METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A THERMOPLASTIC CONTAINER WITH DECORATIVE RINGS

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container with decorative rings has steps of: preparing a container body and multiple decorative rings by injection molding; heating the container body until deformable; sleeving the decorative rings around the container body; operating blow-molding to expand the container body until the decorative rings are inlaid in the expanded container body; and cooling the container body until solidified. By inlaying the decorative rings within periphery of the container body, the decorative rings are firmly engaged with the container body so that the thermoplastic container is durable.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container with multiple decorative rings, and more particularly to a method of forming a container that easily combines with multiple decorative rings in different colors and shapes. The thermoplastic container is also disclosed.

2. Description of Related Art

Conventional plastic products manufactured by injection molding usually have only one color. If one plastic object has to show various colors and patterns thereon, one method is to transplant the colors and the patterns by printing but performance of the transplanting is not done well. Another method is to manufacture a body and multiple accessories in different colors individually and glue the accessories to the body. As shown in FIG. 1, when manufacturing a thermoplastic container 1 with colorful decorative rings 11, a body 1 and multiple decorative rings 11 in different colors are produced first. Then, the multiple decorative rings 11 are located to sleeve the body 1 and secured by glue. The achieved thermoplastic container manufactured by this method is easily damaged especially at the joints between the body 1 and the decorative rings 11 because the decorative rings 11 protrude out of periphery on the body 1 and fall from the body 1 when the thermoplastic container is occasionally bumped or soaked in water that deteriorates the glue at the joints.

According to above description, the thermoplastic containers made by the conventional methods has some drawbacks not resolved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A main objective of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container with multiple decorative rings, wherein the thermoplastic container is durable because the decorative rings do not detach from a body of the container.

Another main objective of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container with multiple decorative rings, wherein the method is practiced with conventional injection molding and blow molding and has low manufacturing cost by using the conventional injection molding and blow molding without new equipment.

A further main objective of the present invention is to provide a thermoplastic container with undetachable decorative rings so that the thermoplastic container has a vivid appearance.

To achieve the foregoing objectives, the method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container with multiple decorative rings comprises:

preparing a container body and multiple decorative rings by injection molding;

heating the container body until deformable;

sleeving the decorative rings around the container body;

operating blow-molding to expand the container body until the decorative rings are inlaid in the container body; and

cooling the container body until solidified.

The thermoplastic container in the resent invention comprises:

a container body with an outer periphery and having multiple annular grooves defined around the outer periphery; and

multiple decorative rings respectively inlaid inside the multiple annular grooves, wherein the multiple decorative rings are seamless.

By inlaying the decorative rings within the outer periphery of the container body, the decorative rings are firmly engaged with the container body so that the thermoplastic container is durable.

Further benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after a careful reading of the detailed description with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view of a conventional thermoplastic container in accordance with the prior art:

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow blocks of a method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of elements in the thermoplastic container in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an operational exploded cross-sectional side view of an unfinished thermoplastic container with a blow mold;

FIG. 5 is an operational cross-sectional side view showing the blow molding of the thermoplastic container within the blow mold;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional side view of one preferred embodiment of the thermoplastic container in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the thermoplastic container in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of another preferred embodiment of the thermoplastic container in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the thermoplastic container in FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container with decorative rings in accordance with the present invention comprises steps of: preparing a container body and multiple decorative rings by injection molding; heating the container body until deformable; sleeving the decorative rings around the container body; operating blow-molding to expand the container body until the decorative rings are inlaid in the expanded container body; and cooling the container body until solidified. By inlaying the decorative rings within an outer periphery of the container body, the decorative rings are firmly engaged with the container body so that the thermoplastic container is durable.

With reference to FIG. 2, a schematic flowchart of the method of manufacturing the thermoplastic container is shown. Each step is illustrated in the followings in details.

a) preparing a container body and multiple decorative rings by injection molding: a container body 2 and multiple decorative rings 3 are manufactured by injection molding (as shown in FIG. 3), wherein the container body 2 and the decorative rings 3 are both made of thermoplastic plastic such as acryl or in different plastic materials, especially different thermoplastic materials;

b) heating the container body until deformable: the container body 2 is heated by a heating machine such as a baker (not shown) until the container body 2 is deformable for blow molding;

c) sleeving the decorative rings around the container body: the decorative rings 3 sleeve outer periphery of the container body 2 in different colors with the container body 2 and preferably have same intervals between two adjacent decorative rings 3 on the container body 2.

d) operating blow-molding to expand the container body until the decorative rings are inlaid in the expanded container body: the container body 2 with the decorative rings is located inside a blow mold 41 of a blowing device 4 (as shown in FIG. 4). Wherein, a recess 411 inside the blow mold 41 is larger than the volume of container body 2 so that there is a gap defined between inner wall of the recess 411 and the outer periphery of the container body 2 to allow the container body 2 expending. Then, a gas injector 42 is mounted on an opening of the container body 2 (as shown in FIG. 5) to blow the container body 2 until the decorative rings 3 are inlaid inside wall of the container body 2. Thereby, the decorative rings 3 are protected by the container body 2, do not be separated from the container body 2 easily and provide a decorative efficiency to the thermoplastic container. By blowing the container body 2, the thermoplastic container has one embodiment as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, wherein the outer periphery of the container body 2 protrudes over the decorative rings 3. Selectively, the thermoplastic container has another embodiment as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, wherein the outer periphery of the container body 2 is flush with the decorative rings 3.

A thermoplastic container manufactured by the foregoing method comprises a container body 2 with an outer periphery and multiple decorative rings 3. The container body 2 has multiple annular grooves 22 defined in the outer periphery to respectively receive the multiple decorative rings 3. Particularly, the decorative rings 3 are seamless because the decorative rings 3 are manufactured first and then attached to the container body 2 after deforming and expanding the container body 2. Moreover, the decorative rings 3 individually have different colors or mixture colors to make the decorative rings 3 distinguishable from the container body 2. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the decorative rings 3 is engaged with the annular grooves 22 in different depths so that the decorative rings 3 are partially or completely inlaid within the corresponding annular grooves 22 or particularly flush with the outer periphery of the container body 2.

According to above description, the method of manufacturing the thermoplastic container with decorative rings has the following advantages:

1. The method of this invention can be practiced by simple operations with present devices of injection molding and blow molding without adding new or complex equipment. Therefore, the method is practical and has low manufacturing cost.

2. The thermoplastic container made by the method in this invention has a vivid appearance and durable efficiency because the decorative rings are inlaid on the outer periphery of container body.

Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present invention of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts any be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container with multiple decorative rings comprises:

preparing a container body and multiple decorative rings by injection molding;

heating the container body until deformable;

sleeving the decorative rings around the container body;

operating blow-molding to expand the container body until the decorative rings are inlaid in the container body after expanding; and

cooling the container body until solidified.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein an outer periphery of the container body protrudes over the decorative rings in the step of operating blow-molding to expand the container body.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein an outer periphery of the container body is flush with the decorative rings in the step of operating blow-molding to the container body to expand.

4. A thermoplastic container comprising:

a container body with an outer periphery having multiple annular grooves defined around the outer periphery; and

multiple decorative rings respectively inlaid inside the multiple annular grooves, wherein the multiple decorative rings are seamless.

5. The thermoplastic container as claimed in claim 4, wherein the outer periphery of the container body protrudes over the decorative rings.

6. The thermoplastic container as claimed in claim 4, wherein the outer periphery of the container body is flush with the decorative rings.