US2057162A - Mat - Google Patents

Description

J. A. RHCHEY Oct. 13, 1936.

MAT

Filed Nov. 6, 1933 Patented oa. 13, 1936 ,Y

' UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFFlcE MAT James A. Richey, New York, N. Y.

Application November 6, 1933, Serial No. 696,864

1 Claim.

In public bath houses and, indeed, in bathrooms of private dwellings the same room is used by several different persons without a thorough cleaning being effected between uses. As a result of these conditions, water often accumulates upon the floor of the room so that later users are subjected to unsanitary conditions and are possibly exposed to infectious diseases. It is the object of the present invention to lprovide a rnat upon vwhich the user of such places may stand so that water running from the body of the user will be caught and held by the mat and will not be permitted to accumulate upon the floor of the room. .It is also an object of the invention to provide a mat for the stated purpose which will be so cheap that it may be destroyed or thrown away after a single use and which will be of such form that it may be easily carried in an ordinary bag. The stated object of the invention, and

other objects which will appearv incidentally in the course of the following description, is attained in such a device as is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and the invention resides in certain novel features which will be particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a plan view of one form of mat embodying the invention,

Figure 2 is a transverse section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a View similar to Figure 2 showing a slightly modified form of the invention,

Figure 4 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the invention,

Figure 5y is a detail section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4.

In carrying out the present invention, there is provided a sheet I-of any inexpensive material which will have water-absorbent properties. 40 Preferably this sheet is formed from' soft fiber board which is very inexpensive and may be easily cut to the desired size and shape. The mat may consist of a single ply of sheet material or may be composed of several plies, as shown in Figure 45 2. A backing 2 of some moisture-proof material, such as parchment paper, or oiled or waxed paper, is provided and this backing sheet is similar in form to the absorbent sheet but is somewhat larger so that its margins may be folded over 50 the edges of the'absorbent sheet, as clearly shown at 3, so that the edges of the absorbent sheet will be protected. Suitable fastening devices, such as staples shown at 4, are inserted through the margins of the sheets at intervals so that the backing 55 sheet will be rmly secured to the absorbent sheet. A mat thus constructed will be very cheap and may be folded into a small form so that it may be readilycarried in an ordinary handbag. In use, the mat is placed upon the floor of the room with the moisture-proof sheet 2 at the 5 bottom or next to the floor. The user, after bathing, will stand upon the mat so that Water running or dripping from his body will be caught by the absorbent sheet I and will be held thereby. The moisture upon the iioor of the room will not 10 penetrate the absorbent sheet inasmuch as the moisture-proof backing sheet is interposed and the water which is absorbed by the absorbent sheet will not spread over the oor of the room and, consequently, will not aggravate any existing '15 unsanitary conditions and will not tend to spread possible infections. Should the user of the mat be so wet that the Water dripping from his body will wholly saturate the absorbent sheet, the possible excess will remain upon the surface of the 20 4 absorbent sheet, the moisture-proof backing acting more or less as a cup to hold the collected moisture.

It may sometimes be desired to have an vab sorbent sheet in contact with the floor of the 25 room and for this purpose the form of the invention shown in Figure 3 may be employed. This form of mat embodies the-same absorbent sheet I and backing sheet 2 with its margin folded around the edges of the backing sheet and also 30 includes a lower absorbent sheet 5 which is placed next the moisture-proof sheet and is secured thereto by the same staples 6 which secure the sheets I and 2. This embodiment of the invention will serve to take up loose moisture from the floor of the room so that, when the mat is subsequently thrown away or destroyed, some of. the

undesirable liquid from the room will be disposed of simultaneously with the moisture drained from the body of the user. Inasmuch as the moistureproof sheet is interposed between the sheets I and 5, the user of the mat is not exposed to the moisture upon the floor of the room while he is dressing.

In Figure 4, I have illustrated a form of mat which is adapted to be placed close to bathroom fittings such as the pedestal of a lavatory. In this form of the invention, the mat 1 has a recess or notch 8 cut in one edge whereby the mat may be fitted closely to and partly around .the fitting and, at the corners of the edge containing the notch or recess, cords or'similar fastenings 9 are attached to the mat. These cords may be passed behind the fitting and their ends tied or otherwise fastened together. The mat I may be of the same detail construction as-either of the previously described forms. It may, however, be of such cross section formation as is illustrated in Figure 5 in which a covering ill of highly absorbent material is secured over both surfaces of a less absorbent intermediate ply I i. The several plies are secured together Yby staples i2 or by any other preferred or convenient means.

In al1 forms of the invention, there is provided an exceedingly inexpensive device whereby the user of a bathroom or similar place will be provided with means to protect himself against exposure to infectious diseases. As has been stated,`the device may be folded into very compact form to be carried in any convenient receptacle and when once used may be thrown away or destroyed.

Having thus described-the invention, I claim:

A mat comprising a .stackof superposed plies of absorbent material, a lower ply of relatively non-absorbent material of greater dimensions than the absorbent plies to provide marginal portions proiecting from margins of the stack of absorbent plies and folded upwardly against side edge faces of the stack and then inwardly and downwardly against the upper face of the upper plyl to provide a binding yformed integral with the lower non-absorbent ply and enclosing marginal portions of the stack, and staples engaged `through the binding and all of said plies for retaining the plies and the binding in proper relation to each other.

JAMES A. RJCHEY.

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