Molded parts with metal or wood surface areas and processes for their production

Abstract

The present invention thus provides a plastic part with a surface area of a semi-rigid sheet material such as metal, wood or wood-based paper product and a novel process where the sheet material edges are covered with a second plastic component that adheres both to the sheet material and to the first plastic material. A first plastic substrate component is prepared with an adhered sheet material surface area and then the edges of the sheet material are overlapped by a second molded-on, plastic edge-covering component. A preferred sheet material laminate structure is also provided with a backing layer that protects an interior adhesive layer. The second molded-on edge-covering component covers the sheet material edge to provide an aesthetically pleasing surface. This construction produces a more durable sheet material edge covering and eliminates the tendency of the sheet material to peel off the molded part during use.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.