Patent ID: 8066501

Claim:
A mold apparatus for molding a component onto a stretched blank comprising: a first mold part; a second mold part; a stretching assembly disposed between said first mold part and said second mold part, said stretching assembly including a float plate defining a central opening permitting at least a portion of said first mold part to extend through said central opening, said stretching assembly including a plurality of slide assemblies mounted to said float plate, and a plurality of clamp assemblies mounted to said slide assemblies, said clamp assemblies operable to grip the periphery of the blank and hold the blank, said slide assemblies capable of selectively moving said clamp assemblies to apply a stretch to the blank, said float plate movably mounted to said first mold part, wherein said float plate is movable between a stretch position in which said central opening is unpenetrated by said first mold part to allow stretching of the blank without interference from said first mold part and a mold position in which said central opening is penetrated by at least a portion of said first mold part; and an apparatus for closing said first mold part and said second mold part on the blank while the blank is held in a stretched condition by said stretching assembly; wherein said stretching assembly includes a plurality of fabric pins, and further including; a robot for transferring the blank from a loading station to the stretching assembly, said robot including a placing tool including a plurality of shot pins arranged to align with said fabric pins when said placing tool is positioned adjacent to said stretching assembly.