Rug Underlay of Fibers Needled Into Mesh

Area rugs such as Oriental rugs have been in use in homes and offices for many years but the use of padding under these rugs to reduce shock in walking over the rugs is of relatively recent origin. It is now a common practice to lay Oriental rugs over wall-to-wall carpeting or large area carpeting that does not extend from wall to wall. The Oriental rug used in this fashion provides a special aesthetic decoration in a smaller area over the larger area of carpeting. Because many carpeting materials today are made of nylon or other synthetic fibers, it has been found that the Oriental rug laid over the nylon carpeting may not remain in the desired area after a period of usage because the Oriental rug tends to slip on the nylon carpeting. Accordingly, an underlay is needed to prevent such slippage.

The general structure of the overlay in copending application Ser. No. 451,012 filed Dec. 20, 1982, is admirably suited for the purposes of the present invention except for the layer which would contact the nylon carpeting. That layer has been modified to provide the properties needed for purposes of this invention.

It is an object of this invention to provide a novel rug underlay having nonslip characteristics when placed on top of carpeting. It is another object of this invention to provide a rug underlay of fibrous material having a uniform consistency, no unpleasant odor, and a clean appearance. It is still another object of this invention to provide a rug underlay having upper surface that grips the rug above it and a lower surface that does not slip on carpeting made from synthetic fiber materials. Still other objects will be apparent from a more detailed description of this invention which follows.

This invention provides a rug underlay comprising a central open lattice of stiffening material, an intermediate layer of fiber batting on each side of the lattice, needle punched through the lattice, an upper outer corrugated surface of heat fused fibers and a lower outer stiff layer of a mixture of clay and an elastomeric latex impregnated into the lower portion of the intermediate layer. In preferred embodiments of this invention the fiber batting comprises polypropylene fibers, the open lattice is a stiffening structure of polypropylene filaments bonded to each other in a square pattern, and the mixture of clay and latex comprises about 100 parts by weight latex and 50-100 parts by weight clay.

The novel features believed to be characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration in perspective indicating how layers of the underlay are needle punched into an open lattice stiffener.

FIG. 2 is a cross section through the rug underlay of this invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the top layer of the rug underlay with a portion thereof folded so as to show the lower outside layer of the underlay.

The central core of the rug underlay of this invention comprises at least two layers of fibrous material compressed into and attached by bonding or otherwise to the two outer surfaces of a central layer of stiffening material. This central core can be made in any of several ways but it has been found most desirable to perform it by a needle punching operation which is depicted in FIG. 1. An open lattice 10 of flexible stiffening material is overlaid with a layer of fiber batting 11 and subjected to a needle punching operation in a press in which a plurality of closely spaced, barbed needles 12 are punched through batting 11 and stiffening layer 10 several times until batting 11 is compressed to a very thin dense layer of intertwined fibers with stiffening layer 10 embedded therein. Stiffening layer 10 is preferably a coarse mesh of synthetic filamentary material, such as polypropylene, of about 5-40 mils in diameter. Needle punching is a common operation employed in the fiber industry to intertwine fibers and filaments into a felt-like layer of material. The product produced by the operation just described in FIG. 1 is then turned over and another layer of batting 13 is applied to the opposite surface and needle punched again. These operations are repeated with new layers of batting applied to opposite sides of the layer of embedded stiffening material until a central core has been produced to the desired thickness. The fibers in the batting may be any type of natural or synthetic fibers, although synthetic are preferred such as polypolefin, nylon, polyester, acrylic polymer, etc. Preferably the fibers are polypropylene or mixtures of polypropylene and acrylic polymer. Preferably the central core will have at least one layer of fiber batting having the layer of stiffening material 10 embedded in it and two intermediate layers of batting, one on each side of the central embedded layer. This central core comprises layers 10,11, and 13 as shown in FIG. 2.

The central core as described above is then treated to produce an upper layer 14 which will cling to the rug that is positioned on the top of the underlay and a lower layer 16 which will provide a nonslip contact with the carpeting upon which the rug and underlay are positioned. Upper layer 14 is a surface of fused fibers having a stiff hard feeling as compared to the compressed fibers of the central core. Upper layer 14 also has some fiber ends projecting upwardly which can be sensed by rubbing this surface with one's fingers or by looking at the surface through a microscope. These fiber ends produce a good nonyielding contact with the rug when positioned on that surface. A preferred method of producing surface 14 is by applying sufficient heat to partially fuse the fibers at the outer surface of intermediate layer 11 of needle punched fibers described previously. The corrugated appearance 15 of upper layer 14 may be achieved by passing the underlay under a corrugated heated roller which is heated to a sufficiently high surface temperature to cause partial fusing of the fibers in the upper portion of layer 11 as they pass under the roller. This action produces a semistiff corrugated surface 14 that provides an excellent grip for a rug lying on top of the underlay.

It is not critical that corrugations 15 be in any particular design to provide the proper contact between the underlay and the rug resting on the underlay. The design may be parallel ridges and grooves, a geometric design such as squares, triangles, etc; or any other design of ridges and valleys which will provide a good grip on the underneath side of a rug and, at the same time provide a good cushioning, effect. A particularly preferred design is parallel ridges about 1/8-1/4 inch apart, and with very shallow valleys between the ridges, approximately 1/16 inch elevation difference between the tops of the ridges and the bottoms of the valleys.

Lower layer 16 is a stiff, semi-flexible elastomeric material which is bonded to the lower surface of the central core of needle punched fibers so as to provide a nonslip contact with a carpet on which it lays. This layer may be made with a geometric design on its outside surface, but preferably takes on the random fibrous pattern 17 of the intermediate layer of the underlay. A highly desirable material for layer 16 is a mixture of clay and a latex of an elastomeric material, preferably about 50-100 parts by weight of clay for every 100 parts by weight of synthetic latex. The synthetic latex may be any of a variety of elastomeric lattices although the preferred type is carboxylated styrene/butadiene copolymer having at least about 65% of bound styrene in the copolymer. Any type of clay is suitable in this mixture. Clay is generically defined as a hydrated aluminum silicate. The clay/latex mixture is an aqueous mixture of any suitable amount of water for handling purposes. Layer 16 is formed by spreading the mixture of clay and latex onto the intermediate layer so as to impregnate the surface of the intermediate layer with the aqueous mixture and allowing the mixture to dry, preferably with the assistance of heat. This produces a relatively stiff coating with stiffened fibrous components 17 projecting from the surface.

These stiffened fibrous components produce a nonslip contact with carpeting of nylon or any other carpeting material. One method of forming layer 16 is to pour an aqueous clay/latex mixture over the lower surface of the fibrous structure and to subject it to the action of a heated roller which presses the rubbery material into the fibrous layers and dries the mixture in place. This structure is then placed in heated ovens to cure and finish the latex in the layer. Regardless of how the attachment is made it should be impregnated into and be well bonded to the fiber structure so as to provide a good nonslip contact between the underlay and the carpet underneath.

FIG. 3 shows the general appearance of the underlay with parallel corrugated formations on upper layer 14 and with the random fibrous structure 17 on lower layer 16. An appropriately prepared underlay of the construction described above may have a thickness of about 1/4 inch for a weight of approximately 28 ounces or a thicker structure of about 1/2 inch for a weight of about 48-52 ounces. Thicknesses and weights between these extremes are also readily prepared as may be understood by those skilled in the art.

While the invention has been described with respect to certain specific embodiments, it will be appreciated that many modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is intended, therefore, by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.