US20080295267A1

US20080295267A1 - Door mat with dirt-removing and water-absorbing features

Info

Publication number: US20080295267A1
Application number: US11/806,092
Authority: US
Inventors: Hui Li Wang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-05-30
Filing date: 2007-05-30
Publication date: 2008-12-04

Abstract

A door mat with the dirt-removing and water-absorbing features includes several stripes of dirt-removing layers and water-absorbing layers disposed alternately on the surface of a bottom pad, thereby forming a stepping surface. Therefore, the invention can effectively remove dirt and absorb water on the bottom of shoes.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a door mat with dirt-removing and water-absorbing features. Its surface is formed with dirt-removing and water-absorbing layers disposed alternately. Therefore, dirt/sands and water on the bottom of shoes or feet can be removed by the dirt-removing layers and the water-absorbing layers, respectively, as the user steps on the mat.
2. Related Art
In the prior art, the door mat that can remove dirt/sands underneath shoes or feet consists of closely disposed PVC rings. However, it does not absorb water at all. The door mat that can absorb water is made of an entire sheet of water-absorbing material. However, it does not remove dirt/sands at all.
FIG. 6 shows an existing door mat that has both water-absorbing and dirt-removing features simultaneously. It includes several aluminum frame bars 81. A connecting element 82 is inserted between each two adjacent frame bars 81 to form the door mat 8. The top surface of every other frame bar 81 is embedded with a dirt-removing stripe 83. The top of each of the rest frame bars 81 is embedded with a water-absorbing stripe 84.
This kind of assembled door mat has the following drawbacks:
a) The frame bars 81 are too thick. They can easily trip people when the mat is placed at a door, an entrance, or simply on the ground. Therefore, it is necessary to dig a hole to accommodate the mat so that its surface and the ground surface are even.
b) The assembly of such a mat is complicated. The cost is much higher.
c) The frame bars have to be removed before the mat can be cleaned.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, an objective of the invention is to provide a door mat to solve the above-mentioned problems. Its surface has several alternately disposed dirt-removing layers and water-absorbing layers.
The door mat according to the invention includes:
a plurality of long-stripe dirt-removing layers for removing dirt; and
a plurality of long-stripe water-absorbing layers for absorbing water;
wherein the long-stripe dirt-removing layers and the long-stripe water-absorbing layers are combined on a bottom pad to form the stepping surface, and these two types of layers are disposed alternately.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below illustration only, and thus is not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top view of the disclosed door mat;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the components of the disclose door mat;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the disclosed door mat;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the door mat in the second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the door mat in the third embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the structure of a conventional door mat.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same references relate to the same elements.
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the disclosed door mat with the dirt-removing and water-absorbing features. It is intended to serve as an example of the invention, and should not be used to restrict the scope of the invention.
The disclosed door mat 1 includes: several long-stripe dirt-removing layers 11 and several long-stripe water-absorbing layers 12. The dirt-removing layers 11 are plastic pads with a needle-like surface and made of coconut fibers or brushes by injection molding or are composed of closely disposed PVC rings. The dirt-removing layers 11 and the water-absorbing layers 12 are disposed alternately on a bottom pad 13 to form a stepping surface.
The combination of the dirt-removing layers 11 and the water-absorbing layers 12 to the bottom pad 13 can be achieved by:
(1) gluing them onto the bottom pad;
(2) by disposing them on a thermal plastic substrate, heating and melting the substrate, and solidating the substrate into a bottom pad that combines the dirt-removing layers 11 and the water-absorbing layers 12.
Since the raw material of the dirt-removing layers and water-absorbing layers are in sheets, they can be cut into required long stripes. If the closely disposed PVC rings are used to make the dirt-removing layers, they are cut using a metal knife and high-frequency heating principle to squeeze the PVC rings and form cutting grooves. This avoids broken rings at the cutting cross sections. A stripe of appropriate width is thus formed between each two adjacent cutting grooves. Since the PVC rings at the cutting groove are melted together, each long stripe of dirt-removing layer has a smooth boundary.
The disclosed door mat has dirt-removing layers and water-absorbing layers disposed alternately. Therefore, when the user steps on the mat, the dirt-removing layer and the water-absorbing layers can remove dirt/sands and absorb water at the bottom of shoes or feet, respectively.
In comparison with the prior art, the disclosed door mat has the following advantages:
a) The thickness of the disclosed door mat is thinner and suitable for normal ground.
b) The disclosed door mat is easier and cheaper to manufacture.
c) the dirt-removing layers and the water-absorbing layers can have different colors to make the door mat more beautiful.
d) the disclosed door mat is as soft as normal wool door mat, so that it can be easily cleaned.
According to a second embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 4, the dirt-removing layer 11 a is made of brushes and cab achieve the same effects as in the previous embodiment.
FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the invention. The dirt-removing layer is a plastic pad with a needle-like surface formed by injection molding.
Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover all modifications that fall within the true scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A door mat with dirt-removing and water-absorbing features, comprising:

a plurality of long-stripe dirt-removing layers for removing dirt;

a plurality of long-stripe water-absorbing layers for absorbing water;

wherein the dirt-removing layers and the water-absorbing layers are disposed alternately on a bottom pad to form a stepping surface.

2. The door mat of claim 1, wherein the dirt-removing layer consists of closely disposed PVC rings.

3. The door mat of claim 2, wherein a metal knife squeezes the PVC rings using high-frequency heating principle to thermally form cutting grooves, with a long stripe with a smooth boundary and of desired width formed between each two consecutive cutting grooves.

4. The door mat of claim 1, wherein the dirt-removing layer consists of coconut fibers.

5. The door mat of claim 1, wherein the dirt-removing layer consists of a plastic pad with a needle-like surface.

6. The door mat of claim 1, wherein the dirt-removing layer consists of brushes.

7. The door mat of claim 1, wherein the dirt-removing and water-absorbing layers are glued onto the bottom pad.

8. The door mat of claim 1, wherein the long-stripe dirt-removing layers and the long-stripe water-absorbing layers are first disposed on a thermal plastic substrate, followed by heating the melting the substrate and solidating it to form a bottom pad, thereby combining the dirt-removing and water-absorbing layers.