Foam-filled, cellular structural product
AssigneeAmerican Marine Industries, Inc.
InventorEric F. Howat
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A structural product useful in making skis and other articles of manufacture includes a core comprising a multiplicity of cells of structural material arranged side by side with their axes substantially parallel to each other and their ends open. A quantity of foamed plastic fills the cells and is bonded to the walls thereof. A structural skin lies across at least one face of the core and is bonded to the open ends of the component cells, thereby rigidifying the product.
Claims2
A ski comprising in combination, body, tip and tail portions, the body portion being elongated and narrower in its central portion than at its ends and comprising
- a. a cellular core comprising a multiplicity of tubular laterally closed cells of structural material arranged side-by-side with their axes substantially parallel to each other and their ends open, the tubular cells being of progressively increasing density from the wider to the narrower lateral dimensions,
- b. a quantity of foamed plastic contained in the cells substantially filled the same and bonded to the walls thereof,
- c. a fiberglass sheet resin-bonded to and encasing the core and the tip and tail portions, and
- d. top and bottom surface sheets bonded respectively to the top and bottom surfaces of the fiberglass sheet, said surface sheets providing the top and bottom faces of the ski.
The method of making a ski, comprising:
- a. providing a mold in the form of a ski body and having a bottom, side walls, end walls and an open top, the mold being narrower at its central portion than at its ends,
- b. providing a cellular core providing a multiplicity of tubular laterally closed cells of structural material arranged side-by-side with their axes substantially parallel to each other and their ends open,
- c. placing the cellular core in the mold with the open ends disposed outwardly and with the laterally closed cells collapsed laterally in proportion to the width of the mold, the cells being collapsed to a greater degree in the narrow area of the mold,
- d. placing a quantity of liquid, uncured, foamable plastic in unfoamed condition in the mold,
- e. effectuating the foaming and setting of the plastic to form a rigid, foamed ski body blank,
- f. removing the ski body blank from the mold, and
- g. encasing the ski body blank in a resin-bonded fiberglass sheet while contemporaneously bonding to the top and bottom faces of the sheet laminar sheets providing the top and bottom faces of the ski.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.