typically associated with vehicles floor mats, etc. Various modifications of the invention will undoubtedly occur to those skilled in the art without involving a departure from the spirit and scope of my invention as defined by the appended claims.