Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Ralph E Unruh

Jesse D Miller, Jr

James A Tshudy

A decorative floor covering in tile form has a design printed on its upper surface. Particles are positioned on the upper surface of the tile with at least some of the particles being placed on the tile surface in register with the design printed on the tile surface. A cured wear layer overlies both the particle and the plastic base, whereby the wear layer surface in the areas containing particles and in the areas not containing particles will be of different gloss characteristics. The process requires the sprinkling of particles over an adhesive coated surface to retain the particles in registration with a printed design on the tile surface.

Floor tile product and process

A decorative plastic floor tile composed of a decorative plastic base having a plurality of elements positioned on the base with a clear or translucent wear layer overlying the elements and the base. The base has raised and depressed areas. The elements comprise particles, preferably inorganic and rounded, and these are embedded in a plastic matrix which is placed only on the raised areas of the base. The particles are distributed throughout the matrix in a single layer of particles with the particles protruding from the matrix but being below the upper most level of the wear layer.

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Denver, PA, United States of America

Ralph E Unruh