Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes – Pore forming in situ – Composite article making
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-09
2002-08-20
Morris, Terrel (Department: 1771)
Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes
Pore forming in situ
Composite article making
C264S045100, C264S045200, C264S046500, C264S046800, C264S257000, C264S309000, C156S077000, C156S078000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06436321
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a three dimensional shaped fiber sheet and, in particular, relates to a three dimensional shaped carpet used for an automobile and a method for manufacturing the carpet.
BACKGROUND OF THE ART
A carpet is used as a mat for an automobile such as a passenger car, a truck, a bus and the like. A carpet base material of such a carpet is classified roughly into a tufted type and a needle punched type.
The tufted type of a carpet base material is manufactured by stitching a base fabric to provide fiber loops (or piles) on a front surface of the base fabric so as to form tufts of the fiber loops thereon, coating a latex on a back surface of the base fabric, and drying the latex not to slip off the fiber loops (hereinafter referred to as “a tufting process”).
The needle punched type of a carpet base material is manufactured by cutting synthetic fibers into an appropriate length, layering the fibers with a binder in a constant thickness, needling the layer to form a fiber plate like, and drying the binder. In such a needle punched type of a carpet base material, there is a carpet base material manufactured by layering the fibers with 5-20% wt of additional fibers having a low melting point such as olefin fibers instead of use of the binder, needling the layer to form a fiber plate like, and pressing and heating the layer to bond a part of the fibers not to come loose and slip off the layered fibers. Recently, use of this type of a carpet base material has been increasing.
In order to mold a three dimensional shaped carpet by use of those types of carpet base materials, two processes are required.
A first process thereof includes steps of coating a melt of polyethylene on a back surface of a carpet base material in a constant thickness and leaving the carpet base material at a room temperature for a moment. A second process thereof includes the steps of heating the carpet base material to 120-140° C. in a furnace so as to soften the melt of polyethylene as though the melt is in a half-melting condition and pressing the carpet base material by use of a metallic die having a desired three dimensional shape.
Such two processes are required to mold a three dimensional shaped carpet, and this is because the step of coating the melt of polyethylene should be separated essentially from the step of pressing to mold the carpet.
While a three dimensional shaped carpet can be manufactured by according to such processes, a felt material is, in general, additionally adhered at a necessary part of the carpet in order to achieve a noise absorption.
As described bellow, there are several problems in the manufacture of a three dimensional shaped carpet used for an automobile by use of those types of carpet base materials.
Either type of carpet base materials require those two processes for molding a three dimensional shaped carpet, as described above. Thus, a manufacture of a three dimensional shaped carpet is inefficient. That is, there are many steps to mold a carpet in three dimension, and a large quantity of thermal energy is lost by repeating steps of heating and cooling. In addition, wasteful beginning products must be produced.
In the step of coating the melt of polyethylene on the back surface of the carpet base material, an extrusion coating by use of a T-die is required, and thus, large equipment is required and a large quantity of thermal energy is required when coating the melt.
In use of the tufted type of a carpet base material, two processes for treating a back surface of the carpet base material are required in order not to slip off fiber loops (or piles) provided thereon by a tufting process as described above. One process thereof includes steps of coating a latex on a back surface of the carpet base material (hereinafter referred to as “a back coating”), heating the latex coated on the back surface of the carpet base material and changing the latex into a solid condition, and another process thereof includes a step of coating a melt of polyethylene on the back surface thereof. Assuming that coating the latex on the back surface of the carpet base material is avoided, the cost will be considerably reduced, but when the melt of polyethylene is coated on the back surface thereof without coating the latex, a melt of polyethylene will be percolated on a front surface thereof. Thus, those two processes are indispensable in the art and cause the fibers to lay on the front surface thereof so that the external appearance of the carpet is injured.
There are further problems caused when molding the carpet by use of such types of carpet base materials. The melt of polyethylene coated on the back surface of the carpet base material has a low specific gravity and is uniformly thin so that it is very light weight and is easy to handle, however, it is very inferior in several properties such as noise absorption, damping and thermal insulation.
Thus, in order to use those carpet base materials to manufacture a carpet used for an automobile which requires noise absorption, a damping property and a thermal insulation, in the art, a felt which has a relatively high density is adhered on a necessary part of a back surface of a carpet or, if necessary, vinyl acetate with a large quantity of calcium carbonate is coated over the back surface of the carpet. In addition, in order to achieve a damping property and noise absorption required for a high ranked passenger car, a thin nylon film is attached on the melt of polyethylene coated on the back surface thereof and a foamed body having partially different thickness and resiliency is molded on a surface of the film by molding a rim and the like thereon.
Such additional and several works are not desirable for mass production and increase the manufacturing cost, and thereby it is not practical.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a three dimensional shaped carpet used for an automobile and a method for manufacturing the carpet in which a thin polyethylene layer having a low specific gravity necessary to mold a carpet is not required.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a three dimensional shaped carpet used for an automobile and a method for manufacturing the carpet in which it is not necessary to carry out a back coating for preventing loosening and slipping off fibers of a surface material of the carpet.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a three dimensional shaped carpet used for an automobile and a method for manufacturing the carpet in which a back surface of the carpet has a resilient foamed body layer having a partially different hardness.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a three dimensional shaped carpet used for an automobile and a method for manufacturing the carpet in which the carpet has a foamed body layer having a partially different thickness.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing the carpet used for an automobile in which it is not necessary to heat the carpet at a high temperature when molding.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve those objects, a three dimensional shaped carpet used for an automobile according to the present invention comprises a surface material and a foamed body layer molded and connected in one with the surface material. On a back surface of the surface material a liquid foamable mixture is directly coated by a spray system, and the surface material is placed in a molding die comprising an upper portion and a lower portion which define a space inside the molding die corresponding to the three dimensional shape of the carpet. The surface material is clamped between the upper and lower portions when the liquid foamable mixture coated thereon has completed a gas reaction thereof but is still in a visco-elastic flowing condition, and thereby the foamed body layer, which is made from the liquid foamable mixture, having the three dimensional shape is molded and connected in one with the surface material.
A method for manufac
Goto Fumio
Ogawa Taro
Morris Terrel
Namba Press Works Co. Ltd.
Renner Kenner Greive Bobak Taylor & Weber
Ruddock Ula C.
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