COLOR CODED TRIM-TO-FIT MAT

Abstract

An automobile mat has a plurality of differently colored guidelines applied to one of both of its top surface and bottom surface, each to aid in the cutting there-along to create a mat periphery shaped and sized to properly fit one of a similar plurality of vehicle models.

Claims

1. An automotive floor mat having a plurality of differently colored guidelines applied to one of both of a top surface and a bottom surface thereof, each to aid in the cutting there-along to create a mat periphery shaped and sized to properly fit one of a similar plurality of vehicle models.

2. The automotive floor mat of claim 1 wherein the mat is made of a material from the group including carpet, vinyl, plastic, rubber, and any combination thereof.

3. The automotive floor mat of claim 2 wherein the colored guidelines are applied to the mat by one or more process from the group including embossing, debossing, stamping, over-molding, printing, painting, embroidering, burnishing, heat-transferring, projection, the application of colored strings embedded into the structure of the mat following the cut lines which once removed will allow the tearing away of material superfluous to the mat periphery, etching the lines directly into a mold used to mold form mat, and any combination thereof

4. The automotive floor mat of claim 3 wherein the guidelines are comprised at least partially of alternating dashes and spaces.

5. The automotive floor mat of claim 4 wherein one or more of the guidelines partially overlies another one or more of the guidelines in an overlying zone, and wherein within that overlying zone, the guidelines are comprised of the dashes and spaces and wherein the dashes and spaces of each line in the overlying zone are alternated.

6. The automotive floor mat of claim 5 wherein top surface comprises grooves to collect inadvertently spilled liquids, and ridges to prevent a user's shoes and pants from being wetted within the collected liquids.

7. The automotive floor mat of claim 6 wherein the ridges comprise annular ridges, each aligned with and having a shape and size equal to one of the guidelines.

8. The automotive floor mat of claim 1 wherein the colored guidelines are applied to the mat by one or more process from the group including embossing, debossing, stamping, over-molding, printing, painting, embroidering, burnishing, heat-transferring, projection, the application of colored strings embedded into the structure of the mat following the cut lines which once removed will allow the tearing away of material superfluous to the mat periphery, etching the lines directly into a mold used to mold form mat, and any combination thereof

9. The automotive floor mat of claim 8 wherein the guidelines are comprised at least partially of alternating dashes and spaces.

10. The automotive floor mat of claim 9 wherein one or more of the guidelines partially overlies another one or more of the guidelines in an overlying zone, and wherein within that overlying zone, the guidelines are comprised of the dashes and spaces and wherein the dashes and spaces of each line in the overlying zone are alternated.

11. The automotive floor mat of claim 10 wherein top surface comprises grooves to collect inadvertently spilled liquids, and ridges to prevent a user's shoes and pants from being wetted within the collected liquids.

12. The automotive floor mat of claim 11 wherein the ridges comprise annular ridges, each aligned with and having a shape and size equal to one of the guidelines.

13. A floor mat having a plurality of differently colored guidelines applied to one of both of a top surface and a bottom surface thereof, each to aid in the cutting there-along to create a differently shaped and sized mat periphery.

14. The floor mat of claim 13 wherein the mat is made of a material from the group including carpet, vinyl, plastic, rubber, and any combination thereof

15. The floor mat of claim 14 wherein the colored guidelines are applied to the mat by one or more process from the group including embossing, debossing, stamping, over-molding, printing, painting, embroidering, burnishing, heat-transferring, projection, the application of colored strings embedded into the structure of the mat following the cut lines which once removed will allow the tearing away of material superfluous to the mat periphery, etching the lines directly into a mold used to mold form mat, and any combination thereof

16. The floor mat of claim 15 wherein the guidelines are comprised at least partially of alternating dashes and spaces.

17. The floor mat of claim 16 wherein one or more of the guidelines partially overlies another one or more of the guidelines in an overlying zone, and wherein within that overlying zone, the guidelines are comprised of the dashes and spaces and wherein the dashes and spaces of each line in the overlying zone are alternated.

18. The floor mat of claim 17 wherein top surface comprises grooves to collect inadvertently spilled liquids, and ridges to prevent a user's shoes and pants from being wetted within the collected liquids.

18. The floor mat of claim 18 wherein the ridges comprise annular ridges, each aligned with and having a shape and size equal to one of the guidelines.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] Many aspects of the invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present invention. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

[0018] This patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.

[0019] FIG. 1 is a top view of an as-bought vehicle floor mat in accordance with a first exemplary embodiment;

[0020] FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the mat of FIG. 1;

[0021] FIG. 3 is a first close-up bottom view of a portion of the mat of FIG. 1;

[0022] FIG. 4 is a second close-up bottom view of a portion of the mat of FIG. 1;

[0023] FIG. 5 is a third close-up bottom view of a portion of the mat of FIG. 1;

[0024] FIG. 6 is a fourth close-up bottom view of a portion of the mat of FIG. 1;

[0025] FIG. 7 is an array of plan views showing four customized mats producible from the mat of FIG. 1;

[0026] FIG. 8 is a bottom view of an as-bought vehicle floor mat in accordance with a second exemplary embodiment with a list of the vehicle models available for customization;

