Patent ID: 7156940

Claim:
The method for in-mold application of indicia of graphic and alpha-numerical indicia during rotational molding of a hollow-form, plastisol part, wherein a plastisol indicia piece is applied to the interior surface of a rotational mold, and background plastisol is charge to the mold, the mold is closed and heated to an elevated, plastisol curing temperature while being rotated about its axes, cooled and a molded hollow-form object is ejected, the improvement comprising: a preparing a plastisol indicia transfer by the steps of: i. printing a plastisol onto a carrier sheet with a printing screen having a mesh between 100 and 350 mesh to deposit a plastisol base layer, curing the deposited plastisol by heating the base layer to a plastisol curing temperature; ii. printing a plastisol mixture containing indicia material over the base layer with a screen having a mesh from 100 to 350 mesh to deposit at least one plastisol indicia layer and curing the deposited indicia layer by heating the layer to a plastisol curing temperature; and iii. printing a plastisol mixture over the indicia layer with a screen having a mesh size from 100 to 200 mesh to deposit a support layer of plastisol, and curing the support layer by heating to a plastisol curing temperature; b. applying an adhesive composition to a selected area of the interior surface of the rotational mold, said adhesive composition comprising from 5 to 25 weight percent of a tackifier and 95 to 75 weight percent of a volatile hydrocarbon solvent to obtain an adhesive-coated, selected area; and c. stripping the carrier sheet from the indicia transfer and applying the transfer to the adhesive-coated, selected area with the base layer of the transfer against the adhesive coated, selected area and and pressing the transfer against the adhesive coated selected area of the mold to secure the transfer to the selected area.