Abstract: An automotive outside door handle unit includes a plastic resin-made outside door handle proper and two operating arms. These arms are mechanically connected with door lock means arranged in an automotive door. The handle proper and the operating arms are united rigidly into one piece with a plastic resin material. The unit is characterized by the formation of a material-thefting bridge structure formed at the uniting root end of the operating arm for the prevention of otherwise formation of defective contraction marks during molding.

Abstract: The within inventive method for repairing a drywall surface (i.e. gypsum boards) or a plaster wall or ceiling, obviates the need for spackling and contemplates instead the use of a plastic film in covering relation over the surface defect and in this position properly prepared, so that the plastic is totally devoid of wrinkles and in firm attachment to the surface, with the result that the repair cannot be detected from the original surface.

Abstract: A polyethylene microporous membrane having a thickness of at most 10 .mu.m, a breaking strength of at least 200 kg/cm.sup.2 and a porosity of at least 30% is produced by heating and dissolving polyethylene having a weight average molecular weight of at least 5.times.10.sup.5 in a solvent, forming a gel sheet from the resulting solution, subjecting the gel sheet to a solvent removal treatment to adjust the amount of the solvent in the gel sheet to 10 to 80% by weight, heating and stretching the sheet and then removing the residual solvent therefrom.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing containers covered tightly with a protective sheet with a porous resin film layer or rubber film layer in-between.By the method of this invention, a resin solution or rubber solution is foamed mechanically in advance and the foamed layer made by the foamed resin film or the foamed rubber film then is covered with a heat shrinkable sheet which is heat shrunk tightly to the containers. The foamed layer does not shrink during the heating. Accordingly, the surface of the heat shrinkable sheet is free from waviness due to gas foaming of the covered layer during heat shrinking which has been the case with conventional methods. The method, therefore, does not affect the appearance or printing performance of the surface of the heat shrinkable sheet.

Abstract: A bicycle wheel assembly prepared by a process comprising the steps of:(a) Inserting a bicycle rim assembly comprising a central hub, a plurality of radially extending spokes joined to said hub at one end and a rim having a channular cross section joined to the opposed ends of the spokes into a mold cavity configured to form a bicycle tire around the rim;(b) Injecting a foamable polyurethane composition into said mold cavity;(c) Foaming and curing the polyurethane composition in the mold cavity; and(d) Cooling the so-foamed polyurethane composition to cause it to shrink fit around the rim.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for preforming a heat-shrinkable member to a pre-selected configuration which may at least partially conform to a container to which the member is to be applied. The preformed member is subsequently applied to the container so that the member is retained in association therewith, such as for tamper-indication. The heat-shrinkable member is initially preformed by the use of a preforming mandrel which may be at least partially configured like the configuration of the container. After the member has been heat-shrunk on the preforming mandrel, it is positioned in association with the container, and thereafter heated so as to further conform the heat-shrinkable member to the configuration of the container. By this technique, hightly desirable control of the heat-shrinking process is achieved, thus assuring proper conformance of the heat-shrinkable member to its associated container.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for flanging a tubular article of a crystallizable thermoplastic polymer, particularly of a saturated linear polyester material such as polyethylene terephthalate, which has been heat-set to an elevated temperature, e.g. for producing bodies for processable food and beverage containers. The open end of the tubular body is applied to a flanging die and heated to a flanging temperature above the glass transition temperature but below the heat-set temperature of the polymer. The tubular body and the die are forced together so that the softened end of the tubular article is forced to move outwards until it abuts against a stop ring to form the flange. The residual shrinkage in the polymer material helps it to take up the precise contours of the die and to form a well-defined flange. The flanged end is then cooled, preferably to a temperature at least 20.degree. C. below the flanging temperature, before releasing the tubular body 10 from the die.

