Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Structurally defined web or sheet – Including fastener for attaching to external surface
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-08
2001-09-25
Ahmad, Nasser (Department: 1772)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Structurally defined web or sheet
Including fastener for attaching to external surface
C005S417000, C005S495000, C005S496000, C005S497000, C015S215000, C015S216000, C015S217000, C428S068000, C428S095000, C428S102000, C428S192000, CD12S203000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06294240
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of car floor mats and more particularly to protective covers for car floor mats.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Pairs of flexible, waterproof floor mats are designed and fabricated by car manufacturers for each model of car. Car floor mats are intended to protect the floor carpeting of the vehicle from staining, discoloration, or adhering materials such as tar, oil, gum, and various foods. The floor mat itself, however, is commonly contaminated with material that is unsightly and cannot be completely removed such as gum, oil, or tar, or with substances that create odors that cannot be totally eliminated, such as those made by spilled substances or pets, so that the interior of the car becomes unsightly or unpleasant. In such a case, the user of the vehicle often prefers to discard such a contaminated mat. Car manufacturers usually offer replacement mats custom made for designated models, often in pairs. The cost, although not high, is yet not inexpensive. Non-custom made vehicle floor mats are available, but these mats also can be somewhat costly.
Conventional car floor mats vary in configuration in accordance with vehicle models, but it can be said that all car floor mats are somewhat irregular in configuration. Also, custom mats have variously dimensioned outer edges that fit around variously positioned vehicle mechanisms. These edges can be rectangular or curvilinear in configuration.
Replaceable covers for floor mats in general are known in the art. One such cover is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,663,980, issued May 23, 1972 to Conklin. This patent discloses a soft fabric cover that encloses the top side of a door mat and also removably secured to the underside of the mat by a hook fabric fastener strip engaged by a strip of matted fabric attached to the underside of the door mat.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One object of both the invention designated application Ser. No. 08/879435 and the present continuation-in-part application is to provide an easily removable, cleanable, and reusable protective cover for a floor mat of a motor vehicle.
An object of the invention designated application Ser. No. 08/879435 is to provide a protective cover for a motor vehicle conventional floor mat comprising a removable fabric protectively enclosing the top side of the mat. An elastic strip integral with the inner rim of the cover removably engages the cover to the underside of the floor mat. The conventional floor mat has a mat irregular peripheral edge and the cover edge is custom fitted to the mat irregular peripheral edge. An elastic strip unitary with the cover inner rim allows the cover to be disengaged from the floor mat by stretching the elastic strip to a biased mode. The cover is preferably made of an uncut pile fabric such as terry cloth. A waterproofing layer is preferably attached to the interior surface of the cover.
Another object of both the invention designated application Ser. No. 08/879435 and the present continuation-in-part application is to provide a protective cover for a standard vehicle floor mat that can be easily secured to the floor mat and easily disengaged from the floor mat and thereupon washed and then easily remounted to the floor mat.
Yet another object of the invention designated application Ser. No. 08/879435 and the present continuation-in-part application is to provide a custom fit cover for a conventional floor mat of a vehicle that conforms to the peripheral configuration of the floor mat and that can be engaged to the floor mat and easily removed and cleaned and resecured to the floor mat.
An object of the present continuation-in-part invention is to provide a protective cover for a motor vehicle conventional floor mat that is made of a flexible protective material made is such a way that the basic shape of the cover is retained during use and tends to return to a basic configuration even when somewhat deformed during hard use.
Another object, of the present continuation-in-part invention is to provide a protective cover for a motor vehicle conventional floor mat that covers the entire top surface area of the floor mat and in addition a sufficient area of the underside of the floor mat so as to reliably retain the protective cover in its hold on the floor mat and yet leave uncovered a sufficient area of the downwardly facing non-skid configuration surface of the floor mat that its bottom side retains its non-skid grip relative to the floor board area of the motor vehicle.
Another object of the present continuation-in-part invention is to provide a protective cover for a motor vehicle conventional floor mat that is made of a material that is easily removable from the floor mat and washable in a conventional member.
Another object of the present continuation-in-part invention is to provide a protective cover for a motor vehicle conventional floor mat that is made of a protective material that blends in with the basic fabric used on the floors of motor vehicles.
Another object of the present continuation-in-part invention is to provide a protective cover for a motor vehicle convention floor mat that is easily removable from and mountable to the floor mat yet retains a snug position relative to the protective floor mat even during hard usage.
Another object of the present continuation-in-part invention is to provide a protective cover for a motor vehicle that is unitary in final configuration yet is inexpensive to manufacture.
Another object of the present continuation-in-part invention is to provide a protective cover for a standard vehicle floor mat that can be easily secured to the floor mat and easily disengaged from the floor mat and thereupon washed and then easily remounted to the floor mat.
Yet another object of the present continuation-in-part invention is to provide a custom fit cover for a conventional floor mat of a vehicle that conforms to the peripheral configuration of the floor mat and that can be engaged to the floor mat and easily removed and cleaned and reengaged to the floor mat.
In the course with these and other objects that will become apparent in the course of this disclosure, there is provided in application Ser. No. 08/879435 a protective cover for a motor vehicle conventional floor mat comprising a removable fabric protectively enclosing the top side of the mat. An elastic strip integral with the inner rim of the cover removably engages the cover to the underside of the floor mat. The conventional floor mat has a mat irregular peripheral edge and the cover edge is custom fitted to the mat irregular peripheral edge. An elastic strip unitary with the cover inner rim allows the cover to be disengaged from the floor mat by stretching the elastic strip to a biased mode. The cover is preferably made of an uncut pile fabric such as terry cloth. A waterproofing layer is preferably attached to the interior surface of the cover.
There is also provided for the present continuation-in-part application a protective cover for a motor vehicle conventional floor mat comprising a removable fabric protectively enclosing the top side of the mat. The conventional floor mat has a floor mat irregular peripheral edge and the cover edge is custom fitted to the floor mat irregular peripheral edge. A cover shape-retaining element integral with the cover side edge keeps the conforming relationship of the cover side edge with the irregular peripheral edge of the floor mat. An biasable elastic strip unitary with the cover inner rim allows the cover to be disengaged from the floor mat by stretching the elastic strip to a biased mode. The cover is made of a polyester pile fabric that generally matches the fabric used in motor vehicles. The interior surface of the cover is waterproof.
The following domestic patents were cited in the parent application of the present application: U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,768 issued to Wiley, III on Oct. 25, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,817 issued to Timperley on May 31, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,753 on Aug. 17, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,468 issued to Taylor on Jul. 2, 1991; U.S. P
Ahmad Nasser
Lackenbach Siegel Marzullo Aronson & Greenspan
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