General Electric Company

Kurt A Weiss

Charles M Mulcahy

Jeremy P Miller

Robert Paul Fairbanks

Adam Kenneth Trappe

Charlie Woodrow Wood

Merrill Glos

Jessie A Goyette

William F Whetstone

Ronald King

Venkatakrishnan Umamaheswaran

An instrument panel includes, in an exemplary embodiment, a thermoplastic base substrate having a first surface and an opposing second surface, and a door portion defined by a tear seam notch in the first surface of the base substrate. The tear seam notch defines a periphery of the door portion. The instrument panel also includes at least one hinge portion defined by a plurality of tear seam notches in the first surface of the base substrate. Each hinge portion interrupts the door portion tear seam notch so that the door portion tear seam notch is not continuous.

Instrument panel system with hidden airbag door

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, the composite adhesive is used in preparing composite articles such as counters, sinks, furniture, profile edging, chemical resistant lab tops, showers, etc. In another preferred embodiment according to the invention, the rigid adhesive is applied over a narrow portion of the coating material, substrate, or both, preferably the exterior region of said material, and the laminating adhesive is applied over the remainder of the surface area to be adhered. By the techniques of the present invention, it is also possible to adhere together several individual articles of manufacture so as to create a virtually seamless appearance between the individual articles of manufacture.

Method for adhering materials having differing expansion properties and

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.

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.

Thermoformed composite article of manufacture and process for producing

Compositions with enhanced impact strength, solvent and thermal aging resistance are prepared by interpolymerizing polyphenylene ether resins functionalized with acids or anhydrides, e.g., fumaric acid, and rubbers, e.g., EPDM rubbers, grafted with glycidyl acrylates or methacrylates.

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Stephentown, NY, United States of America

Kurt A Weiss