Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63H—TOYS, e.g. TOPS, DOLLS, HOOPS OR BUILDING BLOCKS
  • A63H9/00—Special methods or compositions for the manufacture of dolls, toy animals, toy figures, or parts thereof
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
  • B29C51/00—Shaping by thermoforming, i.e. shaping sheets or sheet like preforms after heating, e.g. shaping sheets in matched moulds or by deep-drawing; Apparatus therefor
  • B29C51/26—Component parts, details or accessories; Auxiliary operations
  • B29C51/266—Auxiliary operations after the thermoforming operation
  • B29C51/267—Two sheets being thermoformed in separate mould parts and joined together while still in the mould
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
  • B29C2795/00—Printing on articles made from plastics or substances in a plastic state
  • B29C2795/002—Printing on articles made from plastics or substances in a plastic state before shaping
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
  • B29C51/00—Shaping by thermoforming, i.e. shaping sheets or sheet like preforms after heating, e.g. shaping sheets in matched moulds or by deep-drawing; Apparatus therefor
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29K—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS OR TO MATERIALS FOR MOULDS, REINFORCEMENTS, FILLERS OR PREFORMED PARTS, e.g. INSERTS
  • B29K2995/00—Properties of moulding materials, reinforcements, fillers, preformed parts or moulds
  • B29K2995/0018—Properties of moulding materials, reinforcements, fillers, preformed parts or moulds having particular optical properties, e.g. fluorescent or phosphorescent
  • B29K2995/0029—Translucent

Definitions

• the present invention relates to articles such as dolls or the like made of plastic material, particularly designed for being associated to and/or incorporated in confectionery products, typically chocolate eggs.
• dolls of the above sort are constituted by a single full, i.e., massif, solid body or else by a number of parts that can be put together and assembled with one another and also in this case full, formed by means of injection moulding of plastic material.
• the outer surface of the doll is decorated with images that represent the features of the personage, directly during the injection process, by adding appropriate colouring agents to the injected plastic material.
• the amount of plastic material used for constituting the mass of the doll is relatively considerable, which entails production costs that are far from compatible with the nature of the article.
• the cost of production of the doll fatally affects the price of sale of the confectionery product.
• the second problem regards the safety in regard to the end users for whom the article is designed, typically small children: the colouring substances added to the injected plastic material and present on the surface of the doll may prove to a certain extent toxic, and hence their possible contact with the mouth of the child can hence involve even serious risks for his health.
• the object of the present invention is to solve both of the aforesaid problems and to provide a process for manufacturing a doll or the like that, on the one hand, will require the use of a sensibly smaller amount of plastic material, and on the other will eliminate any risk of contamination for the user.
• the process according to the invention is basically characterized in that it comprises the following steps: providing a pair of transparent or translucid plates of thermoformable plastic material; printing on one face of each plate an image corresponding to a respective half of the doll or the like;
• thermoforming said plates so as to obtain two shaped half-shells, the faces of which bearing the respective printed images being set inside the half- shells;
• the two half-shells are preferably permanently joined together, for example, by heat-sealing or equivalent systems.
• the doll or the like provided in conformance with the process according to the invention can be manufactured in a particularly inexpensive way and is also appreciably lighter than those obtained with current injection-moulding technologies, and is much safer as regards the risks of toxicity for the end users in so far as the colouring substances or inks used for printing the image representing the features are inaccessible from outside.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a first step of the manufacturing process according to the invention
• FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a second step of the process.
• the example of embodiment that will now be described with reference to the drawings regards manufacture of a doll designed to be associated to a confectionery product, which may typically be introduced inside a chocolate egg in the form of a surprise .
• the first step of the process represented in Figure 1, consists in providing a pair of thin plates of heat-sealable plastic material 1, 2, necessarily transparent or translucid and preferably of the type designed for foodstuff usage.
• the plates 1, 2 normally have overall dimensions only slightly greater than those of the article produced, in the case in point the doll designated by P in Figure 3.
• the plates 1, 2 may present larger dimensions, for example, such as to enable production of a plurality of dolls P at the same time.
• the second step of the process which is also represented in Figure 1, consists in reproducing on one face of each of the two plates 1, 2, by means of conventional printing processes, a respective image or decoration 3, 4 corresponding to the features of a respective half of the final doll P.
• the image 3 printed on one face of the plate 1 represents the front side of the doll P, whilst the image 4 printed on the face of the other plate 2 represents the dorsal side thereof.
• the next step consists in thermoforming the two plates 1, 2 via respective moulds, with modalities generally known to the person skilled in the branch, in such a way as to obtain two shaped half-shells 5, 6 having a boundary corresponding to that of the images 3 and 4, respectively.
• the printed images 3, 4 are set on the internal surfaces, i.e., the concave ones, of the two half-shells 5 and 6.
• the two half-shells 5, 6 are finally coupled together along the corresponding edges, by setting the corresponding cavities against one another, and are then joined so as to obtain a hollow body the final configuration of which is that of the doll P represented in Figure 3.
• the three-dimensional image of the doll P is obtained, formed, in the example illustrated, by the complex of the front image 3 and of the dorsal image 4.
• the union between the two half-shells 5, 6 is normally permanent, and in this case it can be provided by heat-sealing or similar processes, or else may possibly be separable. Alternatively, it is also possible to envisage a connection thereof that can be dismantled.
• Heat-sealing for permanent joining of the two half- shells 5, 6 may be performed, for example, with electrode devices via automated systems.
• the sealing electrode will be set along the line of joining between the two half-shells, the pattern of which will have been detected mathematically or else using a "master" example of the doll, and a feeler and corresponding transducer.
• the three-dimensional doll P thus obtained will hence present the printed images 3, 4 located inside the hollow body, and hence inaccessible from outside but visible in transparency through the material of the half-shells 5 and 6 obtained from the transparent or translucid plates 1 and 2.
• the conformation of the doll P obtained via the process according to the invention may vary widely with respect to what has been described and illustrated and may present the an extremely wide range of shapes, in compliance with the characteristics of the thermoforming methodology.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Toys (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=40290414

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Citations (6)

• 2008
  • 2008-01-30 IT ITTO20080064 patent/ITTO20080064A1/it unknown
• 2009
  • 2009-01-29 WO PCT/IB2009/000191 patent/WO2009095784A1/en not_active Ceased

Patent Citations (6)

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