Carpetlike Material

Abstract

The present invention relates to an inexpensive carpetlike material and the preferred embodiments described in the disclosure are in the form of a corrugated paperboard base member to which a flock coating of fibrous material is adhesively secured to form a pilelike coating. The flock coating is applied by an electrostatic flocking process. The various types of base members described include: single-faced corrugated paperboard, double-faced corrugated paperboard having an embossed upper liner member and corrugated paperboard wherein the flutes of the corrugated medium are angularly inclined relative to the liner to provide increased resilience. The flock coating may be applied directly to the exposed corrugated surfaces or it may be applied directly to the exposed corrugated surfaces or it may be applied to an upper linear which may be in the form of a porous net.

Parent Case Text

This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 716,584, now abandoned.

1. Field of Invention

This invention relates to carpetlike material and a method of making same. In particular, this invention relates to an inexpensive carpetlike material which employs a corrugated base structure.

2. Prior Art

Carpets and the like are normally made from wool or synthetic fibers and the majority of carpets which are in every day use are manufactured by the well-known tufting process. The extensive use of the tufting process and the use of synthetic fibers has contributed considerably to the reduction in cost of carpet material and the resulting increased general use of carpet material. However, even the most inexpensive of the tufted carpets must have the ability to withstand a substantial amount of wear while maintaining a reasonable appearance. None of the conventional carpets presently available are sufficiently inexpensive to permit them to be widely used for only short periods of time and discarded. Carpets are commonly recognized as symbols of elegance and they make a very substantial contribution to the general appearance of any room in which they are used. From a purely practical point of view they have been shown to have substantial acoustical, safety, thermal and psychological benefits. The tufting process is carried out on a tufting machine which may have 1,800 needles and the capital cost involved in establishing a carpet manufacturing operation is very substantial. Even the most inexpensive tufted carpet is too expensive to be used for only a short period of time and then discarded. There are numerous occasions where a very inexpensive carpetlike material which has a relatively short life would be very acceptable, for example, where carpets are used as floor coverings for temporary displays in exhibition areas or for outdoor receptions and other similar occasions. The conventional tufted carpet becomes very expensive when used in such temporary installations. The carpet derives much of its popularity from the pleasurable sensation which is experienced from walking on a relatively resilient pile surface as opposed to a nonresilient surface. Unfortunately, a substantial proportion of the cost of manufacturing a carpet is derived from the process of forming the pile.

Description

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the difficulties of the prior art described above and provides a carpetlike material which is inexpensive to manufacture and which has many of the desirable characteristics of conventional carpet material. The very low cost of the carpetlike material is such that it may be employed for a short period of time and then discarded. It is useful for such application as a floor covering for temporary exhibition areas, outdoor reception areas and other similar installations where a very long wear life is not essential. The wear properties of the carpetlike material of the present invention may be altered by minor modifications to the structure of the material without departing from the basic principles of this invention.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, we provide a carpetlike material which comprises a base member which has an upper surface formed to provide a plurality of protuberances, at least a substantial portion of the upper surface being coated with a flock coating of fibrous material to form a pilelike coating.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, we provide carpetlike material comprising a lower facing sheet of paperboard, an upper corrugated sheet of paperboard secured to said lower facing sheet at spaced intervals and forming a plurality of flutes therebetween and reinforcing filling material in said flutes to increase the compressive strength of said corrugations.

A further embodiment of the present invention provides a carpetlike material which comprises a lower facing sheet of paperboard, an upper corrugated sheet of paperboard having an exposed upper surface forming a plurality of alternately disposed crests and valleys, said corrugated sheet being secured to said lower facing sheet at spaced intervals and forming a plurality of flutes therebetween, a flock coating of fibrous material adhesively secured to at least the surface of the valleys of said upper surface to form a pilelike coating thereon.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a carpetlike material which comprises a lower facing sheet of paperboard, an upper corrugated sheet of paperboard rigidly secured to said lower facing sheet and having an exposed upper surface formed to provide a plurality of crests and valleys, at least said upper corrugated sheet of paperboard being impregnated with a reinforcing substance and a flock coating of fibrous material adhesively secured to at least the surface of said valleys of said corrugated upper surface to form a pilelike coating thereon.

