There is disclosed a mould for forming a collapsible container from an expandable material, the container comprising, when assembled, at least a base and a two pairs of a side walls extending at right angles from opposing sides of the base, the mould comprising: a first mould member and a second mould member movable with respect to each other between an open and a closed moulding position to define a mould cavity; a control means for delivering expandable material into said mould cavity and for delivering steam to facilitate expansion of the expandable material within said mould cavity to form said container; and a plurality of anvils mounted on a rear surface of at least one of the first mould member and/or second mould member, each anvil being movable so as to be extended into the mould cavity so as to form one or more hinges in the expandable material at predetermined locations within the mould cavity; wherein the mould cavity defined by the first mould member and the second mould member is a three-dimensional representation of an inside-out configuration of the assembled container.

The present invention relates to an enhanced method for the manufacture of a plastic component (135), in particular a cushioning element for sports apparel, the method comprising: opening a mold (100) by a predetermined amount into a loading position, wherein the mold comprises at least two mold parts (110, 112) and wherein the amount by which the mold is opened influences an available loading volume of the mold, loading a material comprising expanded particles (130) into the loading volume, closing the mold into a closed position, wherein during closing of the mold the mold parts are moved together over different distances (140) in different areas of the mold, compressing the expanded particles by closing the mold and fusing at least the surfaces of the expanded particles to mold the plastic component.

There is described a method of creating a hinge in a body of expandable material, said body being substantially flat and having at least two planar regions connected by said hinge to facilitate folding of the planar regions about said hinge, comprising: expanding said expandable material to form said body; creating a region of excess expandable material in said body adjacent said hinge; and compressing said region of excess expandable material into the hinge of said body after the expandable material has fused to create a hinge having a concentrated volume of expanded material when compared to said at least two planar regions of said body.

Generation of a balloon-shaped air bubble is suppressed. A foam molded article according to a mode of the present disclosure is characterized in that in a situation of being divided into two equal parts in the thickness direction T of the foam molded article, the average cell diameter 1 in the thickness direction T on the inner surface side A of the foam molded article is 1.2 times ((1/1)=1.2) or greater of the average cell diameter 1 in the thickness direction T on the outer surface side B of the foam molded article and that the surface roughness Sm of the inner surface of the foam molded article is 1000 m or greater.

A blank for a box made from an expandable material, which is initially molded to be substantially flat and in which folds forming hinges are to be made to enable the formation of the box. The tooling defines the shape of the blank is such as to provide a thickness of the expanded material that is less than the thickness of a major portion of the blank, in which folds are to be made having defined edges, generally in the direction of each fold; the fold and subsequently applying pressure along an area where folds are to be permitted to reduce the blank are made without removing material therefrom for providing hinges to permit formation of the box. A related method for making the blank and a box that is made from the blank are further provided.

There is described a method of creating a hinge in a body of expandable material, said body being substantially flat and having at least two planar regions connected by said hinge to facilitate folding of the planar regions about said hinge, comprising: expanding said expandable material to form said body; creating a region of excess expandable material in said body adjacent said hinge; and compressing said region of excess expandable material into the hinge of said body after the expandable material has fused to create a hinge having a concentrated volume of expanded material when compared to said at least two planar regions of said body.

The present invention provides a processing method for molding a foamed polymer, which comprises accommodating a mixture of a polymer material and a foaming agent in a space of a mould chamber provided by a mould and molding into a molded article having a predetermined shape. The technical features thereof lie in that the space of the mould chamber has an injection molding shape that is different from the shape of the molded article before the space is fully filled with the mixture, and a shape of a local part of the space of the mould chamber is changed after the space of the mould chamber is fully filled with the mixture, such that the shape of the space of the mould chamber is changed from the injection molding shape to a molding shape that is the same as the molded article. Thereby, a surface force exerted on the accommodated mixture is changed by means of a volume alteration of the local part caused by the change in the shape of the local part of the space of the mould chamber.

The present invention relates to an enhanced method for the manufacture of a plastic component (135), in particular a cushioning element for sports apparel, the method comprising: opening a mold (100) by a predetermined amount into a loading position, wherein the mold comprises at least two mold parts (110, 112) and wherein the amount by which the mold is opened influences an available loading volume of the mold, loading a material comprising expanded particles (130) into the loading volume, closing the mold into a closed position, wherein during closing of the mold the mold parts are moved together over different distances (140) in different areas of the mold, compressing the expanded particles by closing the mold and fusing at least the surfaces of the expanded particles to mold the plastic component.

Described are methods for the manufacture of a plastic component, in particular a cushioning element for sports apparel, a plastic component manufactured with such a method, for example a sole or a part of a sole for a shoe, and a shoe with such a sole. According to an aspect of the invention, a method for the manufacture of a plastic component, in particular a cushioning element for sports apparel, is provided which includes loading a mold with a first material which includes particles of an expanded material, and, during loading the mold, pre-heating the particles by supplying energy, wherein the energy is supplied in the form of at least one electromagnetic field.

A container is formed to include and interior region and a mouth opening into the interior region. The container includes a floor, a side wall coupled to the floor to define the interior region between the floor and the side wall, and artwork on the side wall.