PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16047601
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-07
Publication Date: 2018-12
Patent Classification: ["264", "320000"]

Abstract:
The disclosure relates to forming shaped thermoplastic articles having smooth peripheries. Many thermoplastic articles have sharp edges formed upon molding or cutting the article from a feedstock sheet. Such sharp edges can damage thin plastic films or flesh which they contact, and smoothing the edges is desirable. Described herein are methods of forming a smooth periphery for such sharp-edged articles by rolling over the sharp edge. The smoothing operation is performed by forming a deflectable flange including a bend region separated from the potentially sharp peripheral edge by a spacer, deflecting a portion of the deflectable flange, and softening at least one bent portion of the deflectable flange to yield a smooth periphery upon cooling. The deflection can include curling the spacer at or near the peripheral edge.

Claim (Index 1):
A method of making a tray-shaped article having a smooth periphery, the method comprising\n impinging a formed thermoplastic sheet against a ram,\n the sheet having the shape of a tray, including a substantially planar rim surrounding a concave compartment, \n the rim comprising\n an extension having an inner extent and an outer extent, the inner extent of the extension joining the perimeter of the compartment with \n a spacer disposed about the outer extent of the extension,\n the spacer bearing the peripheral edge of the sheet at its peripheral-most portion and being connected to the extension by way of a smoothly-curved bend region, \n the plane of the peripheral-most portion of the spacer being offset from the plane of the rim by an offset angle of at least 60 degrees, \n the compartment and the spacer extending away from the same face of the rim, and \n \n \n the ram having an upper surface shaped\n to engage the entire peripheral edge of the sheet and \n to deflect the peripheral-most portion of the spacer inwardly toward the compartment, thereby increasing the offset angle, \n \n as the sheet is impinged against the ram; \n heating at least a portion of the spacer to at least the glass transition temperature of the thermoplastic; continuing impingement of the sheet against the ram at least until the offset angle has been increased to greater than 90 degrees; and cooling the sheet while the offset angle remains greater than 90 degrees to yield the tray-shaped article having a smooth periphery.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 74.0
- Percentile: 95.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.73418
- Patent Class: 264.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15658785', '15445220', '15626013', '15787261', '15674787']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8760182490713917
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.6370930370156257
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.8521257278658151
- Mean Citation Score: 526.010184
- Max Citation Score: 569.2051
- Similarity Product: 512.8330446401833

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 0
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test