Patent ID: 7818866

Claim:
A method of reinforcing a plastic foam cup, said method comprising: (a) molding a plastic foam conical body which has: (i) an open top end including an outwardly rolled lip, the open top end having a first circumference of a first length, (ii) a closed bottom end having a second circumference of a second length, wherein the second length of the second circumference is less than the first length of the first circumference, and (iii) a tapered wall extending from the bottom end to the top end, said tapered wall having an outer surface and an inner surface; (b) providing a flat reinforcing member having: (i) a rigid material layer having an inner surface and an outer surface, (ii) a pressure sensitive adhesive layer which covers substantially the entire inner surface of the material layer, (iii) a concave edge, (iv) a convex edge, wherein a trough of the concave edge is aligned with an apex of the convex edge, (v) a leading edge extending along a first line, and (vi) a trailing edge extending along a second line which intersects said first line, wherein a length between the leading edge and the trailing edge adjacent to the convex edge is less than the first length of the first circumference of the open top end of the plastic foam conical body and a length between the leading edge and the trailing edge adjacent to the concave edge is less than the second length of the second circumference of the closed bottom end of the plastic foam conical body; (c) at a point during shrinking of the molded plastic foam conical body, affixing the inner surface of the flat reinforcing member around the tapered wall of the plastic foam conical body such that: (i) the concave edge is adjacent to the closed bottom end of the plastic foam conical body, (ii) the convex edge is adjacent to the open top end of the plastic foam conical body, (iii) the leading edge and trailing edge extend substantially parallel to each other, and (iv) the leading edge and the trailing edge define a first gap having a first gap width; and (d) allowing the molded plastic foam conical body to further shrink, wherein after the molded plastic foam conical body has further shrunk, the leading edge and the trailing edge of the affixed reinforcing member define a second gap having a second gap width, the second gap width being less than the first gap width.