In a further embodiment of this invention a carpetlike material comprises, a lower liner, a corrugated medium and an upper liner secured to one another and a flock coating of fibrous material adhesively secured to said upper liner.

In a still further embodiment of this invention the carpetlike material includes a corrugated medium which has been uniformly crushed to permanently dispose the corrugations at an incline to the liners to form a resilient base for said material.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention will be more clearly understood after reference to the following detailed specification read in conjunction with the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partially sectioned pictorial view of a carpetlike material according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partially sectioned view of a carpetlike material according to a further embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a partially sectioned pictorial view of yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a further embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a still further embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view of a continuous apparatus for preparing the carpetlike material according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view of a continuous apparatus for preparing carpetlike material according to a further embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 8 is a partially sectioned pictorial view of a further embodiment of this invention showing an embossed upper liner in position prior to the application of a flock coating;

FIG. 9 is a pictorial view of a portion of flock coated embossed material diagrammatically illustrating the pattern created in the flock coating by the embossed liner;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged pictorial view of a portion of an extruded plastic upper liner coated with a flock coating; and

FIG. 11 is a pictorial view of a carpetlike material having a woven fabric upper liner which supports a flock coating.

In FIG. 1 of the drawings, the reference numeral 10 refers generally to a carpetlike material which comprises a paperboard facing sheet or liner 12 and a paperboard upper corrugated sheet or medium 14. The upper corrugated sheet or medium is formed in the usual manner to provide alternately disposed crests 16 and valleys 18. The corrugated medium is rigidly secured to the liner 12 on the underside of the valleys and forms a plurality of regularly spaced flutes 20. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the flutes are filled with a reinforcing material 22 which strengthens the corrugated paperboard. The material with which the flutes are filled may vary from a material which will provide a rigid structure to one which will provide a certain amount of resiliency. Where a rigid filler is introduced into the flutes, the carpetlike material which is produced would be particularly suitable for scraping dirt from shoes and would, therefore, be very suitable for doormats and the like. Where the filling material is very resilient, it would increase the ability of the carpet to recover its original configuration after being compressed underfoot. Suitable examples of filling material are polystyrene, polyurethanes, sawdust in combination with an adhesive or plastic materials such as latex.

Referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawings, it will be seen that a further embodiment of the present invention is generally indicated by the reference numeral 30. The structure illustrated in FIG. 2 is closely related to that illustrated in FIG. 1 and like numerals are employed to identify like parts. In FIG. 2 it will be noted that the valleys 18 are filled with a flocked coating of short fibrous material which is adhesively secured to the top sheet 14. In the embodiment illustrated, the crests 16 are not coated with the flock coating; however, it will be understood that in a still further embodiment of the invention, the entire surface of the top sheet may be coated. It will also be noted that the flutes 20 do not contain any reinforcing material. The question of whether to introduce reinforcing material into the flutes or whether to omit it in this embodiment is dependent upon the manner in which the material is to be used. The corrugated upper sheet 14 and the lower facing sheet 12 may be reinforced by being impregnated with a reinforcing substance such as modified phenol and/or urea formaldehyde resins. The carpetlike material illustrated in FIG. 2 is particularly suitable for use where water is present due to the fact that the water which falls on the corrugated surface will gravitate to the valleys 18 and will be retained therein by the flock coating while the crests 16 will dry off rapidly. This type of material is particularly suitable for inexpensive doormats or bathroom mats or the like. In the embodiment where the flutes are filled as in FIG. 1, the material illustrated in FIG. 2 will provide a rugged doormat which will withstand considerable scraping and will serve to clean shoes very effectively.

Referring now to FIG. 3 of the drawings, the reference numeral 40 refers generally to a carpetlike material according to a further embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment illustrated, like parts have again been identified by like reference numerals. In this embodiment, a flock coating of fibrous material is adhesively secured to the entire upper surface of the corrugated sheet 14 and the flutes 20 are filled with a reinforcing material.

