Method of manufacturing coated composite articles from a non-flowable mixture, and articles obtained thereby

Claim 1

In a method of manufacturing a composite article by bonding a coating layer selected from the group consisting of a fabric, a veneer, a printed paper sheet or foil or a synthetic plastic material foil to a surface of a heat-hardenable body comprising a non-flowable mixture of fibrous material admixed with a heat-hardening binder at a temperature at which the material of the body hardens and concomitantly shrinks and at which the material of the coating layer softens, the improvement comprising the step of uncoupling the coating layer from the body during the shrinkage of the latter by interposing between the coating layer and the surface of the body prior to heating the same to said temperature, an intermediate layer of a material selected from the group consisting of soda craft paper, metallic foil, asbestos fibers and glass fibers fleece which bonds with the coating layer and with the body and which softens at a slower rate than that of the coating layer when heated to said temperature so that, due to the differential softening rates of the layers, the intermediate layer supports the coating layer on the body during the shrinkage of the latter and protects the coating layer from wrinkling resulting from such shrinkage.