Production of a continuous molded plastic strip

Claim 5

An apparatus for producing a continuous molded plastic product as set forth in claim 2 in which the moldable plastic material delivered to the mold cavities produces upstanding members which are more flexible than the material of the plastic base member.

Claim 6

Apparatus for producing a continuous strip of a molded plastic product as set forth in claim 1 in which the means for positioning the groups of mold and spacer plates comprises a rotary shaft, a rigid circular member having a cylindrical face and mounted for rotation with said shaft said member having a peripheral groove in its face, said mold and spacer plate groups being disposed within said groove and in contacting end to end relation with one another, and their arcuate edges being even with cylindrical surfaces of said face on the opposite side of said groove.

Claim 7

Apparatus for producing a continuous strip of a molded product as set forth in claim 1 in which the extruder die has two orifices, one for delivering moldable plastic material to the mold cavities and molding therein upstanding members and the second for forming a continuous plastic strip of predetermined thickness integrally attached to said upstanding members.

Claim 8

Apparatus for producing a continuous strip of a molded plastic product as set forth in claim 4 wherein the extruder die has a cylindrical surface portion slightly spaced from and parallel with the cylindrical surface formed by the groups of mold and spacer plates and constituting a space to receive the plastic material from the second extruding orifice and thus form the plastic strip.

Claim 9

Apparatus for producing a continuous strip of molded plastic product as set forth in claim 4 in which the plate at one side of each of said groups of mold and spacer plates has a circumferential recess, said recess receiving moldable plastic material under the extruder pressure and maintaining the series of spacer and mold plates in contact with one another thereby to prevent the formation of flashing between the mold and spacer plates.

Claim 10

Apparatus for producing a continuous strip of molded plastic product as set forth in claim 7 in which the extruder die is provided with a third orifice arranged in advance of the first and second orifice for supplying plastic material under the extruder pressure to said circumferential recess.

Claim 11

An apparatus for producing a continuous strip of a molded product as set forth in claim 4 wherein a cross bar is mounted adjacent the extruder head having portions extending in the plane of said mold wheel and a roller is supported by each such portion of the cross bar to operate on the surface of said mold wheel, together with resilient means for maintaining said rollers in contact with said mold wheel so as to properly position the face of the extruder die head with respect to the surface of the mold wheel.

Claim 12

Apparatus for producing a continuous strip of molded plastic product as set forth in claim 1 in which the means for shifting the spacer plates comprises for each group a pair of shifting elements in contact respectively with the outer surfaces of said mold wheel, said shifting elements being interconnected near their outer edges by two shafts passing through closely fitting apertures in the spacer plates and arranged to move freely in larger apertures in the mold plates, said shifting elements of each pair being connected at their inner ends by means of a shaft having a roller at each end, a stationary cam operatively associated with each of said rollers, and resilient means associated with each of said pairs of shifting elements urging them outwardly against the action of said cam.

Claim 13

Apparatus for producing a continuous strip of a molded plastic prodUct as set forth in claim 10 in which said resilient means comprises hydraulic pressure means associated with each of said pairs of shifting elements to urge them outwardly against the action of said cam.

Claim 20

Apparatus for producing a continuous strip of a molded plastic product having a base member of at least one other member upstanding from the base member and integrally formed therewith comprising: a. a plurality of groups of mold plates disposed in contacting and substantially surface-to-surface relationship, said groups being arranged in substantially end-to-end relationship with the alternate mold plates of each group comprising substantially flat spacer plates, each mold plate being defined at least partially by an arcuate edge and two flat faces on opposite sides of the mold plate, at least one of said mold plates of each group having at least one mold cavity in at least one of its flat faces, Each mold cavity being disposed in intersecting relationship with respect to an arcuate edge portion of its respective mold plate, at least one flat face of said spacer plates forming a wall of each mold cavity in an adjacent mold plate; b. means for mounting said alternate mold plates of each group for sliding movement relative to the remaining mold plates of such group in a radial direction generally parallel to the plane of said flat faces between a first position where the said arcuate edge portions of the spacer and mold plates of each group are disposed in substantially flush relationship forming a coextensive cylindrical molding surface and a second position where each mold cavity is exposed to permit release of the molded form disposed in such exposed cavity; c. supply means for delivering moldable plastic material under pressure into each mold cavity to form therein the upstanding member and onto said coextensive cylindrical molding surface to form thereon the base member in the form of a strip with which the upstanding member formed in each mold cavity is integrally formed, said supply means and said groups of mold plates being mounted for movement relative to each other along a substantially closed path; d. drive means for moving said alternate mold plates from said first position to said second position to release the upstanding members from the mold cavities after the moldable plastic material has sufficiently set and returning said alternate mold plates to said first position after release; and e. means for separating the molded product from the molding surface after said alternate mold plates have been moved to said second position.