A still further embodiment of the present invention is generally identified by the reference numeral 50 in FIG. 4 and again like reference numerals have been applied to like parts. In this embodiment, at least the valleys 18 of the upper surface of the corrugated sheet 14 are filled with a flock coating of fibrous material which is adhesively secured thereto. It will be noted that in FIG. 4 the corrugations are biased or inclined at angles .theta..sub.1 and .theta..sub.2 to the plane of the facing sheet or base 12. The corrugations which are shown disposed at an angle .theta..sub.1 are shown in their directionally precrushed location while the corrugations shown at an angle .theta..sub.2 are at the angle which they will assume when compressed underfoot. By setting the corrugations at an angle during the manufacture of the carpetlike material, they tend to compress relatively easily underfoot and create the sensation of walking upon a deep pile carpet. In addition, by providing a flock coating extending within the valleys, the resilient sensation experienced by walking upon this carpet is increased due to the natural resiliency of the fibers. Furthermore, the fibers which are within the valleys tend to force the corrugations to return from their compressed angle .theta..sub.2 to their relaxed angle .theta..sub.1 after the compressive force has been removed. Once again, while the embodiment illustrated does not show any filler in the flutes, it will be understood that it is possible to achieve a very similar result to that described above by employing a resilient filling material within the angularly disposed flutes.

A still further embodiment of the present invention is generally identified by the reference numeral 60 in FIG. 5 and again in this embodiment like numerals are employed to identify like parts to those previously described. The corrugated sheet 14 of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5 is formed with a substantially flat top 16 and sidewalls 34. Again, at least the valleys 18 are coated with a coating of flocked fibrous material. The relaxed corrugations which are identified by the reference numeral 26 have a relaxed height h1 and the compressed corrugations which are identified by the reference numeral 28 have a compressed height h2. When the crests are compressed, the flock coating which lies between the compressed sidewall 24 and the base 19 is compressed in the valley 18 and assists the natural recovery of the corrugated material after the compression force has been removed and consequently increases the effective life of the carpetlike material.

Various modifications of the embodiments of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5 inclusive will be readily apparent by selectively combining the various features of each of the embodiments illustrated without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the flutes of the embodiments illustrated in FIG. 2 may be filled with a reinforcing material. The reinforcement may be introduced into each flute or it may be arranged such that every second flute is filled with a reinforcing material while the remaining flutes are not filled. Also, the flock coating may extend over the entire upper surface of the corrugated sheet 14. In determining which of the features of the invention are to be employed in any one product, factors such as production cost, the useful life required and the quality of surface appearance required should be taken into consideration. All of these features can be related to the final use of the product. For example, the product illustrated in FIG. 1 would be useful as an exterior doormat where the appearance of the product was not of major importance. The product illustrated in FIG. 2 would be useful for doormats and bathroom mats where moisture is likely to be present and the product illustrated in FIG. 3 would be suitable for use where the surface appearance of the product is important.

The material illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 would be less expensive than that illustrated in FIG. 3 in that it does not include the reinforcing filling material. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, the laying down feature of the flutes serves to transfer the load to the supporting base; and when the load is removed, the flutes tend to regain their inclined position.

The general overall appearance of any of the materials will depend to a large extent upon the length of the flocked fibers. For example, a 3.0 denier fiber 0.030 inches in length would provide a velvetlike appearance while a 10 denier fiber 0.100 inches in length would create the visual impression of a deep pile. While the dimensional specifications of the flock coating may vary considerably, it has been noted that the best results have been achieved using fiber in the range 1 to 60 denier and measuring 0.010 to 0.200 inches in length. In certain cases, it would be desirable to lay down a combination of short and long fiber flock, for example, a layer of long fibers to cover only the valleys could be laid down first and followed by an overcoat of short fibers to cover the whole surface of the valleys and peaks. The coating may also consist of a random selection of fibers of different lengths. It will be understood that it is not intended to limit the scope of this invention to the use of fibers in the dimensional ranges indicated above.

