Floor tile production and products (US Patent 3,924,023, 1975)

Armen G. Boranian and Bruce Terwilliger received US Patent No. 3,924,023 on December 2, 1975, filed April 3, 1973. It was assigned to Gaf Corp.

The patent's abstract:

The vinyl asbestos and asphalt floor tiles are formed with a predetermined image printed on the surface thereof by rotogravure, planograph, letterpress or other printing techniques. Unlimited design possibilities not heretofore feasible by conventional valley printing of the continuous sheet of tile composition prior to cutting into individual tiles, are thus presented, the sheet being printed either during or after the sheet calendering operation. The continuous sheet, traveling at a rate of about 80-200 ft./min. is surfaced following said printing with a clear, durable wear layer having, upon curing, an advantageous combination of enhanced properties including enhanced resistance to scratching and abrasion, together desirably with improved resistance to staining, scorching and other desirable properties. The dimensional stability characteristics of the surfaced tiles are comparable to those of the untreated base tile, minimizing the problem of curling during storage, application and use. The clear wear layer is a crosslinked polymeric product of a fluid photo-polymerizable coating applied to the continuous sheet at a temperature of at least about 140*F and cured by exposure to ultraviolet light of sufficient intensity to initiate curing in less than about 15 seconds, typically with exposure times of from a fraction of a second to about 10 seconds. The thus-printed treated sheet is thereafter cut while warm to form individual tiles surfaced with said clear, durable, dimensionally stable wear layer having an advantageous combination of improved wear characteristics.

Where it was listed

• Asbestos, March 1976, in its patents department (the year's issues)