Process and apparatus for making multi-component hollow article and article made thereby

A process for making a hollow article by injection molding, the process comprising:

• molding a hollow body of a first plastic material, the hollow body having a wall and a void inside the wall, wherein the wall has at least one vent therethrough, the hollow body comprising at least one flap molded in an area of the wall adjacent to the at least one vent, the flap being molded in a first position in which the vent is open, the flap being hingedly movable from the first position to a second position in which the vent is closed by the flap;
• moving the flap from the first position to the second position with a closing tool, the closing tool comprising a pin, a beam, a bar, a machined or milled structure, or a turned structure;
• injecting a second plastic material through a nozzle located in close proximity to the flap while holding the flap in the second position with the closing tool so that the second plastic material overmolds the flap thereby securing the flap in the second position;
• and
• at least partially overmolding the hollow body with the second plastic material so that the second plastic material at least partially covers the flap in the second position, wherein the second material is essentially precluded from entering the void inside the hollow body through the vent.