Patent ID: 9682502
Date: 2017-06-20
CPC Classifications: B29C,B29K,B29L,B32B,Y10T

Claim:
1. A method of making a molded article having front and back sides and a central portion bounded by a peripheral portion having a perimeter and including an outer boundary located near the perimeter and an inner boundary located near the central portion, wherein the peripheral portion on the front side of the article includes a transition from the inner boundary to the central portion of the article which is a shallow-angled or sloped surface, a curved surface or combinations thereof, and with the article including an in mold label (IML) at least on the angled, sloped and/or curved peripheral portion of the article, which method comprises: providing an in-mold label comprising at least two separate arc segments of a laminated film that includes a backing layer, a printed surface supported by the backing layer, with the printed surface incorporating one or more designs thereon, and a protective film layer upon the printed surface, with the arc segments of the laminated film configured to conform only to part or all of the peripheral portion of the article, with each segment having ends that are configured to intersect with the ends of the other segment to ensure conformance of the IML to the peripheral portion of the article; providing a mold used in a molding process during which the molded article is fabricated, with the mold having a mold cavity formed by first and second molding surfaces with the first surface corresponding to the front side of the article and the second surface corresponding to the back side of the article, into which cavity resin is deposited to form the article and from which the molded article is extracted, with the mold configured to provide the article with a central portion bounded by a peripheral portion having a perimeter and including an outer boundary located near the perimeter and an inner boundary located near the central portion, with the outer and inner boundaries of the peripheral portion being oriented at an angle or slope and/or being curved with respect to the central portion of the molded article; transferring the IML to the mold so that the printed surface of each arc segment is placed adjacent one of the molding surfaces of the mold cavity in a position corresponding to and within the peripheral portion of the article with the ends of each arc segment configured for placement to form intersecting ends of adjacent arc segments to ensure conformance of the IML to the angled, sloped and/or curved peripheral portion of the article; closing the mold by bringing the other of the molding surfaces into position to form the mold cavity; delivering the resin to the mold cavity having the IML therein wherein the ends of the arc segments are fixed in place to intersect during molding of the article; and recovering the molded article from the mold with the IML present only upon the peripheral portion of the molded article.