Abstract: A thermoplastic synthetic high polymer sheet including induced tensile stress lengthwise of the sheet which varies in intensity from a maximum along one edge to a minimum along the other edge. The induced tensile stress is frozen in the sheet by maintaining its temperature below a transformation temperature. Upon elevation of the temperature of the sheet above the transformation temperature, as the process of fabrication of a laminated windshield is to commence, the sheet, without further operative forming operations, will deform to conform substantially to the outline of the outer curved lamina of the windshield. The sheet may include a zone along one edge to provide filtering of glare.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for heat shrinking projecting edges of heat shrinkable (but unshrunken) film onto articles such as cylindrical containers. The film is tightly wrapped around the bodies of the articles and the overlapping ends are held together by glue. The projecting edges of the articles are then heat shrunk onto the shoulders and/or curved lower ends of the bodies as the containers are transported and are caused to spin while being transported. In so doing the hot air is blown in a direction such that it does not blow directly onto the glue at the side seams. This may be accomplished by using a circular, turret type transport and by having blowers which blow hot air obliquely, rather than radially at the articles. Where the articles are closely packed, each article acts to shield the next article when its side seam is parallel to the flow of hot air.

Abstract: A method of heat setting spaced fastener elements on a fastener chain includes contracting a formed thermoplastic wire constituting the fastener elements, while heating the fastener chain to which the formed wire is affixed, until the pitch of the fastener elements attains a predetermined value smaller than the value of a desired pitch and subsequently cooling the formed wire while the wire is stretched to provide the desired element spacing.

Abstract: A single-piece plastic shotshell casing and method of making same comprising softening one end portion only of a tube of uniformly biaxially oriented high density polyethylene sufficiently for forming and until a dollup is formed, then telescoping only a portion of the dollup into the rigid sidewalls of the tube, and then forming the dollup into a substantially thickened integral transverse base section constituting a head with a longitudinally extending primer opening therein, the base section being substantially biaxially oriented and the rigid sidewalls terminating a substantial distance inwardly from the outer end of the base section.

Abstract: A greige fabric containing a polyester yarn having high and low shrinkage regions along the filaments, out of phase from filament to filament, is bulked by shrinking the unrestrained fabric, then heating the fabric sufficiently to make the fabric elongate in the direction of the polyester yarn.

Abstract: A shrink-fit article is made by extruding a silane-grafted polymer which foams, at least at its surface, and cross-links. Upon completion of foaming and cross-linking, the article is expanded while (still) warm and cooled in the expanded state.

Abstract: A safety shield for containing and deflecting a fluid leaking from a flanged pipe coupling in the form of an arcuate strip of transparent fluoropolymer. The strip has a flange along each circumferential edge which is integral with the strip and extends radially inwardly thereof. The strip is of sufficient length to encase the circumference of the pipe coupling flange to which it is applied with the opposing ends overlapping and fastened together. The flanges closely engage the radial surfaces of the coupling flanges. The safety shield is obtained by heat-shrinking a heat-shrinkable tube of fluoropolymer while restricting radial shrinkage thereof except the marginal edge portions which become the flanges.

Abstract: Composite bowling pins and baseball bats are formed with foamed, cured-in place plastic bodies securely adhered to a central aluminum core by a somewhat thermoplastic adhesive coating. The exothermic reaction attendant to curing the plastic so softens the adhesive coating that it does not interfere with shrinkage of the plastic body relative to the core. This minimizes stress concentrations in the composite construction which otherwise tend to lead to cracking in use.

Abstract: Heat-recoverable articles carrying a "thermochromic" composition comprising organic materials which melt and decompose to provide a color-change indicating that the articles have been heated to a certain temperature, e.g. to melt a sealant carried on the surface of the article which is to contact a substrate around which the article is to be shrunk. Mixtures of relatively simple compounds may be used to graduate the color change, and means are described for preventing reversion to the original color on long-term exposure to moisture.

