The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 20, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 27, 1997
Wilfred R. Jaeger, Rochester Hills, MI (US);
Gary G. Gordon, Southfield, MI (US);
TRW Inc., Cleveland, OH (US);
Abstract
A seal plug (,) for closing a aperture in a panel includes a cover cap (,), a set of seal plug retaining tabs (,) extending from a bottom face (,) of the plug and a set of guide elements (,) extending from the bottom face of the plug. The guide elements (,) disposed on the bottom face of the seal plug define a first axially orientated lead-in surface. The retaining tabs (,) disposed on the bottom face of the seal plug define a second axially orientated lead-in surface. The first and second lead-in surfaces cooperate making the seal plug easy to install. A thermoexpanding plastic sealing ring (,) adapted to soften and expand upon heating to a temperature of about 250° F. is disposed on the bottom face of the seal plug. The seal ring expands and softens in an oven enabling the seal plug to become firmly bonded to a surface defining an aperture. A preferred method of manufacturing the seal plug includes closely controlling the temperature of the die members (,) in a two-shot injection molding apparatus (,) within a range of 135° F.-180° F. in order to inject the seal ring material in a flowable state. The first step in the two-shot molding process injects nylon into a first cavity forming the cover cap. The second step injects the heat responsive thermoexpanding material into a second cavity forming the sealing ring on the cover cap.