JP2003516874A - Carpet tile having cutout portion, method and apparatus for manufacturing the same, and installation method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) SUMMARY A carpet having a carpet tile (11) and a removable cutout (13) defined by discontinuous slits (19) and held in place by bridges (14). A tile cutting device (20) for manufacturing a tile. The apparatus includes a peripheral cutting assembly (50) and a retractable inner cutting assembly (40). The perimeter cutting assembly is used to cut the carpet tile, while the inner cutting assembly forms a discontinuous slit inside the carpet. The inner cutting assembly can be engaged or disengaged from the carpet during the carpet tile cutting process. The carpet tiles are installed by cutting the bridge and placing the border (12) on the floor with different cutouts fitted into the border to create a visually interesting floor covering. .

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to carpet tiles, and more particularly to carpet tiles having removable cutouts, and cutter assemblies for producing carpet tiles having removable cutouts. And a method for installing carpet tiles having removable cutouts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Carpet tiles are typically manufactured by making a long web of tile material and then cutting it from the web into square tiles. Identical tiles placed side by side provide a nice looking but sometimes mediocre carpet floor surface. As a result, great efforts have been made to produce patterned tiles with altered properties due to pile, color, and other aesthetic reasons. Occasionally, dissimilar tiles were placed on a checkerboard or other pattern, and sometimes dissimilar tiles were cut out and recombined. This is, for example,
Multi-segment carpet tiles and methods and apparatus for making such tiles "are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,562.

Such prior art efforts have been very limited or have been described in US Pat.
, 342, 562 is quite labor intensive and expensive to implement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a carpet tile cutting assembly, a carpet tile and a method of installing the carpet tile. Carpet tile cutting assembly
A carpet tile is manufactured having discontinuous slits that form a removable cutout of the desired shape, eg, square. The cutting assembly includes two sets of knives, one for cutting each tile and one for cutting the discontinuous slits that define the cutout. The cutouts are held in place by the bridge material formed by the slit breaks. The molded cutouts can be removed during installation by cutting the bridge material at the slit interruptions, and the cutouts can be interchanged with each other or form a pattern of floor coverings. As described above, it can be rotated by a half turn or a half turn at a predetermined position.

It is a main object of the present invention to provide a carpet tile cutting device for manufacturing carpet tiles having attached but removable cutouts. It is a further object of the invention to cost effectively manufacture carpet tiles having removable cutouts. Another object of the present invention is to produce a carpet tile having interchangeable cutouts that are attached but easily removable. Yet another object of the present invention is to manufacture carpet tiles with removable cut-outs that can be manufactured and shipped without adding any indefinite cost to the manufacturing costs of conventional tiles. is there. A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for installing carpet tiles having removable cutouts to form patterned floor coverings. A further object of the present invention is to manufacture a carpet tile having a detachable cutout portion, which can be installed without removing the cutout portion. Further objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 shows a layout 8 of stamped carpet tiles 10 and 11, with tiles 10 and 11 inside interchangeable cutouts (punched). ) Part 13 and 15. The tiles 10 and 11 of the layout 8 are two types of tiles. For example, tile 10 may have a tall pile and tile 11 may have a lower pile. Alternatively, tiles 10 and 11 may be of different colors. Tiles 10 and 11 are arranged in an alternating pattern.
The tiles 10 and 11 each have a central portion 13 defined by a cut line 19.
Manufactured with 15 and 15, the cut line is of a substantially closed shape, eg square. The gap in the cut line 19 leaves a bridge 14 that attaches the cutouts 13 and 15 to the borders 12 and 16, respectively. The interchangeable cutouts 13 and 15 can be removed from the respective borders 12 and 16 by cutting the bridge 14 at the carpet installation site, for example with a utility knife. Cutout part 1
3 and 15 are removed from their respective borders 12 and 16 and replaced, and fitted inside the respective borders 16 and 12 to form a pattern. The pattern can be formed by changing various properties of the tile, such as carpet color, pile height, naps, cutout orientation, or any other aesthetic element throughout the carpet tile.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of carpet tiles 10 and 11 having cutouts 13 that are replaced or rotated. Each cutout 13 and 15 is a tile 10
Or it is removed from 11 and arranged on different border portions 16 and 12, respectively. The carpet tiles 10 and 11 can be manufactured and shipped with the cutout portions fixed in place by the bridges 14. The installer may cut the bridge 14 with a utility knife during installation, remove the cutouts 13 and 15 and exchange these cutouts between the tiles 10 and 11, or simply within the tile borders 12 and 16. The tiles form a pattern. Alternatively, the tiles 10 and 11 can be installed without removing the cutouts.

