Patent ID: 7131187

Claim:
A method of making a heater element for use in an in-mold seat forming process which uses a liquid plastic foaming material to make the plastic foam core portion of a seat member as an attached part of an outer cover sheet comprising the steps of, (a) providing a carrier member formed as a reticulated open cell structure made of a plastic material and having a pair of spaced surfaces between which are located a network of compressible open cells to be filled with said liquid plastic foaming material, (b) positioning an electric conductor on one of the pair of spaced surfaces so as to provide a pattern that covers a substantial portion the entire surface of said one of the pair of spaced surfaces, (c) applying an adhesive onto said electric conductors and onto said one of the pair of spaced surfaces so as to provide an open-cell bond between the electric conductors and the webs of the reticulated open cell structure that are located along said one of the pair of spaced surfaces, and (d) attaching pressure sensitive adhesive to the other of said pair of spaced surfaces to allow the carrier member to be connected to the inner surface of the outer cover sheet during the in-mold seat forming process.