Abstract: This invention relates to a thermoplastic, foam composition having enhanced heat-shrink capability by the physical intermixing therein of a minor amount of a second polymeric material having superior infrared absorbing properties. The intermixed composition is able to be foamed and formed into an oriented sheet adapted to fabricating heat-shrink tubular labels or sleeves, for example, having improved thermal contraction properties when subjected to infrared radiation. The subject composition is thus able to provide markedly improved heat shrinkage at lower temperatures than heretofore required for a variety of fabricated products. Polyethylene foam or polystyrene foam can be taken as the thermoplastic base material having a minor amount of a second polymeric material such as polyethylene terephthalate dispersed therein, the latter having a high absorbing capability for infrared energy.

Abstract: In a heat shrinkable synthetic resin cover adapted to seal a joint between two pipes or an electric cable, the cover is made of a rectangular sheet shaped cross-linked polymer and a flexible electric heater covered by a cross-linked polymer contained in a heat shrinkable synthetic resin member such that the electric heater crosses at right angles an inherent direction of heat shrink of the member so as not prevent inherent heat shrink thereof.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for assembling fluidic spray devices wherein a fluidic element formed on the surface of a body member is expeditiously sealed to form the device. The essence of the invention is the injection molding of plastic around or through the body and a cover plate, or into a prefabricated housing into which the body member is inserted, to preload the parts and force them into a permanent sealed assembly. In one embodiment the preloading is achieved by shrinkage tension of injected plastic material surrounding or penetrating the parts. In a second embodiment the preloading is achieved by injecting plastic material into a gap or gaps in a product housing containing the body member so as to force the element surface against a sealing surface.

Abstract: Apparatus for forming the rim on a foam plastic container such as a cup by use of a segmented rim former. The cavity in the rim former is contoured so as to produce a curled rim that is flat on the top. The flat top of the rim is parallel to the bottom of the cup.The apparatus comprises a segmented rim former with a combination of linear and curved surfaces that form a noncircular container rim.

Abstract: A sealing device comprising a hollow body member having a plurality of spaced apart external deformable flanges and provided with a sealant on its external surface, preferably between the flanges. The device may be used to seal a supply line within a duct by pushing it within the duct so that the flanges are deformed, the sealant preferably being provided in a generous amount so that it fills the remaining gaps between the flanges after such deformation. The hollow body member may then be sealed to the supply line using, for example, a heat-shrinkable sleeve. The device may also be used to couple and repair hollow substrates such as gas and water pipes.

Abstract: A valve especially suitable as a relatively cheaply manufactured means for controlling liquids in laboratory equipment, comprises a body having a valve seat with a flow passage passing through the seat, and a spindle located within the body; the spindle comprising a mandrel having an annular groove, a resilient annulus located in the annular groove, and an inert sheath fitted closely over the surface of an end portion of the mandrel and overlying the resilient annulus, the sheath having a closed end shaped to engage the seat for occlusion thereof and having overlying the resilient annulus an annular sealing portion standing proud of the surface of the rest of the sheath, the annular sealing portion being biased against the surrounding body to form a sliding gland seal. The sheath may be preformed or moulded in situ, and protects the mandrel and resilient annulus from attack by fluids flowing through the valve.

Abstract: A tubular net has unorientated annular zones, and orientated annular zones which contract transversely upon heat shrinking; the net can be used for packaging or sleeving, the unorientated zones acting as end closures or neck holders and the ends of the orientated zones being heat shrunk to retain the other end of the article or articles being packaged or sleeved.

Abstract: In the manufacture of a moisture-permeable covering film for absorbent material a thermoplastic film is provided with capillary-like protrusions by embossing, after which openings are produced in the ends of said protrusions. Embossing is effected with simultaneous cooling of the film, so that the ends of the protrusions are oriented in the thermo-elastic temperature range. By a renewed heating of the ends of the protrusions the openings are formed by shrinking, which also causes the edges of the openings to be thickened.The apparatus consists of an engraved metal cylinder and a counter-roller for the embossing step and of a heated roller, which is pressed against the ends of the embossed protrusions on the metal cylinder.