Conventional carpet tiles are typically cut from a web of tile material with a reciprocating blade assembly feeding the group of tiles from the web with the web retracted. The reciprocating blade assembly then provides another group of tiles. The tiles 10 and 11 of the present invention with the centrally located cutouts 13 and 15 can be manufactured by adding to the conventional knife assembly a set of knives to form the central cutout. . Such a knife for the cutout can be fixed relative to the tile perimeter knife so that the cutline 19 of the cutout is always formed. Alternatively, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4A and 4B, the cut-out forming knife can be withdrawn for selective use.

FIG. 3 illustrates, by way of example, a tile cutting device with a low pile height web 6.
Although shown operating on zero, the cutting device 20 can be used with all types of webs. FIG. 3 illustrates a tile cutting apparatus 20 that can be used to separate carpet tiles 10 and 11 from web carpet tile material 60 having the “machine direction” indicated by arrow 61 in FIG. The tile cutting device 20 is connected to the fixed beam 22 by a punching die assembly press cylinder 24. The punching die assembly press cylinder 24, which may be an air or hydraulically actuated cylinder, allows an electromechanical or other actuator to be lowered to engage the assembly with the web 60 and the web 60 to be advanced. It may be used to raise. Thus, the tile cutting device 20 moves vertically with respect to the fixed beam 22 and the web 60 of tile material. The tile cutting apparatus 20 includes a fixed knife 55, the knife 55
Cylinder 24 engages web 60 whenever it is operated to cut the web of tile material along separation line 18 (shown in FIG. 3) to provide tile 11. The schematically illustrated cutting device 20 includes a retractable inner cutting assembly 40 that provides a cut line 19. The retractable inner cutting assemblies 40 each include a knife 45 and a foot assembly 46 that can form the cutout portion 13 at the same time the tile 11 is cut by the fixed knife 55. The retractable inner cutting assembly 40 can be operated between the operative and retracted positions by the air cylinder 27, or other means including manual movement.

The inner cutting assembly 40 differs from the outer cutting assembly 50 in that
Move relative to the carpet tile cutting device 20 and the outer cutting assembly 50. This up and down movement allows the inner cutting assembly 40 to be moved between an engaged position and a disengaged position. This is a carpet tile 11
Are advantageous because they can be manufactured with or without the cutouts 13 attached, depending on the location of the inner cutting assembly 40.

Alternatively, the knife 45 can be fixed to the knife 55 so that the cut line 19 is always formed at the same time the tile is cut from the web 60. To produce the carpet tile 11, a web 60 of tile material is fed under the tile cutting device 20. Once the web 60 is in place, the tile cutting apparatus 20 moves downward to engage the web 60.
When the inner cutting assembly 40 is in the lower operating position, the inner cutting assembly 40 also engages the web 60 to form a discontinuous cut line 19, defining cutouts 13 and bridges 14. It will be. With the inner cutting assembly 40 in the raised, disengaged position, the conventional carpet tile 11 would be formed without the cutouts 13.

4A and 4B show one cutting assembly 30 with the outer cutting assembly 50 and the inner cutting assembly 40 disengaged, respectively.
And the engaged state. The inner cutting assembly 40 includes the die plate 4
4 includes a plurality of blades 45 attached thereto. A knife 45 is attached to the foot 43 at the end of the arm 41 attached to the cylinder 27. Cylinder 2
7 moves the knife 45 downwards to engage the web 60 as shown in FIG. 4B and moves the knife 45 upwards as shown in FIG. 4A to engage the web 60. Remove from the list. A foot plate 46 attached to the die plate 44 by a rod 48 and a spring 47 exerts pressure on the web 60 and causes the knife 45
Facilitates clean, precisely positioned cuts when cutting the web 60. The gap 42 between the blades 45 leaves the bridge 14 at the cut line 19.

The outer cutting assembly 50 includes blades 55 attached to a peripheral die plate 54 in an arrangement that forms the perimeter of the carpet tile 11. The foot plate 51 attached to the rod 53 is pressed against the web 60 by a spring 56 to exert pressure on the web 60 as the blade 55 cuts the carpet tile 11, thereby providing a clean and accurately positioned cut. To facilitate. A peripheral die plate 54 is attached to the post 52. The struts 52 are transverse perimeter die frames 28
(Fig. 1). Posts 52 secure the peripheral die 50 to the tile cutting apparatus 20.

