Prince Corporation

Johnson Controls Technology Company

Johnson Controls Interiors Technology Corp.

Dual Gravity, LLC

Pince Corporation

Brian L Erickson

Patrick W Binish

Thomas J Dellinger

Paul T VanderKuyl

Jeffrey A Daniel

Kermit M Anderson

Jason William Spaulding

A beverage faucet lever comprising: an upper shaft, wherein the upper shaft comprises a tap marker alignment member, and wherein the upper shaft comprises a lip for engaging a tab of a tap marker mounting device, and further wherein the upper shaft is at least partially positionable within a tap marker mounting device; a lower shaft, wherein the lower shaft comprises an actuator and wherein the lower shaft is at least partially positionable within a beverage faucet; and a ball joint positioned between the upper shaft and the lower shaft, wherein the ball joint is at least partially positionable within a beverage faucet.

Beverage faucet lever, tap marker mounting device using beverage faucet lever and associated beverage faucet and method for using the same

A thermoformable laminate including a rigid thermoplastic foam sheet and a fiber reinforcing layer adhered to each of two opposite faces of the rigid thermoplastic foam sheet is heated to the thermoforming softening temperature of the rigid thermoplastic foam sheet, and shaped and compressed to form a headliner having varying thicknesses, including a major portion of the headliner which is relatively thin and highly compressed, and at least one relatively thick, lightly compressed or non-compressed impact absorption area. The thermoformable laminate and method make it possible to form a headliner with integral impact absorption areas from a laminate of uniform thickness and density, using a single thermoforming operation.

Rigid thermoformable foam for headliner application

A plastic sheet capable of being shaped by a cold room temperature tool, said sheet being a semi-rigid thermoformable plastic foam doped with carbon black having a concentration within a range of 0.0000081 to 0.0081% by weight of the foam. And a method of forming a product from such sheet by heating it to its thermoforming temperature range by infrared (IR) heat and placing and compressing the sheet between mold parts of a cold tool, the IR heat preferably being generated by quartz lamp electric heaters.

Method of forming products from thermoformable foam with infrared

Thermoformable foam with infrared receptors

A visor, according to one embodiment, comprises a closed-cell, semi-rigid urethane foam material thermoformed from sheets into a visor core construction with a reinforced backbone mounted along an edge thereof for mounting the visor to a vehicle. The visor is upholstered utilizing an adhesive and scrim laminate and is formed by heating, pressing and cutting to assure the outer upholstery material adheres smoothly to the visor core and provides a trim edge in appearance. According to another embodiment of the invention, a blend of kenaf fibers are employed as the core material, which is laminated with upholstery material as in the first embodiment to complete the visor construction. In yet another embodiment of the invention, a butterfly-type core construction is made of high density kenaf blend and upholstered in a manner employed for other butterfly visor core constructions.

Visor and method of manufacturing

A headliner includes one or more integrally formed flaps extending from an edge of the headliner and integrally hinged to the edge of the headliner to fold over the top of the headliner and be concealed in the area between the headliner and vehicle sheet metal roof. In one embodiment of the invention, the panel defining flaps are formed of a pleated headliner material to provide a crushable impact absorption material. In another embodiment of the invention where higher density headliner material is employed, the flaps are compressed headliner material to provide a relatively thin, high density impact absorption padding.

Headliner with integral impact absorption panels

A visor comprises a fiberboard butterfly-shaped core having a first or inner surface coated with a co-adhesive and has its opposite surface covered with a suitable upholstery material having an edge which extends over the periphery of the butterfly core. The core is folded over a pivot rod and torque control such that the facing adhesive surfaces adhesively engage one another to complete the visor construction. The methods of manufacturing the visor includes the steps of applying a co-adhesive to sheets of fiberboard and cutting the sheets into the butterfly shape of a desired visor configuration. The individual butterfly sheets are stacked on one another with the adhesive layers facing in the same direction, such that the adjacent butterfly cores do not adhere to one another. Subsequently, the single core members are placed on butterfly-shaped upholstery having a slightly larger dimension than that of the core. The upholstery edges are folded over the edges of the core, and a pivot rod and torque control member is positioned near the fold line of the butterfly core which defines the upper edge of the visor when completed. The halves of the butterfly core are folded and pressed together to complete the visor construction.

Growing community of inventors

Holland, MI, United States of America

Brian L Erickson