Traction Mat

My invention relates to traction mats, which are particularly used with rubber tired automotive vehicles. The mat will provide a traction surface to aid in driving the vehicle, under its own power, from a surface such as snow, ice, mud, or sand, which does not offer sufficient traction.

An object of my invention is to provide an improved version of the device mentioned in the above paragraph. The traction device is composed of a rectangular, vinyl-like mat which is flexible and ribbed. On either side of the mat there are suitably spaced, cup shaped, cleates that will provide the necessary traction to free the vehicle from a tractionless surface. The cleates are affixed to one another by rivets.

A principle advantage of my invention, the traction mat, is that it is, very simply, placed against the surface of the tire; adjacent to the portion of the tire which bears on the ground. The initial movement of the tire, due to the gripping effect of the ribbed mat and the cleates, pulls the tire over the traction mat without slipping. Because the mat is made of a flexible material, it will conform to the contour of the ground surface thereby insuring suitable frictional contact.

Another object of this invention is to obtain a traction aid comprising few and low cost elements requiring minimum of tooling expenditures for fabrication.

These and other objects are attained in accordance with the present invention wherein two embodiments of a readily available matting and anchoring means are arranged in a novel combination to insure effective operation.

The objects and features of my invention may be understood with reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG #1 illustrates a top view of the traction mat;

FIG. #2 illustrates a side view of the traction mat;

FIG. #3 illustrates a top view of the traction cleate;

FIG. 190 4 illustrates a side view of the traction cleate;

FIG. 190 5 illustrates a side view of an automobile tire engaged with the traction mat.

The traction mat of my invention comprises a ribbed, flexible, vinyl-like strip (#1 of FIG. 1), which is embodied with metal cup cleates (#2 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2), on both sides of the strip as seen in FIG. 2; held together by means of a securing rivet (#3 of FIG. 1 and FIG 2). The cleates of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are placed so that once upon the mat there will be sufficient contact with the tire and the road surface. This will enable the wheel to traverse across the mat. FIG. 3 is a top view of an individual cleate which has an unfinished edge (#2 of FIG. 3), for more traction. It also has a hole through which the rivet will penetrate. FIG. 4 is a side view of a single cleate. FIG. 5 shows how the wheel will engage with the mat. The mat need only be placed against the tire so that the single, leading edge cleate, as shown in FIG. I, makes contact with the tire. When the wheel engages slowly, in the direction shown by the arrow, the mat will be drawn under the tire and the tire upon the mat, creating a gripping surface between the tire and the mat and the mat and the road surface. This gripping will enable the wheel to traverse across the mat. The flexibility of the mat allows it to conform to the tire and the road configuration regardless of extremes in outdoor temperatures. As a result, you receive maximum gripping and traction potential.