Abstract: Boats are weatherized for temporary storage, as over winter, by enclosing the deck and superstructure with a heat shrunk unitary plastic film. Tie lines terminating in loops are hung from the rub rail or other deck level attachment and extend a portion of the distance between the deck and water line. Bridge straps are run from bow to stern and the boat is draped with a single plastic film of sufficient size to extend below the tie line loops, a tie-down strap is passed through the loops to tightly secure the film about the boat hull and the entire plastic film is subjected to heat sufficient to shrink the film and produce a tight and taut membraneous cover.

Abstract: A heat shrinkable polyvinyl chloride film which shrinks more than 60% in one direction or more than 75% as an area shrinkage is prepared by stretching a film comprising 5 to 25 wt. parts of a methyl methacrylate type copolymer and 100 wt. parts of polyvinyl chloride at a special high stretch ratio.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for fabricating packing containers comprised of a heat-shrinkable material. A web or blank of the material is heated on one side to an extent such that the material acquires a tendency to assume a tubular shape. Overlapping longitudinal ends of the web or blanks are heat and pressure sealed to form a tubular member. The ends of the tubular member are folded inwardly under the effect of heat to form flange-like portions to which end plates may be attached to form the packing container.

Abstract: A novel fletching assembly for darts having an exceptional design to allow darts to be placed in the target in close proximity with a minimum tendency to displace the flights of previously thrown darts, and to cause minimum deflection of other thrown darts is provided by securing the flight assembly by three or more pins with rounded heads and portions of their shanks securing the individual flights, and with the leading end of the pins secured in a hole in the dart fletching body and maintained in close tangential juxtaposition by means of a heat shrinkable tube encasing the cluster of pins from the front end of the dart flights forward onto the outside diameter of the aft end of the dart fletching body.

Abstract: Preprinted rectangular blanks of longitudinally stretch-oriented foam sheet material are formed into cylinders by a continuous folder and seamer and transferred onto mandrels on which they are shrunken by heat to assume the shape of the mandrel. In forming containers, means are provided to place bottom blanks on the mandrels prior to the loading of the cylinders thereon so as to shrink the cylinders to sidewall shapes overlying the bottom blanks. The top curl on containers such as drinking cups and food tubs is formed after shrink forming and the bottom seam of the container is also reinforced by ironing after shrink forming. A method of continuously forcing and filling containers on a continuous in-line basis is also provided.

Abstract: An unsintered tube of extruded ptfe resin is heated above its melting temperature of 327.degree. C, a positive pressure is established within the tube relative to the external pressure thereon to radially expand it, and the pressure is maintained until the tube is cooled below its melting point and set. Such a tube demonstrates superior strength and crack resistance when it is thereafter radially contracted around a core member by reheating, and its longitudinal shrinkage is minimized.

Abstract: A synthetic resinous tube having a plurality of bonded coaxial layers with at least one layer being thermoplastic and another substantially non-thermoplastic is formed by the simultaneous coaxial extrusion of thermoplastic tubes and electron irradiation of one of the layers of the tube to convert it from a thermoplastic resin.

Abstract: In accordance with a preferred embodiment of this invention, there is provided a new and improved method of forming a four-lumen gastrointestinal tube. This tube may be characterized as having two lumens which extend nearly the full length of the tube and two lumens which extend through only a portion of the tube.

Abstract: A structural cover skin for components of a fluid-medium craft, especially the foil components of the craft, wherein a layer of heat shrinkable, polymeric film, preferably of polyvinyl fluoride is bonded to a layer of heat-shrinkable polymeric film and/or fabric, preferably of polyester, to form a special laminated heat shrink covering material particularly useful for man-flown airplanes. A method for covering the frame portions includes an encapsulating envelope of the noted material or an overlapped wrapping which is heat shrunk tautly to the contours of the frame.

