US3836420A

US3836420A - Safety applique

Info

Publication number: US3836420A
Application number: US00280781A
Authority: US
Inventors: M Freese
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-08-15
Filing date: 1972-08-15
Publication date: 1974-09-17
Anticipated expiration: 1991-09-17

Abstract

A decorative safety tread applique for use on the floor surfaces of bathtubs, showers and the like. The applique is provided with a slip-preventing upper surface and has at least one laterally extending row of indicia-shaped openings therethrough arranged so as to be engageable by the feet of the user to further preclude accidental slipping. For purposes of advertising, the indiciashaped openings may be arranged to form the name of a business or the like. The floor of the bathtub or shower which is visible through the indicia-shaped openings provides a permanent, highly attractive and eye-catching background.

Description

United States atent [191 Freese 1 SAFETY APPLIQUE [76] Inventor: Martin P. Freese, 3833 Ingraham St., San Diego, Calif. 92109 [22] Filed: Aug. 15, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 280,781

[52] US. Cl. 161/19, 4/185 F, D6/209 [51] Int. Cl A0ln 1/00 [58] Field of Search 161/19, 167, 406 T, 138, 161/247; D6/209; 4/185 F [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,375,177 2/1942 Reese 161/406 T 3,030,251 4/1962 LaBore et a1. 161/167 3,031,324 4/1962 Jankowski l6l/406T 3,633,221 l/1972 Addison 161/247 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Gallagher Foster House Holiday Gifts (1970-1971), p. 52.

[ Sept. 17, 1974 Primary Examiner-William E. Schulz Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Whann & McManigal [5 7 ABSTRACT A decorative safety tread applique for use on the floor surfaces of bathtubs, showers and the like. The applique is provided with a slip-preventing upper surface and has at least one laterally extending row of indiciashaped openings therethrough arranged so as to be engageable by the feet of the user to further preclude accidental slipping. For purposes of advertising, the indicia-shaped openings may be arranged to form the name of a business or the like. The floor of the bathtub or shower which is visible through the indiciashaped openings provides a permanent, highly attractive and eye-catching background.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures SAFETY APPLIQUE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to decorative, slippreventing safety appliques and more particularly to safety appliques adapted to be applied to the floors of bathtubs, showers and the like.

2. Discussion of the Prior Art Various types of decorative appliques for use in bathtubs and showers have been developed and are commercially available. These appliques generally rely on some type of corrugated upper surface to provide traction and thereby prevent slipping by the user of the tub or shower.

The novel applique of my invention, while providing a slip-preventing corrugated or roughened upper surface, also provides a secondary slip-preventing means in the form of laterally disposed rows of openings extending through the applique. These openings are arranged so as to be contacted by the feet of the user of the tub or shower and are constructed so as to define a plurality of irregularly-shaped right angle edge portions at the surface of the applique which tend to grip the soles of the feet of the user in a manner as to provide excellent traction.

By forming the openings in the applique so that they extend completely through it, when the applique is in position the floor of the tub or shower provides a permanent and attractive background for the openings. When the openings are configured in the shape of indicia such as letters or numbers, the applique may also serve as a novel and attractive advertising medium. For example, when the indicia-shaped openings are in the form of letters arranged to spell out a business name or the like, the floor of the tub or shower highlights the name and makes it immediately noticeable by the user of the tub or shower.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide a novel slippreventing safety tread applique for use in combination with the floor of a bathtub or shower in which the upper surface of the applique is corrugated to prevent slipping and in which secondary slip-preventing means are provided in the form ofa plurality of indicia-shaped openings extending through the applique.

It is another object of the invention to provide a safety applique of the type described in the preceding paragraph in which the indicia-shaped openings are arranged in rows extending laterally of the applique so as to define a plurality of edge portions engageable by the feet of the user of the tub or shower so as to provide superior traction and prevent accidental slipping.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a safety applique of the aforementioned character in which the indicia are arranged to form the name of a business or the like and in which the applique is affixed to the floor of a bathtub or shower so that the floor forms a permanent background for the indicia-shaped openings.

It is another object of the invention to provide a safety applique as described in the previous paragraph in which the indicia are formed by die cutting and in which the cut-out portions may be affixed to the floor of the bathtub or shower to form an ornamental design or to form letters and numbers for advertising purposes.

It is another object of my invention to provide a safety applique in which particulate material is impregnated within the body of the applique granules ofwhich protrude above the plane of the upper surface of the applique so that the granules in cooperation with the edge portions of the indicia-shaped openings form a highly efficient slip-resistant surface.

These and other objects of my invention are achieved by a safety tread applique for use in combination with the floor of a bathtub or shower which comprises at least one layer of sheet material having a slip-resistant upper surface and a plurality of indicia-shaped openings therethrough and a coating of water-resistant adhesive material deposited on the lower surface of the sheet material for bonding the sheet material to the floor of the tub or shower so that the applique is held securely in place thereon with the floor being visible through the indicia-shaped openings formed in the applique.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of one form of the applique of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing the applique as it appears when affixed to the floor of a bathtub or shower;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of another form of applique of my invention having particulate material impregnated in the body of the applique; and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 44 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, one form of slip-preventing safety tread applique of my invention, generally designated by the numeral 10, can be seen to comprise a layer of sheet material 12 having a plurality of indicia-shaped openings 14 extending therethrough. The upwardly protruding face 16 of the sheet material is provided with a slip-resistant surface shown here as comprising a plurality of corrugations 18 (FIG. 2) formed in the upper surface of the material. A coating of water-resistant adhesive material identified by the numeral 20 and of a type commercially available and well known in the art is deposited on the lower surface of the sheet material. The adhesive functions to bond the sheet material to the floor 22 of a bathtub, shower or the like so that the sheet material is securely held in place thereon with the floor being visible through the openings in the material.

