Injection molding system, method, and tote manufactured therefrom
AssigneeCreative Plastic Concepts, LLC
InventorsJacob H. Whitta, Eric Hummel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A storage container manufactured from an injection molding process which includes a mold and at least one injector. The mold has a top surface, a bottom wall, a plurality of side surfaces, and at least two separable sections. Where the at least two separable sections are in a closed position, a cavity is formed in the mold. The at least one injector is disposed through at least one of the plurality of sidewalls, and further disposed into the cavity. The storage container has a plurality of sidewalls, an upper edge, and a bottom surface. At least one of the plurality of sidewalls of the resulting storage container contains at least one sprue mark.
Claims19
A method for manufacturing a storage container with an injection molding process, the method comprising steps of:
- providing a mold having a top wall, a bottom wall, and a plurality of side surfaces, the plurality of side surfaces includes a first side surface, a second side surface, a third side surface, and a fourth side surface, the mold includes two sections, wherein when the mold is in a closed position, a cavity is formed between the two sections, the mold further includes a plurality of injectors directed into the cavity when the mold is in the closed position, the plurality of injectors including at least one bottom injector disposed through the bottom wall and a plurality of side injectors disposed through at least one of the plurality of side surfaces, the plurality of side injectors including a first pair of side injectors disposed through the first side surface and a second pair of side injectors disposed through the second side surface;
- providing a molten material;
- positioning the at least one bottom injector along the bottom wall and the plurality of side injectors along at least one of the plurality of side surfaces at a desired height and a desired lateral position to achieve a balanced fill of the cavity;
- injecting the molten material through the plurality of injectors disposed through each of the bottom wall and the at least one of the plurality of side surfaces of the mold into the cavity;
- and
- removing the storage container manufactured with the injection molding process from the mold.
A method for manufacturing a storage container with an injection molding process, the method comprising steps of:
- providing a mold having a top wall, a bottom wall, and a plurality of side surfaces, the plurality of side surfaces includes a first side surface, a second side surface, a third side surface, and a fourth side surface, the mold includes two sections, wherein when the mold is in a closed position, a cavity is formed between the two sections, the mold further includes a plurality of injectors directed into the cavity when the mold is in the closed position;
- providing a molten material;
- positioning the plurality of injectors along locations of the mold to provide defined parameters of the storage container, the defined parameters of the storage container include providing a balanced fill of the cavity, a faster fill time of the cavity, a lower clamp force pressure, a faster total production time, a lower deflection point along a baseline point of the storage container, and a lower weight of the storage container;
- injecting the molten material through the plurality of injectors;
- and
- removing the storage container manufactured with the injection molding process from the mold,
- wherein the injection molding process has a total production time which is the time required to form the storage container, where the total production time of the storage container is about 55% less than a total production time of the storage container formed by the injection molding process but where the molten material is injected only at the bottom surface of the storage container,
- wherein the injection molding process has a fill time which is the time required to fill the cavity to form the storage container, wherein the fill time is between 2.5 seconds and 4.0 seconds, and
- wherein the injection molding process has a clamp force pressure which is the pressure required to hold a mold in a closed position to form the storage container during the injection molding process, where the clamp force pressure is about 25% less than a clamp force required to form the storage container by the injection molding process but where the molten material is injected only at a bottom surface of the storage container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.