Method of manufacturing container having image-carrying sheet

Abstract

A method of manufacturing various drink containers is disclosed. Each drink container has a shell and an image-carrying sheet molded into the shell. In some embodiments, the image-carrying sheet is a sheet of lenticular lens material. Various illustrative dies used to manufacture the various illustrative drink containers is also disclosed.

1 . A method of manufacturing a molded container, the method comprising 
 inserting an image-carrying sheet into a mold cavity of a female die so that a bottom edge of the image-carrying sheet rests upon a set of stand-offs situated in the mold cavity,    placing a male die into the mold cavity so that a plastic-receiving space is defined between the male die and the female die, and    injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space so that the molten plastic coats a back surface of the image-carrying sheet and flows around the bottom edge, a top edge and side edges of the image-carrying sheet including flowing into spaces defined beneath the bottom edge of the image-carrying sheet and between the stand-offs resulting in the molded container having notches formed in a bottom edge of a main container wall of the container.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space comprises injecting molten plastic into a disk-like portion of the plastic-receiving space so that some of the molten plastic flows out of the disk-like portion and downwardly toward the bottom edge of the image-carrying sheet.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space comprises injecting molten plastic into an annular portion of the plastic-receiving space that is situated beneath the disk-like portion of the plastic-receiving space so that some of the molten plastic flows upwardly in the annular portion before reaching the disk-like portion.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein during injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space the molten plastic flows over an upper surface of an annular ridge wall of the female die prior to the molten plastic reaching the image-carrying sheet, the upper surface of the annular ridge wall being situated beneath the disk-like portion of the plastic-receiving space, and the upper surface of the annular ridge wall being situated above the annular portion of the plastic-receiving space.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space comprises injecting molten plastic into a domed central region of the disk-like portion of the plastic-receiving space.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein inserting the image-carrying sheet into the mold cavity of the female die comprises inserting a lenticular lens sheet into the mold cavity.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein inserting the image-carrying sheet into the mold cavity comprises curling the image-carrying sheet so that after insertion into the mold cavity, a front surface of the image-carrying sheet abuts a frustoconical surface of the female die.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising coupling to the female die a gate that includes the stand-offs prior to inserting the image-carrying sheet into the mold cavity.  
     
     
         9 . A method of manufacturing a molded container, the method comprising 
 inserting an image-carrying sheet into a mold cavity of a die set so that a bottom edge of the image-carrying sheet is positioned to lie below an upwardly facing surface of the die set that extends radially with respect to a central axis defined by the mold cavity,    inserting a male die of the die set into the mold cavity so that a plastic-receiving space is defined between the male die and the female die, the plastic-receiving space comprising a horizontal disk-like portion defined between a downwardly facing surface of the male die that is positioned below a top edge of the image-carrying sheet and above the upwardly facing surface in confronting, spaced-apart relation therewith, and    injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space so that the molten plastic flows through the horizontal disk-like portion radially outwardly toward the image-carrying sheet, so that a first quantity of the molten plastic exiting the horizontal disk-like portion flows downwardly toward the bottom edge of the image-carrying sheet and so that a second quantity of the molten plastic exiting the horizontal disk-like space flows upwardly toward the top edge of the image-carrying sheet.    
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein inserting the image-carrying sheet into the mold cavity of the die set comprises inserting the image-carrying sheet into the mold cavity of the die set so that the bottom edge of the image-carrying sheet rests upon a set of stand-offs situated in the mold cavity.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising coupling to the die set a gate that includes the stand-offs prior to inserting the image-carrying sheet into the mold cavity.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein inserting the image-carrying sheet into the mold cavity of the die set comprises inserting a lenticular lens sheet into the mold cavity.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein inserting the image-carrying sheet into the mold cavity comprises curling the image-carrying sheet so that after insertion into the mold cavity, a front surface of the image-carrying sheet abuts a frustoconical surface of the die set.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space comprises injecting molten plastic into an annular portion of the plastic-receiving space that is situated beneath the disk-like portion of the plastic-receiving space so that some of the molten plastic flows upwardly in the annular portion before reaching the disk-like portion.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the upwardly-facing surface of the die set is provided by an annular ridge wall and during injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space the molten plastic flows up from the annular portion of the plastic-receiving space and over the annular ridge wall prior to reaching the image-carrying sheet.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space comprises injecting molten plastic into a domed central region of the disk-like portion of the plastic-receiving space.  
     
     
         17 . A method of manufacturing a molded container, the method comprising 
 positioning an image-carrying sheet in an upper annular portion of a plastic-receiving space of a die set such that a bottom edge of the image-carrying sheet is situated below an upper disk-like portion of the plastic-receiving space, and    injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space of the die set so that molten plastic (i) flows radially outwardly in a lower disk-like portion of the plastic-receiving, (ii) flows upwardly in a lower portion of the plastic-receiving space, (iii) flows radially outwardly in the upper disk-like portion of the plastic-receiving space, and (iv) flows into the upper annular portion of the plastic-receiving space to coat a back surface, the bottom edge, and a top edge of the image-carrying sheet.    
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein positioning the image-carrying sheet in the upper annular portion of the plastic-receiving space comprises positioning a bottom edge of the image-carrying sheet on a set of stand-offs.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein during injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space, molten plastic flows upwardly in a frustoconical subportion of the lower portion of the plastic-receiving space and then upwardly in a bowl-shaped subportion of the lower portion of the plastic-receiving space.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein during injecting molten plastic into the plastic-receiving space, molten plastic flows upwardly in a frustoconical subportion of the lower portion that extends between the lower disk-like portion and the upper disk-like portion of the plastic-receiving space.