Background A tufted mat is a mat provided with fringed clusters of strands or fibers on its surface and is used on a floor or the like in order to eliminate or absorb dirt, moisture, and oil from the soles of the feet or shoes. Tufted mats using only flexible fiber can satisfactorily remove adhered moisture and oil from a shoe sole when the mat is dry. Over time, however, the ability to remove or "wick"moisture and oil from a shoe can deteriorate as the mat becomes saturated. As a result, oil and moisture can accumulate and remain on the surface of the mat, possibly causing lasting stains.

To address the foregoing problem, a tufted mat has been proposed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-299023 and No. 8-33605). in which a first set of piles (fiber bundles) are provided using fibers or yarns providing excellent elasticity as well as water absorbing properties. In this construction, however, the amount of absorbent fibers is decreased in order to provide an overall construction the includes an elastic pile. As a result, the ability of the resulting mat to absorb water and oil may not be completely satisfactory. Moreover, the pile with excellent elasticity has bulky single yarns and the density in portions of the pile is low, so when the mat is placed on a slope, the absorbed water and oil might flow out.

Summary of the Invention Accordingly, the present invention provides a tufted mat with excellent water and oil absorption properties that minimizes return or outflow of the absorbed water and oil, and shows very little dirt on its surface.

The invention provides a tufted mat having a sheet-shaped base and multiple piles embedded in the base from the back side of the base and tufted on the surface side of the base is characterized in that each of the piles comprise a bundle of synthetic single yarns each with a fineness of 10 denier or less.

Preferably, the density of the fine lines of the piles in a portion (back side pile) embedded in the base from the back side of said base is 50% to 200% of the density of the fine lines of a tufted portion (surface side pile) on the surface side of the base.

Preferably, the pile height on the surface side of the mat is 5 mm or less.

Brief Description of the Drawing The above object of the invention will be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which: Fig. 1 shows schematically a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments This invention will be described in further detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing.

Fig. 1 shows schematically a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The tufted mat of this invention has a sheet-shaped base 1 and multiple piles 2,3 embedded in the back side of the base and tufted on the surface side of the base. Each of the piles 2,3 comprise a bundle of predetermined single yarns 6.

It is also desirable in this invention that a back side pile 3 is backed with a backing 5 through a latex layer 4, as shown.

Hereinafter, each component of the tufted mat of the present invention will be explained.

1. Sheet-shaped base The sheet-shaped base 1 is used to secure multiple piles. There is no special limitation on the material, so a general-purpose nonwoven or woven fabric may be available appropriately. The quantity of oil absorbed can be improved if the same material is used as for the pile described hereinafter. If a nonwoven fabric made from, for example, polypropylene is used as the material, the quantity absorbed can be further improved and the cut edges of the fibers of the nonwoven fabric can be prevented from fraying.

2. Pile Multiple piles (a bundle of fibers) used in this invention consist of a bundle of synthetic single yarns.

There is no special limitation on the material for a single yarn which constitutes a pile as long as it maintains absorbency of water and oil. For example, a fiber made from a material such as polypropylene, nylon, rayon, acrylic, vinylon, and polyester is desirable.

It is desirable that the fineness (thickness) of a single yarn to be equal to 10 denier or less. When exceeding 10 deniers, it becomes difficult to maintain high absorbency of water and oil based on capillary action and its performance.

A pile is made by bundling the above-mentioned single yarns. In order to improve the bulk of the pile, piles of an inter-mingled type (when a pile is made by bundling single yarns, the single yarns are not stranded) are desirable.

It is desirable that the bulk of the pile be 2000 to 3000 denier as a whole.

If the bulk is less than 2000 denier, the base (the substrate) shows through, resulting in deterioration in appearance and reduction of the value of the merchandise. Also, when inter-mingled piles are used, it is difficult to manufacture piles exceeding 3000 deniers using currently available machining.

When a twine is used as the single yarn, twining causes the strands to be tightly wound, so that the range of the above-mentioned bulk becomes wider than that of intermingled pile. The pile may be shaped as a cut pile or loop pile.

The densities of a fine lined pile should be 400 g/m2 to 800 g/m2 in the surface side piles (pile portion tufted in the surface side of the base), and 135 g/m2 to 530 g/m2 in the back side piles (pile portion embedded in the back side of the base). In the case of conventional piles, the densities are 500 g/m2 to 1,000 g/m2 and 115 g/m2 to 660 g/m2, respectively. The ratio of both (the ratio of the surface side piles with fine lines to the back side piles with fine lines) preferably is between be 1: 2 (50%) to 2: 1 (200%). In the case of conventional piles, the same ration is typically between 1: 3.3 (30%) to 1: 2 (50%).

