Claims
- 1. A flocked transfer consisting essentially of a release sheet, a release agent on the release sheet, and flock on the release agent; the flock being formed in a desired pattern; the release agent holding the flock to the release sheet, the transfer is adhered to a substrate, the substrate is applied using a thermoplastic hot melt sheet.
- 2. The article of claim 1 wherein the thermoplastic film is a thermoplastic blank or thermoplastic blank film.
- 3. A method of producing an article of manufacture having a flocked surface, the method comprising:
supplying a flocked release sheet comprising a release sheet with flock adhered thereto; adhering a thermoplastic hot melt film to the flock of the flocked release sheet; and adhering the thermoplastic hot melt film to a substrate to adhere the flock to the substrate.
- 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of adhering the thermoplastic hot melt film to the flocked release sheet comprises heating the thermoplastic hot melt film to a temperature at which the hot melt film becomes tacky, but below a temperature at which the hot melt film begins to cure or physically adhere.
- 5. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of adhering the thermoplastic hot melt to the substrate comprises heating the hot melt film to temperature at which the hot melt film cures and cross-links.
- 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the hot melt film is heated to about 300° F.
- 7. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of adhering the thermoplastic hot melt film to the flocked release sheet and the step of adhering the thermoplastic hot melt film to the substrate are performed in substantially simultaneously in a single operation.
- 8. The method of claim 3 wherein the method is continuous.
- 9. The method of claim 3 wherein the thermoplastic film is a thermoplastic polyurethane blank or a thermoplastic polyester blank.
- 10. A method for continuously producing an article of manufacture having a flocked surface, the method comprising:
providing a flocked release sheet consisting essentially of a release sheet with a flock applied thereto; providing a thermoplastic hot melt film; providing a substrate; bringing the substrate, thermoplastic hot melt film and flocked release sheet together with the hot melt film between the release sheet and the substrate, and with the flock in contact with the thermoplastic hot melt film, to produce a pre-assembly; applying heat to the pre-assembly to adhere the flocking to the substrate; and removing the release sheet from the flocking to produce a flocked substrate.
- 11. The method of claim 10 including a step of applying pressure to the preassembly.
- 12. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of applying heat comprises heating the pre-assembly to about 300° F.
- 13. The method of claim 10 wherein the thermoplastic hot melt film is a thermoplastic polyester or a thermoplastic polyurethane.
- 14. The method of claim 10 including a step of cutting the flocked substrate to desired shapes to form articles.
- 15. The method of claim 10 including a step of collecting the flocked substrate on a product roll.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part patent application based upon the prior application dated Jul. 24, 2000, having Ser. No. 09/621,830, owned by a common assignee.
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09735721 |
Dec 2000 |
US |
Child |
10455575 |
Jun 2003 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09621830 |
Jul 2000 |
US |
Child |
09735721 |
Dec 2000 |
US |