US2485323A - Method and apparatus for producing ornamental multicolored designs - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 18, 1949. E. H. SCHWARTZ 2,485,323

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL MULTICOLORED DESIGNS Filed Dec. 21, 1943 COLORED Momma MAT'L.

a 0515:? we: covEREp 16" mm ossmu .Duc-rs FOR CARRYING COOLING, HEATING on CURING msmum.

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NETWOFK FORM/N6 OUTLINE OF DESIGN MOLDING ecw 1494 V Sabra/Q2, 1N VEN TOR.

Patented Oct. 18, 1949 UNITED STATES.

ATENT OFFICE METHOD AND APPARA ORNAMENTAL MULT TUS FOR PRODUCING ICOLORED DESIGNS 3 Claims. 1

My invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for producing ornamental designs with molding material.

An object of the invention is to provide a method whereby a multicolored bas-relief, fiat or mosaic design, picture or color combination may be produced.

Another object is to provide such a method for producing such a design, picture or color combination that lends itself readily to mass production.

Another object is to provide a method that saves time and labor and requires a minimum of skill in producing such a design, picture or color combination.

Another object is to provide such a method that is simple and inexpensive to practice;

A further object is to provide such a method that produces a lustrous design of various colors.

My improved method will be better understood by the description thereof to follow taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a plate having a design or picture on its surface produced in ac-. cordance with my improved method.

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of a modified form of plate or frame member adapted to be used with my improved method and having a design produced thereon in accordance with my improved method.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the plate and design shown in Fig. 1 taken on the plane of the line AA of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of another modified form of plate or frame member adapted to be used with my improved method and having a design thereon.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a plate similar to the plate of Fig. 3 but having a fiat or mosaic design instead of a raised design.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of one form of mold apparatus adapted to be used in practicing my improved method.

Fig. '7 is a cross-sectional view of another form of mold apparatus adapted to be used in practicing my improved method.

Fig. 8 is a detail view showing the reservoir and pipes leading to the mold.

My improved method contemplates using moldable or plastic materials now used in commerce, which materials come in various colors and also come transparent or translucent or opaque.

In practicing my method, I preferably use a mold apparatus comprising a male mold or die member l0 encased in a movable frame It and a female mold or die member l2 encased in a frame IS. The mold member II] has its working face or surface formed with depressions M defining a design or picture. The mold member I2 is preferably formed with a curved face or surface IE but may be flat or spherical. Placed against this curved surface I5 is a base plate or object [6. When the mold members I0 and I2 are in operative position as shown in Fig. 6, the working face or surface of the male member in is in engagement with the plate l6 and the depressions in said member leave spaces or separate compartments I! between the two mold members or between the mold member and. plate.

Extending through openings in the female mold member l2 and aligned openings in the base plate l6 are a plurality of tubes or pipe lines I 8, a pipe line leading to each compartment or space between the die members. The pipe lines extend to a reservoir (not shown) containing suitable molding or plastic material having separate compartments for the various colored materials. For example, the lowermost pipe line shown in Fig. 6 may extend to a compartment having blue colored material, the next pipe to a supply of green material, the next to a supply of brown, the next to a supply of red, the next to a supply of gray and the top pipe to the green supply. The two pipe lines supplying the green material may of course lead or branch off to a main feed line coming from the compartment having the green material. In this way, the spaced cavities are simultaneously supplied with the green material, for example. It will also be understood that two difierent colored materials, such as yellow and blue may be sent through a single pipe line and mixed to form a green color. The pipe lines may lead to separate reservoirs or hoppers if desired.

The colored molding or 'plastic material is fed simultaneously from the reservoir into the pipes 18 preferably under pressure or heated if necessary to make it flow through the pipes.

The colored material I 9 is forced into the spaces or compartments until it fills said compartments. The edge of the wall of the male mold member defining each depression touches the surface of the plate and thereby prevents the moldable material from flowing into the adjacent comparment or space.

The plate or base or frame member l6 may have one of its surfaces coated with an adhesive before being inserted into the molds so that the injected moldable material will adhere to said surface. The moldable material may also be attached to the surface of the plate by fusion, by forming said surface with interlocking ridges such as dovetails or the like, and it may be attached by cohesion.

The mold members are held in operative position until the molten moldable material has set or hardens sufficiently when they are parted. The plate with the design attached to its surface is then ejected in any suitable manner as by a tool, and if desired the openings in the plate through which the moldable material was injected may be filled in in any desired manner. The relieved part of the mold determines whether the design is flat, mosaic or bas-relief.

The mold frames II and i3 may be provided with ducts 20 for supplying a cooling, heating or curing medium depending upon the properties of the moldable material'iised.

