Preformed one-piece wall covering for a bathtub recess

A method of pre-forming a wall covering for the side and end walls of a tube-recess from a single sheet of plastic laminate material which has a decorative layer on one side and a backing layer on its opposite side, said method comprising:

• placing a substantially rectangular suitably sized sheet of said plastic laminate material onto a support with its decorative layer facing towards a parallel pair of elongated forming tubes, each having an outer forming surface of a predetermined radius, said tubes being spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the width of a tub-recess side wall,
• positioning said sheet of plastic laminate relative to said forming tubes, so that each of oppostie end portions of said sheet extends outwardly from a forming tube a distance substantially equal to the width of a tube-recess end wall,
• pressing said sheet against each forming tube while heating said tube from within, so that the tube will in turn heat the portion of the plastic laminate material which is in contact therewith,
• moving each end portion of the plastic laminate material so as to bend such material about each forming tube, and continuing such bending until each end portion of the plastic laminate material extends at an interior angle that is less than 90.degree. from the portion of the plastic laminate material which extends between the two forming tubes,
• applying moisture to the formed corner regions of said plastic laminate material while said regions are still hot, for the purpose of tempering them and substantially setting the shape of the corners,
• partially folding said preformed wall covering by lapping one end wall thereof over the other end wall thereof, to produce a configuration of said wall covering in which the side wall thereof bows outwardly in one direction and the partially overlapped end walls thereof bow outwardly in the opposite direction,
• substantially maintaining this configuration of the wall covering while introducing one end thereof into an open end of a normally rectangular box that is wider than the width of the partially folded wall covering and has a normal depth that is substantially smaller than the depth dimension of the partially folded wall covering,
• pushing the wall covering into the box, so that the outwardly bowing side and end walls of the wall covering will in turn bow the adjacent side walls of the box outwardly,
• moving the box with the wall covering therein relatively through a rectangular forming opening of a rigid mandril, sized to be substantially equal to the normal outside dimensions of the box, so that such mandril will force inwardly and reshape both the side walls of the box and the side and end walls of the wall covering therein, and in so doing will slide the end walls of the wall covering in position an amount sufficient to cause the side and partially overlapped end walls of the wall covering to bow inwardly until the wall covering has assumed a new configuration which is substantially within the normal rectangular shape of the box, and
• closing the ends of the box, with the frictional contact between the backing layer of the wall covering and the inner surfaces of the box in contact therewith serving to hold the wall covering in such new configuration, so that the box will retain a substantially rectangular shape.