Abstract: A fluorinated elastomer is blended with a poly(vinylidene fluoride) resin at a temperature between the temperature of 70.degree. C below the melting temperature of the resin and the decomposition temperature of the same resin to form a resin blend capable of giving shaped articles having superior mechanical strengths. The resin blend is suitable for preparing heat-shrinkable articles like heat-shrinkable tubes by heating with expansion by internal pressure at an elevated temperature higher than the melting temperature of the resin, followed by cooling without release of the pressure to room temperature where the pressure is released. Such heat-shrinkable tubes can readily become shrunken by re-heating.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method of making a multi-level assembly of flexible nets for supporting flowers to allow them to grow in straight, upstanding shape through the mesh openings of the nets which are raised progressively to different levels of height above a flower bed in accordance with the growth of the flowers. A plurality of nets are laid one upon another with their mesh openings substantially correctly aligned with one another and placed on a frame in a vertically zigzag folded pattern. Then, the nets are, together with the frame, immersed in a bath of a heating medium, such as hot water, to allow the nets to undergo thermal contraction, whereby the mesh openings of the nets are correctly with one another. The nets are, together with the frame, removed from the bath and allowed to cool. Then, the nets are removed from the frame with their folded shape substantially in order.

Abstract: In the process where a shaped product of expanded polystyrene is continuously produced by passing preliminarily expanded beads of polystyrene interposed inside a carrying means comprising a circulating steam-permeable single belt or a set of belts of the same nature through a pressurized steam chamber provided with pressure-sealing means at the inlet and the outlet thereof, thereby closely integrating the beads into a sheet through softening and expansion of the beads by steam heating, then cooling the resulting shaped product, and separating the shaped product from the carrying belt or belts, while withdrawing the shaped product to a successive step and returning the carrying belt or belts to the inlet side of the pressurized steam chamber, at least one of the surfaces of the carrying belt(s) is wetted with water before supplying the preliminarily expanded beads onto the belt(s) on the inlet side of the pressurized steam chamber, and thereafter the preliminarily expanded beads are supplied in excess onto the

Abstract: There is disclosed herein improved packages, and methods of forming same, of the type wherein a container, such as for example a glass container, like a bottle or jar, is provided externally thereof with a heat-shrunk, cellular thermoplastic member, circumferentially and snugly engaging a sidewall portion of the container; the improvement resides in employing, as the thermoplastic member, a composite structure, or laminate, having a closed cellular polymeric layer preponderantly of polystyrene having incorporated therein from zero weight percent up to compatible amounts of a copolymer of ethylene and an alkyl ester of alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid or a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate or a copolymer of ethylene and an alpha-beta monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid, or mixtures thereof, and, in adhered relationship to said cellular layer, a layer of a non-cellular polymeric material preponderantly of ethylene moieties having incorporated therein moieties of vinyl ace

Abstract: A system is disclosed for applying plastic labels on cylindrical can bodies which includes moving the cans end-to-end in a continuous series through a forming horn over which a strip of heat-shrinkable sheet plastic is drawn to form the plastic strip into an envelope around the cans with the opposite edges of the strip adjacently disposed longitudinally of the cans, welding the opposite edges of the plastic strip to form a tube around the series of cans, heating the plastic tube to shrink it against the cans, severing the plastic tube between cans to separate them into individually wrapped cans, and further shrinking at least the ends of the plastic tube into snug engagement against the ends of the side wall of each can.

Abstract: Method for applying protective sleeves to combustion-type photoflash lamps herein there is placed proximate a mold means a strip of organic plastic having a thickness of from about 0.3 to 0.8mm, a tough-plastic characteristic at a temperature of from about 160.degree. to 200.degree. C, a tough-elastic characteristic at a temperature of from about 90.degree. to 125.degree. C, and a freezing temperature of from about 65.degree. to 70.degree. C. The strip is heated to the tough-plastic temperature and drawn into the mold means to form a series of plastic cups which have a dimension slightly smaller than the lamps to be sleeved. When the temperature of the formed cups is in the tough-elastic range, they are expanded to be slightly larger than the lamps to be sleeved, and are then frozen. The lamps are then placed into the cups which are then heated to cause them to shrink-fit onto the lamps. The sleeved lamps are then severed from the residual plastic strip.

