An "S" shaped, double-blade carpet cutter is provided which simultaneously cuts the edges of two adjacent, overlapped carpets from the back side, to provide closely matching, abutting edges which can thereafter be seamed. The lower carpet edge is inserted into one opening of the "S", and the overlapping edge of the upper carpet is inserted into the other opening of the "S". One blade is mounted on the first or top arm of the "S" and the other blade is mounted on the second or middle arm of the "S", and the blades extend perpendicularly out of the plane of the "S" and are aligned to cut along a single seam line. A handle is attached to the third arm of the "S" to allow the cutter to be pulled along the overlapped carpet edges. Thus, when a first edge of carpeting is placed between the first and second arms, and an overlapping second edge of carpeting is placed between the second and third arms, and the cutter is rotated about the axis of the first arm so that the "S" is horizontal, the points of the blades will be driven up through the carpet backing from underneath; when the handle is pulled along the overlapping edges, both pieces of carpeting are cut along a seam line to produce closely matching, abutting edges which can be seamed when the short pieces cut off the edges by the cutter are removed.
A cutter for face cutting of carpeting is provided. The cutter includes a floor engaging base and a plate attached to the floor engaging base which is slidable along an inclined path forming an acute angle with the base to form between the movable plate and the base a forwardly facing carpet receiving slot having a longitudinal central axis. A downwardly and rearwardly inclined cutting blade disposed in a plane which is parallel to and spaced to one side of a longitudinal central axis of the carpet receiving slot spans the rear end of the carpet receiving slot at the same acute angle as that formed by the inclined path of the floor engaging base, and is secured in a blade housing having an open-ended slot to provide easy access for adjustment, removal, and replacement of blades. Also provided are coacting bearing surfaces for securing the lowermost end of the blade against deflection, and cutouts for preventing an accumulation of debris around the lowermost corner of the blade.
A method for cutting piled fabric is provided. The method includes the steps of bending the pile elements downward towards the fabric base along a line to be cut and thereafter cutting through the bent piling elements and fabric base to form a two-sided cut. Such method shears piling elements adjacent to one side of the cut while leaving the pile elements adjacent to the other side of the cut substantially unaltered.
