Patent Application
20120027991
The field of the present invention relates generally to a comprehensive and new technology for floor coverings, such as area rugs or floor mats, or other items for containing dirt, water and spills, controlling the contaminants from spilling onto underlying flooring, and not only cleaning the soles of shoes, but also providing a floor mat that is easily cleaned—all to protect the underlying surface. The technology is currently noted as “C3” and also may be the subject of a trademark registration application. In its preferred application, the technology is applied to floor mats for automotive interior applications.
In floor covering applications, an important feature always is the protection of the underlying surface provided by the covering. For automotive floor mats, the carpeted flooring is constantly exposed to dirt, water and other contaminants in addition to every day wear and tear from shoes. Existing floor mats are designed with one or more of those considerations in mind. However, floor mats are continuously being improved with protection of the underlying flooring in mind. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,597,949 B2 issued to Wright, discloses a Surface Protection System Mat for use in protecting floor surfaces from accidental liquid spills. The mat includes a top layer comprising an array of hexagonal-shaped funnels that direct fluid from the top layer to a lower liquid absorbing layer. U.S. Pat. No. 7,211,314 B2, issued to Nevision also discloses a mat having drain holes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,502 B2 issued to Nord, et al. discloses a cushioned rubber floor mat with a raised edge or border and a textured surface.
Other existing designs also have attempted to provide protection of the underlying carpet. However, existing floor mats do not adequately control and contain the debris from the floor mat to protect the underlying surface. Many existing floor mats are a mat having a single raised border with a pattern between. See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. D586, 601, issued to Robbins, III, and U.S. Pat. No. 525,576, issued to Lu. In reality those mats have only a single containment area, or cell, that cell being defined by the border. Thus all the liquid runs to the lowest point in the cell and can spill over onto the underlying flooring. Some existing floor mats have multiple “cells” such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,605,333, issued to Ferreira, et al, in FIG. 3. However, there is no way to control the distribution of a liquid spill in such a mat.
The present invention comprises an improved floor mat designed to improve on the existing limitations of floor mats. The present invention includes features that clean dirt from shoes, as well as contain and control water and debris from spilling onto the underlying flooring. The floor mat includes a substrate having a top portion and a bottom portion. The substrate can be made of any material that is suitable for use as a floor covering such as rubber, PVC, either alone or in combination with carpeting. Preferably, the floor mat of the present invention is made from rubber or other similar flexible, yet durable material that is easily cleaned and resists wear and tear. The top portion of the mat includes a cellular topography. There are at least two cells located on the top portion. However, substantially the entire surface of the mat may contain the cellular topography. Each cell has a containment portion which is essentially an open compartment to catch, control and contain debris and liquid. Each containment portion comprises a base and a wall extending upwardly from the base to create a reservoir to hold contaminants. Adjacent containment portions share a common portion of the wall that extends upwardly from the base.
Each common portion of the wall preferably defines an opening to allow fluid communication between the containment portions. For configurations where numerous containment portions are located on the top portion of the mat, there may be several containment portions adjacent to each other. Each containment portion may share its wall with several other adjacent containment portions. One or more of the common portions of the wall may have an opening to allow fluid communication.
In a preferred embodiment, the opening is a trough. The bottom of the trough is above the base. Because of this configuration, each containment portion can hold a certain amount of debris and liquid. However, if the volume of debris/liquid is too great, the liquid will spill over into the adjacent cells through the opening or trough. Once the liquid has been contained, it ceases to spill over into other containment cells. In addition to being an improvement over existing technology with respect to containment of liquid and debris, the configuration of the openings also allows the soles of the feet and clothing to be kept above the contaminants.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, there are at least two troughs located along the common portion of the wall between two adjacent containment cells. The two troughs define a cleaning rib between them. The cleaning rib contacts the soles of the shoes resting on the mat and provides a cleaning action to remove dirt and other debris. The debris falls into the containment portions and is trapped. Finally, the best mode of the present invention is a configuration of containment portions where at least three areas of the wall of a single containment portion are common walls with other adjacent containment portions. Each common wall includes multiple ribs and troughs to maximize the cleaning of debris and optimize the flow of liquid from one cell to another. In addition to common walls, the containment portions may include other means to distribute debris and liquid to other containment portions. For example, a hub portion between the containment cells, the hub portion also containing openings or troughs, allows fluid communication between six or more containment portions, thus further increasing the ability of the containment portions to distribute and contain liquid and debris.
Other objects, advantages and capabilities of the present invention will become more apparent as the description proceeds, taken in conjunction with accompanying drawings, in which like parts have similar reference numerals.
a is a perspective view of the floor mat shown in
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Each wall 15 preferably defines an opening 17 to allow fluid communication between the containment portions 11. The opening may be circular or can be any shape that can accommodate liquid transfer between cells. For configurations where numerous containment portions 11 are located on the top portion 5 of the mat 3, there may be several containment portions 11 adjacent to each other. Each containment portion 1 may share its wall 15 with several other adjacent containment portions 11. One or more of the common portions 16 of the wall may have an opening 17 to allow fluid communication between the containment portions 11. In this configuration the lowest portion of the opening 17 is located near the base 13.
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The description of the present invention contained herein is intended to be illustrative of the various embodiments but not limiting. The present invention is defined by the scope of the following claims.
