Patent ID: 7910036

Claim:
A method of molding an object of indefinite length, said method comprising the steps of: (i) injecting a first portion of molten material into a mold comprising a stationary platen and a moving platen and allowing said material to solidify to form a first portion of solid material at a first position; (ii) moving said moving platen in a given direction relative to said stationary platen to open the mold and move said first portion of solid material in said given direction from said first position to a second position, whereby, in said second position, the first portion of solid material is in communication with the mold; (iii) moving said moving platen relative to said stationary platen in the direction opposite to said given direction to close the mold with said first portion of solid material in communication with the mold; (iv) injecting a further portion of molten material into the mold and allowing said further portion to solidify to form a further portion of solid material intimately bonded to said first portion of solid material; (v) moving said further portion of material to said second position whereby in said second position the further portion is in communication with the mold and remains bonded to said first portion; and (vi) repeating steps (iii) to (v) so as to form an object comprising said first portion and said further portions of material bonded together as a linear array of indefinite length.