Claims
- 1. A tile system comprising a plurality of tiles having adhesive and non-stick material on the backs thereof, said adhesive being provided for adhering said tiles to a surface, being non-releaseably applied to said backs and having release properties as to surface other than those covered with adhesive, said adhesive and said non-stick material being arranged on said backs such that two of said plurality of tiles may be placed in back-to-back contact so that the adhesive on one tile will contact the non-stick material on the other tile and vice versa, whereby said two tiles in back-to-back contact may be readily separated from one another.
- 2. A tile system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said tiles are carpet tiles.
- 3. A tile system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said carpet tiles have secondary backings such as any one of woven polypropylene, non-woven polypropylene and polyester.
- 4. A tile system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said carpet tiles have resin backings such as any one of polyvinyl chloride, ethylene vinyl acetate, polyurethane, ethylene propylene diene monomer compound, ashpalt, vinyl acetate ethylene, SBR latex, atactic polypropylene, and other crystalline or amorphous synthetic resins.
- 5. A tile system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said tiles are any one of cork, ceramic and linoleum.
- 6. A tile system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said non-stick material is a non-adhesive wetting material and can comprise any one of silicone cross linked materials, fluorocarbons, waxes, metallic stearates and resins.
- 7. A packaging system comprising:
- a plurality of pairs of tiles each pair having a first tile having a first pattern of adhesive and non-stick material and a second tile having a second pattern of adhesive and non-stick material, said first and second patterns being selected to allow adhesive areas of said first tile to contact non-stick material areas of said second tile and to allow non-stick material areas of said first tile to contact adhesive areas of said second tile, when adhesive and non-stick material sides of said first and second tiles face each other; and
- container means for holding said plurality of pairs of tiles.
- 8. A packaging system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said adhesive comprises hot melt adhesive.
- 9. A packaging system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said first and second patterns of adhesive and non-stick material comprise a plurality of square shaped portions of adhesive and non-stick material cured onto said first and second tiles.
- 10. A packaging system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said tiles are carpet tiles.
- 11. A tile system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said carpet tiles have secondary backings such as any one of woven polypropylene, non-woven polypropylene and polyester.
- 12. A tile system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said carpet tiles have resin backings such as any one of polyvinyl chloride, ethylene vinyl acetate, polyurethane, ethylene propylene diene monomer compound, asphalt, vinyl acetate ethylene, SBR latex, atactic polypropylene, and other crystalline or amorphous synthetic resins.
- 13. A tile system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said tiles are any one of cork, ceramic and linoleum.
- 14. A packaging system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said non-stick material is a non-adhesive wetting material and can comprise any one of silicone cross linked materials, fluorocarbons, waxes, metallic stearates and resins.
- 15. A packaging system comprising:
- a first group of tiles having adhesive portions and non-stick material portions applied to a surface in a first predetermined pattern;
- a second group of tiles having adhesive portions and non-stick material portions applied to a surface in a second predetermined pattern, so that when adhesive and non-stick material sides of tiles from said first group face adhesive and non-stick material sides of tiles from said second group, thereby forming pairs of tiles, said adhesive portions are prevented from contacting each other; and
- container means for holding said paris of tiles.
- 16. A packaging system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said adhesive portions comprise hot melt adhesive.
- 17. A packaging system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said first and second predetermined patterns of adhesive portions comprise a plurality of square shaped adhesive and non-stick material portions cured onto said first and second groups of tiles.
- 18. A packaging system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said tiles are carpet tiles.
- 19. A tile system as claimed in claim 18, wherein said carpet tiles have secondary backings such as any one of woven polypropylene, non-woven polypropylene and polyester.
- 20. A tile system as claimed in claim 18, wherein said carpet tiles have resin backings such as any one of polyvinyl chloride, ethylene vinyl acetate, polyurethane, ethylene propylene diene monomer compound, asphalt, vinyl acetate ethylene, SBR latex, atactic polypropylene, and other crystalline or amorphous synthetic resins.
- 21. A tile system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said tiles are any one of cork, ceramic and linoleum.
- 22. A packaging system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said non-stick material is a non-adhesive wetting material and can comprise any one of silicone cross linked materials, fluorocarbons, waxes, metallic stearates and resins.
- 23. A method of packaging a plurality of tiles comprising:
- applying pressure sensitive adhesive and non-stick material to the bottom surface of a first group of said plurality of tiles in a first predetermined pattern;
- applying pressure sensitive adhesive and non-stick material to the bottom surface of a second group of said plurality of tiles in a first predetermined pattern;
- forming a plurality of paired tiles wherein each pair comprises one tile from said first group and one tile from said second group arranged so that their bottom surfaces contact, wherein said pressure sensitive adhesives of said first and second predetermined patterns do not contact each other and said non-stick materials of said first and second predetermined patterns do not contact each other; and placing said paired tiles into a container.