[0027] FIG. 9A is a bottom view of an as-bought vehicle floor mat in accordance with a third exemplary embodiment;

[0028] FIG. 9B is a bottom view of the mat of FIG. 9A with the to-be-trimmed waste material ghosted; and

[0029] FIG. 9C is a bottom view of the mat of FIG. 9A with the waste material removed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0030] Referring first to FIGS. 1 through 7, there is shown an exemplary mat 100 in accordance with or useful in practicing the invention. The mat is preferably made of injection-molded PVC. The top surface 102 of the mat, as seen in FIG. 1, has grooves 104 and ridges 106 which are intended to, respectively, channel spilled liquids and support the users shoes and pant-cuffs above the spilled liquid. The ridges may also include annular ridges 108 which have the same shape and size and are aligned with the outlines on the underside along which the mats will be trimmed when customized. In this way, grooves are not left open ended by the trimming and the trimmed mats have peripheral border ridges 108 that allow it to have a more finished appearance.

[0031] The bottom surface 110 of the mat is best seen in FIG. 2, where variously colored dashed outlines indicate the various trimmed mat shapes which are available form this as-purchased mat. Each of these dashed outlines is of a different color. The consumer may refer to an included chart (see FIG. 8 as an example), to know which colored outline applies to his/her vehicle model.

[0032] Referring to FIGS. 3 through 6, close-up views are provided of several portions of the bottom surface to show the dashed lines in better detail and to show how the use of dashed lines allows an overlapping of lines of different colors while still allowing the desired line to be maintained without confusion. For instance, in FIGS. 3 and 4, a yellow dashed line 112 joins a red dashed line 114 to become a 2-color line 116 that alternates yellow and red. And in FIGS. 5 and 6, a white dashed line 118 joins the 2-color yellow/red line 116 to become a 3-color line 120 that alternates yellow, red, and white. This enables the same line to simultaneously function for any number of outlines. And of course, the dashes could be replaced by dots or by any other equivalent marking to form a broken line, all of which are included in the term dashed line as used herein.

[0033] FIG. 7 shows four differently-shaped mats 110A through 100D, intended to serve four different vehicle models, that have been trimmed from the as-purchased mat of FIGS. 1 through 6.

[0034] Manufacturing of the mats employs a novel process. After removal from the molding press, the mat is placed bottom-side-up under a printer and onto a table, into jigs which support it and keep its bottom surface level and flat. The printer is similar to a large ink jet printer. A printing head moves back and forth over the table and prints a white line, then each colored line, sequentially, to create the plurality of outlines required. Then the mat is placed into a low temp oven which cures the printed ink and bonds it to the mat surface and makes it impervious to smearing, smudging, etc.

[0035] FIG. 8 shows a pair of as-bought mats 200D and 200P according to a second embodiment, along with a color-coded chart 202 that lists the vehicle models for which mats may be created by cutting along the guideline of the selected color.

[0036] FIGS. 9A through 9C are a series of views of a mat 300 according to a third embodiment. Its as-bought configuration is shown in FIG. 9A. The waste portion to be trimmed away is ghosted in FIG. 9B, And the final configuration for use in the intended vehicle is shown in FIG. 9C.

[0037] Alternatively, aspects of the invention remain if the lines are embossed, debossed, stamped, over-molded, painted, embroidered, burnished, heat-transferred, or projected, or if the lines are etched directly into the mold, silk screened, or by any other known manner.

[0038] The basic single-color line consists of dashes and spaces of equal length. Multi-colored lines have spaces between dashes according to the number of conjoined colored lines . . . color 1, space, color 1, space, etc. If two differently colored lines are overlapped over a stretch, each will have one space between dashes and they will be overlapped so that within that stretch the dashes of one color land in the spaces of the other . . . color 1, color 2, color 1, color 2, etc. If three differently colored lines are overlapped over a stretch, each will have two spaces between dashes and will be overlapped so that that each color repeats every third dash . . . color 1, color 2, color 3, color 1, color 2, color 3, etc. In this way there are no spaces left after printing in those stretches where different colored lines run together. So it can be appreciated that the number of spaces between dashes of each color within that combined stretch is equal to the number of colors in that stretch minus one.

[0039] Alternatively, in a second anticipated embodiment, the basic single-color line could consist of a solid line. In a third anticipated embodiment, the basic single colored line could consist of dashes and spaces of equal length, but the multi-colored lines could have spaces between dashes equal to the number of conjoined colored lines. In this case, if two differently colored lines are overlapped over a stretch, each will have two spaces between dashes and they will be overlapped so that within that stretch the dashes of one color, the next color, and a dash are alternated . . . color 1, color 2, space, color 1, color 2, space, etc. If three differently colored lines are overlapped over a stretch, each will have three spaces between dashes and will be overlapped so that that each color repeats; color 1, color 2, color 3, dash color 1, color 2, color 3, dash. etc. In this way there are spaces left after printing in those stretches where different colored lines run together.

[0040] Software instructs the printer where to print each colored line with one space between dashes and where to print with more than one.

[0041] It should be noted that the embodiment shown herein is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The invention therefore only be limited by the follow claims, including any equivalent interpretation to which they are entitled.