Any air that might become lodged in the compartments or spaces I1 and that might interfere with the free flowing of the material or with the effectiveness of the molding operation may be removed by suction or through vents Which can readily be provided.

It will be seen from the foregoing that a design or picture such as shown in Fig. 1 may readily be produced in great numbers as the moldable material is applied by an injection or jet process by machinery and not by hand, and that the resulting product or design is not dependent upon the skill of the operator, and that all of the designs made from a particular mold will be uniform in all respects.

Instead of having a solid base plate for supporting the design as shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 6, a base, ring, chase or frame member 21 as shown in Fig. 2 may be inserted between the mold members l and I2. When using this form of frame member 21, the male mold member is free of depressions or spaces and has a plane surface. The ring, chase or frame member itself which may be formed of wood, metal or other suitable material, has the desired design cut in its body portion or encloses a network outlining the design thereby forming openings or cutout portions 22 which with the walls of the mold members form compartments, into which the colored material is injected by the pipe lines H3. The resulting design will be flat and not raised as in Fig. 3 and will comprise the colored material which fills the openings and also the lacework of the frame member between said openings. The frame member, ring or chaseis a part of the finished product. The molding material is held in position by the side walls 23 of the openings and the outer frame, ring or chase. This method is especially adaptable for forming transparent or translucent designs or pictures, obtaining effects similar to stain glass windows. Bas-relief, and inlay effects may also be obtained by this method, and the method may also be used for opaque moldable materials.

In Fig. 4, another modified form of supporting surface or base for the design is shown and comprises a combination of the base plate of Fig. 3 and the base or frame of Fig. 2. In this form, the upper surface of the base plate 24 is formed with depressions defining the desired design, which depressions with the solid portions therebetween form a sort of frame or lacework. When this base plate 24 is inserted into position between the mold members as shown in Fig. 7, the male member In is free from depressions and the depressions in the plate with the surface of the male die member and the surface of the plate form the compartments for receiving the molding material. In this form of mold, the pipe lines l8 extend through the male die member and the material is injected into the compartments on the top or upper surface of the plate 24 and not through the plate as in Fig. 6. By this method a flat design is produced as shown in Fig. 4, the base forming part of the design.

It will be understood however that the position of the base 24 may be reversed with its imperforate surface engaging the surface of male die member ill, in .which case the pipes l8 would extend through the female die member l2 instead of member In.

Fig. 5 shows a design supporting base plate similar to that shown in Fig. 3 but the design is formed by forming compartments having flat ceilings in one of the mold members (not shown) and pressing said member against the plate. The dividing lines 25 made by the edge walls of the compartments may be filled in with any suitable substance to bring out the line work of the design.

I claim:

1. The method of producing an ornamental multicolored design on a plate or the like having a skeletonal network of raised walls providing a multiplicity of cavities between said walls forming the outline of a design which consists in placing said plate between two mold members with the face of one of said mold members in direct contact with the network of raised walls for closing the cavities at the face of the plate, said latter mold having a multiplicity of conduits therethrough with relatively small outlets and leading one to each of said cavities and in injecting through said conduits into said cavities moldable material from a common reservoir exterior of the mold members with separate compartments for material of different colors, permitting the moldable material in the cavities to harden, separating the mold members to therehv directly expose the plate and ejecting the plate.

2. Apparatus of the kind described including two complementary separable mold members for receiving therebetween a base plate having cavities on one surface thereof, one of said mold members having its face at said cavities devoid of projections outwardly beyond said face and also having spaced openings leading to the space for receiving said base plate, pipes having relatively small outlets and extending through said openings from a reservoir containing moldable material of different colors and leading to the cavi-.

ties in said base plate and terminating at said face, some of said pipes being connected exteriorly of the mold member for supplying moldable material of the same color to more than one cavity and others of said pipes being connected exteriorly of the mold member for mixing moldable material of different colors and supplying said mixed material to one or more of said cavities and means for injecting the REFERENCES CITED, moldable material through all of said pipes.

3 The method according to claim 1 wherein The following references are of record 1n the the said injecting of material of different colors file of thls patent: into separate compartments includes simultane- UNITED STATES PATENTS ously branching ofi material of similar color to Number Name Date more than one cavity and dlrecting material of 4:80 371 Mandigo Aug 9 1392 various colors into a single conduit for forming 1 560368 Bartels -35 1925 a desired colored material before injecting same 2227263 Knowles 0 intotbranch conduits leading to the respective 10 2:2791203 Shaw Apr: 7 1942 cam les. 2, 41,180 Burke May 6 194 EUGENE H. SCHW 2293365 Gits et a1 O 1 1942

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