Blow-molded paintball and method of manufacture thereof

Abstract

Blow-fill-seal processing is employed to fabricate fully formed and filled paintballs. A blow-fill-seal machine, known in the field of medical container and syringe manufacture, is adapted for making paintballs by employing spherical surface main molds which form blow-molded shells and permit the shells to be filled with suitable paintball dye and then sealing molds are used to seal the filled paintball shell thereby resulting in a fully formed paintball having an accurate spherical surface.

1 . A paintball comprising a blow-molded shell fabricated in a blow-fill-seal process.  
   
   
       2 . The paintball recited in  claim 1  wherein said shell comprises a biodegradable resin material.  
   
   
       3 . The paintball recited in  claim 1  wherein said blow-molded shell is filled with a selected dye in said blow-fill-seal process.  
   
   
       4 . A method for fabricating paintballs, the method comprising the steps of: 
 providing main mold halves having complimentary hemispherical inner surfaces;    extruding molten resin into said mold halves in the form of a hollow tubular parison;    joining said mold halves to form a spherical interior;    blowing a pressurized gas through said parison to expand said resin to form a spherical shell against the spherical interior of said mold halves;    filling said expanded resin shell with a suitable paintball dye; and    sealing said shell to form a completed paintball.    
   
   
       5 . The method recited in  claim 4  further comprising the step of cutting said parison after said mold joining step.  
   
   
       6 . The method recited in  claim 4  further comprising the steps of providing sealing mold halves adjacent said main mold halves and selectively joining said sealing mold halves during said sealing step.  
   
   
       7 . The method recited in  claim 4  further comprising the step of separating said main mold halves to release said completed paintball.  
   
   
       8 . The method recited in  claim 7  further comprising the step of removing any flash that may have formed on said paintball shell.