US3464731A - Carpet fastening tool - Google Patents

Description

p 2, 1969 A J. ERAMO 3,464,731

CARPET FASTENING TOOL Filed Jan. 8, 1968 FIG- 4 51,. INVENTOR.

) Z ANT/101V) EVA/V0 3 4M irrazv'i' l United States Patent 3,464,731 CARPET FASTENING TOOL Anthony J. Eramo, 5900 17th Ave., Sacramento, Calif. 95820 Filed Jan. 8, 1968, Ser. No. 696,200 Int. Cl. E04g 21/20 US. Cl. 294-8.6 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hand tool includes a horizontal foot plate for depressing the edge of a wall-to-wall carpet stretched so that the edge portion of the carpet overlies a floor-mounted tack strip, the carpet thereby engaging the upstanding plns on the tack strip. The hand tool is also provided with an inner marginal bead on the foot plate to tuck a small overhanging portion of the carpet into a space between the tack strip and the adjacent wall as the tool is urged downwardly against the portion of the carpet overlying the tack strip. A vertical guide plate above the bead slides against the wall and assists in locating and directing the movement of the tool, the tool also including a hand grip outwardly offset from the plane of the wall engaging guide plate to afford a safe and convenient hand hold.

The invention relates to improvements in tools for securing stretched carpets to tack strips.

It is an object of the invention to provide a carpet fastening tool which is convenient and safe to manipulate.

It is another object of the invention to provide a carpet tool which quickly and securely fastens a carpet to a tack strip or other comparable carpet anchor.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a carpet fastening tool which is economical, yet which is sturdy and durable in construction.

It is another object of the invention to provide a generally improved tool for fastening carpets.

Other objects, together with the foregoing, are attained in the embodiment described in the following description and shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational View;

FIGURE 2 is a bottom plan view of the foot plate and the marginal, tucking bead;

FIGURE 3 is an end view showing the tool in use in a typical environment; and,

FIGURE 4 is a transverse sectional view, the plane of the section being indicated by the line 4-4 in FIG- URE 1.

While the carpet tool of the invention is susceptible of numerous physical embodiments, depending upon the environment and requirements of use, substantial numbers of the herein shown and described device have been made, tested and used, and all have performed in an eminently satisfactory manner.

The carpet tool of the invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 12, includes an elongated horizontal foot plate 13 having a substantially planar bottom surface 14 formed to engage and depress the pile 16 and backing 17 of the end portion 18 of a wall-to-wall carpet 19.

In installing such a carpet it is customary to aflix to the floor 21 of a room, along at least one wall 22 thereof, an elongated strip known as a tack strip 23, the tack strip being provided with a plurality of upwardly projecting and laterally inclined pins 24, or teeth. The strip 23 is laid down so that the pins 24 tilt toward the adjacent wall 22.

The inner edge 26 of the tack strip 23 is spaced a predetermined distance from the adjacent wall and thereby affords a space 27 within which an overhanging ledge 28 of carpet can be tucked and lodged, as will subsequently be explained in detail.

Extending from the tack strip 23 outwardly into the room is the customary undercarpet, or padding 31, of resilient material.

In laying the carpet, a free end thereof is secured along one wall, the carpet then being unrolled, stretched by suit means (not shown) and out along the opposite end so that the slight overhang 28 is afforded, as in FIG- URE 3.

It is then necessary to force downwardly the portion 18 of the carpet overlying the tack strip 23 so that the carpet backing 17 is pierced by the pins 24, the pins being inclined in a direction so as to resist the restoring force exerted by the stretched carpet when the carpet stretcher is removed from the carpet.

Heretofore, such crude expedients as mallets have been used to pound the end of the carpet so as to lodge the carpet on the pins, with the result that the pins are often clinched before they pierce the backing. So also, by subjecting the carpet to a succession of blows, some of the previously lodged backing material is dislodged. As a consequence, with such tools, the tacking is only partially complete, the result being that when the stretcher is removed, portions of the carpet become disengaged from the tack strip and pull away from the wall.

With the present device, however, the foot plate 13 bears firmly downwardly under the downward urgency of the users hand gripping a hand hold 33 defined by the horizontal portion of a strong bar 34 having a pair of inclined legs 36 and 37. Undulations 38 on the portion 34 afford a secure and convenient grip for the fingers.

