The present invention relates generally to a paint tray for use in applying paint to a surface with a paint roller, and in particular to a paint tray having a plurality of layers of a peelable surfacing film, whereby the paint tray can be cleaned after use by peeling away the upper film surface. The invention also relates to a method for converting multi layers of material into a roll and forming the paint tray with adhered layers. Also the method could lend itself to a number of other markets other than paint trays, i.e., trashcans, buckets, metal paint trays, cat litter containers, camping plates, medical trays, etc.
Paint is commonly applied to walls and other surfaces with a paint roller comprised of a roll of napped textile material or other paint absorbent substrate carried on a handle, and a metal or plastic paint-holding tray into which the roller is placed to load the roll with paint. While useful in quickly applying a uniform paint coating to large surfaces, a major disadvantage of the use of this system is the required messy and time consuming chore of cleaning the roller and tray after use. The present application relates to an improved tray that enables the user to avoid tray cleaning, and to a tray with two wells divided by a flat section designed specifically to properly distribute paint on the roller nap. The tray configuration is also designed to lend itself to thermoforming.
In an attempt to minimize cleaning, the prior art describes a preformed paint tray liner that is placed into the interior of a paint tray. Generally, these liners are thermoformed from a plastic sheet having a thickness of from about 0.008 to about 0.03 inches. The paint is poured into this liner, which is removed and discarded along with any adhered paint after the paint job is completed. While effective in eliminating the need to clean the paint tray, these preformed liners are sufficiently expensive that many users attempt to clean and reuse the liners. Their thickness adds significantly to environmental waste upon disposal. The preformed tray liners also require separate additional storage prior to use.
Other prior art as exemplified by U.S. Published Apn. No. 2004/0112902 to Campbell and U.S. Published Apn. No. 2006/0037960 to Rosa manually presses an impervious plastic sheet having a thickness of from about 0.5 to about 5 mils and an adhesive backing into a previously formed paint tray so that the sheet approximately conforms to the tray. The sheet is peeled away and discarded after use. While less expensive than preformed tray liners, these sheets are awkward and time consuming to individually hand press into place and do not provide a functional liner that exactly conforms to the tray interior, especially in the corners of the tray.
Thus, there is a continuing need for a paint tray having a properly fitted, factory applied, functional, disposable liner that avoids the necessity of cleaning the paint tray after every use. There is a further need for a method of manufacturing a paint tray with a plurality of disposable liners and a method of manufacturing a plurality of formed trays more efficiently.
Generally, the present invention is comprised of a paint tray with a plurality of peelable liners that are simultaneously thermoformed with the tray, with the liners being thermoformed to the shape of the tray interior surface at the same time the tray is formed. As used herein, the term “thermoformed” is intended to encompass various methods of shaping a thermoplastic sheet or stacked sheets by heating the sheet and applying a pressure differential to the opposed side of the sheet to conform the sheet to the shape of a mold surface.
While the invention will be described in terms of the preferred embodiment of simultaneously thermoforming a substrate and a plurality of liner sheets or simultaneously thermoforming a plurality of similar thin wall substrates with a release agent/barrier on the inner or bottom surface, it will be understood after reading the disclosure that the invention is also applicable to simultaneously forming a substrate and a single liner sheet, and to shaping the liner sheets and substrate by other means, e.g., by stamping, injection molding or blow molding. The substrate, while preferably a thermoformable plastic, may also be of other materials, e.g., metals.
In one example of thermoforming known as vacuum molding, a sheet is positioned adjacent a female mold section and a vacuum is applied to draw the sheet against the mold surface. A male mold section may be pressed against the sheet on the opposite side of the sheet from the female mold section to assist in conforming the sheet to the shape of the female mold section. In other processes, such as pressure forming, the heated sheet is pressed against a male mold section, usually with the assistance of a vacuum to conform the sheet to the mold shape.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of stacked planar sheets of thin plastic serving as disposable liners (“liner sheets”) are positioned on a surface of a planar substrate sheet of a greater thickness to be formed into a paint tray. The combination of a stack of liner sheets and a single substrate makes a “tray sheet”. The liner sheets will preferably be significantly thinner than the substrate sheet, e.g., the liner sheets may be from about 1 mil to about 6 mils thick, while the substrate sheet may be from about 10 mils to about 40 mils thick.
Each liner sheet has an adhesive on its inner or bottom surface to secure the liner sheets to the immediately adjacent sheet, with the innermost or bottom liner sheet being adhered to the top surface of the substrate sheet. Preferably, the adhesive backing is a uniform coating of adhesive over the entire inner surface of the sheets except where tear tabs are located. While applying the adhesive in making the liner sheets, the tabs can be added in line, anywhere in part or whole around the perimeter of where the tray will be formed. This is done by deadening the adhesive. Tabs are applied to each liner sheet to facilitate separation of the sheets. Suitable adhesives will be apparent to one skilled in the art, the requirement being that the adhesive is a peelable adhesive, i.e., an adhesive that will permit separation of one liner sheet from another liner sheet or the substrate without tearing the liner sheet.