FIG. 6 of the drawings diagrammatically illustrates a method and apparatus for manufacturing a carpetlike material of the type wherein the flutes are filled with a reinforcing filler and FIG. 7 diagrammatically illustrates a further apparatus for the manufacture of carpetlike materials wherein the flutes are not reinforced with a filling material. A number of other alternative production methods are illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 and, as will be readily apparent, some of these features may be applied to either the reinforced flute carpetlike material or the material without the reinforced flutes.

In FIGS. 6 and 7 like reference numerals apply to like parts.

Firstly referring to FIG. 6 of the drawings, it will be seen that the facing sheet or liner 12 is continuously unwound from a winding drum 32 while the sheet 14 which forms the corrugated sheet is continuously unwound from a drum 34. Tension is maintained in the unwinding sheet 12 by means of a plurality of rollers 36 while tension is maintained in the unwinding sheet 14 by means of a plurality of rollers 38. The sheet 14 passes between complementary corrugator rollers 40, 42 and is formed therebetween to follow the contour of the roller 42. Adhesive is then applied to the corrugated sheet by means of a further corrugated roller 44. The adhesive is applied to the roller 44 by an applicator generally indicated by the reference numeral 46. The corrugated sheet with the adhesive coating then passes to a reservoir 48 containing the material to be used for filling the flutes. In the embodiment illustrated, the reinforcing material is in the form of polystyrene heads which are thrust into contact with the adhesive coated surface by means of a rotatable impeller 50. The beads which do not adhere to the coated surface of the corrugated paperboard fall back into the reservoir and are again picked up by the impeller and thrown against a further portion of the adhesively coated corrugated sheet 14. The corrugated sheet then passes to a further adhesive applicator generally indicated by the reference numeral 52. It will be noted that in this instance the top roller 54 of the applicator applies adhesive to the portions of the corrugated board 14 which are subsequently adhesively secured to the facing sheet 12 as the corrugated sheet leaves the roller 42. The adhesively connected sheets 12 and 14 pass over a guide roller 56 and into a heating and drying chamber generally indicated by the reference numeral 58. In the chamber 58, the adhesive which secures the sheets 12 and 14 together is dried and the polystyrene beads are heated to the point where they expand to fill the flutes of the corrugated sheet 14.

The reinforced corrugated structure then passes to a flock adhesive applicator 60. It will be noted that in the embodiment illustrated the adhesive is only applied to the crown portions 62 of the corrugated roller 64 such that when the adhesive is transferred to the surface of the corrugated sheet 14, it will only be applied in the valleys and not to the crests of the corrugated upper surface. The adhesive which is applied may be any one of the well-known adhesive commonly used for securing flock coatings such as, for example, the adhesive manufactured by C. L. Hauthaway & Sons Corporation of Lynn, Massachusetts, and commonly known in the trade as Spray Flocking Adhesive No. 1417/G. Further examples are the adhesive commonly known in the trade as L121 and manufactured by Swift Canadian Co. Ltd. of Montreal and the adhesive known as Adhesive No. Y3470 and Y3466 manufactured by H. B. Fuller Company Canada Limited.

The adhesively coated laminate then passes to the electrostatic flocking apparatus generally indicated by the reference numeral 66. A supply of fibrous flock material which is to be used for the flock coating is contained in a hopper 68 and is continuously agitated by an impeller 70 which is rotatably mounted in the lower end of the hopper. The type of fibrous material used may vary depending upon the eventual use of the carpetlike material and examples of suitable flocking material are cotton, rayon, cellulose, nylon and other similar materials. Cellulose pulp fibers are a relatively inexpensive material and are particularly suitable for use in the production of the inexpensive forms of the carpetlike material. Also, as previously indicated, the length of the fibers may vary depending upon the final use of the carpetlike material. The flocking is carried out in the usual manner by electrostatically charging the fibers and the surface of the corrugated sheet with opposite charges. One important feature of the electrostatically flocking process which is particularly beneficial in the manufacture of a carpetlike material is the tendency of the fibers to adopt an erect position with the result that only one end of the fiber is in contact with the adhesive coating. As a result of this characteristic, the flock coating forms an upstanding pilelike coating on the surface of the corrugated sheet. The coated carpetlike material then passes to a drying chamber 72 wherein the flock coating adhesive is dried to firmly anchor the fibers which are in contact with the adhesive.

