Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or... – Composite having voids in a component
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-08
2002-01-08
Gupta, Yogendra N. (Department: 1781)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or...
Composite having voids in a component
C428S317500, C156S247000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06337127
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a plastic profile in the form of a foam strip for sealing a gap, especially for sealing the air gap between body parts of motor vehicles, whereby the surface of the foam strip is partially provided with an adhesive layer, as well as to an applicator to bring in a foam profile, especially a rectangular, a L-shaped or a T-shaped foam profile which is provided with an adhesive layer at least on one side, into a gap to be sealed or into a joint to be sealed, especially into a gap or a joint between a fixed body part and a movable body part of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous embodiments of foam strips are known for being used as sealing and/or masking strips, for example for the partial enamelling of motor vehicles or the like. In this respect, not only the penetration of colour mist into a gap of car body parts should be avoided. On the contrary, it should also be avoided that soil particles are ejected out from the joints by air whirling when colour mist has been oversprayed. Such soil particles can precipitate on the fresh distributed enamel and lead to a defective enamel spot.
So, for example, foam strips with a rectangular section are known, whereby one side of the foam strip is provided with an adhesive layer to fix the strip at the desired place of the object to be sealed. Such strips are also used for the sealing of windows and doors.
Other section profiles are also disclosed by the state of the art, such as circular or approximately circular foam strips which also have an adhesive layer for fixing. These strips can also be configured as hollow parts so as to obtain a better compressibility.
Nevertheless, a drawback of the known foam strips for sealing and masking is to be found in the fact that the application possibilities of a specific foam strip are limited to a certain problem task, since the foam strip can only be used for a defined joint width or the like because of the dimensioning and the plastic moulding of the specific foam strip.
Furthermore, the fixing or the inserting of the strips into a gap to be sealed is difficult and complicated, since the foam strip has to be much bigger than the gap to be sealed for a firm support of the foam strip. However, this oversize must first be pressed through the gap which is much narrower. Because of its big dimensions to ensure a sufficient sealing, the foam strip is exposed, in its final position, to high bending loads which have an effect on an adhesive joint between the foam strip and a car body wall. In unfavourable cases, it comes to a peeling off of the adhesive joint so that, already after a short time, the foam strip works loose from the car body part and does not guarantee an effective sealing of the gap any longer. When preparing a car body for example for a repair enamelling, it is generally necessary to mask certain parts or sections so that they do not come into contact with a spray enamel during the later enamelling operation. Adhesive strips, plastic strips and/or foam strips are adequate means for this purpose.
When positioning such strips or combinations of foam strips with paper adhesive strips, the sticking work often has to be performed under very confined conditions in which the hollow spaces are so narrow that a perfect sticking can only be obtained with a correspondingly designed applicator. Especially at places of difficult access, there are special difficulties, because of this lack of space, since it comes again and again to unintended contacts between the foam strip or between the foam strip lined with adhesive paper and surfaces of the spots to be sealed, for example of a car body.
When fitting plastic profiles for gap sealing which are joined with glue or with a paper adhesive strip to a surface of a gap inner side, it has thus proved to be a problem that these plastic profiles are difficult to handle with, since, when positioning the sealing profile in a gap to be sealed, the adhesive layer comes into contact prematurely, i.e. before the sealing profile is in the desired final position, with a surface and adheres thereto. This makes difficult or, in the unfavourable cases, prevents an exact positioning of the plastic profile in a gap to be sealed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the aim of the invention is to create an efficiently adhering plastic profile, preferably in form of a foam strip, which can, however, easily be detached from a car body part, as well as to make available an applicator for inserting the foam strip, whereby a safe and durable support of the foam profile in a gap to be sealed is guaranteed, even if the foam strip is exposed to high bending loads, and simultaneously a simple mounting of the strip is possible. Moreover, the plastic profile should be easy to handle with and should be applicable without a great deal of time, even by unskilled staff, to seal the gap between two components, especially between two body parts of vehicles.
For this purpose, according to the invention, the fixing means has at least two legs which are hinged together, whereby a first leg is connected to the foam strip by means of a first adhesive layer and a second leg is provided with a second adhesive layer for the connection with a gap inner side.
This has the advantage that the adhesive surface on the gap inner side can be configured with any variable size and that it is not exposed to any bending load. This prevents a shearing off, and the adhesive joint has a high durableness or is stable at least for the duration of the application. Because the first and the second adhesive layer are placed on one side of the fixing means, a hinge-type arrangement of the fixing means is possible which spans even narrow bending radii of the foam strip and so diverts lateral power from the adhesive joint with the gap inner side.
A connection which is particularly strong and reliable can be obtained between the foam strip and the fixing means by placing an additional nondetachable adhesive joint between the fixing means and the foam strip. This adhesive joint is preferably stronger than the inherent strength of the foam strip and of the fixing means.
Preferably, the fixing means is folded up before the foam strip is placed. The fact that sides of the legs of the fixing means which are opposite to the first and second adhesive layer are respectively provided with a third and a fourth adhesive layer efficiently prevents the fixing means from unfolding, before the foam strip is placed.
The third and fourth adhesive layer are preferably redetachable or at least redetachable in an easier way than the first and second adhesive layer. This guarantees the unfolding of the fixing means, after the foam strip has been inserted into a gap to be sealed.
Moreover, according to the invention, the fixing means has a first layer and a second layer, whereby the second layer has a redetachable adhesive coating for fixing to a gap inner side and the first layer is a nondetachable adhesive joint between the second layer and the foam strip.
This has the advantage that the adhesive surface on a gap inner side can be configured with any variable size and is not exposed to any bending load. This prevents a shearing off, and the adhesive joint has a high durableness or is stable at least for the duration of the application.
A particularly durable and reliable joint between the foam strip and the fixing means is obtained by the fact that the nondetachable adhesive joint is stronger than the inherent strength of the foam strip and of the second layer. The second layer is preferably a paper strip or a plastic strip and advantageously contains a textile ply.
For a foam strip of the above stated art, it is provided for that the adhesive layer as a fixing means is configured according to at least one of the assigned claims.
For an applicator of the above stated art, it is provided for that the applicator has a handle part and a receptacle part for the foam profile, whereby the receptacle part has, at one end opposite to the handle part, an e
Boyer Charles
Gupta Yogendra N.
Kueffner Friedrich
Vosschemie GmbH
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