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.
Claims29
A carpet tile comprising:
- a textile top member including:
- carpet yarns;
- and
- a backing that is coupled with the carpet yarns so that the backing structurally supports the carpet yarns;
- and
- a cushion mat coupled with the textile top member via a thermoplastic material, the cushion mat having a layered configuration comprising:
- a first volume of fibers that are randomly oriented and entangled together;
- a second volume of fibers that are randomly oriented and entangled together;
- a scrim reinforcement that is positioned between the first volume of fibers and the second volume of fibers so that the scrim reinforcement is entirely covered and concealed by the first volume of fibers and the second volume of fibers to prevent the scrim reinforcement from exposure to a user, the scrim reinforcement being configured to mechanically reinforce and stabilize the cushion mat and carpet tile;
- wherein:
- the thermoplastic material penetrates into the first volume of fibers to couple the cushion mat with the textile top member;
- and
- the scrim reinforcement is configured to control penetration of the thermoplastic material so that the thermoplastic material does not penetrate into the second volume of fibers.
A carpet tile comprising:
- a textile top member including:
- carpet yarns;
- and
- a backing that is coupled with the carpet yarns so that the backing structurally supports the carpet yarns;
- and
- a cushion mat coupled with the textile top member via a thermoplastic material, the cushion mat having a layered configuration comprising:
- a scrim reinforcement;
- a first volume of fibers that is positioned above the scrim reinforcement;
- and
- a second volume of fibers that is positioned below the scrim reinforcement so that the second volume of fibers is separated from the first volume of fibers;
- wherein:
- the scrim reinforcement is entirely covered and concealed by the first volume of fibers and the second volume of fibers;
- the thermoplastic material penetrates into the first volume of fibers to couple the cushion mat with the textile top member;
- and
- the cushion mat does not include any binder or adhesive materials below the scrim reinforcement.
A method of manufacturing a carpet tile comprising:
- providing a cushion mat comprising:
- a scrim reinforcement;
- a first volume of fibers that is positioned above the scrim reinforcement;
- and
- a second volume of fibers that is positioned below the scrim reinforcement so that the second volume of fibers is separated from the first volume of fibers and so that the scrim reinforcement is entirely covered and concealed by the first volume of fibers and the second volume of fibers;
- 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 volume of 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 volume of fibers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.