Replaceable hook and loop fastener protection pad system
A hook and loop detachable and re-attachable pad apparatus that is applied to furniture to protect flooring surfaces and make sliding furniture easier, has a hook material on a plate that attaches to the furniture to which a separate loop pad, made of loop material, attaches. The loop pad is detachable and re-attachable and may have loop material on both sides. Alternatively, a loop plate applied with loop material may attach to the furniture and have a separate, hook and loop combination pad that attaches to it. The combination pad has one side that is hook material and one side that is loop material so that additional hook and loop combination pads may be stacked on top of the prior pad to provide a thicker cushion to account for pad compression due to heavier pieces of furniture or to slightly raise pieces of furniture to better suit a user.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/855,567, filed Oct. 31, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELDThe present disclosure relates to a hook and loop pad system for protecting surfaces against which the pad system is applied.
BACKGROUNDThe statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art. Protecting a floor from markings caused by contacting furniture has traditionally been accomplished with felt or plastic pads. While generally satisfactory for their purpose, each has been associated with its share of problems. One problem associated with felt pads is their application to a piece of furniture with either glue or a sticky backing. With glue, such application may be permanent, and with a sticky backing, such felt pad may easily peel from the furniture as the furniture is repeatedly slid across a floor.
Another problem associated with plastic pads, such as nylon or similar solid plastic material is its application to furniture with a screw, nail or other metal fastener that must be driven into the furniture, thus damaging the furniture. This problem is compounded when changing the pad is desired. In such instance, the fastener must again be driven into the same portion of the furniture, thus further degrading the integrity of the furniture and perhaps creating splinters and stripping wood finish thereby creating an unsightly area on the furniture. Another limitation of current, hard plastic floor protectors is their propensity to strip finish from hard floors or otherwise mark the hard floor surface with which they contact.
What is needed then is a device that does not suffer from the above limitations. This, in turn, will create a device that is applicable to furniture such that it can be removed and replaced in a matter of seconds, that can be easily washed, and that will provide a soft, non-marking easily slidable surface against most hard surface floors.
SUMMARYA detachable floor protection system attaches to legs or surfaces of furniture, which would otherwise contact flooring surfaces. The detachable system employs detachable hook and loop material to provide a system that is convenient to use, will not mark or scuff flooring surfaces, and can be removed to be washed and then reapplied.
In one example, a plate attaches to a piece of furniture, such as the bottom of a chair leg, with a fastener such as a screw, nail or adhesive. The plate has hook material on the side opposite the furniture so that a second “pad” piece composed of loop material can be applied to the hook side of the plate. Because the pad has loop material on both sides, both sides may be used. Additionally, the pad can be removed and washed by hand or a washing machine. Because the loop material is made from a soft material, such as nylon, the loop material will actually polish the floor surfaces that it is slid across.
In another example, a plate attaches to a piece of furniture, such as the bottom of a chair leg, with a fastener such as a screw, nail or adhesive. The plate has loop material on the side opposite the furniture so that a second “pad” piece, composed of loop material on one side and hook material on its other side, can be applied to the loop material of the plate. Specifically, the hook material of the pad attaches to the loop material of the plate so that the loop side of the pad will contact the flooring surface below the furniture. An added advantage of the second example is that multiple hook and loop pads can be stacked one after another to accommodate heavy pieces of furniture, such as a heavy bookcase that may other wise compress thin pads. As in the first example, the pad with its hook and loop sides can be removed and washed.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.
The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. It should be understood that throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.
Continuing with reference to
The hook and loop fastening system may consist of two layers: a hook side that is composed of miniature plastic hooks, and a loop side that is composed of miniature plastic loops that are generally smaller than the hooks. When the hooks and loops are pressed together, the hooks catch in the loops and hold each other together and form a bond. The strength of a hook and loop fastening system depends upon, for example, how well the hooks are embedded into the loops, and further, the structural integrity of the loops and hooks.
Continuing with
Continuing with the embodiment of
An advantage of the stackable hook and loop disk arrangement of
Turning now to
The coaster 94 may be manufactured from steel and covered with nylon. For instance, the surface 93 of the coaster 94 may be nylon to provide a smooth, slidable surface upon a floor. The advantage of such an arrangement is that the steel will add strength and rigidity to the coaster 94 while the nylon covering or surface 93 will offer a material that is capable of sliding on a variety of surfaces, such as wood, plastic or vinyl sheet flooring and carpeting. With the surface 98 and 28 attaching using hook and loop material, in either combination, securing of the coaster to the plate 14 is ensured. Because the coaster 94 may be slightly larger than the plate 14, no hook or loop material will be visible and an aesthetically pleasing appearance is ensured.