Since the tiles 10 and 11 can be manufactured with the cutout portions 13 and 15 attached by the same operation as the operation of cutting the tiles 10 and 11 from the web 60, the carpet having the cutout portions 13 and 15 is manufactured. Tile 10
The production of 11 and 11 requires no additional costs other than equipment costs, does not require additional manufacturing steps and time, and does not require additional processing as the cutouts remain attached. Carpet tiles 10 and 11 are cut-out section 1
It can be manufactured and shipped with 3 and 15 attached, thus providing installation flexibility. The installer can place the carpet tiles 10 and 11 as shipped during installation, or cutouts 13 and 15
Can be removed, for example, by disconnecting the bridge 14 with a utility knife or other cutter. Once the cutouts 13 are removed, the installer can swap or rotate the cutouts 13 and 15 between the installed borders 12 and 16 to create the pattern. Many aesthetic features can be used to form the pattern for carpet tile layout 8 (FIG. 1).
For example, the cutouts 13 and 15 can be formed in many shapes including circles, squares, triangles and any other shape. Further, the pile height and nap can be varied to create a patterned pattern. Further, the color of the carpet can be changed to form a color pattern. Any combination of the above examples or other attributes of the carpet tile can be combined to form a multicolor, polymorphic fabric pattern.

The above description provides techniques and apparatus for the manufacture of carpet tiles having removable cutouts, as well as methods for installing these tiles in a patterned fashion. Are provided for the purpose of illustration, explanation and description. Modifications and adaptations to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art and may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

[Brief description of drawings]

[Figure 1]   FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary carpet tile installation of the present invention.

[Fig. 2]   2 is a schematic view of a cross section of the carpet taken along line 2-2 of FIG.

[Figure 3]   FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the composite cutter assembly of the present invention.

4A is a front view of a portion of the cutter assembly shown in FIG. 3 with the insert cutter and spring-loaded foot assembly in a raised and disengaged position;
FIG. 4B shows the insert cutter and foot assembly of the front view of FIG.
FIG. 6 is a view in a lower engagement position for forming a cutout when the tile periphery is cut.

[Procedure for Amendment] Submission for translation of Article 34 Amendment of Patent Cooperation Treaty

[Submission date] December 13, 2001 (2001.12.13)

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be amended] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Contents of correction]

[Claims]

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Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A carpet cutting assembly including a peripheral knife for cutting a carpet tile from a web of tile material and an inner knife for slitting a slit in the carpet tile. 2. The assembly of claim 1, further including a plurality of inner knives. 3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the plurality of inner knives form a shape defined by discrete slits. 4. The assembly of claim 3, wherein the shape is square. 5. The inner knife can be selectively engaged to cut the carpet tile material at the same time as the perimeter knife, or disengaged to not cut the carpet tile material. 1. The assembly according to 1. 6. A carpet tile having slits defining a cutout having a shape. 7. The carpet tile of claim 6, wherein the slits are discontinuous, leaving at least one connection between the cutout portion of the tile and another portion. 8. The carpet tile of claim 6, wherein the shape is square. 9. A method of installing carpet tiles on a floor of an installation site, comprising providing at least first and second carpet tiles each including a cutout portion and a border portion, and cutting from the first tiles. Removing the out portion, removing the cutout portion from the second tile, and arranging the border portion of the first tile on the floor with the second tile cutout portion within the first border; Arranging a border portion of the second tile on the floor with the first tile cutout portion within the second border. 10. A discontinuous slit, wherein the first carpet tile and the second carpet tile each leave at least one bridge separating the cutout portion of each tile from the border portion and connecting the cutout portion to the border portion. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the method is manufactured and shipped to an installation site, and further comprising cutting the bridge prior to removing the cutout portion of each tile from the tile border. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein each tile has four bridges. 12. The method of claim 10, wherein each cutout is square. 13. A carpet tile installation comprising: a border of a plurality of carpet tiles of at least two types disposed on a floor; and a cutout print of at least two types of carpet tiles,
A carpet tile installation comprising: on the floor, in a border, each cutout shaped object being arranged such that the type of the cutout shaped object is different from the type of the border placed outside thereof. 14. A carpet tile installation, comprising a plurality of similar carpet tile borders having a machine direction, disposed on a floor, and a carpet tile sculpture having a machine direction, on the floor, in a border. A carpet tile installation object including the carpet tile objects arranged such that the machine direction of each carpet object is different from the direction of the borders arranged outside the carpet object.