General Electric Company

Charles M Mulcahy

Kurt A Weiss

Robert Paul Fairbanks

Jeremy P Miller

Merrill Glos

William F Whetstone

The present invention relates to a novel composite adhesive used to adhere coating materials onto a substrate wherein the substrate material and the coating material have significantly different expansion properties, e.g., thermoplastic coating materials onto cellulose based substrate materials. The composite adhesive comprises both a rigid adhesive such as an epoxy or acrylic and a laminating adhesive such as a rubber based contact cement. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a spline material is also rigidly adhered to the coating material so as to reinforce the bond between substrate and coating, especially where two pieces of coating material are attached at a seam. In another preferred embodiment the composite adhesive and/or spline material is used in preparing composite articles such as counters, sinks, furniture, profile edging, chemical resistant lab tops, showers, etc.

Method for adhering materials having differing expansion properties and

The present invention relates to a novel method of manufacturing a composite article of manufacture such as an integrated sink/counter combination from a single sheet of solid surfacing material and a single substrate material. The present invention also relates to a thermoformed composite article of manufacture produced from such a process. The novel method comprises adhering the coating material and substrate material and then thermoforming the coating material through an opening in the substrate material. Preferably, the coating material is a thermoplastic resin composition and the substrate material is a non-thermoplastic material.

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Clarksburg, MA, United States of America

Charles M Mulcahy