The yarn extraction resistance can be improved by making the ratio of the back side piles with fine lines larger in this way, so that even if a load is applied on the surface, the dirt on the surface resulting from the return or outflow of the absorbed water and oil can be restrained, improving the holding power.

It is preferable that the length of the surface side piles be made equal to 5 mm or less (in the case of conventional piles, 6 mm to 8 mm). If the length exceeds 5 mm, it becomes difficult to maintain the erect position of the piles.

3. Method of embedding piles in the base There is no special limitation on the method of embedding piles in the base. A general purpose tufting machine can be used for this purpose. The preferred embedding condition is, for example, that the gauge be 1/8, the number of stitch 8, the density of pile with fine lines 444 g/m2, and the pile height 5 mm.

4. Latex It is preferred in this invention that a latex layer be provided so as to prevent piles from falling out of the base.

There is no special limitation on the material as long as it has adhesive property and moderate elasticity, so that a general purpose material, such as vinyl chloride resin, natural rubber, ethylene vinyl-acetate resin, styrene butadiene rubber, or nitrile butadiene rubber, can be utilized.

The usage preferred is 100 g/m2 to 300 g/m2, the same as conventional usage. Spray coating and roll coating can be used as the processing method, as well as other conventional coating methods known to those skilled in the art.

5. Backing It is preferred in this invention to provide a backing in order to prevent slippage when the mat is placed on a floor and a to protect the floor material.

A general purpose material, such as vinyl chloride resin, natural rubber, ethylene vinyl-acetate resin, styrene butadiene rubber, and nitrile butadiene rubber, can be used for the material.

The preferred thickness of the backing is 0.5 mm to 3.0 mm. The backing may be applied to the mat using conventional processing methods known to those skilled in the art such as knife coating and extrusion molding, for example.

Hereinafter, this invention will be explained in further detail by way of example.

(Example 1) 120 polypropylene monofilaments (single yarns) (fibers of super fine type) of 6.7 deniers were bound to form a bundle of monofilaments (single yarns), and then three bundles were bound to form a pile (a bundle of fibers) of 800 deniers. The piles were embedded in the base, which was formed by punching polyester cotton into a polypropylene woven fabric and whose fine line density was 150 g/m2, using a tufting machine under conditions whereby the gauge was 1/8, the density of fine line piles was 444 g/m2, and number of stitches was 8. Then, the piles were cut with contact pressure between the cutter and lopper of the tufting machine raised 30-50% higher than the usual pressure to form cut piles with a pile height of 5 mm Next, a latex of nitrile butadiene with a coating weight of 100 g was applied using the spray coating method so as to prevent the cut piles from falling out. As a backing (a lining cloth) a polyethylene sheet with a thickness of 0.7 mm produced by extrusion molding was pasted using latex to prevent slipping and protect the floor material.

(Comparison Example 1) The Comparison Example 1 were made to be the same as the Example 1 except that the pile height was 8 mm, the density of fine line pile with was 800 g/m2, the single yarn was made from nylon with a thickness of 15 deniers, and the backing material was changed to vinyl chloride resin.

(Evaluation) In evaluating items obtained according to Example 1 and Comparison Example 1, the holding capacity of water and oil, the quantity of returning water and oil, and the quantity of water and oil that flows out were selected and evaluated by the following method: (1) Each mat was cut to form a disk with a diameter of 50 mm, and its weight was measured.

(2) Water or oil was dropped from a height of 10 mm, and after completion of the absorption, the weights of each of the mats were measured.

(3) A load consisting of a 1 kg weight with a diameter of 50 mm was applied to the absorbed sample for two minutes. During the application of the load, the sample was inclined by ten degrees so that the absorbed water and oil might flow out easily.

(4) After two minutes, the weight was removed, and the quantity adhering to the 1 kg weight (the quantity of return), the quantity flowing out, and the sample holding quantity were measured.

The measurement results are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Example1 ComparisonExample1 Water Salad Oil Water SaladOil Holdingcapacity(g)4.739 4. 185 3. 505 4.122 Returnquantity(g)0.035 0. 063 0. 041 0.095 Outflowquantity(g)0.012 0. 003 1. 099 0. 035 SoilingconditionoftheDirtnotconspicuous.Dirtisconspicuousand surface discoloringisevident.

As set forth hereinabove, the present invention provides a tufted mat which has high absorbency for water and oil, minimizes return or outflow of the absorbed fluids, and shows very little dirt on its surface. While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.