Title 16

SECTION 1631.1

1631.1 Definitions.

§ 1631.1 Definitions.

In addition to the definitions given in section 2 of the Flammable Fabrics Act, as amended (sec. 1, 81 Stat. 568; 15 U.S.C. 1191), and the procedures under that act for setting standards (part 1607 of this chapter), the following definitions apply for the purposes of this Standard:

(a) Acceptance Criterion means that at least seven out of eight individual specimens of a small carpet or rug shall meet the test criterion as defined in this Standard.

(b) Test Criterion means the basis for judging whether or not a single specimen of small carpet or rug has passed the test, i.e., the charred portion of a tested specimen shall not extend to within 2.54 cm. (1.0 in.) of the edge of the hole in the flattening frame at any point.

(c) Small Carpet means any type of finished product made in whole or in part of fabric or related material and intended for use or which may reasonably be expected to be used as a floor covering which is exposed to traffic in homes, offices, or other places of assembly or accommodation, and which may or may not be fastened to the floor by mechanical means such as nails, tacks, barbs, staples, adhesives, and which has no dimension greater than 1.83 m. (6 ft.) and an area not greater than 2.23 m. 2 (24 sq. ft.). Products such as “Carpet Squares” with dimensions smaller than these but intended to be assembled, upon installation, into assemblies which may have dimensions greater than these, are excluded from this definition. They are, however, included in the Standard for the surface flammability of carpets and rugs (FF 1-70) (subpart A of part 1630 of this chapter). Mats, hides with natural or synthetic fibers, and other similar products are included in this definition if they are within the defined dimensions, but resilient floor coverings such as linoleum, asphalt tile and vinyl tile are not.

(d) Small Rug means, for the purposes of this Standard, the same as small carpet and shall be accepted as interchangeable with small carpet.

(e) Traffic Surface means a surface of a small carpet or rug which is intended to be walked upon.

(f) Timed Burning Tablet (pill) means a methenamine tablet, flat, with a nominal heat of combustion value of 7180 calories/gram, a mass of 150 mg ±5mg and a nominal diameter of 6mm.

(g) Fire-Retardant Treatment means any process to which a small carpet or rug has been exposed which significantly decreases the flammability of that small carpet or rug and enables it to meet the acceptance criterion of this Standard.

[40 FR 59935, Dec. 30, 1975, as amended at 72 FR 60767, Oct. 26, 2007]