Door mat

[57] ABSTRACT

A door mat includes a base member of a relatively heavy gage plastic, and a soft fabric panel for wiping shoes and boots. The fabric panel is replaceable, and is releasably bonded to the base member by strips of hooked fabric. The hooked fabric may engage a complementary strip of matted fabric; or alternatively, the fabric panel may be of a tufted or matted fabric which will bond directly to the hooked fabric.

Claim, 5 Drawing Figures

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Patented May 23, 1972

3,663,980

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Fig-2

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ATTORNEY

3,663,980

DOORMAT

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to door mats; and more particularly to door mats having replaceable panels of fabric toweling or other material which may be laundered or otherwise cleaned.

Door mats are usually placed at the entry ways to buildings for persons to wipe their shoes or boots prior to proceeding into the buildings from the outside. In times of fair weather, and when walkways are bare and dry, the door mats may be hardly used. However, during times of inclement weather and when the walkways are covered with snow or the like, the door mats may be used frequently and may quickly accumulate quantities of dirt and moisture to decrease their usefulness or effectiveness.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved door mat having an easily replaceable panel of a soft fabric or other material for wiping shoes and boots thereon; and more particularly, it is an object to provide an improved means for releasably holding the panel for ease of replacement thereof.

Another object is to provide an improved structure for a door mat wherein a relatively heavy plastic base structure is at least partially covered by a panel of replaceable soft fabric material such as a tufted terry cloth; and more especially, it is an object to provide hooked fabric strips for releasably securing the soft fabric panel to the base member to permit easy and rapid replacement of the fabric panel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, a door mat comprises a heavy plastic base member and an inexpensive soft absorbant fabric which overlies the base member forming a panel thereon. Strips of hooked fabric which are commercially available under a trade name of “Velcro” are attached to the under sides of opposite edges of the base member, and the soft fabric of the panel may be placed across the base member and wrapped or curled under the edges to be releasably secured to the strips of hooked fabric. If a more positive bond is desired between the base member and the panel, a complementary strip of matted fabric may be so used together with the hooked fabric. One type of strips may be attached to the base member, and the complementary strips may be attached to the soft fabric forming the panel.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The various features and advantages of the door mat of this invention will become apparent upon a consideration of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing showing an exemplary embodiment of this invention. The views of the drawings are as follows:

FIG. 1 is a top or plan view of the door mat of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view looking along the plane 2—2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 2, but showing a modification thereof; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view looking downwardly upon the door mat which has been inverted for removal of the replaceable soft fabric panel.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As shown in the drawing, the door mat of this invention comprises a base member 11 and a panel of soft fabric 12. The base member 11 is preferably formed as a heavy gage plastic sheet which may be molded into a generally flat rectangular section. Both the top and bottom surfaces may be textured to provide a non-skid and non-slip features such that the door mat will not skid upon the underlying floor surface; and such that persons stepping upon the exposed parts thereof will have no tendency to slip.

The panel 12 may be made from a terry cloth or similar inexpensive material that is absorbant of moisture and that can be easily laundered or otherwise cleaned. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the soft fabric 12 is wrapped around opposite edges of the base member 11, and is secured below the edges of the base member.

Strips of a hooked fabric 13 are attached along the under sides of the opposite edges of the base member 11. This hooked fabric, commercially available under a tradename of “Velcro” are fabricated with a multitude of resilient plastic hooks which extend outwardly from a fabric backing material. Complementary strips of a matted material also available under the tradename Velcro. When the Velcro strips of hooked fabric are pressed against the matted material, the individual hooks penetrate into the matting and become secured therein. When pressed together the strips of hooked fabric form a superficial or releasable bond with the matted material. To separate the hooked fabric from the matted material, the parts are peeled back and pulled away from each other. The plastic hooks, being resilient, will straighten under the stress of pulling apart and then, after the separation, the hooks will return to their original configuration. While the Velcro strips may be easily separated when pulled directly apart, these strips will have a considerably greater holding power when stressed in shear. Thus it has been observed that the holding power of a hooked fabric strip is substantially increased when the hooked fabric is pulled laterally across the matted fabric rather than directly away therefrom.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the strips of hooked fabric 13 may directly engage and hold to the soft fabric material of the panel 12. In this case the hooks of the Velcro penetrate into and become secured to the soft woven cloth or to the tufted surface of a terry cloth or like fabric. FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of this invention wherein the strips of hooked fabric 13 will engage mating strips of matted fabric 14. Both of the complementary strips 13 and 14 are commercially sold under the name Velcro. It will be appreciated that the complementary strips 13 and 14 could easily be interchanged, such that the hooked fabric strip 13 could be attached to the soft toweling material 12, and the matted fabric strips 14 could be attached to the base member 13.

As shown in FIGS. 2,3, and 4 soft fabric of toweling material is wrapped around the edges of the base member 11, and is secured to the hooked fabric strips 13 on the under sides thereof. The base member 11 will tend to bridge across between the opposite edges, since the added thickness of the hooked fabric strips 13 and the edges of the toweling material 12, will somewhat elevate the edges of the base member 11. In practice, the base member will flex downwardly in the center to receive support from the underlying floor. However, a substantial downward force will be applied to compress the releasable bond of the Velcro strips and to hold the soft fabric toweling material firmly in place. These compressive forces upon the bonding strips will be increased when a person stands upon the door mat in a position to wipe his shoes or boots. It will also be noted that in normal usage, the soft fabric material will tend to pull around the edges of the base member to place sheer forces upon the bonding area of the Velcro strips 13. As indicated above, the sheer forces must be very great to separate the bonding of the strips 13.

When it is desired to remove a fabric panel 12 for laundering or other cleaning, the door mat may be inverted as shown in FIG. 5; and then the edges of the soft fabric 12 may be lifted as indicated to release the superficial bond of the Velcro strips. After removal of a wet or soiled panel of toweling 12, a new panel may be installed positioning the toweling material on the base member 11, tucking the ends of the toweling around the base member, and gently pressing the toweling upon the hooked fabric or Velcro strips 13.

This invention provides a door mat that is economical to make and maintain with a toweling panel 12 that can be easily and quickly replaced when it becomes wet and dirty. The means for securing the toweling panel is simple and economi3,663,980 cal. The panel will remain properly in place while being used since the hooked fabric strips will be greatly resistive to the sheer forces created by normal use. On the other hand, the panel can be easily removed by peeling back the toweling or matted fabric material and pulling the Velcro bond apart by forces perpendicular thereto.