While the embodiment of
Turning now to
Continuing with
Still yet another alternative to using the pad 112 (or pad 106), a disk or coaster 118, made of a plastic material, for example, may be attached to the loops 13 of surface 104 of pad 100 or even the loops 13 of surface 108 of pad 106, to provide for a thicker overall pad, that is, coaster 118 plus pad 106 plus pad 100, as compared to coaster 118 plus pad 100 alone. Attachment of the coaster 118 is made possible by hooks 15 of a hook material on surface 120 that may contact either surface 104 or 108, each employing loops 13, depending upon the overall thickness of the floor protection system 10 desired. Alternatively, the hooks 15 of the hook material may be confined to the area 119 bounded by dashed lines. By restricting the area to which hooks 15 of a hook material are applied, a person may be unable to actually see the hooks 15 of a hook material when the floor protection system 10 is employed. The hooks 15 of a hook material of area 119 will essentially be hidden from view. By attaching a plastic coaster 118 as part of the floor protection system 10, the pressure or force per unit area due to an occupant sitting on a chair, will be less, thus requiring a lower force or effort to push the chair across a flooring surface than if the coaster 118 were not part of the floor protection system 10.
Throughout
There are numerous advantages of removable loop-equipped pads, such as pad 12 of
Additionally, the removable and stackable pads may easily accommodate furniture with unequal length legs. In such an instance, due to manufacturing inconsistencies, sloping or uneven floors, or other occurrences, the various legs of a table, chair, bottom of a bookcase, etc. may not rest in a level fashion upon a floor surface. By using the easily attachable, detachable and stackable pads, such unlevel sitting pieces of furniture may be made to sit level, and unequal length legs may be “made equal” to provide a piece of furniture that does not rock or shake when used. This solution to wobbling furniture and unequal length legs provides a quick, easy and attractive solution to such unstable pieces of furniture. An added advantage is that the soft, non-scratching loop pads used to make a piece of furniture not wobble will stay in place as the furniture is even just slightly moved or moved from room to room. The pads, such as pad 12 for example, may be made in a variety of thicknesses and stacked to solve a variety of unlevel furniture situations yet provide a way to easily slide furniture without scratching flooring surfaces.
The description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. An apparatus for furniture that protects a floor, the apparatus comprising:
- a first plate that abuts the furniture;
- a hook material attached to the first plate; and
- a first pad equipped with a loop material on two generally flat surfaces, wherein the loop material of one surface of the first pad attaches to the hooks of the first plate, and wherein the first pad is detachable by pulling, and re-attachable by pushing, on the first pad.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first plate defines a hole, the apparatus further comprising:
- a separate fastener that passes through the hole and attaches the first plate to the furniture, wherein the first pad covers the fastener and the first plate.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the hole in the first plate is recessed and the separate fastener is shaped to accommodate the recessed hole.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first plate further comprises:
- an integral nail fastener, wherein the integral fastener attaches the first plate to the furniture, and wherein the first pad covers the first plate.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
- a second pad equipped with a loop material on a first surface and a hook material on a second surface, the hook material of the second pad attaching with the loop material of the first pad, wherein the second pad is detachable by pulling, and re-attachable by pushing, on the second pad.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first plate further comprises a cylindrical side wall to form a cap around a portion of the furniture.
7. An apparatus for furniture that protects a floor, the apparatus comprising:
- a base plate having a first and a second flat surface;
- a base swivel portion pivotably mounted to the second surface of the base plate and having a flat surface to which a hook material is applied; and
- a pad having two generally flat opposing surfaces with a loop material on both generally flat surfaces, wherein the loop material from one of the generally flat surfaces attaches to the hook material of the base swivel portion.
8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first surface of the base plate has a protruding integral fastener to mount the apparatus to the furniture.
9. An apparatus for furniture that protects a floor, the apparatus comprising:
- a first plate having a first surface that abuts and attaches to the furniture and a second surface that has loop material attached to it; and
- a coaster, wherein the coaster has at least a first surface that is nylon and a second surface that has a hook material that attaches to the loop material of the second surface of the first plate.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the coaster is larger in diameter than the first plate,
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein and the diameter of the hook material on the coaster is the same size or smaller than the diameter of the loop material on the second surface of the first plate.
12. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:
- a fastener, wherein the fastener attaches the first plate to the furniture and the coaster covers the fastener when the coaster is attached to the first plate.
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first plate defines a countersunk hole that passes through the center of the surfaces, through which the fastener passes.
14. A floor-contacting apparatus for a furniture surface, the apparatus comprising:
- a first pad having a first generally flat surface that includes an adhesive layer and a second generally flat surface covered with a loop material, the adhesive layer adheres to the furniture surface.
15. The floor-contacting apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:
- a second pad having a first generally flat surface with a hook material and a second generally flat surface with a loop material, the first surface with the hook material attachable to the second surface of the first pad with the loop material.
16. The floor-contacting apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:
- an entirely nylon disk having a first flat surface with a hook material applied and a second flat surface of exposed nylon, the hook material attachable to the loop material of the second surface of the first pad.
17. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:
- a plastic coaster larger in diameter than the first pad, the plastic coaster having a first generally flat surface with a hook material and a second generally flat surface that is exposed plastic, the hook material attachable to the loop material of the second surface of the first pad.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the hook material of the plastic coaster has a diameter that is smaller than the coaster diameter.
19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the hook material of the plastic coaster has a diameter that is the same size as the diameter of the first pad.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 29, 2007
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Inventor: Stephen Webster (Marlette, MI)
Application Number: 11/978,504