- 24. A method as claimed in claim 23, wherein an aqueous adhesive is applied in said adhesive applying steps.
- 25. A method as claimed in claim 23, wherein a solvent based adhesive is applied in said adhesive applying steps.
- 26. A method as claimed in claim 23, wherein a hot melt adhesive is applied in said adhesive applying steps.
- 27. A method as claimed in claim 23, wherein said adhesive comprises a double-faced tape.
- 28. A method as claimed in claim 23, wherein a non-adhesive wetting material comprising any one of silicone cross linked materials, fluorocarbons, waxes, metallic stearates and resins is applied in said non-stick material applying steps.
- 29. A tile system comprising a plurality of tiles having adhesive on the backs thereof arranged in a single specific pattern, said adhesive being provided for adhering said tiles to a surface, being non-releaseably applied to said backs and having release properties as to surfaces other than those covered with adhesive, said adhesive being arranged on said backs such that two of said plurality of tiles may be placed in back-to-back contact so that the adhesive on one tile will not contact the adhesive on the other tile and vice versa, whereby said two tiles in back-to-back contact may be readily separated from one another.
- 30. A tile system as claimed in claim 29 wherein non-stick material is applied to those portions of the tiles which do not receive adhesive.
- 31. An apparatus for applying adhesive to the backs of carpet tiles, said apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of adhesive guns for applying adhesive to the backs of the carpet tiles;
- means for supplying adhesive to said plurality of adhesive guns; and
- control means connected to said supplying means and to said plurality of adhesive guns for applying adhesive to the backs of carpet tiles in any of a plurality of predetermined patterns.
- 32. An apparatus as in claim 31, further comprising a movable conveyor belt for conveying carpet tiles beneath said plurality of adhesive guns.
- 33. An apparatus as in claim 32 further comprising cooling means for cooling the carpet tiles after said plurality of adhesive guns has applied adhesive.
- 34. An apparatus as in claim 32 further comprising cleaning means for cleaning the carpet tiles before said movable conveyor belt conveys the carpet tiles to said plurality of adhesive guns.
- 35. An apparatus as in claim 31, said control means being provided for lowering said plurality of adhesive guns when adhesive is being applied to the carpet tiles and for raising said plurality of adhesive guns at all other times.
- 36. An apparatus as in claim 31, said supplying means maintaining said adhesive at 300.degree. Farenheit.
- 37. An apparatus for applying adhesive and non-stick material to the backs of carpet tiles, said apparatus comprising:
- a first plurality of adhesive guns for applying adhesive to the backs of carpet tiles;
- a second plurality of guns for applying non-stick material to the backs of carpet tiles;
- means for supplying adhesive to said first plurality of adhesive guns and for supplying non-stick material to said second plurality of guns; and
- control means connected to said supplying means and to said first and second pluralities for applying adhesive and non-stick material to the backs of carpet tiles in any one of a plurality of predetermined patterns.
- 38. An apparatus as in claim 37, further comprising a movable conveyor belt for conveying carpet tiles beneath said pluralities of guns.
- 39. An apparatus as in claim 38 further comprising cooling means for cooling the carpet tiles after said pluralities of guns have applied adhesive and non-stick material.
- 40. An apparatus as in claim 38 further comprising cleaning means for cleaning the carpet tiles to said pluralities of guns.
- 41. An apparatus as in claim 37, said control means being provided for lowering said first plurality of adhesive guns when adhesive is being applied to the carpet tiles and for raising said plurality of adhesive guns at all other times.
- 42. An apparatus as in claim 37, said supplying means maintaining said adhesive at 300.degree. Farenheit.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present application is a continuation in-part (CIP) of application Ser. No. 837,352 filed on Mar. 7, 1986 which was a continuation in-part (CIP) of application Ser. No. 712,035, filed Mar. 15, 1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,210.
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for packaging tiles. More specifically, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for packaging carpet tiles of the self-sticking type, which have a pressure release adhesive applied to one surface.
There are two types of carpet tiles currently available. A first type requires that a self-release adhesive be applied to the floor on which the carpet tile is to be placed. There are several disadvantages in using this type of carpet tiles, including the need to apply expensive adhesive over the entire floor and difficulty in installing tiles on such a surface. A second disadvantage is that when the tiles are removed the glue which remains on the floor is both difficult and costly to remove in order to return the floor to its original surface.