I have found various materials to be satisfactory for use in constructing the applique of my invention but have obtained best results using a yieldable but durable soft rubber or plastic material such as vinyl plastic. For safety reasons it is desirable that the applique be constructed so as to have a width greater than one-half the width of the bottom of a standard size bathtub. Also to provide maximum traction to prevent slipping, the indicia-shaped openings should be of a sufficient size and should be arranged in laterally extending rows at least one of which rows of indicia extends substantially across the lateral width of the sheet material so that at least a portion of one indicia-shaped opening is contacted by each foot of the user of the bathtub or shower when standing therein. When more than one applique is to be used in the tub or shower, smaller appliques can, of course, be used and arranged to substantially extend across the width of the tub or shower.

As best seen in FIG. 2, the indicia-shaped openings 14 formed in the layer of sheet material have edge walls 24 disposed in a substantially perpendicular relationship with the plane of the upper surface of the sheet material so as to form a plurality of irregularly-shaped indicia edge portions 26 for engagement by the feet of the user of the tub or shower. These edge portions tend to grip the soles of the feet of the user, thereby providing excellent traction and preventing accidental slipping.

The appliques of my invention can, of course, be constructed in a wide variety of shapes and various indiciashaped openings formed therethrough. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the indicia may take the form of letters and numbers arranged to form a business name and telephone number. When the applique is in position within the tub or shower, the floor thereof is visible through the openings and provides a permanent, highly attractive and eye-catching background for the name of the company. In this way the applique not only functions as a novel safety device but provides a unique advertising medium as well.

In FIGS. 3 and 4 there is shown another form of safety applique of my invention comprising a layer of sheet material which is impregnated with particulate material 32, portions of the granules of which extend above the plane of the upper surface of the sheet material so as to present a roughened surface to prevent slipping. This embodiment of the invention also includes a plurality of indicia-shaped openings 34 extending therethrough. These openings are arranged in laterally extending rows, have vertically disposed side walls 36, and serve the same purposes and are of the same general construction as those discussed in the previously described embodiment.

Sheet material 30 may be a soft rubber or plastic material susceptible of being impregnated with particulate material such as fine sand, sawdust, ground walnut shells or various types of light reflecting and phosphorescent chemical compounds in particulate form. For decorative as well as safety purposes I have found the use of both light reflecting and phosphorescent material quite satisfactory and attractive. The light reflection or phosphorescence of the granules of material protrudingiabove the surface of the sheet material creates a most unusual and novel effect'in conjunction with the background for the indicia-shaped openings formed by the floor of the tub or shower.

A water-resistant adhesive 38 of a type well known in the prior art is used to affix the applique to the floor 40 of the tub or shower. As in the case of the previously described embodiment, the applique should be of sufficient width to provide a base upon which the user of the tub or shower may stand, or alternately several smaller appliques should be used. At least one row of the indicia-shaped openings should extend substantially across the sheet material so as to provide a plurality of irregularly-shaped upper indicia wall edges to grip the feet of the user to provide traction and prevent slipping.

I claim: I

1. In combination with the floor of a bathtub a slippreventing safety tread applique comprising:

a. a layer of material having a plurality of indiciashaped openings extending therethrough, said'indicia-shaped openings being arranged in laterally extending rows at least one of which rows of indicia extends substantially across said layer of material so that at least one indicia-shaped opening is contacted by each foot of the user of the bathtub when standing therein and in which said indicia-shaped openings have edge walls disposed in a substantially perpendicular relationship with the plane of the upper surface of said layer of material so as to form a plurality of indicia edge portions for engagement by the feet of the user of the bathtub to prevent slipping, said material being provided with a slip-resistant upper surface; and

b. adhesive material deposited on the lower surface of said layer of material, said adhesive material being adapted to bond said material to the floor of the bathtub so that the material is securely held in place thereon with the floor being visible through the openings therethrough.

2. A safety tread applique as defined in claim 1 in which said material has a plurality of corrugations formed on the upper surface thereof for further preventing slipping by the user of the bathtub.

3. A safety tread applique as defined in claim 1 in which said material is impregnated with a particulate material, portions of the granules of which extend above the plane of the upper surface of said sheet material so as to present a roughened surface for further preventing slipping by the user of the bathtub.

Claims

1. In combination with the floor of a bathtub a slip-preventing safety tread applique comprising: a. a layer of material having a plurality of indicia-shaped openings extending therethrough, said indicia-shaped openings being arranged in laterally extending rows at least one of which rows of indicia extends substantially across said layer of material so that at least one indicia-shaped opening is contacted by each foot of the user of the bathtub when standing therein and in which said indicia-shaped openings have edge walls disposed in a substantially perpendicular relationship with the plane of the upper surface of said layer of material so as to form a plurality of indicia edge portions for engagement by the feet of the user of the bathtub to prevent slipping, said material being provided with a slip-resistant upper surface; and b. adhesive material deposited on the lower surface of said layer of material, said adhesive material being adapted to bond said material to the floor of the bathtub so that the material is securely held in place thereon with the floor being visible through The openings therethrough.