Connected across the lower inclined portions 42 and 43 of the respective bar legs 36 and 37 is an inwardly inclined web 44 merging at its inner lower end in a vertical guide plate 51 having a planar inner face adapted to slide vertically down the wall 22 in substantial face to face engagement therewith.

The plate 51 serves as a very effective positioner and guide for the foot plate 13, the vertical guide plate 51 being connected adjacent its lower end with the horizontal foot plate 13. A plurality of triangular-shaped gussets 56 affords rigidity and strength to the structure.

Projecting downwardly from the bottom of the vertical guide plate 51 is a wedge-shaped bead 61 coplanar on its inner surface with the inner face 52 of the guide plate and inclined on its outer face 62 so as to engage and force downwardly the overhanging ledge 28 of carpet and tuck it into the space 27, thus affording a neat appearance to the finished carpet installation.

A plurality of rather dull pins 66, or teeth, is formed on the bottom of the foot plate 13 so that when the tool is urged downwardly in the direction indicated by the arrow 67 in FIGURE 3, the carpet is securely lodged on the tack strip pins 24. The depending pins 66, in other words, penetrate through the pile, as the foot plate is pressed downwardly, and push the carpet backing downwardly against the tack strip, thus causing all of the tack strip teeth to penetrate the backing. The number, spacing and staggered arrangement of the depending pins 66 resemble those of the teeth upstanding from the tack strip. However, the tool pins 66, as stated above, are somewhat duller than the tack strip teeth, and are somewhat larger and blunter in profile. Consequently, the tool pins 66 are not only unusually effective in depressing the carpet backing in a uniformly spaced and regular manner, but also themselves avoid penetration of the backing. This beneficial effect is enhanced by reason of the downward and outward slope, as shown, of the pins 66.

At the same time the carpet portion below the foot plate is being urged into secured position by the downward force exerted by the foot plate and the inclined pins 66,

the marginal bead 61 is being urged against the carpet overhang 28, bending and tucking the carpet overhang into the space 27.

The foot plate 13 is in practice, about one foot long. Thus, along a wall 22 which is twelve feet in length, for example, the carpet layer would lift and urge the tool downwardly, as described, perhaps fourteen to eighteen times, allowing for a few inches of overlap on successive strokes as the user moves along the tack strip from one end to the other, operating the fastening tool as he proceeds.

At the conclusion of the procedure, which requires but a few moments in most cases, the carpet stretcher device can be removed with the assurance that the carpet is securely fastened to the tack strip and with the margin or end portion 28 neatly bent downwardly and tucked into the narrow defile 27 separating the tack strip from the wall.

It can therefore be see that I have provided a carpet layers hand tool which is not only safe and convenient to use, but which also firmly secures and neatly arranges the edge of a carpet.

What is claimed is:

1. A tool for use in fastening a carpet to a tack strip secured to the floor parallel to and at a predetermined distance from an adjacent wall, sad tool comprising:

(a) an elongated horizontal foot plate having an outer margin and an inner margin for placement on the portion of the carpet overlying the tack strip;

\b) a bead mounted on and depending from said inner margin to overlie the space between the tack strip and the adjacent wall;

(c) a vertical guide plate projecting upwardly from said head and including a surface arranged for sliding contact with the wall;

(d) an elongated horizontal hand grip outwardly offset from the general plane of said guide plate; and,

(e) an inclined member connecting said hand grip and said guide plate for transmitting the downward force exerted on said hand grip to said guide plate, said bead and said foot plate, said force being effective to urge the underlying carpet portion into fastened engagement with said tack strip.

2. A tool as in claim 1 further including a plurality of depending pins inclined in a downward and outward attitude.

3. A tool as in claim 2 wherein said bead is wedgeshaped and extends downwardly into the space between said tack strip and said wall as downward force is exerted on said handle, said bead being efiective to urge into said space a portion of the carpet overhanging said space.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,919,840 7/1933 Hoobler 2948.6

EVON C. BLUNK, Primary Examiner R. S. GAITHER, Assistant Examiner

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