Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Structurally defined web or sheet – Physical dimension specified
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-21
2003-08-05
Kelly, Cynthia H. (Department: 1774)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Structurally defined web or sheet
Physical dimension specified
C428S208000, C428S046000, C428S031000, C428S422000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06602591
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known to apply automotive trim pieces to the exterior of wheeled vehicles such as cars and trucks. Examples of such trim include accent stripes, side door bumper elements, claddings, wheel covers, grills, and bumper fascia. The instant invention further applies to exterior vehicle components which have previously been made of plastic materials, such as door sides and the like.
In the prior art, exterior molded automotive trim components are typically painted in order to provide them with color. It is desirable that the paint color be compatible with the appearance of the vehicle (e.g. the same as that of the vehicle, or complimentary thereto). Following painting of a molded piece of trim, a clear coat is often sprayed over the-paint to give it luster.
Prior to painting molded trim, it has often been necessary to prepare the exterior surfaces of such components by applying a primer which promotes adhesion of the paint to the surface of the molded component. After the paint is applied over the primer by spraying, the color appearance of the final product results from the pigmentation of the paint layer which is sandwiched between the sprayed-on clear coat and the underlying primer.
Unfortunately, spray painting of molded components for use on vehicles is often undesirable due to the potential for resulting paint lines, a need for masking tape, and the corresponding labor involved. Moreover, spray painting is undesirable due to the high capital equipment cost associated with paint line equipment, and potentially hazardous environmental issues relating to required solvents and the like. Thus, it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that it would be desirable if automotive trim components could be manufactured in a manner so that they were color compatible with automotive exteriors, without the need for spray painting the molded components.
It is also known to manufacture automotive exterior plastic components simply as a product in the condition which it comes out of the mold (i.e. without painting). For such components, the plastic which is used to injection mold the component may include color pigmentation so that the desired color appears not only on the surface but throughout the molded article. Unfortunately, the surface of such molded components, while initially presenting a desirable color, lacks luster and also can be easily scratched and/or marred to further detract from its lack of luster.
Molded automotive trim components have numerous requirements or desires known by automotive manufacturers. It is desirable that such trim components maintain their form without becoming too soft in hot weather conditions, or too brittle in cold weather. Such products should also be capable of holding up and withstanding exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun. It is also desired that certain components be capable of a certain amount of flexibility without permanently deforming or denting. It is desirable that surface appearances of such components exhibit considerable luster.
Another approach to automotive trim coloring includes the use of dry paint film. A dry paint-coated laminate can be utilized to replace conventional spray paint. The dry laminate is made by applying a paint coat to a casting sheet by way of conventional paint coating techniques. The dried paint coat is then transferred from the casting sheet to a trim panel by way of known dry paint transfer technology. The laminate may later be thermo-formed into a three dimensional shape and then bonded or integrally molded to an underlying plastic car body member or panel. Such known dry paint film technology is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,712, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Prior art
FIGS. 1-10
will be referred to for the purpose of describing conventional dry paint film technology for application to automotive trim components.
FIG. 1
illustrates a conventional automobile, which includes numerous exterior plastic molded body components which may be colored. Automobile
1
in
FIG. 1
includes bumper fascia
3
, wheel covers
5
, and many other exterior components which may be made via injection molding technology.
The '712 patent describes a system for coloring automotive trim components. The first step in this dry paint film approach is the provision of the dry laminate
7
of FIG.
2
. Laminate
7
includes self-supporting carrier sheet
9
(i.e. casting film), clear coat
11
, paint coat
13
, and optional size coat
15
for providing adhesion to a backing sheet in a subsequent laminating step. In order to manufacture laminate
7
, clear coat
11
is coated onto carrier
9
by a complicated reverse roll coating process shown in prior art
FIG. 3
, in which clear coat lacquer is contained in coating pan
17
. Applicator roll
19
picks up lacquer from the pan and coats it onto carrier film
21
(or
9
) after it passes over guide roll
23
. After exiting the nip (or die) between applicator roll
19
and rubber backup roll
25
, the coated carrier film
27
passes to a multiple zone drying oven. The laminate is dried in the oven at temperatures of from about 250°-400° F. via a multi-stage drying process. After drying, a two layered laminate, including carrier
9
and clear coat
11
, is provided.
Color coat
13
is then bonded to clear coat
11
after the clear coat has dried on carrier
9
. Color paint coat
13
is typically applied to the carrier by reverse roller coating techniques as shown in
FIG. 3
, with the color coat being dried by passing it through the multiple drying zones discussed above in curing the clear coat. Thus, the complicated reverse rolling techniques and multi-zone drying ovens of
FIG. 3
must be utilized on numerous occasions in order to apply the clear coat and the color coat to the carrier.
Size coat
15
is next coated onto paint coat
13
, and is typically applied as a thermoplastic and dried in the same multi-step drying step utilized above for the clear and color coats. The result is laminate
7
of FIG.
2
.
Laminate
7
is next laminated to a thermo-formable backing sheet by dry paint transfer laminating techniques shown in
FIG. 4
, to form laminate
29
of FIG.
5
. During this burdensome laminating step of
FIG. 4
, paint-coated laminate
7
is stored on unwind roll
31
and a flexible
20
mil thick ABS backing sheet
33
is stored on unwind roll
35
. When rolls
31
and
35
unwind as shown in
FIG. 4
, and the webs respectively pass over drums
37
, paint-coated laminate
7
and ABS sheet
33
are bonded together between heated laminating drum
39
and roll
41
. Laminate
7
is bonded to sheet
33
as the two pass between rolls
39
and
41
. The resulting laminate
29
then passes onto storage drum
43
. The result is a roll of the laminate
29
of
FIG. 5
, including a color determined by the colored pigment in paint layer
13
. Laminate
29
includes backing sheet
33
, size coat
15
, color coat
13
, and clear coat
11
.
Next, laminate
29
is thermo-formed into a desired three dimensional shape. Referring to
FIG. 6
, laminate
29
is placed inside clamping frame
45
of a vacuum-forming machine. Frame
45
is moved into oven
47
for heating laminate
29
. Backing sheet
33
is heated in oven
47
and laminate
29
sags as shown at
49
. Then, clamping frame
45
is moved back to the position above vacuum-forming buck
51
. The preheated laminate
29
is next vacuum-formed into a desired three dimensional shape by drawing a vacuum on buck
51
through connection
53
to a vacuum pump, and buck
51
is raised to its
FIG. 7
position. Vacuum is pulled through holes in buck
51
to force the pre-heated plastic of laminate
29
into the shape of the working surface of buck
51
.
Next, the thermo-formed three dimensionally shaped laminate
29
is bonded to a substrate panel as shown in
FIGS. 8-9
. Laminate
29
is placed into an injection mold and fused to the face of an injection molded substrate
55
.
FIG. 8
shows preformed laminate
29
placed in the mold cavity b
Ferguson L.
Guardian Automotive Trim, Inc.
Kelly Cynthia H.
Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.
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