Scrim-reinforced cushion mat for carpet tiles
AssigneeJohns Manville
InventorsHeath H Himstedt, Souvik Nandi, Katelyn Grace Horn, Philip Christopher Sharpe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A carpet tile includes a textile top member and a cushion mat that is coupled with the textile top member via a thermoplastic material. The textile top member includes carpet yarns and a backing that is coupled with the carpet yarns so that the backing structurally supports the carpet yarns. The cushion mat includes a polymeric material component having polymer fibers that are randomly oriented and entangled together and a scrim reinforcement that is disposed within the polymeric material component. The scrim reinforcement reinforces and stabilizes the polymeric material component and is entirely covered and concealed by the intermeshed polymer fibers.
Claims20
A method of manufacturing a carpet tile comprising:
- providing a cushion mat comprising:
- a polymeric material component comprising a first portion of polymer fibers that are randomly oriented and that are entangled together and a second portion of polymer fibers that are randomly oriented and entangled together;
- and
- a scrim reinforcement that is disposed within the polymeric material component to mechanically reinforce and stabilize the polymeric material component, the scrim reinforcement being disposed within the polymeric material component so that the scrim reinforcement is positioned between and separates the first portion of polymer fibers from the second portion of polymer fibers and is entirely covered and concealed by the entangled polymer fibers of the first portion of fibers and second portion of fibers to prevent exposure of the scrim reinforcement to a user;
- and
- coupling the cushion mat to a textile top member of the carpet tile via an adhesive material, the textile top member comprising:
- carpet yarns;
- and
- a backing coupled with the carpet yarns;
- wherein the adhesive material penetrates into the first portion of polymer fibers of the polymeric material component to couple the cushion mat to the textile top member of the carpet tile;
- and
- wherein the scrim reinforcement is configured to control penetration of the adhesive material so that the adhesive material does not penetrate into the second portion of polymer fibers.
A method of manufacturing a carpet tile comprising:
- providing a cushion mat comprising:
- a first portion of polymer fibers that are randomly oriented and that are entangled together;
- a second portion of polymer fibers that are randomly oriented and entangled together;
- and
- a scrim reinforcement that is positioned between and separates the first portion of polymer fibers from the second portion of polymer fibers so that the scrim reinforcement is entirely covered and concealed by the entangled polymer fibers of the first portion of fibers and second portion of fibers to prevent exposure of the scrim reinforcement to a user, the scrim reinforcement being configured to mechanically reinforce and stabilize the polymeric material component and carpet tile;
- and
- coupling the cushion mat to a textile top member of the carpet tile via a thermoplastic material, the textile top member comprising:
- carpet yarns;
- and
- a backing coupled with the carpet yarns;
- wherein the thermoplastic material penetrates into the first portion of polymer fibers to couple the cushion mat to the textile top member of the carpet tile;
- and
- wherein the scrim reinforcement is configured to control penetration of the thermoplastic material so that the thermoplastic material does not penetrate into the second portion of polymer fibers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.