Abstract: The invention relates to sheet-like plastic packaging particles formed with a normally curved configuration having two spaced apart, curved coextensive surfaces, one of said surfaces being a substantially unfoamed skin and the remainder of said particle including the other surface being foamed, and to methods for producing packaging particles which comprise warped or distorted, foamed sheet particles suitable for use as packaging particles from an extrudable, expandable synthetic plastic material, such as, a polymerized vinyl aromatic monomer, e.g.

Abstract: A foamed plastic material of polyethylene or polystyrene capable of being heat-shaped for use in making packing containers wherein by stretching of the foam the cells therein are given a lenticular or elongated structure. In the case of a lenticular cell structure, produced by a bi-axial stretching operation, the individual cells are situated in layers in parallel planes. In the case of an elongated cell structure, produced by a mono-axial stretching operation, the individual cells are situated with their longitudinal axes in parallel planes.

Abstract: Molecular orientation stress is relieved in thermoplastic articles being prepared for reclaiming in order to shrink the article and decrease volume. Shrinkage is sufficient to cause separation of labels when the latter are present. When the articles are containers, each shrunk-back mass has the appearance of an individual, grotesquely distorted container, which, because of its reduced volume, is especially useful as feedstock to a reclamation system.

Abstract: A method of producing a lightweight, strong, uniform, foamed layer containing tubular film with good opacity which can be heat-shrunk onto an annular substrate such as a glass bottle rapidly and uniformly is accomplished by co-extruding a low density polyethylene and a mixture of an ethylene polymer and a blowing agent under particular conditions and causing the blowing agent to decompose thereby foaming the ethylene polymer.

Abstract: In a blow-molding operation, a method of forming a recessed area in the exterior wall of the parison and maintaining the recessed area in a heated condition while the remainder of the parison is formed and cooled. Also an apparatus (ram means) employed in such a method comprising (a) an arm, (b) a head and (c) a tip. The method and apparatus find application where a gripping-action is desired or required between the fabricated product and another sub-assembly.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a decorative label on a closured bottle, including a pilfer-proof feature. The neck label comprises a sleeve of a shrinkable plastic material shrunken over the neck and closure skirt on a bottle. The label stock may be preprinted in a roll and is (1) scored a partial depth lengthwise along a line corresponding to a cap skirt edge position in the label, and (2) embossed by pleats angularly disposed to the direction of orientation. The pleats provide an embossed decoration which appear in each label blank cut from the roll. Label blanks are wound to a sleeve shape and the overlapped ends united at an axial seam. The sleeves with embossed decoration and pilfer-proof score therein are placed over the neck and closure skirt of a bottle such that the score line is in position adjacent the lower edge of the closure skirt. Heat is applied to shrink the label into snug surface engagement with the underlying surfaces.

Abstract: A one-use bottle-shaped container has a cylindrical shell portion, a base portion which has an inturned flange continuous with the shell portion, a central disc sealed to the flange and a bottleneck-shaped upper portion terminating in an opening considerably smaller than the cross-sectional area of the cylindrical portion.

Abstract: A process of wrapping a substrate to insulate or protect it, wherein a tape comprising a cross-linked copolymer derived from an ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon and a carboxylic acid ester having ethylenic unsaturation is wrapped around the substrate, and subsequently shrunk. Although the tape is cross-linked, it nevertheless fuses sufficiently to bond to itself to form an integral structure. The substrate can if desired be removed, the tape serving as the inner layer to a hose.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of joining components made of cross-linked polymers, at least one of the components being a tube, which method comprises deforming at least one of the components so as to deviate from the cross-linking shape, inserting an end of the tube into the other component, and heating the joint location to the temperature where the deformed components tend to return to the cross-linking shape, the heating being maintained for a time sufficient to produce fusing together over the joint location.

Abstract: A snow ski is made by superimposing a protective assembly of polyacrylate sheets on a flexible core of a ski body having a bonded base surface and sidewall surfaces and then bounding the polyacrylate sheets to the ski core forming a top protective ski surface, the protective assembly being consolidated at a temperature and pressure effective to stress relieve the polyacrylate sheets.