Patent ID: 7426998

Claim:
A rubber member produced by a process comprising the steps of: selecting a quantity of masticated rubber material; placing the masticated rubber material in a molding die assembly, the molding die assembly comprising an upper die and a lower die having opposed substantially flat surface portions, at least one of said upper and lower dies being provided with one or more cavities in an associated one of said opposed substantially flat surface portions, and at least one of said upper and lower dies being provided with one or more projections extending substantially around said one or more cavities and projecting from an associated one of said opposed substantially flat surface portions; bringing together said upper and lower dies such that said opposed substantially flat surface portions are separated by a spacing, wherein said spacing is dictated by a thickness of the quantity of the masticated rubber material, and wherein the distance between said upper and lower dies at said projection is smaller than the spacing between the opposed substantially flat surface portions of said upper and lower dies; compression molding the masticated rubber material in the molding die assembly to form one or more rubber members, each said one or more rubber members associated with one of said one or more cavities, a connecting rubber sheet, said connecting rubber sheet extending between and connecting said one or more molded rubber members, said connecting rubber sheet complementarily formed between said opposed substantially flat surface portions of said upper and lower dies, and one or more recess areas, each said recess areas complementarily formed by one of said projections and substantially extending around one of said molded rubber members; and cutting through said recess areas to thereby separate said molded rubber members from said connecting rubber sheet; wherein each said molded rubber member has a cut surface formed by said cutting step, said cut surface having a thickness less than said spacing between said opposed substantially flat surface portions of said upper and lower dies during said bringing together step.