Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-21
2001-04-10
Canfield, Robert (Department: 3635)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S304100, C180S090000, C296S039100, C296S070000, C296S146700, C052S716300, C052S716500, C264S296000, C264S322000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06214157
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a trim component and especially an interior trim panel for a motor vehicle, wherein the decorative covering of the trim component includes two different cover materials. The invention further relates to a method and an apparatus for producing such a trim component having a two-part cover material.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In the automotive industry, it has become known to use interior trim components such as interior door panels, dashboards, and the like having a decorative covering including two different cover materials on the same trim component. Such a trim component having a two-part cover material is desired by consumers, for example to achieve a “two-tone effect” in which the two different cover materials have different colors, or a high value or “luxury effect” in which the two different cover materials are different types of materials such as a decorative cover film and a decorative cloth, or in which the different cover materials have different degrees of “soft touch” padding or the like.
In order to make such vehicle trim components having two-part cover materials, it has conventionally been the practice to splice together the two different cover materials before applying the spliced cover sheet onto the substrate of the trim component. The splicing of the two different cover materials has conventionally been carried out by thermal welding, adhesive bonding, or stitching. After the two different cover materials have been spliced together in such a manner, it is generally necessary to hide or cover the splice line in order to hide the stitching or any adhesive overspill or the like. This is conventionally achieved by applying a trim strip, such as a strip of plastic, chrome, wood or the like, over the splice line on the finished trim component. Alternatively, it has been attempted to press the splice line into a groove provided in the substrate in order to hide the splice line in this manner.
The above described conventional practices and the resulting trim component having a two-part cover material suffer many disadvantages, including the following. The preliminary process of splicing together the two different cover materials involves extra processing and handling steps, which translates into increased costs and a greater likelihood of defective parts leading to a higher reject rate. Furthermore, the application of a trim strip to hide the splice line on the finished door panel, dashboard or the like requires extra steps and extra materials, which again lead to higher costs and higher defect rates.
Most importantly, the previously known methods for making a trim component having a two-part cover material require extreme precision in forming the splice between the two different cover materials, then aligning the spliced two-part cover material onto the substrate of the trim component, and aligning the splice line with the groove provided in the substrate and/or aligning the splice trim strip with the splice line. It has been found in practice that this high degree of precision cannot be reliably attained, and as a result, the splice line is left at least partially visible in the finished trim component, i.e. the splice line protrudes out of the groove in the substrate or protrudes from under the splice trim strip. This leads to an unacceptably high reject rate of the finished trim components.
Moreover, in the operation for pressing the splice line into a groove provided in the substrate, it has been necessary to preform the groove in the substrate, which requires extra processing steps, and it has been necessary to make the groove wide enough to provide a sufficient tolerance range so that a tucking blade can press the splice line of the cover material down into the groove and then be retracted. In other words, the groove in the substrate conventionally has to be wide enough to allow for the thickness of the two layers of the cover material on both sides of the splice and for the thickness of the tucking blade that presses the cover material into the groove. After the tucking blade is retracted, however, a gap necessarily remains where the tucking blade had been pressed in. In any event, the result in the finished trim component has been unsatisfactory, because of the above mentioned defects in alignment of the splice line with the groove, but also because of the width of the conventional groove, which does not have a “closed” and “crisp” appearance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above, it is an object of the invention to provide a trim component especially for the interior of a motor vehicle, that has a decorative covering including at least two different cover materials in which the two cover materials are not pre-spliced together, and the junction line is hidden in a groove or valley of the substrate without requiring a splice trim strip. It is a further object of the invention to provide a method and an apparatus for producing such a trim component, which avoid the need for pre-splicing operations and which require a significantly lower degree of precision in aligning the junction of the two cover materials with the substrate. The invention further aims to avoid or overcome the other disadvantages of the prior art, and to achieve additional advantages, as apparent from the present description.
The above objects have been achieved in a trim component according to the invention, including a substrate, and a decorative covering including two different cover sheets, which may include cover sheets having different colors and/or cover sheets made of different materials, such as a cloth cover sheet and a film cover sheet. The film may be a synthetic leatherette film, or a vinyl film, or a thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) film, for example. The cover sheet may include a polyolefin foam or film backing for achieving hot-melt bonding. The substrate preferably comprises natural fibers and a polyolefin material, and especially polypropylene. An example of a preferred material is a multi-layered substrate material available under the trademark “LOPREFIN” from R+S Stanztechnik GmbH of Offenbach, Germany.
The substrate includes a valley formed therein, with a junction of the two different cover sheets pressed into this valley. The two different cover sheets are not pre-spliced to each other, but instead are simply pressed into the valley as it is being formed. Particularly, the valley is formed by pinching the substrate material onto the junction area of the two different cover sheets as the substrate is being molded and laminated with the cover sheets.
The cover sheets are laminated and adhered onto the substrate due to the hot-melt adhesion effect provided by the surface of the hot substrate during the forming process. Namely, when the substrate material is heated for laminating, the polypropylene therein is softened and at least partially melted to provide a tacky adhesion for bonding the two cover sheets onto the substrate, and also into the valley of the substrate. Thus, no additional stitching or adhesive is necessary for joining the two cover sheets to each other or for bonding the cover sheets onto the substrate.
The above objects have further been achieved by a method according to the invention, wherein the two different cover sheets are separately laid onto a preheated substrate sheet, whereby the cover sheets adhere in a tacky manner onto the preheated substrate, by a hot-melt adhesive effect provided by the hot polypropylene. The bordering edges of the cover sheets forming the junction therebetween are then pressed down by a tucking blade from above so as to form the valley in the substrate and push the junction area of the cover sheets into the valley. Next, the valley is pinched together from below, while the tucking blade is retracted from above, so as to pinch the valley closed, whereby the junction of the two different cover sheets is held in the pinched valley.
By pinching the substrate in this manner, while pressing down from above with a tucking blade, and continuing and completing the pinching as
Canfield Robert
Fasse W. F.
Fasse W. G.
R + S Technik
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