Accordingly, the second type of carpet tile, which is commonly known as a self-sticking tile, uses a pressure self-release adhesive cured onto the back of the carpet tile. Such carpet tiles having the self-release adhesive are advantageous over the first type of carpet tiles in that less adhesive is required, installation is facillitated and when the carpet tiles are removed there is no messy and costly clean up necessary in order to return the floor to its original surface.
Ayotte, U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,563 proposes to package felt substrates having an adhesive applied to one surface of the substrate. Each felt substrate, with an applied adhesive, is separated from another such felt substrate, with an applied adhesive, by a release paper. The release paper is necessary to prevent the adhesive surface of one felt substrate from contacting the finished or exposed felt surface of another felt substrate. The proposed Ayotte packaging is disadvantageous, in that it is costly to provide the release paper during the manufacturing process and the release paper also presents problems of paper disposal during the time of installation of the carpet tiles.
This invention provides a carpet tile packaging apparatus and method for self-sticking carpet tiles which is an improvement over the prior art packaging methods and systems in that it obviates the above-described disadvantages of the prior art. The pressure self-release adhesive, in the present invention, is applied to the bottom surface of the carpet tiles in one of two predetermined geometrical patterns. The two predetermined geometrical patterns are complementary so that when two tiles with pressure self-release adhesives are placed back to back, the adhesive from one tile will not contact the adhesive from the other tile.
As is well known to those skilled in the art, pressure self-release adhesive can be applied to carpet tiles in several ways. In one way, an aqueous or solvent adhesive is used and upon application to the carpet tile the adhesive is cured to the back of the tile by driving out the water or solvent by a conventionally known process. A second way of applying pressure self-release adhesive to carpet tiles results in a hot melt process, in which the adhesive is applied hot so that it forms a permanent bond with the carpet tile substrate and upon cooling becomes a release adhesive to anything that it contacts.
Furthermore, the invention can also use a double faced tape in place of the pressure self-release adhesive.
One example of the present invention would be the application of pressure self-release adhesives at the outer most corners of one group of carpet tiles. A second group of carpet tiles would have adhesive placed at locations away from the four outer most corners of the carpet tiles, for example, on the outer edges of the tile intermediately located between adjacent corners. Thus, when the carpet tiles are placed back to back the adhesive from one tile would not contact the adhesive from the other tile. Furthermore, because the adhesive has been applied in such a manner that it is cured when applied to its receptor carpet tile, the adhesive is firmly bonded to the carpet tile with a significantly higher bonding strength than the bond which the exposed surface of the adhesive will form with another surface such as the back of another carpet tile or a floor.
Another example of the present invention would be the application of a special adhesive pattern to all carpet tiles such that when one carpet tile is rotated relative to a second carpet tile, the adhesive portions of the two respective tiles will not contact each other when the tiles are placed back-to-back.
When double faced tape is used in place of a pressure self-release adhesive, one side of the double faced tape has superior bonding characteristics as compared to the other side of the double faced tape which is to contact the floor.
Thus, by placing the carpet tiles of the present invention back to back so that their respective adhesive portions do not make contact, the carpet tiles can be packaged without the use of release paper.
In another embodiment, those areas of carpet tile back which do not receive adhesive are treated with non-stick material. More particularly, a non-adhesive wetting material is used which, for example, can be silicone crossed linked materials, fluorocarbons, waxes, metallic stearates or resins. The non-adhesive wetting material can be sprayed or printed on to the carpet tiles and will need to be dried or cured. The latter is needed with materials which must cross link to be effective. This alternative increases flexibility in pressure self-release adhesive selection so that highly aggressive types can be used which might otherwise have too much adhesion to an untreated tile backing surface.
Adhesive can be applied to the tiles by a plurality of hot melt adhesive guns, which can be controlled in a predetermined manner to apply the adhesive in any desired pattern. The guns would preferably be of the slot die type and would be capable of applying a thin film of adhesive onto the tile surface. Alternatively a screen type printer could be used to apply the adhesive.
Accordingly, the present invention provides the following advantages over the prior art carpet tiles. First, the use of a self-stick tile without the need for release paper saves considerable cost during manufacturing and also obviates any problems of paper disposal for the carpet tile installer. Secondly, because it is not necessary to apply a coat of adhesive to the floor, substantial savings in time of application, time of curing, the labor of application and more difficult tile installation and the cost of the adhesive, result. And finally, when the carpet tiles of the present invention are removed from the floor, since the glue is on the tiles and not on the floor, messy and costly clean ups in order to return the floor to its original surface are avoided.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Continuation in Parts (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
837352 |
Mar 1986 |
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| Parent |
712035 |
Mar 1985 |
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Patent Grant
4680209