The tray sheets can be shipped in either sheet form or roll form. For convenience in shipping, storage, and thermoforming, the tray sheet may be provided to the thermoformer in a continuous roll form (“master pad roll”). The roll can be continuously fed through the thermoformer, with each length of tray sheet being indexed, then thermoformed into a shape, i.e. paint tray. The roll length and width can be as desired. For example, the master pad roll can be 5″ to 48″ in width.
The combined stack of sheets (tray sheets), is thermoformed as a unit into the shape of the desired product, e.g., a paint tray with the liner sheets being on the interior of the paint tray. Upon cooling, the tray sheet maintains its thermoformed configuration due to the thickness of the substrate sheet, while the configuration of the liner sheets is assisted by the presence of the adhesive backing.
The paint tray is used like one would use an ordinary paint tray that does not have a liner. However, unlike the prior art trays described above, there is no need to place a preformed liner into the tray or attempt to hand shape a sheet of thin plastic to conform to the tray interior. After use, the upper liner sheet can be simply peeled away along with the paint residue, exposing the next liner sheet as a clean paint tray ready for use.
The mold, and thereby the thermoformed tray system, can be of various shapes. Generally, the resultant tray will have an open-top interior cavity with a floor and continuous side walls. The paint tray may include at least one paint well and a flat section, normally ridged, for removal of excess paint from a roller dipped into paint within the paint well. In a preferred embodiment, the improved tray may be comprised of two paint wells divided by a horizontal, flat central section so that paint can be placed in both wells. The flat section is connected to opposed ramps tapering upwardly from the paint wells.
In another embodiment of the invention, multiple containers such as plastic egg cartons, cookie trays (e.g., Oreo), jello containers, blister packs, rigid paint tray liners etc., are produced by simultaneously thermoforming multiple layers of plastic sheets having the same thickness. Sheets used in this application are generally from about 0.006″ to about 0.025″ thick. Preferably, a stack of sheets, e.g., from 4 to 6 sheets, are provided to the thermoformer in roll form. A release agent, e.g., a coating, adhesive barrier or release film is applied between the sheets to prevent the sheets from melting/bonding together during the thermoforming process, and to allow the finished containers to be separated easily (e.g., a form of silicone may be introduced between the layers of sheets. A zone coat of adhesive (e.g., 1 inch wide) may be applied along the edge of the substrate to allow for easier transport of the rolls of substrates and sheets by keeping the material together in roll form more effectively. Stacks of sheets are thermoformed by being drawn or pressed into a mold having the desired cavity shape.
In the following description, terms such as horizontal, upright, vertical, above, below, beneath, and the like, are used solely for the purpose of clarity in illustrating the invention, and should not be taken as words of limitation. The drawings are for the purpose of illustrating the invention and are not intended to be to scale.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The resultant product is a thermoformed tray system comprised of a substrate sheet in the shape of the desired tray, with a plurality of liner sheets stacked thereon and held in place by adhesive layers, both natural or man made, between the liner sheets and the lowermost liner sheet and the upper surface of the substrate sheet. All sheets are molded into the shape of the desired tray.
A preferred tray 30 is illustrated in
Various other means may be used to include tabs to facilitate separation of the tapes. For example, as shown in
In another alternative shown in
Yet another alternative as shown in
Yet another alternative is shown in
While the invention is described primarily in terms of the manufacture of a paint tray with a stack of thermoformed sheet liners conforming to the interior dimensions of the paint tray, it will be apparent that the broad concept of the invention can be modified for other applications. For example, as illustrated in
In another alternative illustrated in
This latter process ideally uses about 3 to 6 layers in roll form. Currently the maximum thickness to thermoform (in roll form) effectively is around 0.050″. A coating, adhesive barrier, release agent, or film will be applied to or placed in between the sheets where needed and in any combination to prevent the sheets from melting/bonding together in the thermoforming process, and for allowing the finished products to be separated easily (e.g., a form of silicone may be introduced between the layers of sheets while a zone coat of adhesive (e.g., 1 inch wide) may be applied along the edge of the substrate). This adhesion allows for easier transport of the roll of sheets by keeping the material together in roll form more effectively. Multiple sheets of approximate thickness 0.010″ each are stacked together with a barrier/adhesion between each layer. The multi-sheet layers are rolled together and then sold to various thermoforming companies. Ultimately time and money are saved by the thermoformers, allowing them to be more efficient. Sheets 90 are thermoformed by being drawn or pressed into a mold 92 having the desired cavity shape.
Certain modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the foregoing description. It should be understood that all such modifications and improvements have been deleted herein for the sake of conciseness and readability but are properly within the scope of the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of the filing dates of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/794,409, filed Apr. 24, 2006, and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/855,597, filed Oct. 31, 2006.
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