Vehicle floor mat

Details Vehicle floor mat Vehicle floor mat

1999-06-15

2001-05-29

Thomas, Alexander S. (Department: 1772)

Stock material or miscellaneous articles

Pile or nap type surface or component

Particular backing structure or composition

C428S099000, C428S120000, C024S442000, C024S446000, C024S449000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06238765

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to vehicle floor mats, and more particularly to vehicle floor mats which releasably attach to carpeted floor boards of a vehicle.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
It is often desirable to protect factory installed carpeting in a vehicle, and particularly carpeted floor boards from wear and tear, with floor mats. Such floor mats typically have an upper surface covered with a carpet material.
A familiar and long-standing problem associated with the use of such floor mats is that the floor mats have a tendency to move or shift (e.g., due to the action of the driver's feet on the floor mat during normal use and operation of a vehicle) and interfere with the operation of the brake and/or accelerator pedals.
Numerous attempts have been made to address the problem of movement of a floor mat relative to the carpeted floor board. One attempt is to provide fasteners or retainers which extend through holes in the floor mat, the carpet overlaying the floor board, and/or the floor board to attach the floor mat to the carpeted floor board. While suitable for maintaining the floor mat in a fixed position relative to the floor board, a drawback with the use of such fasteners is that the floor mat is not easily and quickly removed, cleaned, and reinstalled.
Another attempt is to provide disks or strips of VELCRO® brand (i.e., hook and loop-type) fasteners, for example, a first disk or strip having mechanically interlocking members (e.g., loops) secured to the back of the floor mat and a second disk or strip having mechanically interlocking members (e.g., hooks) secured to the carpeted floor board in registration with the first disk or strip. Drawbacks with this attempt are that only a small portion, e.g., the corners, of the bottom of the floor mat is secured to the carpeted floor board, and the floor mat must be properly aligned relative to the floor board for the portions of the VELCRO® brand fasteners to fully engage each other.
It has also been proposed to just attach, e.g., adhesively attach, strips of the hook portion of the VELCRO® brand fastener to the back or bottom of the floor mat for use on carpeted floor boards having loop-pile fibers so that the hooks engage the loop-pile fibers of the carpeted floor board to hold the floor mat in place. A drawback with this approach is that the hooks of the VELCRO® brand fastener are formed from a rigid material which damages the carpeted floor board when the floor mat is removed, i.e., the hooks pull the loop-pile fibers of the carpet material and cause the fibers to break and extend above the remaining intact loop-pile fibers. Furthermore, in manufacturing such a floor mat, separate operations or steps are required to adhesively attach each of the plurality of strips to the back of the floor mat.
Still another attempt is to provide an anti-skid foam backing to the floor mat to increase the resistance to motion between the floor mat and the carpeted floor board.
Still yet another attempt is to provide downwardly-depending conical or frustoconical projections or nibs extending from the bottom surface of the floor mat. A related attempt also includes providing a separate retainer member, which is positionable between the bottom surface of a floor mat and the top surface of the carpeted floor board, and includes upwardly-extending nibs for engaging the bottom of the floor mat and downwardly-depending nibs which engage the top surface of the carpeted floor board.
A floor mat with a plurality of nibs is typically molded using a first die having a plurality of apertures therethrough and a second die which provides a backing to the first die to form a flat lowermost bottom surface of the nibs. In production of floor mats having nibs, a heat formable/curable moldable material is forced into the apertures to form the nibs. The pressure used to force the moldable material is selected so that the moldable material is forced into the apertures while avoiding the occurrence of flashing, i.e., a fin or excess material along the mold joint line between the mating faces of the first and second dies. In addition, reliefs have been provided along the surface of the second die, some of which may extend below some of the apertures, to allow air to escape when forming the nibs. In producing finished floor mats having nibs, flashing and/or excess material entering the reliefs while infrequently occurring is unwanted and intentionally avoided to produce floor mats having cleanly formed nibs.
While floor mats having a foam backing or nibs increase the resistance to sideways motion and readily allow the floor mat to be removed for cleaning (e.g., providing no resistance to the nibs being vertically lifted from the carpeted floor board), such floor mats over time still move or shift during normal use and operation of a vehicle.
Therefore, there is a need for a floor mat which releasably attaches to a loop-pile carpeted floor board to inhibit movement of a floor mat relative to the carpeted floor board and which can be readily repeatedly removed for cleaning thereof while not damaging the underlying carpeted floor board.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above-mentioned drawbacks are overcome by the present invention which provides a vehicle floor mat releasably attachable to loop-pile fibers of a carpeted floor board in which the floor mat includes a generally planar member having a plurality of integrally formed, spaced-apart, downwardly-depending, carpet-engaging members interlockably engageable with the loop-pile fibers of the carpeted floor board.
In one aspect of the present invention, the plurality of carpet-engaging members is desirably configured and fabricated from an elastic material so that the plurality of carpet-engaging members are disengeable from the loop-pile fibers of the carpeted floor board generally without breaking the loop-pile fibers of the carpeted floor board. For example, the generally planar member and integrally formed carpet-engaging members may comprise a rubber-like material, a thermoplastic elastomer, or a thermoplastic olefin elastomer.
In another aspect of the present invention, the planar member includes a bottom surface and the plurality of carpet-engaging members extend from and are distributed generally evenly spaced-apart over substantially the entire area of the bottom surface. Each of the plurality of carpet-engaging members may include a downwardly-depending projection having one or more outwardly-extending elongated portions. Desirably, the planar member has a top surface and a carpet material attached thereto.
In another aspect of the present invention, the planar member further comprises a plurality of integrally formed, spaced-apart, downwardly-depending nibs. Desirably, the ratio of carpet-engaging members to nibs is between about one to about four carpet-engaging members per every ten nibs.
In still another aspect of the present invention, a mold is provided for forming a vehicle floor mat having a plurality of integrally formed, spaced-apart, downwardly-depending, carpet-engaging members interlockably engageable with loop-pile fibers of a carpeted floor board. The mold includes a first die having a first surface and a second surface, and a plurality of spaced-apart apertures extending through the die from the first surface to the second surface. A second die has an outer surface positionable adjacent to the second surface. At least one of the second surface of the first die and the outer surface of the second die comprises at least one groove extending from and opening onto each of the plurality of apertures of the first die.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for forming a vehicle floor mat having a plurality of integrally formed, spaced-apart, downwardly-depending, carpet-engaging members interlockably engageable with loop-pile fibers of a carpeted floor board. The method includes the steps of providing a mold as noted above, providing a moldable elastomeric or rubber-like material, heating and contacting the moldable material to the first surface o

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