After drying, the carpetlike material passes under a vacuum device 74 and all of the loose particles of the flock coating which are not firmly secured by the adhesive are lifted by the vacuum and recirculated to the flock hopper 66. When the finished product leaves the vacuum chamber it may be cut to any required length.

Referring now to FIG. 7 of the drawings, it will be seen that the facing sheet 12 is again unwound from a storage drum 32 and guided by a plurality of guide rollers 36. Similarly, the corrugated sheet 14 is unwound from a roller 34 and is guided by a plurality of tension rollers 38. The sheet 14 passes between the corrugator rollers 40 and 42 and is deformed to the corrugated contour of the bottom roller 42. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, the flutes are not filled with a reinforcing material and consequently the adhesive applicator roller 44 and reservoir 46 which are shown in FIG. 6 are not required in this embodiment. Again, the adhesive applicator 52 and roller 54 only apply adhesive to the portion of the corrugated sheet 14 which will be adhesively connected to the bottom sheet or facing sheet 12. The sheets 12 and 14 are brought together and pass over the guide roller 56 and into a drying chamber 58 wherein the adhesive is set. The corrugated sheet then passes to a flocking adhesive applicator which, in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, is in the form of a spray applicator which applies a coating of adhesive to the entire upper surface of the corrugated board. It will be understood that the type of flocking adhesive applicator used is optional and will depend upon the type of final product required. For example, the applicators illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 may be interchanged if required. The adhesively coated single faced corrugated structure then passes to an electrostatically flocking device 66, a drying chamber 72 and a vacuum chamber 74 which are the same as those previously described with reference to FIG. 6.

After leaving the vacuum section the single faced corrugated structure passes through a press generally indicated by the reference numeral 76. The press consists of a plurality of opposed rollers 78 and 80 which rotatably support continuous belts 82 and 84 respectively. As the corrugated structure passes through the press, the corrugations are angularly flattened to provide products such as those illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.

In FIG. 8 of the drawings the liner 12 and medium 14 are similar to those illustrated in FIG. 4 in that they provide a structure which will compress readily underfoot and provide a pleasantly yieldable surface. The embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 8 differs from those previously described in that it includes a second or upper liner 13 secured to the crests 16 of the medium 14. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8 the liner 13 is made from paperboard which is embossed to provide a pattern of recesses and protuberances generally identified by the reference numeral 15. A surprising effect of the embossing of the liner 13 is that when this embossed surface is coated with a flock coating the embossed pattern of the liner is very clearly and distinctly reflected in the surface finish of the flock coating which is subsequently applied to the surface of the liner 13. This is particularly true where the flock coating is formed from relatively short fibers which tend to stand erect on the liner 13. In FIG. 9 of the drawings an example of the dramatic effect on the surface appearance of the flock coating is diagrammatically illustrated. The significance of this very eye pleasing surface finish cannot be underestimated as it is readily apparent that for certain uses an inexpensive carpet having a very pleasing pattern is most desirable. The fact that this very simple step of embossing the upper liner 13 has a dramatic effect on the surface appearance of the finished carpet greatly increases the acceptability of this carpetlike material without substantially increasing its cost.

A further embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 9 wherein an additional medium 14a is adhesively secured to the liner 12 and a further liner 12a is adhesively secured to the medium 14a. This combined structure provides a double thickness of backing. Both of the mediums 14a are preferably formed with the axes of the corrugations angularly inclined in the manner similar to that shown in FIG. 4 such that increased compression is permitted. By using crushed double A flute corrugated board rather than a single corrugated medium to provide increased carpet depth the ability of the carpetlike material to recover its original thickness after the compressive force has been removed is considerably improved.

