Method for assembling a closure tab to a lid
AssigneeDart Container Corporation
InventorsRalph W. MacKenzie, Tyler J. DeLong, Ryan P. Gingras
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for assembling a first thermoformed workpiece, such as a tab closure, to a second thermoformed workpiece, such as a lid.
Claims68
A method for automatically assembling a first thermoformed workpiece to a second thermoformed workpiece from a plastic sheet comprising a plurality of the first thermoformed workpieces and a plurality of the second thermoformed workpieces to form a composite thermoformed article, comprising:
- trimming of multiple first thermoformed workpieces by trimming a subset of the total number of first thermoformed workpieces from the plastic sheet to form multiple trimmed first thermoformed workpieces;
- immediately after trimming, carrying the trimmed first thermoformed workpieces to a corresponding second thermoformed workpiece;
- and
- assembling each of the multiple first thermoformed workpieces to a corresponding second thermoformed workpiece to form multiple composite thermoformed articles.
A method for automatically assembling a first thermoformed workpiece to a second thermoformed workpiece from a plastic sheet comprising a plurality of the first thermoformed workpieces and a plurality of the second thermoformed workpieces to form a composite thermoformed article, comprising:
- trimming at least one of the first thermoformed workpieces from the plastic sheet to form at least one trimmed first thermoformed workpiece;
- carrying the trimmed first thermoformed workpiece to a corresponding second thermoformed workpiece;
- press-fitting the trimmed first thermoformed workpiece to the corresponding second thermoformed workpiece to form a composite thermoformed article;
- and
- wherein the thermoforming of the first and second thermoformed workpieces in the plastic sheet is done such that one of the first and second workpieces has a projection and the other has a recess, and the press-fitting comprising inserting the projection into the recess.
A method for automatically assembling a first thermoformed workpiece to a second thermoformed workpiece from a plastic sheet comprising a plurality of the first thermoformed workpieces and a plurality of the second thermoformed workpieces to form a composite thermoformed article, comprising:
- trimming at least one of the first thermoformed workpieces from the plastic sheet to form at least one trimmed first thermoformed workpiece;
- carrying the trimmed first thermoformed workpiece to a corresponding second thermoformed workpiece;
- and
- press-fitting a projection on one of the trimmed first thermoformed workpiece and second thermoformed workpiece into a recess on the other of the trimmed first thermoformed workpiece and second thermoformed workpiece.
A method for automatically assembling a recloseable lid assembly, comprising:
- thermoforming at least one closure tab in a plastic sheet;
- thermoforming at least one lid in the plastic sheet;
- trimming at least one of the closure tab and lid from the plastic sheet;
- immediately after trimming, carrying the at least one of the closure tab and lid to the other of the closure tab and lid;
- and
- assembling the at least one of the closure tab and lid to the other of the closure tab and lid to form the recloseable lid assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.