Patent ID: 7614993

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a tapered container with insulated sidewalls comprising: forming a flexible preform from an elastic plastic material; placing the preform over a tapered mandrel between a smaller lower circumference to a larger upper circumference, to thereby form a flexible inner liner having a generally frusto conical shape with a lower circumferential band adjacent said lower circumference and an upper circumferential band adjacent said upper circumference, the upper and lower circumferential bands being separated by a substantial distance therebetween; covering the flexible inner liner with a rigid outer wall; sealing the outer wall to the inner liner at said upper and lower circumferential bands to thereby form a sidewall of the container wherein the flexible liner is separable from the rigid outer wall in a region between the upper and lower circumferential band; removing the sidewall from the mandrel; and permitting at least an intermediate portion of the inner liner to separate from the outer wall to thereby form an insulating comfort band in the form of an expandable void between the inner liner and outer wall which encircles the entirety of an intermediate circumferential region extending between upper and lower circumferential bands of said liner over a vertical distance of more than 50% of the height of the container.