Claim 21

Apparatus for producing a continuous strip of a molded plastic product having a base member of at least one other member upstanding from the base member and integrally formed therewith comprising: a. a plurality of groups of mold plates disposed in contacting and substantially surface-to-surface relationship, said groups being arranged in substantially end-to-end relationship with the alternate mold plates of each group comprising substantially flat spacer plates, each mold plate being defined at least partially by an arcuate edge and two flat faces on opposite sides of the mold plate, at least one of said mold plates of each group having at least one mold cavity in at least one of its flat faces, Each mold cavity being disposed in intersecting relationship with respect to an arcuate edge portion of its respective mold plate, at least one flat face of said spacer plates forming a wall of each mold cavity in an adjacent mold plate; b. means for mounting said alternate mold plates of each group for sliding movement relative to the remaining mold plates of such group in a radial direction generally parallel to the plane of said flat faces between a first position where the said arcuate edge portions of the spacer and mold plates of each group are disposed in substantially flush relationship forming a coextensive cylindrical molding surface and a second position where each mold cavity is exposed to permit release of the molded form disposed in such exposed cavity; c. supply means for delivering moldable plastic material under pressure into each mold cavity to form therein the upstanding member and onto said coextensive cylindrical molding surface to form thereon the base member in the form of a strip with which the upstanding member formed in each mold cavity is integrally formed, said supply means and said groups of mold plates being mounted for movement relative to each other along a substantially closed path; d. drive means for moving said alternate mold plates from said first position to said second position to release the upstanding members from the mold cavities after the moldable plastic material has sufficiently set and returning said alternate mold plates to said first position after release; and e. means for separating the molded product from the molding surface after said alternate mold plates have been moved to said second position.

Claim 22

Apparatus for producing a molded plastic product having a base member and at least one other member upstanding from the base member and integrally formed therewith comprising: a. a plurality of groups of mold plates, said groups being disposed in substantially end-to-end relationship forming an endless closed configuration, each group including at least one pair of mold plates disposed in contacting and substantially surface-to-surface relationship; b. at least one mold cavity formed in each pair of mold plates, each cavity lying generally along the interfacial plane of contact between the mold plates of such pair and in intersecting relationship to adjacent edge protions of such pair, each mold cavity being defined in part by a recessed portion formed in at least one of the contacting surfaces of such pair and in part by that portion of the other contacting surface of such pair which lies in juxtaposition to said recessed portion; c. means for mounting each pair of mold plates for sliding movement relative to each other between a first position where said adjacent portions of such pair are disposed in substantially flush relationship forming a coestensive molding surface and a second position where said adjacent edge portions are offset relative to each other by a distance sufficient to expose that portion of each mold cavity defined by one of said contacting surfaces of such pair thereby permitting release of the molded form disposed in the mold cavity, said sliding movement being in a direction generally parallel to the interfacial plane of contact between the mold plates of such pair in a plane intersecting said molding surface; d. supply means for delivering moldable plastic material under pressure into each mold cavity to form therein the upstanding member and onto said coextensive molding surface to form thereon the base member with which the upstanding member formed in each mold cavity is integrally formed, said supply means and said groups of mold plates being mounted for relative movement with respect to each other along a substantially closed path; and e. drive means for moving the mold plates of each pair from said first position to said second position to permit release of each upstanding member from its mold cavity after the moldable plastic materiAl has sufficiently set and for returning said mold plates to the first position after release; f. means for separating the molded product from the molding surface after the mold plates have been moved to the second position.

Claim 23

Apparatus for producing a molded plastic product having a base member and at least one other member upstanding from the base member and integrally formed therewith comprising: a. a plurality of groups of mold plates, said groups being disposed in substantially end-to-end relationship forming an endless closed configuration, each group including at least one pair of mold plates disposed in contacting and substantially surface-to-surface relationship; b. at least one mold cavity formed in each pair of mold plates, each cavity lying generally along the interfacial plane of contact between the mold plates of such pair and in intersecting relationship to adjacent edge protions of such pair, each mold cavity being defined in part by a recessed portion formed in at least one of the contacting surfaces of such pair and in part by that portion of the other contacting surface of such pair which lies in juxtaposition to said recessed portion; c. means for mounting each pair of mold plates for sliding movement relative to each other between a first position where said adjacent portions of such pair are disposed in substantially flush relationship forming a coestensive molding surface and a second position where said adjacent edge portions are offset relative to each other by a distance sufficient to expose that portion of each mold cavity defined by one of said contacting surfaces of such pair thereby permitting release of the molded form disposed in the mold cavity, said sliding movement being in a direction generally parallel to the interfacial plane of contact between the mold plates of such pair in a plane intersecting said molding surface; d. supply means for delivering moldable plastic material under pressure into each mold cavity to form therein the upstanding member and onto said coextensive molding surface to form thereon the base member with which the upstanding member formed in each mold cavity is integrally formed, said supply means and said groups of mold plates being mounted for relative movement with respect to each other along a substantially closed path; and e. drive means for moving the mold plates of each pair from said first position to said second position to permit release of each upstanding member from its mold cavity after the moldable plastic materiAl has sufficiently set and for returning said mold plates to the first position after release; f. means for separating the molded product from the molding surface after the mold plates have been moved to the second position.

Claim 24

Apparatus according to claim 16 wherein the juxtapositioned portion of said other contacting surface of each pair is substantially flat.

Claim 25

Apparatus according to claim 17 wherein said adjacent edge portions of the mold plates of each pair are substantially arcuate in shape thereby defining a coextensive cylindrical molding surface when said adjacent edge portions are in said second position.

Claim 26

Apparatus according to claim 18 wherein: a. the supply means is mounted in a stationary postiion; and b. said groups of mold plates are moved in a circular path closely adjacent to the stationary supply means.

Claim 27

Apparatus according to claim 19 wherein: a. the mold plate of each pair having the recessed mold cavity defining portion is held in a stationary position; and b. the other mold plate of each pair is moved radially inward relative to said stationary mold plate.

Claim 28

Apparatus according to claim 20 wherein the supply means includes: a. a first extrusion orifice for delivering moldable plastic material of a perdetermined composition into each mold cavity to form the upstanding members of said molded product; and b. a second extrusion orifice for delivering moldable plastic material having a composition different from the moldable plastic material delivered by the first extrusion orifice onto said coextensive cylindrical surface to form the base member of said molded product.