In FIG. 10 of the drawings an alternative upper liner 13a is shown in enlarged detail. This liner is preferably made from an extruded sheet of polyolefin such as polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinylchloride and polyvinylacetate and cellulose esters and is formed with a plurality of small discs 17 which are connected to one another by arms 23. In actual production the discs 17 may measure less than 0.010 inches and are sufficiently closely connected to one another to form a liner suitable for adhesively supporting a flock coating 21. The advantages of liner 13a are that it provides increased strength to the surface of the carpetlike material and the passages formed between the disc 17 form pores through which water may pass into the channels formed between the corrugations of the medium. The drainage of water from the flock surface of the carpetlike material permits the flocking to dry quickly and increases the effective life of the carpetlike material.

A further form of upper liner is illustrated at 13b in FIG. 11. In this embodiment the liner 13b is in the form of a woven textile such as cheesecloth and the flocking 21 is adhesively secured to the woven fabric 13b. The pores formed in the cheesecloth fabric 13b again permit water or the like to pass into the channels formed in the medium 14 to facilitate drying of the flock coating. The woven textile 13b is adhesively secured to the crests 16 of the corrugations.

When the upper liners 13, 13a and 13b are used the flock coating may be applied before or after these liners are secured to the medium 14.

It will be apparent from the aforegoing that the present invention is capable of providing a large variety of inexpensive carpetlike materials and the choice of the various steps to be carried out in the method of manufacture is dependent to a large extent upon the final use of the carpetlike material.

It will be evident that the double thickness backing used in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9 may also be used in combination with any of the structures illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5 and 8, 10 or 11.

While in the aforegoing description of the various embodiments of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5 of the drawings, reference has been made to the use of the carpetlike material as a carpet to be used underfoot. It will be understood that this material is equally suitable for other purposes for which carpetlike material is employed. Examples of such other use are for packaging purposes and wall decorating purposes. In the packaging and shipping applications, the flock coating provides a surface which will not mark the highly polished finish of articles of furniture and the like.

Claims

What we claim is:

1. A floor covering material comprising a lower facing sheet of paperboard, an upper corrugated sheet of paperboard secured to said lower facing sheet and forming a plurality of flutes therebetween, said corrugated sheet having an exposed upper surface forming a plurality of alternately disposed crests and valleys, said corrugations having an axis extending in a plane passing through the crest of each corrugation and the midpoint of said facing sheet between adjacent valleys, said axis of each adjacent corrugations being inclined at an acute angle relative to said facing sheet and extending substantially parallel to one another, a flock coating of resilient fibrous material adhesively secured to at least the area of the valleys formed in said upper surface such that upon compression of said inclined flutes, said flocked coating is resiliently compressed and upon release of the compressing force, said resilient fibers recover their original configuration thereby assisting said corrugated sheet to recover its original configuration.

2. A floor covering material comprising: a lower liner, a corrugated medium secured to said lower liner, an upper liner secured to said medium, a flock coating of fibrous material adhesively secured to at least a substantial portion of the surface of said upper liner.

3. A floor covering material as claimed in claim 2 wherein said flock coating is in the form of synthetic fibers measuring in the range 1 to 60 denier and 0.010 to 0.200 inch in length.

4. A floor covering material as claimed in claim 2 including a second corrugated medium secured to the lower surface of said lower liner and a third liner secured to said second corrugated medium to form a double flute base for said coating.

5. A floor covering material as claimed in claim 2 wherein said upper liner is a polyolefin net.

6. A floor covering material as claimed in claim 2 wherein said upper liner is in the form of a woven net of textile material.

7. A floor covering material as claimed in claim 2 wherein said upper liner comprises a polyethylene net.

8. A floor covering material as claimed in claim 2 wherein said upper liner is embossed to form a pattern of protuberances on the surface of the upper liner to which the flock coating is applied, thereby causing said flock coating to adopt the form of the pattern of the embossed upper liner to form floor covering material having a predetermined surface pattern.

9. A floor covering material as claimed in claim 8 wherein the corrugations of said corrugated medium are uniformly angularly crushed to be permanently disposed at an incline to said liner to form a resilient base for said material.

10. A floor covering material as claimed in claim 2 wherein said upper liner is porous to permit liquid to pass into the flute formed in the medium.

11. A floor covering material as claimed in claim 10 wherein said flock coating is in the form of synthetic fibers measuring in the range 1 to 60 denier and 0.010 to 0.200 inches in length.