Foot grilles and mats

Claim 1

A foot grille, grating, mat or the like comprising a multiplicity of parallel spaced-apart elongated bars of uniform cross-section along their length, each bar including in crosssection a base portion having an essentially flat shallow channel defined by a flange portion along each side of and extending upwardly from the base portion and a lip portion extending inwardly from the upper edge of each flange portion and defining with each flange portion and the adjacent side marginal part of the base portion an inwardly open slot extending along each side of the bar, the inner ends of the lip portions being spaced-apart to define an opening between them, and an elongated strip of a pile fabric material received by each bar, each pile fabric strip having an essentially flat base strip of a semi-rigid material that renders the pile fabric strip sufficiently stiff to prevent the pile fabric strip from being pulled up out of the bar channel, and a pile, each pile fabric strip being received on a bar with the side margins of the base strip firmly received and captured in the slots along each side of the bar, with the base strip resting on the base portion of the bar, and with the pile extending up through and above the opening between the inner edges of the lips, and each pile fabric strip further having a longitudinally continuous lateral projection extending out on each side thereof constituted at least by marginal portions of the semi-rigid base strip, each such lateral projection being of a thickness substantially equal to the corresponding thicknesswise dimension of the corresponding slot receiving it, and at least that part of the pile of the pile fabric material intermediate the lips of the bar being of a width less than the width of the base strip and not greater than the dimension between the inner edges of the lips.