Drop cloth

Abstract

A drop cloth includes a flexible sheet material having a perimeter edge region, and a conformable shape retaining member arranged adjacent at least a portion of the perimeter edge region that allows a user to form the edge region to closely match the profile of a surface to be protected.

1 . A drop cloth, comprising:
 (a) a flexible sheet material having a perimeter edge region; and   (b) a conformable shape retaining member arranged adjacent a selected portion of the flexible sheet material.   
     
     
         2 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the conformable shape retaining member is arranged along at least a portion of the perimeter edge region of the drop cloth. 
     
     
         3 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the conformable shape retaining member is metal. 
     
     
         4 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the conformable shape retaining member is a bendable sheet of metal. 
     
     
         5 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the conformable shape retaining member has a length of at least about 1 foot. 
     
     
         6 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the conformable shape retaining member has a thickness of about 1.0 mil to about 10.0 mils. 
     
     
         7 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the drop cloth exhibits a flexural recovery of less than about 15 degrees when measured according to ASTM D 3768-06 after being bent about 90 degrees after 30 second recovery. 
     
     
         8 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the conformable shape retaining member has a width of at least about one (1) inch. 
     
     
         9 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the conformable shape retaining member further includes an elastomeric coating layer. 
     
     
         10 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the conformable shape retaining member is formed of aluminum. 
     
     
         11 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the conformable shape retaining member is formed of embossed aluminum. 
     
     
         12 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the embossed metal layer comprises circular-shaped embossed features, wherein each circle feature has dimensions of at least about ⅛″. 
     
     
         13 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , comprising a pair of conformable shape retaining members arranged along opposite edges of the drop cloth. 
     
     
         14 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising a conformable shape retaining member arranged in a central region of the drop cloth. 
     
     
         15 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the flexible sheet material defines an elongate pouch, and wherein the conformable shape retaining member is contained within the elongate pouch. 
     
     
         16 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the conformable shape retaining member is affixed to an outer surface of the flexible sheet material. 
     
     
         17 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the flexible sheet material is at least one of cloth, paper, and polymeric film. 
     
     
         18 . A drop cloth as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the conformable shape retaining member may be manually formed by a user from an undeformed configuration, to a second deformed configuration, and then returned substantially to the undeformed configuration. 
     
     
         19 . A drop cloth, consisting of:
 (a) a flexible sheet material having a perimeter edge region;   (b) a conformable shape retaining member arranged adjacent at least a portion of the perimeter edge region; and   (c) means for retaining the conformable shape retaining member along a region of the flexible sheet material.   
     
     
         20 . A drop cloth, comprising:
 (a) a sheet of canvas material having a perimeter edge region containing a pouch;   (b) a conformable shape retaining member arranged within the pouch, the conformable shape retaining member comprising an elongated sheet of embossed aluminum having a length of at least 3 feet, a width of at least about 3 inches, and a thickness of about 3 mils to about 8 mils.